I proudly stand with Veterans For Peace-LA in signing the organization's Declaration to defund the Iraq/Afghanistan wars, except to bring our troops home safely. To keep our troops in harm's way, to spend 2 - billion dollars a week on these occupations is a war on America's middle class. We have money for bombs, but not for books - as 5,000 teachers in Los Angeles receive lay - off notices and community colleges close their summer school programs.
I ask my opponents Janice Hahn and Debra Bowen to reconsider their decision not to sign the Declaration. Congress has the power of the purse, which it exercised to finally end the Vietnam War after an estimated 60,000 American soldiers and millions of Vietnamese lost their lives.
Let's not wait for the death toll in Iraq and Afghanistan to climb any higher. This week Veterans For Peace-LA carried coffins in downtown Los Angeles as the number of U.S. soldiers lost in Iraq/Afghanistan reached 6,000.
We do not know how many Iraqis or Afghan troops and civilians have died because the Pentagon does not keep a record.
We must protect our troops. Bring them home. Spread this Declaration throughout the land - and ask every congressional candidate to sign it.
OC Congressman Dana Rohrabacher admitted this week what Democrats and, well, most thinking people knew for years now: the Iraq War was a mistake. Oh, and Tom McClintock seconds that:
Going into Iraq "was a mistake because I thought we had to finish the job in Afghanistan," Rohrbacher told the panel, echoing a popular Democratic talking point at the time.
"In retrospect, almost all of us think that was a horrible mistake," Rohrbacher said. "Now that we know that it cost a trillion dollars, and all of these years, and all of these lives, and all of this blood ... all I can say is everyone I know thinks it was a mistake to go in now."
Well, several thousands American and many times that in Iraqi lives, and now we have that. Of course, it doesn't do anything that helps at this point. Rohrabacher and his fellow Republicans laughed at the Dirty Hippies that would dare to say that the Iraq War was a mistake. Those of us on the left were apparently "not serious" for wanting to stay out of a morass from which we would soon pour large sums of money and terrifying amounts of blood into.
Do you think the media will notice now and think about how they covered the run-up to the war? Doubtful. Attack first, apologize later. It's a stunningly audacious way to run the world's richest nation, but for eight years, that's how we rolled.
(Some thoughts for Memorial Day from CA-10 Candidate Anthony Woods... - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
The willingness to make the "ultimate sacrifice" in defense of our country stands as the enduring value which binds every active duty serviceman, servicewoman, and every veteran of the United States military.
Each Memorial Day we are reminded---and rightly so---of the courageous Americans who have given their lives in defense of our nation--between 1 million and 1.3 million since the American Revolution, depending on whose numbers you read.
Indeed the willingness to make that sacrifice is the pre-requisite-along with adherence to a strict code of conduct and respect for the chain of command---to joining an impenetrable fellowship as diverse as the nation every veteran has pledged their lives to defending.
As the son of a veteran, a West Point Graduate and Iraq War Veteran, Memorial Day will always be a day of gratitude, of solemn reflection, and remembrance for me.
All my life, I've heard politicians in Sacramento and Washington promise to change the way they do business, and to take action to solve our most pressing problems.
When I was born almost thirty years ago, millions of Americans lacked access to health insurance, millions of families couldn't afford to send their kids to college, and the scourge of discrimination kept even more Americans from realizing their dreams.
Thirty years ago, tens of thousands of veterans who answered their country's call in Vietnam were already calling the streets their home, and thousands more would soon follow.
Thirty years ago, the United States was coming out of an unprecedented energy crisis, vowing to change the way we powered our nation.
And thirty years later, despite year after year of politicians promising change, these problems haven't just gone unsolved--just about all of them have gotten worse.
For me, like most Americans who live and work far from the halls of government, these are not issues that live in the political abstract or as talking points used to sell hastily crafted budgets. They're very real, very consequential, and very personal.
