Congressional backbone

In the ongoing story of the recall of 143 million pounds of beef originating from the Westland/Hallmark slaughterhouse, it now appears that the meat from sick cows did enter the nation’s food supply. Brought before a congressional committee, the CEO of Westland/Hallmark has admitted that sick cows had indeed entered the food supply, contradicting prepared written testimony he had offered the panel. It’s amazing what the threat of a perjury prosecution can elicit. When presented with a video of exactly what was happening at his slaughterhouse, the clearly flummoxed Steve Mendell had to retract his written testimony. While Congress can clearly scare a beleaguered company president into telling the truth, it has yet to develop the spine to face down Mr. Bush and his illegal invasion/occupation of Iraq. Cowed by the fear of fear, our representatives have spent the past 14 months enabling the president’s destructive policies.

ne of many cases in point: this week, the House of Representatives failed to override a presidential veto of the Intelligence Authorization Bill of 2008, falling short by 51 votes. The president objects to the section of the bill which forces CIA or other intelligence agents to only use interrogation techniques listed in the Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations. The 110th Congress, elected in large part on a surge of voter disgust with the Iraq War, has so far failed to curtail the Bush administration’s disastrous policies, continuing to fund a war now slated to cost 3 trillion dollars, a price tag that necessarily includes taking care of the many wounded soldiers returning maimed in body and soul.

And so the illegality continues…

In the news: Iraqi oil, torture

 

Here’s a novel idea: invade a country that did not attack us, flatten its infrastructure through “shock and awe” bombing, dismiss its entire civil service structure, and then expect it to use its only revenue stream to pay for its own reconstruction. According to an article in the March 9th edition of the New York Times, Senator Carl Levin and Senator John Warner want to know why the Iraqi government is hoarding away some of its oil money instead of spending it to repair the damage our invasion has caused. I realize that Iraqis paying for the results of our invasion was one of the lies fed to us by Mr. Bush and his crowd, along with the welcoming reception we would receive and the short duration of the war, but it is long past time for us to recognize that we are responsible for the destruction that we caused. Also, given the fact that the Bush administration is trying to cram through an oil law in Iraq that would privatize that industry, is it any wonder that the Iraqis are concerned about the funds generated from oil?

Perhaps the senators could further investigate our war profiteering companies – Halliburton, Blackwater, CACI, etc. – who monopolized reconstruction contracts in Iraq with no-bid, cost-plus contracts while local Iraqi companies were shut out of the process altogether, and who enriched themselves off of the misery of Iraqis, and mismanaged the projects taxpayer dollars were sent their way to complete.

In another ignominious act, Mr. Bush vetoed a bill that would have outlawed CIA use of waterboarding and other “enhanced” torture techniques. With this act, the president puts us squarely in the camp of those paragons of democratic rule, Stalin, Pinochet, and the late Shah of Iran (some of whom, regretfully, were our allies), and that beacon of religious freedom, the Spanish Inquisition. If that short list is not enough to stir the decider-in chief’s conscience, perhaps he needs a reminder that his favorite philosopher, Jesus of Nazareth, was tortured to death.

 

What the Democratic party ought to stand for

Now that the March 4th primaries in Texas are over, here are a few observations. Yes, there was an atmosphere of semi-controlled pandemonium. Caucuses usually attended by ten to twenty voters were now overwhelmed by hundreds of people wondering how to proceed. Democrats are so ready to end the seven-year Bush disaster that we are voting in record numbers. Almost 3 million people voted in the Democratic primary in Texas.

While I participated in the March 4th caucuses in Austin, I felt somewhat ambivalent about the process. Like many people on the left of the Democratic party, I would like the candidates to represent me but find my issues and concerns for our country relegated to the fringes as politicians vie for the approval of mainstream and centrist voters. For example, when was the last time we heard a discussion of health care as a right to be provided through a single payer system? Polls have shown that a majority of Americans support this type of system, yet now we hear about mandates, and tax breaks and trying to get private insurers to play fair. Also, neither of the candidates are discussing their plans for returning our government to a system based on checks and balances rather than one of unfettered executive privilege. Meanwhile the candidates stated policy plans for NAFTA are contradicted by their advisers, and fear-mongering ads no better than George Bush’s color-coded alerts saturate the airwaves. The mainstream media are more interested in controversial endorsements than in finding out the candidates plans for lifting people out of poverty.

Yet the stakes are high here, and I do understand that every vote counts if we want to end the disastrous policies of the past seven years. But the key here is to end those policies. So, in the interest of equal time, here are a few policy priorities I would like to see the Democratic Party enact.

Foreign Policy:

Immediately ending the Iraq War and expedited removal of our soldiers and permanent bases from the area

Ending the policy of preemptive strikes on countries and the invasion of countries for the purpose of controlling natural resources

Restoring habeas corpus to foreign and American prisoners of war and returning to the rule of law in our treatment of foreign nationals in our custody (i.e. prohibiting torture, kidnapping, extraordinary rendition)

Repealing any trade agreements that do not improve the well-being of workers in all countries participating in the agreement and that do not foster responsible environmental stewardship

Government functioning:

Returning to the checks and balances inherent in the proper functioning of government by ending the unhinged use of executive signing statements

Returning government decision-making to elected officials by ending the excessive influence of lobbyists and other corporate interests and by closing the revolving door between government service and corporate lobbying

Renewing the government’s regulatory function to ensure that events like the sub-prime mortgage crisis, credit industry abuses, and problems in the country’s food supply do not occur again, and that if they do there are civil and criminal sanctions

Renewing the government’s social safety net function gutted over the past 28 years by both Republican and Democratic administrations

Staffing of scientific and other advisory panels with experts in the field instead of political appointees

Other legislative issues of importance not included in the above:

- Creation of single-payer universal healthcare system

- Writing farm legislation that helps small farmers as opposed to industrial conglomerates and promotes sustainable agricultural practices

- Repealing the most egregious parts of the bankruptcy bill of 2005

- Passing the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and working towards parity in employee benefits for same sex couples

In the interest of creating a dialogue, please feel free to add your own in the comment section as the above list is by no means exhaustive.