Heroin Addicts Pressure President To Stay Course In Afghanistan | The Onion

As the White House considers sweeping strategic shifts in the war in Afghanistan, heroin addicts across the nation called on President Obama Monday to stick with the current U.S. policy, which has flooded the world market with low-price narcotics.

"There's no need to change nothing, Joe Biden," said addict Reginald "Bones" Dillow, who, when conscious, is an outspoken proponent of the U.S. military strategy that has resulted in a nearly 40-fold increase in Afghan opium production since the end of Taliban rule in 2001. "Everything is so cheap—it's all totally fine like it is, right? Read more.

Author David Swanson Stops At Yoo's | Indy Bay

John Yoo's house was one of the stops in David Swanson's book-tour. The author of "Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union" stopped outside the home of the author of torture memos. Cynthia Papermaster of Code Pink, as well as other non-violent protesters were present to meet with Swanson. UC Berkeley detective Wade McAdams arrived on the scene along with officer Ruffin. Four Berkeley City patrol cars arrived shortly after. See more photos and videos.

Political Prisoner Jalil Muntaqim Denied Parole
By Stephen Lendman

On November 18, Jalil Muntaqim (formerly Anthony Bottom) was refused parole a day after his November 17 hearing. The board called his record exemplary, but still denied him. Muntaqim thanked everyone who wrote letters of support and said he'll appeal the decision. Failing that, his next scheduled hearing is in June 2010. His earlier 2002, 2004 and 2006 hearings were also unsuccessful.

In a November 19 letter to supporters, he wrote as follows:

"The parole board ignored the overwhelming support from the community for my release, and denied me parole. I have come to the conclusion after this, my fourth parole appearance....that the parole system is not a fair and impartial decision making body. It is a political institution with a law enforcement agenda....incapable of being fair and impartial in cases where a police officer's death is involved....The judiciary generally supports the law enforcement agenda of the parole board."

To rectify this "double standard," he urged his supporters to:

• "organize a coalition of progressive folks willing and able to concentrate on this issue;"
• get the "religious/faith based community" on board;
• challenge elected officials "for their refusal and failure to intervene....;" and
• New York's "Governor Patterson must be told his choice of parole chairman and commissioners must reflect the desires of the community."

Short of these actions, nothing will reverse the "institutional repression and racism endemic (in) the NYS prison and parole system." Muntaqim is its longest-punished example, an innocent man kept imprisoned since 1971.

The freejalil.com web site calls him a "political prisoner & prisoner of war." Some history and background follows.

Our organization, End US Wars, is holding an Emergency Anti-Escalation Rally on December 12 at Lafayette Park at the White House, Washington DC, from 11am to 4pm.

Featured speakers include: Cynthia McKinney, Senator Mike Gravel, Chris Hedges, David Swanson, Kathy Kelly, Betty Hall, Granny D (message), Lynne Williams, Elaine Bowers, Mathis Chiroux, Michael Knox, Ron Fisher and others. We are very excited about so many illustrious speakers, with more in the offing. Musical performers include Jordan Page.

We expect to do a lot of action in DC around the time of Obama’s announcement. We also are planning events the evening of December 11th--a Green Party event, authors book signings, and Greenwald's new movie on Afghanistan.

On Rally Day, December 12th: congregate at Lafayette Park, White House. Speakers are from 11am to 4 pm, with musical interludes. From 3pm to 4pm there is an organizational meeting ‘tea’ with peace movement leaders, to meet up at the rally, location TBA.

Prior to the rally, we are planning a camera ready leaflet, down-loadable from the website, to be distributed at the events coming together between now and then, such as at the Dec. 1st peace vigil at 5 pm at the White House, Amy Goodman’s speaking event in DC on Nov. 30, and other spontaneous activities now being discussed in the peace community. It will be available for local rally organizers to download and distribute during the days prior to the December 12th Anti-Escalation Rally.

We began this effort with our letter ‘Put Obama on Notice Against Afghanistan Escalation’ now with numerous signers, which can be seen on our website. We are calling on Obama to refuse to escalate troop levels. We warn Obama that if he escalates, we have committed to vigorously oppose him, with rallies, actions and by all other possible means. You can email contact@enduswars.org to endorse the letter, which can be viewed on the website.

