Most Americans support Obama's Afghan withdrawal timetable

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

Remember the old anti-war song which asked "where have all the flowers gone?" Lately I've been asking, "where have all the anti-war demonstrators gone?"

Used to be, when George W. Bush was president, that we'd see them all the time. Complaining about his surge in Iraq. And about the slow timetable of withdrawal.

Now that Barack Obama is president, I've been asking why we don't see them on the streets demonstrating. After all, Obama's Iraq withdrawal plan is actually Bush's. And Obama has a surge of his own going - in Afghanistan.

I've suggested that this could be because the anti-war movement is partisan. A Republican war is worth protesting. A Democratic war - well - that's a different proposition altogether.

But now, it seems, there may be another explanation. It could be that Americans are satisfied with the way Obama is handling the efforts.

I say this in light of a new USA/Gallup poll, which concludes that most Americans support the president's Afghanistan withdrawal plan.

The poll concludes that 58 percent of Americans support the plan - which calls for the beginning of the Afghanistan withdrawal in a year's time.

Gallup also found that most Americans approve of the president's decision to remove General Stanley McChyrstal as the USA's top military man in Afghanistan after a Rolling Stone magazine article revealed his - and his staff's - disdain for the commander-in-chief's Afghan policy.

This is not to say that partisanship didn't play a part in the survey results. It did.

Gallup says while most Democrats and independents support the timetable, Republicans oppose it by a more than 2-to-1 margin.

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Photo: U.S. Army

G-20 leaders agree to halve their deficits

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

Leaders of the G-20 - gathering in Toronto - pledged to decrease their government's deficits by 50 percent by 2013.

Even President Obama is pledging a decrease in the U.S. deficit by then. But there's a difference between his approach and that of many of the other nations.

Many - especially European countries - have already begun belt tightening measures in response to the recession. In the United States the response has been: spend baby spend! The theory being that the only way to stimulate the economy is for the government to create jobs.

Economists debated this plan from its inception. There are those who say it's only staving off the inevitable - and that the shock to the economy when the money runs out and the bottom falls out - will be far greater than if the U.S. had followed the European lead.

Of course, President Obama was able to line up economists who supported his spending approach. The proof, as they say, will be in the pudding. We really won't know who was right until it's over and we can give the stimulus package a retrospective look.

But I don't understand how you can spend like this and reduce the deficit at the same time.

Not to mention the costs of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (and maybe soon in Iran and North Korea as well).

Meanwhile, violence broke out between demonstrators and police during the G-20 in Toronto. Some 900 people were arrested.

Report: Karzai government derails corruption probes

 
Karzai

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

His election was as dubious as that of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but the United States decided to - nevertheless - support him. He's been criticized for not clamping down on corruption in government. But now, Afhgan President Hamid Karzai is accused of going even further - by impeding investigations into that corruption.

That, according to a report in the Washington Post which quotes U.S. officials as saying they have proof that top officials in the Karzai government have derailed corruption probes.

A spokesman for Karzai denies it. But the United States is said to have forensic evidence - including wiretaps - which prove that it is true.

For a long time I've been questioning the mission in Afghanistan. U.S. and other NATO troops ostensibly originally invaded Afghanistan in search of Osama bin Laden and his cohorts. But lately, it's become a case of nation-building and propping up a regime that has questionable legitimacy and limited real authority over the country.

The Nation magazine recently reported on how U.S. contractors are paying the very Taliban that the NATO forces are battling in Afghanistan for safe passage of their trucks and supplies through regions that the Taliban controls.

You don't have to be high and watching Alice In Wonderland to realize that something's wrong with the reflection from the looking glass here.

Here's how it looks to anyone outside the Beltway. The corrupt and illegitimate government of Hamid Karzai is being protected by the might of the military of several NATO nations - most notably the United States. Even United States government representatives are acknowledging this publicly now. And still, as Sonny and Cher sang, "the beat goes on."

When George W. Bush was president of the United States, anti-war activists took to the street en masse because he increased the number of troops in Iraq and his withdrawal plan was too slow.

President Obama's campaign focused on those issues. He promised to bring the troops home earlier. Yet, not only has he continued following the Bush Iran withdrawal timetable, he emulated his predecessor's Iraq policy by increasing the number of troops in Afghanistan.

Now he's appointing Gen. David Petraus, who he criticized while he was a senator, to lead U.S. military operations in Afghanistan. Petraus should fit in there because he was the architect of the surge in Iraq when Bush was commander-in-chief.

But now that there is a Democrat in the White House, the anti-war movement is largely silent. Suggesting that partisanship trumps what's best for the nation.

I'm not really certain what the mission is these days in Afghanistan - but it doesn't seem like it's much about nabbing public enemy number one anymore. A more accurate explanation would be that the Obama administration is propping up a corrupt government in Kabul.

Gen. William Tecumseh Sherman told us that "war is hell." Sometimes it's also moral and necessary. This latest report about the conduct of the Karzai administration furthers the argument that the war in Afghanistan is neither.

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U.S. Navy photo: Petty Officer 1st Class Mark O’Donald/released

News Talk Online June 16, 2010: 72 Virgins Author On Threat Of Terrorism

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Dr. Avi Perry, author of the book 72 Virgins, was my guest on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network. He discussed the threat of terrorism in general and Iran's threat to the Middle East specifically.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

CNN drops AP

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

NEW YORK - While growing up in Detroit, we, of course, cheered for the Detroit Tigers. But we had a healthy respect for the New York Yankees. Later in life, while stringing for UPI, we competed ferociously with, but had the same kind of respect for, the AP.

AP was the seemingly omnipresent news giant.

Why?

Because the Associated Press is a cooperative. Which means that the work of every member newspaper, TV station, radio station, cable news network and now - Internet news site - can be picked up by the wire and sent to all the other networks.

So, while its bureaus are an important component of what the AP does, they key to being all knowing and all seeing are its members.

It's always been common belief among journalists that if you're an operation of any size, you need the AP to know what's going on in the world.

