Unbossed and unbought news and information you can use
Vol.
9 No. 49…Dedicated to the Dialogue on Race…December 8,
2006
Intuit’s
Vibe
Tin Star Diplomacy
By Ellen Griffith
The sheriff wasn’t sure where
Baghdad was.
It was plumb ‘cross the County
Line.
They never liked us, and we never liked
them,
And that used to be just fine.
But our sheriff scorned that Baghdad
sheriff,
Said he was an evil dude.
We hadda blow
up his chicken coop,
Cause he had a bad attitude.
So now Sheriff Bush has a homestead,
In the nice warm desert sand.
It looks quite a lot like a shootin’ war,
But the sheriff says it’s going
as planned.
The sheriff’’s
poor posse is dodgin’ bullets,
And good will is mighty slim pickin’s,
‘Cause folks get testy and tend
to fight back,
When ya blow
up all their chickens.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch,
The sheriff twirls his gun,
And says with a smirk that dyin’s hard work
But we never will cut and run!
United for Peace and Justice
By Pat Elder
"When the people fear
the government, that is tyranny. When the government
fears the people, that is liberty." - Thomas Jefferson
On
Election Day, voters delivered a dramatic, unmistakable mandate for peace. Now
it's time for action. On January 27, 2007, we will converge from all around the
country in Washington, D.C. to send a strong, clear message to Congress and the
Bush Administration: The people of this country want the war and occupation in
Iraq to end and we want the troops brought home now!
Congress
has the power to end this war through legislation. We call on people from every
congressional district in the country to gather in Washington, DC -- to express
support for those members of Congress who are prepared to take immediate action
against the war; to pressure those who are hesitant to act; and to speak out
against those who remain tied to a failed policy.
For
more about United for Peace and Justice and its January 27, 2007 march on
Washington to call on Congress to take immediate action to end the war, visit www.unitedforpeace.org/.
Race-Conscious Admissions
On Monday, the US Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Parents in Community Schools v. Seattle
School District No. 1 and Meredith
v. Jefferson County [Kentucky] Public Schools. The two cases
involve race-based school admission practices. White families sued the school
districts alleging diversity programs prevented their children from attending
neighborhood schools.
In Seattle, school officials use race as a factor when determining which
students are admitted to classrooms under school choice. The diversity policy
allows school officials to give preference to minority students. While similar,
the Kentucky school district's plan requires school officials to maintain a
student body that is no less than 15 percent and no more than 50 percent
African American.
Protestors urged the justices to uphold Brown
v. Board of Education (1954), which struck down "separate but
equal." Opponents of affirmative action urged the court to overturn the
school districts' race-based policies. The court is not expected to deliver its
decision until mid-2007.
Ralph Johnson Bunche
(1904-1971)
"There are some in the
world who are prematurely resigned to the inevitability of war. Among them are
the advocates of the so-called "preventive war," who, in their
resignation to war, wish merely to select their own time for initiating it. To
suggest that war can prevent war is a base play on words and a despicable form
of warmongering. The objective of any who sincerely believe in peace clearly
must be to exhaust every honorable recourse in the
effort to save the peace. The world has had ample evidence that war begets only
conditions which beget further war." Excerpt from Dr. Bunche's acceptance speech in Oslo, Norway.
Born in Detroit, Michigan (USA) on August 7, 1904, Ralph Johnson Bunche, a barber's son, was 13 when his parents died. His
maternal grandmother, Lucy Taylor Johnson, took him and his young sister to
live in Los Angeles. Bunche worked at various jobs,
including janitor, carpet-layer and seaman, while attending school to help
support the family.
After high school, Bunche attended the University of
California at Los Angeles on scholarships; he graduated in 1927. Bunche earned a master's degree (1928) and a doctorate in
government and international relations (1934) at Harvard University; his
doctoral dissertation won the Tappan Prize in the social sciences that year.
Dr. Bunche also did advanced post-doctoral work in
anthropology at Northwestern University.
While completing his doctoral work at Harvard, Bunch taught political science
at Howard University. Dr. Bunche worked with the
Swedish sociologist Gunnar Myrdal
(1938-1940) on a classical study of black Americans; the study resulted in Myrdal's book An American Dilemma: The Negro Problem and
American Democracy (1944).
During World War II (1941-1944), Dr. Bunche served in
the Office of Strategic Services and joined the United States Department of
State (1944). A year later, Dr. Bunche became the
first black to head a departmental division in the US federal government, the
Division of Dependent Area Affairs. An expert on trusteeship matters, he
participated in writing the UN Charter. In 1946, Dr. Bunche
became director of the trusteeship division of the UN.
A senior staff member of the UN Commission on Palestine, he participated in
mediation efforts that resulted in recognition of the state of Israel. In 1949,
Dr. Bunche successfully negotiated armistice
agreements between Israel and four neighboring Arab nations. On December 10,
1950, Bunche became the first black American to win
the Nobel Peace Prize. The award was in recognition of his peace mediation
during the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948.