We are sounding the peace cry, declaring that the Peace Movement is not going to stand for the President’s abdication of the people he was elected to serve. We need to give him the message: We have had enough!

We ask for your strong support and presence at the rally. Please see our website: http://www.enduswars.org.
Thank you,
Laurie Dobson
End US Wars
www.enduswars.org / contact@enduswars.org

2 Afghans allege abuse at U.S. site
Teenagers say they were interrogated at secretive Bagram holding center
By Joshua Partlow and Julie Tate | Washington Post

Two Afghan teenagers held in U.S. detention north of Kabul this year said they were beaten by American guards, photographed naked, deprived of sleep and held in solitary confinement in concrete cells for at least two weeks while undergoing daily interrogation about their alleged links to the Taliban.

The accounts could not be independently substantiated. But in successive, on-the-record interviews, the teenagers presented a detailed, consistent portrait suggesting that the abusive treatment of suspected insurgents has in some cases continued under the Obama administration, despite steps that President Obama has said would put an end to the harsh interrogation practices authorized by the Bush administration after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The two teenagers -- Issa Mohammad, 17, and Abdul Rashid, who said he is younger than 16 -- said in interviews this week that they were punched and slapped in the face by their captors during their time at Bagram air base, where they were held in individual cells. Rashid said his interrogator forced him to look at pornography alongside a photograph of his mother. Read more.

Energizer Bunnies: Turning Rabbits into Green Fuel
By Tara Kelly | Time

Sweden's Tommy Tuvuynger and his team of professional hunters don't have to go far to find their prey. Tuvuynger is employed to keep down rabbit numbers in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The rabbit population there has exploded over the past few years thanks to owners setting free their pets. Last year the eradication squad killed 6,000 of the furry critters, which are not native to Sweden. When the city started killing the rabbits in 2006, officials realized they would have to dispose of their carcasses. At around the same time, the European Union passed a law that makes it illegal to dispose of raw meat or carcasses in landfills. Solution: use the bunnies as fuel to heat Swedish homes.

When German newspaper Der Spiegel broke news of the novel fuel source last month, many Swedes were outraged. "It feels like they're trying to turn the animals into an industry rather than look at the main problem," says Anna Johannesson of the Society for the Protection of Wild Rabbits. Johannesson and other wildlife campaigners recommend spraying the park with a chemical that makes shrubs and plants unappetizing to the animals. Tuvuynger, though, has little sympathy for that argument. "If you do that you only move the problem 100 meters away. Overpopulation is not good for the animals' well-being because they use up limited natural resources for survival, so shooting them is the only answer." Read more.

The Devastating Consequences of the Corporate Health Insurance Bill
By Shamus Cooke | Counter Punch

Wading through the endless debate over health care has exhausted the patience of most Americans — the zigzags, obscure language, and long-winded discussion is inherently repulsive.

But now the dust is starting to settle, and the Congressional vision for health care in the U.S. is emerging. Instead of being “progressive,” it will amount to a massive, corporate-inspired attack on American workers, the elderly, and the poor.

After months of confusion and delay, Congress has shipwrecked the popular energy over health care onto the jagged rock of corporate interests. More spectacularly, health care “reform” is being used as an opportunity to greatly advance corporate influence over social spheres long-dedicated to the working-class — seemingly harmless provisions carry with them enormous implications.

These devils hide in the details of the competing health care bills in Congress; both contain debilitating right-wing policies hidden within a progressive shell. Obama is indeed acting as the agent of change, to the great benefit of the U.S. corporate elite.

And although the final bill has yet to be crafted, there exists general agreements as to what the end version will look like. Americans will be forced to buy shoddy corporate insurance with no limit to the cost, no guarantee of quality, with large premiums and other tricks to further gouge consumers. If a public option emerges in the final bill — by no means a guarantee — it will be shrunken enough to insure very few people (2 percent of the U.S. population).

But it gets worse. How this health care “reform” will be paid for has implications that dwarf the above atrocities. Read more.

President Obama and the Intelligence Community: An Interim Report Card
By Melvin A. Goodman | Truthout

President Obama has had nearly a year to make necessary changes in the intelligence community and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). While he has been successful in addressing the CIA's renditions, detentions and interrogations programs, he has failed to appoint leaders willing to address the culture of cover-up that exists at the CIA and to make the necessary strategic changes. Until President Obama is willing to address the militarization and centralization of the intelligence community, he will retain his grade of C+ in managing the community.

