A Rainbow of Actions

I'm going to start something new. I get a lot of emails requesting me to write or petition someone for this or that reason, and I wanted to share some of them with you. There is one for each color of the rainbow. Ish.

Red: Last Tuesday, women's rights activists distributed roses outside of Zimbabwe's Parliament in a Valentine's-themed demonstration. This being Robert Mugabe's Zimbabwe, many were arrested. So Amnesty International wants you to write Valentines for Mugabe. Or you can email Zimbabwe's Minister of Justice and Ambassador and urge the release of Jenni Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu, the founders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise. The two were arrested on October 16 for "disturbing the peace" and their bail hearing has been postponed a total of three times. The court is "very busy."

Orange: The International Criminal Court has issued an arrest warrant for Sudan's president, Omar al-Bashir, the first time a sitting head of state has been indicted by the ICC. Save Darfur is worried that Bashir will lash out and wants you to email President Obama and have him name a "point man" on Darfur.

Yellow: Implore your Senators to investigate how the United States began to torture. (From Amnesty International.)

Green: For those affiliated with the University of Michigan, undersign this letter to President Mary Sue Coleman, urging her to reduce the university's environmental impact and encourage the research and promotion of sustainability. (From the Student Sustainability Initiative.)

Blue: MoveOn.org wants you to sign this petition to counter conservative flak and convince President Obama to appoint a progressive Secretary of Health & Human Services who can reform the United States' health care system. (MoveOn is particularly worried about Tennessee Governor Phil Bredesen who made a fortune running an HMO and cut TennCare.)

Indigo: Amnesty International wants you to email Secretary of State Clinton, urging her to create an upper-level position dedicated to gender equality.

Violet:

Ken Starr, yes that Ken Starr, has filed a legal brief seeking to forcibly divorce gay California couples who married before the passage of Prop 8. Sign this petition to do something about it. (From the Courage Campaign.)

Take action!

Important Headlines for 2-11-2009

While there are a lot of important things happening, these are some recent developments that are pretty important to be aware of and a few interesting things.

First of all, the current Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, stated that Iran is ready for dialogue with the USA as long as it is based on mutual respect. Here are some excerpts of the speech:

"If you really want to fight terrorism, come and cooperate with the Iranian nation, which is the biggest victim of terrorism so that terrorism is eliminated. ... If you want to confront nuclear weapons ... you need to stand beside Iran so it can introduce a correct path to you," he said.

Ahmadinejad said the world was at a "crossroads" because it had been proven that military power has not been successful — a reference to the U.S. wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

But now, he said, "the world is entering an era of dialogue and intellect."

"The new U.S. government has announced that it wants to bring changes and follow the path of dialogue. It is very clear that changes have to be fundamental and not tactical. It is clear that the Iranian nation welcomes true changes," Ahmadinejad told the crowds at the rally in Freedom Square.

This is crucial as Iran could support the United States in being a stabilizing factor for the crises in Afghanistan and Iraq. Additionally, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced that the USA is very determined to pursue a dialogue with Iran. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is up for election this year and former President Khatami is one of the challengers. For more information, please click here.

A second extremely important development is in the area of health care, specifically in regard to the prevention of HIV being transmitted. Some preliminary trials have found that a microbicide produced by a Massachusetts pharmaceutical company Indevus Pharmaceuticals Inc. slightly reduced HIV infection rates among its trial subjects, where approximately 3,100 women from four different countries participated. Scientists discovered a 30% lower rate of infection among women who used the Indevus-produced gel, however it is important to note that this difference is not statistically significant and that the results could have occurred by change or been the result of other contributing factors. The study has been expanded to include more women from more countries. For more information on this key development in combating HIV/AIDS, please click here.

In important domestic news, a panel of federal judges found that the overcrowding of state prisons violates the inmates' right to adequate health care. State prisons are currently operating at twice their intended capacity and measures to reduce the amount of new prisoners being compelled are being explored so that state prisons would not have to release large numbers of prisoners at once. This decision by the judges is significant as the United States currently imprisons the largest percent of its population than any other country in the world (click here). Land of the free, right? For more information about the judges' decision, please click here.

And yet another instance after the BART subway shooting where California police have shot an innocent person. Daniel Balandran was shot and killed by police gunfire in a shootout at a Papa John's Pizza in Chino, California. Police say Balandran was caught in the crossfire; his lawyer states that he was targeted. For more information, please click here.

Finally, Secretary of Defense Robert Gates annouced a review of the ban on photographing fallen soldiers' coffins, a ban that he himself asked for a few years ago. For more information, please click here.

The Coming Shitstorm in Afghanistan

"There is no magic formula in Afghanistan. There is no Dayton agreement in Afghanistan. It's going to be a long difficult struggle."   ~Richard Holbrooke, special envoy for Afghanistan/Pakistan

Yes, the road forward in Afghanistan looks to be long and bumpy, with several articles of bad news in the past ten days. First off,

POPPIES!

