If Obama Cedes Ground to Cheney, We’ll All Pay a Heavy Price

clipped from www.commondreams.org 'Every government ­assumes deeds and ­misdeeds of the past," writes Hannah Arendt in Eichmann and the Holocaust. "It means hardly more, generally speaking, than that every generation, by virtue of being born into a historical continuum, is burdened by the sins of the fathers as it is blessed with the deeds of the ancestors." For Barack Obama this cuts both ways. Talented as he is, he looks much more so when compared with the man who preceded him he has inherited the scarred landscape of his predecessor's tenure. Bush's wars, banks, car companies, secret prisons and untried prisoners are now his Soaring ­rhetoric, however hopeful about the future, cannot erase the past, which has a habit of remaining with us The Obama administration's desire to concentrate on the future is understandable. But the past has a legacy and the present has consequences. By ceding the principle to Cheney now we will all pay for it later.

Excellent commentary by Gary Younge on why we need moral leadership.

Americans are sorely lacking in moral leadership.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic, congress allowed an illegal war in Iraq.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic congress is allowing torture, an affront to America’s core values, to go unpunished.

For fear of being labeled unpatriotic Americans are being forced to accept that patriotism is taking on a new face.

It has now become patriotic to follow our leadership into an immoral abyss.

It is now official: we rule out of fear rather than principle. If our founding fathers were alive today, this would kill them.

Do we have the choice to turn this situation around? Yes. Do we have what it takes to pull it off? I fear the answer is no, but I hold hope that someone will find the ability to make it happen.

Food Not Bombs Continues to Ignite Controversy

clipped from eatdrinkbetter.com Food Not Bombs, a group dedicated to non-violent social change through feeding the needy, continues to find itself at the center of controversy as they enter their 30th year in existence. Groups in New Mexico, Arizona, Florida, and Connecticut have run afoul of local laws that seek to stop them from handing out free meals in public places to those in need.  Though all Food Not Bombs groups are independent, they share the common goals of feeding vegetarian meals to the hungry while also protesting war and poverty. Food Not Bombs finds food that would otherwise be discarded - from restaurants, grocery stores, and other sources and prepares meals to anyone and everyone. Regardless if you agree or disagree with their tactics, motives and politics, the group does provide an important service of serving meals to those who would otherwise go hungry. In the current economic climate the group is finding larger numbers of people who benefit from a free meal

What is wrong with feeding the hungry? This is a very noble cause these people are supporting. Why does our government force them to get permits for this? Food that would otherwise be thrown away is being eaten.

The chapter in New Mexico has attracted unwanted attention from law enforcement and the Environmental Health Division in their activities.

The Connecticut group was recently ticketed for ignoring a cease and desist order issued by local police for serving food form an unlicensed kitchen.

The Arizona group has been told by city hall that they will need a permit to continue their activities.

In Florida the group secured a legal victory when a judge ruled that handing out food in a public space was an activity protected by the First Amendment

Go to the clip to find more info on each group.

Where do we draw the line on torture?

Michael Vick served 19 months for torturing dogs while Dick Cheney is walking around free. Anyone care to venture a guess as to why this is business as usual?

Possible lessons learned:
1 - torturing people is okay, torturing animals is punishable.

2 - The GOP is the TORTURE-PROMOTING party!

3 – People love dogs more than their fellow humans

4 – It is more acceptable to torture Arabs than dogs?

Decide for yourself.

Cheney’s justification of torture is a house of cards

Former Vice President Dick Cheney continued his crusade to defend his position on the use of torture by speaking at the conservative American Enterprise Institute by saying: "After the most lethal and devastating terrorist attack ever, seven and a half years without a repeat is not a record to be rebuked or scorned, much less criminalized. It is a record to be continued until the danger has passed."

Basing his arguments on the lack of anther attack is flawed logic. There is no proof that another attack was planned. He is being dishonest by stating that his methods prevented another attack.

The inherent effectiveness of terrorism is that they only have to commit one heinous, murderous act to instill the fear they require as proof of their commitment to their cause. Committing this one act puts the world on notice that they are capable and willing to carry out their threats.

This resulting fear that they can do it again causes very great distress among their targeted people. But it did not have to bring about a deterioration of our core principles. That action required a paranoid, mean-spirited and short-sighted leader willing to sacrifice over 200 years of principled jurisprudence and to rip apart our core moral values. That brand of ‘leadership’ was found in the union of George W Bush and Dick Cheney.

And now to satisfy his colossal ego he continues his campaign to convince the American people, and indeed the world, that he was correct. Or is he trying to convince himself?

