Talk by 27-year Veteran of the CIA Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is Crucial for Human Rights, Our Security and Our Souls" given November 12, 2009 at Kane Hall on the University of Washington campus in Seattle. Talk sponsored by Washington State Religious Campaign Against Torture http://www.wsrcat.org
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Yes, it is a lengthy video, but an important one nonetheless.Talk by 27-year Veteran of the CIA Ray McGovern on "Why Accountability for Torture Is... more
WASHINGTON - The Obama administration created a new task force on Tuesday vowing to crack down on financial fraud following a rise in mortgage scams and high-profile Wall Street trading scandals.
President Barack Obama signed an executive order directing the task force to investigate and prosecute financial crimes connected to the past year's financial crisis and to try to deter future fraud.
The stakes are high for the administration, particularly with a weak economy, anger about huge Wall Street bonuses and outrage that securities regulators missed one of the biggest frauds in U.S. history involving Bernard Madoff, who bilked investors of as much as $65 billion in a decades-long scheme.
"We will be relentless in our investigation of corporate and financial wrongdoing and we will not hesitate to bring charges, where appropriate, for criminal misconduct on the part of businesses and business executives," Attorney General Eric Holder told a news conference.
The administration has long pledged to be more aggressive in fighting financial crime, but has faced a few setbacks like Madoff and losing a high-profile case against two hedge fund managers accused of fraud in the early days of the crisis.
Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that in addition to prosecuting fraud, the financial system must also be overhauled to address the problems that created the crisis. Congress is now weighing a package of reforms.
"We can't wait for problems to peak before we respond," Geithner said in a statement. "We're seeking a comprehensive financial reform to create a more stable, safe financial system and stepping up our enforcement strategy."
The task force will be chaired by Holder and will include the Justice, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission, among other government agencies.
President Obama will issue an executive order on Tuesday that will create an administration-wide financial fraud task force, according to an official who has been briefed on the matter.
The panel will be chaired by Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr. The lead agencies will be the Justice, Treasury and Housing and Urban Development departments and the Securities and Exchange Commission. It will also consist of inspectors general and several other agencies.
The order will direct the task force to investigate and prosecute financial crimes connected to last year’s financial meltdown, while also seeking to prevent future crises by ferreting out fraudulent actors and serving as a deterrent, the official said.
Mayor Menino has refused to expand a civilian review board (which handles complaints against the Police) siting a lack of complaints. Press Pass TV investigates if the amount of complaints are reflective of people's experiences with the Police.Mayor Menino has refused to expand a civilian review board (which handles complaints... more
PLEASE LET YOUR VOICES BE HEARD!
If you care about about marine wildlife, the health of our oceans, and the future of life on this little blue planet... please read this report and comment.
The Task Force’s Interim Report is now available and is undergoing a 30-day public review and comment period. This report provides proposals for a comprehensive national approach to uphold our stewardship responsibilities and ensure accountability for our actions. Additionally, the report outlines a more balanced, productive and sustainable approach to our ocean resources.
The Task Force seeks input on its work from interested communities, governments, tribes, businesses, associations, non-governmental organizations and the general public.
THE PRESIDENT'S MEMORANDUM
On June 12, 2009, President Obama sent a memorandum to the heads of executive departments and federal agencies establishing an Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force, led by the White House Council on Environmental Quality. The Task Force is charged with developing a recommendation for a national policy that ensures protection, maintenance, and restoration of oceans, our coasts and the Great Lakes. It will also recommend a framework for improved stewardship, and effective coastal and marine spatial planning.
"The oceans, our coasts, and the Great Lakes provide jobs, food, energy resources, ecological services, recreation, and tourism opportunities, and play critical roles in our Nation’s transportation, economy, and trade, as well as the global mobility of our Armed Forces and the maintenance of international peace and security," President Obama wrote in the memorandum. "We have a stewardship responsibility to maintain healthy, resilient, and sustainable oceans, coasts and Great Lakes resources for the benefit of this and future generations."
"The challenges our oceans, coasts, and Great Lakes are facing are complex, and to meet these challenges we must have the participation of a wide spectrum of views from within the federal government," said Nancy Sutley, Chair of the White House Council on Environmental Quality. "The Task Force has a wealth of opportunity to make our oceans, coasts and Great Lakes healthier - both environmentally and economically."
The recommendations and frameworks developed by the Task Force will be cost effective and improve coordination across federal agencies. The Chair will terminate the Task Force upon the completion of its duties.
