Progress Now Action

What does this trial balloon mean?  The is longstanding precedent for a barrier between NASA and Department of Defense is due in part to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty.  Bloomberg.com news reports:

President-elect Barack Obama will probably tear down long-standing barriers between the U.S.’s civilian and military space programs to speed up a mission to the moon amid the prospect of a new space race with China...

The potential change comes as Pentagon concerns are rising over China’s space ambitions because of what is perceived as an eventual threat to U.S. defense satellites, the lofty battlefield eyes of the military.

The article then describes that launch vehicles would be shared and emphasizes the rivalry between Chinese deep space goals and US fears for its state of the art, real time battlefield command, control and communications systems.

However what is being left out of the equation of rivalry is "why not cooperation in space" like the International Space Station project.  Are we, as a people, still stuck in the old 20th Century way of aggression and war making for a nation state to behave?

What can be said about Republicans from Bush on down who disobey the laws of the land?

This is just the latest example of Republicans who cannot abide by the laws that were created.  From Bloomberg.com reporting:

The November Fund marked the chamber’s first foray into presidential politics. Some of the best-known independent groups in the 2004 presidential election, including Swift Boat Veterans for Truth and America Coming Together, paid more than $3 million in fines.

The commission initially agreed in March 2005 that the November Fund illegally accepted contributions in excess of the $5,000 limit for political action committees and that the chamber made illegal corporate contributions. In November 2007, the commission authorized its counsel to negotiate a settlement, including an agreed-upon fine...

Four new members joined the commission the following year, and in October 2008 the three Republicans balked at approving the final agreement.

“The law has not changed,” Ryan said. “All that has changed is the commissioners themselves.”

What can be said that Republicans will protect scofflaws to the detriment of the body politic?  Republicans thy name is lawlessness and coddling criminals.

A mass grave site in Afghanistan is plundered.  The remains of upto 2000 bodies were removed and disposed of into a near by river.  What is significant is that this atrocity was the subject of a documentary film, "Caravan of Death" by Irish filmmaker Jamie Doran in 2002.

This report by the Timesonline.com states:

The mass grave at Dasht-e-Leili in northern Afghanistan is thought to contain the remains of between 1,000 and 2,000 Taleban prisoners massacred by fighters loyal to the Uzbek warlord General Abdul Rashid Dostum in November 2001. The killings occurred in the remote Leili desert as General Dostum’s forces fought alongside US special forces....

The problem is that there has been no U.S. corporate media coverage of this attempted coverup of a war crime by Afghan warlord Gen. Dotsum.  

Also, there was a U.S. Special Forces unit that was operating in the same area when the massacre of captured Taliban fighters occurred.  Questions have arisen as to how much the 5th Special Forces Group was aware of and if that unit had any knowledge and/or control of the war crime.

I found this from Uruknet.info by Ted Rall:

When the containers were unlocked at Sheberghan, the bodies of the dead tumbled out. A 12-man U.S. Fifth Special Forces Group unit, Operational Detachment Alpha (ODA) 595, guarded the prison's front gates and, according to witnesses, controlled the facility in the hopes of picking key prisoners for interrogation and possible transportation to Guantnamo Bay. (This is how Lindh was singled out.) "Everything was under the control of the American commanders," a Northern Alliance soldier tells Doran in the film. American troops searched the bodies for Al Qaeda identification cards. But, says another driver, "Some of [the prisoners] were alive. They were shot" while "maybe 30 or 40" American soldiers watched.

Members of OPA 595, interviewed for the PBS program "Frontline" on August 2, 2002, confirm their presence at Sheberghan but cagily deny participating in war crimes. "The prisoners were being treated the exact same way as Dostum's forces were," said master sergeant "Paul." "I didn't see any atrocities, but I easily could have. Some prisoners may have died because they were sick or ill, and Dostum's forces just couldn't give them any care because they didn't have it."

So in the U.S. corporate media there has been a near total black out of this war crime. 

You can see the entire documentary here.

The Frontline documentary transcript here.

A crime committed.  Evidence destroyed.  But it will not be forgotten.

The most recent addition to the GOP dog-pack nipping at the heels of Congresswomen-Elect Betsy Markey, CU Regent Thomas J. Lucero, is having an identity, or at least residency, crisis. According to his CU Regent biography he lives in Johnstown. But, the press release he sent to the Loveland Reporter-Herald includes (R-Loveland) after his name (see the extended text).

According to the Managing Editor of the Reporter-Herald those 10-characters between parentheses are sufficient evidence to tout him as the "home town" candidate.  This is the second time that the Reporter-Herald has announced his candidacy in the past two-weeks crediting him as a Loveland resident.

