Why Continue This Country's Longest War?

This graph I made puts into some perspective the start of the 14th year of the United States' long-pointless occupation of Afghanistan -- an operation very much overshadowed by President Obama's latest misadventure.

Preview of CITIZENFOUR

October 24 will bring the opening of a documentary about massive abuse by the National Security Agency being disclosed by then-contractor Edward Snowden to director Laura Poitras and to journalist Glenn Greenwald, both of whom would, for their coverage of this issue, win the Pulitzer Prize and the Polk Award.

 

UPDATE:

For Best Documentary Feature, this production won awards from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences, the International Documentary Association, the Houston Film Critics Society, the Saint Louis Film Critics Assoc., and the Utah Film Critics Assoc., and won the award at the Hollywood Reel Independent Film Festival.  For Best Non-Fiction Film, this production won awards from the National Society of Film Critics, the Los Angeles Film Critics Assoc., and the New York Film Critics Circle.

For Best Documentary, this production won awards from the Int'l Press Academy, the British Academy of Film & Television Arts, the Austin Film Critics Assoc., the Boston Society of Film Critics, the Dallas-Fort Worth Film Critics Assoc., the Detroit Film Critic Society, the Iowa Film Critics, the Kansas City Film Critics Cir., the Las Vegas Film Critics Society, the London Critics Cir., the San Diego Film Critics Society, and the San Francisco Film Critics Cir., and won the Gotham Award and the Independent Spirit Award.

For this work, Poitras won the Directors Guild of America's award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary, the Palm Springs Int'l Film Festival's award for Filmmakers Who Make a Difference, and the Santa Barbara Int'l Film Festival's award for Outstanding Director.

Welcome!

As positive myths about Christopher Columbus are disproved and momentum therefore builds behind the idea to turn this holiday -- Columbus Day -- into one that honors the indigenous peoples of the Western hemisphere, I launch this blog.  It is devoted to the effort to move US politics beyond the status-quo as more evidence mounts that proves the necessity of such an effort in order to spare the human race from environmental doom, allow opportunity for all citizens of this land, and uphold the principles that made the constitution of this country the best in the world.

Please always feel free to comment on and to share this blog.  I look forward to fact-based and constructive exchanges of information and of ideas with you.  For now, several of my previous works are posted and backdated here so some substance is offered immediately.  Thank you for visiting!

Picture courtesy of ushistory.org

At the conclusion of the Constitutional Convention, Benjamin Franklin said of this
feature of the presidential chair, "I have often and often in the course of the session,
and the vicisitudes of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that, behind the
president, without being able to tell whether it was rising or setting.  But now at
length, I have the happiness to know that it is a rising and not a setting sun."

Why the 11th-Hour Tactics of Governor 1% May Backfire

Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) is up to his old tricks as the Democratic primary challenge to him from Professor Zephyr Teachout continues to gain momentum as we close in on Tuesday's vote.

Teachout ("Democracy Now!"),
Cuomo (Elissa Jun / FEMA)

Just like the Cuomo campaign's 1) deployment of interns to hound Teachout, 2) unsuccessful objection to signatures on her petitions for nomination, and 3) expenditure of $2.5 million on failed attempts to remove her name from the ballot generated more publicity for her candidacy than it may ever have otherwise received, there are reasons to suspect the last-minute maneuvers by the incumbent will damage his prospects.

Cuomo's campaign stepped up its efforts as word spread about the stances of his running mate for lieutenant governor, namely Kathleen "Kathy" Hochul, who has described her record in Congress as "very conservative."  Hochul, who became a lobbyist for M&T Bank after she lost her congressional seat after one term, faces competition from Teachout's running mate: Prof. Timothy Wu.  But the effort to market Hochul as "progressive" is an obvious ruse, especially when her poor record on environmental protection and on regulation of guns is considered.

