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Viewing all posts tagged "politics"
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$12 Billion in cash sent to Iraq on 21 Hercules cargo planes simply disappeared
U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion, sent by the planeload in cash and intended for Iraq’s reconstruction after the start of the war.
After the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, the George W. Bush administration flooded the conquered country with so much cash to pay for reconstruction and other projects in the first year that a new unit of measurement was born.
Pentagon officials determined that one giant C-130 Hercules cargo plane could carry $2.4 billion in shrink-wrapped bricks of $100 bills. They sent an initial full planeload of cash, followed by 20 other flights to Iraq by May 2004 in a $12-billion haul that U.S. officials believe to be the biggest international cash airlift of all time.
This month, the Pentagon and the Iraqi government are finally closing the books on the program that handled all those Benjamins. But despite years of audits and investigations, U.S. Defense officials still cannot say what happened to $6.6 billion in cash — enough to run the Los Angeles Unified School District or the Chicago Public Schools for a year, among many other things.
For the first time, federal auditors are suggesting that some or all of the cash may have been stolen, not just mislaid in an accounting error. Stuart Bowen, special inspector general for Iraq reconstruction, an office created by Congress, said the missing $6.6 billion may be “the largest theft of funds in national history.”
The mystery is a growing embarrassment to the Pentagon, and an irritant to Washington’s relations with Baghdad. Iraqi officials are threatening to go to court to reclaim the money, which came from Iraqi oil sales, seized Iraqi assets and surplus funds from the United Nations’ oil-for-food program.
It’s fair to say that Congress, which has already shelled out $61 billion of U.S. taxpayer money for similar reconstruction and development projects in Iraq, is none too thrilled either.
“Congress is not looking forward to having to spend billions of our money to make up for billions of their money that we can’t account for, and can’t seem to find,” said Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Beverly Hills), who presided over hearings on waste, fraud and abuse in Iraq six years ago when he headed the House Government Reform Committee.
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Fyeahchoice: I would just like to reiterate something(tw:miscarriage)
In the other night’s debate between Republican Presidential candidates, Rick Santorum, whose wife got an abortion in 1997, again defended his stance that any doctor who performs any abortion in any case should be arrested and criminally charged. This includes cases of…
His wife got an abortion and he still thinks it should be illegal?
She had a miscarriage…
Okay, I understand now. My bad. Karen Santorum, who has a maiden name, had her pregnancy prematurely terminated, which is not an abortion. It’s a miscarriage. Or it was a stillbirth. Or it’s a so-called “spontaneous” abortion for which neither the doctor nor the patient is culpable because it’s simply a natural tragedy, outside of anyone’s control. Karen Santorum’s husband, Rick, to whom she does not belong, is against induced abortions. Karen Santorum, who had a different last name before she got married, obviously intended to carry her pregnancy to term; that’s not at issue here. Her pregnancy was ended in order to save her life. And Rick Santorum is against abortions performed in order to save womens’ lives.
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I would just like to reiterate something
In the other night’s debate between Republican Presidential candidates, Rick Santorum, whose wife got an abortion in 1997, again defended his stance that any doctor who performs any abortion in any case should be arrested and criminally charged. This includes cases of pregnancy by rape and incest, and when the mother’s life is at risk.
The US Supreme Court, Santorum said at the debate, recently ruled that “a man who committed rape could not be killed, could not be subject to the death penalty, yet the child conceived as a result of that rape could be.” A country that sentences its fetuses to death, Santorum said, “sounds like a country that doesn’t have its morals correct.”
Again, Santorum’s own wife got an abortion because her life was at risk due to the pregnancy. What logically follows is that Santorum would have had the doctor arrested for saving his wife’s life. Okay.
P.S. What’s with this current brand of conservatism which, on the one hand, stands for the principle of small government that stays out of the affairs of individuals, but, on the other hand, fights to intervene legislatively in cases of gay marriage, abortion, and life-prolonging procedures. If we’re all meant to be out there fending for ourselves, who cares what “the other” does with his or her body?
