Hard Rain Journal 2-28-07: Human Rights Update -- Naming Names in Darfur and Ten Steps the USA Must Take to Redeem Itself

Image: Angelina Jolie, UN Goodwill Ambassador

In my five years with UNHCR, I have visited more than 20 refugee camps in Sierra Leone, Congo, Kosovo and elsewhere. I have met families uprooted by conflict and lobbied governments to help them. Years later, I have found myself at the same camps, hearing the same stories and seeing the same lack of clean water, medicine, security and hope.
It has become clear to me that there will be no enduring peace without justice. History shows that there will be another Darfur, another exodus, in a vicious cycle of bloodshed and retribution. But an international court finally exists. It will be as strong as the support we give it. This might be the moment we stop the cycle of violence and end our tolerance for crimes against humanity.
What the worst people in the world fear most is justice. That's what we should deliver. Angelina Jolie, Justice for Darfur, Washington Post, 2-18-07

Those who hunger for freedom, who thirst for human dignity, and who suffer for the sake of justice -- they are the patriots of this cause.
I believe with all my heart that America must always stand for these basic human rights -- at home and abroad. That is both our history and our destiny.
America did not invent human rights. In a very real sense, it is the other way round. Human rights invented America...During this period we may be tempted to abandon some of the time-honored principles and commitments which have been proven during the difficult times of past generations.
We must never yield to this temptation. Our American values are not luxuries but necessities -- not the salt in our bread but the bread itself. President Jimmy Carter's Farewell Address, 1-14-81

Hard Rain Journal 2-28-07: Human Rights Update -- Naming Names in Darfur and Ten Steps the USA Must Take to Redeem Itself

By Richard Power

Two important developments in the global struggle for human rights:

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has indicted a Sudanese government official, Ahmad Muhammad Harun (who in an Orwellian twist holds the title of "Minister of Humanitarian Affairs") and a Janjaweed militia leader, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman -- for crimes against humanity. (Guardian, 2-28-07)

A coalition of human rights, civil liberties and religious groups, led by Human Rights Watch, has articulated "Ten Steps to Restore US Moral Authority" and called on Congress to turn it into legislation. The coalition's common-sense approach for the 110th Congress includes:
(1) Restore Habeas Corpus 

(2) Stop Renditions to Torture
(3) Abolish Secret Prisons
(4) Hold Abusers Accountable
(5) Hold Fair Trials
(6) Prohibit Abusive Interrogations
(7) Close Guantánamo Bay
(8) Respect the Laws of War
(9) Protect Victims of Persecution From Being Defined As Terrorists
(10) End Indefinite Detention Without Charge

Serious attention and urgent action on both the crisis in Darfur and the "Ten Steps to Restore US Moral Authority" are vital. We must demand accountability at all levels -- from government officials, business leaders, news media executives and ourselves.

Those who live in denial are complicit. They must be made uncomfortable, they must be forced to consciously choose either to endorse genocide, torture and other crimes against humanity or affirm common sense and human decency.

Here are brief excerpts from these stories and links to the full texts:

A Sudanese government minister and a notorious Janjaweed leader have become the first people to be indicted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur. Ahmad Muhammad Harun, currently state minister for humanitarian affairs, and militia chief Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, also known as Ali Kushayb, were yesterday accused on 51 counts of crimes against humanity, including murder, rape and torture, in 2003 and 2004. ICC chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo recommended that the men be summonsed to The Hague for trial.
Human rights groups applauded the decision as a step towards ending the impunity in Darfur, where at least 200,000 civilians have died since rebels from African tribes took up arms against the government in 2003...
Leslie Lefkow, the lead author of 2005 Human Rights Watch report that called for war crimes investigations into 22 people in Darfur, called the indictments "an important first step". But she added: "It is vital that the court continues its investigations up the chain of command." Xan Rice, Sudanese minister indicted over Darfur, Guardian, 2-28-07

Congress should adopt a 10-step plan to reverse the Bush administration’s detention and interrogation policies, a coalition of human rights, civil liberties and religious groups said in a letter sent today to the Congressional leadership. First on the agenda is the restoration of access to courts for detainees to bring habeas corpus challenges – the age-old protection against the arbitrary exercise of executive power. Among other things, the coalition also calls on Congress to enact legislation that would stop renditions to torture; permanently ban the use of secret prisons; and prohibit the use in any adjudicative proceedings of evidence obtained through coercion and abusive interrogation practices, including in the newly authorized military commissions. 
 
“For the last five years, the Bush administration has ignored the rule of law,” said Jennifer Daskal, US advocacy director at Human Rights Watch. “It has authorized abusive interrogations, indefinite secret detention without charge, and rendition to torture – all practices Washington condemned when carried out by others.” 
 
Congress should follow the 10 steps laid out in the letter, Human Rights Watch said. Not only is it the right thing to do, but it is good policy – one that would restore the United States’ reputation as a nation that respects human rights and the rule of law. 
 
“The new Congress now has the chance – and the mandate – to right the wrongs of the past five years and restore Washington’s moral authority at home and abroad,” said Daskal. 
10 Steps to Restore Moral Authority, Human Rights Watch, 2-22-07

If you want to help save Darfur, here are some sites that offer suggestions on how to participate:

Save Darfur!
Genocide Intervention Network

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GS(3) Thunderbolt 1-29-07: Update on the Crisis in Darfur - What Must Be Done Isn't Getting Done

Hard Rain Journal 12-10-06: Human Rights Update -- Annan Speaks Out on Darfur, Carter Speaks Out on Palestine -- Have You? Has Your Representative?

GS(3) Thunderbolt 11-27-06: Update on Darfur -- UN Reports Crisis Worsens, HRW Urges AU to Get Tough with Khartoum

GS(3) Thunderbolt 10-23-06: Update on the Crisis in Darfur

Hard Rain Journal 9-17-06: Global Day for Darfur

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Hard Rain Journal 2-17-07: UN Millennium Goals and Human Rights Update -- Healing Balm for the World? Feed Children, Empower Women

Human Rights and UN Millennium Goals Update -- The Real Poverty is on Easy Street

Hard Rain Journal 1-8-07: Human Rights and Environmental Security Update from Burma, Cambodia and Mekong River

Hard Rain Journal 12-4-06: Human Rights Update -- Unless You Protect Women, Children and Indigenous Peoples, You Cannot Achieve Real Security

Hard Rain Journal 11-14-06: Human Rights Update -- Daw Aung San Suu Kyi

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Ahmad Muhammad Harun, Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-al-Rahman, Bush, USA, UN, ICC, Human Rights Watch, Sudan, Darfur, Angelina Jolie, Jimmy Carter, Luis Moreno-Ocampo , Humanitarian Crisis, Refugees, Human Rights, Habeas Corpus, Torture, Guantánamo

Hard Rain Journal 2-26-07: Is the Storm Yet to Come? Our Only Protection is An Old Piece of Parchment; Its Only Protection is Us.

Image: La Liberté guidant le peuple par Eugène Delacroix (1830) (Musée du Louvre, Paris)

Hard Rain Journal 2-26-07: Is the Storm Yet to Come? Our Only Protection is An Old Piece of Parchment; Its Only Protection is Us.

By Richard Power

There is a wall of denial in the US mainstream news media. Official lies are its bricks, and tabloid-style distraction is its mortar.

This wall has been built by those executives, editors and on-air talents who have followed Faust and Dorian Gray into existential oblivion (Keith Olbermann, of course, is one notable exception).

The wall is at its highest and thickest on the air waves.

In the realm of the big city newspapers, it is easier to punch through, you can often glimpse the light of truth on the back pages, and sometimes even on the front page.

On the air-waves, such glimpses are rare.

However, on Sunday, February 24, three big holes were punched through this wall. Two on the Sunday morning news shows, and one in prime-time.

