By Grady Hawkins

It’s called a controversial topic, but it shouldn’t be. The fact is that the United States Military Academy (USMA) at West Point, The Air Force Academy at Colorado Springs and the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis are luxuries our economy can no longer afford. The officer corps can easily be staffed without these ridiculously expensive private schools.

Of course, anyone who even suggests such an idea generates hostility on all fronts. And of course those people who object are primarily those who should be calling for their closure: the conservative right. After all, they are demanding an end to run away spending, ear marks, entitlements, and expanded government. All this sounds like an academy.

These academies do deliver a first class education to those who attend, and the cadets and midshipmen are first class students. It seems rather counter productive to expend all that time and trouble to get them commissioned, and then send them off to be killed. This is harsh but true. You can be a West Point, tops in your class, well trained and motivated second lieutenant when you rise up and yell “follow me!!” Then some 16 year old illiterate peasant drills you right between the eyes at 200 yards with his M-1 garand rifle left over from WWII.

Taxpayers are spending a lot of money on this front line cannon fodder.

The other night I attended the Gas Land screening and talk with film maker Josh Fox, and Senator Antoine Thompson. The movie shows ecological devastation from the industrial process of hydro-fracking. Some highlights were: death by brain tumors, complete ecocide of streams, hair loss of animals (cats, horses) from the water, lighting tap water on fire, nose bleeds from methane leaks, unsafe levels of benzene, nitrogen oxides, and tourelene in the air and water, violent explosions in all aspects of the drilling and extraction process, vomiting, headaches, stomachaches, unexplainable serious illness, indiscriminate dumping into our limited water ways of a cocktail of 596+ chemicals, deregulation of the industry by the government, a Senate hearing in which industry representatives denied all adverse effects, skillful double talk by the Department of Environmental Protection in Pennsylvania and finally the acknowledgement of the benefits for the few on top of the multi billion dollar gas industry.
The movie showed the interlocked web of the government, “expert scientists”, regulatory agencies, and the oil and gas industry. It told the story of Vice President Dick Cheney, former CEO of Halliburton, who started the energy task force. This energy task force met with industry over 40 times and environmental groups only once. Lobbyists of this task force and the oil and gas industry, paid over one hundred million dollars to government officials to pass the “Halliburton Loop hole” in the 2005 Energy Policy Act. The Halliburton Loop hole exclusively exempts oil and gas companies from the standards of the clean air and safe drinking water acts. This loop hole allows known carcinogens to be dumped directly into or adjacent to fresh water aquifers. This is just one of the ways that the Energy Policy Act sets up the oil and gas industry to make billions of profit with no liability to any one.

By Grady Hawkins

As the United States military and its mercenary forces blunder into the ninth year of the war in Afghanistan, the ghosts of history continue to haunt them. The specter of billions of dollars lost and thousands of lives wasted in a misguided foreign policy tragedy looms large indeed. As much as policy experts refuse to admit, the failure in Viet Nam so far in the distant past has resurrected here in the present. The parallels are undeniable, and the results likely the same.

Before the Americans, both the British Lion and the Russian Bear were routed by a rag-tag guerilla army that saw them beaten and humiliated. The Russians had the tanks, helicopter gunships, artillery and troops. They installed their own puppet government in Kabul as well. After 15,000 of their men were killed and thousands wounded, they pulled out, the army bitter and betrayed. The Soviets learned that Afghanistan is where empires go to die.

The United States followed them, seeking vengeance and victory, confidant it could succeed where the Russians failed. They stage was set for new American actors in the Great Game.

http://www.counterpunch.org/

December 23, 2010

Why Indefinite Detention By Executive Order Should Scare the Hell Out of People

Obama's Liberty Problem
By BILL QUIGLEY and VINCE WARREN

The right to liberty is one of the foundation rights of a free people [sic]. The idea that any US President can bypass Congress and bypass the Courts by issuing an Executive Order setting up a new legal system for indefinite detention of people should rightfully scare the hell out of the American people.

Advisors in the Obama administration have floated the idea of creating a special new legal system to indefinitely detain people by Executive Order.

Why? To do something with the people wrongfully imprisoned in Guantanamo. Why not follow the law and try them? The government knows it will not be able to win prosecutions against them because they were tortured by the US.

Guantanamo is coming up on its ninth anniversary – a horrifying stain on the character of the US commitment to justice. President Obama knows well that Guantanamo is the most powerful recruitment tool for those challenging the US. Unfortunately, this proposal for indefinite detention will prolong the corrosive effects of the illegal and immoral detentions at Guantanamo rightly condemned world-wide.

The practical, logical, constitutional and human rights problems with the proposal are uncountable.

Our system provides a simple answer developed over hundreds of years – try them or release them. Any other stop gap measure like the one proposed merely pushes the problem back down the road and back into the courts again. While it may appear to be a popular political response, the public will soon enough see this for what it is – an unconstitutional usurping of power by the Executive branch and a clear and present danger to all Americans.

By Grady Hawkins

The hydraulic fracturing controversy reached its next but not final chapter late Saturday afternoon; at least for the administration of Governor David Patterson. After being besieged by armies of lobbyists, activists, farmers, scientists, and business people of every stripe, the governor deftly side-stepped the issue and passed the gas to Andrew Cuomo.

He vetoed legislation A11443-B which would have placed a moratorium on all natural gas exploration until May 15th of next year. He then issued an executive order that restricts horizontal drilling and fracking until July 2011.

Vertical drilling is not affected. Nor the jobs or revenue connected with these operations. So the gas industry is somewhat placated. As noted, horizontal drilling is stopped until next July, therefore appeasing environmentalists opposed.