I've noticed that the Editor's Pick designations have vanished, and yet it still appears fairly obvious that Current staff are giving priority to stories they want to see pushed to the front page. There was an outcry over the policy, which may be the reason Current is being less forthcoming with it. If they insist on continuing with their policy of story order manipulation (although I wish they wouldn't) they should at least remain transparent about it.
Would any Current staff please care to comment?I've noticed that the Editor's Pick designations have vanished, and yet it still... more
Current.com is a great place for news and discussion, but some of the policy and administrative decisions can be pretty frustrating, especially when Current issues no explanation as to its motives, or rather lame, unenlightening PR placation. So when your frustration boils to a fury, place wrath here.
Revolt, teeming masses!Current.com is a great place for news and discussion, but some of the policy and... more
Chevron has quietly withdrawn a key legal claim in U.S. federal court against Ecuador's government over a $27.3 billion environmental liability in the Amazon, casting doubt about the company's public statements that it will not pay for a clean-up and raising questions about the effectiveness of its legal strategy, according to court records and lawyers representing indigenous communities in Ecuador.
Chevron's withdrawal of the claim, which resulted in a dismissal of the case recently by a U.S. federal judge in Manhattan, was the fifth consecutive time since 2007 that U.S. federal courts have failed to accept the company's arguments that Ecuador's government is responsible for the clean-up in Ecuador's Amazon rainforest. Experts consider the damage caused by Texaco (now Chevron), which operated a large oil concession in Ecuador from 1964 to 1990, to be the world's largest oil-related remediation project.
Chevron withdrew the claim because it feared a decision would interfere with its political campaign in the U.S. to discredit Ecuador's courts, said Steven Donziger, an American who advises the plaintiffs in a separate civil lawsuit filed against Chevron in Ecuador by an estimated 30,000 rainforest residents. The Ecuador civil lawsuit is where the oil giant faces the $27.3 billion damages claim.
"A negative decision by a U.S. court was too great a risk for Chevron's public relations and lobbying campaign, which is based on the illusion that the company does not have to pay damages in Ecuador because of an earlier clean-up when in fact such a clean-up has been proven to be a sham," Donziger said.
"Chevron now has lost every important legal decision in the U.S. and Ecuador for the last three years over environmental damage in Ecuador," added Donziger. "The company's latest decision to bail out of a U.S. court is a telling indication of how Chevron's lawyers actually feel about the merits of their own case."
With no public announcement or filing with securities regulators, Chevron in late July notified U.S. federal judge Leonard B. Sand that it was withdrawing its claim against Ecuador's government that a release received in 1995 immunized it from liability. The claim asserted that a limited environmental remediation by Texaco in the 1990s, which the plaintiffs have claimed was fraudulent, shifted responsibility for any further clean-up to Ecuador's government.
In effect, Chevron is giving up on its strategy to use a U.S. federal court to try to trump an expected adverse decision in the civil case in Ecuador, said Donziger. If Chevron had won before Judge Sand, it could have used the U.S. court decision as a defense to any enforcement action in the U.S. of an expected multi-billion dollar Ecuador judgment. Chevron has announced it will not pay any judgment in Ecuador, even though the company agreed to jurisdiction in the country as a condition of getting the case transferred there from U.S. federal court in 2002.
In the civil lawsuit in Ecuador, which has been ongoing since 2003 and is expected to end later this year, Chevron's primary defense also is that Texaco's purported remediation and release immunizes it from liability. The plaintiffs also assert the release does not apply to their claims, as they never signed off on it.
Chevron's withdrawal of the legal claim over the release from U.S. court means that Ecuador's courts alone will determine the issue. To this point, no court in either the U.S. or Ecuador has accepted Chevron's interpretation of the release, despite multiple rulings dating to 1995.
Donziger characterized Chevron's withdrawal of the legal claim as a "major setback" for the company's prospects.Chevron has quietly withdrawn a key legal claim in U.S. federal court against... more
When General Motors Co. emerged from bankruptcy, it was freed of obligations for polluted properties at discarded plant sites that will require millions of dollars to clean up.
GM’s unusual, government-engineered bankruptcy allowed the Detroit automaker to emerge as a new company — and to shed billions in liabilities, including claims that governments had against GM for polluting.
Environmental liabilities estimated at $530 million were left with the old GM, which has only $1.2 billion to wind down.