Apparently not at CNN - which bills itself as the world's news leader.

CNN has dropped the AP, effective immediately.

To be sure, CNN is beefing up its internal wire service - adding reporters to its bureaus. And it will backstop its own news gathering capabilities by re-subscribing to Reuters for breaking news.

Also, - just like AP depends on its members - CNN relies on its affiliates to tip them to things happening in their backyards. But even so, CNN can't hope to cover as much ground as does the AP.

Which means the news content will suffer.

CNN already experimented by previously dropping its AP membership at its radio network. I worked at CNN Radio (or CNNRadio as we liked to brand it) for a decade as bureau chief and correspondent in New York. My friends at CNN Radio in Atlanta tell me they've been struggling to cover breaking stories ever since.

They'd see an AP news flash on CNN television but they'd not be able to report on it until they were able to independently confirm the information. Or until the CNN wire caught up with the AP.

Extremely frustrating when you're putting together an hourly newscast and trying to compete with NPR and CBS and ABC Radio.

Now the same frustrations will be felt by their colleagues at CNN television. When other all-news networks and stations interrupt with breaking news, CNN will be lagging behind. Except when it, its affiliates or Reuters are on top of the story as well.

CNN has one other advantage. It's built up a loyal following of citizen reporters, who dutifully send in video of news events - like tornadoes, fires and floods - they stumble upon. Oftentimes that actually puts CNN ahead of the AP

So maybe this will work for CNN. In the end, it probably doesn't matter if it does or doesn't. What matters is the perception of the audience.

If the audience believes CNN is kicking its competitors' butts, this will be viewed as a tremendously astute cost-saving measure.

But if the consumers of news get the impression CNN is lagging in news coverage - and ratings suffer - it will be seen as folly.

Of course, CNN can compensate with better analysis of the news it presents. Giving it perspective and depth. But that's something the network - and all news outlets - should be striving for anyway. Whether they are AP members, or not.

News Talk Online June 18, 2010: The continuing crisis in the Gulf of Mexico

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The continuing inability to cap the oil leak and the attempts to keep reporters from doing their jobs on along the Gulf Coast were focused on during today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

Gulf spill underscores need for clean alternatives but are you ready to pay the price?

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

Most Americans complain when the cost of gasoline increases during the summer travel season. But there are those who say it doesn't rise enough.

Those are the folks who believe we must push oil prices higher in order to convince Americans to stop guzzling fuel.

The fact of the matter is - Americans - generally - aren't ready to pay more to provide a cleaner environment and reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.

The Gulf of Mexico oil gusher should be enough to shock us into reality. But instead of focusing on ways to move toward safer, cleaner forms of energy - we focus our ire on BP.

Not that BP should be let off the hook. Of course the company needs to be held accountable for this nearly unbelievable environmental disaster. But if it hadn't been BP - it would have been someone else. If it hadn't been this well - it would have been another. If it hadn't happened now - it would have happened eventually.

And it will happen again.

Underwater oil drilling, as we have all learned over this two-month-long ordeal, is dangerous work. We've learned that there have been other, less publicized, oil leaks.

Accidents have happened in the past. They'll happen in the future.

So you would think Americans - by now - would be willing to dig just a little deeper into their pockets to protect this Earth that we all call home.

You'd think so. But we don't.

The latest Rasmussen poll bears this out.

It concludes that 52 percent of us are not willing to pay more for clean energy.

When I was a Boy Scout - perhaps the greatest lesson I learned was: When you break camp, leave your campground in better shape than you found it.

The same advice would serve inhabitants of Earth as well. When we leave this life, leave our planet in better shape than we found it.

We owe it to our children and future generations. But are we willing to do it?

Sadly, this latest poll suggests we are not.

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Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/storm-crypt/2280100615/

Barton apologizes for apologizing to BP

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

BP is - in the public's mine - enemy number one these days. So it came as a shock to - well - nearly everyone - when Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward during a congressional hearing Thursday.

The apology was a response to the results of a meeting BP officials held with President Obama at the White House the previous day. After which BP announced it had agreed to put $20 billion in escrow to help pay for compensation for those affected by the Gulf oil spill.

Barton - who former Congressman Bob Ney said in a Paltalk News Network interview is known for his verbal gaffes - termed the deal a "shakedown" of BP - even though the loudest criticism for the agreement had been - 'til then - that the money set aside wasn't enough.

He was immediately challenged by those on the other side of the aisle. And White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued a quick and biting statement admonishing Barton. Who has now apologized for his apology.

In the interview, Ney, now a correspondent for the Talk Radio News Service, noted that Barton lists as a major contributor to his campaign: BP.

Which makes Barton BP's boy on the committee.

Which makes what happened on Capitol Hill all the more instructive. Because it helps highlight the way members of Congress are influenced by their contributors.

When the oil began gushing and it became clear to him that the Minerals and Management Service - the government agency that oversees drilling - was too cozy with the companies it regulates - President Obama ordered a shakeup - replacing its chief with new - untainted - blood. Congress now is looking into restricting the MMS. But if it really wants to do something beneficial - maybe Congress should look within - at the way its members are influenced by those with deep pockets who contribute to their campaigns. Only then will the voters have confidence that the people they elect are representing the people - not giant corporations like BP.

News Talk Online June 17, 2010: Did The White House 'Strongarm' BP?

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Rep. Joe Barton (R-TX) today apologized to BP CEO Tony Hayward during his Capitol Hill appearance because of the "shakedown" of the oil giant by the White House - a reference to to $20 billion escrow fund BP established following a White House meeting.

That comment, as well as BP preventing reporters from doing their jobs along the Gulf Coast, discussed on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

News Talk Online June 14, 2010: The Latest From The Gulf

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President Obama is in the Gulf region and his administration's response to the oil gusher was the main topic on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

News Talk Online June 15, 2010: How To Get All A's In School, Exposure To Toxins On The Gulf

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First guest on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network was Dr. Gordon W. Green Jr, author of Making Your Education Work For You, a book that helps secondary and university students succeed in school - and later in life.

the Dr. Claudia Miller talked about the exposures the cleanup workers face on the Gulf of Mexico and the possibilities that they may suffer long-term ill health as a result.

