Blue Corn Comics -- News from a Multicultural Perspective

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Friday, November 20, 2009

Civilian trials work bestOne reason commissions have not worked well is that changes in constitutional, international and military laws since they were last used, during World War II, have produced great uncertainty about the commissions' validity. This uncertainty has led to many legal challenges that will continue indefinitely--hardly an ideal situation for the trial of the century.

By contrast, there is no question about the legitimacy of U.S. federal courts to incapacitate terrorists. Many of Holder's critics appear to have forgotten that the Bush administration used civilian courts to put away dozens of terrorists, including "shoe bomber" Richard Reid; al-Qaeda agent Jose Padilla; "American Taliban" John Walker Lindh; the Lackawanna Six; and Zacarias Moussaoui, who was prosecuted for the same conspiracy for which Mohammed is likely to be charged. Many of these terrorists are locked in a supermax prison in Colorado, never to be seen again.*****

Obama stalling on climate changeYou thought enacting a public option is a heavy lift? Getting to 350 ppm would be far tougher. It would require Obama to pump up the volume, and for China and India to make serious commitments. Instead of aiming for this target, the Obama administration has focused on what's politically possible--then failing to deliver on that. And once the exhausting health care debate is done, the White House will focus on jobs, jobs, jobs. And, oh yes, jobs. This is natural and necessary. Politicians must address political realities--especially those immediate ones, such as joblessness. The problem is, global warming is a scientific reality. It cannot be spun. It cannot be placed on hold until the political circumstances are advantageous. Its most consequential impacts are not right at hand, but they cannot be addressed once they transpire. They must be dealt with before the emergency arrives, before there is no longer any argument or excuse for inaction.

That means climate change is an issue that calls for unprecedented leadership. And this challenge has been thrust upon Obama. At the end of the W. years, I thought that future historians might harshly judge Bush less for his invasion of Iraq than for his dithering on climate change. Obama is indeed trying on this front. But if he doesn't try harder, he could end up, decades from now, being paired with Bush, when the toddlers of today are then wondering, who let the planet burn?*****

Thursday, November 19, 2009

Critics wrong about government health programsCritics storm that health care reform is “a cruel hoax and a delusion.” Ads in 100 newspapers thunder that reform would mean “the beginning of socialized medicine.”

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial page predicts that the legislation will lead to “deteriorating service.” Business groups warn that Washington bureaucrats will invade “the privacy of the examination room,” that we are on the road to rationed care and that patients will lose the “freedom to choose their own doctor.”

All dire—but also wrong. Those forecasts date not from this year, but from the battle over Medicare in the early 1960s.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

How to save the rainforestsAn intergovernmental working group for saving the rainforests estimates that for about $30 billion we could reduce deforestation in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo by 25 percent by 2015. After that, financing from global carbon markets, plus these countries’ own resources, could save much of the rest. China now has $2.2 trillion in reserves. How about it, Beijing? Why don’t you step up and provide some public goods for the world for once—not because you get a direct benefit, but just because it would make the world a better place for everyone?

Sure, America should still lead such efforts. But China’s days as a global free-rider should be over. China should pay its fair share—and more—since it will benefit every bit as much as the U.S., Europe and Japan. Indeed, the U.N. Foundation estimates that because living tropical forests are such huge storehouses of carbon—which gets released when we chop the trees down—if we just stop deforestation, we get a big chunk of the carbon-emissions reductions the world needs between now and 2020.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Whatever happened to the GOP?There was once a political party that came out against concentration of wealth. They called for regulation of food, drugs, and big corporations. Called for “square deal” for the average American. And their robust spokesman, the leader of their party, said this of his countrymen:

“There is not in the world a more ignoble character than the mere money-getting American, insensitive to every duty, regardless of principle, bent only on amassing a fortune.”

That party was the Republicans, a bit more than century ago, led by Teddy Roosevelt.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Blaming Ft. Hood on MuslimsUnderlying both the left- and right-wing narratives of the shootings is the belief--or fear, on the part of many liberals--that what happened at Ft. Hood is, in fact, rooted in Islam, rather than in a perverted political ideology that is rejected by an overwhelming majority of Muslims everywhere. The threat posed to America by the jihadist cult recalls the hysteria surrounding the late 19th century mass migrations that brought thousands of anarchists, syndicalists and communists from eastern Europe to America. Preaching their secular gospel of violently overthrowing the U.S. government and returning to a mythical agrarian past, the new immigrants, many of whom were Jewish, engaged in bombings, industrial violence and assassinations that killed hundreds of people, including President William McKinley.

There was no shortage of voices that blamed these attacks on immigrants, particularly "the Jews," and suggested that immigration from eastern Europe be stopped and that Jews be banned from sensitive government jobs and institutions of higher learning--efforts that were enshrined in law and unofficial practice by 1924. In retrospect, we see these responses as products of ignorance and rank prejudice.

