Republican Rep. Mike Kelly of Pennsylvania on Wednesday called on Americans to do everything within their power to block the United Nation’s Arms Trade Treaty. “Our folks have got to get on board with this,” he said on NRA News. “We have this ATTpetition.com — we need…
North Korea: The larger picture
Yes, the situation involving North Korea is serious, but the seriousness does not exist in the obvious. Look deeper. … Read More
The High Price of War, Obama Pushes Forward on Gun Regs, EPA Wants Cleaner Gas: P.M. Links
A study out of Harvard
calculates that the combined Iraq and Afghanistan wars will cost
the United States between
$4 to $6 trillion after future medical costs for veterans is
factored in. Good luck paying for that, children of tomorrow!
President Barack Obama is moving forward with his
promised executive actions to bolster gun control policies even
as new regulations in the Senate face a tough road.
Outgoing Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood says it’s a
“done deal” for Chicago to get a
$100 million federal loan to build six blocks worth of
recreational activity along the Chicago River downtown. Remember
that when the state goes crawling to the feds for a pension
bailout.
National Public Radio’s famous Talk
of the Nation show will be ending after 21 years at the
end of June.
The EPA is looking to for gasoline manufacturers to
reduce sulfur and nitrogen oxides in their products to curb air
pollution. It will also, obviously, increase gas prices.
Union interests in California are looking to expand their
reach. Shocking, we know.
The targets this time are interpreters who work with the
state’s medical program for low-income families. The goal is to get
these interpreters to pay union dues and also guarantee them $60 an
hour in pay.
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A.M. Links: Pentagon Cutting Back Furloughs, Camarillo Overwhelmed With Porn Requests, Cyprus to Hang On to Euro
The Pentagon will be
reducing the amount of furloughing scheduled for employees
after the Congress ; passed a spending bill that provided the
Defense Department with more funds.
Rand Paul is trying to reach out to
both supporters of his father, Ron, as well as establishment
Republicans.
Camarillo, a small town west of Los Angeles, has been
inundated with requests to film pornos there since LA started
requiring condom use on the set. The Camarillo City Council passed
a 45 day moratorium on approving any more adult film requests so
that it could study potential effects.
A TSA agent at JFK airport accidentally
sprayed himself and five coworkers with pepper spray.
Joe Biden is on his
third vacation this year, going golfing in South Carolina for
the Easter weekend.
Cyprus is not leaving the euro, the island nation’s president
insists.
Malala Yousafzai, the teenager shot by the Taliban for her
activism, has
landed a book deal.
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Cyprus banks to remain closed until Thursday – central bank
Banks on the debt-stricken island nation had already been ordered to remain closed until Tuesday. The postponement could be a sign that the country’s banks are even lower on cash than they believed at the end of last week.DETAILS TO FOLLOW … Read More
Coming to a right-wing congressman near you: The National Enquirer
There’s a hot new meme blowing up on the conservative blogosphere: James Holmes, the alleged Aurora, Colorado theater shooter, has become a devout Muslim. The Washington Times wrote a short report, which was quickly picked up by Fox Nation, conservative blogs, and naturally, the trifecta of the Islamophonic blogosphere: Pamela Geller’s Atlas Shrugs, Robert Spencer’s Jihad Watch, and David Horowitz’ Front Page. Continue Reading… … Read More
US is ‘groping through the darkness of extra-constitutional’ existence
RT: We have seen the Pentagon upping the number ofdetainees who are on hunger strike to 25 – what does that tell us?Are they caving to media pressure?Dennis Kucinich: We should be concerned. This is aserious human rights issue, and we also have a question of America- my beloved country – abandoning its constitutional principles,because when prisoners are under US control and discretion theyshould have the same rights that any other prisoner would have.They should have the right to be told the charges against them, theright to a speedy trial, right to habeas corpus, which would enablethem to be released if charges against them can’t be levied. Thisis a black mark on our beloved nation, and the hunger strikes onlypoint out how dire it is.RT: President Obama has promised to close Guantanamofor a long time now – and most of the inmates have been cleared forrelease already. Why is this still an issue?DK: This is the limitations of American politics. We gotinto a war based on lies – the War on Terror – and it’s taken us onan aggressive path globally, and part of the problem is we end upputting together these secret sites with rendition, or inGuantanamo’s case a site that we know exists with prisoners whohaven’t even been charged.It is continuing because our political process has failed tocome to terms with the rationale for war, with the so-called globalwar on terror, and what to do with people who you’ve held incaptivity without charge. If they’re so threatening, where is theinformation about what they’ve done? And if they’re notthreatening, why are weholding them? This is right out of the writer Franz Kafka.RT: As a former Congressman, what do you think wouldneed to happen for Guantanamo to close?DK: The president has to make the decision, it’s anexecutive decision, and I would say he has the ability to do that.It’s his discretion – you know, look, try this, it costs about twothousand dollars a day per prisoner to be able to hold people atGuantanamo.Now, in order to put someone in a maximum security prison in theUnited States it costs a fraction of that. We have a problem here,which is not a law enforcement problem – it’s a human rightsproblem,it’s a constitutional problem.And so we have to come to terms with that, and President Obamais going to have to step up and make the decision to closeGuantanamo – as he’s promised – and to move forward to direct theseprisoners to various sites within the reach of… the jurisdictionof the United States and charge them, so that they can moveforward. And if he can’t charge them, you have to do what you do inany case, which is, if you can’t charge someone you release them.We have no right to hold people indefinitely without charges,without a trial, and without access to a justice system. It’sagainst every principle of law which exists in the world.RT: The prison at Guantanamo is a child of the war onterror – among other things like Internet surveillance and thePATRIOT Act. How long will the consequences of this warlast?DK: Well, keep in mind that the president last yearsigned a directive that kept the United States technically in astate of emergency, that was first declared right after 9/11. Sothe United States is still groping through the darkness ofextra-constitutional decisions, of rules that have sharplyconstrained the exercise of our constitutional privileges, of agovernment that’s more involved in spying, of a government that isinterested in what people are … in their educational records, intheir financial records, a government which has given the FBIextraordinary powers. We have a problem here, we’ve got to regainour liberties, we’ve got to start to listen to the concerns thatthe American people have about a country which has prided itself onits institutions providing freedom, starting to losethat freedom.RT: Looking back at the history of Guantanamo, has itprovided any assistance at all with the battle againstterrorism?DK: Look, I think that question answers itself. It is myopinion that the more we move this war on terror globally the moresecurity risks the United States has. … Read More