Why the Caged Bird Sings

What is he up to?
1) he truly believes that torture actually works and that using it doesn’t dehumanize the user
2) he is defending the legacy of an administration he ran single-handedly for eight years
3) since he is no longer in the WH he can now speak as freely as he wants

So he is either 1) selling himself to the GOP because, you know, once you have tasted power you don’t want to give it up. Or, 2) as the author states, he is scared of the public damnation that will come out against him if the public learns the extent of the barbarism that took place at Abu Ghraib.

So, from his point of view, waterboarding is very minor in comparison to what he ordered take place there. Which means Obama has now allowed himself to become a party to the disgrace that has been brought upon the U.S. by simply refusing to prosecute.

clipped from www.truthout.org Dick Cheney has been doing a lot of talking lately. From his most recent barrage of public statements, we have gleaned that he loves Rush Limbaugh, doesn't much care for Colin Powell, believes President Obama is about to sell the Sixth Fleet to the Taliban for pennies on the dollar and thinks torture is a nifty and effective tool that saves lives and defends freedom Really, this isn't anything we haven't heard before from our growly, snarly, face-blasting former vice president. But it does beg the question: What the hell is he up to?

Joblessness Spurs Shift in Japan's Views on Poverty

Why is it that efforts to end poverty is the sole domain of ‘left-wing radicals’?

And the only time serious attention is paid to the problem is when the main stream is faced with becoming a part of it?

Concerned about their own job security, many Japanese are seeing the homeless not as troubled individuals seeking handouts, but as victims of a failing economy and a government system that offered no safety nets.

Isn’t it amazing how your attitude towards government policy changes when that policy directly affects you?

clipped from online.wsj.com For more than a decade, Makoto Yuasa's efforts to end poverty in Japan were ignored by many as the quixotic campaign of a left-wing radical. But Japanese including Prime Minister Taro Aso are paying attention to the 40-year-old activist as the world's second-largest economy sinks into its worst recession since World War II, leaving an increasing number of people without work. While Japan's unemployment rate is well below the U.S.'s 8.5% and Spain's 17.3%, today's data are a blow for a country where workers grew accustomed to the guarantee of lifetime employment Many Japanese had little sympathy for the jobless and homeless, regarding their plight as stemming from laziness -- and an embarrassment to the country's profile as an industrial power. With manufacturers such as Toyota Motor Corp. and Sony Corp. continuing to slash jobs, many Japanese for the first time are seeing poverty as a real possibility

World Press Freedom Day

clipped from www.rsf.org In the run-up to World Press Freedom Day on 3 May, Reporters Without Borders is campaigning for the release of three women journalists who have been “taken hostage” by governments. Four members of Reporters Without Borders have been on hunger strike since 28 April in support of Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States. There is also an urgent need to obtain the release of two American journalists employed by California-based Current TV, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been held in Pyongyang since 17 March. The detention of Saberi, Lee and Ling on arbitrary charges demonstrates more than ever the importance of World Press Freedom Day, which we will be celebrating on 3 May. We appeal to the Iranian and North Korean authorities to free these three women without delay.

Saberi, Lee and Ling are professional journalists who are neither spies nor criminals. Through them, press freedom and the right to report the news freely are being taken hostage by Iran and North Korea.

Why don't we hear more about these 'hostage' situations in the American Press.

These are political prisoners and anyone who cares about the freedom of press should be up in arms about their incarceration.

When is Enough?

clipped from www.blog.thesietch.org I’m a liberal - I make no bones about it.   I believe women are my equals and that people of all shades and sexual proclivities have the same rights that I do.  I believe that governments should exist to serve their people and not merely to maximize opportunities for Capitalists. In short, on most questions, if there’s a liberal and conservative axis, you’ll find me on the liberal end of things. But, I have some exceptions - places where liberals might shun me. If an individual’s committed violent crimes repeatedly and is obviously incorrigible, I see no point in the state locking them up and feeding them for the rest of their never-to-be-paroled life.   Terminate them - and let’s move on.   When you’ve got a cancer, you cut it off. Guns?   I’m not at all sure that we all need military assault rifles.   But, I do like what the U.S. Second Amendment says … and why it says it.   When governments lose their way, citizens need a way to have their say.

The author starts out with a liberal manifesto but the real point of this blog post is how Pakistan is creating a “Mortal Danger” to the world by buckling under to pressure from the Taliban.

Sec of State Clinton stated the Pakistani government, in deep denial, is losing ground against the Islamic insurgents and it badly needs to decide which side it is on and get focused.

There is also a very disturbing video every Westerner should see concerning how committed Islamic terrorists are towards the destruction of the US.

While we consider various half measures on how to deal with terrorists and those who want to destroy America and make the world over into a prison of intolerant fundamentalism, wherein women are property and human rights are irrelevant and where we all have to worship as they tell us or die, they are moving inexorably forward towards the possession of nuclear and biological weapons.

They want to take us back to the 7th century - and I, for one, don’t want to go