The race to replace Rep. Ellen Tauscher in Congress received a jolt yesterday with the announcement of Lt. Gov. John Garamendi that he expects to be a candidate for that seat. And just today, Joan Buchanan has decided to enter the race as well. But these are not the only candidates poised to jump into the race. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to speak with Anthony Woods, a young West Point graduate who served two tours as a platoon leader in Iraq. Woods was born in the district on Travis AFB in Fairfield, to a single mother who worked as a housekeeper. He was raised in the area, and after his stint at West Point, he volunteered and took command of two separate platoons that shipped out to Iraq, once in 2004-05 and again in 2005-06, engaging in service for which he received the Bronze Star. Returning to the states, he took graduate studies in public policy at the Kennedy School for Government at Harvard, and in his second year, he entered into a relationship that made him realize the absurdity of the military's Don't Ask Don't Tell policy. Tired of shutting down his gay identity and hiding himself, he came out to his commander - "I wasn't going to lie about it anymore" - kicking off a lengthy investigative process that resulted in an honorable discharge (for "moral and professional dereliction of duty") in December 2008. Woods was also forced to pay back his education benefits. (A full bio on Anthony Woods can be found here.)
Here is someone willing to serve his country, able to perform honorably on the battlefield, yet because of his identity as a gay American cannot be a member of the military. The insanity of this official policy has been well-documented around here. What is striking about Woods is that he foregrounds the concept of service instead of the injustice of the policy, and would rather not dwell on that incident but instead find a new way to serve. He is close to making a decision on whether to enter the 10th District race, and on the flip, you can read a paraphrase of the rest of my interview with him.
We've been hearing rumors about this for some time, but Lisa Vordebrueggen went public, so now we can begin to tell this story. Anthony Woods, an African-American, openly gay Iraq War veteran with two tours of service who publicly came out to challenge the Don't Ask Don't Tell policy, may enter the race to replace Ellen Tauscher in CA-10.
Woods was born on Travis Air Force Base and attended high school in Fairfield, according to a spokesman. He is now considering moving back home and running for Congress.
Woods was traveling and unavailable for comment today but as soon as I have an opportunity to speak with him at length, I will file an updated post about him.
I was able to speak with someone knowledgeable about Woods and his decision-making process today, and he told me that he would figure out whether or not to run "in the coming weeks." With no timetable for Tauscher's confirmation, certainly Woods, who also staffed for New York Gov. David Paterson, has some time.
Everyone who I've talked to about this characterizes Woods as a deeply impressive individual. He fought in Anbar Province and elsewhere in Iraq for two tours before deciding to take a stand on their discriminatory policy with respect to gays and lesbians. Here's a bit from that Harvard Magazine article Vordebrueggen cited:
In early November, Woods learned he would be "eliminated" from the army on the grounds of "moral and professional dereliction" and required to repay $35,000-the amount of his scholarship to attend the Kennedy School.
A military career may seem a curious choice for a young man who is gay or even questioning his orientation. But for the son of a single mother, growing up in an Air Force town in northern California, acceptance to West Point was an honor-and an opportunity-beyond compare. Woods focused on the professional to the exclusion of the personal; with the country at war, that wasn't hard. But two years at Harvard gave him space to think-and to face his dismal prospects for upward mobility in an organization with an explicit homosexuality ban and a strong culture of marriage and children. Even if he had stayed closeted, he says, "It wasn't going to be possible for me to fit the mold, and I knew that because of that, there was going to be a glass ceiling."
Even after the invasive court-martial process-the military conducts interviews with friends and family to verify homosexuality, presumably to prevent fraud, for instance by soldiers who wish to avoid an additional tour in Iraq-Woods is reluctant to malign the officers who carried out his investigation. He says they are simply implementing a policy. Change might come from Congress, but Woods believes the Supreme Court is a more likely venue: "I think it's going to take a landmark court case, like Brown v. Board of Education."
That we would bar talented people who want to serve their country from that option makes absolutely no sense at all. But perhaps this is a blessing. Perhaps Woods can return to his hometown and find another way to serve - as part of a fresh group of lawmakers who have a new insight to these time-worn challenges we face and maybe some new strategies to tackle them. I hope to interview Woods very shortly should he decide to enter the race. Stay tuned.