Sy Hersh made it on to Wolf Bluster's Late Edition, and he delivered an urgent and deeply disturbing message, which corroborates what I have been writing about for several weeks (e.g., Hard Rain Journal 2-21-07: This is Madness -- Bush-Cheney Target Saddam and then the Iranians -- Both Sworn Enemies of Al Qaeda, Meanwhile...), the Bush-Cheney regime has chosen sides in the Middle East and have allied themselves with those forces that attacked the USA on 911:

New Yorker columnist Sy Hersh says the “single most explosive” element of his latest article involves an effort by the Bush administration to stem the growth of Shiite influence in the Middle East (specifically the Iranian government and Hezbollah in Lebanon) by funding violent Sunni groups.
Hersh says the U.S. has been “pumping money, a great deal of money, without congressional authority, without any congressional oversight” for covert operations in the Middle East where it wants to “stop the Shiite spread or the Shiite influence.” Hersh says these funds have ended up in the hands of “three Sunni jihadist groups” who are “connected to al Qaeda” but “want to take on Hezbollah.”
Hersh summed up his scoop in stark terms: “We are simply in a situation where this president is really taking his notion of executive privilege to the absolute limit here, running covert operations, using money that was not authorized by Congress, supporting groups indirectly that are involved with the same people that did 9/11.” Hersh added, “All of this should be investigated by Congress, by the way, and I trust it will be. In my talking to membership — members there, they are very upset that they know nothing about this. And they have great many suspicions.” Think Progress, 2-25-07

The implications of Sy Hersh's chilling revelations in The New Yorker were underscored by two stories that appeared in big city newspapers the same day:

SOME of America’s most senior military commanders are prepared to resign if the White House orders a military strike against Iran, according to highly placed defence and intelligence sources.
Tension in the Gulf region has raised fears that an attack on Iran is becoming increasingly likely before President George Bush leaves office. The Sunday Times has learnt that up to five generals and admirals are willing to resign rather than approve what they consider would be a reckless attack.
“There are four or five generals and admirals we know of who would resign if Bush ordered an attack on Iran,” a source with close ties to British intelligence said. “There is simply no stomach for it in the Pentagon, and a lot of people question whether such an attack would be effective or even possible.”
A British defence source confirmed that there were deep misgivings inside the Pentagon about a military strike. “All the generals are perfectly clear that they don’t have the military capacity to take Iran on in any meaningful fashion. Nobody wants to do it and it would be a matter of conscience for them. Times UK via Raw Story, 2-25-07

Although international concern is growing about Iran's nuclear program and its regional ambitions, diplomats here say most U.S. intelligence shared with the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency has proved inaccurate and none has led to significant discoveries inside Iran.
The officials said the CIA and other Western spy services had provided sensitive information to the Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency at least since 2002, when Iran's long-secret nuclear program was exposed. But none of the tips about supposed secret weapons sites provided clear evidence that the Islamic Republic was developing illicit weapons.
"Since 2002, pretty much all the intelligence that's come to us has proved to be wrong," a senior diplomat at the IAEA said. Another official here described the agency's intelligence stream as "very cold now" because "so little panned out."
The reliability of U.S. information and assessments on Iran is increasingly at issue as the Bush administration confronts the emerging regional power on several fronts: its expanding nuclear effort, its alleged support for insurgents in Iraq and its backing of Middle East militant groups. Los Angeles Times, 2-25-07

The second blast of truth on 2-25-07 occured in an ABC This Week interview with former US President Jimmy Carter:



Carter told ABC News, "If Al should decide to run -- which I'm afraid he won't -- I would support Al Gore."

The former Democratic President asserted Gore could accomplish much more in the White House than he ever could as a private citizen, saying to Stephanopoulos, "His burning issue now is global warming and preventing it. He can do infinitely more to accomplish that goal as in the incumbent in the White House, than he can making even movies that get -- you know, that get Oscars."

...

Despite public pressure from Carter and others, the former President does not believe Gore will make a second bid for the White House saying, "I don't think he will. I've put so much pressure on Al to run that he's almost gotten aggravated with me."

Carter told Stephanopoulos that he had not called Gore "lately" adding, "He almost told me, the last time I talked, 'Don't call me anymore.'"

Carter joked that Gore had offered to support him in 2008 and referred to Gore as "my favorite" in the interview, concluding, "I really have not expressed any public approval or endorsement or preference for any of the Democratic candidates except (Gore)."
ABC News, 2-23-07

The third blast of truth to punch through the wall of denial on 2-25-07 occured during the prime-time broadcast of the Academy Awards ceremony:

"An Inconvenient Truth," the big-screen adaptation of former U.S. Vice President Al Gore's slide-show lecture about the perils of global warming, won Academy Awards on Sunday for documentary feature and best song.
The award for best documentary went to director Davis Guggenheim and producers Lawrence Bender ("Pulp Fiction") and Laurie David, the environmentalist wife of "Seinfeld" co-creator Larry David.
But the film marked a personal triumph for Gore, the 2000 Democratic presidential nominee who left politics after narrowly losing his White House bid to Republican George W. Bush and embarked on a new campaign calling attention to the threat of climate change.
"My fellow Americans, people all over the world, we need to solve the climate crisis," Gore said after taking the stage.
"It's not a political issue, it's a moral issue. We have everything we need to get started with the possible exception of the will to act. That's a renewable resource. Let's renew it."...Director Guggenheim handed Gore the Oscar and told the audience the movie was made "because we were moved to act by this man." Reuters, 2-26-07

We are careening toward catastrophe on several tracks.

Two great tasks -- thwarting regional war in the Middle East and coming to grips with the rapidly accelerating climate crisis -- are of paramount importance.

The two candidates christened "frontrunners" for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination, Sens. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) and Barack Obama (D-IL) do not seem to understand the situation. They too are in denial, like the mainstream news media they futilely flirt with. Clinton wants to "chat" with you, Obama says he has been in Washington, DC long enough (two years) to know it has to be changed.

There is no time for this nonsense. Both of these stances are ludicrous under the present conditions.

We are in a national and global state of emergency.

Clinton is trying to triangulate with the political center of the 1990s (it has been shattered). Obama acts like life is a Frank Capra movie.

John Edwards understands much more, he has defined his candidacy on an issue big enough to make a difference: POVERTY. (For more on the Words of Power shortlist for 2008, click here.)

But only Gore has gone to the edge of the world, looked into the gaping mouth of the abyss and returned with the moral authority to speak about what he saw there.

It is Al Gore who has been defending the Constitution of the USA for the last seven years, not Bush-Cheney, and no, not Clinton or Obama either.

On every issue -- not only energy and the environment, but also Iraq, Abu Ghraib, the Bill of Rights, the 9/11 and Katrina failures, etc. -- he has been on the side of both the Founders and the Future, without equivocation or nuance. Perhaps he whispered the oath to himself back on that awful morning in January 2001. He has been the leader of the free world -- even in exile.

No, he can't run for President, at least not yet. Not until further into the arc of the campaign, e.g., if Clinton and Obama exhaust each other -- and only then if there is an opportunity to do something out of the ordinary. I hope that opportunity arises, and I hope he takes advantage of it.

Or, if it is not to be, in lieu of the Gore scenario, I hope that one of those now running decides to speak the truth and calls the people out to march with him or her to the barricades of the psyche.

And even if Gore did make the move, there are some hard questions that must be asked of him:

In 2000, he refused to call the people into the streets to resist the theft of the election; and in 2001, he gavelled down the Congressional Black Caucus as the Democratic-controlled US Senate conspired to deny its petition the one signature needed to challenge that theft. If Gore were confronted with another such moment, different in circumstances but similar in import, what would he do now?

Yes, he wanted to avoid bloodshed and chaos. Well, guess what, we got bloodshed and chaos anyway -- albeit in a different form.

Meanwhile, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Reps. Jack Murtha (D-PA) and John Conyers (D-MI), Sens. Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and the others must struggle on. And as I have said repeatedly, the fate of the Republic will probably be decided over the next six months.

Will Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CN) reveal himself to be an irredeemable Judas and turn the US Senate over to Dick Cheney?

Will shadowy forces deliver yet another "Pearl Harbor" -- a second "9/11" -- and will it lead to martial law?