The president deserves high grades for ending the CIA's use of torture and abuse, closing down the CIA's secret prisons and restoring a legal framework to the renditions policy that has brought embarrassment to the CIA and the United States. His attorney general, Eric Holder, proved to be particularly tough-minded in releasing the four torture memoranda drafted by John Yoo and Jay Bybee over the loud protests of both the director of national intelligence (DNI) and the director of the CIA.

Holder also has held firm in his decision to investigate possible criminal behavior by CIA personnel. The president has not officially ended the odious use of renditions, but apparently there have been no renditions in the past year due in part to the extreme opposition of West and East European countries. European countries have been embarrassed politically over the use of European sites and facilities for both CIA "black sites" and the conduct of extraordinary renditions. Read more.

Afghans Detail a Secret Prison Still Operating on a U.S. Base
By Alissa J. Rubin | NY Times

An American military detention camp in Afghanistan is still holding inmates for sometimes weeks at a time and without access to the International Committee of the Red Cross, according to human rights researchers and former detainees held at the site on the Bagram Air Base.

The site consists of individual windowless concrete cells, each lighted by a single light bulb glowing 24 hours a day, where detainees said that their only contact with another human being was at twice-daily interrogation sessions.

The jail’s operation highlights a tension between President Obama’s goal to improve detention conditions that had drawn condemnation under the Bush administration and his desire to give military commanders leeway to operate. In this case, that means isolating certain prisoners for a period of time so interrogators can extract information or flush out confederates.

While Mr. Obama signed an order to eliminate so-called black sites run by the Central Intelligence Agency in January, that order did not apply to this jail, which is run by military Special Operations forces. Read more.

Lobbyists Furiously Lobby White House to Preserve Lobbyist Power By Jake Tapper | ABC News

~Chip's Note: Norm Eisen is special counsel to the president for ethics and government reform. He's taking some bold steps to measure up to his title. Sample Jake Tapper's report below. Well worth a click to ABC for a thorough read - and a click to let his boss at the White House know that you support Norm Eisen's efforts.

The Washington Post says the system of these [ITAC - Industry Trade Advisor] committees is "so vast that federal officials don't have exact numbers for its size; the most recent estimates tally nearly 1,000 panels with total membership exceeding 60,000 people."

Norm Eisen wrote that "the White House has informed executive agencies and departments that it is our aspiration that federally-registered lobbyists not be appointed to agency advisory boards and commissions.""...It's the system as a whole that concerns us. It's an indisputable fact that in recent years, lobbyists for major special interests have wielded extraordinary power in this town. The result has been a national agenda too often skewed in favor of the interests that can afford their services."

Eisen suggested that powerful industries are well represented in Washington, DC -- with banking lobbyists paid to "gut meaningful financial reforms," an "army" of health insurance industry lobbyists unleashed to "frustrate" health care reform efforts, oil and gas company lobbyists sent to undermine energy reform all present and accounted for. "But industry representatives shouldn't be given government positions from which to make their case," he wrote. Read more.

You Get What You Vote For!
By Cindy Sheehan | Cindy Sheehan's Soapbox

On Monday, November 30, the Peace of the Action Coalition will be sending out a press release condemning the escalation and announcing our Mother of all Protests (MOAP) that will begin in the spring.

The so-called anti-war movement currently finds itself in somewhat of a quagmire: What to do when the man you raised money for, volunteered for, and yes, even voted for, actually fulfills one of his most repulsive campaign promises?

First of all, I never understood why, or how, peace people could support someone who voted to pay for the wars while he was a Senator and was quite clear on the fact that he would increase violence in Afghanistan and perform a slow, painful and very incomplete withdrawal from Iraq. Principles that were proclaimed so loudly while Bush was president get shoved aside and buried now that a Democrat is president and how do you get your principles back from the dung-pile of selling out?