Today in CREDO's Bracket of Evil, Blackwater squares off against Karl Rove for the title of "Worst for America." Compelling cases can be made for both, that's for sure. But it's a bit ironic that it comes at a time when both are finding it increasingly difficult to find a role in the post-Bush era. Rove hasn't been able yet to figure out whether he's trying to be credible media (presumably not), a GOP strategist (increasingly problematic as historians begin to see him as all tactics, no strategy), or just famous-name-for-hire (more difficult as the brand dies).
Blackwater though is going through an even more dramatic collapse and re-invention largely outside the public spotlight. In the past three weeks, four lawsuits have been filed against the company (recently rebranded "Xe") over the conduct of employees in Iraq. On March 19th, the family of a slain Iraqi vice presidential guard filed suit against Blackwater and former employees, accusing Andrew Moonen of drunkenly murdering Raheem Khalaf Sa'adoon in December of 2006 and other Blackwater employees of attempting to cover up the incident and reneging on a deal to compensate the family for the death. "Xe - Blackwater also is accused of spiriting Mr. Moonen out of Iraq, bribing an Iraqi government official, and destroying documents and other evidence relating to the Moonen shooting and other Xe - Blackwater shootings."
On March 26 and 27, two more lawsuits were filed against Blackwater related to shootings in September 2007 including the now-infamous Nusoor Square massacre in which Blackwater employees killed 17 civilians. Finally (for now), a lawsuit was filed on April 1st accusing Blackwater personnel in the shooting of three Iraqi security guards in February 2007 and subsequent attempts to cover up evidence and otherwise frustrate the investigation of the incident. All of this, of course, on top of a federal investigation into Xe/Blackwater's role in the Nusoor Square Massacre which has targeted six former employees with gun and manslaughter charges. One has pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter and attempt to commit manslaughter, the other five are scheduled to go to trial early in 2010.
After months of simmering, reports last week sounded rather certain that negotiations between the U.S. and Iraq to continue the American presence in Iraq would include the elimination of immunity for security contractors. Talk of a timetable for withdrawal- phased or complete- has been one sticking point, the Washington Post reported "Iraq's insistence that its laws should prevail stems largely from the excesses of private U.S. security contractors, whom negotiators have agreed would be subject to Iraqi law." Specifically the Nisoor Square massacre in which Blackwater agents killed 17 unarmed civilians without provocation.
The road towards some sort of justice for that massacre has been a long and torturous one (see here for a brief rundown of the attempted coverup). Despite a U.S. military investigation finding no evidence that Blackwater was fired upon, blanket immunity was immediately offered and counter-theories popped up all over the place. But after fighting through the courts for almost a year, there's encouraging progress towards justice. Over the weekend, the Washington Post reported six Blackwater agents received target letters from federal prosecutors, suggesting that indictments for at least some of them will be forthcoming.
It wasn't too long ago that the McCain campaign tried desperately to mock the Obama suggestion that people would be well served to keep their tires inflated properly in order to get better gas mileage. They went so far as to send out a fundraising email offering a "free" tire gauge in exchange for a donation to the campaign. They asked "[w]ill simply inflating your tires reduce the financial burden of high gas prices on your wallet?"
Turns out, the answer from every corner is yes. To the point that McCain had to back off it entirely and concede that it's probably a good idea to properly maintain one's car.
But as McCain and other Republican leaders continue to push the ridiculous on its face notion that only increased offshore drilling can address the current energy challenges in this country, Automobile Manufacturers and our own Governor Schwarzenegger are lining up to push car maintenance and better driving habits as a simple way to ease the hit at the pump. He was even good enough to put a video together to promote the new EcoDriving campaign. Echoing Obama's statements on the issue, Schwarzenegger says in part, "You can reduce your fuel costs by more than 15%. And I am talking about simple things, like proper tire pressure, avoiding rapid starts and stops, and keeping your engine tuned."