Although Cuomo, who has declined to be interviewed on television at any time in the last eight years*, and Hochul refuse to face their opponents in any debate, publicly mention them by name or now even accept a handshake from either of them, dishonest and illogical attacks were directly launched against Teachout on Friday by prominent allies of Cuomo in a conveniently-timed burst that was apparently one in a series orchestrated by him.

Those surrogates curiously include ex-gov. David Paterson, state senator Jeffrey Klein, state senator Diane Savino and Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver, all of whom might actually hurt Cuomo and Hochul among Democrats statewide.  After all, Paterson left office with a job approval rating of 32%, Klein and Savino conspired with Cuomo to preserve Republican control of the State Senate, and a poll from last year found 51% of voters in the Empire State -- including a plurality of its Democrats -- believe Silver should resign as speaker.

Although WNYC has hosted current gubernatorial nominee Robert Astorino (R) on the air many times, Paterson, Klein and Savino alleged Teachout's decision to debate Astorino on that outlet somehow enabled an "extreme" right-wing agenda.  He was twice elected by a double-digit percentage to be executive of Westchester County, which has twice as many Democrats as Republicans.  He is not extreme.  Furthermore, given who has helped ensure a Republican majority in the upper chamber in the State Capitol, the three aforementioned surrogates are flagrantly hypocritical when they decry supposed elevation of conservative viewpoints.

Silver melodramatically trotted out the tired insinuation that implies anyone who does not embrace the military policy of Israel is anti-Semitic.  He cast that slander upon Teachout and Wu, who are vulnerable to it because they, unlike Cuomo, prefer to discuss issues relevant to the offices they seek rather than foreign policy.

Meanwhile, Cuomo/Hochul's online advertisement, pictured below, falsely implies to people who vaguely know of Teachout/Wu that the latter duo is anti-choice, in favor of arbitrary discrimination, and against universal pre-kindergarten.  Also included is language that, for those who do not know of Teachout/Wu, falsely implies the general election will be held this Tuesday rather than November 4.



The objective of the Cuomo/Hochul strategy is clearly to hinder a substantive contrast of the paths from which Democratic New Yorkers can choose.  Anyone who pays attention can smell the desperation of Cuomo and Hochul, who evidently do not even deem themselves the best team in the race.

UPDATE: Cuomo and Mayor Warren Wilhelm Jr. Bill de Blasio (D-NYC) bullied prominent figures out of endorsements of Teachout/Wu.

*Reported on Inside City Hall on NY1, 2 Sept. 2014

This piece originally appeared on punkpatriot.com.

The 'Totally Weak,' 'Totally Pathetic' Tactics of Governor 1%

Cuomo (Jocelyn Augustino / FEMA),
Teachout (Cmte. on House Administration)

Gov. Andrew Coward-- I mean Cuomo (Tammany Hall Democrat-NY) has been long known for dirty tricks.  Now, his re-election operation confesses its interns, at appearances by Democratic gubernatorial primary candidate Zephyr Teachout, pretended to be average New Yorkers who were so angry about her former residency in Vermont as to protest independently. 

The planted demonstrators held signs that implied Teachout, who is a law professor at Fordham University, was dishonest to affirm she meets the residency requirement to be chief executive of the Empire State.  Such an argument was set forth in a lawsuit whose official plaintiffs were two interns of Cuomo's campaign.  The suit was dismissed in a decision that is under appeal although the Board of Elections of NY submitted the design of the primary ballot to print with Teachout's name on it.  The board had rejected a challenge, whose official complainants were two interns of Cuomo's campaign, to Teachout's petitions for nomination.

In reference to the Cuomo campaign's use of interns for the aforementioned tactics, Teachout campaign manager Mike Boland told Business Insider, "It's totally weak.  It's totally pathetic."

When credentialed reporters questioned one of the not-so-concerned citizens about why he protested against Teachout, he responded, "You're going to take out your phone and you're going to take my picture, I should break your f**king phone right here!  ...F**k you!  You are the worst member of society...  I don't need to speak to you...  Have a nice f**king life."

