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Need Money? End the War Now! Troops Out Now!
[Slogan for the Sunday, December 7 March and Rally at the State Capital in Hartford State Capital building, Connecticut]
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Resister Tony Anderson sentenced to 14 months
By Sarah Lazare, Courage to Resist for
AlterNet. November 20, 2008
For the next two weeks, you can write to Tony at: Tony Anderson / El Paso County Sheriff's Office / 2739 E. Las Vegas / Colorado Springs, CO 80906
19 year-old Army private Tony Anderson was court martialed Monday and sentenced to 14 months of confinement and given a dishonorable discharge from the military for "desertion with intent to avoid hazardous duty" and "disobeying a lawful order." The young soldier refused to deploy to Iraq in July of this year on the grounds of conscientious objection to war.
"I know in my heart that it is wrong to willfully hurt or kill another human being. I simply cannot do it. I don't regret following my conscience," he said at his trial as he struggled to compose himself. "I know there must be consequences for my actions and I must accept this fact."
Members of Iraq Veterans Against the War and Colorado Springs peace organizations attended the Ft. Carson, Colorado court martial to show their support for the young soldier. Immediately after being sentenced, Anderson was placed in handcuffs and taken to the Colorado Springs Criminal Justice Center, where he will be held for a few weeks until he is moved to an army stockade.
The 14 month sentence is one of the longest given to a U.S. military serviceperson for refusing to fight in Iraq.
Read More at:
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/641/1/
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Dear Antiwar Organization/Activist,
The National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations was founded in June 2008 in Cleveland , Ohio at an open national antiwar conference attended by more than 400 activists from 26 states. Our central purpose was to foster the coming together of the broad antiwar movement in massive national demonstrations in the spring of 2009 to call for an immediate end to all U.S. wars and occupations, and money for social needs, not bloated Pentagon spending. We believe that a broad and unified antiwar movement is the best way to achieve these goals.
Last week, our Continuations Body representing some 40 organizations, hailed the recent initiatives by UFPJ and the ANSWER coalition regarding projected March 2009 antiwar actions. (See the National Assembly's October 23rd statement below.) We support both initiatives!
We urge unity in support of the mobilizations in Washington , D.C. called by UFPJ during the week of March 19, culminating in the massive united demonstrations called for by ANSWER for Saturday, March 21, in D.C., Los Angeles , San Francisco , Chicago , Miami and other cities marking the sixth year of the U.S. invasion of Iraq . There should be no conflict or competition between the two calls. ANSWER has urged formation of a broad, united, ad hoc national coalition to make the March 21 action the property of the entire movement. We believe that is the way to go and we will do everything in our power to make these actions in March a success.
Below is our "Open Letter to the U.S. Antiwar Movement" adopted on July 13, 2008 spelling out the price the movement pays for remaining divided. That letter, with the latest list of endorsing organizations and individuals, states in part:
"Our movement faces this challenge: Will the spring actions be unified with all sections of the movement joining together to mobilize the largest possible outpouring on a given date? Or will different antiwar coalitions set different dates for actions that would be inherently competitive, the result being smaller and less powerful expressions of support for the movement's 'Out Now!' demand?
"We appeal to all sections of the movement to speak up now and be heard on this critical question. We must not replicate the experience of recent years during which the divisions in the movement severely weakened it to the benefit of the warmakers and the detriment of the millions of victims of U.S. aggressions, interventions and occupations."
With these national calls for action, we have the first opportunity in years to bring the entire movement together in a show of strength and determination to end these brutal military interventions.
We hope that you and your organization agree that unified national March actions are sorely needed in these times of military and economic crises. We ask that you:
1. Sign the Open Letter to the U.S. Antiwar Movement.
2. Urge all local and national organizations and coalitions to join in building the mobilizations in D.C. in March and the mass actions on March 21.
3. Support the formation of a broad, united, ad hoc national coalition to bring massive forces out on March 21, 2009.
You can sign the Open Letter by writing natassembly@aol.com [if you are a group or individual. (Individual endorsers please include something about yourselves.)] or through the National Assembly website at www.natassembly.org [if you are a group endorsement only]. For more information, please email us at the above address or call 216-736-4704. We greatly appreciate all donations to help in our unity efforts. Checks should be made payable to National Assembly and mailed to P.O. Box 21008 , Cleveland , OH 44121 .
In peace and solidarity,
Greg Coleridge, Coordinator, Northeast Ohio Anti-War Coalition (NOAC); Economic Justice and Empowerment Program Director, Northeast Ohio American Friends Service Committee (AFSC); Member, Administrative Body, National Assembly
Marilyn Levin, Coordinating Committee, Greater Boston United for Justice with Peace; New England United; Member, Administrative Body, National Assembly
On behalf of the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations
NATIONAL ASSEMBLY STATEMENT URGING UNITY OF THE
ANTIWAR MOVEMENT FOR THE MARCH 2009 ACTIONS
October 23, 2008
For more information please contact:
natassembly@aol.com or call 216-736-4704
The National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations welcomes the ANSWER Coalition's call for UNITED mass mobilizations in Washington , D.C. and other cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago and Miami, on March 21, 2009 to mark six years of war and occupation and to Bring the Troops Home Now! We also welcome UFPJ's call for a week of Washington, D.C. mobilizations during the same period to demand an end to the war in Iraq now.
These actions are necessary and need not be contradictory as long as there is unity in supporting them. However, a divided movement is a weakened movement. At this time, more than ever, the movements for peace and social justice must work in concert to bring the full force of opposition to the government's criminal and destructive policies into the streets. It would be a tragic setback if all organizations and constituencies do not come together to act in a unified show of strength and determination in March.
The National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations was formed to promote a united, democratic, independent and mass action antiwar movement to bring the troops home now. Our objective was to do all in our power to achieve this by the Spring of 2009. It now appears that this critical objective is within reach.
We strongly urge and will participate in the formation of an ad hoc national coalition to make the March 21 actions a true expression of the opposition of this country's majority to U.S. wars and occupations. The National Assembly will make every effort to bring such a coalition into fruition and to urge all Assembly supporters to actively participate in the process.
ANSWER CALL:
Mass Actions on the 6th Anniversary of the Iraq War -- March 21, 2009
Bring All the Troops Home Now -- End All Colonial Occupations!
Fund People's Needs, Not Militarism & Bank Bailouts!
Marking the sixth anniversary of the criminal invasion of Iraq, thousands will take to the streets of Washington D.C. and other cities across the U.S. and around the world in March 2009 to say, "Bring the Troops Home NOW!" We will also demand "End Colonial Occupation in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and Everywhere," and "Fund Peoples' Needs Not Militarism and Bank Bailouts." We also insist on an end to the war threats and economic sanctions against Iran.
The ANSWER Coalition (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) is organizing for unified mass marches and rallies in Washington DC, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, Miami and other cities on Saturday, March 21, 2009. Months ago we obtained permits for sixth anniversary demonstrations. ANSWER has been actively involved with other coalitions, organizations, and networks to organize unified anti-war demonstrations in the spring of 2009. ANSWER participated in the National Assembly to End the Iraq and Afghanistan Wars and Occupations that was held in Cleveland, Ohio on June 28th-29th and attended by 450 people, including many national and local anti-war coalitions. The National Assembly gathering agreed to promote national, unified anti-war demonstrations in the Spring of 2009.
The war in Iraq has killed, wounded or displaced nearly a third of Iraq's 26 million people. Thousands of U.S. soldiers have been killed and hundreds of thousands more have suffered severe physical and psychological wounds. The cost of the war is now running at $700 million dollars per day, over $7,000 per second. The U.S. leaders who have initiated and conducted this criminal war should be tried and jailed for war crimes.
The war in Afghanistan is expanding, and both the Democratic and Republican presidential candidates and Congressional leaders have promised to send in more troops. Both have promised to increase the size of the U. S. military. Both have promised to increase military aid to Israel to continue its oppression of the Palestinian people, including the denial of the right of return.
While millions of families are losing their homes, jobs and healthcare, the real military budget next year will top one trillion dollars, $1,000,000,000,000. If used to meet people's needs, that amount could create 10 million new jobs at $60,000 per year, provide healthcare for everyone who does not have it now, rebuild New Orleans and repair much of the damage done in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Federal bailouts of the biggest banks and investors many of whom have also made billions in profits from militarism, are already up to an astounding $2.5 trillion this year. None of that money is earmarked for keeping millions of foreclosed and evicted families in their homes.
Coming just two months after the inauguration of the next president, March 21, 2009 will be a critical opportunity to let the new administration in Washington hear the voice of the people demanding justice.
Click this link to endorse the March 21 Actions
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=yt-lBsIiOd2uSysOF36QLg..
If you're planning a local March 21 anti-war action, let us know by clicking this link.
http://www.pephost.org/site/R?i=1IyrxEUAK_9D1ihMASLTRA..
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
www.answercoalition.org
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
UFPJ CALL:
CALL FOR 6TH ANNIVERSARY NATIONAL MOBILIZATION IN WASHINGTON, DC
http://www.unitedforpeace.org/
March 19, 2009 will mark the 6th anniversary of the "Shock and Awe" campaign that launched the US war and occupation in Iraq . Six long years of a war based on lies, a war that never should have happened. Six long years of death and destruction, of human suffering and economic waste.
United For Peace and Justice calls on people throughout this nation to join us in a national mobilization against this war. On the occasion of this horrendous anniversary next March, we will gather in massive numbers in Washington , DC to say enough is enough, this war must end, it must end now and completely!
We issue this call now, before the critically important election in just a few weeks, because it is vital that the antiwar movement make it clear that our work is far from over and we are not going away. We issue this call now as a way to send a strong message to all those who seek to represent us in Washington : the people of this nation want our troops to come home now -- not in 16 months and not in 100 years!
The war in Iraq has taken too many lives - Iraqi and US - and has taken a tremendous toll on our economy. While we are glad to see some candidates saying they want the war to end, we know this will only happen because the people of this country keep raising their voices, keep taking action, keep pressuring their government to end this nightmare.
Between now and next March much will happen here at home and around the world. We will have elected a new President and a new Congress and the political landscape the antiwar movement works in will have been altered. No one knows where our economic crisis is headed or how exactly it will affect the lives of millions of people in our communities. At the same time, there is danger of escalation of military action in Afghanistan , Pakistan , Iran and other places - and the possibility of a dangerous new arms race with Russia .
As we plan for the March mobilization we will take these critically important issues into account. We know that all of the issues our nation needs to address are impacted by the continued war and occupation in Iraq , and that no real progress will be made on anything else until we end this war.
In the coming weeks and months, United For Peace and Justice will be discussing the plans for the 6th anniversary national mobilization with our partners and allies in the peace and justice movements around the country. As the details of our activities in Washington , DC come together we will get word out far and wide. Now, we ask you to take note of this call, mark your calendars for the whole week, and start making plans for your community's participation in what will surely be a timely and necessary mobilization.
From the UFPJ National Steering Committee
Issued on October 18, 2008
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Bring the Anti-War Movement to Inauguration Day in D.C.
January 20, 2009: Join thousands to demand "Bring the troops home now!"
On January 20, 2009, when the next president proceeds up Pennsylvania Avenue he will see thousands of people carrying signs that say US Out of Iraq Now!, US Out of Afghanistan Now!, and Stop the Threats Against Iran! As in Vietnam it will be the people in the streets and not the politicians who can make the difference.
On March 20, 2008, in response to a civil rights lawsuit brought against the National Park Service by the Partnership for Civil Justice on behalf of the ANSWER Coalition, a Federal Court ruled for ANSWER and determined that the government had discriminated against those who brought an anti-war message to the 2005 Inauguration. The court barred the government from continuing its illegal practices on Inauguration Day.
The Democratic and Republican Parties have made it clear that they intend to maintain the occupation of Iraq, the war in Afghanistan, and threaten a new war against Iran.
Both Parties are completely committed to fund Israel's on-going war against the Palestinian people. Both are committed to spending $600 billion each year so that the Pentagon can maintain 700 military bases in 130 countries.
On this the third anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, we are helping to build a nationwide movement to support working-class communities that are being devastated while the country's resources are devoted to war and empire for for the sake of transnational banks and corporations.
Join us and help organize bus and car caravans for January 20, 2009, Inauguration Day, so that whoever is elected president will see on Pennsylvania Avenue that the people want an immediate end to the war in Iraq and Afghanistan and to halt the threats against Iran.
From Iraq to New Orleans, Fund Peoples Needs Not the War Machine!
We cannot carry out these actions withour your help. Please take a moment right now to make an urgently needed donation by clicking this link:
https://secure2.convio.net/pep/site/Donation?ACTION=SHOW_DONATION_OPTIONS&CAMPAIGN_ID=1121&JServSessionIdr011=23sri803b1.app2a
A.N.S.W.E.R. Coalition
http://www.answercoalition.org/
info@internationalanswer.org
National Office in Washington DC: 202-544-3389
New York City: 212-694-8720
Los Angeles: 213-251-1025
San Francisco: 415-821-6545
Chicago: 773-463-0311
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Hard Times in Philadelphia
The hardships of the current financial meltdown are expected to hurt the working poor more than any other group. Here are the voices of five young job seekers who are struggling in Philadelphia.
November 9, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2008/11/09/us/20081109_EMPLOY_AUDIO.html
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"Justice is a word that resides in the dictionary. It occasionally makes its escape, but is promptly caught and put back where it belongs." --Jack Black
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ARTICLES IN FULL:
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1) A Military for a Dangerous New World
Editorial
"This is intolerable, especially when the Pentagon’s budget, including spending on the two wars, reached $685 billion in 2008. That is an increase of 85 percent in real dollars since 2000 and nearly equal to all of the rest of the world’s defense budgets combined. It is also the highest level in real dollars since World War II."
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16Sun1.html
2) Will the Safety Net Catch Economy’s Casualties?
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The Nation
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16greenhouse.html?hp
3) The Spoils
Congo’s Riches, Looted by Renegade Troops
By LYDIA POLGREEN
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/africa/16congo.html?ref=world
4) The Bailout’s Next 60 Days
Editorial
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mon1.html?hp
5) Facing Deficits, States Get Out Sharper Knives
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/us/17fiscal.html?hp
6) For Mexico’s Wealthy, Expenses Include Guards
By MARC LACEY
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/world/americas/17mexico.html?hp
7) A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish
By MARK BITTMAN
On the Farm
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16bittman.html
8) Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time
By HENRY M. PAULSON Jr.
Op-Ed Contributor
November 18, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/opinion/18paulson.html
9) Lawmakers Renew Call for More Help for Homeowners
By BRIAN KNOWLTON and JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/economy/19bailout.html?hp
10) Clout Has Plunged for Automakers and Union, Too
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
November 18, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business/economy/18rescue.html?ref=us
11) Vancouver's Radical Approach to Drugs: Let Junkies Be Junkies
By Vince Beiser, Miller-McCune Magazine.
November 18, 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/105087/vancouver%27s_radical_approach_to_drugs:_let_junkies_be_junkies_/
12) Consumer Price Decline Prompts Fear of Deflation
By JACK HEALY
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/business/economy/20econ.html?hp
13) Getting to Yes
Editorial
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19wed1.html?hp
14) Gov't Finds Child Hunger Rose 50 Percent in 2007
Nearly 700,000 Went Hungry Last Year
November 17, 2008
newsnet5.com
http://www.newsnet5.com/health/18000875/detail.html
15) Judge Orders Five Detainees Freed From Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
November 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/us/21guantanamo.html?hp
16) U.S. Strike Reportedly Killed Five in Pakistan
By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
November 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/world/asia/21pstan.html?ref=world
17) Health Insurers Offer to Accept All Applicants, on Condition
By ROBERT PEAR
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20health.html?ref=us
18) Drawing the Line on Drug Testing
By MICHAEL WINERIP
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/nyregion/new-jersey/23Rparent.html?ref=nyregion
19) Jobless Claims Reach a 16-Year High
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/economy/21econ.html?ref=business#
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1) A Military for a Dangerous New World
Editorial
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/opinion/16Sun1.html
As president, Barack Obama will face the most daunting and complicated national security challenges in more than a generation — and he will inherit a military that is critically ill-equipped for the task.
Troops and equipment are so overtaxed by President Bush’s disastrous Iraq war that the Pentagon does not have enough of either for the fight in Afghanistan, the war on terror’s front line, let alone to confront the next threats.
This is intolerable, especially when the Pentagon’s budget, including spending on the two wars, reached $685 billion in 2008. That is an increase of 85 percent in real dollars since 2000 and nearly equal to all of the rest of the world’s defense budgets combined. It is also the highest level in real dollars since World War II.
To protect the nation, the Obama administration will have to rebuild and significantly reshape the military. We do not minimize the difficulty of this task. Even if money were limitless, planning is extraordinarily difficult in a world with no single enemy and many dangers.
The United States and its NATO allies must be able to defeat the Taliban and Al Qaeda in Afghanistan — and keep pursuing Al Qaeda forces around the world. Pentagon planners must weigh the potential threats posed by Iran’s nuclear ambitions, an erratic North Korea, a rising China, an assertive Russia and a raft of unstable countries like Somalia and nuclear-armed Pakistan. And they must have sufficient troops, ships and planes to reassure allies in Asia, the Middle East and Europe.
The goal is a military that is large enough and mobile enough to deter enemies. There must be no more ill-founded wars of choice like the one in Iraq. The next president must be far more willing to solve problems with creative and sustained diplomacy.
But this country must also be prepared to fight if needed. To build an effective military the next president must make some fundamental changes.
More ground forces: We believe the military needs the 65,000 additional Army troops and the 27,000 additional marines that Congress finally pushed President Bush into seeking. That buildup is projected to take at least two years; by the end the United States will have 759,000 active-duty ground troops.
That sounds like a lot, especially with the prospect of significant withdrawals from Iraq. But it would still be about 200,000 fewer ground forces than the United States had 20 years ago, during the final stages of the cold war. Less than a third of that expanded ground force would be available for deployment at any given moment.
Military experts agree that for every year active-duty troops spend in the field, they need two years at home recovering, retraining and reconnecting with their families, especially in an all-volunteer force. (The older, part-time soldiers of the National Guard and the Reserves need even more).
The Army has been so badly stretched, mainly by the Iraq war, that it has been unable to honor this one-year-out-of-three rule. Brigades have been rotated back in for second and even third combat tours with barely one year’s rest in between. Even then, the Pentagon has still had to rely far too heavily on National Guard and Reserve units to supplement the force. The long-term cost in morale, recruit quality and readiness will persist for years. Nearly one-fifth of the troops — some 300,000 men and women — have returned from Iraq and Afghanistan reporting post-traumatic stress disorders.
The most responsible prescription for overcoming these problems is a significantly larger ground force. If the country is lucky enough to need fewer troops in the field over the next few years, improving rotation ratios will still help create a higher quality military force.
New skills: America still may have to fight traditional wars against hostile regimes, but future conflicts are at least as likely to involve guerrilla insurgencies wielding terror tactics or possibly weapons of mass destruction. The Pentagon easily defeated Saddam Hussein’s army. It was clearly unprepared to handle the insurgency and then the fierce sectarian civil war that followed.
The Army has made strides in training troops for “irregular warfare.” Gen. David Petraeus has rewritten American counterinsurgency doctrine to make protecting the civilian population and legitimizing the indigenous government central tasks for American soldiers.
The new doctrine gives as much priority to dealing with civilians in conflict zones (shaping attitudes, restoring security, minimizing casualties, restoring basic services and engaging in other “stability operations”) as to combat operations.
Every soldier and marine who has served in Iraq or Afghanistan has had real world experience. But the Army’s structure and institutional bias are still weighted toward conventional war-fighting. Some experts fear that, as happened after Vietnam, the Army will in time reject the recent lessons and innovations.
For the foreseeable future, troops must be schooled in counterinsurgency and stability operations as well as more traditional fighting. And they must be prepared to sustain long-term operations.
The military also must field more specialized units, including more trainers to help friendly countries develop their own armies to supplement or replace American troops in conflict zones. It means hiring more linguists, training more special forces, and building expertise in civil affairs and cultural awareness.
Maintain mobility: In an unpredictable world with no clear battle lines, the country must ensure its ability — so-called lift capacity — to move enormous quantities of men and matériel quickly around the world and to supply them when necessary by sea.
Except in Iraq and Afghanistan, the Pentagon has reduced its number of permanent overseas bases as a way to lower America’s profile. Between 2004 and 2014, American bases abroad are expected to decline from 850 to 550. The number of troops permanently based overseas will drop to 180,000, down from 450,000 in the 1980s.