This is admittedly a mixed bag. Better driving habits and car maintenance does have a significant impact on gas mileage, and the more attention this gets, the more likely it is that consumers will receive the message. But it's also incumbent upon auto makers and others to not use this as a cop out on their responsibility to keep working towards more eco-friendly cars. Informing consumers is fantastic, passing the buck to consumers in not. Either way, especially in a car-centric state like California this is a nice step.
I mentioned on Monday that Nick Leibham would be offering gas to residents of the 50th district discounted to the price in April 1996 when Big Oil first started funneling money to Brian Bilbray.
Today, ExxonMobil posted $11.7 billion in second quarter profits, the all-time record for a U.S. Company, so the $182,818 that Bilbray has received from oil companies throughout his career may seem like a drop in the bucket. But he's certainly delivered time and again for Big Oil: Responsible Federal Oil and Gas Lease Act (Use It or Lose It): No. Drill Responsibly in Leased Lands Act: No. Renewable Energy and Job Creation Act: No. Energy Independence and Security Act: No.
The response yesterday was- perhaps unsurprisingly- huge. Leibham's campaign manager described to me "lines down the road...people were so enthusiastic." Because pain at the pump is inescapable, it's immediate, it's obvious, and it's not a complicated issue. There's a clear choice being presented between the failed policies of the past- more drilling, and the policies of progress- investment in new and renewable energy, use of existing drilling leases, the elimination of tax breaks for Big Oil.
This is a race that's often flown under the radar in online circles, but with Bilbray refusing to even enter his district in order to defend his extremist voting record, it could get pretty interesting. Bilbray is desperate to avoid engaging on real issues, crowing about a veterans memorial but voting to continue the Iraq debacle and voting against the new GI Bill. Every chance he gets to bring about positive change, Bilbray stands in opposition. But when he can stand far outside his district and lob rhetoric, he's all for it.
While Bilbray continues to work against Americans, Nick Leibham got out, in the district, and did something that would actually help a little bit. It isn't much, but it's not supposed to be a solution. What it was supposed to be- and succeeded in being- is a sharp line of contrast between the priorities of these two candidates.
One of and for the people, the other bought and paid to oppose the people.
So, apparently there's another contracting company to add to the list of tax dollar abusers. They're called the Parsons construction group. They were supposed to do improvements on a prison in the flatlands north of Baghdad, but Parsons continually fell behind schedule, causing the Pentagon to cancel the project.
The big problem? The prison was part of an almost $1 billion contract to build border posts, courts, police training centers and fire stations, all in hopes of restoring Iraq's infrastructure. Yet Parsons only completed 18 out of the 53 project stipulated in its contract, and although they were paid for the minimal work they did on the prison, the structure is now empty and useless, due to structural weaknesses Parsons did not fix. In the end, Parsons made out with a barrel full of cash, and the much blood-stained region of Diyala never got its infrastructure.
Last week, I shared a tragic story of a veteran who committed suicide less than three hours after being assessed as a "low risk" patient, and was released from VA care. The carelessness of his assessment was largely due to a standardized questionnaire that was used to identify high risk patients. This is a serious oversight, especially when you consider the statistic that by the end of the day, 18 veterans will have taken their own lives.
Since these troops make it home from Iraq, Afghanistan or other battlefields alive, they are not counted as casualties of war. In 2007, 6,256 veterans committed suicide. That's about two thousand more than the number of troops who died in Iraq since the beginning of the war. And yet, these deaths are not counted among the war casualties.
Blackwater may be on shaky ground. Despite official protestations to the contrary, it's starting to look as though Blackwater's course might be shifting. Defense Secretary Robert Gates is starting to ask why the government is using so many private contractors, asking "Why have we come to rely on private contractors to provide combat or combat-related security training for our forces?" and going on to wonder "are we comfortable with this practice, and do we fully understand the implications in terms of quality, responsiveness and sustainability?"