Since the newspaper doesn’t seem to understand investigative journalism, or even the need to confirm information sent by politicians in a press release, I made a few checks.  First of all other Colorado newspapers have reported Mr. Lucero’s home as Johnstown.  Then there is the information on his CU Regent biography that lists his home as, surprise, Johnstown.

The CU Regent biography goes a little further to specify that Mr. Lucero is a Johnstown businessman and civic leader.  So while it is getting hard to figure out which former dairy farm is now part of Johnstown, or which corn-field is Loveland’s $6 Million dollar investment in the future, a person with ambitions for the US Congress should know what address to go to at the end of the day.

When he ran for CU Regent Tom knew that he lived in Johnstown.  The Colorado Secretary of State record shows his campaign committee address from the 1997 campaign season as 1015 WS 1ST ST/PO BOX 921 JOHNSTOWN, CO 80534.  That’s the same Post Office box that’s on the CU Regent Biography.

Further evidence of Mr. Lucero’s inaccuracy in the press release to the Reporter-Herald is found through the Dex.com online telephone directory.  No surprise here that there is no listing for Thomas J., Tom or “T” Lucero in Loveland.  This is inconclusive since Dex doesn’t account for the phenomenon of people with only a cellphone and no landline at their home.

Next in my bag of tricks is the Larimer County Assessor website for property records.  It’s reasonable to believe that an independently wealthy pizza magnate would own his home.  Curiously, a search for any person with the last name of Lucero owning property in the County doesn’t show a Thomas in Loveland, but there is one in Fort Collins.  Sorry, for dragging that guy into this mess.

So, I guess it comes down to this.  Almost a month before Betsy Markey is even provided the respect and courtesy of being sworn-in as a Member of Congress ( “MC” as my former Congressman and professor is known to say) we have the curious case of a GOP wanna-be getting ready for the 2010 contest.

The hatred that was flamed during the McCain/Palin campaign is a growth from 2005.  Why would I date it 2005 because Hurricane Katrina happened.  The destruction of New Orleans and the subsequent anarchy that prevailed showed what still lies in the heart and soul of many whites if given a chance to unleash their desires.

The Nation's A.C. Thompson has written a compelling report:

Immediately after the storm, the media portrayed African-Americans as looters and thugs--Mayor Ray Nagin, for example, told Oprah Winfrey that "hundreds of gang members" were marauding through the Superdome. Now it's clear that some of the most serious crimes committed during that time were the work of gun-toting white males.

So far, their crimes have gone unpunished....

Is it any wonder that the racist, neo-Nazi, Stars n Bars lover would do what they desire if there is no society to control them?

Remember there was the conspiracy to assassinate Obama at the DNC by racist neo-Nazis.  But the US Attorney Troy Eid did not prosecute them for that but only on much lesser charges.

When government fails to do its duty then it is a green light for racists.  One can only be vigilant when racists-militia-skin heads conspire to foment a race war.

Isn't this what the effect on America will be- to lower our standard of living?

From AP today:

Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky joined other GOP lawmakers in announcing his opposition to a White House-backed bill that was approved by the House on Wednesday. He called for an alternative that would reduce the wages and benefits of the Big Three automakers to bring them in line with those paid by Japanese carmakers Nissan, Toyota and Honda.

If Republicans believe in America is Number One then why are they following the lead by foreign automakers?  If we have the "highest" standard of living then why do Republican Senators like McConnell, Corker, and Shelby want to lower wages which lowers our standard of living?

Republican Senator DeMint said:

Well, I’m not trying to get rid of the unions, but I am saying that they appear to be an antiquated concept in today’s economy...

But the political aspect of this is most of this is being done to protect unions, uh, it’s not to protect the workers. And what I want to do is make sure we have jobs for these workers and we have first-class American automobile companies. And we’re not going to do it with the barnacles of unionism wrapped around their necks.

The only reason is to break unions for the benefit of companies.  If anyone had seen the nitwit commercial that showed a working dad complaining about his union because it doesn't represent his "values" it is nonsensical.  This is what Republican DeMint is making a case for- to seperate the very meaning of the word union and working individual.  What is a union but the working man and woman united in common cause?

If Republican Senators want to kill Industrial America then let them filibuster the old fashioned way.  No more "gentleman's agreement" but have each and every one Republican Senator get up and talk about how much they hate Industrial America.  The America of industrial might that beat the Axis powers.  The America of industrial might that made for our middle class to be what it was from the 1950's to the 1970's.  Let the Republicans tell Americans how much they want to have another Great Depression when 3,000,000 jobs will be lost when the Big Three go from bankruptcy directly into liquidation.