In
1955, he became an Undersecretary. In 1969, his title was changed to
Undersecretary General of the UN. Until his retirement from the UN in 1971 Bunche directed peacekeeping operations for the UN and was
responsible for the UN program on peaceful uses of atomic energy.
Bunche worked to improve race relations and
further the cause of civil rights. For 22 years, he served on the board of the
National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), earning its
highest honor, the Spingarn Medal, in 1949. He
participated in several civil rights demonstrations, including the 1963 March
on Washington. That same year, President John F. Kennedy awarded him the Medal
of Freedom, the nation's highest civilian award.
A
groundbreaking diplomat, Dr. Bunche's work can be
seen today in the peacekeeping strategies and operations he created as UN
Under-Secretary General. His legacy of diplomacy include
major contributions to world decolonization, conflict resolution and
advancements in human and civil rights at home and abroad. Dr. Ralph J. Bunche died in 1971. (Sources: www.aaregistry.com,
www.peacebuttons.info/, www.pbs.org/ralphbunche and www.thepeacemission.com/ralph-bunche.htm)
On Jawboning!
By Dot
Other than military might, which should be sparingly used to accomplish limited
foreign policy objectives, jawboning, like diplomacy, is the president's most
powerful tool for achieving domestic and foreign policy goals. That is, if the
office of the president enjoys credibility, he can commandeer the airwaves and
appeal directly to the public.
George W. Bush did this effectively during his first term. He talked down the
economy, then Congress passed massive tax cuts to
fight his "recession." These tax cuts are now described as a gimme to the wealthiest Americans. Then, Bush and his
administration jawboned the nation into war against Iraq by effectively using
the fear factor.
With severely limited credibility at home and abroad, jawboning, like
diplomacy, is dead on arrival.
The Dollar Melts as Iraq Burns
By James K. Galbraith
The melting away of the dollar is like global warming: you can't say that any
one heat wave proves the trend, and there might be a cold snap next week.
Still, over time, evidence builds up. And so, as the greenback approaches two
to the pound, old-timers will remember the fall of sterling, under similar
conditions of deficits and imperial retreat, a generation back. We have to ask:
is the American financial empire on the brink? Let's take stock.
It's clear that Ben Bernanke got buffaloed by the
tripe about his need to "establish credibility with the markets." There
never was an inflation threat, apart from an oil-price bubble that popped last
summer. Long-term interest rates would have reflected the threat if it existed,
but they never did. So the Fed overshot, and raised rates too much. Now long
rates are falling; Bernanke faces an inverting yield
curve and even bank economists are starting to call his next move. That will be
to start cutting rates, after a decent interval, sometime next year.
Once again, all you monetary policy buffs, in unison please: The grand old Duke
of York, he had ten thousand men. He marched them up to the top of the hill. And marched them down again.
This is not good news for the dollar. The US economy is going soft faster than
inflation hawks and growth optimists thought. Housing has been in free-fall for
months. With the new Congress anxious to display "fiscal
responsibility" - cue Robert Rubin who has moved in very fast on Nancy
Pelosi - there won't be any help from them. If business investment falls off,
recession could hit in 2007 or 2008. With that fear in mind, gloomy profit
expectations are setting in, and that's not good for the dollar.
The US trade deficit is near all-time records. By itself, this proves nothing:
the US supplies reserves to the world system, and it
can run any deficit that the world is prepared to finance. But, sooner or later
the world may start to get other ideas.
So here's the big question: is the age of the dollar economy lurching toward an
end? Are China, Japan, Saudi Arabia and other big holders of T-bonds about to
start a rush, or even a stately promenade, toward the exits? Let's hope not,
because the world is unprepared to replace the dollar with anything else. The
euro is not suited for the job, and a joint dollar-euro system would need
better central bankers than either America or Europe has got. An end to the
dollar system would therefore be chaotic, inflationary, and very tough on world
trade. The best argument for the dollar has always been: it's not in anyone's
interest to bring it down.
Could it happen, though? Yes, it could. And it could be connected to that other
unfolding disaster. As the "Pax Americana"
goes to hell in Iraq - producing a nervous breakdown among the pro-war elites -
let's remember that security and finance are linked. Typically, the country
that provides global economic security enjoys the use of its financial assets
in world trade. And when the security situation changes, that
privilege can be revoked. The consequences are unpleasant. Ask the
British: after the sterling area folded, it took a generation for the UK to
come all the way back.
That is partly why Economists for Peace and Security - a group I chair -
opposed the Iraq war from the beginning. As far back as 2002, we understood -
as the economically illiterate neo-imperialists did not - that a world system
very favorable to America was on the line. And it was not, as they seemed to
think, just a matter of military might. We knew that if the war undermined
confidence in the power, good faith and common sense of the United States, that could lead toward disastrous changes on the
financial front.
Four years in and with no end in sight, that risk may finally be catching up to
the almighty dollar. For more, see www.commondreams.org/views06/1204-33.htm
Disgruntled
wants to know: The US went to
war in Iraq under false pretenses.