Obama/BP showdown today

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

President Obama meets with BP officials Wednesday for what a former boss of mine would describe as a "come to Jesus meeting." But while a hard-line approach by the president may play well with the public, is it really the right thing to do?

Opinion polls indicate that the president has clearly suffered as the result of his handling the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Detractors have gone so far as to suggest that he was not only slow off the mark to respond - but - at least initially - fumbled the ball.

It's possible that his several-day trip to the region - and last night's prime time address to the nation about the spill - serves to change that perception. So too might his harsh commentary toward BP. So harsh that he was forced to remind the British government that BP stands for British Petroleum - not the British People.

But let's face facts here.

The president needs BP's cooperation. As he himself has so correctly pointed out - the U.S. government lacks the expertise and the experience to deal with this disaster.

Further alienating BP can only prove counterproductive.

Yes, of course, BP needs to be taken to task. And the repair and cleanup effort needs to be watch-dogged better than was the drilling operation that went so bad. But the time for recrimination and threats can wait.

Of course there will be lawsuits and lawful demands for compensation. Everyone, most of all BP, knows this. But now, the focus should be on cooperation - and stopping the leak. Then cleaning up the mess. And only then attempts at retribution.

Like it or not, BP and the government have to be partners during this phase of the crisis. They can become full fledged combatants later.

When he ran for office, President Obama pledged better diplomacy with the nations of the world than was evidenced during George W. Bush's administration. It's time, Mr. President, to put some of that diplomacy to work.

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News Talk Online June 14, 2010: The Latest From The Gulf

President Obama is in the Gulf region and his administration's response to the oil gusher was the main topic on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

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The latest on the BP oil spill was discussed on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

News Talk Online June 10, 2010: Gaza flotilla participant

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Gene St. Onge, a participant in the Gaza flotilla that was interdicted by the IDF was my guest on today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Gary Baumgarten News Talk Online Paltalk News Network

News Talk Online June 9, 2010: Various International Stories

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We started today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network with a report from Holland on the elections there. Then a report from Pakistan about an attack on a ; convoy heading to Afghanistan with supplies for NATO.

Then the discussion focused on the new sanctions against Iran and the aid package approved by President Obama for the Gaza.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

Somebody's lying about the Gaza flotilla. But who?

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

I remember once testifying against the police, as a witness in court. The judge dismissed the charges because of contradictory testimony - the officer's and mine. On the way out, I kind of taunted the officer singing to the tune "Somebody's Lying": "Somebody's lying, who could it be? Is it the police or is it me?"

I recollect that incident in my younger days today as we listen to such vastly differing witness accounts of the Israeli Defense Forces interdiction of the Gaza flotilla.

Clearly, somebody's lying. But who could it be?

When American Gene St. Onge, who was on one of flotilla ships, joined me as my guest Thursday on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network, he said that on his boat, at least, the passengers passively formed a human barrier around the wheelhouse to protect the captain.

Of course, no one died on that ship.

Sadly, nine people died on the Marmara. Were the activists simply trying to protect the captain on that ship?

Apparently not, according to an interview with the captain.

In fact, the captain and the crew reportedly implored the activists before the boat was boarded to avoid violence and tried to stop it from occurring. Even to the point of throwing makeshift weapons overboard. But said that people associated with the group IHH took over control of the ship, ordering the passengers around.

What's disconcerting is that people on both sides of this issue rushed to judgment, and are now cherry-picking facts to support their preconceived points of view.

Israeli detractors refer to the IDF commandos as "pirates." The activists are being called "terrorists" by Israel supporters.

Israel said extreme restraint was used by the IDF even though the soldiers were attacked. The government maintains they fought back with paintball guns for 40 minutes before finally getting the authorization to use deadly force.

Some of the activists insist the commandos repelled from hovering helicopters - their guns ablazing.

Somebody's lying.

Neither side seems to be willing to accept any culpability. It's all the other guy's fault.

We won't know for certain until an investigation is completed. Of course, any investigation will be viewed with suspicion as well - and depending on its outcome - attempts will be made to discredit it.

St. Onge is calling for an independent investigation. I am too. But finding an independent panel that both sides accept is daunting.

Meanwhile, the war of words continues. And the rest of us are left knowing that somebody is lying. We just don't know who.

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News Talk Online June 8, 2010: Sanctions Against Iran

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The likelihood that the United Nations Security Council might impose additional sanctions on Iran was the topic of today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

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More Iran sanctions likely

UNITED NATIONS - The UN Security Council is expected - perhaps as early as tomorrow - to approve a fourth round of sanctions against Iran over its nuclear program.

Specifically, the UN wants full and unfettered access to all nuclear facilities. Until the International Atomic Energy Agency gets this, there's no way, officials say, that they can verify the extent of the nuclear program in Iran.

The world community has been demanding assurances and proof that Iran is not creating nuclear arms. To that end, it wants its enriched uranium shipped abroad.

Iran has come up with a plan to send its enriched uranium to Turkey. But there's concern that the amount shipped would just be a fraction of the supply on hand and that Tehran would retain enough to still make a nuclear weapon.

The hope is that a unanimous vote by the permanent members of the Security Council would serve to further isolate Iran and place more pressure on its government to comply.

Americans should love partisanship

I consider myself not just a non-partisan but an anti-partisan as well. My belief is that, all-too-often, partisans put party ahead of country. Doug Patton offers an opposing view

By DOUG PATTON
Paltalk News Network Contributor

Over the last several years, Americans have gotten the impression that partisanship is an unhealthy affliction in our public discourse. Too many of us have come to believe that it is somehow important for politicians to agree to get along, even during election years. Democrats, while publicly denying their devotion to partisanship, practice it continually. Republicans, when practicing it, feel guilty and tend to make excuses for it.

