Apology to my goverment officials re torture
|
Dear President Obama, Attorney General Holder, Senators Klobuchar and Franken, and Congressman Ellison:
Continue Reading
A call for accountability as Guantanamo enters its 10th year
|
[Note: The following letter was sent to 83 of the 93 United States Attorneys today, which is the ninth anniversary of the first prisoners arriving at Guantanamo Bay Detention Center. Witness Against Torture and other groups will be demonstrating about Guantanamo and related issues in Washington, D.C., over the next 12 days.]
December 10—Human Rights Day
|
December 10 is International Human Rights Day, a day commemorating the United Nations General Assembly’s passage of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948.
In its third “Whereas” clause, the Declaration encourages codification of these human rights into law. Continue Reading
FREE SPEECH ZONE | First things first
|
I am flabbergasted. President Obama is pressing Congress to temporarily surrender the automatic termination of the Bush-era tax cuts for the rich, in favor of some across the board tax breaks and economic provisions that would give ¾ of these breaks to the top 1%, and which, by eliminating his own Making Work Pay credit will mean that the poor will pay more taxes, not less. Why did our President feel the need to offer estate tax breaks for the rich as an additional deal sweetener? Free Speech ZoneThe Free Speech Zone offers a space for contributions from readers, without editing by the TC Daily Planet. This is an open forum for articles that otherwise might not find a place for publication, including news articles, opinion columns, announcements and even a few press releases. No wonder so many Republicans are gleeful about the way that the President is reaching out to them. Continue Reading
Obama erred in the tax compromise for all the wrong reasons
|
Objections to the Obama tax compromise has been thoroughly vetted, chewed, and debated by my liberal colleagues, and adding to that dialogue offers nothing new or of special value, so I will not reprise it here.
It’s Torture Awareness Month and I am waiting for justice
|
I am part of a group of people who, since last November, have engaged in a daily vigil for torture accountability at the Federal Building in Minneapolis. Continue Reading
FREE SPEECH ZONE | ANGRY AMERICA
|
Opinion polls tell us that we are angry–at the president, at Congress, at Wall Street, at the insurance industry, at the media and at each other.
FREE SPEECH ZONE | Obama’s Nuclear Blunder
|
President Obama has made yet another bad decision, one that will likely harm your children and grandchildren, and generations of your family, for centuries. On February 16, Obama announced another bailout–this time for the nuclear power industry, those goodfellas who have given us dangerous nuclear reactors, a few more terrorist targets, and a whole lot of toxic waste that nobody wants in their backyard. Obama is giving one of the big nuke players, Southern Company, $8.3 billion in loan guarantees to build a couple of reactors in Georgia. And as a gift to the rest of the nuclear industry, Obama is tripling government loan guarantees–to $54 billion–in his 2011 budget. The industry depends on government loans because nuclear reactors are a risk even Wall Street won’t gamble on. Continue Reading
Obama the Lawbreaker
|
Here’s a second resolution I will be introducing in my precinct caucus this Tuesday:
WHEREAS under color of law and on behalf of the United States, people have committed and conspired to commit torture;
WHEREAS no one has been prosecuted for these crimes;
WHEREAS the Obama Administration has expressed a willingness to investigate only those who have exceeded th Continue Reading
Are we all war criminals?
|
I am amazed. Our government has tortured in our names, and the streets are empty, the campuses are calm. Our President wants only “torture-plus” investigated for possible prosecution. Arguably, not to investigate credible claims of torture is itself a war crime. But hardly a peep.