Much of the transport equipment is old and wearing out. The Pentagon will need to invest more in unglamorous but essential aircraft like long-haul cargo planes and refueling tankers. The KC-X aerial tanker got caught up in a messy contracting controversy. The new administration must move forward on plans to buy 179 new planes in a fair and open competition.
China is expanding its deep-water navy, much to the anxiety of many of its neighbors. The United States should not try to block China’s re-emergence as a great power. Neither can it cede the seas. Nor can it allow any country to interfere with vital maritime lanes.
America should maintain its investment in sealift, including Maritime Prepositioning Force ships that carry everything marines need for initial military operations (helicopter landing decks, food, water pumping equipment). It must also restock ships’ supplies that have been depleted for use in Iraq. One 2006 study predicted replenishment would cost $12 billion plus $5 billion for every additional year the marines stayed in Iraq.
The Pentagon needs to spend more on capable, smaller coastal warcraft — the littoral combat ship deserves support — and less on blue-water fighting ships.
More rational spending: What we are calling for will be expensive. Adding 92,000 ground troops will cost more than $100 billion over the next six years, and maintaining lift capacity will cost billions more. Much of the savings from withdrawing troops from Iraq will have to be devoted to repairing and rebuilding the force.
Money must be spent more wisely. If the Pentagon continues buying expensive weapons systems more suited for the cold war, it will be impossible to invest in the armaments and talents needed to prevail in the future.
There are savings to be found — by slowing or eliminating production of hugely expensive aerial combat fighters (like the F-22, which has not been used in the two current wars) and mid-ocean fighting ships with no likely near-term use. The Pentagon plans to spend $10 billion next year on an untested missile defense system in Alaska and Europe. Mr. Obama should halt deployment and devote a fraction of that budget to continued research until there is a guarantee that the system will work.
The Pentagon’s procurement system must be fixed. Dozens of the most costly weapons program are billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule.
Killing a weapons program, starting a new one or carrying out new doctrine — all this takes time and political leadership. President Obama will need to quickly lay out his vision of the military this country needs to keep safe and to prevail over 21st-century threats.
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2) Will the Safety Net Catch Economy’s Casualties?
By STEVEN GREENHOUSE
The Nation
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16greenhouse.html?hp
Economists rarely agree on anything, but a great many do agree on one unfortunate matter these days: the current economic downturn is likely to develop into the worst recession since the downturn of 1981-82.
The United States is a far different place. Government programs in place then to cushion and counter recessions have been scaled back sharply, raising questions about whether they are up to the task as the economic outlook darkens today.
Unemployment insurance is not as generous now. Yet the unemployment rate is at 6.5 percent and some forecasters say it could top 8 percent next year. It hit 10.8 percent in the early 1980s.
This is also the first severe economic slump since President Bill Clinton overhauled the welfare system and made it tougher to qualify for, and keep receiving, benefits. Many people who lose their jobs now and fall into poverty may not qualify for public assistance. Other programs designed in part to counter hard times — like job training and housing subsidies — have also been cut back.
“Some of the core elements of the social safety net have eroded,” said Jacob Hacker, author of “The Great Risk Shift” and a professor of political science at the University of California at Berkeley.
“Unemployment insurance has been weak for a long time, but right now it seems to be quite anemic relative to the need,” he said. “The social safety net in general has not been kept up to date with the changing nature of the work force and the increased economic risks that working families are facing.”
With a Democratic president and Congress set to be sworn in this January, many liberal groups are maneuvering to strengthen the nation’s safety net — the web of government programs, including food stamps, welfare, Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid, that are intended to cushion Americans from hardships like layoffs, disability and old age.
Two such groups — the Center for American Progress and the National Employment Law Project — issued a report on Friday making their case for expanding unemployment insurance.
According to the report, tighter rules mean that just 37 percent of unemployed Americans are receiving jobless benefits today, down from 42 percent during the 1981-82 recession and 50 percent during the 1974-75 downturn. Americans today receive a maximum of 39 weeks of unemployment benefits, down from 65 weeks in the 1970s. The average weekly benefit is $293. And low-income workers — a category that tends to include women and those in part-time employment — are one-third as likely to receive unemployment insurance as higher-income workers.
Another liberal group, the Center for Budget Policy and Priorities, said that as states have imposed tougher restrictions on welfare, just 40 percent of very poor families who qualify for public assistance today actually end up receiving it, compared with 80 percent in the recessions of 1981-82 and 1990-91.
Liberal economists say the deterioration of the safety net will not only mean more pain and poverty for millions of families, but a longer recession. They say spending on social programs helps to stabilize the economy and counter the downward tug of recession. But many conservative economists argue that the existing safety net is plenty large, and that in any event, it will be less effective in fighting a downturn characterized by an extraordinary credit crunch.
“Is it the case that automatic stabilizers that are in place will prevent the kind of downturn we’ve seen most recently — I think the answer is no,” said Douglas Holtz-Eakin, who was John McCain’s chief economic adviser during the presidential campaign. Mr. Holtz-Eakin said the current downturn is “an asset-bubble-driven recession,” fueled by declining housing and stock prices. The increased income that automatic stabilizers put into people’s pockets is not an antidote to an economy in which banks are scared to lend, he said.
During the Great Depression, Franklin Delano Roosevelt strived mightily to build a broad and strong safety net that included unemployment insurance and aid for families with dependent children. After Ronald Reagan took office in 1981, Washington started trimming and tightening many social programs. To boost the economy, Mr. Reagan called for smaller government, lower taxes and more self-reliance. The unemployment insurance and welfare programs were trimmed to reduce spending and discourage recipients from dawdling. But President Reagan also expanded the Earned Income Tax Credit, which gives a credit of several thousand dollars to low-income workers.
Bill Clinton presided over a further tightening of welfare, with the federal government limiting the amount of time most recipients can receive benefits and many states imposing strict work requirements. Federal housing subsidies have also been cut by nearly two-thirds since the 1980s, after inflation.
But Brian Riedl, senior federal budget analyst at the conservative Heritage Foundation, said the automatic stabilizing effects of these programs remained strong. “Antipoverty spending is at its highest level in American history,” he said. “It’s topped 3 percent of gross domestic product.”
Economists say that it is sometimes hard to determine whether certain social programs fuel recessions or fight them. As 1.2 million workers have lost their job this year, for instance, many have turned to Medicaid, causing some states to spend more on health care, boosting the economy in the process. At the same time, some cash-strapped states have cut Medicaid, losing federal matching funds and slowing down the economy.
Some see a similar effect with the Earned Income Tax Credit. “The E.I.T.C. is a fantastic wage subsidy program that’s been hugely effective in reducing poverty, but when jobs disappear, the E.I.T.C. doesn’t help you,” said Jared Bernstein of the Economic Policy Institute, a liberal research group. He was one of the economists invited to a meeting of President-elect Barack Obama’s top economic advisers on Nov. 7. “When people lose their jobs, they often stop receiving E.I.T.C., and I fear that the program becomes less countercyclical and more pro-cyclical, meaning it reinforces recessionary forces,” he said.
The president-elect is on record in support of an economic-stimulus package and extending unemployment benefits. But many advocacy groups are churning out reports and position papers urging him to take further steps to enhance jobless and welfare benefits.
Rebecca Blank, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, noted that the recession of 2001 hurt factory workers most but had little effect on the low-wage jobs that many women hold.
“But this recession is really hitting those jobs, and the question is what will happen to that group of women. Is there a safety net?” she asked. Ms. Blank complained that low-wage-earning women often failed to qualify for unemployment benefits because many states do not provide such assistance to part-time workers or those who fail to work six quarters in a row.
“The other safety net for this group of workers is the traditional welfare program,” Ms. Blank said. “On that front, the news is not promising at all.”
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3) The Spoils
Congo’s Riches, Looted by Renegade Troops
By LYDIA POLGREEN
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/world/africa/16congo.html?ref=world
BISIE, Congo — Deep in the forest, high on a ridge stripped bare of trees and vines, the colonel sat atop his mountain of ore. In track pants and a T-shirt, he needed no uniform to prove he was a soldier, no epaulets to reveal his rank. Everyone here knows that Col. Samy Matumo, commander of a renegade brigade of army troops that controls this mineral-rich territory, is the master of every hilltop as far as the eye can see.
Columns of men, bent double under 110-pound sacks of tin ore, emerged from the colonel’s mine shaft. It had been carved hundreds of feet into the mountain with Iron Age tools powered by human sweat, muscle and bone. Porters carry the ore nearly 30 miles on their backs, a two-day trek through a mud-slicked maze to the nearest road and a world hungry for the laptops and other electronics that tin helps create, each man a link in a long global chain.
On paper, the exploration rights to this mine belong to a consortium of British and South African investors who say they will turn this perilous and exploitative operation into a safe, modern beacon of prosperity for Congo. But in practice, the consortium’s workers cannot even set foot on the mountain. Like a mafia, Colonel Matumo and his men extort, tax and appropriate at will, draining this vast operation, worth as much as $80 million a year.
The exploitation of this mountain is emblematic of the failure to right this sprawling African nation after many years of tyranny and war, and of the deadly role the country’s immense natural wealth has played in its misery.
Despite a costly effort to unite the nation’s many militias into a single national army, plus billions of dollars spent on international peacekeepers and an election in 2006 that brought democracy to Congo for the first time in four decades, the government is unable or unwilling to force these fighters — who wear government army uniforms and collect government paychecks — to leave the mountain.
The ore these fighters control is central to the chaos that plagues Congo, helping to perpetuate a conflict in which as many as five million people have died since the mid-1990s, mostly from hunger and disease. In the latest chapter, fighting between government troops and a renegade general named Laurent Nkunda has forced hundreds of thousands of civilians here in eastern Congo to flee and pushed the nation to the brink of a new regional war.
The proceeds of mines like this one, along with the illegal tributes collected on roads and border crossings controlled by rebel groups, militias and government soldiers, help bankroll virtually every armed group in the region.
No roads lead to Bisie. This hidden town of 10,000 lies about 30 miles down a winding, muddy footpath through dense, equatorial forest. Built entirely for the mine, it is a cloistered world of expropriation and violence that mirrors the broad crisis in Congo.
This is Africa’s resource curse: The wealth is unearthed by the poor, controlled by the strong, then sold to a world largely oblivious of its origins.
Under Colonel Matumo, Bisie is a Darwinian place where those with weapons and money leech off a desperate horde.
The chokehold begins far from the mine. At the trailhead, a burly soldier demands 50 cents from each person entering the narrow trail to the mine. A clamoring crowd hands wrinkled bills to the soldier, who opens the wooden gate a crack to let in those with cash.
At the other end of the trail, at the base of the mountain, another crowd forms at the gate into Bisie. Porters exhausted from the two-day trek sprawl on felled trees, waiting for soldiers to inspect their loads and extract another tribute. The price is usually 10 percent of entering merchandise and cash.
The men at the checkpoints describe these payments as taxes. But the people of Bisie do not get much in return. The village is a filthy warren of mud huts. Hundreds of haphazard latrines flood narrow, trash-filled alleyways. Disease courses through the town, carried by water from a river that is used for everything from washing clothes to cleaning ore. Jawbones of slaughtered cows and goats stud the riverbed. When it rains, the river overflows, spreading cholera and dysentery.
In some ways, Bisie is a thriving commercial town. It has makeshift theaters showing bootleg kung fu movies on televisions powered by sputtering generators. Its bars are stocked with Johnnie Walker whiskey and Primus beer, each bottle carried through the jungle. There is no telephone service, but a ham radio system passes messages between the mine and the outside world. It has hotels that double as brothels. There is even a clapboard church.
But these meager comforts do not come cheap. A bowl of rice and beans costs $3 here, six times the price along the main road. Mud huts rent for $50 a month or more, in part because opportunism is the town ethos.
A History of Plunder
The saga of Bisie is merely another chapter in Congo’s epic tragedy. Though blessed with an incomparable endowment of minerals and water and abundant fertile land, this vast nation in the heart of Africa has known little but domination and war since its founding as a colony under King Leopold II of Belgium in the 19th century.
The bloodshed and terror have always been driven in part by the endless global thirst for Congo’s resources, “the vilest scramble for loot that ever disfigured the history of human conscience,” as the novelist Joseph Conrad put it.
Just as the pneumatic tire was invented, King Leopold began sucking every last drop of rubber from Congo’s jungles, his militia killing or maiming anyone who stood in his way. Generations later, the country’s vast reserves of cobalt, a mineral essential for building fighter jets, helped the longtime ruler of the nation then known as Zaire, Mobutu Sese Seko, keep the United States firmly behind him during the cold war despite his obstinately kleptocratic and repressive ways.
Congo’s riches have played a starring role in the conflict that has unfolded in the past decade. The war began in the aftermath of the Rwandan genocide, when the perpetrators of that slaughter fled into neighboring Congo. Rwanda backed an effort to flush out the killers in 1996, but it soon led to a huge regional conflict that descended into a war of plunder by half a dozen nations and countless homegrown rebel groups.
A peace deal officially ended the war in 2003, and elections in 2006 brought Congo its first democratically chosen leaders in more than four decades. And in many parts of the nation, which covers an area the size of Western Europe, life is slowly returning to normal. International investors, especially China, have begun pouring billions into Congo’s economy.
But here on Congo’s eastern edge, the war never really ended. The unfinished battles over the Rwandan genocide play out on Congolese soil among armed groups fueled by lucrative mines like the one in Bisie and by other mines controlled by the Hutu militias that carried out the genocide.
Those fighters have been hiding in the jungles of eastern Congo for more than a decade, sowing terror and reaping profits from the nation’s minerals. Other rebel groups, including Mr. Nkunda’s largely Tutsi militia, have gleaned profits from illegal taxes levied when valuable minerals and other resources pass through territory they control, according to analysts and government officials in the region.
The Discovery of Tin Ore
In 2002, a hunter discovered chunks of tin ore, known as cassiterite, lying on the slopes of a mountain deep in the jungle in eastern Congo. Almost overnight, hordes of miners arrived, driven by fevered reports of piles of ore lying around waiting to be carted away. But civilians were not the only ones interested. Armed groups fought pitched battles over who would control the area. In 2004, a group of Mai Mai fighters allied with the government took control.
Under the terms of the peace agreement that ended the war, the militia was absorbed into the national army and became the 85th Brigade. The fighters were supposed to be sent for military training and then deployed around the country to dilute the influence of regional militias.
But the 85th refused to disband. Its commander, Colonel Matumo, is known as a ruthless warrior with a keen eye for business who believes, as most Mai Mai do, that he has special powers connected to water that make him all but invincible. During the war these fighters would wear drain plugs dangling from their bulging biceps as amulets of their potency. These days the brigade’s members have mostly abandoned this practice in favor of the more practical army greens.
They violently enforce a system of illegal taxation of every worker, merchant and mineral trader who comes to the mine.
That system has ensured that they and their allies have skimmed millions of dollars in the years the militia has controlled the mine — a costly, lost opportunity for a nation desperately in need of development.
Tin has replaced lead content in the solder used to make many electronic devices. And as the price shot up in recent years, to a high of $25,000 a ton in May, Colonel Matumo and his men staked out a whole ridge of the mine complex as their personal property. Senior commanders of the brigade have built large houses and opened businesses, like hotels and bars, with the proceeds of the mine.
A company called Mining and Processing Congo bought the rights to search for tin ore at the mine in 2006. But the militia has effectively barred the company, which is owned by a consortium of South African and British investors, shooting at its helicopter and chasing its representatives from the premises.
When the company started working on a road to link the mine to the main road, local officials blocked the route. When it began working on a campsite for its geologists to begin prospecting, soldiers opened fire on the workers, injuring several, company officials said.
“We have all our documents and permits in order,” said Brian Christophers, the weary managing director of the company. “We have written to the head of the military, the minister of mines and even the president. But there are no rules in Congo, just the rule of the gun.”
Mr. Christophers said that his company was prepared to help pay not just for a road to the mine but also for schools, clinics and a hydroelectric power station. It also promised to invite government agencies to enforce labor standards. But none of them have had the chance.
Indeed, some workers are suspicious of the company’s plans, fearing that a road would put thousands of porters out of work and that mechanized mining would drastically reduce employment here. The militia has tapped this unease to convince some workers and local officials that the company will simply abscond with the minerals and leave the local people empty-handed.
The militia levies a tax on every enterprise here. For the small-time peddlers who sell tiny packets of laundry soap, cooking oil and powdered milk, the tax is usually $20 a week, a hefty slice of profits. From prosperous brothels, bar owners and mineral traders, the soldiers usually take a percentage, businesspeople here say.
One Congolese intelligence official estimated that the militia took in $300,000 to $600,000 a month in illegal taxation alone, not including the money it made from mining tin.
The workers preyed on by the militia toil in hand-dug tunnels as deep as 600 feet that are held up precariously by wood pillars. Some of the workers are children, especially in the summer, when desperate parents send boys here to earn cash for the next year’s school fees.
The tunnels are pitch-black and suffocatingly narrow. They often fill with dangerous fumes. Miners sometimes spend 48 hours straight working in the tunnels. The open pits are dangerous, too: heavy rains cause mudslides and collapses. Cave-ins, mudslides and gases kill and maim an unknown number of workers every year.
On a late-summer afternoon at the mine, a tunnel collapsed and crushed a miner’s leg. Another worker carried the man on his back as the injured miner moaned in agony, his eyes darting wildly. Blood carved tracks down his forehead and cheeks.
“My wife is pregnant,” the miner moaned. “Jesus, mama, please.”
The man had broken his leg, and his left shoulder was sliced open. He grimaced as health workers with only minimal training worked to fashion a splint from sticks and vines.
Musamaria Luseke, 22, is what passes for a doctor here. He is one of a handful of health workers who have basic first aid training and earn cash by selling medicine to sick and injured miners.
“These kinds of injuries happen all the time,” he said.
Mr. Luseke had painkillers in his metal box, but he was charging 25 cents a tablet.
“I have to eat, too,” he said.
Solidarity is in short supply here. An argument broke out over who would pay a porter $20 to carry the injured miner down the mountain.
“I didn’t tell him to go work,” shouted the owner of the tunnel, who nevertheless ponied up the $20.
Hard-rock miners who work deep in the tunnels say the money they can earn on a productive day makes up for the risk. A young man who gave his name as Pypina said he made $200 on a good shift.
But his friend Serge said such days were rare.
“We have some days where we find nothing, where we dig and dig for nothing,” he said.
Both of the young men are high school dropouts who came to the mine to work for the summer but quickly found themselves trapped in a web of debt. Serge said he hoped to go back to school, but already he had been at the mine for a year and had saved nothing.
Pypina had given up on college.
“I’ll buy a car,” Pypina said, flexing his biceps to admire the dollar sign tattooed there.
But he is a long way from buying that car. When he makes a bit of money he has to pay his debts first. With anything left, he tries to salve the loneliness of life.
“First, you need a woman,” he said. Pypina said he paid $100 to have a woman with him for 24 hours. They go on dates to the clapboard bars in the market, and he shells out $100 or more for whiskey, beer and gin. She cooks for him.
“She is like a wife for a day,” he explained.
“I am a man,” he said, describing why he spent so much on pleasure-seeking. “I cannot live without a woman. And only God knows what tomorrow will bring.”
One of Many Problems
Colonel Matumo declined to be interviewed for this article. But he made no effort to conceal his control over the mine, openly supervising the production and the sale of dozens of sacks of ore. A hotel he owns doubles as an ore depot, and each morning porters arrived to carry his latest load to the main road for sale.
A major who said he had been sent by Congo’s top military brass to assess the situation said the government wanted the militia to leave but had too many other security problems to contend with. Mr. Nkunda, the renegade Tutsi general, has been waging a fierce insurgency in another part of eastern Congo, and the army has so far been unable to defeat him.
“Samy is just one of many problems,” the major, who refused to give his name, said of Colonel Matumo. “If we can’t deal with Nkunda, how can we force Samy to go when he does not want to leave?”
Bisie may be the middle of nowhere, but the ore it produces is tightly linked to the global market. After porters bear the loads, often heavier than the men themselves, the ore reaches middlemen along the main road. One such middleman, Bakwe Selomba, said he did not mind paying the militiamen because the payment guaranteed his investment.
“To be honest, it is better for us that they are there,” he said. “I can send my buyers walking through the jungle with lots of money, but nobody will touch them as long as we pay the tax. It protects us.”