Will Bush-Cheney either force or fabricate another "Gulf of Tonkin" incident to justify its yearning to launch an attack on Iran?

Or will Israel attack Iran and call for our help? And if it does, will the Democratic Party not roll over and give Bush-Cheney whatever it says it needs to come to the aid of Israel?

Prepare yourself and your families.

Perhaps the greatest storm is yet to come.

Our only protection is an old piece of parchment and whatever you remember of what is written on it; and its only protection is us.

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS

Hard Rain Journal 2-22-07: Corporatist News Media Still Shields Bush-Cheney from the Savage Truth on Plame, Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda and Walter Reed

Hard Rain Journal 2-21-07: This is Madness -- Bush-Cheney Target Saddam and then the Iranians -- Both Sworn Enemies of Al Qaeda, Meanwhile...

Hard Rain Journal 2-16-07: What Happens When a Whole Nation is Dragged into Room 101? Remember, 2+2=4

Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

Hard Rain Journal 2-2-07: Forget about 2008, the Fate of the Republic could be Decided in the Next Six Months

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda, Russ Feingold, Barbara Boxer, Seymour Hersh,Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, Al Gore, Jimmy Carter, Nancy Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, Laurie David, An Inconvenient Truth, Global Warming, Climate Change, Jack Murtha, John Conyers, IAEA, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 2-24-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Our Greatest Planetary Threat is Our Greatest Planetary Opportunity

Image: Al Gore, Carmen Diaz and Kevin Wall announce Live Earth, 7-7-07

THE world is in the midst of a great political transformation, in which climate change has moved to the centre of national and global politics.
For politicians in persistent denial about the need act, including US President George W Bush, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, there is no longer any place to hide.
The science is clear, manmade changes in climate are being felt, and the electorate's demand for action is growing.
Though unlikely just a few months ago, a strong global agreement by 2010, one that will set a path for action for decades to come, now stands a good chance of being implemented.
Political leaders in countries that produce coal, oil, and gas - like the US, Australia, and Canada - have pretended that climate change is a mere hypothesis.
For several years, the Bush administration tried to hide the facts from the public, deleting references to manmade climate from government documents and even trying to suppress statements by leading government scientists.
Yet truth has triumphed over political manoeuvres. JEFFREY D. SACHS, The Climate Change Revolution, The Namibian, 2-23-07

Hard Rain Journal 2-24-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Our Greatest Planetary Threat is Our Greatest Planetary Opportunity

By Richard Power

Giant hornets are killing the honey bees of France. The wines of Tuscany are imperiled. Romania is considering shifting its soccer season. In the South Pacific, the 105,000 inhabitants of Kiribati will have to leave their island nation -- soon. The sea turtles that nest on the beaches of Flordia are being decimated. The Indian government has launched a massive afforestation project. In the Peruvian Andes, the vital Qori Kalis glacier will be gone in five years. And there is much more. This litany is just a random sampling...

Yes, global warming, accelerated by human consumption of fossil fuels, is causing drastic climate changes which could result in catastrophic circumstances for much of humankind. At this point in our history, you would have to either be heavily-invested in fossil fuels, in deep denial about a lot more than the environment, or both, not to accept this fact.

But this planetary crisis is not only a profound threat, it is a life-affirming challenge and an extraordinary opportunity for humankind to get it right, i.e., to overcome short-sightedness and disconnectedness, and come to grips with many of the security and sustainability issues -- e.g., water, oil, debt, population control, arms proliferation -- that would have confronted us with dire consequences, sooner or later, even if global warming had not changed the game forever.

Here are some stories from Kashmir to South Africa to Manhattan's financial district, organized by region -- these eleven news items and op-ed pieces highlight both global warming's sweeping impact and humankind's so far fitful response, and they include some encouraging insights and practical recommendations from those leaders in business and government, as well as scientists and activists, who understand:

AFRICA

Ironically, Africa, and SA in particular, lie in the middle of this "road to hell". As a recent report stated, "global warming means that many dry areas (in Africa) are going to get drier and wet areas are going to get wetter". But, as the global warming increases, we may also be approaching a tipping point in the tide of public opinion -- and, more important, political will -- which might just save humanity from the worst effects of global warming...
The pressure will not go away. So what can you do?
On the business front: recognise global warming as a central business issue -- and a profit opportunity. Ensure your colleagues and staff understand the issue.
Understand your own company's carbon footprint. Start with an energy audit. What's your energy bill? What can you do to cut it and make real savings?
Actively seek out and develop the new business opportunities and grab them before everyone else does. There is plenty of low-hanging fruit for the nimble and forward-thinking.
What do you want your environmental balance sheet to say? Tie your beliefs directly to your brand. Communicate what you are doing to your customers, markets and government.
Ask where your own investments are going. Where is your pension fund investing? Are you supporting environmentally sound businesses? Talk to your suppliers. Make clear the environmental standards you expect.
And, most important, act now! Smart businesses are already getting ahead of the curve. Remember that leaders act before they have to. Neil Jacobsohn, The Bottom Line About Climate Change, All Africa, 2-19-07

SOUTH Africa faces the prospect of severe effects from global warming and the Western Cape is likely to be the province most affected.
This was revealed at a conference hosted by the Western Cape environmental affairs and development department in George yesterday...
In a presentation by OneWorld Sustainable Investments, a consultant retained by the department to formulate a response strategy for the province, the meeting learned that the effects had already been detected in the region. “We are seeing the disappearance of the transitional seasons of spring and autumn which are vital for some farming activities, such as fruit growing, which need a gradual change of temperature to produce fruit of export quality,” said Belynda Petrie.
Petrie also predicted that the interior of the Cape would become hotter and drier and the western section of the Western Cape would receive less rainfall, but the Garden Route area was likely to become wetter and windier.Bob Hopkin, Western Cape ready to face challenges of climate change, conference learns, The Herald,2-24-07

ASIA

These circumstances will affect inter alia food production, infrastructure, water supply, biodiversity, natural ecosystems, and human health. Developing countries will suffer disproportionately from negative impacts of climate change. In addition, processes of development will be retarded, and new sources of social conflict will arise as consequences of increasingly adverse climatic conditions. Therefore it is necessary to define actions aimed at reducing the vulnerability of poorer social groups and allowing them to participate equability in the new opportunities offered by global climate change policy. It is in this area that development co-operation finds a specific niche where it can address a global concern through activities at the local level. Dr. S. A. Shameem, Climate Change: A Threat to Global Environment, Greater Kashmir, 2-24-07

New Delhi: The President's Address to the joint session of Parliament at the start of the Budget Session on Friday for the first time took note of climate change as President Kalam expressed concern over the impending climate change due to global warming and called upon the international community to evolve a framework for sustainable development to ward off the threat. The President also announced that a major programme for massive afforestation of degraded forest land, 'Green India', was under active consideration of his government...Quoting Gandhiji, Kalam said: ''The Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not everyman's greed." Time to ponder over climate change: Prez, IBNlive.com, 2-22-07

OCEANIA

International efforts to combat global warming will come too late to prevent the evacuation of Pacific islands sinking as a result of rising sea levels and severe weather, said Anote Tong, president of Kiribati.
``We can't out-move the changes in the weather and the sea level rise,'' Tong said in Tarawa, the capital of Kiribati, a 33-island archipelago in the northeastern Pacific. ``We have to consider leaving rather than wait.''
Most of Kiribati will be uninhabitable by the middle of this century because of weather damage and rising tides, Tong said in a telephone interview. The government is already looking at ways to permanently move the population of about 105,000 people off the islands. Emma O'Brien, Global Warming Action Comes Too Late to Help Pacific, 2-15-07

EUROPE

Swarms of giant hornets renowned for their vicious stings and skill at massacring honeybees have settled in France. And there are now so many of the insects that entomologists fear it will just be a matter of time before they cross to Britain...
Global warming has largely been blamed for the survival and spread of the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina, which is thought to have arrived in France from the Far East in a consignment of Chinese pottery in late 2004...A handful can destroy a nest of 30,000 bees in just a couple of hours — a major concern among the beekeeping industry. Peter Allen, Hornets Hit France and Could Reach Britain, Telegraph UK, 2-21-07