Remember, the destruction of 3 million jobs means that there will be vast repercussions in all sectors of the American economy.  For example, U.S. advertising will take a huge hit because the Big Three comprise over 5 percent of all advertising spending.  For example, NASCAR and NHRA will be devastated by the loss of financial support.  For example, steel and plastics industries stand to loss hundreds of millions of dollars in contracts.

Republicans want to play with fire but all Americans stand to lose it all because of their petty partisan ideological driven politics of the moment.

For several years now the evidence of the Alberto Gonzales gang's manipulation of the Federal Civil Service within the Department of Justice has been well publicized. The fact that right-wing political ideologues were being approved for career professional positions based on social issue orthodoxy, rather than competence and qualifications, is yet another blight on the scandalous legacy of the current occupant of the White House.

Today's report in the Washington Post reveals that this practice of burrowing right-wing political operatives into the Civil Service is also in-place in the scientific agencies. Perhaps this is the mis-administration's strategy for making permanent the Republican obsession for combating the truth of science with their twisted political and social priorities.

The Center for Public Integrity is soon to release their "Broken Government" study. The fund-raising teaser release promises 120 specific cases. This kind of investigative effort to hold the Bushies accountable as the mis-administration fades into oblivion is crucial.  Revealing and acting on the depth and breadth of this conspiracy is vital to the success of any reforms and corrects to the offenses of the past eight years.

The Obama-Biden Administration will be stretched and tested to uncover and flush-out these right-wing activists who have burrowed their way into the Civil Service like so many termites. The evidence of these infestations must be met with quick action.

Executive appointees selected for positions above these people must be prepared to take every possible action within the laws and regulations of the Civil Service structure to either get them dismissed, or make it too hard for them to stay and accomplish their nefarious goals. Attention to the selection of the Administrator of the Office of Personnel Management will be a key to success in this area.

Various Executive agency inspectors general must be supported in investigating these political opportunists. IF they are found to be substantially unqualified for the job description that they were hired to fill, then it should be clear grounds for dismissal as an unlawful appointment.

The Obama-Biden appointees who are saddled with these burdens must enforce clear, precise and enforceable performance standards. When confronted with qualitative requirements to enforce and perform based upon laws and regulations that these infiltrators are likely to hold ambitions to undermine and avoid, could more easily force them to resign.

Even in its demise the minions of the current mis-administration are appearing to be increasingly unwilling to follow the current occupant of the White House and the vice out of Washington. This certainly adds to the challenge and urgency of establishing the new administration's executive leadership. Too many months and too many acting, caretaker, leaders in the executive departments will make it all the harder to untangle the tentacles of the Bush parasites.

This is beyond the pale- Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson, testifying on the House side, defended the administration's handling of the massive $700 billion bailout for the financial industry and said it should remain off-limits for Detroit, no matter how badly the automakers need help.

This is what U.S. auto executives testimony on the Hill said, from AP:

WASHINGTON – Detroit's Big Three automakers pleaded with Congress on Tuesday for a $25 billion lifeline to save the once-proud titans of U.S. industry, warning of a national economic catastrophe should they collapse.

From the NYT:

Senator Richard C. Shelby of Alabama, the senior Republican on the banking committee, said he would not support legislation to aid the auto companies and seemed prepared to let one or all of them collapse...

“Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers’ competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy,” Mr. Boehner said in a statement.

But for the Bush and the Republicans it is all about politics.

I had read about why federal agencies may not be responsive to the incoming administration.  This is why, from TPMmuckraker.com:

In one example of what some Washington veterans call the "headless nail" phenomenon -- in which political appointees quietly move into career jobs ithin their departments, making it hard for the incoming administration to remove them -- David Bernhardt, the top lawyer for the Interior Department, has shifted six of his deputies into senior civil service positions. One of these, Robert Comer, was found by an internal DOI report to have struck an agreement on grazing with a Wyoming rancher "with total disregard for the concerns raised by career field personnel." Another, Matthew McKeown, has attracted criticism from environmentalists for promoting grazing and logging on public lands.

From leaving executive orders and writing new guidelines or redefining laws to allow for greed and avarice by individuals and corporations to plunder the lands of America and to consciously harm the health of Americans this is just another way for Mr. Bush to leave his "legacy".

Bailout Chrysler, GM or Ford?  Read this article that was on the front page of Yahoo.com and see if this is joke.

"It's like nature's law: Only the fit survive," said John Berrotto, 50, a security director in New York who drives a Lexus and said he does not support the idea of a bailout. "Sometimes companies just don't make it," he said.