Cuomo's operation is awash in funds from the monied interests it serves.  Yet, it is incompetent enough to 1) employ sloppy tactics that make Cuomo look more like the bully he is, 2) generate publicity for an opponent who needs it, and 3) neglect to instruct its interns to refrain from comment -- or at least profane threats and insults -- to the media.  Thus, the Cuomo team should adopt a franker slogan.  Here is my proposal.

This piece originally appeared on punkpatriot.com.

Socialist Wins Recount, Greens Prove Viable

Last Friday, Kshama Sawant PhD of the Socialist Alternative Party was declared the winner of a nonpartisan race for the Council of Seattle, Washington.  The professor of economics, who rose to prominence as an activist in the Occupy Movement, defeated a 16-year incumbent Democrat.  Sawant is the first socialist elected to public office in that city since over a century ago.  Her candidacy was endorsed by the Green Party, which is building momentum as demonstrated by other results from November 5...

Some members/endorsees of the Green Party in nonpartisan elections

Cameron Gordon re-elected to Council of Minneapolis, MN

Brian Cummins re-elected to Council of Cleveland, OH

John Reed re-elected to Council of Fairfax, CA

Renée Goddard re-elected to Council of Fairfax
Joshua Plourde elected to Council of Bangor, ME
Anna Trevorrow elected to Board of Education of Portland, ME

Ty Moore: 42% for Council of Minneapolis

Sawant (City of Seattle)

Joseph Carvalho: 31% for mayor of Fall River, MA
Audrey Clement: 31% for Bd. of Arlington County, VA

Christopher Shorr: 25% for Council of Portland

Johnny Howard: 15% for Council of Saint Paul, MN
Gladwyn D'Souza: 14% for Council of Belmont, CA §

Chris Lautenschlager: 11% for Council of Minneapolis
Joseph DeMare: 11% for Council of Bowling Green, OH ‡
Brian Rencher: 7% for Council of Ventura, CA #

Kale Severson: 6% for Council of Minneapolis

Kristina Gronquist: 6% for Council of Minneapolis

Some Green nominees

Neil Haagen elected to Council of Snow Shoe Borough, PA

Mirna Martinez* elected to Bd. of Ed. of New London, CT

Howie Hawkins: 40% for Council of Syracuse, NY

Laurie Rogers: 24% for Bd. of Selectmen of Columbia, CT †

Darin Robbins: 22% for mayor of Corning, NY

Susie Beiersdorfer: 18% for pres. of the Council of Youngstown, OH

Kevin Bott: 15% for mayor of Syracuse

Lynne Serpe: 15% for Council of New York City

Peter LaVenia Jr.: 12% for Council of Albany, NY

Emily Good: 12% for sheriff of Monroe County, NY

Beth Riso: 11% for mayor of Nyack, NY

William Stevenson: 9% for Legislature of Suffolk County, NY

Christina Gonzalez: 8% for Council of NYC

Miles Budde: 7% for Council of NYC

Alexander White: 5% for mayor of Rochester, NY

*Member of Green Party, nominated by Republican and Green parties
†Three-way race for two seats | ‡Four-way, two seats
§Six-way, three seats | #Nine-way, four seats

This piece originally appeared on punkpatriot.com.

Obama Whitewashes Bush Again

The following are excerpts from remarks President Obama delivered today at the dedication of the lie-brary of a "president" whose negligence allowed this country to be attacked, who allowed Osama bin Laden to escape, whose policy on education was disastrous, who sent troops into battle unnecessarily and without adequate provisions or proper training, who cut benefits for troops and for veterans, and who sought to cut those benefits by even more.

Obama, Bush (Eric Draper / White House)

This is a Texas-sized party.  And that's worthy of what we're here to do today...  We're reminded of the incredible strength and resolve that came through that bullhorn as [George W. Bush] stood amid the rubble and the ruins of Ground Zero, promising to deliver justice to those who had sought to destroy our way of life...