Imagine a world where Chianti wine is made in Scandinavia.
It could come to just that by the end of the century, experts in Italy warn, if climate change continues unchecked. A study by Florence University linking the effects of rain and temperature to wine production found that increasingly high temperatures and intense rains are likely to threaten the quality of Tuscan wines. Italy's farmers association warns that the cultivation of olive trees, which grow in a mild climate, has almost reached the Alps. MARTA FALCONI, Climate change may threaten Tuscan wines, Associated Press, 2-21-07

The Romanian Soccer Federation is considering changing the soccer season's dates due to global warming, chairman Mircea Sandu said...If the trend of warm winters continues in the next 2-3 years, the players' vacation could be cut short, with the season ending on Dec. 23 and resuming on Jan. 15, Sandu said. Traditionally, the soccer league goes on vacation in mid-December for two months. Global warming could change Romania's soccer season, Associated Press, 2-12-07

AMERICAS

The principal glacier of the world's biggest tropical ice-cap could disappear within five years as a result of global warming, one of the world's leading glaciologists predicted yesterday. The imminent demise of the Qori Kalis glacier, the main component of the Quelccaya ice cap in the Peruvian Andes, offers the starkest evidence yet of the effects of climate change, according to Lonnie Thompson, of Ohio State University. Although scientists have known for decades that Qori Kalis and the other Quelccaya glaciers are melting, new observations indicate that the rate of retreat is increasing, Professor Thompson said. When he visits this summer, he expects to find that the glacier has halved in size since last year, and he believes that Qori Kalis will be gone within five years.
Mark Henderson, Great Andean Glacier "Will Melt to Nothing by 2012," Times UK, 2-16-07

Climate change is further imperiling loggerhead turtles that nest on Florida beaches, according to a new study by British researchers. The study warns that predicted temperature increases could decimate male North American loggerhead populations, with global ramifications for the species. Climate Change Threatens Loggerhead Turtles, ENS, 2-22-07

Next time you visit the ATM at your local Citibank, you might be interested in knowing what the company is planning to invest in down in Texas since it's going to directly impact your future. This prestigious bank is seriously considering funding the dirtiest coal power project this side of China...The cost of constructing these global warming factories is estimated at $11 billion. That's a lot of scratch to cobble together, even for a big company like TXU. So they're counting on support from three of the country's leading investment banks: Citigroup, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch. What makes this situation so ridiculous is that these same banks are falling all over themselves trying to promote their commitment to climate protection. And now they're jockeying to fund a project that represents a giant step backwards - guaranteeing enormous carbon emissions for the next half-century...If you do business with any of these banks, contact them and demand they get with the 21st century. Laurie David, Unwise Investment: Why are Citibank, Morgan Stanley, and Merrill Lynch Funding Dirty Power?, Huffington Post

Want to participate in the effort to mitigate the impact of global warming? Download "Ten Things You Can Do"

There is a powerful magic in personal commitment.

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Hard Rain Journal 2-10-07: Climate Crisis Update -- It is a Strange Bird that Fouls its own Nest

Hard Rain Journal 2-1-07: Climate Crisis Update -- From California to Queensland, the "Inconvenient Truth" has Become Unavoidable

Hard Rain Journal 1-22-07: Climate Crisis Update -- At Five Minutes to Midnight, Europe at Risk

Hard Rain Journal 1-2-07: Climate Crisis Update -- Dire Warnings from the West's Experts and from Chinese Gov; Meanwhile, from the US Gov -- NOTHING

Hard Rain Journal 12-27-06: Climate Crisis Update -- Lohachara is Gone, the Bears in Spain are Not Hibernating, Wall Street Wonders What It All Means

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Global Warming, Energy Security, Environmental Security, Alternate Energy, Sustainability, Green Power, Renewable Resources, Climate Change, Weather, Al Gore, An Inconvenient Truth, Live Earth, Crisis Management,TXR, Laurie David, CITIGROUP, Kashmir, South Africa, Kiribati, France, Tuscany, Romania, Peru, India, Sea Turtles, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 2-22-07: Corporatist News Media Still Shields Bush-Cheney from the Savage Truth on Plame, Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda and Walter Reed

Image: Valerie Plame and Joe Wilson, PBS Now

Hard Rain Journal 2-22-07: Corporatist News Media Still Shields Bush-Cheney from the Savage Truth on Plame, Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda and Walter Reed

By Richard Power

While the US mainstream news media distracts the populace with the Clinton-Obama hissy-fit and Anna Nicole Smith's decomposing corpse, vital aspects of several important stories are going under-reported:

Although the closing of the Libby trial was discussed at length on MSNBC's Hardball, e.g., scintillating remarks made by US DoJ special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald in his final argument went unquoted and unexplored.

Fitz starts off yelling "Madness," referring to the defense closing arguments. Without Tim Russert ever coming to court to testify, they could convict on the Tim Russert charges. If he got hit by a bus last month and died, and went to the great newsroom in the sky before trial, they could still convict by proof beyond a reasonable doubt.
Jeralyn Merritt, Fitz' Final Closing, Huffington Post, 2-20-07

During closing arguments Tuesday in the obstruction of justice and perjury trial of former vice presidential staffer, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Fitzgerald told jurors that "there is a cloud over the vice president. ... a cloud over the White House over what happened," according to a copy of the transcript of Fitzgerald's statements.
"We didn't put that cloud there," Fitzgerald said. "That cloud's there because the defendant obstructed justice. That cloud is something you just can't pretend isn't there." Jason Leopold, Fitzgerald: "There Is a Cloud Over the Vice President", Truthout, 2-21-07

Although CNN's Situation Room reported VICE _resident Cheney's disgraceful accusations that the Democratic Party is aiding and abetting Al Qaeda, it did not cite Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi's fierce and immediate rebuke.

Vice President Cheney today on Iraq redeployment: “I think if we were to do what Speaker Pelosi and Congressman Murtha are suggesting, all we’ll do is validate the al Qaeda strategy.” Pelosi responds: “Vice President Cheney continues to question the patriotism of those of us in Congress who challenge the Bush Administration’s misguided policies in Iraq, but his latest attack is beneath the office of the Vice President, especially at a time of war.”
UPDATE: “House Speaker Nancy Pelosi on Wednesday phoned President Bush to air her complaints over Vice President Dick Cheney’s comments. … ‘You cannot say as the president of the United States, “I welcome disagreement in a time of war,” and then have the vice president of the United States go out of the country and mischaracterize a position of the speaker of the House and in a manner that says that person in that position of authority is acting against the national security of our country,’ the speaker said.”
Pelosi beats back Cheney smear, Think Progress, 2-21-07

Although the US mainstream news media reported the Washington Post's Walter Reed expose, none of its propapunditgandists asked why the "Commander-in-Chief" had no comment:

Behind the door of Army Spec. Jeremy Duncan's room, part of the wall is torn and hangs in the air, weighted down with black mold. When the wounded combat engineer stands in his shower and looks up, he can see the bathtub on the floor above through a rotted hole. The entire building, constructed between the world wars, often smells like greasy carry-out. Signs of neglect are everywhere: mouse droppings, belly-up cockroaches, stained carpets, cheap mattresses. Dana Priest and Anne Hull, "Soldiers Face Neglect, Frustration At Army's Top Medical Facility," Washington Post, 2-18-07

Although the US mainstream news media as a whole carries the Bush-Cheney regime's filthy water on Iran (just as it did on Iraq before the invasion), Gen. Wesley Clark's launch of StopIranWar.com in collaboration with VoteVets.org went unreported.