The ore is then trucked a few miles down a stretch of pavement to the village of Kilambo. There, on a slightly curved stretch of road, Soviet-era cargo planes take off and land, as many as two dozen times a day. The carcasses of two planes that presumably botched this tricky maneuver lay strewn to one side of the makeshift runway, covered in black and green mold.
The flights land in Goma, the provincial capital, where other middlemen buy and process the ore for export. Alexis Makabuza’s Global Mining Company is one of these buyers. Amid the sorting and cleaning equipment of his rudimentary processing plant sit dozens of barrels of tin ore. On each is stenciled the address of Malaysian Smelting Company Berhad, a major tin smelter. Mr. Makabuza said he sold to the company via a minerals broker.
In a handwritten contract between a local government official and a representative of Mr. Makabuza’s company signed in 2006, then operating under a different name, the company agreed to pay a large percentage of its earnings from the mine in exchange for a guarantee of security. Colonel Matumo’s militia is the only force operating in the area, and most of this money ended up in his hands, according to security officials in the region.
Mr. Makabuza shrugged off questions about his business dealings with the militia.
“We follow all the rules,” he said. “I am just a buyer like anybody else.”
Debating a Solution
Congo’s tin ore represents a relatively small slice of the world market, but in recent years supplies have been so tight that efforts to stop mining at Bisie have caused price spikes. This year, the government tried to shut down the mine, but it was quickly reopened by local authorities who feared the economic and political costs of putting thousands of miners out of work and cutting off the cash flow to a volatile renegade military commander.
Indeed, many fear banning exports of tin ore from Congo would cause more problems than it would solve.
“A blanket ban on tin from Congo is nonsense because it penalizes the millions dependent on the sector the most,” said Nicholas Garrett, a mining expert who has written reports on Congo for the World Bank and other institutions. Putting those people out of work would simply invite another rebellion, Mr. Garrett said.
The government has repeatedly asked Colonel Matumo’s men to leave the mine. In a written order issued in August 2007, Col. Delphin Kahimbi, deputy commander of the army in North Kivu, the province here, admitted that elements of the armed forces were profiting from the mine and laid out a plan to replace the renegade brigade with loyal soldiers. But the orders were never followed up, and the militia’s grip on the mine seems tighter than ever.
Julien Paluku, the governor of North Kivu, said the government must move cautiously. Already faced with a renegade Tutsi general who has large swaths of the region under siege, the government can scarcely afford to pick a fight with another armed group, he said.
“Solving this problem will take time,” Governor Paluku said.
Some analysts say the situation in Bisie is so blatant that its very persistence is evidence of collusion between the militia and powerful politicians.
“Unless immediate action is taken to transfer these soldiers out of Bisie mine and to prosecute those responsible for the large-scale looting of minerals, we can only conclude that these activities are sanctioned at the highest levels,” Patrick Alley of the anticorruption organization Global Witness, based in London, said in a statement.
In May, Senators Sam Brownback of Kansas and Richard J. Durbin of Illinois introduced a bill to require certifying minerals from Congo. “Without knowing it, tens of millions of people in the United States may be putting money in the pockets of some of the worst human rights violators in the world, simply by using a cellphone or laptop computer,” Senator Durbin, a Democrat, said at the time.
Here in Bisie, daily life offers few clues that such information age technology exists. Isolated and indebted, almost none of the town’s workers have any clue what tin is actually used for.
“It is for weapons,” suggested Djuma Assualani, 21. “Kalashnikov, bombs. They make war with it.”
“It’s gold,” shouted Makami Kimima, 18, who came to the mine to earn money to go back to school but ended up in debt instead. His fellow miners jeered at his ignorance.
“It is something like gold,” he said, chastened. “It goes to America. And China. It makes people rich.”
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4) The Bailout’s Next 60 Days
Editorial
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/opinion/17mon1.html?hp
A month into the Bush administration’s $700 billion bank bailout, the effort has become as fractured as the ad hoc rescues that it was supposed to replace. As a result, the modest easing the bailout initially brought about in the credit markets is now being reversed over doubts about the Treasury’s stewardship of the plan.
The rates for loans between banks have begun edging up again, and consumer borrowing costs are also up — that is, assuming consumers can find a bank willing to lend.
President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team is reportedly planning how the new administration will better manage the bailout. But two months is a long time to wait while the Bush Treasury burns through the bailout billions, with little to show in terms of enhanced stability and even less in terms of enhanced confidence.
Last week Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson outlined a complex new bailout strategy intended to promote consumer borrowing. Mr. Paulson defended this latest iteration, saying he would never apologize for changing his approach as the facts change. But it is not surprising that everyone else is feeling whiplashed.
Before the bailout even got under way in October, Mr. Paulson had to sideline his original strategy — to buy up banks’ bad assets — because, he soon came to realize, it was too complex and indirect to deliver the swift jolt the financial markets needed.
He indicated that he would return to that strategy later, but to get the bailout started, he opted instead to directly invest $250 billion in the nation’s banks. The about face was necessary, but it raised uncertainty about whether the Treasury really had a firm grasp of the problem — exactly what spooked markets don’t need.
Since then, the doubts have grown, among investors and the public. Mr. Paulson invested the taxpayers’ money on terms so lenient that banks have felt free to hoard it, or to buy other banks — while refusing to bolster lending to consumers and small businesses.
He has diverted another $40 billion of the fund to American International Group, the reckless insurance company that had already received $85 billion in federal assistance. If government officials know where all that money is going, they haven’t shared their knowledge with the public.
Last week Mr. Paulson disappointed investors by ditching the plan to buy up banks’ bad assets. Instead, he expanded the bailout to include investing money in nonbank financial companies, like GMAC, the lending arm of General Motors, and the other carmakers’ lending units. He also announced that the Treasury and the Federal Reserve were considering a plan to use taxpayer money to jump-start consumer lending via credit cards, car loans and student loans. The Fed quickly said the plan was still in early development.
The one approach Mr. Paulson stubbornly refuses to consider is using bailout money to help homeowners avoid foreclosure. His reasoning — that the money is to be used to stabilize the financial system — inexplicably ignores the fact that the instability he is seeking to quell is rooted in the housing bust.
Over the next two months, Mr. Paulson must impose some coherence and clarity on the bailout. Otherwise he will only fan anxieties and mistrust, which will undermine the effectiveness of his good decisions and amplify the fallout of his bad ones. With markets gyrating wildly, and the economy deteriorating rapidly, the nation needs clear leadership and a sound plan.
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5) Facing Deficits, States Get Out Sharper Knives
By JENNIFER STEINHAUER
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/us/17fiscal.html?hp
LOS ANGELES — Two short months ago lawmakers in California struggled to close a $15 billion hole in the state budget. It was among the biggest deficits in state history. Now the state faces an additional $11 billion shortfall and may be unable to pay its bills this spring.
The astonishing decline in revenues is without modern precedent here, but California is hardly alone. A majority of states — many with budgets already full of deep cuts and dependent on raiding rainy-day funds or tax increases — are scrambling to find ways to get through the rest of the year without hacking apart vital services or raising taxes.
Some governors, including Arnold Schwarzenegger in California and David A. Paterson in New York, have called special legislative sessions to deal with the crisis.
Others are demanding hiring freezes and across-the-board cuts. A few states are finding their unemployment insurance funds running dry, just as the ranks of out-of-work residents spike.
The plunging revenues — the result of an unusual assemblage of personal, sales, capital gains and corporate taxes falling significantly — have poked holes in budgets that are just weeks and months old and that came about only after difficult legislative sessions.
“The fiscal landscape,” said H. D. Palmer, a spokesman for the California Department of Finance, “is fundamentally altered from where it was six weeks ago.”
In Michigan, to reduce overtime costs, fewer streets will be salted this winter. In Ohio, where the unemployment rate is above 7 percent, the state may need a federal loan for the first time in 26 years to cover unemployment costs. In Nevada, which is almost totally dependent on sales taxes and gambling revenues, a health administrator said the state may be unable to pay claims in a few months.
In California, Mr. Schwarzenegger, a Republican, and state legislators are preparing to do battle over a proposed 1.5-cent sales tax increase, while in New York, Mr. Paterson, a Democrat, has proposed $5.2 billion worth of savings, principally cuts to Medicaid and education.
Even states where until recent months natural resource production has provided a buffer — and fat surpluses — are experiencing a sudden reversal of fortunes as oil prices have declined.
“Frankly, I thought 2001 was really awful,” said Scott D. Pattison, the executive director of the National Association of State Budget Officers, referring to the last big economic downturn. “It is even worse now.”
He added, “This fiscal year will be really bad, and what is unfortunate is that I can’t see how 2010 won’t be bad too.”
In keeping with recent economic trends, the states with the worst problems are those where housing booms morphed into a large-scale mortgage crisis over the last two years.
The current-year budget gap in Rhode Island represents over 11 percent of the state’s entire general fund, in large part because of the high number of subprime loans. The story is similar in Arizona, California, Florida and Nevada.
In addition, the crisis in the financial markets had immediate and widespread impact on state budgets. States have lost revenues from capital gains taxes and bonuses that have evaporated, and growing job losses have reduced state income taxes while draining unemployment funds.
“What we are seeing is when fewer people are working there is less income tax and less spending,” said Keith Dailey, a spokesman for Gov. Ted Strickland of Ohio, a Democrat.
Americans have also stopped shopping, which has hurt states that are heavily reliant on sales taxes, like Florida and Arizona. States that rely on tourism, like Nevada and Hawaii, have also been hurt by less consumer spending.
Further, the national credit crunch makes it harder for businesses to get loans, which trickles back into losses to states. When California was temporarily unable to gain access to the credit markets in the days leading up to the federal bailout package, state budget directors across the country noted the moment with horror.
The state’s brief inability to pay bills because it could not get credit — California, like many states, regularly borrows money when it is short of cash in anticipation of revenue flowing in later — has since been largely interpreted as an outgrowth of the much larger national and international credit crisis. Still, some budget experts said the problem could be a harbinger: cities and counties with poor credit ratings could be cut off in the coming year, and there could be higher costs for issuing bonds.
“Just the fact that this was an issue at all is a big concern for every state,” Mr. Pattison said. “Long-term bonds may be at risk. And I think states are going to have to accept that cost of debt is going to be higher.”
In most states, budget directors and legislators have said that tax increases are not likely. A notable exception is California, where Mr. Schwarzenegger is seeking a 1.5-point increase to the state’s 6.25-percent sales tax, although he is unlikely to get the necessary approval of Republican legislators.
In Oregon, moreover, Gov. Ted Kulongoski, a Democrat, has proposed a $1 billion economic stimulus plan centered on infrastructure improvements, which he envisions would be paid for by raising the state’s gas tax by 2 cents per gallon and increasing a host of vehicle fees.
When regular legislative sessions resume in many states in January, other states will be more likely to look to rainy-day funds, when they are available, and deeper cuts to services, most notably to K-12 education, which is generally a last-resort option among lawmakers.
“Most states have tried to protect K-12 and even higher ed,” said Raymond Scheppach, the executive director of the National Governors Association, “but I think they are both going to be on the block.”
Many states are expected to go to a second round of earlier cuts.
“We’ve cut universities, we’ve cut our infrastructure spending, we’ve prorated schools and asked employees for concessions twice,” said Leslee Fritz, the spokeswoman for the Michigan State Budget Office. “All the different options out there we have already done more than once.”
States are also looking to create large-scale infrastructure projects and other construction works as a means of stimulating the local economy.
The Washington governor, Christine Gregoire, a Democrat, is asking the federal government for hundreds of millions of dollars more for state and federal construction projects.
Ohio officials have already passed a stimulus package of $1.5 billion in bonds, to be used largely for public works, advanced and renewable energy projects, and the biomedical industry.
“States don’t have a lot of economic stimulus tools,” said Mr. Pattison of the budget officers’ association, “but they have infrastructure.”
Fewer than a dozen states have remained in the black this fiscal year, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, a liberal-leaning economic research group in Washington that tracks state budgets, and they are largely those in the West with oil and mineral resources at the ready.
“The oil-producing states were doing very well with oil at $120 a barrel,” said Iris Lav, the deputy director of the center. “They may not do as well now.”
More generally, Ms. Lav said, state budgets are “moving from the damaged to the devastated.”
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6) For Mexico’s Wealthy, Expenses Include Guards
By MARC LACEY
November 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/17/world/americas/17mexico.html?hp
MEXICO CITY — When José hops into his Ferrari, presses his Ferragamo loafer to the floor and fills the night air with a deep roar, his bodyguards hustle into a black sport utility vehicle with their weapons at the ready, tailing their fast-moving boss through the streets.
José, a business magnate in his 30s who said he was afraid to have his full name published, makes sure his two children get the same protection. Bodyguards pick them up from school and escort them even to friends’ birthday parties — where the bodyguards meet other bodyguards, because many of the children’s classmates have similar protection.
With drug-related violence spinning out of control and kidnappings a proven money-maker for criminal gangs, members of Mexico’s upper class find themselves juggling the spoils of their status with the fear of being killed.
Dinner party chatter these days focuses on two things that are making their lives, still the envy of the country’s masses, far less enviable: the financial crisis, which is chipping away at their wealth, and the wave of insecurity, which is making it more perilous for them to enjoy what remains.
Mexico’s violence afflicts both rich and poor, but the nation’s income gap is so pronounced that criminals scour the society pages for potential kidnapping victims, for whom they demand, and often receive, huge sums in ransom. A recent report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development found that Mexico had the largest divide between rich and poor of the group’s 30 member nations, virtually assuring that wealthy targets stand out.
Wealthy Mexicans have long hired bodyguards, but experts say the numbers of those seeking protection have jumped since President Felipe Calderón challenged the drug cartels, bringing unprecedented levels of related violence — which had been mainly confined to the areas bordering the United States — into the major cities.
High-profile and sometimes gruesome crimes have stoked people’s fears.
In one of the worst cases, a 5-year-old boy from a poor family was plucked from a gritty market this month and killed by kidnappers, who injected acid into his heart.
Early this month, white-coated doctors in Tijuana protested after one of their own, a prominent kidney specialist, was plucked from outside his office by heavily armed men. He has since been released.
“It’s out of control,” said Dr. Hector Rico, the leader of the local medical association.
Confronted by the irate doctors at a public meeting, José Guadalupe Osuna Millán, the governor of Baja California State, said the answer to the rising insecurity was to come together and fight.
“We’re not going to cede one millimeter of territory to these criminals,” he said of the federal government’s war on drug traffickers.
But hundreds of well-off families along the border have become so consumed by their fears that they have moved out of Mexico, at least temporarily, often using business visas granted because of their work in the United States.
“It’s a bad feeling to have to leave your country behind,” said Javier, a prosperous Tijuana businessman, who moved his family across the border to San Diego last year after a group of armed men tried to kidnap him. “But I didn’t really have a choice.” He insisted that his last name not be used, out of fear that criminals might track him.
“There’s an exodus, and it’s all about insecurity,” said Guillermo Alonso Meneses, an anthropologist at the Colegio de la Frontera Norte in Tijuana. “A psychosis has developed. There’s fear of getting kidnapped or killed.
“People don’t want to live that way,” he continued, “and those who can afford it move north.”
Still, most of the wealthy have chosen to stay put, hiring armies of protectors to continue enjoying their gilded lives.
Although there are few firm figures for the number of Mexicans employed to guard their fellow citizens — most security companies ignore requirements to register with the government — experts say business is booming for the estimated 10,000 security companies operating in the country.
In the border state of Chihuahua, the Mexican Employers’ Association recently reported a 300 percent increase in the number of bodyguards. In that violence-torn state, some luxury hotels now offer their guests bodyguards and bulletproof vehicles.
For many affluent families, the guards and bulletproof cars, homes and even clothing have become a way of life. Some Mexicans say the protection has even become a status symbol.
In Mexico City, some people being protected by men wearing earpieces strut along in designer clothes, using their armed guards to clear a path.
A stylish woman at a Starbucks in the well-off Coyoacán neighborhood held out her cappuccino the other day while chatting with friends. A member of her two-man security detail discreetly slipped a cardboard sleeve on the cup so that the woman’s fingertips were protected, along with the rest of her.
“It’s a different life,” said José, the well-protected Ferrari driver, who agreed to provide a glimpse of that life. “I’ve gotten used to it.”
Indeed, José hands out designer clothing and other expensive gifts to his family’s two dozen or so bodyguards and invites them to his mother’s house weekly for a meal. He is being benevolent but also practical, given that many crimes in Mexico are inside jobs.
“I want them to feel like they’re part of the family,” he said. “And if something happens to me, I want them to react. They won’t risk their life for a paycheck. They will risk their life for a friend, for family.”
Some security consultants and academics point out that at least the upper crust has options, while other Mexicans must rely on law enforcement agencies, known for their corruption and ineffectiveness, to protect them from the violence. Many families who struggle to make ends meet find their loved ones grabbed for ransom. And shootouts between traffickers and the police and soldiers pursuing them erupt with no regard for the income level of bystanders.
“There’s reason for everyone to be fearful,” said Dr. Alonso, the Tijuana anthropologist, who hears gunfire at night in his middle-class neighborhood and, like many others, rarely ventures out after dark.
Despite José’s expensive clothing, eye-catching jewelry and luxury home in the hills, he insists that his family is different from many others in their income bracket.
“We’re not nouveau riche,” he said with a huff. “Those people want guards to show how important they are.”
As for the Ferrari, which he acknowledged is the opposite of discreet, José said it was the car’s engine that attracted him to it. “It’s not to sit back and have everyone look at me,” he said. “It’s to drive.”
But people do gawk. And José’s bodyguards worry about the attention his rare sports car attracts on the roads of Mexico.
“Of course, he shouldn’t be driving himself,” one of José’s bodyguards said. “But he’s like a presidential candidate who likes to go into crowds. Our function is to provide the security around the life he’s living.”
That life includes late-night stops at exclusive nightclubs and humble taco shops. José understands what he puts his guards through, because he completed bodyguard training in Guatemala to learn what his employees should be doing.
José also conducts background checks before hiring his bodyguards and sends them for regular refresher courses, meaning they are a cut above the run-of-the-mill Mexican bodyguard, who might be a washout police officer or soldier with modest training and little discipline for the job.
Javier, the businessman who now lives north of the border, said he did not believe bodyguards were the answer.
“One bodyguard, two bodyguards, even three of them can’t do anything with these criminals, who come in groups of 20 with high-powered arms,” he said. “If they want to hunt you down, they will get you.”
Even José is taking a break from Mexico. He recently headed to Canada with his family, for what he insisted was a respite rather than an abandonment of his country.
“I’m not running away,” he said. “I have an opportunity, and I’ll be back. But I’m not going to miss the insecurity. Not at all.”
Especially appealing, he said, was that his 6-year-old son would be able to ride his bike to school instead of being escorted in a bulletproof vehicle driven by a private paramilitary force.
“For my children, they don’t understand,” José said. “They’re happy to have these guys around. When they get out of school, there’s someone to take their backpack. There’s always someone around to play. I try to teach them that this isn’t normal. It shouldn’t be this way.”
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7) A Seafood Snob Ponders the Future of Fish
By MARK BITTMAN
On the Farm
November 16, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/16/weekinreview/16bittman.html
I suppose you might call me a wild-fish snob. I don’t want to go into a fish market on Cape Cod and find farm-raised salmon from Chile and mussels from Prince Edward Island instead of cod, monkfish or haddock. I don’t want to go to a restaurant in Miami and see farm-raised catfish from Vietnam on the menu but no grouper.
Those have been my recent experiences, and according to many scientists, it may be the way of the future: most of the fish we’ll be eating will be farmed, and by midcentury, it might be easier to catch our favorite wild fish ourselves rather than buy it in the market.
It’s all changed in just a few decades. I’m old enough to remember fishermen unloading boxes of flounder at the funky Fulton Fish Market in New York, charging wholesalers a nickel a pound. I remember when local mussels and oysters were practically free, when fresh tuna was an oxymoron, and when monkfish, squid and now-trendy skate were considered “trash.”
But we overfished these species to the point that it now takes more work, more energy, more equipment, more money to catch the same amount of fish — roughly 85 million tons a year, a yield that has remained mostly stagnant for the last decade after rapid growth and despite increasing demand.
Still, plenty of scientists say a turnaround is possible. Studies have found that even declining species can quickly recover if fisheries are managed well. It would help if the world’s wealthiest fish-eaters (they include us, folks) would broaden their appetites. Mackerel, anyone?