The Wall Street Journal speculates that the Obama Administration will battle poppy production in Afghanistan, likely bringing in Iran, which has one of the highest rates of opium addiction in the world. That's good news but a tough task: The Taliban fund themselves through drugs, but agents of the Karzai government also skim a little off the top. The governors of "the two prime poppy provinces" are close to Karzai: Kandahar's head is Hamid's brother Ahmed. Helmand's was caught with nine tons of opium and has not yet been punished.

Meanwhile, the fledgling democracy faces its first

CONSTITUTIONAL CRISIS!

Afghanistan's Independent Election Commission has decided to postpone the presidential election till August 20 in order to register more candidates, set up voting equipment, and instill order. The problem? Afghanistan's Constitution mandates that Karzai's term end on May 22, and that elections should be held 30 to 60 days beforehand. Opponents in Parliament have threatened to stop recognizing Karzai's legitimacy after May 22.

But the most serious problem is:

LOGISTICS!

The Taliban destroy a bridge along a crucial NATO supply route and torch ten supply trucks. The Kyrgyz president says American troops can no longer use the Manas supply base inside his country. Juan Cole puts it all together and says Obama might put the 30,000-troop surge to Afghanistan on hold.

Personally, I'm skeptical. Obama may be postponing the Afghanistan surge, but the reasons are probably more strategic than logistic. NATO does not seem to be too flustered by the disruption, having a 60-day supply of essentials in Afghan bases. Cole goes through various supply route options and considers routes by air. Why can't we fly supplies in via Pakistan? Cole gives no answer. Better question: If the land routes are so treacherous, why weren't we flying them in before?

Also worrying is that the Kyrgyz president, Kurmanbek Bakiyev, announced the Manas decision in Moscow, after Russia promised $2 billion in credit and aid to Kyrgyzstan. Coincidence? Or does Russia feel threatened by the United States' involvement in Central Asia (and Eastern Europe)? Just like with Iran, the U.S. must work with Russia for their help in Afghanistan.

Today's meeting between the United States' and Russia's seconds-in-command (necks of state?), VP Joe Biden and Deputy PM Sergei Ivanov, was a positive step. The U.S. seems to be backpedaling on expanding NATO, which is good: Would the U.S. really want to go to war to defend Georgia? But America's insistence on a missile defense shield in Central Europe is mindboggling. I understand the possible threat from Iranian ICBMs, but shouldn't we wait until the technology has been proven and the threat is more imminent before we ruffle the Kremlin's feathers?

Bajoobahead #4: Ann Althouse

So I was watching this:

And I was growing increasingly angry. Althouse made two ridiculous points and Emily Bazelon did not push back at all. She only said, "That's plausible." No, they're not plausible. Not really.

The first point Althouse made was basically this, quoting Rush Limbaugh:

[T]he Great Unifier's [Obama's] plan, is to isolate... elected Republicans from their voters and supporters. He wants to make the argument about me. He wants to marginalize me. He wants me to be thought of as such an extremist that no mainstream Republican would ever associate with me....

He needs Republicans for cover only on his stimulus package. You gotta understand, folks, he does not need Republican votes. Maybe one or two in the Senate is all he needs and he doesn't need a single Republican in the House to get this done. Now, his definition of bipartisanship is when a bunch of Republicans cave on their own principles and agree with him and give him what he wants. That's magical, that's marvelous, why, that's bipartisanship....

This is a political play to marginalize me so that Republicans are afraid to associate with my ideas or any of us. He wants conservatism, mainstream conservatism to be thought of the way you and I think of communism.

Which is patently ridiculous. Obama's definition of bipartisan is not having his opponents roll over and accept what he wants. The stimulus bill itself illustrates this point. A third of the bill's cost was $275 billion worth of tax cuts, certainly not a Democratic measure. And the final House bill did not have a measure that would have "expand[ed] access to Medicaid-covered family planning services."

This measure, despite all of the Republicans' complaints, made a lot of sense. It would not have given the states any new powers; it would have simply removed a costly, time-intensive waiver process. The provision, if it had passed, was estimated to save $700 million over 10 years.

Now, the bill may have had components that the Republicans didn't like. It wouldn't have been bipartisan if it didn't. And still not one of the 177 House Republicans voted for it. I don't think Obama is the one being partisan.

Why isn't Rush Limbaugh being called the bajoobahead? That's self-evident, an almost ipso-facto truth; he is Bajoobahead #0, if you will. Especially after saying that he hoped Obama would fail. Any conservative American can say that they don't think liberal programs will work. It takes a true patriot to hope that the U.S. will go through four years of suffering so intense that we won't re-elect the guy who wants to institute those liberal policies.

Althouse's second point is this: if Obama is using rhetoric similar to Bush's, why is everyone saying that Obama "signaled a shift...from the Bush administration"? She even referred to this Daily Show clip:

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Changefest '09 - Obama's Inaugural Speech

Daily Show Full Episodes
Funny Political Videos

Important Things With Demetri Martin
More Funny Videos

But the answer was sort of embedded in the end of the clip: Obama has not yet done anything that would make his words ring hollow. And he has thus far signaled that he would be willing to sit down, listen, and work with other countries instead of running roughshod over them.