All Americans want to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons and interfering on the ground inside Iraq. Yet President Bush’s saber rattling gives the US little additional leverage to engage and dissuade Iran, and, more than likely, simply accelerates a dangerous slide into war. The United States can do better than this.
Cannot the world’s most powerful nation deign speak to the resentful and scheming regional power that is Iran? Can we not speak of the interests of others, work to establish a sustained dialogue, and seek to benefit the people of Iran and the region? Could not such a dialogue, properly conducted, begin a process that could, over time, help realign hardened attitudes and polarizing views within the region? And isn’t it easier to undertake such a dialogue now, before more die, and more martyrs are created to feed extremist passions?
Please join the Iraq War veterans at VoteVets.org and me and sign the petition to President Bush today. Military force against Iran is not the solution now, and if we adopt the right strategy, perhaps it need never be. Urge him to work with our allies and use every diplomatic, political, and economic option at our disposal to deal with Iran. War is not the answer. Gen. Wesley Clark, www.stopiranwar.com

The bottom line?

Bush and Cheney have violated the nation's sacred trust with its military and intelligence personnel, and yet, the corporatist news media still shields them from the savage truth and its terrible consequences.

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS

Hard Rain Journal 2-21-07: This is Madness -- Bush-Cheney Target Saddam and then the Iranians -- Both Sworn Enemies of Al Qaeda, Meanwhile...

Hard Rain Journal 2-16-07: What Happens When a Whole Nation is Dragged into Room 101? Remember, 2+2=4

Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

Hard Rain Journal 2-2-07: Forget about 2008, the Fate of the Republic could be Decided in the Next Six Months

Hard Rain Journal 1-26-07: Should Cheney be the Direct Target of Congressional Investigation?

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda, Valerie Plame, Joe Wilson, Anna Nicole Smith,Hillary Clinton, Barak Obama, DoJ, Patrick Fitzgerald, Nancy Pelosi, Bush, Cheney, Wesley Clark, VoteVets.org, Walter Reed, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 2-21-07: This is Madness -- Bush-Cheney Target Saddam and then the Iranians -- Both Sworn Enemies of Al Qaeda, Meanwhile...

Image: Salvador Dali, Geopoliticus child watching the birth of the new man

It is difficult to understand why, in the case of Iran, the suspension of the program for enrichment of uranium has been made a precondition for any talks in which such suspension is the main subject. It is not long ago that an American commission led by former Secretary of State James Baker and former Representative Lee Hamilton declared that the United States ought to engage in talks with Iran and Syria. Yet, despite the dire situation in Iraq, the Bush administration prefers to talk to Iran and Syria through public statements and military threats...A less humiliating approach might give better results. Such an approach is now being tested in the case of North Korea. Why not in Iran, too? Hans Blix, Will the United States Attack Iran?, International Herald Tribune, 2-19-07

Al-Qaeda is believed to have established compounds inside Pakistan to train small groups of operatives for possible attacks in the West, a US official said. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the compounds had been detected over the past year in a semi-autonomous tribal area along the mountainous border with Afghanistan....they were being used to train groups of 10 to 20 people at a time for what were believed to be operations in the West, particularly in Western Europe, the official said...The compounds suggest that Al-Qaeda, once seen as having been reduced to a largely inspirational role in an increasingly dispersed, decentralized international jihadist movement, is rebuilding its capacity to mount international operations. Qaeda camps in Pakistan to train operatives: US official, Agence France Press, 2-19-07

Hard Rain Journal 2-21-07: This is Madness -- Bush-Cheney Target Saddam and then the Iranians -- Both Sworn Enemies of Al Qaeda, Meanwhile...

By Richard Power

It is madness.

In the twisted and bloody world of Middle East geopolitics, the maxim is "My enemy's enemy is my friend."

And yet, the Bush-Cheney regime has already taken out Saddam Hussein and is now preparing to attack the Iranians -- both sworn enemies of Al Qaeda.

Are we to conclude, therefore, that Al Qaeda is the Bush-Cheney regime's friend?

After all, before they seized power in 2000, the Bush-Cheney regime's neo-con "thought leaders" had openly opined for "another Pearl Harbor," and after they were installed, they consistently ignored direct and dire warnings of an imminent threat from Al Qaeda.

And then, of course, there is the issue of business relationships between the Bush-Cheney cabal and the Saudis in general, and between the Bush and Bin Laden families in particular.

The pretexts for the saber-rattling over Iran is that it is on the way to developing nuclear weapons and that it is behind the killing of US military in Iraq.

Well, Pakistan, a government which harbors and has been seriously compromised by Al Qaeda, already has nuclear weapons; and most of the US military personnel killed in Iraq have died at the hands of Sunni insurgents, armed and funded by "our allies" in Saudi Arabia.

What is wrong with this picture? What are we really looking at here? And are you ready for the answer?

The Neo-Cons have an answer, of course, but it too is a lie -- i.e., to break the jaw bones of the Middle East in order to reshape its face; but even if it weren't a lie, it could not have been sold to the American people if it had been plainly spoken up front.

Don't lose track of the four stories cited below, and the big questions they raise --

What involvement did Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove, have in the decision to spurn Iran's offer of cooperation?

Did Condoleeza Rice commit perjury in her US Senate testimony on the 2003 Iranian peace proposal?

Is Dick Cheney the real target of the US DoJ investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame?

Is the DoJ purge of Republican-appointed prosecutors a brazen attempt to halt ongoing investigations into official corruption that would lead inevitably to the White House?

Here are brief excerpts from the four stories, with links to the full texts, as well as the big questions that they raise:

What involvement did Bush's political advisor, Karl Rove, have in the decision to spurn Iran's offer of cooperation?

Karl Rove, then White House deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, received a copy of the secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Republican Congressman Bob Ney in early May 2003, according to an Iranian-American scholar who was then on his Congressional staff.Karl Rove, then White House deputy chief of staff for President George W. Bush, received a copy of the secret Iranian proposal for negotiations with the United States from former Republican Congressman Bob Ney in early May 2003, according to an Iranian-American scholar who was then on his Congressional staff.
Ney, who pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to prison in January for his role in the Jack Abramov lobbying scandal, was named by former aide Trita Parsi as an intermediary who took a copy of the Iranian proposal to the White House...Ney was chosen by Swiss Ambassador in Tehran Tim Guldimann to carry the Iranian proposal to the White House, according to Parsi, because he knew the Ohio Congressman to be the only Farsi-speaking member of Congress and particularly interested in Iran... Gareth Porter, Rove Said to Have Received 2003 Iranian Proposal, Inter Press Service, 2-18-07

Did Condoleeza Rice commit perjury in her US Senate testimony on the 2003 Iranian peace proposal?

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice misled the U.S. Congress when she said last week that she had not seen a 2003 Iranian proposal for talks with the United States, a former senior government official said...
Flynt Leverett, who worked on the National Security Council when it was headed by Rice, likened the proposal to the 1972 U.S. opening to China. He said he was confident it was seen by Rice and then-Secretary of State Colin Powell but "the administration rejected the overture."
Speaking at a conference on Capitol Hill, Leverett said "this was a serious proposal, a serious effort" by Iran to lay out a comprehensive agenda for U.S.-Iranian rapprochement.
"The Bush administration up to and including Secretary Rice is misleading Congress and the American public about the Iran proposal," he said.
Testifying before the House of Representatives Foreign Affairs Committee last week, Rice told lawmakers who asked about Leverett's previous public comments and writings on the Iranian proposal: "I don't know what Flynt Leverett's talking about."
She faulted him for not telling her, "We have a proposal from Iran and we really ought to take it."
...Leverett said he deserved an apology from Rice for calling his competence into question.
He said he had left the National Security Council, which advises the president on security issues, in March 2003 before the Iranian proposal was received. He returned to the CIA where he previously worked and soon after that left government.
Hence, he wasn't in a position to make this case directly to Rice, nor was it his responsibility, he said.
But among other things, Leverett said that then-Secretary of State Colin Powell, in a discussion about the Iranian proposal, told him he "couldn't sell it at the White House." This was evidence it had been discussed there, he said. Ex-Aide Says Rice Misled US Congress on Iran
, Reuters, 2-14-07

Is Dick Cheney the real target of the US DoJ investigation into the outing of CIA agent Valerie Plame?