Imagine if members of Congress could simply hide their party affiliation behind a non-partisan label. Picture yourself stepping into the voting booth and finding nothing on the ballot to indicate whether a candidate was a Republican, a Democrat, a Nazi or a Communist. If eliminating partisanship were the goal, then such a system would be the solution.

In fact, why not simply eliminate one House of the Congress? Let's just elect a group of erudite U.S. senators and send all those bickering members of the House of Representatives home to find some real work. That should ensure civility in Washington.

There is, in fact, a place where just such an experiment has already been tried. Until the Great Depression, the State of Nebraska had a partisan, bicameral legislative system. As was the case in all other states at the time, the Nebraska Legislature was patterned after the United States Congress.

In 1937, that all changed. Nebraska voters were hoodwinked by a liberal Republican U.S. senator by the name of George Norris into approving an amendment to the state's constitution that created a non-partisan unicameral legislature — the only one in the nation, before or since.

The experiment was and is a disaster. Nebraska, once known as the "white spot" of the nation (no income tax and no sales tax), now taxes its 1.7 million people at draconian levels. Norris's idealistic notion that the people, though ballot initiatives, would somehow become the state's "second house" has given way to a system where 49 state senators run roughshod over the people while hiding behind a non-partisan label. Meanwhile, the real "second house" is made up of a gaggle of lobbyists beholden to special interests.

Political parties, which exist for the purpose of articulating certain philosophical principles and for holding officeholders accountable for adhering to those principles, are essential to the continuance of the Republic. Partisanship is good. Partisanship works. It is the lifeblood of our political system and has been ever since Thomas Jefferson battled John Adams over the issue of state's rights versus a strong national government.

It is in the midst of political battle that good government is forged. In the heated moments when legislators fight to articulate their political philosophies, liberal or conservative, defending them passionately until someone wins — this is when history is made.

The attack on partisanship has become so ridiculous in recent years that Republican John McCain was seriously touted as a possible running mate for Democrat John Kerry during the 2004 presidential campaign. McCain, always happy to foster his maverick image by accepting praise from liberals, did little to dampen the speculation at the time. In fact, he told a fawning press that he would actually consider such an offer because, he said, "John Kerry is my friend." This may at least partially explain why McCain is not in the White House today.

Leftist 60's radical turned conservative commentator David Horowitz, in his political handbook, The Art of Political War has written that, "Politics is war conducted by other means." As the nation heads toward the most important off-year election in our lifetime, one that will determine what sort of country we will be in the future, Republicans seem far too content with appeasing their opponents with civility and non-partisanship. Meanwhile, as always, Democrats prepare for war.

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Doug Patton is a former speechwriter and public policy adviser who now works as a freelance writer. His weekly columns appear in newspapers across the country and on various Internet websites, including Human Events Online and GOPUSA.com, where he is a senior writer and state editor.

Incumbents face throw the bums out syndrome

PRINCETON, New Jersey - More indication that there may be major changes in the complexion of Congress this November.

The latest Gallup poll concludes that registered voters are nearly twice as likely to say they would rather vote for a congressional candidate with no prior experience in Congress as to say they would vote for one who has previously served in Congress. Democrats, however, are slightly more likely to favor a candidate with congressional experience, the poll finds.

This may be a result, the pollsters conclude, that the Democrats control Congress. So it would be beneficial to them if incumbents are re-elected.

But only as many as one in four independents or Republicans said that congressional experience would be important to them if they were voting today.

All of this is good news for first-time congressional candidates in general, and the Republican Party in particular.

Only 32 percent of those polled said that most members of Congress deserve re-election, Gallup said.

News Talk Online June 7, 2010: Helen Thomas' Retirement

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Helen Thomas' abrupt retirement following her controversial remarks about Jews was the topic of today's News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

Are blockade runners really about humanitarian aid?

By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network

It's confusing - the situation regarding the Gaza. There's so much sand that's being tossed up by both sides that a clear picture has yet to emerge.

The prime minister of Turkey and the Iranian Red Cross are among the latest to pledge a blockade ramming attempt. Because, of course, the Israelis are not permitting humanitarian supplies to get into the Gaza.

But is that really true?

The Israelis say, absolutely not. When Joel Lion, the Israeli consulate in New York's spokesman, was on my show, News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network, he said the Israelis permit humanitarian supplies to enter the Gaza by land.

Then why not by sea?

Lion says that's because it's easier to check for contraband - read weapons - at land-based checkpoints. It's much harder to check every ship that might enter by sea.

Fair enough. But then, in an interview at the United Nations, Saahir Lone, senior liaison officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency told me the Israelis are prohibiting the flow of construction equipment - like concrete - to rebuild the infrastructre following their last incursion.

So where does the truth lie?

Probably somewhere in between.

But here's the problem that comes up whenever you discuss the Israeli-Palestinian issue. Too often - each side or proponents for each side - are pointing fingers at the other. Assessing 100 percent of the blame elsewhere.

Lone was a case in point. He asserted during the interview that the Israelis are completely to blame for what happened during the interdiction of a Gaza relief flotilla that resulted in the deaths of nine people. There's no way, he says, that those on board the ships could even be minutely culpable.

That argument failed to fly with French UN Ambassador Gérard Araud, who told me that at least some of those on board were members of a Turkish-based organization with terrorist connections. He also believes that those on the flotilla that was interdicted were more about making a political point than about delivering humanitarian aid. (You can see the full interviews with Lone and Araud at http://garybaumgarten.blogspot.com/2010/06/news-talk-online-june-4-2010-live-from.html.)

We've heard this claim before, from the Israelis. But this time it came from France, so it's more difficult to challenge its veracity,

The French, by the way, are not totally in Israel's corner. They say they are willing to be part of a multi-national group that would screen materials bound for the Gaza. But the blockade, France says, must first end.

Meanwhile, the Israelis continue to balk at an outside investigation into the flotilla incident. They say the IDF has a history of fair investigations into its own. Plus they don't trust the United Nations to conduct an impartial investigation.

Araud, in his interview with me, indicated he understands the Israel's sensitivities. He suggests an independent investigation conducted even by countries friendly to Israel, like the United States.