It will be a considerable undertaking nonetheless. Global consumption of fish, both wild and farm raised, has doubled since 1973, and 90 percent of this increase has come in developing countries. (You’ll sometimes hear that Americans are now eating more seafood, but that reflects population growth; per capita consumption has remained stable here for 20 years.)
The result of this demand for wild fish, according to the United Nations’ Food and Agricultural Organization, is that “the maximum wild-capture fisheries potential from the world’s oceans has probably been reached.”
One study, in 2006, concluded that if current fishing practices continue, the world’s major commercial stocks will collapse by 2048.
Already, for instance, the Mediterranean’s bluefin tuna population has been severely depleted, and commercial fishing quotas for the bluefin in the Mediterranean may be sharply curtailed this month. The cod fishery, arguably one of the foundations of North Atlantic civilization, is in serious decline. Most species of shark, Chilean sea bass, and the cod-like orange roughy are threatened.
Scientists have recently become concerned that smaller species of fish, the so-called forage fish like herring, mackerel, anchovies and sardines that are a crucial part of the ocean’s food chain, are also under siege.
These smaller fish are eaten not only by the endangered fish we love best, but also by many poor and not-so-poor people throughout the world. (And even by many American travelers who enjoy grilled sardines in England, fried anchovies in Spain, marinated mackerel in France and pickled or raw herring in Holland — though they mostly avoid them at home.)
But the biggest consumers of these smaller fish are the agriculture and aquaculture industries. Nearly one-third of the world’s wild-caught fish are reduced to fish meal and fed to farmed fish and cattle and pigs. Aquaculture alone consumes an estimated 53 percent of the world’s fish meal and 87 percent of its fish oil. (To make matters worse, as much as a quarter of the total wild catch is thrown back — dead — as “bycatch.”)
“We’ve totally depleted the upper predator ranks; we have fished down the food web,” said Christopher Mann, a senior officer with the Pew Environmental Group.
Using fish meal to feed farm-raised fish is also astonishingly inefficient. Approximately three kilograms of forage fish go to produce one kilogram of farmed salmon; the ratio for cod is five to one; and for tuna — the most beef-like of all — the so-called feed-to-flesh ratio is 20 to 1, said John Volpe, an assistant professor of marine systems conservation at the University of Victoria in British Columbia.
Industrial aquaculture — sometimes called the blue revolution — is following the same pattern as land-based agriculture. Edible food is being used to grow animals rather than nourish people.
This is not to say that all aquaculture is bad. China alone accounts for an estimated 70 percent of the world’s aquaculture — where it is small in scale, focuses on herbivorous fish and is not only sustainable but environmentally sound. “Throughout Asia, there are hundreds of thousands of small farmers making a living by farming fish,” said Barry Costa-Pierce, professor of fisheries at University of Rhode Island.
But industrial fish farming is a different story. The industry spends an estimated $1 billion a year on veterinary products; degrades the land (shrimp farming destroys mangroves, for example, a key protector from typhoons); pollutes local waters (according to a recent report by the Worldwatch Institute, a salmon farm with 200,000 fish releases nutrients and fecal matter roughly equivalent to as many as 600,000 people); and imperils wild populations that come in contact with farmed salmon.
Not to mention that its products generally don’t taste so good, at least compared to the wild stuff. Farm-raised tilapia, with the best feed-to-flesh conversion ratio of any animal, is less desirable to many consumers, myself included, than that nearly perfectly blank canvas called tofu. It seems unlikely that farm-raised striped bass will ever taste remotely like its fierce, graceful progenitor, or that anyone who’s had fresh Alaskan sockeye can take farmed salmon seriously.
If industrial aquaculture continues to grow, said Carl Safina, the president of Blue Ocean Institute, a conservation group, “this wondrously varied component of our diet will go the way of land animals — get simplified, all look the same and generally become quite boring.”
Why bother with farm-raised salmon and its relatives? If the world’s wealthier fish-eaters began to appreciate wild sardines, anchovies, herring and the like, we would be less inclined to feed them to salmon raised in fish farms. And we’d be helping restock the seas with larger species.
Which, surprisingly, is possible. As Mr. Safina noted, “The ocean has an incredible amount of productive capacity, and we could quite easily and simply stay within it by limiting fishing to what it can produce.”
This sounds almost too good to be true, but with monitoring systems that reduce bycatch by as much as 60 percent and regulations providing fishermen with a stake in protecting the wild resource, it is happening. One regulatory scheme, known as “catch shares,” allows fishermen to own shares in a fishery — that is, the right to catch a certain percentage of a scientifically determined sustainable harvest. Fishermen can buy or sell shares, but the number of fish caught in a given year is fixed.
This method has been a success in a number of places including Alaska, the source of more than half of the nation’s seafood. A study published in the journal Science recently estimated that if catch shares had been in place globally in 1970, only about 9 percent of the world’s fisheries would have collapsed by 2003, rather than 27 percent.
“The message is optimism,” said David Festa, who directs the oceans program at the Environmental Defense Fund. “The latest data shows that well-managed fisheries are doing incredibly well. When we get the rules right the fisheries can recover, and if they’re not recovering, it means we have the rules wrong.”
(The world’s fishing countries would need to participate; right now, the best management is in the United States, Australia and New Zealand; even in these countries, there’s a long way to go.)
An optimistic but not unrealistic assessment of the future is that we’ll have a limited (and expensive) but sustainable fishery of large wild fish; a growing but sustainable demand for what will no longer be called “lower-value” smaller wild fish; and a variety of traditional aquaculture where it is allowed. This may not sound ideal, but it’s certainly preferable to sucking all the fish out of the oceans while raising crops of tasteless fish available only to the wealthiest consumers.
Myself, I’d rather eat wild cod once a month and sardines once a week than farm-raised salmon, ever.
Mark Bittman writes the Minimalist column for the Dining section of The Times and is the author of “How to Cook Everything.”
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8) Fighting the Financial Crisis, One Challenge at a Time
By HENRY M. PAULSON Jr.
Op-Ed Contributor
November 18, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/opinion/18paulson.html
Washington
WE are going through a financial crisis more severe and unpredictable than any in our lifetimes. We have seen the failures, or the equivalent of failures, of Bear Stearns, IndyMac, Lehman Brothers, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the American International Group. Each of these failures would be tremendously consequential in its own right. But we faced them in succession, as our financial system seized up and severely damaged the economy.
By September, the government faced a systemwide crisis. After months of making the most of the authority we already had, we asked Congress for a comprehensive rescue package so we could stabilize our financial system and minimize further damage to our economy.
By the time the legislation had passed on Oct. 3, the global market crisis was so broad and so severe that we needed to move quickly and take powerful steps to stabilize our financial system and to get credit flowing again. Our initial intent was to strengthen the banking system by purchasing illiquid mortgages and mortgage-related securities. But the severity and magnitude of the situation had worsened to such an extent that an asset purchase program would not be effective enough, quickly enough. Therefore, exercising the authority granted by Congress in this legislation, we quickly deployed a $250 billion capital injection program, fully anticipating we would follow that with a program for buying troubled assets.
There is no playbook for responding to turmoil we have never faced. We adjusted our strategy to reflect the facts of a severe market crisis, always keeping focused on our goal: to stabilize a financial system that is integral to the everyday lives of all Americans. By mid-October, our actions, in combination with the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation’s guarantee of certain debt issued by financial institutions, helped us to accomplish the first major priority, which was to immediately stabilize the financial system.
As we assessed how best to use the remaining money for the Troubled Asset Relief Program, we carefully considered the uncertainties around the deteriorating economic situation in the United States and globally. The latest economic reports underscore the challenges we are facing. The gross domestic product for the third quarter (which ended Sept. 30, three days before the bill passed) shrank by 0.3 percent. The unemployment rate rose in October to a level not seen since the mid-1990s. Home prices in 10 major cities have fallen 18 percent over the previous year. Auto sales numbers plummeted in October and were more than a third lower than one year ago. The slowing of European economies has been even more drastic.
I have always said that the decline in the housing market is at the root of the economic downturn and our financial market stress. And the economy, as it slows further, threatens to prolong this decline, as well as the stress on our financial institutions and financial markets.
A troubled-asset purchase program, to be effective, would require a huge commitment of money. In mid-September, before economic conditions worsened, $700 billion in troubled asset purchases would have had a significant impact. But half of that sum, in a worse economy, simply isn’t enough firepower.
If we have learned anything throughout this year, we have learned that this financial crisis is unpredictable and difficult to counteract. We decided it was prudent to reserve our TARP money, maintaining not only our flexibility, but also that of the next administration.
The current $250 billion capital purchase program is strong medicine for our financial institutions. More capital enables banks to take losses as they write down or sell troubled assets. And stronger capitalization is essential to increasing lending, which is vital to economic recovery.
Recently I’ve been asked two questions. First, Congress gave you the authority you requested, and the economy has only become worse. What went wrong? Second, if housing and mortgages are at the root of our economic difficulties, why aren’t you addressing those problems?
The answer to the first question is that the purpose of the financial rescue legislation was to stabilize our financial system and to strengthen it. It is not a panacea for all our economic difficulties. The crisis in our financial system had already spilled over into the overall economy. But recovery will happen much, much faster than it would have had we not used TARP to stabilize our system. If Congress had not given us the authority for TARP and the capital purchase program and our financial system had continued to shut down, our economic situation would be far worse today.
The answer to the second question is that more access to lower-cost mortgage lending is the No. 1 thing we can do to slow the decline in the housing market and reduce the number of foreclosures. Together with our bank capital program, the moves we have made to stabilize and strengthen Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and through them to increase the flow of mortgage credit, will promote mortgage lending. We are also working with the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the F.D.I.C. and others to reduce preventable foreclosures.
I am very proud of the decisive actions by the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve and the F.D.I.C. to stabilize our financial system. We have done what was necessary as facts and conditions in the market and economy have changed, adjusting our strategy to most effectively address the crisis. We have preserved the flexibility of President-elect Barack Obama and the new secretary of the Treasury to address the challenges in the economy and capital markets they will face.
As policymakers face the difficult challenges ahead, they will begin with two considerable advantages: a significantly more stable banking system, one where the failure of a major bank is no longer a pressing concern; and the resources, authority and potential programs available to deal with the future capital and liquidity needs of credit providers.
Deploying these new tools and programs to restore our financial institutions, financial markets and the flow of lending and credit will determine, to a large extent, the speed and trajectory of our economic recovery. I am confident of success, because our economy is flexible and resilient, rooted in the entrepreneurial spirit and productivity of the American people.
Henry M. Paulson Jr. is the secretary of the Treasury.
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9) Lawmakers Renew Call for More Help for Homeowners
By BRIAN KNOWLTON and JOHN H. CUSHMAN Jr.
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/business/economy/19bailout.html?hp
Financial officials faced new calls on Tuesday from House lawmakers to aim more of the government’s financial relief package at programs that would directly help homeowners avoid foreclosure, as the lame-duck Congress began considering how to most effectively stem the credit crisis facing financial institutions, the auto industry and the economy as a whole.
At a hearing on Tuesday morning of the House Committee on Financial Services, several members expressed dismay at the prospect of a continuing or even accelerating avalanche of foreclosures, despite the commitment of hundreds of billions of dollars to the broad bailout program being put into effect by the Bush administration. Later in the day, the Senate Banking Committee was scheduled to hear from the auto industry.
Representative Barney Frank, the committee chairman and an architect of the compromise that produced the bailout bill, read from several pages of the legislation that he said authorized more direct steps on behalf of homeowners. And one member after another, especially among the Democrats, urged Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., who runs the main program aimed at troubled loans and the lenders who issued them, to do more to encourage renegotiation of loans on houses that have plummeted in value.
Mr. Paulson, testifying along with the heads of the Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, two other crucial players in the economic rescue efforts, said they were focusing on economic stabilization, but Mr. Frank complained that the underlying problem of foreclosures was not being effectively addressed.
At one point, when Mr. Paulson said that “we’ve been working very, very aggressively at helping the individual,” Mr. Frank interrupted, saying that pouring money into banks to strengthen them was no substitute for helping distressed homeowners — and cut the answer short.
The three witnesses, whose agencies are struggling to come up with coordinated approaches to address the crisis, warned that the economy continued to need urgent attention, with the credit markets remaining tight, millions of homeowners sliding toward foreclosure and the government’s relief payments unlikely to flow into the markets for a few more months.
Ben S. Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, described signs of only modest improvement in the credit markets, warning that “overall, credit conditions are still far from normal, with risk spreads remaining very elevated.”
Sheila C. Bair, chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, said in her testimony that she planned to continue her campaign to get relief into the hands of troubled homeowners. Ms. Bair has been calling for actions that go beyond what the Treasury supports.
She said a program that her agency had proposed to the Treasury Department would modify mortgages and ease repayment terms, which could prevent “as many as 1.5 million avoidable foreclosures by the end of 2009.”
But, in her statement, she also projected a gloomy picture for foreclosures, saying that over the next two years, four million to five million mortgage loans will enter foreclosure if nothing is done.
That means that even with the approach she advocates, delinquencies would continue at about the same rate as in the last year or two.
In his opening statement, Mr. Bernanke strongly urged banks to improve the flow of loans to their most creditworthy borrowers.
“There are some signs that credit markets, while still quite strained, are improving,” Mr. Bernanke said. He pointed to some technical improvements: banks were charging one another less for short-term lending; money market mutual funds and the commercial paper market were stabilizing.
But now that banks’ access to capital had improved, he said, they must ease their grip on lending. “It is imperative that all banking organizations and their regulators work together to ensure that the needs of creditworthy borrowers are met in a manner consistent with safety and soundness,” Mr. Bernanke said.
Mr. Paulson said in his prepared testimony that the Bush administration decided this week to defer reaching much more deeply into the $700 billion in bailout funds approved by Congress in October until the next administration takes over Jan. 20.
“If we have learned anything throughout this year,” Mr. Paulson said, “we have learned that this financial crisis is unpredictable and difficult to counteract.”
Having spent most of the money provided by Congress, which split the October package into two equal parts and told the Treasury to come back for renewed permission to spend the second half, Mr. Paulson said it would be “only prudent” to reserve the remainder until next year, in the interest of maintaining “not only our flexibility but that of the next administration.
Some lawmakers have suggested that some money might be diverted to the auto industry, an idea that Mr. Paulson has not supported.
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10) Clout Has Plunged for Automakers and Union, Too
By MICHELINE MAYNARD
November 18, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/18/business/economy/18rescue.html?ref=us
DETROIT — When the leaders of the three Detroit auto companies and the United Automobile Workers union travel to Washington to make their case for a federal bailout, they will be flying into stiff headwinds of public opinion.
Thus far, much of the commentary in Washington, in the pages of major newspapers and on the Web, has been against providing financial support for the companies, which they will say they desperately need in hearings beginning on Tuesday.
The waves of criticism have been so strong that Susan Tompor, a columnist for The Detroit Free Press, was moved to write on Sunday’s front page: “I never knew Detroit was a dirty word.”
It is a remarkable shift for an industry that has long wielded considerable clout in Washington.
But that support has dwindled for many reasons, leaving backers of a bailout, including the House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, and Senate majority leader, Harry Reid, having a tough time making their case that Detroit should be saved.
So how did the famous 1953 quotation from the former General Motors president Charles E. Wilson — that what was good for our country was good for G.M., and vice versa — become a dated notion to so many people?
Analysts and longtime observers of the industry say several strategic missteps have hurt Detroit’s standing.
The carmakers, for example, fought hard in recent years against two Congressional efforts to raise fuel economy standards, at a time when Americans were struggling with more expensive gasoline and had become more environmentally conscious.
They won the 2005 fight, when 67 senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Kerry, sided with Detroit’s argument that it did not have the technology to meet a modest increase.
But Detroit lost last year’s effort to block an increase to 35 miles a gallon by 2020. Some senators criticized the industry’s failure to sell cars like the Toyota Prius, which was built only as a hybrid — a vehicle that G.M.’s vice chairman, Robert A. Lutz, dismissed early on as a public relations move.
Some Congressional support has also dwindled because the automakers closed plants in other states, like Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana and Delaware, and consolidated their operations closer to home.
Meanwhile, foreign auto companies have built plants across the South, picking up lawmakers like Senator Richard Shelby, Republican of Alabama, who now are more allied with the foreign car companies.
Michael Useem, professor of management at the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, said the lack of leadership from within the Detroit companies had hurt their effort as well. He pointed to Lee A. Iacocca, former chief of Chrysler, whose public profile soared after his company was given federal loan guarantees in 1980, turning him into a 1980s equivalent of the popular businessman Warren E. Buffett.
While many Americans might know Rick Wagoner’s name, “they couldn’t tell you anything about him, except that he’s been there a while and his company has gone from bad to worse,” Professor Useem said of the General Motors chief executive. And one of the U.A.W.’s most prized accomplishments — winning income security for its laid-off members — is not helping the union as it argues for money to help protect its workers at a time when employees across other industries are facing layoffs.
The U.A.W. program, called the Jobs Bank at G.M., provided nearly full pay for laid off workers while they waited for new jobs. A new version of it is less generous, but has left an impression in the public imagination of a place where workers sit around getting paid for doing nothing.
“In good times, the public can tolerate the Jobs Bank,” said Gary N. Chaison, professor of industrial relations at Clark University in Worcester, Mass. “But in bad times, the public has very little patience for that.”
The Bush administration has steadfastly opposed giving automakers a chunk of the $700 billion banking bailout. While President-elect Barack Obama has said the auto industry should get assistance, “I think that it can’t be a blank check,” he said Sunday on “60 Minutes.”
Michigan’s Congressional delegation, led by Democrats Senator Carl Levin and Representative John D. Dingell, the industry’s longtime champion, have been left to plead hardest for federal help. G.M. and Ford are among the heaviest spenders on lobbying, according to OpenSecrets.org, a Web site that tracks political contributions.
So far this year, G.M. has spent $10 million on lobbying, out of $95 million in the past 10 years, placing it at No. 16 on the site’s “top spenders” list. Ford, which ranks No. 19 on the list, has spent $5.7 million this year, out of $80.6 million the last decade.
In arguing for a bailout, Detroit’s automakers and the union have found themselves without much help from the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, an industry trade group that was an important player in last year’s fuel economy debate.
The group, whose 11 members include Toyota, BMW and Volkswagen, blocked efforts to impose even higher fuel economy standards. Its members support letting carmakers tap $25 billion approved by Congress last year to retool aging auto plants, but the alliance has not lobbied for any additional money, a spokesman said on Monday.
That has left the Detroit executives and the union to go it alone.
Mr. Wagoner and Ron Gettelfinger, head of the U.A.W., appeared on local TV in Detroit this week, but no Detroit representatives landed spots on the Sunday morning talk shows out of Washington. Senator Levin was their primary spokesman on NBC’s “Meet the Press” and “Face the Nation” on CBS.
Meanwhile, Senator Shelby of Alabama, whose home state has Toyota, Honda, Mercedes and Hyundai plants, has kept up his pressure. Appearing on “Meet the Press” on Sunday, he called Detroit “a dinosaur, in a sense.”
“There’s not a bank in this country that would lend a dollar to these companies,” he added.
There have not been many comforting words in newspapers, either. “Just Say No to Detroit,” said a headline over an article in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal by David Yermack, a business professor at the Stern School at New York University.
It all feels excessive to some in Detroit. “I didn’t know that some really, really hate us,” said Ms. Tompor of The Free Press.
An earlier version of this article misstated the miles per gallon requirement for fuel economy standards by 2020. It was 35 m.p.g., not 40.
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11) Vancouver's Radical Approach to Drugs: Let Junkies Be Junkies
By Vince Beiser, Miller-McCune Magazine.
November 18, 2008.
http://www.alternet.org/drugreporter/105087/vancouver%27s_radical_approach_to_drugs:_let_junkies_be_junkies_/
“The liberal, forward-operating base of San Francisco is at the vanguard of these efforts. Surging overdose deaths among the city's estimated 16,000 intravenous drug users spurred the city to officially embrace harm reduction in 2000. "We've tried to take drug addiction from being seen as a moral issue to being seen instead as a chronic disease," says Barbara Garcia, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.”
Welcome to North America's only officially sanctioned "supervised injection site."
On a chilly, overcast morning in downtown Vancouver, British Columbia, a steady trickle of sallow-faced drug addicts shambles up to a storefront painted with flowers and the words "Welcome to Insite." One by one, they ring the doorbell and are buzzed into a tidy reception area staffed by smiling volunteers.