This weekend, RAW STORY interviewed Marcy Wheeler, one of the blogosphere’s most tireless observers and analysts of the CIA leak investigation and the I. Lewis “Scooter” Libby Trial...
BB: Do you think that the Intelligence Identities Act is a law that will ever be successfully adjudicated?
MW: Well the problem in this case, I’m not entirely convinced that Fitzgerald’s done. I used to be conservative on that, believing that he was done. But there are little snippets of hints that he’s not.
BB: What are those? Talk about those.
MW: I don’t think I should say. It’s court personnel stuff. If nothing else, there may be another charge for Libby that he’s lying about the NIE. But I think Fitzgerald clearly wants Cheney and he’s not the kind of person who rests on his laurels after getting one conviction. One thing I can say is I don’t understand why Eric Edelman wasn’t called and that may be something he kept in reserve. I don’t understand why Jenny Mayfield wasn’t called, that may be something he kept in reserve. I think I understand why the defense didn’t call her. So he may or may not be done, but, in this case, if he’s not done, I say this in the book, there are two Constitutional issues you run up against. Because I’ve long believed that if Fitzgerald gets to the point where he can prove that it wasn’t the NIE they were declassifying but it was Plame’s identity, then you’re in the Constitutional issue of whether Navy vs. Egan, which is what Addington was using to justify it, whether its true that it can supersede all the procedures that executive orders lay out for declassification. That you can instantly declassify something. And whether you can declassify Plame’s identity without telling her. And I’m still not convinced that you can indict a sitting vice president for something he did as a sitting vice president. Agnew was indicted for something he did before. Brian Beutler, Chief Libby trial blogger says she believes prosecutor 'wants Cheney,' 'won't rest on laurels', Raw Story, 2-20-07

Is the DoJ purge of Republican-appointed prosecutors a brazen attempt to halt ongoing investigations into official corruption that would lead inevitably to the White House?

All but one of the U.S. attorneys recently fired by the Justice Department had positive job reviews before they were dismissed, but many ran into political trouble with Washington over issues ranging from immigration to the death penalty, according to prosecutors, congressional aides and others familiar with the cases.
Two months after the firings first began to make waves on Capitol Hill, it has also become clear that most of the prosecutors were overseeing significant public-corruption investigations at the time they were asked to leave. Four of the probes target Republican politicians or their supporters, prosecutors and other officials said.
The emerging details stand in contrast to repeated statements from the Justice Department that six of the Republican-appointed prosecutors were dismissed because of poor performance...
The decision by Cummins and some of the others to speak out underscores the extent to which the firings have spiraled out of the Justice Department's control. Officials initially sought to obscure the firings even from some senators, and have since issued confusing signals and contradictory information about the episode. Dan Eggen, 6 of 7 Dismissed U.S. Attorneys Had Positive Job Evaluations, Washington Post, 2-18-07

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS

Hard Rain Journal 2-16-07: What Happens When a Whole Nation is Dragged into Room 101? Remember, 2+2=4

Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

Hard Rain Journal 2-2-07: Forget about 2008, the Fate of the Republic could be Decided in the Next Six Months

Hard Rain Journal 1-26-07: Should Cheney be the Direct Target of Congressional Investigation?

Hard Rain Journal 1-19-07: The Hard Rain Falls Between PNAC and the PATRIOT Act, but the US News Media Sees, Hears, Speaks No Evil

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, Al Qaeda, Hans Blix, Flynn Leverett, DoJ, Patrick Fitzgerald, Condoleeza Rice, Bush, Cheney, Saudia Arabia, Osama Bin Laden, Pakistan, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 2-17-07: UN Millennium Goals and Human Rights Update -- Healing Balm for the World? Feed Children, Empower Women

Image: UNIFEM

Nicole Kidman...praised a U.N. fund set up 10 years ago for initiatives to end violence against women worldwide, saying it had made a difference in the lives of countless people. Kidman, the goodwill ambassador of the U.N. Development Fund for Women, or UNIFEM, told a gathering of U.N. diplomats via teleconference from Los Angeles that she heard many stories of survival during a tour of Kosovo in October.
She said one woman had been repeatedly raped by soldiers and become pregnant, making her an outcast in her community.
With the help of women's rights activists, though, she testified about the abuse she suffered before the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands, Kidman said.
``Her rape was used as a weapon of war, how it shatters women's lives and communities,'' she said...
Kidman Praises UNIFEM, U.N. Trust Fund, Associated Press, 2-17-07

Hard Rain Journal 2-17-07: UN Millennium Goals and Human Rights Update -- Healing Balm for the World? Feed Children, Empower Women

By Richard Power

There is no imperative more vital or more basic than the need to protect women and children from violence and hunger. And yet in the mainstream news media and in the corridors of power these issues are relegated to little more than lipservice and chump change.

At the source of all the world's geopolitical, racial, economic and military struggles is a spiritual illness. And these great struggles will not be resolved without the healing of this spiritual illness.

But there is a miraculous balm available -- if humanity as a whole, through its international aid organizations, were to focus on addressing the plight of the most vulnerable, the great conflicts would suddenly seem solvable.

Gautama Buddha and Jesus Christ taught a three-fold truth: unconditional love, clarity of mind and the oneness of all life. It is a three-fold truth that they share with shaman and medicine women everywhere and in all times.

The UN Millennium Goals are a path to peace and freedom.

UNIFEM has released a powerful public service announcement. What would it cost the US television broadcast and cable TV networks to air it once every evening in prime time? What would it cost the US Congress and the FCC to compel them to do so?

Those ideologues who foment hate and derision toward the UN do so because they loathe the world; and they loathe the world because they loathe themselves. It is a spiritual and psychological illness.

Despite its flaws and its failures, the UN is a beacon of hope.

If you change yourself, you change the world. That maxim is a not an empty platitude, or naive idealism; it is practical magic at its most powerful. And the work of the UN World Food Program and UNIFEM offer excellent opportunities for such change.

Some 18,000 children die every day because of hunger and malnutrition and 850 million people go to bed every night with empty stomachs, a "terrible indictment of the world in 2007," the head of the U.N. food agency said.
James Morris called for students and young people, faith-based groups, the business community and governments to join forces in a global movement to alleviate and eliminate hunger — especially among children.
"The little girl in Malawi who's fed, and goes to school: 50 percent less likely to be HIV-positive, 50 percent less likely to give birth to a low birth weight baby," he said in an interview Friday. "Everything about her life changes for the better and it's the most important, significant, humanitarian, political, or economic investment the world can make in its future." U.N.: Hunger kills 18,000 kids each day, Associated Press, 2-17-07

UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman joined UNIFEM Executive Director Noeleen Heyzer and leading UN officials, including newly appointed UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro, in calling for more resources and concerted actions to build on the results of a decade of work by the UN Trust Fund to End Violence against Women.
“We all know in our heads and our hearts that every woman is entitled to a life free of violence. Let’s make that a reality. Let’s end violence against women,” Kidman said at an event commemorating the 10th anniversary of the UN Trust Fund. She made a passionate call for everyone to get involved in ending violence against women: “We’ve come together today to hear the message on taking action to end violence against women. We all have a role to play.”...
Established by the UN General Assembly and managed by UNIFEM, the Trust Fund has given grants amounting to some $13 million to 226 initiatives in 100 countries. Globally, there has been growing recognition that violence against women is a pervasive violation of women’s rights. It affects all societies, extracting a crushingly high cost from individuals and in terms of lost opportunities for social and economic development.
Trust Fund grants address the multiple forms of violence against women, including domestic violence, rape, harmful traditional practices such as female genital mutilation, trafficking, and violence during conflict. Grantees have helped pass and implement strong new laws, provide critical prevention and protection services, ensure women have full access to legal and health care systems, and put violence-related issues on public agendas for discussion and action...
The celebration concluded with a rousing performance by the Brazilian social activist and musician Lica, whose compelling songs on women’s rights and the elimination of violence have made her an increasingly popular artist. She has worked with the organization CEMINA, a Trust Fund grantee that uses radio to deliver positive, socially conscious messages to women. Asked about her position on violence, Lica said: “We never give up. Everyday. Anywhere. When every woman refuses to stay silent, the situation is going to change.” UNIFEM Goodwill Ambassador Nicole Kidman Joins High-Level UN Officials in Calling for More Resources, Actions to End Violence against Women