It's not a bad idea. Because any investigation by the IDF, no matter how thorough it may be, will be viewed with as much suspicion by those outside Israel as a UN probe would be by Israelis.

Photos: Israeli commandos were taken hostage aboard aid ship

ISRAEL TODAY

Turkey's top daily newspaper, Hurriyet on Sunday published a series of photographs that proved Israeli commandos who boarded the blockade-busting Mavi Marmara aid ship were brutally attacked and even taken hostage.

The photos contradict claims by Turkey, the Free Gaza Movement that organized the ships and an Israeli Arab Knesset member that sailed with the ships that Israeli troops opened fire indiscriminately and without provocation, and that the Marmara's passengers were unarmed and peaceful.

Israeli military officials have said that a second wave of commandos only requested permission to use live fire after learning their comrades had been taken hostage and were in a serious life-threatening situation.

Turkish PM vows to personally break Israeli blockade

ISRAEL TODAY

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has led the international campaign to discredit Israel in the aftermath of its seizing of a flotilla of terrorist-backed aid ships to Gaza. Now Erdogan has vowed to personally sail to Gaza and break Israel's maritime blockade of the Hamas-ruled territory.

Lebanese newspaper Al-Mustaqbal cited Turkish sources "in the know" who said Erdogan is seriously considering joining the next flotilla of ships to Gaza.

He may also order a squad of Turkish Navy gunships to accompany the next flotilla and give the Israelis a real showdown at sea.

Erdogan and other Turkish officials have used the flotilla incident as an excuse to downgrade relations with Israel and express hostility toward the Jewish state, but Israeli officials note that Turkey has been moving in that direction for some time.

Turkey "has been a friend in the past," aid Israeli Ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren. But under its current leadership, Oren noted that "Turkey has embraced the leaders of Iran and Hamas, all of whom called for Israel’s destruction."

In fact, just hours before Oren spoke to reporters, Erdogan told an Istanbul news agency that he does not view Hamas as a terrorist organization.

Erdogan, Turkey's most Islamist prime minister in decades, has been working hard in recent years to reestablish his nation as a regional Islamic superpower. Leaders in this region know that the best way to do that is to antagonize Israel.

Those efforts were boosted during the January 2009 Israeli incursion into Gaza to bring a halt to incessant Hamas rocket fire on southern Israel. Erdogan led international condemnation of Israel, and at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland two weeks after the Gaza war, Erdogan stormed out of a joint panel when Israeli President Shimon Peres tried to defend his nation's actions.

Israel is not alone in seeing Erdogan's behavior as exaggerated and dangerous.

In it's Friday editorial, the New York Times insisted, "Turkish officials have let their anger and rhetoric go way too far."

The newspaper urged Turkey to calm down, stop the overly hostile rhetoric toward Israel, and to especially stop comparing the flotilla incident to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on the U.S.

The Washington Post also chimed in, using its Saturday editorial to call for Erdogan to be investigated for his ties to the terrorist organizations that sponsored the Gaza flotilla.

In particular, the Turkish IHH played a major roll in financing and organizing the flotilla, and its members were the ones who violently confronted the Israeli boarding party aboard the Mavi Marmara, resulting in the deaths of nine so-called "activists."

The Post noted that the IHH, in addition to supporting Hamas, has a long history of backing anti-Western terror groups, including al Qaeda. IHH offiicials have also actively campaigned on behalf of Erdogan, and their presence aboard the ships apparently won his blessing.

The paper wrote that with such terrorist ties and his outlandish rhetoric following the flotilla incident, Erdogan has become a competitor with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and Hezbollah leader Shiekh Hassan Nasrallah for the title of Israel's most hot-headed enemy in the region.

An open letter to Helen Thomas

By AVI PERRY
Paltalk News Network Contributor

Dear Helen,

OK, so you have established yourself as the dean of the antisemites, but before you speak out, make sure that there is no microphone around, because your facts are distorted by your blind Jew-hatred. Before spitting hate on video, you ought to know the facts. Here is a summary.

When you tell Jews to go back to their “home,” then you clarify “home” as Germany, Poland, Holland, you must be ignorant about the Holocaust. But then, you may have joined Ahmadinejad in denying it, like the rest of the world’s idiots, who do exactly what President Eisenhower had been worried about, when insisting on filming evidence of the Holocaust, especially for those idiots who would want to deny it.

For your information, more Jews were born in Israel than those who came back after 2,000 years. Where should all the sabras (native Israelis) go if that’s not their home? There is another fact you have missed. More Jews escaped (not left) Arab countries and Iran then those who came from Europe. I bet this little fact had never crossed your mind.

The Jews were the real owners of the land of Israel. They resided in that land since 3,000 years ago and until the Roman Empire wiped the land and its people off the map in the first and second centuries, then changed its name to Palestine.

The land was empty and deserted, then came the next occupiers—the Muslims, then the Crusaders, then the Muslims again, but most of the land was empty except for a few JEWS (yes, this is no typo), a few Muslims and a few Christians.

When Jews started returning to their homeland in the 19th century and turned the desert and the mosquito-infested swamps into a livable place, the Muslims began moving in as well, due to the prospects of a higher standard of living that the Jews brought about.

Palestine was never a Muslim state. It’s sole true owner-inhabitants were the Jews.

After the Jews were driven out, it became an occupied territory — occupied by the Roman/Byzantine empire, the Ottoman Turks, then the British and then srael. It is and it has always been the land where the Jewish nation originated and lived.

If you want to children of Israel who were born there to go back to their grandparents’ graveyards, why don’t you go to your ancestors’ land and do what you preach? And talking about “occupation”: Your ancestors are the true occupiers of America. They massacred the original inhabitants — the American Indians — then drove them out of the land. I bet you have never known that fact either. And what about Texas? Isn’t that “occupied” land? Didn’t we take it away from the Mexicans?

Dear Helen, admit it. You have failed the simple test of history. You should not be a reporter. You diminish the prestige of what this title represents.