These are questions that a competent government would have been asking in 2001 when Donald Rumsfeld declared that privatizing national security would be a good idea because...I don't know why...his friends would make money? It was Rumsfeld shift away from publicly-guaranteed and provided security that brought about the rise of Blackwater and a litany of other, slightly less infamous private security firms. But in light of the continuing legal proceedings probing Blackwater's Nusoor Square (17 civilians dead for no reason), Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's insistence on eliminating immunity for security contractors in any new Iraq-U.S. security negotiations, and now Gates' expressed concerns, Blackwater executives have been saying they'll shift away from private security because it's causing them too much grief. Blackwater will supposedly "survive with a focus on international training, aviation and construction."
(I'm under a mountain of work, so I have a lot on Netroots Nation stored up, but this from our pal Paul about the Pelosi/Gore session is good. And BTW, I asked the Iraq question. - promoted by David Dayen)
It's no surprise that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi got a tough reception at Netroots Nation - as bloggers asked about the Iraq War, impeachment and (of course) FISA. Pelosi passed the buck on all of these issues - saying that she's let House Judiciary Chair John Conyers handle executive contempt, blamed Senate Democrats for selling out on FISA and said that only electing Barack Obama will get us out of Iraq. When Al Gore popped in to make a surprise appearance, the crowd gave a hero's welcome to the ex-Vice President - posing a sharp contrast with Pelosi. Bloggers cheered Gore's ambitious environmental agenda to make the United States 100% free of fossil fuel energy by 2019. But nobody bothered to ask Gore why he didn't push for this 15 years ago when he could have done something about it. Meanwhile, Pelosi's excuses frustrated the audience - but they each have an element of truth to them. On the other hand, if Pelosi says she "doesn't have the votes" in Congress to get what we want, she should start being more supportive of primary challenges that bloggers wage against bad Democrats.
Well, John W. McCain had a great couple of days in the Golden State. First he went to Santa Barbara, site of a huge 1969 oil spill, to promote his plan to cancel the moratorium on offshore drilling, and he ran into an expert who rebutted his entire premise.
Feeney also took issue with McCain's controversial proposal to lift the moratorium on offshore oil exploration: "It makes me nervous to think about those who are proposing to drain America's offshore oil and gas reserves as quickly as possible in the hopes of driving down the price of gasoline, because I think when you look at the good sources of information, were we to open up the California coast or the Alaska National Wildlife Refuge to drilling, it would be 12, 15, maybe 20 years before those resources came online and got to full productions."
Adding that some research shows that drilling in ANWR would only "reduce our dependence on foreign oil from 70% to 67%," Feeney added, "I'm not sure most Americans would think that's really worth the price of admission."
That Charlie Black comment wasn't McCain's only off-message moment yesterday. At a town hall in Fresno, CA, McCain admitted that the offshore drilling proposal he unveiled last week would probably have mostly "psychological" benefits, NBC/NJ's Adam Aigner-Treworgy notes. "Even though it may take some years, the fact that we are exploiting those reserves would have psychological impact that I think is beneficial." Uh oh.
Later, at a fundraiser, an attendee very nicely called him an idiot:
"We're really kind of goosey here about oil spills, and we're goosey here about federal drilling and oil lands, which are abundant offshore," the attendee said. "So we ask you to look out there to the south and the southeast and remember the greatest environmental catastrophe that's hit this state and then balance that with the notion of winning California."
I also want to make sure that we will take concrete steps towards eliminating our dependence on foreign oil.
And I am confident that uh, the, the conflicts that we are in in both Iraq and Afghanistan have also a bearing on that.
(Incidentally, is there anyone in America who doesn't know this? We've been going to war for oil since oil became profitable. Before that the world used a lot of whale oil, and if we still did America would be at war with Sea World.)
Thanks for coming, Big John! Please stop by again sometime and further ruin your candidacy!
(Great work by True Majority and the local grassroots. - promoted by David Dayen)
Hey Calitics members,
I’m sure many of you have seen the recent spate of stories about KBR on the front page of the NYTimes a couple days ago and the always fantastic coverage over at TPM At TrueMajority.org we’ve been really focused on the contractor accountability side of the War in Iraq and tomorrow are working with Sacramento for Democracy and the Sacramento Coalition to End the War to highlight CalPERS investments in KBR at their monthly board meeting.