So now we must be clear: The United States is not at war with Muslims or Islam. We are at war, whether we like it or not, with Islamic heretics who argue that their own beliefs supersede traditional Islamic law and that traitors to Islam as they define it should be killed. Our enemies are members of a violent cult that uses the language of religion to achieve political aims. Believers in such heresies have more in common with other violent political extremists--anarchists, Stalinists, Nazis, Klansmen, Weathermen bombers and terrorists such as Timothy McVeigh--than they do with mainstream Muslims.

*****

Republicans should dump neoconsIt is important to realize that neocons are not just nation-building, America-first advocates. They like big government across the board. No Child Left Behind, the thinly disguised effort to nationalize education in America, was principally a neocon initiative. Consider this comment from the late Irving Kristol, self-described "godfather" of the neoconservative movement: "Neocons do not feel that kind of alarm or anxiety about the growth of the state in the past century, seeing it as natural, indeed inevitable." Indeed.

There is an insidious philosophy underlying this acceptance of the "natural" growth of statism. Neoconservative columnist David Brooks wrote in the late 1990s that we need "a vigorous One Nation Conservatism that will connect a revived sense of citizenship with the long-standing national greatness Americans hold dear." In another essay, he wrote: "Ultimately, American purpose can find its voice only in Washington. ... Individual ambition and willpower are channeled into the cause of national greatness. And by making the nation great, individuals are able to join their narrow concerns to a larger national project." A frightening worldview.*****

Goldman Sachs's cult of moneyWhen Arlidge asked whether it’s possible to make too much money, whether Goldman will ignore the people howling at the moon with rage and go on raking it in, getting richer than God, Blankfein grinned impishly and said he was “doing God’s work.”

Whether he knows it, he’s referring back to The Protestant Ethic and The Spirit of Capitalism—except, of course, the Calvinists would have been outraged by the banks’ vicious—not virtuous—cycle of greed and concupiscence.

Blankfein’s trickle-down catechism isn’t working. Now we have two economies. We have recovering banks while we have 10-plus percent unemployment and 17.5 percent underemployment. The gross thing about the Wall Street of the last decade is how much its success was not shared with society.

Goldmine Sachs, as it’s known, is out for Goldmine Sachs.*****

Why cutting down trees is wrongNo matter how many times you hear them, there are some statistics that just bowl you over. The one that always stuns me is this: Imagine if you took all the cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships in the world and added up their exhaust every year. The amount of carbon dioxide, or CO2, all those cars, trucks, planes, trains and ships collectively emit into the atmosphere is actually less than the carbon emissions every year that result from the chopping down and clearing of tropical forests in places like Brazil, Indonesia and the Congo. We are now losing a tropical forest the size of New York State every year, and the carbon that releases into the atmosphere now accounts for roughly 17 percent of all global emissions contributing to climate change.

It is going to be a long time before we transform the world’s transportation fleet so it is emission-free. But right now—like tomorrow—we could eliminate 17 percent of all global emissions if we could halt the cutting and burning of tropical forests. But to do that requires putting in place a whole new system of economic development—one that makes it more profitable for the poorer, forest-rich nations to preserve and manage their trees rather than to chop them down to make furniture or plant soybeans.*****

Why save the big cats?Big cats are disappearing at a tremendous rate. We've seen these numbers just tumble, from 450,000 lions 50 years ago to 20,000 today. Leopards, 700,000 to 50,000. Tigers, there are fewer than 1,000 left in India.

We should all care about big cats because, as we are now finding out, whole ecosystems disappear when we lose them. Whether it's wolves in North America, sharks in the sea, tigers in India and Asia, or lions in Africa, these ecosystems rely on these big cats and big predators to keep them around. As the predators at the top disappear, the large prey grow in number. They start forcing out the smaller prey, smaller predators start feeding on still smaller prey, and it becomes a monoculture [with only one species], and that monoculture collapses and you end up with no ecosystem.

Everything is linked to everything else. It's ironic, but you take out the lions that are often in conflict with the communities, and suddenly the communities have a worse life.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Expanding islands of trashLight bulbs, bottle caps, toothbrushes, Popsicle sticks and tiny pieces of plastic, each the size of a grain of rice, inhabit the Pacific garbage patch, an area of widely dispersed trash that doubles in size every decade and is now believed to be roughly twice the size of Texas. But one research organization estimates that the garbage now actually pervades the Pacific, though most of it is caught in what oceanographers call a gyre like this one — an area of heavy currents and slack winds that keep the trash swirling in a giant whirlpool.

Scientists say the garbage patch is just one of five that may be caught in giant gyres scattered around the world’s oceans. Abandoned fishing gear like buoys, fishing line and nets account for some of the waste, but other items come from land after washing into storm drains and out to sea.*****

Fossil fuels' hidden costsBurning fossil fuels costs the United States about $120 billion a year in health costs, mostly because of thousands of premature deaths from air pollution, the National Academy of Sciences reported in a study issued Monday.