He believed we had to reform our schools in ways that help every child learn...  We share a profound respect and reverence for the men and women of our military and their families.  And we are united in our determination to comfort the families of the fallen and to care for those who wear the uniform...

America needs leaders who are willing to face the storm head-on...  That's what Pres. George W. Bush chose to do.  That's why I'm honored to be part of today's celebration.  Mr. President, for your service, for your courage... for your love of country, thank you very much.  From all the citizens of the United States of America, God bless you.


This piece originally appeared on Facebook.

How a People's President Sounds

John Kiriakou, who is the only person who has been prosecuted in connection to the torture program of the Central Intelligence Agency, was sentenced last month to two and a half years in prison -- not for torture (which he did not commit), but because he confirmed the name of one torturer to a journalist who did not publish it.  Ever since Kiriakou began to inform the public about said program, largely through interviews with media, he and his wife have been harassed by the CIA, by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and by the Internal Revenue Service.  The Department of Justice even charged him with multiple counts of espionage but later dropped those charges.

President Obama, three months after an election he won with a campaign that sought to keep the masses ill-informed, still refuses to prosecute anyone who ordered, performed, covered up or legally excused torture, or who participated in the politically-motivated disclosure of the identity of covert agent Valerie Plame Wilson of the CIA.  Meanwhile, Obama continues an unprecedented war on whistleblowers, most notably Pfc. Bradley Manning, and continues an avoidance of print journalists that is highly unusual for a modern chief executive of the United States, as the media in this land continue to increase focus on domestic and irrelevant matters.

On April 27, 1961, Pres. John Kennedy addressed the American Newspaper Publishers Association.  After his witty reference to the pro-Republican bias of the media, he stated government transparency and the public debate that results from it are essential to the meaning of this country.  Kennedy challenged the media to be critical.  He declared the government and media should grant the public more news that is substantive, especially with regard to international affairs, and explain it better.  Here are excerpts from that speech.  Boldface is added.

_

Kennedy (Abbie Rowe / White House)

I have selected as the title of my remarks, "The President and the Press."  Some may suggest this would be more naturally worded, "The President versus the Press," but those are not my sentiments.  However, when a well-known diplomat from another country demanded recently that our State Department repudiate certain newspaper attacks on his colleague, it was unnecessary for us to reply that this administration was not responsible for the press, for the press had already made clear it was not responsible for this administration.

(laughter, applause)

Nevertheless, my purpose here tonight is not to deliver the usual assault on the so-called one-party press...  Nor is my purpose tonight to discuss... the televising of presidential press conferences.  I think it is highly beneficial to have some 20 million Americans regularly sit in on these conferences to observe, if I may say so, the incisive, intelligent, and courteous qualities displayed by your Washington correspondents.

(laughter, applause)

...My topic tonight is a more sober one...  The very word "secrecy" is repugnant in a free and open society; and we are, as a people, inherently and historically opposed to secret societies, to secret oaths and to secret proceedings.  We decided long ago that the dangers of excessive and unwarranted concealment of pertinent facts far outweigh the dangers cited to justify it...

Even today, there is little value in ensuring the survival of our nation if our traditions do not survive with it.  And there is very grave danger that an announced need for increased security will be seized upon by those anxious to expand its meaning to the very limits of official censorship and concealment.  That I do not intend to permit, to the extent it is in my control.  And no official of my administration, whether his rank is high or low, civilian or military, should interpret my words here tonight as an excuse to censor the news, to stifle dissent, to cover up our mistakes, or to withhold from the press and the public the facts they deserve to know.

(applause)

...[The Soviet regime's] preparations are concealed, not published.  Its mistakes are buried, not headlined.  Its dissenters are silenced, not praised.  No expenditure is questioned, no rumor is printed, no secret is revealed.  It conducts the Cold War, in short, with a wartime discipline no democracy would ever hope or wish to match...