The junkies come here almost around the clock, seven days a week. Some just grab a fistful of clean syringes from one of the buckets by the door and head out again. But about 600 times a day, others walk in with pocketfuls of heroin, cocaine or speed that they've scored out on the street; sign in; go to a clean, well-lit room lined with stainless steel booths; and, under the protective watch of two nurses, shoot their drugs into their veins.
Welcome to North America's only officially sanctioned "supervised injection site." The facility sits in the heart of Vancouver's Downtown East Side, 10 square blocks that compose one of the poorest neighborhoods in all of Canada. The area is home to an estimated 4,700 intravenous drug users and thousands of crack addicts. For years, it's been a world-class health disaster, not to mention a public relations nightmare for a town that is famous for its beautiful mountains and beaches (and is gearing up to host the 2010 Winter Olympics). Nearly a third of the Downtown East Side's inhabitants are estimated to be HIV-positive, according to the United Nations Population Fund, a rate on par with Botswana's. Twice that number have hepatitis C. Dozens die of drug overdoses every year.
Largely in response to this nightmare neighborhood, Canada's third-largest city has embarked on a radical experiment: Over the last several years, it has overhauled its police and social services practices to re-frame drug use as primarily a public health issue, not a criminal one. In the process, it has become by far the continent's most drug-tolerant city, launching an experiment dramatically at odds with the U.S. War on Drugs.
Smoking weed has been effectively decriminalized. The famous "B.C. bud," rivaled in potency only by California's finest, is puffed so widely and openly that the city has earned the nickname "Vansterdam." A single block in the Downtown East Side hosts several pot seed wholesalers, the headquarters of the British Columbia Marijuana Party and the toking-allowed New Amsterdam Caf.
But that's nothing next to the city's approach to drugs like heroin and crack. Impelled by the horror show of the Downtown East Side, prodded by activists and convinced by reams of academic studies, the police and city government have agreed to provide hard drug users with their paraphernalia, a place to use it and even, for a few, the drugs themselves.
More than 2 million syringes are handed out free every year. Clean mouthpieces for crack pipes are provided at taxpayers' expense. Around 4,000 opiate addicts get prescription methadone. Thousands come to the injection site every year.
On top of that, health officials just wrapped up a pilot program in which addicts were given prescription heroin. And it doesn't stop there. The mayor is pushing for a "stimulant maintenance" program to provide prescription a lternatives for cocaine and methamphetamine addicts. Emboldened advocates for drug users are even calling for a "supervised inhalation site" for crack smokers.
Vancouver has essentially become a gigantic field test, a 2 million-person laboratory for a set of tactics derived from a school of thought known as "harm reduction." It's based on a simple premise: No matter how many scare tactics are tried, laws passed or punishments imposed, people are going to get high. From winemaking monks to coca-leaf-chewing Bolivian peasants to peyote-chomping Navajos to caffeine-fueled office workers to the junkies of Vansterdam, human beings have never been willing to settle for our inherently limited palette of states of consciousness.
If you accept the notion that people aren't going to stop abusing drugs, it makes sense to try to minimize the damage they inflict on themselves and the rest of us while they're at it. Harm reduction is less about compassion than it is about enlightened self-interest. The idea is to give addicts clean needles and mouthpieces not to be nice but so they don't get HIV or pneumonia from sharing equipment and then become a burden on the public health system. Give them a medically supervised place to shoot up so they don't overdose and clog up emergency rooms, leaving their infected needles behind on the sidewalk.
Give them methadone -- or even heroin -- for free so they don't break into cars and homes to get money for the next fix._These aren't just theoretical notions. Some harm reduction tactics have been researched extensively -- and the findings are often impressive. In recent years, no fewer than eight major studies in the U.S. on needle-exchange programs -- probably the best-known and most widespread harm reduction technique -- have concluded that they work. As then-Assistant Surgeon General David Satcher summed up in a 2000 report, "There is conclusive scientific evidence that syringe exchange programs are an effective public health intervention that reduces the transmission of HIV and does not encourage the use of illegal drugs."
Methadone maintenance, first introduced in the 1960s, has been the subject of hundreds of scientific studies. "The findings have been consistent," according to a recent article in the Mount Sinai Journal of Medicine. "Methadone maintenance reduces and/or eliminates the use of heroin, reduces the death rates and criminality associated with heroin use and allows patients to improve their health and social productivity. In addition, enrollment in methadone maintenance has the potential to reduce the transmission of infectious diseases associated with heroin injection, such as hepatitis and HIV."
In Vancouver, harm reduction seems to be delivering. Since the city began seriously supporting needle exchanges and other such tactics in the 1990s, HIV infections have fallen by half, and hepatitis C rates have plunged by two-thirds, according to city and provincial health authorities. The annual number of drug-induced deaths has dropped from a peak of 191 in 1998 to 46 in 2005, the most recent year for which statistics are available.
Nonetheless, harm reduction remains controversial, even in relatively liberal Vancouver. "People are always going to beat each other up, too -- so should we be handing out boxing gloves to reduce the harm they do?" asks Al Arsenault, a recently retired Vancouver cop who spent much of his 27-year career in the Downtown East Side and now makes documentaries about the area. "That's just normalizing the behavior. The whole premise is nonsense."
It took a careful, sustained campaign to convince politicians and a critical mass of voters that such critics were misguided. Philip Owen, who as Vancouver's mayor from 1993 to 2002 was one of the key forces pushing the city to embrace harm reduction, was convinced by the research on the subject, some of which was brought to his attention by the U.S.-based Drug Policy Alliance Network and other advocacy groups.
Once on board, Owen set about building support. "You need to walk slowly before you can run," he says. Owen organized dozens of public meetings with community groups and cultivated provincial and federal officials. He even took the then-federal Minister of Health on an undercover tour, both of them wearing blue jeans and old hats, of the Downtown East Side to see the problem firsthand.
Owen's groundwork helped Vancouver secure a special exception to federal drug laws that allowed Insite to open. The heroin maintenance program won approval on a trial basis. "If you set something like that up as a scientific experiment rather than a policy change, it's easier to sell," says Ethan Nadelmann, executive director of the Drug Policy Alliance Network. Meanwhile, a local activist group, the Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users, kept up the pressure with noisy street demonstrations.
A quick visit to the Downtown East Side is enough to convince anyone that the city had to do something. The area was always sketchy, but Vancouver's booming economy and rapid growth have combined to gentrify most of downtown, pushing the dope fiends and crackheads and mentally ill homeless into an ever smaller, more densely concentrated island of cheap housing, where their addictions and pathologies and sundry bad behaviors feed on each other.
Today, the Downtown East Side protrudes like a gangrenous limb from the city's sleek core. Literally from one block to the next, a world of chic clothing boutiques, jewelry shops and high-rise luxury condos suddenly gives way to Planet Junkie. Haggard, prematurely aged men and women with sunken cheeks, missing teeth and feral expressions drift along trash-strewn sidewalks lined with abandoned buildings. The only legitimate businesses are check-cashing operations, pawn shops, bars, squalid residential hotels and 24-hour convenience stores with barred doors and windows. It's a bit like an unsupervised, open-air hospice where the patients have been left to find their own medications and get them into their bodies however they see fit, a dark carnival of misery smack in the middle of what The Economist recently dubbed "the most livable city in the world."
In just an hour of randomly walking around one recent morning, I passed at least a dozen people smoking crack in plain view, stepped over countless discarded needles and turned down muttered offers of a whole pharmacopeia of substances. The worst that police are likely to do to street-level users is take away their drugs. That evening, I accompanied a couple of constables walking the beat who passed a grizzled man with long, greasy hair smoking crack at a bus stop on busy Hastings Street. Sighing at his stupidity -- couldn't he have at least gone around the corner into an alley? -- the cops made him drop his pipe, crushed it underfoot, gave him a warning and walked away without even searching him.
That's more or less official policy. "If you look at an addicted drug user, who likely has a mental illness, you have to ask, 'What's the best bang for our buck?'" says Inspector Scott Thompson, the Vancouver Police Department's drug policy coordinator. "If we lock them up, it costs between $75,000 and $90,000 per year. By dealing with it as a health issue, we'll save a lot of money and hopefully solve more problems." The department focuses instead on traffickers and producers, he says.
Efforts to keep drug use as healthy as possible are everywhere in the Downtown East Side. Free needles, tourniquets and clean crack-pipe mouthpieces are available in soup kitchens and clinics on practically every block. Blue metal syringe disposal boxes are installed at alley entrances.
The supervised injection site is the most visible and controversial of these measures. Opened in late 2003, it's a newer and much-less-tested tactic than needle exchange. So far, a flock of peer-reviewed studies has found the program has not led to increased crime or drug use in the area. Last March, a report commissioned by the Canadian federal government concluded that "(t)here was no evidence of increases in drug-related loitering, drug dealing or petty crime in areas around Insite (and) police data for the (Downtown East Side) and surrounding areas showed no changes in rates of crime." Moreover, the report noted, "(T)here is no evidence that (supervised injection sites) influence rates of drug use in the community or increase relapse rates among injection drug users."
In short, Insite is not making things worse. But is it making anything better? Studies indicate that Insite has reduced needle sharing, one of the major transmission routes for HIV. But Colin Mangham, a researcher with the Drug Prevention Network of Canada, points out that much of the data is based on injection drug users' reporting of their own behavior -- not exactly the gold standard of credibility.
The facility is, however, clearly saving at least some lives. Its staff has intervened in more than 336 potential overdoses. Rico Machado, a surprisingly healthy-looking heroin addict whom I met in Insite's check-in area, was one of those cases. "I did my normal dose, but this stuff was too strong," he says. "I hit the ground. But they gave me Narcan (a drug that reverses opiate overdoses) and resuscitated me. Before this place was open, I would have been in an alley. I would have been dead."
Moreover, Insite has provided a gateway into detox programs for a number of addicts and served as an immunization center during a recent pneumonia outbreak. The site has even added a small residential rehab facility.
A couple of blocks away, a small clinic is stashed behind papered-over windows on the ground floor of an unmarked, 1930s-era building. Here, every day for three years, nurses behind bulletproof glass handed dozens of addicts a tourniquet, a needle, an alcohol swab and a carefully measured dose of pure heroin.
The theory being tested in this program, which wound up its pilot phase in August, was that it would keep junkies from having to steal or prostitute themselves for their fixes. As a side benefit, they would have more time and energy to take advantage of the program's treatment component.
Official results were slated to be released in October, after this story was published. Dr. David Marsh, the program's medical director, says he's already seen its participants benefit. "They're eating better, getting their health problems dealt with, getting into better housing," he says. "Some are even going back to work. One guy started out homeless, got clean and now runs a business with 15 employees."
Much of what Vancouver is doing is already long-standing policy in many countries, especially in Europe. Methadone and needle-exchange programs are commonplace in many nations. Six European countries and Australia are home to dozens of supervised injection sites. Holland, Denmark, Switzerland, Germany and Spain have experimented with heroin maintenance. Even Iran, of all places, recently launched a pilot program to distribute clean needles through vending machines.
In the United States, however, conservative politics and "Drug-Free America" rhetoric keep punishment as the primary response to drug use. Mandatory minimum sentencing and "three strikes" laws have sent the number of drug offenders in America's prisons skyrocketing. There are more than half a million inmates currently locked up on narcotics charges -- more than the total of all prisoners in 1980. Each of those prisoners costs taxpayers on average more than $22,000 per year, according to the federal Bureau of Justice Statistics -- several times the price of providing them with treatment.
The U.S. doesn't seem to be gaining much from the billions of dollars it invests in incarcerating drug offenders. Perhaps the decades-long "War on Drugs" has kept illicit substance use from growing, but it certainly hasn't done anything to reduce it. The most recent annual survey of drug use by the University of Michigan found that about 85 percent of 12th-graders in America say marijuana is easy to get. Almost 1 in 3 of those teenagers has smoked up in the past year, a number that has not changed much over the last 30 years.
All told, some 8 percent of Americans over age 12 -- about 20 million people -- use illicit drugs, according to the most recent estimates from the U.S. Department of Health. That's a higher rate than the same agency found in the early 1990s. More than 1 in 3 Americans -- including, by their own admissions, Sarah Palin and Barack Obama -- have tried some kind of illicit substance at least once.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of people in the U.S. are infected with HIV or hepatitis C every year thanks to shared needles. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, nearly 20,000 people died of drug overdoses in 2004 -- the most recent year for which statistics are available -- way up from the 12,000 reported fatal ODs in 1999.
No surprise, then, that there is a small movement pushing for more harm-reduction-based policies. Voters in California, Arizona and Maryland have passed initiatives in recent years mandating treatment instead of incarceration for first-time drug offenders. Not long ago, needle-exchange programs were banned everywhere; now there are nearly 200 such programs in 38 states.
The liberal, forward-operating base of San Francisco is at the vanguard of these efforts. Surging overdose deaths among the city's estimated 16,000 intravenous drug users spurred the city to officially embrace harm reduction in 2000. "We've tried to take drug addiction from being seen as a moral issue to being seen instead as a chronic disease," says Barbara Garcia, deputy director of the San Francisco Department of Public Health.
Today, a welter of programs hands out more than 2 million clean syringes every year, more than in any other city. At one storefront needle exchange in the notoriously skivey Tenderloin district, for instance, visitors can choose from three different sizes of syringes; speed shooters and junkies with narrow veins prefer smaller hardware. They can also pick up little metal cups and tubes of sterile water to cook the drugs in, hand wipes and alcohol swabs to clean their skin before stabbing it and other handy accessories, including tourniquets and crack-pipe mouthpieces.
One recent evening, Ian Johnson, a veteran local drug user dressed in pinstriped slacks, a soiled white shirt with a neatly knotted tie and a stained double-breasted jacket two shades darker than his pants, came in for another service: overdose prevention training. A friend had recently died from a too-big shot of heroin, he explained, and he didn't want to see that again. A volunteer trainer sat Johnson down with a torso-and-head CPR mannequin and showed him how to inject a dose of Narcan into someone's shoulder. Satisfied that Johnson had the simple procedure down, the trainer passed him along to a nurse who wrote a prescription making it legal for Johnson to walk out with a little black plastic box containing two needles and a vial of Narcan.
More than 1,200 people have been trained to administer Narcan this way, and trainees have used it at least 260 times to intervene in potentially fatal overdoses, according to the Harm Reduction Coalition, a nonprofit group that runs the trainings for the city. San Francisco also puts up the money to give methadone to about 5,000 people a year and to train dozens of "peer counselors" -- current and former speed users -- to advise their drug buddies on basics like remembering to eat while on multiday meth binges. There's even talk of opening a supervised injection site.
Outside of New York, Baltimore, Chicago and a few other places, though, harm reduction is a tough sell in the United States. Congress forbids federal dollars from funding needle exchanges. In many jurisdictions, it's illegal to possess a syringe without a prescription, making widespread needle distribution impossible, no matter who funds it. Federal drug czar John Walters has denounced Vancouver's Insite program as "state-sponsored suicide" and harm reduction in general as a Trojan horse for the goal of legalizing drugs outright.
Even in Canada, the Vancouver experiment is under pressure. The country's ruling Conservative Party has denounced the safe injection site and is pushing for a tougher line against drugs nationwide. "Allowing and/or encouraging people to inject heroin into their veins is not harm reduction," said Health Minister Tony Clement at a recent AIDS conference. "We believe it is a form of harm addition."
At first blush, the proposition that making drug use easier for addicts will benefit everyone does seem a bit far-fetched. As many critics have pointed out, it seems to send the message that hard drug use is all right, as long as you're careful about it. It's a message that, critics insist, could lead more people to experiment with narcotics and leave fewer addicts inclined to seek treatment.
Though the "wrong message" idea makes intuitive sense, the overwhelming preponderance of research on the subject does not bear it out. Over and over again, studies find that measures like needle exchange and even supervised injection sites do not promote drug use and do help curb some of the damage it causes.
The critique of harm reduction best supported by actual evidence is that it doesn't do enough.
"The harm reduction approach within the UK appears to have had only modest success in reducing the breadth of drug-related harms," University of Glasgow researcher Neil McKeganey wrote in a recent overview published in the journal Addiction Research & Theory. "Despite a plethora of initiatives aimed at increasing drug (injectors') awareness of the risks of needle and syringe sharing, and of providing drug users with access to sterile injecting equipment, around a third of injectors are still sharing injecting equipment."
That's a weighty objection to Insite, considering the facility costs $3 million a year to operate. On a typical day, only about 5 percent of all injections in the Downtown East Side are done in the facility's relative safety, according to the federal government's study. I found discarded syringes in the alley right behind Insite.
Creating a safe place to shoot up may make good sense, but that's not necessarily relevant to people whose cravings regularly trump their judgment. Watching Liane Gladue, a longtime junkie, searching for a vein under a streetlight in a Downtown East Side alley, I asked why she didn't go instead to the injection site just a few blocks away. "It's too crowded in there," she answered. "I didn't want to wait."
Though Vancouver is cutting the collateral damage caused by hard drugs, the city is making far less progress in reducing the number of users. Surveys report that drug use is higher in British Columbia than in the rest of Canada. A recent poll found that almost half of all Vancouverites consider drugs a major problem in their communities -- a figure double that for residents of Canada's biggest cities, Toronto and Montreal.
With serious drug users come rip-offs, break-ins and holdups for fix money. So it's no surprise that Vancouver's property crime and bank robbery rates are higher than most of Canada's. The city also has more gun-related crimes per capita than any other in the nation, a fact at least one criminologist has linked to the number of substance abusers.
All of this underscores why widespread drug addiction is ultimately everybody's problem. Obviously, getting street addicts to clean up takes more than free needles. It takes affordable housing, mental health services, counseling and treatment, all of which are in short supply, even in Vancouver. For some addicts, it might also take the threat of jail.
But it doesn't have to be an either/or choice. As the American Medical Association states in its official position on the issue, "Harm reduction can coexist, and is not incompatible, with a goal of abstinence for a drug-dependent person, or a policy of 'zero-tolerance' for society."
Advocating anything that sounds "soft on drugs" is generally considered political suicide for elected officials in most parts of the U.S. But as Vancouver has proved, a coalition of health care officials, activists and courageous politicians armed with solid data can change that equation. "No one in the U.S. wants to touch this stuff because they're afraid they won't get elected if they do," says Philip Owen, Vancouver's former mayor. "Well, I was re-elected three times."
See more stories tagged with: drug reform, drug addiction, vancouver
Vince Beiser is a Miller-McCune contributing editor based in Los Angeles. He has hunted down stories from the Balkans to the Middle East on assignments for Harper's, Wired, The Los Angeles Times Magazine, The Village Voice, The New Republic, The Nation and Rolling Stone.
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12) Consumer Price Decline Prompts Fear of Deflation
By JACK HEALY
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/business/economy/20econ.html?hp
In another sign that the struggling economy continues to slow, consumer prices tumbled by a record amount in October, carried lower by skidding energy and transportation prices, raising the specter of deflation.
The Consumer Price Index, a key measure of how much Americans spend on groceries, clothing, entertainment and other goods and services, fell by 1 percent in October compared with prices in the previous month, the Labor Department reported Wednesday morning.
It was the steepest single-month drop in the 61-year history of the pricing survey and raised concerns about deflation as the economy contracts and demand for goods and services plunge. Another report released Wednesday indicated that new home construction continued to fall. “This month it’s more than slowing, it’s outright contraction,” said James O’Sullivan, United States economist at UBS. “And yes, if you extrapolate that, it’s deflation.”
A continued decline in prices could worsen the economic slowdown by making it harder to pay off debts and would negate the impact of interest-rate cuts by the Federal Reserve.
Even excluding volatile food and energy prices, prices dropped 0.1 percent in October, the first such decline in more than two decades. Mr. O’Sullivan said that he expected core prices, which are up 2.2 percent this year to continue to fall back, but he does not expect them to slip into negative territory..
“You’re going to see huge declines in a month’s time in the November reports,” Mr. O’Sullivan said. “That’s the biggest part of the weakness.”
Energy prices led the decline in October, falling 8.6 percent as the price of gasoline continued its steady slide from highs of more than $4 a gallon. The costs of transportation fell 5.4 percent while clothing prices fell 1 percent.
“It’s funny that just a few months ago everyone was wringing their hands over inflation,” said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight. “It’s gone. It’s over.”
“The dominant and common factor is the plunge in gasoline prices, which drove the bulk of the weakness,” Mr. Sullivan said.