About a month ago, we kicked off this campaign with a simple petition calling on pension funds and retirement accounts to hold KBR accountable for fraud waste and abuse. You can still sign the petition at: http://www.TrueMajority.org/St...
CalPERS, the public pension and retirement system in California is one of the biggest investors in KBR, owning over $25,000,000 in shares, so our California members went to work making over 200 calls in one day calling on CalPERS to divest from KBR. The calls had a great response and we received a wonderful grassroots suggestion in one of the reports.
Armando from Kensington, CA reported on his call:
I called just now, 10:56 a.m., and spoke with a young woman named, Jackie, she did not wish to give her last name to me, which is okay, but I did ask her to convey my concern, as a retiree member of CalPERS, that I heard learned that the company had assets with KBR. I asked to speak with the president of the Board, Ron Feckner, but was informed he and board were not present, but would be available during their board meeting week, June 16-19, in Sacramento. I suggest you get folks to call during that time. I am deeply concerned as a longtime member of CalPERS that my retirmenet funds are being used to underwrite KBR or any company that makes me complicit in the conduct of the war in Iraq, more than I already am as a taxpayer. I intend to talk to individual members of the board, especially the Investment and Investment Policy subcommittee. Thanks for alerting me.
Tomorrow, together with Sacramento for Democracy and the Sacramento Coalition to End the War, we will hold a press conference at 9:30 a.m. and we deliver the petitions to CalPERS at that time. The CalPERS board convenes at 9 a.m. Thursday at the Robert F. Carlson Auditorium, 400 Q Street, in Sacramento.
And spread the word. Investing public retirement funds in companies that commit fraud and war profiteering is bad for the country and a bad investment decision. The time has come to divest.
In a little noticed vote yesterday, the Merida Initiative passed easily through the House of Representatives 311-106. It provides $1.6 billion with an emphasis on training and equipment to fight drug cartels in Mexico, the Caribbean and Central America, because as Rep. Brian Bilbray explained:
"Either we can go after these cartels in Ensenada, or we can fight them in Escondido," said Rep. Brian Bilbray (R-Carlsbad), who voted for the plan. "I'd prefer that we move now and take care of this problem south of the border. The drug wars in Mexico and in other regions have grown horrendously violent, and their destructive ways must be quashed."
(This is an issue that's starting to reach critical mass, and Charlie Brown is at the forefront of it. Between recent reports about record numbers of veteran suicides and foreclosures in military towns tripling the average rate, the care and treatment of our veterans is an absolute disgrace. And it has fallen to leaders like Brown, BEFORE reaching Congress, to show the compassion and wisdom to get those who served this country what they need. I can't have more pride in how he's run this campaign. - promoted by David Dayen)
As many of you know, back in 2006, first time candidate and Retired USAF Lt. Col. Charlie Brown came from obscurity to within less than 9,000 votes (or 3%) of victory in a district that had been electing Republicans by 30 point margins just two years before.
I worked on Charlie's campaign in 2006, and I'm proud to be serving Charlie again in 2008. I didn't come back because I enjoy the 16-hour days. I certainly didn't come back because of the paychecks. I came back because there's something different about a "typical day" on the Charlie Brown for Congress campaign---something that can't be described in sound bytes or talking points...something so important, you want the world to experience it with you...
I just returned from a Memorial Day vigil at the Lafayette crosses. Built by members of the community over the past two years on a steep five-acre hillside that overlooks the freeway and BART station, the crosses exert a magnetic draw on Memorial Day. Today, the total number of crosses stood at 4,084.
About 100 people came together near dusk to honor the soldiers represented by those crosses on the hill, soldiers who have given so much for their country.
The willingness to make the "ultimate sacrifice" in defense of our country stands as the enduring value which binds every active duty serviceman, servicewoman, and every veteran of the United States military.