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One of the weirdest moments of last night’s Republican debate probably slipped completely under the radar for most viewers. This moment occurred in Herman Cain’s closing statement, when the former pizza-chain CEO recited a favorite inspirational quote:
“A poet once said, ‘life can be a challenge, life can seem impossible, but it’s never easy when there’s so much on the line.’”
Nothing strange about that on the surface, until you Google the quote and you realize that these words of wisdom were uttered not by a poet, but by disco queen Donna Summer in her song “The Power of One.” Even more bizarre, this isn’t even one of Summer’s classic hits — she recorded it just over a decade ago as the theme song for Pokémon: The Movie 2000.
Is it possible that Cain knew the origins of the quote and was just utilizing some extremely dry humor when he referred to its author, Donna Summer, as “a poet”? Probably not!
Also, it was hardly the first time Herman Cain had quoted, and incorrectly sourced, the lyrics from “The Power of One.” On a seemingly official website, Cain quotes the lyrics but attributes them to “the closing song to the 2000 Olympics.”
Maybe in addition to being the theme song for a Pokémon film, “The Power of One” was also the closing song for the 2000 Olympics? Well, it wasn’t.
If we had to guess what happened here: Herman Cain saw the Pokémon movie with one of his grandkids in the summer of 2000 and was greatly moved by the “The Power of One.” After a decade had gone by, he recalled the song and wanted to use it in his campaign, but he forgot where he heard it, mistakenly pegged it to the summer Olympics, and was too busy fighting the scourge of Sharia to look it up online. Then sometime in the past two months, he somehow came to believe that the song lyrics he had been quoting throughout the campaign were actually the words of some unnamed poet. It’s not the most elegant explanation, but it’s the only one we can come up with.
This.
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A terrorist is a terrorist is a terrorist
whether he is Norwegian, or Kansan, or Egyptian, or Sri Lankan, or Pennsylvanian, or British, or Virginian, or Irish, or Palestinian, or Israeli, or from New York, or from Illinois. Politically motivated violence with the intent of causing mass fear is terrorism and it is always abhorrent. By only calling the acts of Muslim extremists terrorism in the media, we implicitly excuse all other terrorists of their crimes.
The BBC, New York Times, the Sun, the Washington Post and other outlets initially asserted that the perpetrator of the Norway attacks was Muslim because, well, it was a terrorist attack and obviously only Muslims do terrorist attacks. The Oklahoma City bombing, the guy who flew his plane into a Texas IRS building last year, the abortion clinic bombings, et al, that’s not terrorism but “just” extremism, because only Muslims commit terrorism.
As writes Glenn Greenwald, “What it says is what we’ve seen repeatedly: that Terrorism has no objective meaning and, at least in American political discourse, has come functionally to mean: violence committed by Muslims whom the West dislikes, no matter the cause or the target. Indeed, in many (though not all) media circles, discussion of the Oslo attack quickly morphed from this is Terrorism (when it was believed Muslims did it) to no, this isn’t Terrorism, just extremism (once it became likely that Muslims didn’t).”
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”Never in history has violence been initiated by the oppressed. How could they be the initiators, if they themselves are the result of violence? How could they be the sponsors of something whose objective inauguration called forth their existence as oppressed? There would be no oppressed had there been no prior situation of violence to establish their subjugation. Violence is initiated by those who oppress, who exploit, who fail to recognise others as persons - not by those who are oppressed, exploited and unrecognised.
Paulo Freire
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Mondoweiss: Not my President
- Yesterday the State Department warned that if Israel chose to attack, kill or imprison American citizens this country would do nothing about it.
- Earlier today Hillary Clinton said the brave Americans wanting to break the siege on Gaza were provocateurs and that Israel knows best on how to make sure goods get into Gaza.