Secondly, On January 23rd of a rapidly dissipating 2009, Barack Obama perpetrated his first war crime (as president) by authorizing a drone attack in Pakistan. In February of this same year, he ordered an increase of roughly 20,000 more troops to Afghanistan: more war crimes, no corresponding outcry. However, when I cried out, I was roundly attacked by the “left” for not giving Obama a “chance.” 2009 is going to be the most deadly year for our troops and Afghan and Pakistani civilians on record. I think George Bush is calling: he wants his Nobel Peace Prize back. Read more.

Bill McKibben of 350.org wrote:

Dear Friends,

We don't organize events for their own sake--there needs to be a strategy to make them worth your effort, because your time is this movement's most precious commodity.

Here's our sense of what will be happening at the UN climate talks in Copenhagen, and why we're hoping some of you will start or join a candlelight vigil at a strategic or iconic location in your community on Dec. 11th or 12th.

The weekend for these vigils falls smack in the middle of the two-week Copenhagen talks. President Obama just announced that he will visit Copenhagen on December 9th--and there's no doubt that he'll deliver a rousing and eloquent speech. The following day, December 10th, he'll go on from Copenhagen to Norway to collect his Nobel prize.

We need to send a signal to say that speeches and prizes are good, but action is what's really required--enough action to head us back towards 350 parts per million.

Obama will bring an emissions target to the table in Copenhagen, a bittersweet development in this political drama. Sweet because having any sort of commitment from the U.S. increases the chances of global collaboration on a climate deal, bitter because US emissions target represents a paltry 3% reductions below 1990 levels--far from the ambitious cuts scientists say are necessary to get back to 350.

Single Payer Action held a news conference. The group seeks a single payer health system and calls on Congress to defeat health care reform legislation * Russell Mokhiber, Single Payer Action * Dr.Margaret Flowers, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP) * Dr. Carol Paris, Physicians for a National Health Program (PNHP). Watch it here.

Senator Sanders on This Week

Senator Bernie Sanders will be George Stephanopoulos’ guest Sunday on the ABC News program This Week to discuss the war in Afghanistan and the debate over health care reform.

• For more information on the health care debate visit Senator Sanders' Web site - click here.

• To let us know what you think, take the new health care poll - click here.

US deserter seeks German asylum | BBC

A US Army deserter is to meet German politicians in Berlin as he tries to secure asylum in the country.

Andre Shepherd left his military base, in southern Germany, in April 2007, after serving in Iraq. Eighteen months later, he applied for asylum on moral grounds, claiming the Iraq war was illegal. Tristana Moore reports in this video.

For further information about Andre Shepherd, see:

Web site for the André Shepherd Campaign by Connection e.V. in Offenbach, Germany (with links to prior press articles in English).

"Soldier Seeking Asylum: 'I Want to Be Able to Atone'" - Interview of André Shepherd by Elsa Rassbach published May 28, 2009 in Common Dreams.

Shock over Obama Decision to Reject Landmine Ban
By Jeffrey Allen | OneWorld US

"The Obama administration's decision to continue the Bush administration's policy of refusing to join the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines is a reprehensible rejection of the most successful disarmament and humanitarian treaty of the past decade," HRW said. [Read the full statement from Human Rights Watch.]

The Obama administration announced yesterday that it would not be joining a treaty signed by 158 other countries to ban landmines. Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the decision "lacks vision, compassion, and basic common sense."

The group was also stunned by the manner in which the decision was apparently made and subsequently announced.

Although anti-landmine activists and congressional leaders had been urging the administration to begin reviewing the treaty for months, Obama administration officials never indicated that it had even started the process. Read more.

IAEA Chief Says Iran Talks at 'Dead End'
As ElBaradei Ends 12-Year Stint at Helm of the U.N. Nuclear Watchdog, Board Considers Resolution Rebuking Tehran
By David Crawford and Matthew Karnitschnig | WSJ

Iran appeared headed for further confrontation with the U.S. and other world powers over its nuclear program after the chief of the United Nations' atomic watchdog said the agency's cooperation with Tehran had reached a "dead end."

The declaration by Mohamed ElBaradei, departing director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency, sets the stage for the U.N.'s Security Council to impose new sanctions against Tehran.

Diplomats said the IAEA's 35-member board of governors would likely approve a resolution on Friday rebuking Iran for failing to comply with its international obligations. A draft of the resolution being discussed by IAEA governors Thursday expressed "serious concern" about Iran's course and called for the matter to be taken up by the Security Council. Read more.