Dr. Avi Perry
www.aviperry.org

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Avi Perry is author of the book 72 Virgins

Cuban human rights arts protest projected on Carneigie Hall

NEW YORK - Artist Geandy Pavón took his art-protest “Nemesis” to Carnegie Hall while Cuban singer-composer Silvio Rodriguez held the first of two scheduled concerts in New York City.

During Rodríguez’s performance and as concert goers exited, Pavón digitally projected onto the famous music hall a huge image of Cuban political prisoner Orlando Zapata, who died of a hunger strike in February.

Considered “the voice of the Cuban revolution,” Rodríguez has for decades used his artistic talent and appeal to serve and enable Cuba’s dictatorship and to spread its propaganda. A long-time member of Cuba’s Communist Party and ruling elite, he enjoys privileges denied to most citizens, including most artists.

In Greek mythology, “nemesis” denotes divine justice ─ a memory of persecution.

Zapata, an Afro-Cuban plumber incarcerated for non-violent activities, was protesting appalling prison conditions. His death has elicited worldwide condemnation and become a symbol of the human rights abuses of the Cuban dictatorship.

Pavón has taken his art-protest to the Cuban Mission to the United Nations in New York City, the Cuban Consulate in Barcelona and the Cuban Interests Section in Washington. Born in Cuba and a graduate of Cuba’s National School of Fine Arts, he has lived in exile in New Jersey since 1996.

News Talk Online June 4, 2010 Live From The United Nations

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Today's special edition of News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network was made possible through our affiliation with Talkers Magazine and the Talk Radio News Service, sponsors of Talk Radio Day at the United Nations.

Our three guests were Geoffrey Shaw, the top International Atomic Energy Agency official at UN headquarers; Saahir Lone, senior liaison officer for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency which assists Palestinian refugees, and French UN Ambassador Gérard Araud.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

News Talk Online June 4, 2010 Prejudice Attitude Towards The Middle East Conflict

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Today on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network we talked about people's opinions in relation to the middle east conflict. Some callers feel that it has become a normal pattern to offer a prejudice opinion for or against the Palestinians or the Israeli's.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

Taliban leader's death confirmed

WASHINGTO - A Taliban sub-commander was captured and several other suspected insurgents were killed or captured yesterday by Afghan and international security forces, military officials reported.

Officials also confirmed the death last week of Mullah Zergay, the senior Taliban commander for Afghanistan's Kandahar City region, during a firefight with Afghan-international forces during an operation in the Zharay district.

During an operation in Logar province yesterday, a combined force captured a Taliban sub-commander who is responsible for improvised explosive device and small-arms attacks against coalition forces. The combined force was searching a compound in the village of Muchkeyl in the Kharwar district after intelligence information confirmed insurgent activity.

When confronted, the Taliban sub-commander, who has ties to the Haqqani network, immediately surrendered and identified himself as the targeted insurgent.

Also yesterday, a separate Afghan-international security force action resulted in the detention of several individuals suspected of insurgent activity in Ghazni province. The combined force detained the suspected insurgents while searching a compound in the village of Bar Nowruzk, Qarah Bagh district, after intelligence information confirmed insurgent activity. No shots were fired and no one was harmed during the above operations.

During another operation yesterday, a coalition helicopter attacked and killed multiple insurgents as they were moving to a fighting position in Farah province. Aircraft were directed to a cave complex in a rural area of Gulistan district after intelligence information verified insurgent activity. After observing widely separated groups of armed men moving to prepared fighting positions away from the caves, aircraft engaged a group, killing the insurgents. A ground search force found two automatic rifles, ammunition and a grenade.

Meanwhile, it has been confirmed that Mullah Zergay, the Taliban commander of the Kandahar city area, was killed last week by Afghan-international forces during an operation conducted in the Zharay district.

Zergay had directed insurgent activities in the Arghandab and Zharay districts, including Kandahar City. He used explosives in nearly all of his operations and was directly responsible for multiple deaths in Kandahar City, alone. He rose to power through violent intimidation campaigns against civilians and by leading kidnappings and executions of government employees and village elders.

After tracking his location for several weeks, an Afghan-international security force moved to capture Zergay in a Taliban safe haven area south of Kudeza'i in Zharay district. As the assault force approached, several armed insurgents attacked it with machine-gun fire and rocket propelled grenades.

The assault force returned fire and during the ensuing firefight Zergay and several members of his security detachment were killed. Zergay's death is considered to be a major loss for the Taliban leadership in southern Afghanistan.

Top U.S. commander in Iraq has concerns about Internet and war

By LISA DANIEL
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON - Army Gen. Raymond T. Odierno, reflecting on lessons learned and the way ahead as the outgoing top commander in Iraq, voiced concerns today about how the ease of Internet communications sometimes undermine military operations.

"One of the things we have continued to work hard at is the change in global communications and its impact on warfare," Odierno said during a Pentagon press briefing. "It's absolutely essential that we take a hard look at how we're going to address this issue."

Odierno, who commanded the Army's 3rd Corps in Iraq from May 2006 until taking over U.S. Forces Iraq in September 2008, is not the first military leader to voice concerns about how the unregulated and ubiquitous nature of Internet communications undermine security efforts. Army Gen. David H. Petraeus, commander of Multinational Force Iraq before becoming commander of U.S. Central Command in October 2008, voiced similar concerns during budget hearings on Capitol Hill earlier this year.

Odierno and others have raised concerns about al Qaeda and other terrorist groups recruiting and public relations efforts on the Internet. Even as military operations chip away at insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan killing or capturing 34 of 42 al-Qaida in Iraq leaders in the past three months militant websites don't reflect that.

"What they're telling people on their website is completely different than what is happening on the ground," the general said.

Odierno, whom President Obama has nominated to head the Norfolk, Virginia-based U.S. Joint Forces Command after rotating out of Iraq at the end of summer, endorsed the Defense Department's new Cyber Command to work on such Internet issues.