Or this:

"I'm not sure they (the automakers) can be salvaged. Part of me says that if Honda and Toyota can make better cars in the U.S. with American workers, so be it," said Tom Reiter, who was interviewed in Los Angeles and drives a 2001 Jaguar XJ he said was a "big gas guzzler."

The fact is that millions of jobs are at stake and millions of retirees pensions are at stake.

Republican leaders like House Minority leader John Boehner said:

"Spending billions of additional federal tax dollars with no promises to reform the root causes crippling automakers’ competitiveness around the world is neither fair to taxpayers nor sound fiscal policy..."

Tell that to the hundreds of thousands of workers and million plus retirees Mr. Face of the Republican Party.

The hard numbers of GM and Chrysler, from Boston.com:

Chrysler employs about 49,000 in the United States and has about 125,000 pensioners. GM has 177,000 US workers and around 500,000 people receiving pensions.

The Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., estimates that for each auto manufacturing position, there are 7.5 jobs with parts makers and other companies, meaning the industry accounts for millions of jobs.

What bankruptcy would mean for the Big Three U.S. automakers can be understood with the Delphi Company bankruptcy to study.  From 2005 MSNBC.com reports:

Delphi, a $29 billion industrial giant, has been struggling to make a profit since General Motors spun off its parts subsidiary in 1999. Last year, Delphi lost $4.8 billion; it lost nearly $750 million in the first half of this year...

The most immediate impact will be on Delphi’s 185,000 workers. The company wants to cut wages to less than half of current levels and eliminate a "jobs bank" that gives full pay to 4,000 laid-off workers.

Delphi's retirees face similar cuts if the company follows the lead of steel companies and airlines that have successfully used the bankruptcy courts to offload their pension obligations to the federal Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, an agency set up in 1974 that is funded by contributions from premiums paid by companies. Once the agency takes over a pension plan, workers receive only part of their benefits....

 

From JohnE:

What do we do now?

Actually a few of us are working on mini Netroots Nations.  Tomorrow we have a conference call to start talking about creating an event for Colorado in early February.

I'd also like to have an earlier, less involved discussion of where do we go from here.  If you remember the Obama platform meetings, that was something that got my thought processes going.  However, just before the election wasn't the time for those conversations.  So, I'd like to have a number of policy discussions about the direction for Colorado, and now is the best time to do that.  I suggest a place with lots of beer.  However to enable participation across the state, why not use some bloggy platform for those who can't make it in person.  Hey, I know, why don't we use Squarestate diaries for that.  One for each subject.

See this thread and comment.

MoveOn.org is working too.  From an email:

Dear MoveOn member,

Since last week's historic win, we've been hearing the same clear message from millions of MoveOn members: Don't stop now.

So next Thursday (11/20), we're organizing "Fired Up and Ready to Go" gatherings throughout the country.

The work has begun to make the dream a reality.

Millions of supporters and hundreds of millions of our dollars to support a candidate who actually won the presidential race- Barack Obama!  There is something in the punch bowl however. 

What is happens when someone goes over to the other side and actively supports the other side?  Do you show that individual unconditional love or should it be tough love?  I believe that Lieberman should be shown some tough love (and the wood shed).

As many know it was under his chairmanship that the Senate Homeland Security Committee held no hearings on the government response to Hurricane Katrina.  Thus abdicating congressional responsibility for oversight.  He is derelict in his duty as a representative to the people to hold hearings on how well administrative departments are working.

If Howard Fineman is correct in stating "Obama has now expressed his clear support not only for Joe Lieberman staying in the caucus, but for retaining his Chairmanship of the Department of Homeland Security Committee."  This will be a bitter pill to the people who elected Obama.

This is a clear signal that it will be "business as usual" in Washington, D.C.  

This is not what we, the people, voted for.

Now is the time for the huge social networking that Obama and his team has created to come together.  This is not just a one way street.  Creating a social political movement from the grassroots means that it just cannot be turned into a top down command, control, and communication structure.

If change is to come from the people then it is time to tell the incoming administration from Obama on down the chain of command that we do not like the reporting that is coming out.

Specifically- 1). Lieberman should be shown tough love and stripped of his most important committee chairmanship. 2). Intelligence agencies must comply and conform intelligence activities with U.S. law prohibiting torture and U.S. military field manuals covering interrogation procedures, and 3). No "lame duck" holdovers from a failed administration.

Change should not come "later" but now.

From Wall Street Journal today:

Like the president-elect, Mr. Gates supports deploying more troops to Afghanistan. But the defense secretary strongly opposes a firm timetable for withdrawing American forces from Iraq, and his appointment could mean that Mr. Obama was effectively shelving his campaign promise to remove most troops from Iraq by mid-2010.  [My emphasis]

This is the reason why Gates should be replaced immediately.