- Now the White House says that American activists are breaking the law because they are providing support to a terrorist organization—the people of Gaza are a terrorist organization—and will be subject to fines and jail.
Such shameful statements by the State Department, when will Americans question whose interest their elected officials are working in? Political parties, skin color and gender apparently play no role when Israel is concerned.
No kidding. I (absentee) voted for the Obama who was going to close Guantanamo Bay, draw down our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, not launch into more foreign wars, and take a stronger stand against Israeli belligerence than recent past presidents. What the what has happened?
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”You get to the point where you evolve in your life where everything isn’t black and white, good and bad, and you try to do the right thing. You might not like that. You might be very cynical about that. Well, fuck it, I don’t care what you think. I’m trying to do the right thing. I’m tired of Republican-Democrat politics. They can take the job and shove it. I come from a blue-collar background. I’m trying to do the right thing, and that’s where I’m going with this.
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Republic Presidential Candidates Run-down (Part 1)
Rick Santorum
- Anti-woman: Santorum opposes all abortions and wants to outlaw them all (except, of course, when Santorum’s own wife wants an abortion, in which case it’s all good)
- Anti-science: Climate change is junk according to Rick Santorum. The earth, he believes, gets warmer, and he also believes it gets cooler. Eloquently said my good man!
- Raving lunatic: Santorum believes the idea of global warming is a vast government conspiracy trying to take more control over our lives.
- Anti-homosexual: Supports a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriages in America, says there needs to be “consistency” in an institution as foundational as marriage. Not so surprising here…
Mitt Romney
- Anti-woman: Romney has a history of flip-flops when it comes to his stance on abortion rights, but lately he’s settled on his position: no abortion, not ever.
- Anti-homosexual: Romney fervently opposes same-sex marriage and supports the constitutional amendment to preserve traditional marriage. But wait a second!! The way in which one might define “traditional marriage” today is not clear. The idea of traditional marriage has changed a lot over the years; at various points in US history traditional marriage has meant that only white people could get married (1691), then black people got permission to get married only if their slave owner said it was alright (1724), later you could only be married to one person at a time (1899), later still it was decided that wives could own property in their own names (1900), then whites and blacks were permitted to marry each other (1967), and fairly recently it was abolished that the husband owned all property between a married couple (1981) and decided that it’s not legal for a husband to rape his wife (1993). “Just another example of why the ‘marriage has been the same for centuries!!!’ argument is complete and utter bullshit,” says STFU, Conservatives.
- Pro-science: Romney acknowledges that human activity has contributed to climate change, that we must reduce our emissions of pollutants and greenhouse gases, and that global warming in real. Bravo.
- Believes in dinosaurs: Romney may be Mormon, but he’s no creationist; he acknowledges that dinosaurs and people existed at different times in history.
- Drill, baby, drill: Romney supports more domestic drilling for oil and natural gas, and increased use of nuclear energy.
Michele Bachmann
- Is female: Bachmann’s gender, petiteness, long hair, and bright smile makes her one of the more physically attractive front-runners of the GOP. This point will be repeated over and over during this campaign season, even if only in the form of commentators arguing that physical attractiveness ought not be an issue.
- Is hot: Hot for God, that is. Watch this 2006 video where Bachmann describes how God is sexy and turns her on. Like, a lot.
- Anti-woman: Bachmann hates abortion. Our nation today is poorer, she says, because 50 million fellow American fetuses have so sadly been lost — some of whom, she adds, could have actually been born!
- Anti-science: Bachmann does not believe in global warming. Evvvvverything’s just fine.
- Anti-homosexual: She also wants our constitution to forbid gay and lesbian couples from marrying, thus overturning laws in five states where doing so is already legal.
Tim Pawlenty:
- No sense of humor: You know that awkward guy from your old class who never really had any friends, was always poking his head into other people’s conversations and nodding as if he knew exactly what they meant, but when he opened his mouth something stupid, off-topic, inappropriately sexual or just plain bland would always come out of his mouth? That guy became Tim Pawlenty.