Administrative fees and other claims will soak up that money, and state and local officials told the Free Press they fear the cleanups will be shortchanged.
In Flint, uncertainty over cleaning up Buick City threatens a three-year redevelopment effort. “We can’t lose this opportunity to create more jobs,” said Tim Herman, chief executive officer of the Genesee Regional Chamber of Commerce.
The State of New York is concerned about 12 GM sites, including a 270-acre site along the St. Lawrence River that possesses a “significant threat to human health.” Sites in Ohio, Delaware, Indiana and Colorado also have raised concerns.
GM said the issue rested with Motors Liquidation Co. — what’s left of the old GM — which declined to comment.
Companies have gone bankrupt before, leaving behind expensive messes, but the size of the environmental liabilities shed by GM is extraordinary, said John Pottow, an expert in bankruptcy law at the University of Michigan.
Who will pay for cleanups?
MASSENA, N.Y. -- The estimated cost of cleaning up years of General Motors' dumping of toxic sludge along the St. Lawrence River in upstate New York goes as high as $225 million -- perhaps the largest environmental liability among the 100 or so factory sites GM jettisoned in its bankruptcy reorganization.
Closer to home, in Flint and surrounding Genesee County, leaders say environmental liabilities the new GM was allowed to shed are threatening their efforts to redevelop Buick City, the site of a large assembly facility that closed in the late 1990s.
end of excerpt.Two words: U N B E L I E V A B L E O U T R A G E.
Excerpt:
When General... more
A Chemical Reaction, is a documentary movie scheduled for release in 2009 that tells the story of one of the most powerful and effective community initiatives in the history of North America.
More information at : http://www.pfzmedia.comA Chemical Reaction, is a documentary movie scheduled for release in 2009 that tells... more
Thursday, June 25, 2009, has been designated Torture Accountability Action Day by a large coalition of human rights groups planning rallies and marches in major U.S. cities, including a rally in Washington, D.C.'s John Marshall Park at 11 a.m. followed by a noon march to the Justice Department where some participants will risk arrest in nonviolent protest if a special prosecutor for torture is not appointed.
Events are planned in Washington, D.C.; San Francisco, CA; Pasadena, CA; Thousand Oaks, CA; Boston, MA; Salt Lake City, UT; Seattle, WA; Portland, OR; Las Vegas, NV; Honolulu, HI; Tampa, FL; Philadelphia, PA; and Anchorage, AK, with details available online:
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In Washington, D.C., groups will maintain literature tables from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at John Marshall Park, 501 Pennsylvania Ave. NW. A rally will begin at 11 a.m. with speakers including:
* Marjorie Cohn, President of the National Lawyers Guild, professor at Thomas Jefferson School of Law;
* Njambi Good, Director of Counter Terror with Justice Campaign, Amnesty International USA;
* Enver Masud, Founder and CEO of The Wisdom Fund, recipient of the 2002 Gold Award from the Human Rights Foundation for his book "The War on Islam";
* Max Obuszewski, member of the National Campaign for Nonviolent Resistance;
* Marcus Raskin, Cofounder of the Institute for Policy Studies;
* Patricio Rice, torture survivor;
* Mara Verheyden-Hilliard, Cofounder of the Partnership for Civil Justice;
* Kevin Zeese, Director of VotersForPeace.US, Board Member of VelvetRevolution.US.
With performances by Jordan Page, Tha Truth, and David Ippolito.
Participants will march at noon to the Department of Justice, where some but not all of the participating organizations will engage in nonviolent resistance if the Attorney General has not yet agreed to appoint a special prosecutor for torture. (Some of the organizations sponsoring the day of rallies do not engage in civil disobedience.)
In Pasadena, Calif., at 12 p.m. PT citizens will submit a formal judicial misconduct complaint against 9th Circuit Judge Jay Bybee, former Assistant Attorney General in the Office of Legal Counsel: Courthouse steps, Chambers Courthouse, 125 South Grand Ave., Pasadena, CA 91105.
Statement of Purpose:
The highest officials in our government have trampled on our traditional ideals of making America a nation of laws, not of men, by illegally narrowing the scope of torture and authorizing waterboarding, walling, and other inhumane interrogation techniques. In doing so, they have violated the Anti-Torture Act, the War Crimes Act, the Geneva Conventions, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment.
