-
House Rejects Libya War; Administration Embraces Torture
Reuters reports: “House rejects measure authorizing Libya mission.” JULES LOBEL, lobel at law.pitt.edu Vice president of the Center for Constitutional Rights and professor of law at the University of Pittsburgh Law School, Lobel said today: “The House refusal to authorize the Libya war makes clear the president doesn’t have any authority under the Constitution or the War Powers Resolution to continue with the war in Libya.” Read CCR statement here.
-
Denied Right to Vote in Michigan: “Democracy Emergency”
The New York Times reports: “More than two dozen residents of Michigan filed a lawsuit on Wednesday against top officials in the state, contending that a new law broadly expanding the powers of emergency managers in the most financially troubled cities violates Michigan’s Constitution. The lawsuit, filed in Ingham County Circuit Court, contends that the law approved by Michigan lawmakers this year improperly allows the state to place new costs on municipalities without paying for them and, in essence, bars local residents from picking their own elected representatives.”
-
More Warnings on Nuclear Dangers
AP IMPACT began running a series of investigations into the safety of nuclear energy this week. The first part was titled “U.S. nuke regulators weaken safety rules” and stated: “Federal regulators have been working closely with the nuclear power industry to keep the nation’s aging reactors operating within safety standards by repeatedly weakening those standards, or simply failing to enforce them, an investigation by The Associated Press has found. “Time after time, officials at the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission have decided that original regulations were too strict, arguing that safety margins could be eased without peril, according to records and…
-
* 200,000 Military Personnel in Afghanistan * Republicans “Bungle” War Powers
The New York Times reports in a piece titled “Obama to Announce Plans for Afghan Surge Pullout” that: “Even after all 30,000 troops are withdrawn, roughly 68,000 troops will remain in Afghanistan, twice the number as when Mr. Obama assumed office.” GARETH PORTER, porter.gareth50 at gmail.com Porter is an investigative journalist and historian specializing in U.S. national security policy. He recently wrote the piece “Petraeus Pads Success Against Taliban.” Porter said today: “The historic pattern of the Bush and Obama administrations is that the military and the Pentagon seek to turn what is supposed to be a temporary ‘surge’ of…
-
Supreme Court Sides with Wal-Mart, “Huge Victory” for Big Business
CBS reports: “In one of the most closely-watched cases of the Supreme Court’s current term, the justices have delivered a huge victory to businesses trying to fend off costly class action lawsuit filed by employees. It says lower courts were wrong to certify a class action in a case brought by a handful of women workers who accused Wal-Mart of discriminating against them as part of a company-wide policy of bias against females.” CHRISTINE OWENS, via Norman Eng, neng at nelp.org Owens is the executive director of the National Employment Law Project. She issued a statement today saying: “The Dukes…
-
Scrutinizing Libya War Powers Claims
MICHAEL RATNER, mratner at michaelratner.com Ratner is president of the Center for Constitutional Rights, which just released a statement saying: “The Center for Constitutional Rights is deeply dismayed at the Obama administration’s claim that it can continue military attacks on Libya without Congressional approval as constitutionally required and in violation of the War Powers Resolution. … The Obama administration’s letter [of June 15] would permit the U.S. to engage in high altitude bombing of a foreign nation, or predator drone attacks (and the administration admits that such drone attacks are occurring against Libya) so long as there was no active…
-
* Greek Crisis * International Labor Organization
MARK WEISBROT, weisbrot at cepr.net, also via Alan Barber, barber at cepr.net Co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, Weisbrot wrote a column in The Guardian on Friday titled “Greece: Bond Slave to Europe,” which states that debt renegotiation “is going to happen even under the European authorities, but first, they are putting the country through years of unnecessary suffering. And they are taking advantage of the situation to privatize public assets at fire sale prices and restructure the Greek state and economy, so that it is more to their liking. … The European authorities have more than…
-
AARP: Lobbying Group for Seniors or Insurance Company?
The Wall Street Journal reports today: “AARP, the powerful lobbying group for older Americans, is dropping its longstanding opposition to cutting Social Security benefits, a move that could rock Washington’s debate over how to revamp the nation’s entitlement programs.” DOUG HENWOOD, dhenwood at panix.com Editor of Left Business Observer, Henwood said today: “The news that AARP will now support cuts to Social Security reads like a sign that this former lobby for the interest of older Americans has now transformed itself completely into an insurance company. Surely they can’t be persuaded by the merits of the arguments, since the alleged…
-
Western Fires and “Global Weirding”
CHIP WARD, wardchip at hotmail.com Ward writes regularly for TomDistpatch.com and is the author of Canaries on the Rim: Living Downwind in the West and Hope’s Horizon: Three Visions for Healing the American Land. He just wrote the article “How the West Was Lost: The American West in Flames” in which he examines the recent forest fires in the western United States and connects them to “global weirding.” “These past few years, mega-fires in the west have become ever more routine. Though their estimates and measurements may vary, the experts who study these phenomena all agree that wildfires today are bigger,…
-
Libya War Illegal?
CNN reports: “A bipartisan group of House members [lead by Reps. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Walter Jones (R-NC)] will file a lawsuit Wednesday challenging U.S. participation in the Libya military mission. Meanwhile, President Barack Obama is set to defend U.S. military involvement in Libya to Congress, according to the White House. … House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, said in a letter to Obama on Tuesday that the administration could be in violation of the War Powers Resolution if it fails to get congressional authorization by Sunday, which he notes will be the 90th day since the mission began.”
Blog
“With a tiny staff, it has managed to place on the air and in newspapers, points of view otherwise excluded from the national debate.”
Howard Zinn