The U.S. military has been the target of numerous email scams, Odierno said, including the social networking site, Facebook. His own Facebook site has been used in schemes to extort money, he said.

"These are real challenges to us that we really have to get after," he said.

Army Lt. Gen. Lloyd Austin has been chosen to replace Odierno as commander of U.S. Forces Iraq.

Oil splll could bring mass extinction to Gulf Coast

By SARAH LASKOW
Media Consortium

A cap placed over a severed pipe is siphoning some oil from the broken BP well in the Gulf Coast, the company said today. The company’s CEO said this morning on CBS that it was possible that this fix could capture up to 90 percent of the oil, but that it will take 24 to 48 hours to understand how well this solution is working. Adm. Thad Allen, the former Coast Guard chief and oil spill incident commander, called the cap “only a temporary and partial fix.”

Despite the capping procedure, it became clear this week that the onrush of oil from the BP Deepwater Horizon rig will not cease any time soon. Even in the best case scenario, thousands of barrels of oil will still flow into the ocean. Destruction is already spreading along the Gulf Coast, and before the oil stops leaking, species might be extinct and industries destroyed.

In the coming months — it’s not clear how many — oil will continue to pollute the Gulf of Mexico. BP and the Obama administration are talking about August as the end of this crisis, but other experts have projected that the spill could last until Christmas.

As Justin Elliott reports for TPMMuckraker, BP told the government it could handle a spill much larger than this one. In the initial exploration plan for the well, BP claimed “it was prepared to respond to a blowout flowing at 300,000 barrels per day — as much as 25 times the rate of the current spill,” Elliott writes. BP cannot, it turns out, respond to a blowout flowing less than 20,000 barrels per day, and the consequences for the Gulf communities are only beginning to emerge. The first casualty will be Gulf ecosystem and its inhabitants. The second casualty will be the livelihood of Gulf communities that have depended on fish, shrimp, and oysters for survival.

In 1979, another company released torrents of oil in the Gulf of Mexico, in much shallower waters than where BP was drilling. As Rachel Slajda writes for TPMMuckeraker, the clean-up methods the oil industry relied on three decades ago are similar to the technology BP is trying now. The Ixtoc spill was comparatively easy to address; yet it still took 10 months to stop.

During that spill, the nearest state, Texas, had two months to prepare for the oil to hit shore, and still “1,421 birds were found with oiled feathers and feet,” Slajda writes. The fishing industry escaped much damage, but the tourism industry lost 7-10 percent of its business.

In Louisiana, Mississippi, Florida, and other states affected by this spill, fish, fowl, restaurateurs, and oystermen won’t get off easy. As Care2 reports, the National Wildlife Federation has already documented the deaths of more than 150 threatened or endangered sea turtles and of 316 seabirds (“mostly brown pelicans and northern gannets”).

And BP is trying to keep images of the animal victims away from the public. Julia Whitty, reporting from Louisiana, writes for Mother Jones:

All up and down this shoreline angry and scared people told me some scary and infuriating stories in the past few days. I heard about the the dead and dying wildlife we’re never going to see because the victims are being carted away to early responder ships and to inaccessible buildings onshore.

I’ve seen some of those photographs which can’t be shown (according to BP’s new orders) of dolphins swimming through thick gunky oil, struggling sperm whales trailing wakes a mile long in thick gunky oil, dead jellyfish in gunky oil.

The impact of the oil spill goes beyond those individual bodies, though. As Inter Press Service reports, environmentalists and scientists “are beginning to reckon with the reality of a massive annihilation of sea creatures and wildlife.”

“You could potentially lose whole species, have extinction events,” Michael Blum, a Tulane ecology professor told IPS. “Brown pelicans were just taken off the endangered species list. "On this threshold, a big die back and mortality event, they would be pushed back into a situation where they could be endangered.”

Also at Care2, Jay Holcomb, executive director of the International Bird Rescue Research Center, demonstrates a brown pelican being de-oiled, her feathers shampooed with Dawn detergent, her head and pouch cleaned with Q-tips.

For generations, Gulf Coast residents made their living by fishing. Their fishing grounds are now off-limits. Some have found short-term work with BP fighting the oil. But those jobs come with new hazards.

Some clean-up workers have reported dizziness, nausea and shortness of breath that they think comes from exposure to chemical dispersants. BP is not providing safety gear that would clean the air workers breathe and has threatened to fire clean-up workers who bring their own, Colorlines reports.

In the long-term, Gulf Coast fishermen may have no source of income and will have to abandon their homes and professions.

“It’s a way of life,” shrimper Dean Blachard told Democracy Now!’s Amy Goodman this week. “They destroyed a way of life, a way of life that if you take it away too long, you can’t learn this in a school. This is passed from generation to generation, so the daddy teaches the son, and the son teaches his son. And, you know, once the chain is broke, you’re never going to get it back.”

It’s understandable that the residents of the Gulf Coast might want BP to pay for the damage. At The Nation, Chris Hayes reveals that BP could be on the hook for mitigation, the cash value of injured property, and for punitive damages–all beyond the cost of cleanup itself. But, as Zygmunt J. B. Plater, a law professor who chaired a legal task force on the Exxon Valdez spill, explains:

“In Alaska, most of the damage was suffered by communities who had their quality of life destroyed, and there’s no way to put a dollar value on that.”

Prophesying war

By DAVID SWANSON
Paltalk News Network Contributor


I wrote a review of Karen Malpede's new play Prophecy when I had only read but not yet seen it. Karen read the review and invited me to lead the first in a series of talk-back discussions following performances in New York, and I did so on Wednesday. For that incredible privilege I'm glad I wrote that early review, but I'm sorry it was so insufficient as an attempt to convey the intensity of the phenomenon that is "Prophecy."

"Prophecy" should certainly be read (and the book, available in the UK, will soon be published in the U.S.), but it must be seen. This play has, in fact, received the highest praise everywhere it's been presented in this country and the UK, and has nonetheless been refused by the theaters that have praised it. The UK run, and success there, was necessary before any theater in New York would permit a performance, and now a run of three weeks has been selling out - yet extending the run is forbidden.