In order to enforce our laws and restore the free society that our forefathers envisioned, citizens must demand accountability for abuses of the laws pertaining to torture. In the tradition of the Civil Rights movement, change will not occur unless citizens stand up for their rights under the law.Thursday, June 25, 2009, has been designated Torture Accountability Action Day by a... more
Michael Ratner: It's outrageous to equate people who demand the rule of law with those who break it.
Michael Ratner is President of the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in New York. He has taught at Yale Law School, lectured at Columbia Law School, and was President of the National Lawyers Guild.Michael Ratner: It's outrageous to equate people who demand the rule of law with those... more
David Swanson: Obama allowing Cheney to play offense; Constitution demands prosecution.
David Swanson: "Torture was always illegal".
David Swanson is the creator of ImpeachCheney.org, co-founder of AfterDowningStreet.org and Washington Director of Democrats.com A writer and organizer, Swanson has worked for ACORN, the International Labor Communications Association, Dennis Kucinich's 2004 presidential campaign and many others.David Swanson: Obama allowing Cheney to play offense; Constitution demands... more
President Barack Obama is seeking to block the immediate release of hundreds of photos showing U.S. personnel allegedly abusing prisoners in Iraq and Afghanistan.
An Obama administration official said Wednesday that the president told his legal advisers last week that releasing the photos would endanger U.S. troops. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the discussions were private.
Obama wants the issue to go back to the courts, although federal appeals judges have ruled the photos could be released.
The top military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan have told Obama that their troops could be in greater danger if new detainee abuse photos are released this spring.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
WASHINGTON (AP) — The top military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan are telling President Barack Obama that their troops could be in greater danger if new detainee abuse photos are released this spring.
The Pentagon has said it will release the pictures this month. But the Pentagon now says that the three top commanders have weighed in with concerns.
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And the Pentagon still insists this torture is not systemic?President Barack Obama is seeking to block the immediate release of hundreds of photos... more
On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the Bush administration to justify torture.
View them at the link
For more than five years, the ACLU and other advocacy organizations have been seeking the release of Office of Legal Counsel (OLC) memos that supplied the basis for the Bush administration's interrogation, detention, rendition, and warrantless surveillance policies.
The OLC, which is a component of the Justice Department, was created to provide objective legal advice to the Attorney General and to resolve legal disputes among federal agencies. During the Bush administration, however, the OLC became a facilitator for illegal government conduct, issuing dozens of memos meant to permit gross violations of domestic and international law. Some of these memos have become public through leaks to the media and through the ACLU's litigation under the Freedom of Information Act. But most of them are still secret.
The Obama administration should release the still-secret memos. As the ACLU wrote in a January 28, 2009 letter to the OLC, the release of the memos would allow the public to better understand the legal basis for the Bush administration's national security policies; to better understand the role that the OLC played in developing, justifying, and advocating those policies; and to participate more meaningfully in the ongoing debate about national security, civil liberties, and human rights.On April 16, 2009, the Department of Justice released four secret memos used by the... more
Confronted with the once-in-a-century opportunity to remake the financial system, the reformers in Washington have a choice: Succumb to the temptation of serving financial supermarkets or lift up community banks and street-level economies.
Enter Reverend Billy Talen, the New York-based street preacher, performer and activist who -- along with his flock, the Church of Life After Shopping -- believes government has a moral obligation to support communities before big banks.
David Weidner speaks with Rev Billy Talen, a self-ordained minister who preaches against the evils of consumerism is now running for mayor of New York City.
"I've been trying to drive people out of their institutions," Reverend Billy says. "Their institutions aren't working."
It's hard to imagine Timothy Geithner taking advice from an iconoclast dressed in a white suit, clerical collar and Elvis-inspired hair, but the Reverend Billy may be on to something.
In place of a system where big banks and corporations enter neighborhoods only to profit from them, Reverend Billy wants to empower small banks and credit unions that hold a stake in the communities they serve by offering incentives and making it harder for big finance to undercut local business.
It's hard to argue against the system he envisions.
Think for a moment about what community finance could mean for the nation: Neighborhood banks would lend to local businesses. Profits could stay in the community.
Simply knowing who your customers are and living near them could bring common sense -- the most basic and sound form of risk management -- back to banking.
Sure, it sounds kind of dreamy, but such systems are already in place in the neighborhoods large and small. Small businesses thrive, but they are often at the mercy of big banks who giveth and taketh credit according to shifts in economic cycles.