[A]n obligation I share... is our obligation to inform and alert the American people -- to make certain they possess all the facts they need, and understand them as well -- the perils, the prospects, the purposes of our program and the choices we face.

No president should fear public scrutiny of his program, for from that scrutiny comes understanding, and from that understanding comes support or opposition.  And both are necessary.  I do not ask your newspapers to support an administration, but I do ask for your help in the tremendous task to inform and alert the American people.

(applause)

For I have complete confidence in the response and dedication of our citizens whenever they are fully informed.  I not only could not stifle controversy among your readers -- I welcome it.  This administration intends to be candid about its errors, for as a wise man once said, "An error does not become a mistake until you refuse to correct it."  We intend to accept full responsibility for our errors and we expect you to point them out when we miss them.

Without debate, without criticism, no administration and no country can succeed -- and no republic can survive.  That is why the Athenian lawmaker Solon decreed it a crime for any citizen to shrink from controversy, and why our press is... specifically protected by the Constitution -- not primarily to amuse and entertain, not to emphasize the trivial and the sentimental, not to simply "give the public what it wants" -- but to inform, to arouse, to reflect, to state our dangers and our opportunities, to indicate our crises and our choices, to lead, mold, educate and sometimes even anger public opinion.

This means greater coverage and analysis of international news, for it is no longer far away and foreign but close at hand and local.  It means greater attention to improved understanding of the news as well as improved transmission.  And it means, finally, that government, at all levels, must meet its obligation to provide you with the fullest possible information outside the narrowest limits of national security, and we intend to do it.

Early in the 17th Century, Francis Bacon remarked on three recent inventions that were already transforming the world: the compass, gunpowder, and the printing press.  The international links that were first forged by the compass have made us all citizens of the world, the hopes and threats of one becoming the hopes and threats of us all...  And so, it is to the printing press -- the recorder of man's deeds, the keeper of his conscience, the courier of his news -- that we look for strength and assistance, confident that with your help, man will be what he was born to be: free and independent.


This piece originally appeared on Facebook.

'Congratulations, Gene'

Kaptur (Congressional
Pictorial Directory)

Upon realizing Rep. Dennis Kucinich would be unseated yesterday in a Democratic primary against Rep. Marcia "Marcy" Kaptur, with whom he was gerrymandered into a district by the Legislature of Ohio and by a governor who thought Martin Luther King Day is March 17, I recalled a line Richard Dreyfuss delivered as he portrayed the title role in Mr. Holland's Opus.

"Well, congratulations, Gene.  For 30 years, you've been looking for a way to get rid of me and they finally gave you an excuse," replied inspirational music-teacher Glenn Holland when told by the unpopular principal of John F. Kennedy High School that a budgetary cut compelled him to end all programs in the arts there.

Actually, Kucinich began challenging the establishment forty-five years ago.  And that his principled work for the common good has driven special interests and their tools to target him (even physically) made each electoral setback he has endured unsurprising.  But next year will be the first since 1994 in which Kucinich is not in public office.  Many citizens would prefer for no individual to stay there for very long, but Kaptur has been an incumbent since 1983 and, if that were not the case, I might share said preference if Kucinich were not so sorely needed in government.

Every federal official has taken an oath to "support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."  Given the retirement of Ronald Paul, however, the Democratic primary voters in the redesigned 9th district of the Buckeye State have ensured that neither of the two representatives in Congress who always uphold that oath will return to service in January.  One is a loose constructionist, the other strict, and they represent the left and right wings of the bald eagle, respectively.  Anyone who dishonors the supreme law of the land should be considered off the American spectrum.

On the other side of the Capitol, the only senator we can trust is the independent one: Bernard Sanders.  Moreover, the present administration and the most previous one have infringed upon many of our rights.  Ergo, the need for a third major political party is more obvious than ever before.