In a speech Wednesday at a Washington conference, the vice chairman of the Federal Reserve, Donald L. Kohn, said the risk of deflation remained slight but was increasing. “Whatever I thought that risk was, four or five months ago, I think it is bigger now even if it is still small,” Mr. Kohn said. The Fed, he added, needs to be aggressive, if necessary, to prevent a drop in prices.
But economists said the Federal Reserve had limited its options after repeatedly cutting interest rates in recent months. The target rate for the federal funds rate is now 1 percent after a cut of half a percentage point in October. Still, many are expecting another cut at the next meeting in December.
A report on the beleaguered real estate market showed that housing starts fell 4.5 percent in October, to a seasonally adjusted 791,000. Housing starts last month were 38 percent lower than their October 2007 levels.
Shares on Wall Street were sharply lower Wednesday morning following the reports
Economists said the tumbling consumer prices offered more evidence that companies ranging from boutiques to airlines to car dealerships were beginning to offer deep discounts to compete for a shrinking pool of disposable cash. Americans have tightened their spending as job losses mounted and easy credit dried up, and retailers are bracing for a punishing holiday shopping season.
“We’re looking at a pretty deep recession now,” Mr. Behravesh said. “ All of a sudden, any pricing power that companies might have had is gone. You’re going to see discounting like crazy going on. All kinds of sales. You’re going to see all kinds of prices being slashed.”
With consumers pulling back, many analysts are expecting a difficult Christmas shopping season. Retail sales, for example, were down 2.8 percent in October from September, and 4.1 percent from October 2007 as consumers pared their spending.
The price of food and beverages edged up in October, and was still 6.1 percent higher than the same period last year. Alcohol, cereal, meat, fish and desserts were all more expensive in October while the price of produce and dairy products dipped slightly.
And while energy prices fell sharply in October, they were still an unadjusted 11.7 percent higher than a year ago, thanks to a long run-up in oil and energy costs. The decline in consumer prices was just the latest symptom of an ailing economy. On Tuesday, the government reported that wholesale prices dropped a record 2.8 percent last month as commodities prices plummeted on slumping worldwide demand. Crude oil prices, which peaked near $150 a barrel this summer, are now hovering at $55 a barrel, and the prices for gold, silver and other metals have collapsed.
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13) Getting to Yes
Editorial
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/opinion/19wed1.html?hp
At one point during a hearing on the bank bailout in the House of Representatives on Tuesday, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said that he was being misunderstood about why he refused to use any of the $700 billion bailout fund to prevent foreclosures.
He has made it clear that he knows the housing bust is at the root of the financial crisis and the economic downturn. But he said at the hearing that using the bailout money for foreclosure relief would violate the intent of the rescue approved by Congress because it would be a “direct subsidy” rather than an “investment.”
Direct subsidy is a synonym for government spending, which the Bush administration seems to believe promises no chance of ever yielding a return. Investing, on the other hand, say in stocks, holds out the hope of getting one’s money back.
In an exchange with Representative Barney Frank, the Massachusetts Democrat who is chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, it quickly became apparent that it was Mr. Paulson who did not understand the intent of Congress as expressed in the bailout bill. And in subsequent testimony by another witness — Sheila Bair, the chairwoman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — Mr. Paulson’s simplistic distinction between direct spending (bad) and investing (good) was demolished.
If Mr. Paulson wants to persist in withholding bailout funds for foreclosure relief, he will have to come up with a new set of justifications.
Mr. Frank pointed out several sections of the bailout law that direct the treasury secretary to engage in foreclosure prevention. Perhaps the most important of those provisions authorizes the treasury secretary to “use loan guarantees and credit enhancements to facilitate loan modifications to prevent avoidable foreclosures.”
There you have intent and even a recommended course of action — guaranteeing modified loans. It could not be clearer.
Ms. Bair, who is pushing a plan to use $24 billion of the bailout fund to prevent foreclosures, pointed out that such spending could yield a far bigger return than the investments Mr. Paulson favors.
Under the plan, lenders who modify troubled loans according to specific criteria would be insured against some of the losses they would incur if the modified loan were to default. That would give lenders an incentive to rework bad loans and in so doing, slow the pace of foreclosures and house-price declines.
In her testimony, Ms. Bair noted that if the program kept home prices from falling by 3 percentage points less than would otherwise be the case, more than half-a-trillion dollars would remain in homeowners’ pockets. The effect on consumer spending, conservatively estimated, would exceed $40 billion. That would be a big economic stimulus, worth nearly double the original “investment.”
Congress intended Mr. Paulson to use some of the bailout money to prevent foreclosures. The F.D.I.C. calculations show that it would be money well spent. What is Mr. Paulson waiting for?
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14) Gov't Finds Child Hunger Rose 50 Percent in 2007
Nearly 700,000 Went Hungry Last Year
November 17, 2008
newsnet5.com
http://www.newsnet5.com/health/18000875/detail.html
WASHINGTON -- New government figures show that almost 700,000 children went hungry in the United States at some point in 2007, up more than 50 percent from the year before to mark the highest point since 1998. And that's even before this year's sharp economic downtown, the Agriculture Department reported Monday.
The department's annual report on food security showed that during 2007 the number of children who suffered a substantial disruption in the amount of food they typically eat was more than double the 430,000 in 2006 and the largest figure since 716,000 in 1998.
Overall, the 36.2 million adults and children who struggled with hunger during the year was up slightly from 35.5 million in 2006. That was 12.2 percent of Americans who didn't have the money or assistance to get enough food to maintain active, healthy lives.
Almost a third of those, 11.9 million adults and children, went hungry at some point. That figure has grown by more than 40 percent since 2000. The government says these people suffered a substantial disruption in their food supply at some point and classifies them as having "very low food security." Until the government rewrote its definitions two years ago, this group was described as having "food insecurity with hunger."
The findings should increase pressure to meet President-elect Barack Obama's campaign pledge to expand food aid and end childhood hunger by 2015, said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
He predicted the 2008 numbers will show even more hunger because of the sharp economic downturn this year.
"There's every reason to think the increases in the number of hungry people will be very, very large based on the increased demand we're seeing this year at food stamp agencies, emergency kitchens, Women, Infants and Children clinics, really across the entire social service support structure," said James Weill, president of the Food Research and Action Center, an anti-hunger group.
Weill said the figures show that economic growth during the first seven years of the Bush administration didn't reach the poorest and hungriest people. "The people in the deepest poverty are suffering the most," Weill said.
The number of adults and children with "low food security" -- those who avoided substantial food disruptions but still struggled to eat -- fell slightly since 2000, from 24.7 million to 24.3 million. The government said these people have several ways of coping - eating less varied diets, obtaining food from emergency kitchens or community food charities, or participating in federal aid programs like food stamps, the school lunch program or the Women, Infants and Children program.
Among other findings:
The families with the highest rates of food insecurity were headed by single mothers (30.2 percent), black households (22.2 percent), Hispanic households (20.1 percent), and households with incomes below the official poverty line (37.7 percent).
States with families reporting the highest prevalence of food insecurity during 2005-2007 were Mississippi (17.4 percent), New Mexico (15 percent), Texas (14.8 percent) and Arkansas (14.4 percent).
The highest growth in food insecurity over the last 9 years came in Alaska and Iowa, both of which saw a 3.7 percent increase in families who struggled to eat adequately or had substantial food disruptions.
Ninety-three percent reported eating less than they felt they should because there was not enough money for food.
Sixty-five percent of respondents reported that they had been hungry but did not eat because they could not afford enough food.
Forty-five percent of respondents reported having lost weight because they did not have enough money for food.
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15) Judge Orders Five Detainees Freed From Guantánamo
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
November 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/us/21guantanamo.html?hp
In the first hearing on the government’s justification for holding detainees at the Guantánamo Bay detention camp, a federal judge ruled Thursday that five Algerian men were held unlawfully for nearly seven years and ordered their release.
The judge, Richard J. Leon of Federal District Court in Washington, also ruled that a sixth Algerian man was being lawfully detained because he had provided support to the terrorist group Al Qaeda.
The case was an important test of the Bush administration’s detention policies, which critics have long argued swept up innocent men and low-level foot soldiers along with high-level and hardened terrorists.
The six men are among a group of Guantánamo inmates who won a Supreme Court ruling that the detainees have constitutional rights and can seek release in federal court. The 5-4 decision said a 2006 law unconstitutionally stripped the prisoners of their right to contest their imprisonment in habeas corpus lawsuits.
The hearings for the Algerian men, in which all of the evidence was heard in proceedings that were closed to the public, were the first in which the Justice Department presented its full justification for holding specific detainees since the Supreme Court ruling in June.
Judge Leon, in a ruling from the bench, said that the information gathered on the men had been sufficient to hold them for intelligence purposes, but was not strong enough in court.
“To rest on so thin a reed would be inconsistent with this court’s obligation,” he said. He directed that the five men be released “forthwith” and urged the government not to appeal.
Judge Leon, who was appointed by President Bush, had been expected to be sympathetic to the government. In 2005, he ruled that the men had no habeas corpus rights.
Lawyers said the decision was likely to be seen as a repudiation of the Bush administration’s effort to use the detention center at the American naval base at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, as a way to avoid scrutiny by American judges. President-elect Barack Obama has promised to close the prison.
“The decision by Judge Leon lays bare the scandalous basis on which Guantánamo has been based — slim evidence of dubious quality,” said Zachary Katznelson, legal director at Reprieve, a British legal group that represents many of the detainees. “This is a tough, no-nonsense judge.”
Because of the Bush administration’s claims that most of the evidence against the men was classified, Judge Leon ordered the entire case to be heard in a closed courtroom after brief opening statements on Nov. 5.
The government argued that the six Algerians, who were residents of Bosnia when they were first detained in 2001, were planning to go to Afghanistan to fight the United States and that one of them was a member of Al Qaeda.
The five men who were ordered freed on Thursday include Lakhdar Boumediene, for whom the landmark Supreme Court ruling in June was named. The one detainee Judge Leon found to be lawfully held, Bensayah Belkacem, has been described by intelligence agencies as a leading Al Qaeda operative in Bosnia.
It was not immediately clear whether the government would appeal, but some lawyers said they considered an appeal likely.
The case has become an example of the Bush administration’s pattern of changing strategy in its long legal war over Guantánamo as the courts have scrutinized the government’s justification for its detention policies in general and its reasons for holding individual detainees.
In 2002, President Bush made the government’s allegations against the men a showcase of his administration’s approach to dealing with terrorists. He said in his State of the Union address that the six men had been planning a bomb attack on the United States Embassy in Sarajevo, Bosnia. Last month, however, Justice Department lawyers said they were no longer relying on those accusations to justify the men’s detention.
The habeas corpus cases have moved slowly despite the Supreme Court decision that directed federal judges in Washington to act quickly after nearly seven years of detention for many of the 250 men still held in Guantánamo.
Detainees’ lawyers said Thursday’s ruling by Judge Leon would be a signal to other judges that they should be skeptical of the government’s efforts to delay hearings.
P. Sabin Willett, a lawyer for the Uighurs, said that Judge Leon’s decision “sends a powerful message to all the other judges to get these cases moving.”
J. Wells Dixon, a detainees’ lawyer at the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the ruling made clear that Guantánamo Bay had failed. But, he said, “Justice comes too late for these five men.”
Earlier this week, the Justice Department filed legal motions seeking to stop more than 100 of the other Guantánamo habeas corpus cases from proceeding, a move that lawyers for detainees said was a government effort to avoid further court scrutiny.
The Justice Department lawyers argued in motions filed Tuesday that there were flaws in the ground rules of other judges for the Guantánamo cases that would require the government to reveal classified evidence.
Last month, another district court judge in Washington, Ricardo M. Urbina, ordered the release of 17 other detainees, all ethnic Uighurs from western China. The judge did not hold a hearing on the evidence in that case because the government conceded that the men were not enemy combatants.
The Justice Department won a stay of Judge Urbina’s release order and is appealing. Arguments are scheduled for Monday in the United States Courts of Appeals in Washington.
Bernie Becker contributed reporting from Washington.
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16) U.S. Strike Reportedly Killed Five in Pakistan
By JANE PERLEZ and PIR ZUBAIR SHAH
November 21, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/world/asia/21pstan.html?ref=world
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — Striking for the first time beyond Pakistan’s tribal areas, an American pilotless aircraft fired missiles at a village well inside Pakistani territory on Wednesday, killing five foreign militants, a Pakistani intelligence official and local residents said.
The attack appeared to represent a widening of the American campaign aimed at killing militants with Al Qaeda and the Taliban, who use safe havens in Pakistan as a springboard for attacks against NATO and American soldiers in Afghanistan.
On Thursday, Pakistan’s Foreign Ministry summoned the American ambassador to Pakistan, Anne Patterson, in protest of the attack. Pakistani leaders have protested over 20 other American strikes in the past two months, saying they were an infringement of the nation’s sovereignty and alienated the Pakistani public.
On Wednesday, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of the Pakistani Army, who was meeting with NATO commanders in Brussels, urged a halt to the American missile attacks, according to a Pakistani military spokesman. “He highlighted the need to reinforce Pakistan’s effort and operate in a coordinated manner within respective national boundaries,” the spokesman said.
But in what may have been a signal that the Pakistani government could, in the end, tolerate the American strikes, General Kayani also pledged to keep open a supply line that runs through Pakistan for NATO soldiers fighting in Afghanistan.
Heavy military equipment and other supplies for the soldiers in Afghanistan move on trucks from the Pakistani port of Karachi north through the Khyber Pass to Afghanistan. The route was closed last week after Taliban militants attacked a convoy as it approached the border with Afghanistan.
General Kayani, the first Pakistani military chief to visit NATO headquarters, added that he recognized the importance of the coalition’s military campaign in Afghanistan, according to Adm. Giampaolo Di Paola, the chairman of the alliance’s military committee.
“We will do whatever is possible, whatever is within our power, to ensure that this line of supply is open,” General Kayani told the NATO committee, according to Admiral Di Paola.
Admiral Di Paola said NATO was seeking alternate supply routes to reduce the reliance on Pakistan. Permission is being requested from Central Asian states so that supplies can move through them to the Afghan front, he said.
The fragility of the NATO supply line through Pakistan was emphasized again on Wednesday when, in reaction to the missile strike, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, the head of a major Islamic party, Jamaat-e-Islami, threatened to mobilize demonstrators to block the route if the American strikes continued.
The missile strike on Wednesday was aimed at a residential compound in the village of Indi Khel, about 22 miles outside the town of Bannu, according to an intelligence official.
Bannu, about two hours by road from Peshawar, the capital of the North-West Frontier Province, is a major center on the edge of North Waziristan, a Taliban stronghold.
Indi Khel and the surrounding area have been a center for criminals and militants who travel over the border to Afghanistan to fight NATO and American soldiers, according to the intelligence official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to journalists.
Two of the militants killed in the attack were Arabs and three were Uzbeks, the intelligence official said. Four civilians, including a child, who lived in the compound were wounded in the strike and taken to the Mission Hospital in Bannu for treatment, the official said.
The missile strike came a day after the United States military announced that it was working in co-ordination with Pakistani forces to intercept and ambush insurgents escaping into Afghanistan from Bajaur, where the Pakistani military has been battling the Taliban for the past three months.
Col. John Spiszer, who commands the Third Brigade Combat Team of the Army’s First Infantry Division in northeast Afghanistan, said Monday that the new intelligence cooperation between the Pakistani and the American Armies would be enhanced in the coming months.
He praised the Pakistani forces’ efforts against militants, saying, “The Pakistan military’s been taking away their safe havens in Pakistan.”
The visit to NATO headquarters by General Kayani, who assumed leadership of the Pakistani military nearly a year ago, appeared to show an improvement in what has been a fractious relationship between the American and Pakistani forces.
The Pakistani military was given the designation of a “non-NATO ally” by President Bush shortly after Sept. 11, 2001, when Pervez Musharraf, then president, pledged to support the American effort against terrorism.
But the Americans have accused the Pakistanis of not doing enough to stop the militants who cross from their safe havens in the Pakistani tribal areas to fight American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.
For their part, the Pakistanis have complained that the Americans have refused to supply them with the intelligence and the hardware they say they need to combat the Taliban and Qaeda forces that now have virtual control of the tribal areas.
General Kayani told the NATO panel there was a limit to what could be done militarily to stop the flow of militants from Pakistan to Afghanistan, and urged more effort to separate hard-core militants from those who could be reintroduced into local society, Admiral Di Paola said.
“The border is unsealable; you need the understanding of the people living there, to separate themselves from the bad guys, from the terrorists,” the admiral quoted General Kayani as saying. “You can achieve this by working with the people of the tribal areas.”
Sharon Otterman contributed reporting from New York.
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17) Health Insurers Offer to Accept All Applicants, on Condition
By ROBERT PEAR
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/20/us/20health.html?ref=us
WASHINGTON — The health insurance industry said Wednesday that it would support a health care overhaul requiring insurers to accept all customers, regardless of illness or disability. But in return, the industry said, Congress should require all Americans to have coverage.
The proposals, put forward by the insurers’ two main trade associations, have the potential to reshape and advance the debate over universal health insurance just as President-elect Barack Obama prepares to take office.
In separate actions, the two trade groups, America’s Health Insurance Plans and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, announced their support for guaranteed coverage for people with pre-existing medical conditions, in conjunction with an enforceable mandate for individual coverage.
In the absence of such a mandate, insurers said, many people will wait until they become sick before they buy insurance.
Members of Congress said Wednesday that they wanted to pass legislation next year, as proposed by Mr. Obama, to expand coverage and rein in health care costs.
The new position taken by the insurance industry — the industry that helped sink President Bill Clinton’s plan for universal health coverage in 1994 — could ease the way for passage of such legislation.
But the industry’s position differs from that of Mr. Obama in one significant respect. Insurers want the government to require everyone to have and maintain insurance. By contrast, Mr. Obama would, at least initially, apply the requirement only to children.
In the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, that was a major point of contention between Mr. Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton of New York. Mrs. Clinton said that everyone should be required to have coverage. Mr. Obama said he wanted to be certain that insurance was affordable and available to all before considering such a broad requirement.
Asked on Wednesday for reaction to the insurance industry’s proposals, Tommy Vietor, a spokesman for the Obama transition team, said, “We are declining comment.” Mr. Vietor cited Mr. Obama’s view that “we have only one president at a time.”
In many cases, people with cancer, diabetes, traumatic brain injuries or other serious afflictions have found that they cannot obtain health insurance at any price.
Research suggests that some insurers turn down 10 percent or more of applicants for individual coverage because of their pre-existing medical conditions.
Donald G. Hamm Jr., president of Assurant Health, explained why the industry thought an individual mandate must be coupled with any ban on such underwriting practices.
“In the individual market, people can choose whether or not to apply for coverage,” Mr. Hamm said in an interview. “If they know they can obtain coverage at any time, many will wait until they get sick to apply for it. That increases the price for everyone.”
Insurers say that is just what happened in several states that prohibited insurers from turning down applicants on the basis of their health status.
The new policy statements are silent on two important issues: how to enforce an individual mandate and how to regulate insurance prices, or premiums.
While insurers would be required to sell insurance to any applicant, nothing would guarantee that consumers could afford it. Rate regulation promises to be a highly contentious issue, since it pits the financial interests of insurers against those of consumers.
At present, insurance premiums are generally regulated by the states and often vary according to a person’s age, sex, medical history and place of residence within a state. In the individual market in most states, a person with a history of serious or chronic illness can be charged much more than a healthy person of the same age and sex.
Mr. Hamm, a member of the board of America’s Health Insurance Plans, said the group might offer recommendations to define “a fair and appropriate rating structure.”
Alissa Fox, a vice president of the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, said the individual mandate was an indispensable corollary of any approach forbidding insurers to reject applicants because of health status.
“Insurance works best when everyone is in the pool,” Ms. Fox said. “You need healthy people in the insurance pool to help pay for sicker individuals who are much more motivated to buy coverage.”
Insurers did not say how the government should enforce an individual mandate: whether through fines, tax penalties or other means. Politicians have also been reluctant to specify details of enforcement, which could prove highly unpopular.
Setting aside such thorny issues, seven senators responsible for health legislation met Wednesday and promised to work together. Those participating were Senators Max Baucus of Montana, Christopher J. Dodd of Connecticut, Edward M. Kennedy of Massachusetts and John D. Rockefeller IV of West Virginia, all Democrats, and Michael B. Enzi of Wyoming, Charles E. Grassley of Iowa and Orrin G. Hatch of Utah, Republicans.