"The Wall Street experience is parallel and equal to the destruction of neighborhoods through chain stores," Reverend Billy says.
Basic economics are on the Reverend's side. For every dollar spent at a chain store, studies show only 50 cents stays in that community. By contrast, 90 cents of every dollar spent at a local business remains in the local economy.
"It's a little reductive, but people recognize there's a truth in it," Reverend Billy says. "Neighborhoods are economic powerhouses."
Despite his anticorporate stance, Reverend Billy, whose father is a small-town bank chairman, isn't bashing Wall Street right now. (However, he's previously led some disruptive and amusing protests against corporate retailers such as Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and Walt Disney Co.)
The painful fallout of the financial meltdown has led him and his followers to preach centered calm over rage.
"There's not a Puritan attitude about it, there's a practical attitude about it," Reverend Billy says. "People want to know what they can do for their friends and for themselves. We're trying to help each other; share money, share energy, share homes."
It's unlikely that sharing is on the business plan at Citigroup Inc. or Goldman Sachs Group Inc., companies that Reverend Billy excoriates in his sermons. He says the steel and mirrored-glass buildings that house major banks are designed hide what happens inside.
Though colorful, Reverend Billy is no longer a fringe figure. Since he began preaching on the street corners in Times Square a decade ago, Reverend Billy and his anticonsumerism message have gained mainstream attention, thanks in part to his book and a world tour with the church's 40-member choir.
"Preaching is the landscape between talking and singing," Reverend Billy says. "It's like finding a saxophone in your chest."
His breakthrough came in 2007 with the release of "What Would Jesus Buy?", a documentary about church efforts to promote a shopping-free Christmas.
This year, he's running for New York City mayor on the Green Party ticket, campaigning on a community-first platform. CandidaConfronted with the once-in-a-century opportunity to remake the financial system, the... more
WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for harsh, painful interrogation of terror suspects Thursday, even as his administration released Bush-era memos graphically detailing — and authorizing — such grim tactics as slamming detainees against walls, waterboarding them and keeping them naked and cold for long periods.
Human rights groups and many Obama officials have condemned such methods as torture. Bush officials have vigorously disagreed.
In releasing the documents, the most comprehensive accounting yet of interrogation methods that were among the Bush administrations most closely guarded secrets, Obama said he wanted to move beyond "a dark and painful chapter in our history."
Past and present CIA officials had unsuccessfully pressed for more parts of the four legal memos to be kept secret, and some critics argued the release would make the United States less safe.
Michael Hayden, who led the CIA under George W. Bush, said CIA officers will now be more timid and allies will be more reluctant to share sensitive intelligence.
"If you want an intelligence service to work for you, they always work on the edge. That's just where they work," Hayden said. Now, he argued, foreign partners will be less likely to cooperate with the CIA because the release shows they "can't keep anything secret."
On the other side, human rights advocates argued that Obama should not have assured the CIA that officers who conducted interrogations would not be prosecuted if they used methods authorized by Bush lawyers in the memos.
Obama disagreed, saying in a statement, "Nothing will be gained by spending our time and energy laying blame for the past."WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama absolved CIA officers from prosecution for... more
Naomi was right. History will not vindicate Bush and his crime family. History will indict him. I hope the nation does as well.Naomi was right. History will not vindicate Bush and his crime family. History will... more
Baucus told the head of CBO last Wednesday that the CBO will play a significant role in efforts to overhaul the U.S. healthcare system because the agencies cost assessments will make or break this enterprise. Experienced observers assert that this is Baucus way of pressuring the agency to come up with figures to justify the kind of healthcare reform Baucus wants.
The fact is, the CBO has issued a series of recent studies which have found that most savings claimed, in the effort to keep private-for-profit insurance companies in the mix, do not exist.
Alternatively, a single-payer system would save more than $350 billion per year, enough to provide comprehensive, high-quality coverage for all Americans.
The CBO has been recognized for the accuracy of its findings and projections and for its non-partisanship. Lets keep it that way.
Tell him we need accurate numbers not creative figuring. Single-payer should be on the table and should be given a full and fair hearing by the Senate Finance Committee.
Easily email Sen. Baucus here, or contact him using the following information.
Senator Max Baucus
511 Hart Senate Office Bldg.
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-2651 (Office)
(202) 224-9412 (Fax)Baucus told the head of CBO last Wednesday that the CBO will play a significant role... more