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Hard Rain Journal 12-12-06: UN Millennium Goals Update -- Nobel Prize Winner Yunus Urges World to Fight Poverty to Win Security and Peace

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and http://www.wordsofpower.net. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

UN, CEMINA, Kosovo, Malawi, UN World Food Progam, UNFEM, Human Rights, Jesus, Poverty, Buddha, Nicole Kidman, James Morris, Violence Against Women

Hard Rain Journal 2-16-07: What Happens When a Whole Nation is Dragged into Room 101? Remember, 2+2=4

Image: George Orwell's Nineteen-Eighty-Four

Room 101 - The final punishment for thought criminals in the Ministry of Love.
"The thing in Room 101 is the worst thing in the world....The worst thing in the world varies from individual to individual. It may be burial alive, or death by fire, or by drowning, or by impalement, or fifty other deaths....."
Newspeak Dictionary

Hard Rain Journal 2-16-07: What Happens When a Whole Nation is Dragged into Room 101? Remember, 2+2=4

By Richard Power

Two plus two equals four.

That's what got Winston Smith in trouble.

He wouldn't agree that two plus two equals five -- if the regime said so.

They broke Winston Smith by threatening to leave him alone in Room 101 -- to face his greatest fear...

Or perhaps Smith just told them what they needed to hear so that he could live to fight another day?

Here are four stories that should be at the top of the headlines, but aren't, and the context in which they should be framed.

Remember, as you read this story, that over three thousand US military personnel and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died because of the actions of Douglas Feith and those he fronted for:

In a recent interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, former Undersecretary of Defense Doug Feith attacked Paul Pillar, a 28-year veteran of the CIA who specialized in counterterrorism, for claiming that al Qaeda was not working with Saddam Hussein’s secular regime...
Pillar was right; Feith was wrong. The Senate Intelligence Committee’s Phase II report noted that Saddam Hussein “issued a general order that Iraq should not deal with al Qa’ida.”
Asked to respond to Feith’s attack, Pillar told ThinkProgress:
It is hogwash that community analysts, as Feith alleges, were peremptorily dismissing, or “suppressing,” reporting based on some bias on their part about what was or was not possible in Baathist-jihadi relations. In fact, I can’t think of any recent issue on which the intelligence community has exhaustively devoted more scrutiny — at great expenditure of senior as well as working-level time and attention–than this one of Iraqi-al-Qa’ida relations. I can say that confidently, based on intelligence assessments I read and meetings I attended...
When an intelligence officer responsible for counterterrorism politely pointed out that something Feith had just said (and was recommending as a public talking point) about Iraqi-al-Qa’ida relations was not supported by the intelligence, Feith dismissed my colleague’s point as “nit-picking” and quickly went on to the next subject. It was a don’t-bother-us-with-the-facts- we-have-a-war-to-sell approach. Former CIA Official: Feith’s Claims Are ‘Hogwash,’ He Took A ‘We Have A War To Sell’ Approach, Think Progress, 2-15-07

Remember, as you read this story, that you are being led as far away as possible from Osama bin Laden, and that in the process of taking on Iran, we are going after another one of Bin Laden's enemies (just like Saddam Hussein), and all the while, Al Qaeda, and its sympathizers, are growing stronger. This is madness, if not treason. Well, it is probably both. Those who planned and ordered the attack on 9/11 have still not been captured or killed.

The AP follows up on the assertion in the ISG Report (p. 29 / p. 47 of the .pdf) that funding for the Sunni insurgency comes from private individuals within Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, even as those governments help facilitate U.S. military operations in Iraq by providing basing and overflight rights and by cooperating on intelligence issues.
Private Saudi citizens are giving millions of dollars to Sunni insurgents in Iraq and much of the money is used to buy weapons, including shoulder fired anti-aircraft missiles, according to key Iraqi officials and others familiar with the flow of cash.
Saudi government officials deny that any money from their country is being sent to Iraqis fighting the government and the U.S.-led coalition.
But the U.S. Iraq Study Group report said Saudis are a source of funding for Sunni Arab insurgents. Several truck drivers interviewed by The Associated Press described carrying boxes of cash from Saudi Arabia into Iraq, money they said was headed for insurgents.
Two high-ranking Iraqi officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the issue's sensitivity, told the AP most of the Saudi money comes from private donations, called zaqat, collected for Islamic causes and charities.
Some Saudis appear to know the money is headed to Iraq's insurgents, but others merely give it to clerics who channel it to anti-coalition forces, the officials said...
Several drivers interviewed by the AP in Middle East capitals said Saudis have been using religious events, like the hajj pilgrimage to Mecca and a smaller pilgrimage, as cover for illicit money transfers. Some money, they said, is carried into Iraq on buses with returning pilgrims.
Saudi Private Citizens Funding Sunni Insurgency, Just One Minute, 12-7-06

Remember, as you read this story, that it took more than the debacle in Iraq to dislodge the Cult-Formerly-Known-as-the-Republican-Party from its stranglehold on both Houses of the US Congress; it took aggressive federal prosecutors all over the USA, pursuing corruption in high places. There were more indictments due. What happened to them?

Although the Bush administration has said that six U.S. attorneys were fired recently in part because of "performance related" issues, at least five of them received positive job evaluations before they were ordered to step down.
Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, using authority he gained in March from a little-noticed provision of the Patriot Act, has appointed interim U.S. attorneys from the Bush administration's inner circle. The firings and appointments have raised concerns that Gonzales is politicizing the process.
Supporters of the U.S. attorneys and Justice Department officials familiar with the job evaluations suggested in interviews that top Justice Department officials may have exaggerated the role job performance played in the firings...
Both officials asked not to be identified because they weren't authorized by the Justice Department to release the information....
On Wednesday, Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty is scheduled to brief senators privately on the reasons for the firings...
Marisa Taylor, 5 Ousted US Attorneys Received Positive Job Evaluations, McClatchy Newspapers, 2-13-07

Remember, as you read this story, that the strength of Western civilization is based on Humanism and Science, and that all civilizations live at the whim of Mother Nature:

Just when people were starting to think that ExxonMobil might be ready to acknowledge its role in global warming, CEO Rex Tillerson showed his true stripes yesterday during a speech at an industry gathering. Mr. Tillerson brought out his collection of broken records and played those moldy oldie skeptic's favorites 'uncertainty,' 'more to learn,' and 'don't go too fast,' revealing that his company really hasn't changed its tune at all and continues its morally reprehensible denial of fact.
Tillerson told reporters attending the speech that he hadn't read the new IPCC report. Yeah right...Meanwhile, ExxonMobil Vice President Ken Cohen spent Monday afternoon on the phone trying to convince a few left-leaning bloggers that the company has always acknowledged global warming and really has just been misunderstood. One of the bloggers on the conference call, MyDD's Matt Stoller, pressed Cohen about the company's lengthy multi-million dollar misinformation campaign to confuse the public. Stoller reports that: "Cohen was shocked when I confronted him, and said 'It's like you think this is a moral issue'. What is wrong with these people?"
Good question. This company's relentless denial is mind-boggling. Tillerson and Cohen have once again demonstrated that ExxonMobil's recent attempts to scrub its image are as hollow as their understanding of the urgent climate crisis. Somebody call a doctor, ExxonMobil is choking on its own hypocrisy. Laurie David, Somebody Call a Doctor, ExxonMobil Choking on Its Hypocrisy, Huffington Post, 2-14-07

FIVE MOST RECENT RELATED POSTS

Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

Hard Rain Journal 2-2-07: Forget about 2008, the Fate of the Republic could be Decided in the Next Six Months

Hard Rain Journal 1-26-07: Should Cheney be the Direct Target of Congressional Investigation?