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18) Drawing the Line on Drug Testing
By MICHAEL WINERIP
November 19, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/23/nyregion/new-jersey/23Rparent.html?ref=nyregion
BASKING RIDGE, N.J.
“I don’t want it misunderstood,” said Lynn Evelyn, 52, the mother of three teenage girls. “I’m not in favor of kids using drugs or alcohol.
“My approach is to tell them: ‘I don’t want you to do it. I think it’s absolutely the wrong kind of behavior for adolescents to engage in. But if you do choose at some point to experiment’ — and my girls are all social — I talk about how, in our own family, there’s a history of alcohol dependency. They know my older brother died of drug addiction.”
Her oldest daughter is now a college freshman, but last year, when she was a senior, a few times she came home after drinking heavily, the mother said, and they talked. “I made it clear this upset me,” Ms. Evelyn said. “ I didn’t expect this to be a regular thing.”
The mother supports what’s called “suspicion-based testing” — testing students if they appear to be impaired at school. “Kids shouldn’t go to school drunk or high,” she said. “It’s not just the school’s right to test, it’s the school’s responsibility.”
Indeed, last year officials at Ridge High here tested 23 students suspected of being impaired at school, with 15 testing positive for drugs or alcohol, according to Chad Gillikin, a school counselor. This year, seven have been tested, with three registering positive, he said.
And that is where Ms. Evelyn believes the school’s role stops. “Any more testing is an invasion of privacy,” she said.
This has put her at odds with many school officials in this wealthy suburb, including Mr. Gillikin. He is the co-chairman of a study committee that wants to implement a random drug screening program that would test 15 percent of Ridge High’s students each year to monitor their behavior when they’re not in school.
“Schools we’ve visited that do random drug testing, it’s very impressive,” said Mr. Gillikin. “They say it’s changed the youth culture in their communities.”
Ms. Evelyn countered: “This is a parent’s responsibility, not the school’s. It shows an unwillingness to teach kids the real-life skills they need to resist drug and alcohol abuse. And it doesn’t even get at the bigger problem — which is alcohol, not drugs.”
Since the Supreme Court ruled in 2002 that schools could randomly test students participating in sports and clubs, 7 percent of the nation’s high schools and middle schools — 4,200 of an estimated 59,364 — have implemented random testing, mostly for drugs, according to a 2007 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention study. New Jersey has taken an aggressive approach, with 27 districts testing for drugs, as well as the state’s high school athletic association.
Starting in 2006, the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association began randomly testing high school athletes competing in state tournaments for performance-enhancing drugs. Of the 1,000 student-athletes screened so far, 2 have tested positive — both for steroids, according to Bob Baly, the association’s assistant director.
The proposed random drug testing plan for Ridge High is similar to ones already in place at the 27 other New Jersey school districts. Any students wanting to play a sport, join a club or get a parking permit — about 80 percent of Ridge High’s 1,600 kids — would have to consent to random testing or would not be able to participate.
About seven kids a week would be selected by computer and called to the nurse’s office to urinate in a cup. Students testing positive would not miss school, nor would results appear on their transcripts. They would have to take part in counseling with their parents and miss two weeks from their team or club.
This contrasts with suspicion-based testing now being done at Ridge High, which typically results in a five-day school suspension and may involve calling in the police.
“The random testing isn’t meant to be punitive,” said Mr. Gillikin. “It’s meant to help families work these things out.” He estimates random drug testing would cost no more than $5,000 a year.
His committee has spent two years studying the issue, including making visits to five districts that do testing. The 18 committee members — virtually all school officials here in Bernards Township — voted unanimously to recommend random drug testing. Mr. Gillikin acknowledges that during the two years, his group could find no academic research indicating that random testing reduces student drug use. “The evidence we have is anecdotal from other districts that say it works,” he said. “More research does need to be done.”
Indeed, one of the few academic studies, conducted by the University of Michigan at 900 schools in 2003, found no evidence that testing lowered drug abuse. Nor is the medical community particularly supportive. A 2006 survey of physicians found 83 percent opposed drug testing in public schools, and a 2007 report by the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended against testing because, it said, there has been little research on the effectiveness, and such testing can breed “distrust and suspicion” among students, school officials and parents.
In her effort to derail random testing, Ms. Evelyn has unearthed an all-but-forgotten 2005 study done here by the township’s Board of Health and its Municipal Alliance Against Substance Abuse.
That study described this community as prosperous ($135,000 median family income) and full of two-parent households (85 percent compared with a national average of 67 percent). Its children get so much support at home and school and feel so good about themselves, the report’s author noted, that “statistically there isn’t much room for improvement.”
That study surveyed about half of 10th and 12th graders at Ridge High and did identify a substance abuse problem, although it was not illegal drugs. It was alcohol, which, the report said, was particularly a problem among athletes. “Programs targeting this group may be worthwhile,” the report said.
The report’s author, Dr. Kirk Harlow, a professor at Midwestern State University in Wichita Falls, Tex., was asked in a phone interview why he hadn’t focused on drug use. “It just wasn’t as prevalent there, it’s not as big an issue,” he said. “I’ve been working in the public health field 30 years, and alcohol remains our No. 1 substance abuse problem.”
Indeed, the district’s own surveys of Ridge High students over the last decade have found the rate of alcohol abuse to be two to three times the rate of drug abuse.
Asked about this, Mr. Gillikin said that in response to the 2005 report, the district had helped create a coaches’ manual on alcohol and drug use that is intended to teach student-athletes healthy decision-making.
As to why his committee isn’t pushing for random alcohol testing, Mr. Gillikin said that districts the members visited advised them to go slow, perfect the random drug testing system first and then maybe take on alcohol.
Ms. Evelyn’s middle daughter, Hannah, 17, a junior at Ridge High, suspects there is another reason the committee has demurred when it comes to alcohol. “There’d be an uprising,” she said. “Most kids drink on the weekend — they’d definitely be more against it if they went after alcohol.”
The school board is expected to vote on the matter in mid-December.
E-mail: parenting@nytimes.com
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19) Jobless Claims Reach a 16-Year High
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
November 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/business/economy/21econ.html?ref=business#
WASHINGTON — New claims for unemployment benefits jumped last week to a 16-year high, the Labor Department said Thursday, providing more evidence of a rapidly weakening job market expected to get even worse next year.
The government said new applications for jobless benefits rose to a seasonally adjusted 542,000 from a downwardly revised figure of 515,000 in the previous week. That was much higher than Wall Street economists’ expectations of 505,000, according to a survey by Thomson Reuters.
The department said that was also the highest level of claims since July 1992, when the economy was coming out of a recession.
The four-week average of claims, which smooths out fluctuations, was even worse: it rose to 506,500, the highest in more than 25 years.
In addition, the number of people continuing to claim unemployment insurance rose sharply for the third straight week to more than four million, the highest since December 1982, when the economy was in a painful recession.
Those figures partly reflect growth in the labor force, which has increased by about half since the early 1980s.
The figures will probably cause some economists to increase their projections for the unemployment rate this year. Many already expect unemployment to reach 7 percent by early next year and 8 percent by the end of 2009.
The rate in October was 6.5 percent, and last year the rate averaged 4.6 percent.
The Federal Reserve released projections on Wednesday that the jobless rate will climb to 7.1 percent to 7.6 percent next year, according to documents from the Fed’s Oct. 29 closed-door deliberations on interest rate policy.
Initial claims have been driven higher in the last several months by a slowing economy hit by the financial crisis, and cutbacks in consumer and business spending.
Economists consider jobless claims a timely, if volatile indication of how rapidly companies are laying off workers. Employees who quit or are fired for cause are not eligible for benefits.
In another economic report, a private research group says the economy’s health declined further in October as stocks, building permits and consumer expectations all fell.
The Conference Board says its monthly forecast of future economic activity declined 0.8 percent in October, worse than the 0.6 percent decrease expected by economists surveyed by Thomson Reuters.
The index, which weighs indicators like manufacturers’ new orders and supplier deliveries, has fallen four of the last six months. It rose slightly in September, thanks to federal interventions that increased the money supply.
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LINKS AND VERY SHORT STORIES
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Women Gain in Education but Not Power, Study Finds
By REUTERS
GENEVA (Reuters) — Women still lag far behind men in top political and decision-making roles, though their access to education and health care is nearly equal, the World Economic Forum said Wednesday.
In its 2008 Global Gender Gap report, the forum, a Swiss research organization, ranked Norway, Finland and Sweden as the countries that have the most equality of the sexes, and Saudi Arabia, Chad and Yemen as having the least.
Using United Nations data, the report found that girls and women around the world had generally reached near-parity with their male peers in literacy, access to education and health and survival. But in terms of economics and politics, including relative access to executive government and corporate posts, the gap between the sexes remains large.
The United States ranked 27th, above Russia (42nd), China (57th), Brazil (73rd) and India (113th). But the United States was ranked below Germany (11th), Britain (13th), France (15th), Lesotho (16th), Trinidad and Tobago (19th), South Africa (22nd), Argentina (24th) and Cuba (25th).
“The world’s women are nearly as educated and as healthy as men, but are nowhere to be found in terms of decision-making,” said Saadia Zahidi of the World Economic Forum
Middle Eastern and North African countries received the lowest ratings over all. The rankings of Syria, Qatar, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia declined in 2008.
The report said the inequalities in those countries were so large as to put them at an economic disadvantage.
“A nation’s competitiveness depends significantly on whether and how it educates and utilizes its female talent. To maximize its competitiveness and development potential, each country should strive for gender equality.”
November 13, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/13/world/13gender.html?ref=world
Syria: Uranium Traces Found at Bombed Site, Diplomats Say
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
World Briefing | Middle East
Samples taken from a Syrian site bombed by Israel last year contained traces of uranium combined with other elements that merit further investigation, diplomats said Monday. The diplomats, who spoke on condition of anonymity because their information was confidential, said the uranium was processed, suggesting some kind of nuclear link.
One diplomat said the uranium finding itself was significant only in the context of other traces found in the oil or air samples taken by International Atomic Energy Agency experts in June. Syria has a rudimentary declared nuclear program revolving around research for medical and agricultural uses, and the uranium traces might have inadvertently been carried to the bombed site.
November 11, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/11/world/middleeast/11briefs-URANIUMTRACE_BRF.html?ref=world
Italy: School Reforms Draw More Protests
By RACHEL DONADIO
World Briefing | Europe
Students and teachers took to the streets of Italy on Thursday for the third consecutive day to protest reforms and cutbacks by the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi that would reduce the number of classroom hours and diminish the number of elementary school teachers. Elementary, middle and high schools were closed as union members went on strike and joined public marches that paralyzed Rome and other cities.
October 31, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/31/world/europe/31briefs-SCHOOLREFORM_BRF.html?ref=world
Wider Disparity in Life Expectancy Is Found Between Rich and Poor
By NEIL MacFARQUHAR
World Briefing
The gap in life expectancy between rich and poor has increased to as much as 40 years within some countries, according to a new report by the World Health Organization. The disparity can be found not just within and between nations, but even within cities. In measurements of infant mortality, for example, the number of children who died in the wealthiest area of Nairobi, Kenya, was less than 15 per 1,000. On the other hand, in a poor neighborhood the death rate was 254 per 1,000, according to the report, which was released on Tuesday. Worldwide, average life expectancy was 81 years for people in the richest 10 percent of the population, while it was 46 years for people in the poorest 10 percent.
October 17, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/17/world/17briefs-WIDERDISPARI_BRF.html?ref=world
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GENERAL ANNOUNCEMENTS AND INFORMATION
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"I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation, then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around the banks will deprive the people of all property until their children wake-up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered. The issuing power should be taken from the banks and restored to the people, to whom it properly belongs."
- Thomas Jefferson, 3rd president of US (1743 - 1826)
Letter to the Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin (1802)
http://www.quotationspage.com/quote/37700.html"
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COURAGE TO RESIST
Where we are at. An appeal for support
Jeff Paterson
Courage to Resist Project Director
October 15, 2008
couragetoresist.org/donate
I'm proud to report that we have more than doubled the number of military objectors advised or directly supported since last year. To do this, our organizing collective has stepped up to the challenge in major ways, and we increased our staffing as well.
We're now attempting to do this work in the context of an unprecedented economic meltdown that financially affects every one of us in some way. Even prior to that, we were competing with a historic presidential election campaign for your donation. Of course we hold out hope for a new foreign policy not based on brutal occupations, but we're not holding our breath. If change does happen, it will take time for any new foreign policy to trickle down to the courageous men and women who are refusing to fight today.
Quick facts about our budget:
--86 percent of our entire budget has come directly from folks such as you.
--We currently rely on approximately 2,000 contributors across the U.S.
--The average donation we receive is just over $40.
--About half of our budget goes directly to supporting individual resisters.
--The remaining 14 percent of our budget comes from small grants made by progressive foundations.
Recently, we brought on board Sarah Lazare as Project Coordinator who has hit the ground running working with resisters, publishing articles, and collaborating with our allies in the justice and peace movement. Sarah is a former union organizer, Democracy Now! intern, and volunteer at a refugee camp in Lebanon.
Also new to our staff is our Office Manager Adam Seibert, who like me is a former Marine. Adam served in Somalia prior to going UA / AWOL under threat of another combat deployment.
I've never felt better about our staff and organizing collective. We're undertaking urgent and unique work that directly contributes to ending war. However, we are currently running a $4,000 monthly deficit. Whether we can move forward with our work to support the troops who refuse to fight is in large part based on your shared commitment to this project.
For a review of our current work with resisters Tony Anderson, Blake Ivy, Robin Long, and our women and men fighting to remain in Canada, please check our homepage. We have also posted an organizational timeline of action that details our work since 2003.
Today I'm asking that you consider a contribution of $100 or more, or become a sustainer at $20 or more a month. With your direct assistance, I'm confident we'll be able to move forward together in challenging our government's policies of empire. Together we have the power to end the war.
couragetoresist.org/donate
Sincerely,
Jeff Paterson
Courage to Resist Project Director
First U.S. military serviceperson to refuse to fight in Iraq
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San Francisco Proposition U is on the November ballot.
Shall it be City policy to advocate that its elected representatives in the
United States Senate and House of Representatives vote against any further
funding for the deployment of United States Armed Forces in Iraq, with the
exception of funds specifically earmarked to provide for their safe and
orderly withdrawal.
If you'd like to help us out please contact me. Donations would be wonderful, we need them for signs and buttons. Please see the link on our web site.
Thank you.
Rick Hauptman
Prop U Steering Commiittee
http://yesonpropu.blogspot.com/
tel 415-861-7425
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WHAT ALL HUMANITY IS UP AGAINST (FROM "60 MINUTES")
[THIS IS TRULY TERRIFYING!...BW]
The Battle Of Sadr City
Weaponry so advanced that it spots the enemy and destroys it from nearly two miles above the battlefield made the difference in the fight for Sadr City last spring. Lesley Stahl's report shows rare footage of the weaponry in action.
October 13, 2008
http://www.cbsnews.com/video/watch/?id=4516319n
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"Meditating on the current U.S. public debt-$10,266 trillions-that President Bush is laying on the shoulders of the new generations in that country, I took to calculating how long it would take a man to count the debt that he has doubled in eight years.
"A man working eight hours a day, without missing a second, and counting one hundred one-dollar bills per minute, during 300 days in the year, would need 710 billion years to count that amount of money." -Fidel Castro Ruz, October 11, 2008
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Check out this video of the Oct. 11 protest in Boston:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7pPB5IR_hEg
Video: Peace Rally in Providence
October 11th, 2008
Rhode Island Community Coalition for Peace held an anti-war and pro immigration rally at Dexter Training Grounds, beside the Cranston Armory, followed by a march that ended up at Burnside Park around 4:30 p.m. There were 200 people at the rally and more joined the march along the way. Providence Journal video by Kathy Borchers
http://www.projo.com/video/?z=y&nvid=291998
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"These capitalists generally act harmoniously and in concert to fleece the people, and now that they have got into a quarrel with themselves, we are called upon to appropriate the people's money to settle the quarrel."
- Abraham Lincoln, speech to Illinois legislature, January 1837
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Subprime crisis explanation by The Long Johns
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=z-oIMJMGd1Q
Wanda Sykes on Jay Leno: Bailout and Palin
http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=tco5h_ZprMY
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Stop the Carnage, Ban the Cluster Bomb!
Only 20 percent of the hundreds of thousands of unexploded cluster munitions that Israel launched into Lebanon in the summer of 2006 have been cleared. You can help!
1. See the list of more than thirty organizations that have signed a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calling for Israel to release the list of cluster bomb target sites to the UN team in charge of clearing the sites in Lebanon:
http://www.atfl.org/orgs.htm
2. You can Learn more about the American Task Force for Lebanon at their website:
http://www.atfl.org/
3. Send a message to President Bush, the Secretary of State, and your Members of Congress to stop the carnage and ban the cluster bomb by clicking on the link below:
http://action.atfl.org/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6644&track=spreadtheword
Take action now at:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizations/ATFL/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6644&t=
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SAVE TROY DAVIS
U.S. Supreme Court stays Georgia execution
"The U.S. Supreme Court granted a last-minute reprieve to a Georgia man fewer than two hours before he was to be executed for the 1989 slaying of an off-duty police officer.
"Troy Anthony Davis learned that his execution had been stayed when he saw it on television, he told CNN via telephone in his first interview after the stay was announced."
September 23, 2008
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/CRIME/09/23/davis.scheduled.execution/
Dear friend,
Please check out and sign this petition to stay the illegal 9-23-08 execution of innocent Brother Mr. Troy Davis.
http://www.amnestyusa.org/troydavis
Thanks again, we'll continue keep you posted.
Sincerely,
The Death Penalty Abolition Campaign
Amnesty International, USA
Read NYT Op-Ed columnist Bob Herbert's plea on behalf of Troy Davis:
What's the Rush?
By BOB HERBERT
Op-Ed Columnist
September 20, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/opinion/20herbert.html?hp
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New on the Taking Aim Program Archive:
"9/11: Blueprint for Truth: The Architecture of Destruction" part 2 is
available on the Taking Aim Program Archive at
http://www.takingaimradio.com/shows/audio.html
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Labor Beat: National Assembly to End the War in Iraq and Afghanistan:
Highlights from the June 28-29, 2008 meeting in Cleveland, OH. In this 26-minute video, Labor Beat presents a sampling of the speeches and floor discussions from this important conference. Attended by over 400 people, the Assembly's main objective was to urge united and massive mobilizations in the spring to "Bring the Troops Home Now," as well as supporting actions that build towards that date. To read the final action proposal and to learn other details, visit www.natassembly.org. Produced by Labor Beat. Labor Beat is a CAN TV Community Partner. Labor Beat is affiliated with IBEW 1220. Views expressed are those of the producer, not necessarily of IBEW. For info: mail@laborbeat.org,www.laborbeat.org. 312-226-3330. For other Labor Beat videos, visit Google Video or YouTube and search "Labor Beat".
http://blip.tv/file/1149437/
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12 year old Ossetian girl tells the truth about Georgia.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5idQm8YyJs4
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SAN FRANCISCO IS A SANCTUARY CITY! STOP THE MIGRA-ICE RAIDS!
Despite calling itself a "sanctuary city", S.F. politicians are permitting the harrassment of undocumented immigrants and allowing the MIGRA-ICE police to enter the jail facilities.
We will picket any store that cooperates with the MIGRA or reports undocumented brothers and sisters. We demand AMNESTY without conditions!
BRIGADES AGAINST THE RAIDS
project of BARRIO UNIDO
(415)431-9925
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Canada: American Deserter Must Leave
By IAN AUSTEN
August 14, 2008
World Briefing | Americas
Jeremy Hinzman, a deserter from the United States Army, was ordered Wednesday to leave Canada by Sept. 23. Mr. Hinzman, a member of the 82nd Airborne Division, left the Army for Canada in January 2004 and later became the first deserter to formally seek refuge there from the war in Iraq. He has been unable to obtain permanent immigrant status, and in November, the Supreme Court of Canada declined to hear an appeal of his case. Vanessa Barrasa, a spokeswoman for the Canada Border Services Agency, said Mr. Hinzman, above, had been ordered to leave voluntarily. In July, another American deserter was removed from Canada by border officials after being arrested. Although the Conservative government of Prime Minister Stephen Harper has not backed the Iraq war, it has shown little sympathy for American deserters, a significant change from the Vietnam War era.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/14/world/americas/14briefs-canada.html?ref=world
Iraq War resister Robin Long jailed, facing three years in Army stockade
Free Robin Long now!