Because Kucinich might again achieve a comeback, I avoid writing a political obituary of him.  After all, if this nation had followed its conscience when selecting candidates for 2008, Kucinich and his lovely wife would now reside at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Kucinich (Collection
of the US House of
Representatives)

I appreciate the backing his re-election bid was lent by, most prominently, ex-rep. Alan Grayson, Daniel Ellsberg PhD, Robert Kennedy Jr., Gore Vidal, Warren Beatty, Annette Bening, James Cromwell, Ed Begley Jr., Cheryl Hines, Deidre Hall, Willie Nelson, Ani DiFranco, the Humane Society, and Progressive Democrats of America.

Particularly shameful is that a Democratic primary electorate chose a candidate...

• endorsed by former Senate Republican leader and former Republican presidential nominee Robert Dole as well as Republican former senator George Voinovich (Hello?)
• whose campaign website states that she favors prolonging the occupation of Afghanistan, that her opponent does not, that she voted against the DREAM Act, and that her opponent voted for it
• whose campaign website shows she has higher ratings than her opponent does from the National Rifle Association, the American Conservative Union, and the National Right to Life Committee; and has lower ratings than her opponent does from Americans for Democratic Action, Citizens Against Government Waste, and the League of Conservation Voters
• who made accusations and insinuations against her opponent that were exposed as false and misleading.

While President Obama and many in Congress push us toward another war that would be launched under a false pretense about weapons of mass destruction, let us remember our vanquished champion's call to focus on the real problems in this country.

"We have found no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.  I was mayor of Cleveland and... have seen weapons of mass destruction in our cities.  Poverty is a weapon of mass destruction!  Joblessness is a weapon of mass destruction!  Homelessness: a weapon of mass destruction.  Racism: a weapon of mass destruction.  Fear: a weapon of mass destruction.  We must disarm these weapons."

This piece originally appeared on Facebook.

Obama Whitewashes Bush

We already knew that President Obama has a counterproductive and outrightly insane obsession with bipartisanship.  But he sank to a new low last night by rewriting history in favor of his immediate predecessor, who was the worst commander-in-chief the military of the United States ever had.  Obama, in his address to the people of this land about the end of combat operations by the US in Iraq, stated "no one can doubt Pres. Bush's support for our troops or his love of country and commitment to our security."

George W. Bush, throughout his eight years in the White House, demonstrated neglect of the troops, contempt for the Constitution, and carelessness about national security.  He allowed the attack of 9/11, violated the Bill of Rights (via policies Obama is continuing), slashed funding for counterterrorism, illegally sent troops into needless battle without adequate equipment, worked to cut salaries for troops and cut benefits for them and for veterans, encouraged insurgents to attack the troops, and allowed for dozens of English-Arabic translators in the intelligence community to be fired on account of sexual orientation.

Obama, who is another corporatist and a militarist, lies not only for his own benefit as he did in his campaign.  He lies also to cover up for Bush, whom he refuses to prosecute and to whom he is therefore an accessory.

Bush, Obama (Eric Draper / White House)

The chief executive additionally claimed, "The greatness of our democracy is grounded in our ability to move beyond our differences..."

Wrong again.  Such greatness is grounded in the freedom to express and act on differences.  A difference that Americans had with each other concerning the invasion of Iraq was about whether said invasion would make the US safer or less safe.  A unanimous conclusion of US intelligence agencies vindicates the latter prognosis.  However, Obama claimed on Friday that the occupation of Iraq somehow "has made America safer."

Neither in his speech last night nor in any other statement of which I am aware has Obama mentioned casualties that were visited upon the people of Iraq as a result of orders by him and by Bush.  More than 1,200,000 Iraqis were killed because of Operation Iraqi Freedom.  To my knowledge, there has been no attempt to estimate the number of injuries that were inflicted due to that mission.  The psychological damage that was caused by it will also continue to take a toll.  And Obama is leaving 50,000 US troops in Iraq for another year.  The flag-draped caskets have not stopped arriving on the shores of this country.


This piece originally appeared on Facebook.