Hard Rain Journal 1-19-07: The Hard Rain Falls Between PNAC and the PATRIOT Act, but the US News Media Sees, Hears, Speaks No Evil

Hard Rain Journal 1-17-07: They are Purging US DoJ, Privatizing US Intel, and Preparing for War with Iran -- Dreaming about 2008 is Irresponsible

Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran, News Media, Douglas Feith, Paul Pillar, DoJ, Laurie David, Global Warming,Climate Change,ExxonMobil, Bush, Cheney, Saudia Arabia, Osama Bin Laden, 1984, Richard Power, Words of Power


Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

Image: Dixie Chicks

Hard Rain Journal 2-13-07: Is the Mainstream News Media Ignoring the Biggest Obstruction of Justice in US History?

By Richard Power

No on-air news media talent resigned in protest over having to utter lies about Iraq, 9/11, global warming, or the stolen elections of 2000 and 2004.

Will any resign over having to utter lies about Iran?

Don't hold your breath.

Courageous dissent triumphed at the 2007 Grammys, as it did in the 2006 mid-term elections, but it still has not triumphed inside Beltwayistan or been given its due in the board rooms of the corporatist news media monopolies.

We are at another extraordinary juncture in US history.

Just as the lies and dirty tricks that led us into one war are being begrudingly acknowledged by elements within the US mainstream news media and the Beltwayistan political establishment --

A long-awaited report on the veracity of pre-war Iraq intelligence has found that a secretive policy shop exaggerated the Iraqi threat, providing the White House with cherry-picked information about links between Iraq and al Qaeda...The report would appear to confirm British intelligence assertions that surfaced in a document widely referred to as the Downing Street Memo that the facts against the threat posed by Iraq were being fixed around the Bush administration's policy leading up to the invasion of Iraq. Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said the report is a "a devastating condemnation of the activities of the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy." (Jason Leopold, DoD Report Appears to Confirm Downing Street Memo, Truthout, 2-9-07)

...on MSNBC's Countdown, correspondent David Shuster provided a breakdown on Monday's events at the trial of former White House aide I. Lewis Libby...."There was one other very startling moment, referring to President Bush, in Scooter Libby‘s Grand Jury testimony on audiotape, Libby noted on a piece of paper, a notation, and prosecutors asked whether the notation shows that President Bush was interested in the Kristof article in the State of the Union," Shuster said. "It was a Kristof article in May of 2003 which first got the White House thinking about Ambassador Wilson, because it talked about an ambassador‘s trip, which essentially undercut the State of the Union speech."
Shuster continued, "Libby was asked about the president‘s interest and he said, yes, that‘s what my notes signals, but Libby then went on to testify he never discussed the president‘s interest with the vice president, nor did Libby speak about it with President Bush. He went on to testify that he only heard about the president‘s interest from a senior staff meeting.... David Edwards, 'Startling moment' at Libby trial as President Bush is referenced, Raw Story, 2-6-07

-- we are being led into another war in the same way, by the same mainstream news media and the same political establishment...

As a third carrier group steams toward the Persian Gulf, it is tempting to be drawn into the sounding the alarm on the next chapter of the Bush-Cheney regime's disastrous military adventure in the Middle East, but I have written extensively on this issue of Iran over the last year, and I will leave that story to Juan Cole (NYT Falls for Bogus Iran Weapons Charges) and Eason Jordan (Stop This Now: Nameless Accusers, Sourcing?).

Instead, in this post, I will focus on keeping two other important stories alive.

One concerns the Bush-Cheney regime’s purging of US DoJ prosecutors.

Writing for Salon, Joe Conason explains (what follows is a brief excerpt, please follow the link to Salon and read the full text):

Under any circumstances, the Bush administration's sudden, explicitly political dismissal and replacement of United States attorneys in judicial districts across the country would be very troubling -- both as a violation of American law enforcement traditions and as a triumph of patronage over competence.
But as the story behind these strange decisions unfolds, a familiar theme is emerging. Again, the White House and the Justice Department have been exposed in a secretive attempt to expand executive power for partisan purposes. And again, their scheming is tainted with a nasty whiff of authoritarianism.
There is much more at stake here than a handful of federal jobs...
To ensure that no U.S. attorney could be fired on a whim and replaced with a malleable hack, the relevant statute required that whenever a vacancy occurred in midterm, the replacement would be appointed by federal circuit judges rather than by the president. Getting rid of irksomely honest and nonpartisan prosecutors was difficult if not impossible.
But that wholesome safeguard was breached in December 2005, when the Senate renewed the Patriot Act. At the behest of the Justice Department, an aide to Sen. Arlen Specter slipped a provision into the bill that permitted the White House to place its own appointees in vacant U.S. attorney positions permanently and without Senate confirmation. So silently was this sleight of hand performed that Specter himself now claims, many months later, to have been completely unaware of the amendment's passage.....
On Thursday, the Senate Judiciary Committee voted to restore the old nonpartisan system for replacing U.S. attorneys and to require Senate confirmation of all new appointees. The full Senate and the House of Representatives should do likewise, despite Republican opposition, but that is not enough. The Senate Democrats should continue to probe the attorney general's little coup d'état and all of the resulting appointments. That is the best way to discourage future usurpations -- and to frustrate whatever skulduggery was afoot this time.Joe Conason, Alberto Gonzalez's coup d'etat, The Constitution be damned, the attorney general has seized control of U.S. attorney appointments for partisan purposes, Salon, 2-9-07

But even if both houses of the US Congress act to undo this grievous wrong, what will happen next?

Will W. Jong-il veto the legislation?

Or will he issue a signing statement undercutting it?

And meanwhile, if these purges are allowed to stand — even temporarily — what happens to the evidence, the plea-bargaining and the ongoing investigations that these worthy prosecutors have been developing over the last few years?

Are we getting a glimpse at the most massive obstruction of justice in the history of the republic?

These are the kinds of questions that would have been articulated and amplified in the US mainstream news media twenty or thirty years ago.

Now such vigilance is exercised only by citizen journalists in the alternative media.

Which brings us to the other story I want to highlight here — as I have many times before.

It concerns the US mainstream news media’s shirking of its watchdog responsibilities.

In a recent keynote address at Columbia University, Walter Cronkite elaborates:

Pressures by media companies to generate ever-greater profits are threatening the very freedom the nation was built upon, former CBS News anchor Walter Cronkite warned yesterday.
In a keynote address at Columbia University, Cronkite said today's journalists face greater challenges than those from his generation. No longer could journalists count on their employers to provide the necessary resources, he said, "to expose truths that powerful politicians and special interests often did not want exposed."
Instead, he said, "they face rounds and rounds of job cuts and cost cuts that require them to do ever more with ever less."
"In this information age and the very complicated world in which we live today, the need for high-quality reporting is greater than ever," he told journalism students and professionals at Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism. "It's not just the journalist's job at risk here. It's American democracy. It is freedom."
Cronkite said news accuracy has declined because of consolidations and closures that have left many American towns with only one newspaper. And as broadcasters cut budgets and air time for news, he said, "we're all left with a sound bite culture that turns political campaigns into political theater."
The former anchor urged owners of media companies - newspapers and broadcast alike - to recognize they have special civil responsibilities.... Anick Jesdanun, Cronkite Warns Drive for Media Profits Poses Threat to Democracy, Associated Press, 2-9-07


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Richard Power is the founder of GS(3) Intelligence and Words of Power. His work focuses on the inter-related issues of security, sustainability and spirit, and how to overcome the challenges of terrorism, cyber crime, global warming, health emergencies, natural disasters, etc. You can reach him via e-mail: richardpower@wordsofpower.net. For more information, go to www.wordsofpower.net

Iraq, Iran,News Media, Valerie Plame, Walter Cronkite,Dixie Chicks, Jason Leopold, DoJ, Joe Conason, Grammys, Bush, Cheney, Alberto Gonzalez, Sen. Carl Levin, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Downing Street Memo, Richard Power, Words of Power