Support GI resistance!
Soldier Who Deserted to Canada Draws 15-Month Term
By DAN FROSCH
August 23, 2008
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/08/23/us/23resist.html?ref=us
What you can do now to support Robin
1. Donate to Robin's legal defense
Online: http://couragetoresist.org/robinlong
By mail: Make checks out to "Courage to Resist / IHC" and note "Robin Long" in the memo field. Mail to:
Courage to Resist
484 Lake Park Ave #41
Oakland CA 94610
Courage to Resist is committed to covering Robin's legal and related defense expenses. Thank you for helping make that possible.
Also: You are also welcome to contribute directly to Robin's legal expenses via his civilian lawyer James Branum. Visit girightslawyer.com, select "Pay Online via PayPal" (lower left), and in the comments field note "Robin Long". Note that this type of donation is not tax-deductible.
2. Send letters of support to Robin
Robin Long, CJC
2739 East Las Vegas
Colorado Springs CO 80906
Robin's pre-trial confinement has been outsourced by Fort Carson military authorities to the local county jail.
Robin is allowed to receive hand-written or typed letters only. Do NOT include postage stamps, drawings, stickers, copied photos or print articles. Robin cannot receive packages of any type (with the book exception as described below).
3. Send Robin a money order for commissary items
Anything Robin gets (postage stamps, toothbrush, shirts, paper, snacks, supplements, etc.) must be ordered through the commissary. Each inmate has an account to which friends may make deposits. To do so, a money order in U.S. funds must be sent to the address above made out to "Robin Long, EPSO". The sender's name must be written on the money order.
4. Send Robin a book
Robin is allowed to receive books which are ordered online and sent directly to him at the county jail from Amazon.com or Barnes and Noble. These two companies know the procedure to follow for delivering books for inmates.
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Yet Another Insult: Mumia Abu-Jamal Denied Full-Court Hearing by 3rd Circuit
& Other News on Mumia
This mailing sent by the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PLEASE FORWARD AND DISTRIBUTE WIDELY
1. Mumia Abu-Jamal Denied Full-Court Hearing by 3rd Circuit
2. Upcoming Events for Mumia
3. New Book on the framing of Mumia
1. MUMIA DENIED AGAIN -- Adding to its already rigged, discriminatory record with yet another insult to the world's most famous political prisoner, the federal court for the 3rd Circuit in Philadelphia has refused to give Mumia Abu-Jamal an en banc, or full court, hearing. This follows the rejection last March by a 3-judge panel of the court, of what is likely Mumia's last federal appeal.
The denial of an en banc hearing by the 3rd Circuit, upholding it's denial of the appeal, is just the latest episode in an incredible year of shoving the overwhelming evidence of Mumia's innocence under a rock. Earlier in the year, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court also rejected Jamal's most recent state appeal. Taken together, state and federal courts in 2008 have rejected or refused to hear all the following points raised by Mumia's defense:
1. The state's key witness, Cynthia White, was pressured by police to lie on the stand in order to convict Mumia, according to her own admission to a confidant (other witnesses agreed she wasn't on the scene at all)
2. A hospital "confession" supposedly made by Mumia was manufactured by police. The false confession was another key part of the state's wholly-manufactured "case."
3. The 1995 appeals court judge, Albert Sabo--the same racist who presided at Mumia's original trial in 1982, where he said, "I'm gonna help 'em fry the n....r"--was prejudiced against him. This fact was affirmed even by Philadelphia's conservative newspapers at the time.
4. The prosecutor prejudiced the jury against inn ocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt, by using a slimy tactic already rejected by the courts. But the prosecutor was upheld in Mumia's case!
5. The jury was racially skewed when the prosecution excluded most blacks from the jury, a practice banned by law, but, again, upheld against Mumia!
All of these defense claims were proven and true. But for the courts, these denials were just this year's trampling on the evidence! Other evidence dismissed or ignored over the years include: hit-man Arnold Beverly said back in the 1990s that he, not Mumia, killed the slain police officer (Faulkner). Beverly passed a lie detector test and was willing to testify, but he got no hearing in US courts! Also, Veronica Jones, who saw two men run from the scene just after the shooting, was coerced by police to lie at the 1982 trial, helping to convict Mumia. But when she admitted this lie and told the truth on appeal in 1996, she was dismissed by prosecutor-in-robes Albert Sabo in 1996 as "not credible!" (She continues to support Mumia, and is writing a book on her experiences.) And William Singletary, the one witness who saw the whole thing and had no reason to lie, and who affirmed that someone else did the shooting, said that Mumia only arriv ed on the scene AFTER the officer was shot. His testimony has been rejected by the courts on flimsy grounds. And the list goes on.
FOR THE COURTS, INNOCENCE IS NO DEFENSE! And if you're a black revolutionary like Mumia the fix is in big-time. Illusions in Mumia getting a "new trial" out of this racist, rigged, kangaroo-court system have been dealt a harsh blow by the 3rd Circuit. We need to build a mass movement, and labor action, to free Mumia now!
2. UPCOMING EVENTS FOR MUMIA --
SAN FRANCISCO BAY AREA -- Speaking Tour by J Patrick O'Connor, the author of THE FRAMING OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, in the first week of October 2008, sponsored by the Mobilization To Free Mumia. Contributing to this tour, the Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia will hold a public meeting with O'Connor on Friday October 3rd, place to be announced. San Francisco, South Bay and other East Bay venues to be announced. Contact the Mobilization at 510 268-9429, or the LAC at 510 763-2347, for more information.
3. NEW BOOK ON MUMIA
Efficiently and Methodically Framed--Mumia is innocent! That is the conclusion of THE FRAMING OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL, by J Patrick O'Connor (Lawrence Hill Books), published earlier this year. The author is a former UPI reporter who took an interest in Mumia's case. He is now the editor of Crime Magazine (www.crimemagazine.com).
O'Connor offers a fresh perspective, and delivers a clear and convincing breakdown on perhaps the most notorious frame-up since Sacco and Vanzetti. THE FRAMING OF MUMIA ABU-JAMAL is based on a thorough analysis of the 1982 trial and the 1995-97 appeals hearings, as well as previous writings on this case, and research on the MOVE organization (with which Mumia identifies), and the history of racist police brutality in Philadelphia.
While leaving some of the evidence of Mumia's innocence unconsidered or disregarded, this book nevertheless makes clear that there is a veritable mountain of evidence--most of it deliberately squashed by the courts--that shows that Mumia was blatantly and deliberately framed by corrupt cops and courts, who "fixed" this case against him from the beginning. This is a case not just of police corruption, or a racist lynching, though it is both. The courts are in this just as deep as the cops, and it reaches to the top of the equally corrupt political system.
"This book is the first to convincingly show how the Philadelphia Police Department and District Attorney's Office efficiently and methodically framed [Mumia Abu-Jamal]." (from the book jacket)
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal has a limited number of THE FRAMING ordered from the publisher at a discount. We sold our first order of this book, and are now able to offer it at a lower price. $12 covers shipping. Send payment to us at our address below:
The Labor Action Committee To Free Mumia Abu-Jamal
PO Box 16222 • Oakland CA 94610 • 510.763.2347
www.laboractionmumia.org • LACFreeMumia@aol.com
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Sami Al-Arian Subjected to Worst Prison Conditions since Florida
Despite grant of bail, government continues to hold him
Dr. Al-Arian handcuffed
Hanover, VA - July 27, 2008 -
More than two weeks after being granted bond by a federal judge, Sami Al-Arian is still being held in prison. In fact, Dr. Al-Arian is now being subjected to the worst treatment by prison officials since his stay in Coleman Federal Penitentiary in Florida three years ago.
On July 12th, Judge Leonie Brinkema pronounced that Dr. Al-Arian was not a danger to the community nor a flight risk, and accordingly granted him bail before his scheduled August 13th trial. Nevertheless, the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) invoked the jurisdiction it has held over Dr. Al-Arian since his official sentence ended last April to keep him from leaving prison. The ICE is ostensibly holding Dr. Al-Arian to complete deportation procedures but, given that Dr. Al-Arian's trial will take place in less than three weeks, it would seem somewhat unlikely that the ICE will follow through with such procedures in the near future.
Not content to merely keep Dr. Al-Arian from enjoying even a very limited stint of freedom, the government is using all available means to try to psychologically break him. Instead of keeping him in a prison close to the Washington DC area where his two oldest children live, the ICE has moved him to Pamunkey Regional Jail in Hanover, VA, more than one hundred miles from the capital. Regardless, even when Dr. Al-Arian was relatively close to his children, they were repeatedly denied visitation requests.
More critically, this distance makes it extremely difficult for Dr. Al-Arian to meet with his attorneys in the final weeks before his upcoming trial. This is the same tactic employed by the government in 2005 to try to prevent Dr. Al-Arian from being able to prepare a full defense.
Pamunkey Regional Jail has imposed a 23-hour lock-down on Dr. Al-Arian and has placed him in complete isolation, despite promises from the ICE that he would be kept with the general inmate population. Furthermore, the guards who transported him were abusive, shackling and handcuffing him behind his back for the 2.5-hour drive, callously disregarding the fact that his wrist had been badly injured only a few days ago. Although he was in great pain throughout the trip, guards refused to loosen the handcuffs.
At the very moment when Dr. Al-Arian should be enjoying a brief interlude of freedom after five grueling years of imprisonment, the government has once again brazenly manipulated the justice system to deliver this cruel slap in the face of not only Dr. Al-Arian, but of all people of conscience.
Make a Difference! Call Today!
Call Now!
Last April, your calls to the Hampton Roads Regional Jail pressured prison officials to stop their abuse of Dr. Al-Arian after only a few days.
Friends, we are asking you to make a difference again by calling:
Pamunkey Regional Jail: (804) 365-6400 (press 0 then ask to speak to the Superintendent's office). Ask why Dr. Al-Arian has been put under a 23-hour lockdown, despite the fact that a federal judge has clearly and unambiguously pronounced that he is not a danger to anyone and that, on the contrary, he should be allowed bail before his trial.
- If you do not reach the superintendent personally, leave a message on the answering machine. Call back every day until you do speak to the superintendent directly.
- Be polite but firm.
- After calling, click here to let us know you called.
Don't forget: your calls DO make a difference.
FORWARD TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS!
Write to Dr. Al-Arian
For those of you interested in sending personal letters of support to Dr. Al-Arian:
If you would like to write to Dr. Al-Arian, his new
address is:
Dr. Sami Al-Arian
Pamunkey Regional Jail
P.O. Box 485
Hanover, VA 23069
Email Tampa Bay Coalition for Justice and Peace: tampabayjustice@yahoo.com
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Video: The Carbon Connection -- The human impact of carbon trading
[This is an eye-opening and important video for all who are interested in our environment...bw]
Two communities affected by one new global market - the trade in carbon
dioxide. In Scotland, a town has been polluted by oil and chemical
companies since the 1940s. In Brazil, local people's water and land is
being swallowed up by destructive monoculture eucalyptus tree
plantations. Both communities now share a new threat.
As part of the deal to reduce greenhouse gases that cause dangerous
climate change, major polluters can now buy carbon credits that allow
them to pay someone else to reduce emissions instead of cutting their
own pollution. What this means for those living next to the oil industry
in Scotland is the continuation of pollution caused by their toxic
neighbours. Meanwhile in Brazil, the schemes that generate carbon
credits give an injection of cash for more planting of the damaging
eucalyptus plantations.
40 minutes | PAL/NTSC | English/Spanish/Portuguese subtitles.The Carbon Connection is a Fenceline Films presentation in partnership with the Transnational Institute Environmental Justice Project and Carbon Trade Watch, the Alert Against the Green Desert Movement, FASE-ES, and the Community Training and Development Unit.
Watch at http://links.org.au/node/575
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Torture
On the Waterboard
How does it feel to be "aggressively interrogated"? Christopher Hitchens found out for himself, submitting to a brutal waterboarding session in an effort to understand the human cost of America's use of harsh tactics at Guantánamo and elsewhere. VF.com has the footage. Related: "Believe Me, It's Torture," from the August 2008 issue.
http://www.vanityfair.com/politics/features/video/2008/hitchens_video200808
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Alison Bodine defense Committee
Lift the Two-year Ban
http://alisonbodine.blogspot.com/
Watch the Sept 28 Video on Alison's Case!
http://alisonbodine.blogspot.com/2007/10/blog-post.html
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The Girl Who Silenced the World at the UN!
Born and raised in Vancouver, Severn Suzuki has been working on environmental and social justice issues since kindergarten. At age 9, she and some friends started the Environmental Children's Organization (ECO), a small group of children committed to learning and teaching other kids about environmental issues. They traveled to 1992's UN Earth Summit, where 12 year-old Severn gave this powerful speech that deeply affected (and silenced) some of the most prominent world leaders. The speech had such an impact that she has become a frequent invitee to many U.N. conferences.
[Note: the text of her speech is also available at this site...bw]
http://www.karmatube.org/videos.php?id=433
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MINIATURE EARTH
http://www.miniature-earth.com/me_english.htm
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"Dear Canada: Let U.S. war resisters stay!"
http://www.couragetoresist.org/x/content/view/499/89/
Russell Means Speaking at the Transform Columbus Day Rally
"If voting could do anything it would be illegal!"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8Lri1-6aoY
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Stop the Termination or the Cherokee Nation
http://groups.msn.com/BayAreaIndianCalendar/activismissues.msnw?action=get_message&mview=1&ID_Message=5580
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We Didn't Start the Fire
http://yeli.us/Flash/Fire.html
I Can't Take it No More
http://lefti.blogspot.com/2007_11_01_archive.html#9214483115237950361
The Art of Mental Warfare
http://artofmentalwarfare.com/pog/artofmentalwarfarecom-the-warning/
MONEY AS DEBT
http://video. google.com/ videoplay? docid=-905047436 2583451279
http://www.moneyasd ebt.net/
UNCONSTITUTIONAL
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6582099850410121223&pr=goog-sl
IRAQ FOR SALE
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-6621486727392146155
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Port of Olympia Anti-Militarization Action Nov. 2007
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOkn2Fg7R8w
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"They have a new gimmick every year. They're going to take one of their boys, black boys, and put him in the cabinet so he can walk around Washington with a cigar. Fire on one end and fool on the other end. And because his immediate personal problem will have been solved he will be the one to tell our people: 'Look how much progress we're making. I'm in Washington, D.C., I can have tea in the White House. I'm your spokesman, I'm your leader.' While our people are still living in Harlem in the slums. Still receiving the worst form of education.
"But how many sitting here right now feel that they could [laughs] truly identify with a struggle that was designed to eliminate the basic causes that create the conditions that exist? Not very many. They can jive, but when it comes to identifying yourself with a struggle that is not endorsed by the power structure, that is not acceptable, that the ground rules are not laid down by the society in which you live, in which you are struggling against, you can't identify with that, you step back.
"It's easy to become a satellite today without even realizing it. This country can seduce God. Yes, it has that seductive power of economic dollarism. You can cut out colonialism, imperialism and all other kind of ism, but it's hard for you to cut that dollarism. When they drop those dollars on you, you'll fold though."
-MALCOLM X, 1965
http://www.accuracy.org/newsrelease.php?articleId=987
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A little gem:
Michael Moore Faces Off With Stephen Colbert [VIDEO]
http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/57492/
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LAPD vs. Immigrants (Video)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/qws/ff/qr?term=lapd&Submit=S&Go.x=0&Go.y=0&Go=Search&st=s
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Dr. Julia Hare at the SOBA 2007
http://mysite.verizon.net/vzeo9ewi/proudtobeblack2/
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"We are far from that stage today in our era of the absolute
lie; the complete and totalitarian lie, spread by the
monopolies of press and radio to imprison social
consciousness." December 1936, "In 'Socialist' Norway,"
by Leon Trotsky: "Leon Trotsky in Norway" was transcribed
for the Internet by Per I. Matheson [References from
original translation removed]
http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/12/nor.htm
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Wealth Inequality Charts
http://www.faireconomy.org/research/wealth_charts.html
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MALCOLM X: Oxford University Debate
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dmzaaf-9aHQ
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"There comes a times when silence is betrayal."
--Martin Luther King
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YouTube clip of Che before the UN in 1964
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CtATT8GXkWg&mode=related&search
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The Wealthiest Americans Ever
NYT Interactive chart
JULY 15, 2007
http://www.nytimes.com/ref/business/20070715_GILDED_GRAPHIC.html
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New Orleans After the Flood -- A Photo Gallery
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=795
This email was sent to you as a service, by Roland Sheppard.
Visit my website at: http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret
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[For some levity...Hans Groiner plays Monk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51bsCRv6kI0
...bw]
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Which country should we invade next?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3g_zqz3VjY
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My Favorite Mutiny, The Coup
http://www.myspace.com/thecoupmusic
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Michael Moore- The Awful Truth
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xeOaTpYl8mE
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Morse v. Frederick Supreme Court arguments
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n_LsGoDWC0o
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Free Speech 4 Students Rally - Media Montage
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfCjfod8yuw
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'My son lived a worthwhile life'
In April 2003, 21-year old Tom Hurndall was shot in the head
in Gaza by an Israeli soldier as he tried to save the lives of three
small children. Nine months later, he died, having never
recovered consciousness. Emine Saner talks to his mother
Jocelyn about her grief, her fight to make the Israeli army
accountable for his death and the book she has written
in his memory.
Monday March 26, 2007
The Guardian
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,,2042968,00.html
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Introducing...................the Apple iRack
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o-KWYYIY4jQ
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"A War Budget Leaves Every Child Behind."
[A T-shirt worn by some teachers at Roosevelt High School
in L.A. as part of their campaign to rid the school of military
recruiters and JROTC--see Article in Full item number 4, below...bw]
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"200 million children in the world sleep in the streets today.
Not one of them is Cuban."
(A sign in Havana)
Venceremos
View sign at bottom of page at:
http://www.cubasolidarity.net/index.html
[Thanks to Norma Harrison for sending this...bw]
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FIGHTBACK! A Collection of Socialist Essays
By Sylvia Weinstein
http://www.walterlippmann.com/sylvia-weinstein-fightback-intro.html
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[The Scab
"After God had finished the rattlesnake, the toad,
and the vampire, he had some awful substance left with
which he made a scab."
"A scab is a two-legged animal with a corkscrew soul,
a water brain, a combination backbone of jelly and glue.
Where others have hearts, he carries a tumor of rotten
principles." "When a scab comes down the street,
men turn their backs and angels weep in heaven, and
the devil shuts the gates of hell to keep him out."
"No man (or woman) has a right to scab so long as there
is a pool of water to drown his carcass in,
or a rope long enough to hang his body with.
Judas was a gentleman compared with a scab.
For betraying his master, he had character enough
to hang himself." A scab has not.
"Esau sold his birthright for a mess of pottage.
Judas sold his Savior for thirty pieces of silver.
Benedict Arnold sold his country for a promise of
a commision in the british army."
The scab sells his birthright, country, his wife,
his children and his fellowmen for an unfulfilled
promise from his employer.
Esau was a traitor to himself; Judas was a traitor
to his God; Benedict Arnold was a traitor to his country;
a scab is a traitor to his God, his country,
his family and his class."
Author --- Jack London (1876-1916)...Roland Sheppard
http://web.mac.com/rolandgarret]
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
"Award-Winning Writer/Filmmaker Donald L. Vasicek Launches New Sand
Creek Massacre Website"
May 21, 2008 -- CENTENNIAL, CO -- Award-winning filmmaker, Donald L.
Vasicek, has launched a new Sand Creek Massacre website. Titled,
"The Sand Creek Massacre", the site contains in depth witness
accounts of the massacre, the award-winning Sand Creek Massacre
trailer for viewing, the award-winning Sand Creek Massacre
documentary short for viewing, the story of the Sand Creek Massacre,
and a Shop to purchase Sand Creek Massacre DVD's and lesson
plans including the award-winning documentary film/educational DVD.
Vasicek, a board member of The American Indian Genocide Museum
(www.aigenom.com)in Houston, Texas, said, "The website was launched
to inform, to educate, and to provide educators, historians, students
and all others the accessibility to the Sand Creek Massacre story."
The link/URL to the website is sandcreekmassacre.net.
###
Contact:
Donald L. Vasicek
Olympus Films+, LLC
http://www.donvasicek.com
dvasicek@earthlink.net
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