- Anti-homosexual: Beyond the mere stance of being against gay marriage, Tim Pawlenty is against gays recovering damages in cases of wrongful death and against gays having funerals they way they want.
- Anti-science: Being gay is worse for your health than smoking cigarettes. For true.
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Immigration policy in the US: What would Jesus do?
Letter to the editor of my local paper on June 6:
Helwig: Who would Jesus allow into America?
The question of what Jesus would do has been asked in connection with illegal immigration. The answer is not complicated. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says, “I tell you the truth, the man who does not enter the sheep pen by the gate, but climbs in by some other way, is a thief and a robber.” Therefore, entering this country illegally is breaking the law as a thief and a robber.
Letter to the editor on June 8 in response to the above:
Kissane: Religion can make bad immigration law
It’s ironic that the writer would place so much importance on strict adherence to immigration laws, while at the same time ignoring a bedrock principle of this country like separation of church and state, by supporting his view of legality with the Bible. If the writer doesn’t want to support fellow human beings simply trying to make their way in the world, he’ll have to be a bit more creative and provide concrete constitutional reasoning for that position. As far as illegal immigration is concerned, a real, workable solution is needed - not vague, religion-based banter.
I accept that we have laws about immigration and they need to followed, or, if they are unjust, revised. But what does Jesus have to do with any of this?
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![Republicans’ hate of women’s health, visualized (from GOOD.is):
The pie chart above depicts all the services Planned Parenthood centers around the country provided in 2009. As you can clearly see, only three percent of those services were abortions, while the majority of the other 97 percent were STD tests, contraception provisions, and cancer screenings. In other words, relative to its other services, Planned Parenthood does almost no abortions at all. And of the abortions it does provide, not a single one is paid for with federal funds. Read more
[Meanwhile,] “Pro-life” Republicans are targeting Title X funding, which provides contraception and sexual health advice to millions of needy Americans, and more specifically Planned Parenthood, whose contraception and sexual health services (but not abortion services) are partially supported by Title X. In 2009, Planned Parenthood performed a total of 332,278 abortions (pdf), a number that congressional Republicans apparently find intolerable. According to Guttmacher, however, if the government were to cut all Title X funding, we could expect 406,000 more abortions every year. Read more
Can someone explain to me what small government has to do with women’s health care? How have the mainstream GOP shifted focus from fiscal responsibility to being the morality police? If the GOP was actually so concerned about reckless government spending, why did it allow the previous administration to launch into the two longest foreign wars the USA has ever fought?](http://30.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_ljdyz4HzjY1qzdwdxo1_500.jpg)
Republicans’ hate of women’s health, visualized (from GOOD.is):
The pie chart above depicts all the services Planned Parenthood centers around the country provided in 2009. As you can clearly see, only three percent of those services were abortions, while the majority of the other 97 percent were STD tests, contraception provisions, and cancer screenings. In other words, relative to its other services, Planned Parenthood does almost no abortions at all. And of the abortions it does provide, not a single one is paid for with federal funds. Read more
[Meanwhile,] “Pro-life” Republicans are targeting Title X funding, which provides contraception and sexual health advice to millions of needy Americans, and more specifically Planned Parenthood, whose contraception and sexual health services (but not abortion services) are partially supported by Title X. In 2009, Planned Parenthood performed a total of 332,278 abortions (pdf), a number that congressional Republicans apparently find intolerable. According to Guttmacher, however, if the government were to cut all Title X funding, we could expect 406,000 more abortions every year. Read more
Can someone explain to me what small government has to do with women’s health care? How have the mainstream GOP shifted focus from fiscal responsibility to being the morality police? If the GOP was actually so concerned about reckless government spending, why did it allow the previous administration to launch into the two longest foreign wars the USA has ever fought?
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