The damages are caused almost equally by coal and oil, according to the study, which was ordered by Congress. The study set out to measure the costs not incorporated into the price of a kilowatt-hour or a gallon of gasoline or diesel fuel.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Bush wars still killing AmericansMilitary leaders acknowledge rampant psychiatric problems in their midst. According to the Army, the suicide rate among soldiers in Iraq is five times that seen in the Persian Gulf War and 11% higher than during Vietnam. The Army reported 133 suicides in 2008, the most ever. In January of this year, the 24 suicides reported by the Army outnumbered U.S. combat-related deaths in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have generated an array of mental and behavioral problems, experts say. Besides PTSD, a high rate of traumatic brain injury has contributed to cognitive and psychiatric symptoms. The wars have been long and, without a national draft in place, many troops have been subject to repeat deployment. The nature of the conflicts--fighting insurgents who mingle among civilians--is considered an additional, constant source of stress.*****

GOP = party of hateWhen John Boehner, the Republican leader of the House, appeared at the Tea Party rally at the Capitol on Thursday afternoon, it was a dramatic signal: The wing-nuts have taken over the GOP.

Think I'm being harsh? The angry folks at the protest--which attracted several thousand conservatives--held up signs with messages of hate: "Get the Red Out of the White House," "Waterboard Congress," "Ken-ya Trust Obama?" One called the president a "Traitor to the U.S. Constitution." Another sign showed pictures of dead bodies at the Dachau concentration camp and compared health care reform to the Holocaust. A different placard depicted Obama as Sambo. Yes, Sambo. Another read, "Obama takes his orders from the Rothchilds"--a reference to the anti-Semitic conspiracy theory holding that one evil Jewish family has manipulated events around the globe for decades.

*****

Republican hyper-bull on healthcareC-SPAN watchers--and there were plenty of us--were treated to an orgy of Republican excess, further indication that the GOP is becoming the party of hyperbole. Or, as House Minority Leader John Boehner might say, hyper-bull. R after R railed at the bill, bellowing that the House was flouting the American people by passing this measure. Rep. Kay Granger questioned how the House could ignore the "thousands" who had come to Capitol Hill to protest. Was she truly suggesting that there should be a Tea Party veto? Turn out a few thousand people, and that's the end of any legislation? (Watch out, military spending bill!) Rep. George Radanovich proclaimed that Congress was not recognizing "the will of the people." Here's a serious query for him: How do you assess the "will of the people"? After all, there was this little event called the election of 2008, which handed the Democrats the White House and decisive majorities in both houses of Congress. Were Radanovich, Granger and other GOPers serious when they accused the Democratic majority of acting in an anti-democratic measure by passing legislation that the Democrats had promised to pass? Did they believe this? Or were they just spouting bunk to play to their tea-partying base? I'm not sure which would be worse: denying or defying reality.

Boehner went over the top--or the cliff--when he exclaimed that the House bill was the latest evidence that "freedom has been dimming" in the United States for decades. If a liberal House Dem were to say something like that, a Fox News commentator, no doubt, would ask why he or she hates America. To provide proof, Boehner read from the bill. One provision, he noted, calls for using schools as flu vaccination centers. That sure is a freedom-dimmer. Another passage he highlighted forces chain restaurants to post calorie counts on menus. What a devious, liberty-thwarting, socialistic plot . . . to help consumers make better decisions about their diets.*****

Rage against Wall StreetThe Obama administration does not seem to understand that this rage, left unaddressed, could consume it. It has pushed aside the entreaties of many—including Paul Volcker, the chairman of the White House’s own Economic Recovery Advisory Board—to break up too-big-to-fail banks. Those behemoths, cushioned by the government’s bailouts, low-interest loans and guarantees, are back making bets that put the entire system at risk. Yet last Sunday, we once again heard the Treasury secretary, Timothy Geithner, on “Meet the Press” dodging questions about the banks in general and Goldman in particular with unpersuasive bromides. “We’re not going to let the system go back to the way it was,” he said.

Surely he jests. On Monday morning, a business-savvy Democratic senator, Maria Cantwell of Washington, publicly questioned Geithner’s fitness for his job, given his support of loopholes in proposed regulations of the derivatives that enabled last year’s collapse. On Tuesday, Congressional Democrats, with the White House’s consent, voted to gut the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the post Enron-WorldCom law passed in 2002 to prevent corporate accounting tricks and fraud. Arthur Levitt, the former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, told me on Friday it was “surreal” that Democrats were now achieving the long-held Republican goal of smashing “the golden chalice” of reform. If investors cannot have transparency, Levitt said, “the whole system is worthless.”