WSJ.com continues:

Still, speculation that Mr. Gates would remain in the job increased over the weekend when Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) endorsed the idea in a CNN interview. "Why wouldn't we want to keep him?" Sen. Reid said. "He's never been a registered Republican."

Another Dem speaks, per WSJ.com:

"He's not ideological, he's not partisan, and you could trust him to manage the wars in a competent manner while a new administration gets up to speed," said Nancy Soderberg, a Democrat and onetime U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. "It would allow the Obama administration to hit the ground running."

I beg to differ but Mr. Obama can hit the ground running with his own set of advisors.  No more holdovers from a failed and criminal administration.

Remember that Chief of Staff Rahm said that Obama will follow through on his promises...that means a timetable for withdrawl from Iraq by 2010.

The will and majority of Americans want a firm timetable for withdrawl.  This is one of the main reasons why Obama became president.

Stop the killing of Americans and Iraqis.

Will Reid fold on ousting Lieberman from the Senate committe chairmanship?  ThinkProgess has this (h/t to AmericaBlog):

Reid on Lieberman: ‘I didn’t like what he did…but he is one of the most progressive people’ from CT.»

On CNN’s Late Edition, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) said he recognizes what Joe Lieberman said and did during the campaign was “wrong” and “improper,” telling host John King, “if we weren’t on television, I’d use a stronger word of describing what he did.” But he added, “Joe Lieberman is not some right-wing nutcase, Joe Lieberman is one of the most progressive people ever to come from the state of Connecticut.”

Lieberman as Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman has done nothing to hold the current administration accountable for its actions that have directly caused harm to the American people.

If Lieberman is still the chair of HS and Gov Affairs then you and I know that he will be ceaselessly "investigating" the Obama administration.  Being a constant distraction from the serious business of getting our nation on the right track because the Republicans feel that any change for the betterment of the common good is "socialism".

It is time for Lieberman to be kicked out of the Democratic Senate Caucus.

Call the members of the Steering and Outreach Committee and let them know that Lieberman is the Benedict Arnold now.

These are the members of the Steering and Outreach Committee who will be on the front lines of that decision making process:

Debbie Stabenow, Michigan - Chairwoman (202) 224-4822
Harry Reid, Nevada (202) 224-3542
John Kerry, Massachusetts (202) 224-2742
Daniel Inouye, Hawaii (202) 224-3934
Robert Byrd, West Virginia (202) 224-3954
Edward Kennedy, Massachusetts (202) 224-4543
Joe Biden, Delaware (202) 224-5042
Patrick Leahy, Vermont (202) 224-4242
Chris Dodd, Connecticut (202) 224-2823
Tom Harkin, Iowa (202) 224-3254
Max Baucus, Montana (202) 224-2651
Richard Durbin, Illinois (202) 224-2152
Kent Conrad, North Dakota (202) 224-2043
Carl Levin, Michigan (202) 224-6221
Herbert Kohl, Wisconsin (202) 224-5653
Barbara Boxer, California (202) 224-3553
Hillary Clinton, New York (202) 224-4451
Jeff Bingaman, New Mexico (202) 224-5521
Mark Pryor, Arkansas (202) 224-2353

If Sec. of Defense Gates is asked to stay on then why would he stay on for "less than a year"?  The selection process would have to start for Obama to really pick an individual who would be his own choice and not that from a failed administration.  It is fairly ridiculous to consider Gates to continue after Mr. Bush leaves even though the D.C. pundits are panting over Gates staying on.

Seth Walls, HuffingtonPost.com, reports:

But not everyone is sold on the idea. One former high-ranking defense official now advising Obama told the Huffington Post that keeping Gates around is "the dumbest thing I've ever heard." The former official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he has told the Obama transition team as much...

The official, who spoke from personal experience within the bureaucracy, said that as an administrator, "you need your own people. And a lot of those people [under Gates] were neoconservative architects of the [Iraq] war."

Meteor Blades, DailyKos.com, has written about the fact that no Republican presidents have appointed a Democrat to run the Department of Defense.  I think it speaks volumes that Democratic presidents have chosen Republicans to lead the DoD more often than from their own party.

Remember that the Sec of DoD must repudiate the processes set up by the failed Bush administration with regard to interrogation and treatment of prisoners.  Furthermore strict adherence to all treaties and conventions with regard to warmaking and waging of war through new guidelines must be implemented- i.e., the Bush Doctrine must be discarded and a new strategic policy must be set forth as per the Defense Department's quadriennial review.

My choices would be Wesley Clark or Gary Hart or Sam Nunn.  What does the Progressnowaction community think?