By Grady Hawkins

Dozens of environmentalist and concerned citizens braved temperatures in the teens Thursday afternoon to demonstrate against the controversial drilling technology known as
Hydraulic fracturing. Lafayette square was the scene and national Fuel Gas Company was the focus of attention at 4:00 o’clock in the afternoon as downtown commuters began heading home.

There is much at stake: thousands of jobs, and millions of dollars in desperately needed revenue for cash-strapped families and governments across the Empire State. Balanced against this is a price that may be too high to pay. The destruction of thousands of acres of forest and the pollution of pristine water sources and aquifers could be the result. The source of this bonanza is trillions of cubic feet of natural gas, trapped a mile below the surface inside the massive Marcellus Shale. This middle-Devonian formation covers most of Pennsylvania and western New York.

The problem is how to get the gas to the market. Hydraulic fracturing, commonly known as fracking, is at the center of what is becoming the most volatile issue in years. And the issue is far from being resolved. The New York State legislature has voted for a moratorium on new drilling until May of 2011. As we go to press, Governor Patterson has yet to sign the bill.

The group of protesters is undeterred by the bitter cold and cutting wind. They brandish signs and chant in unison, “no fracking way, no fracking way.” The issue to them is quite simple. Corporate America is once again going to ignore the needs of ordinary people in a relentless pursuit of profit. National Fuel is by far the major player, holding at least 715,000 acres and thousands of drilling rigs. The company stands to gain millions in new
Profits with no thought to potential corporate environmental collateral damage.

By Grady Hawkins

The first shots have been fired in this new digital global war. WikiLeaks editor Julian Assange has surrendered to authorities in London, to answer charges of sexual assault. Charges already clouded by accusations of American Intelligence involvement. A cold war resurrected honey trap engineered to ensnare and eliminate an embarrassment. But Mr. Assange is far more than a thorn in the side of empires. He very well could be the focal point in a global power struggle pitting ordinary people against those who rule them. As he fights extradition to Sweden, governments are closing ranks, determined to crush this dissent.

George Orwell‘s wildest dreams pale in comparison to what’s at stake. And what’s at stake could very well affect global interests.

The gauntlet was tossed when WikiLeaks and its reckless band of maniacs leaked a reported 250,000 classified U.S. State Department documents.
Thousands of pages guaranteed to once again fill with rage and righteous indignation the power elite who call the shots in this American empire.

By Grady Hawkins

It’s the new gold rush; the stuff that dreams are made of. Get rich quick natural gas land-leases all across the Marcellus Shale. And there is money to be made. More than enough money to make that petroleum Prince of Darkness, Dick Cheney, smile. The U.S. geological survey estimates a cool trillion dollars to be taken. And it seems all too easy. Just sell the mineral and drilling rights to the smooth talking highest bidder then sit back and cash the checks. Jed Clampett’s dream come true.

On the surface hydraulic fracturing is an economic Godsend for everyone; tax revenue for cash-strapped state and local governments, hundreds of well-paying jobs for families wondering where their next meal might be coming from.

Even the patriotic notion of energy independence comes into play. These United States could forever be free from those foreign ‘evil doers’ who wish to destroy our teetering-on-the brink way of life.

But when the drilling begins, the genie is out of the bottle.
Or out of the shale.

The dream turns into a nightmare…

Aung San Suu Kyi, Burmese opposition politician, Nobel Peace Laureate, and former secretary of the National League for Democracy, has been on house arrest by the current military dictatorship of Burma for 15 of the last 21 years. She was finally released November 13th.

Buffalo's Burmese refugee community is celebrating her release today at 3pm. They will be listening to the live broadcast of her speech to her supporters and her party members that will take place in front of NLD’ s headquarters.

Not only does Buffalo have a significant Burmese refugee population that is happy to see their leader freed, but Buffalo has close ties to Suu Kyi through Myo Thant. Well-known activist and Buffalo resident Myo Thant left Burma when he was facing 17 months of house arrest for his work as Suu Kyi's assistant. The Buffalo IMC interviewed Thant in September during a pro-democracy celebration in Buffalo. http://buffalo.indymedia.org/content/burmese-political-refugees-buffalo-...

Suu Kyi has been compared to Nelson Mandela and Ghandi and her release has been hailed by democracy advocates across the world from U2 to His Holiness the Dalai Lama. Her release comes a week after rigged elections in Myanmar held by the military dictatorship that currently rules Burma. She has agreed to open talks with the military junta to peacefully work towards democracy in Burma.

This is not the first time Suu Kyi has been released over the last 21 years. She was freed in 2003, but her convoy was attacked in an attempt on her life and she was rearrested. Her supporters are joyful and celebrating, but understand that this release may not be permanent and that her life will continue to be in danger. Over 2,200 political prisoners are still being held in Burma due to their attempts to achieve democracy.

Ali Abunimah, creator of the “Electronic Intifada” web site, and a long time Palestinian American activist for Palestinian rights, came to UB Sunday night to provide an update on the current situation in the Middle East, and to present his thoughts on the future of the struggle there.

As his book “One Country – A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse” states, he continues to believe that the only viable solution is a single, secular state shared by both peoples. He feels that people are increasingly coming to the realization that the “Two State Solution” is dead, and that the only way forward is to embrace a single state.

He is encouraged by the spread of the “BDS” movement (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) and feels that this is key to forcing Israel to an eventual solution. He also emphasized the support for Palestinian human rights that is part of and underlying the movement.
The talk was followed by an active question and answer period.

Approximately 40 people attended.