There were no weapons of mass destruction; Iraq played no role in
9-11. It posed no threat to the US. The US’ reasons for being there
have morphed; it is now on a mission to install democracy in the oil-rich
region. The conflict’s
proponents readily chide those who cite Iraqi oil as an important factor in the
US invasion and its willingness to remain in a deteriorating situation. To the contrary they claim, oil is not the reason the US invaded Iraq, since the US
could easily purchase Iraq’s oil once it came to market. Of course, this simple-minded retort
ignores the considerable economic advantages of controlling this vital resource
and assuring that when it does come to market it is denominated in
petrodollars. As Bush tenaciously
proclaims the US will stay the course in Iraq, can the Iraq Study Group report
provide a graceful exit from Bush’s Baghdad mess? More important, will Bush accept this
way out?
Disgruntled says:
Don’t
be surprised if Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is gone.
He has already received the Bush kiss of death. Remember when he told the former head of
FEMA Michael Brown, “Brownie, you’re doing a heck-of-a-job,”
immediately after Hurricane Katrina?
Then, there is his pre-election 2006 assurance that Defense Secretary
Donald Rumsfeld would be around until the end of his
administration? Each man soon fell
on his sword. Expect Maliki, an exile the US brought from abroad to run Iraq and
whose incompetence, ignorance or inability govern or end the sectarian violence
has been the subject of a leaked memo authored by National Security Adviser
Stephen Hadley, to do likewise in the near future.
Disgruntled
feels: Blunt! The word
describes US "diplomacy" under George W. Bush. Forget "carrots
and sticks!" Bush has been all blunt words like "axis of evil"
wrapped in threats of preemptive strikes. The world has questioned his sanity;
many see him as the greatest threat to peace and global security. This is an
uncomfortable moment for the world's sole superpower. Like a spoiled child,
Bush must be reined in, the message of the 2006 election. Schoolyard bullies do
not always win. In this oil-dollar-Israel squeeze, the US needs diplomacy, the
opposite of Bush blunt words and warmongering.
Mailbox:
E-Mails, Faxes and Phone Calls
Email bushlied@yahoogroups.com
...Is President Bush Sane? By Paul Craig Roberts...Tens of millions of
Americans want President George W. Bush to be impeached for the lies and deceit
he used to launch an illegal war and for violating his oath of office to uphold
the US Constitution. Millions of other Americans want Bush turned over to the
war crimes tribunal at the Hague. The true fate that
awaits Bush is psychiatric incarceration. The US president is so deep into
denial that he is no longer among the sane. Delusion still rules Bush three
weeks after voters repudiated him and his catastrophic war in elections that
delivered both House and Senate to the Democrats in the hope that control over
Congress would give the opposition party the strength to oppose the mad
occupant of the White House.
Email http://observer.guardian.co.uk
...Plunging dollar will set world markets reeling...Heather Stewart, economics
correspondent...Sunday December 3, 2006...As the US slows, and consumers in the
world's biggest economy feel the buying power of the dollar in their pocket
declining, global growth will be hit hard, economists say. The greenback took
yet another turn for the worse on Friday, after a survey of the US
manufacturing sector showed output declining for the first time in more than
three years. Wall Street is now betting that Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke will slash interest rates to stave off a
recession.
Email www.legitgov.org ..."Our ship of state has hit rough waters.' Iraq report sees
'grave and deteriorating' crisis --'We are bordering on chaos and anarchy.' 06
Dec 2006 United States troops should begin withdrawing from combat and
Washington should launch a diplomatic and political push to halt a "grave
and deteriorating" crisis in Iraq, a high-level panel studying the war
said on Wednesday. [Iraq Study Group report includes giving amnesty to the
'insurgents' and returning the Golan Heights to Syria.]
Email www.informationclearinghouse.com
...Democrat's Defacto Pardon Bush et al...By Karl Sanchez...In
what will be seen as the greatest political crime in US history--the greatest
miscarriage of justice in modern times far beyond Ford's pardoning Nixon--the
Democrats will provide the members of the Bush administration--who've committed
known, documented, most heinous crimes--a defacto
pardon by their unwillingness to do their sworn constitutional duty of
aggressively investigating, impeaching, convicting, removing from office, and
formally charging them with the multiple felonies and crimes against humanity
they've so openly committed.
Email ajomba@aol.com ...For more than five
years, I have enjoyed reading your newsletter. Keep up the good work. I reside
in one of the many growing suburbs in the metro Atlanta area, where people do a
lot of commuting. Gas makes up an increasing large share of my monthly budget.
In the run-up to the November elections, commuters were downright giddy over
falling gas prices. Everybody in the media and on the streets was talking about
the price declines - filling our tanks up rather than pinching pennies and
getting just a few dollars of gas at a time. Now that the election is over, gas
prices are back up big time! But, nobody talks about the rapid rise; it is as
if we expected and accept it. Given how all the gas companies raise and lower
prices in unison, why is there no national conversation about collusion and
price gouging?
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