Why?

I heard nothing but passionate praise and gratitude from members of the audience on Wednesday. When a bunch of us went out afterward, the conversation centered on how we could get the play more widely seen and how that could change our world.

But we were a self-selected group of people who had chosen to attend a performance that we knew was anti-war. We were not just representatives of that majority of Americans who tell pollsters they want the current wars ended. We were people who feel compelled to work for that end.

Others who have seen the play and praised it have not been peace activists, and they have not stood up for an artistic masterpiece in the face of what they've claimed have been angry emails. You see, the play, while it focuses on the lives of eight people, inevitably leaves you with the understanding that there is something horribly and outrageously evil about U.S. foreign policy, and even worse: Israeli foreign policy.

The play is set in the early fall of 2006 in New York City, but includes flashbacks to earlier decades, and also includes a scene in which one character is speaking by telephone from Beirut. The eight characters are played by five actors, with one young woman masterfully playing three very different roles.

The play reveals itself slowly, in the sense that later scenes give earlier scenes new meaning. While I found the performance overwhelmingly powerful despite (or even because of) having read the script, I don't think I should impose any knowledge on you that could interfere with your seeing the play fresh.

So let me just say this: Multiple wars explode into the characters lives from the past, present and future. The lives and relationships are not otherwise untroubled (knowing the story of Abraham, Sarah and Hagar enriches the play). But it is impossible to separate the characters' personal troubles from the wars that have impacted them.

Among the characters are victims, participants, opponents, and those avoiding war, and they come from a variety of backgrounds. You are likely to relate to at least some of them in the sense of having met people and known people they resemble. But a prominent theme in the play is the need to look at things from the other people's points of view. And this is contrasted subtly with the dehumanization of enemies that takes place in war.

It's easy to ask how we would approach the occupation of Afghanistan or Iraq if we were the ones occupied. Would we want the occupation ended slowly and "responsibly" if we were the occupied instead of the occupiers?

It's easy to question the New York Times story printed on Wednesday's front page that explained how humanitarian aid workers are something "Israel sees as a serious and growing threat." It is not easy to feel the soul-crushing pain our short-sightedness inflicts on people we feel we know and care for.

Tragedy often involves prophecy and the playing out of events understood to be inevitable, but of course war - even if it seems to repeat itself each generation - is something we could very easily put an end to. That fact makes it all the more horrifying to realize that we can with great certainty prophesy the creation of hundreds of thousands of unnecessarily traumatized lives if we do not act.

Prophecy is a play that shows us and pulls us into what we need to know, and yet leaves us with a crystal clear understanding that we are not expected to merely feel worse about what we are allowing to occur. Our responsibility is to render false the prophecy that foresees ongoing war forever and always.

One tool we have at our disposal is Prophecy. We need to find a way to have this play performed, including in Washington, D.C., with Congress members invited to attend. There are no sound bytes or caricatures here for them to work with, only people struggling to survive the policies so routinely enacted and re-enacted by our representatives.

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David Swanson is the author of the new book Daybreak: Undoing the Imperial Presidency and Forming a More Perfect Union by Seven Stories Press.

Support for Kagan lags

PRINCETON, New Jersey - Support for Elena Kagan's nomination as a justice of the Supreme Court lags that of other recent nominees.

That's the result of a USA Today/Gallup poll which finds just under half of Americans, 46 percent, favor the Senate's confirming Elena Kagan's nomination. That level of support is generally lower than what Gallup has found when it first polled about other recent court nominations, trailing all others except Harriet Miers and Robert Bork.

News Talk Online June 3, 2010: Fallout From The Gaza Flotilla Incident

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Today's guest on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network was Josh Ruebner. He's the national advocacy director of the U.S. Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation.

Join the chat on News Talk Online on the Paltalk News Network at 5 PM NY time weekdays at www.joinchatnow.com

Police department now allows Muslims to wear hijabs when booked

CANTON, Michigan - The police department in this Detroit suburb has changed its policy and will now permit Muslim women who are arrested to wear their religious head coverings while they are being booked.

Previously, the Canton police department required them to remove their hijabs during booking and detention. They are also now being permitted to wear their hijabs after booking during detention in the town's holding facility.

"We welcome the Canton Police Department's proactive policy revisions allowing religious accommodation and hope that these new guidelines will serve as a model for other police departments throughout the state and the nation," said Lena Masri, staff attorney for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan.

Border Patrol agent pleads guilty to civil rights violation

TUSCON - U.S. Border Patrol Agent Eduardo Moreno pleaded guilty today in federal court here to a federal criminal civil rights charge for assaulting a Mexican national who was in his custody. Sentencing has been scheduled for August 12.

The incident occurred on May 10, 2006 while Moreno was on duty at the U.S. Border Patrol Processing Center in Nogales, Arizona. During the plea proceedings and in documents filed in court, Moreno admitted that while escorting the victim at the center, he kicked, struck him in the stomach with a baton, threw him down to ground and punched him; all without any legitimate law enforcement reason to use force.

"We place a great deal of trust in federal law enforcement officers, and the Civil Rights Division will aggressively prosecute any officer who violates the rights of others and abuses the power they are given to perform their critical duties," said Assistant Attorney General Thomas E. Perez.

Moreno faces a maximum of 10 years in prison and a fine of $250,000. An additional count in the indictment of making a false statement to federal agents will be dismissed under the plea agreement.

EPA boss back along the Gulf Coast

EPA Administrator Jackson met with on-the-ground responders to discuss EPA’s ongoing air, water, sediment and underwater dispersant use monitoring.

EPA's air monitoring conducted through Tuesday found that air quality levels for ozone and particulates are normal on the Gulf coastline for this time of year.

The EPA says odor-causing pollutants associated with petroleum products have been spotted along the coastline at low levels. Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea.

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EPA photo: Eric Vance

Congressmen demand protective gear for BP disaster response workers

WASHINGTON - Today, Rep. James Oberstar (DFL-MN), chair of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, and Rep. Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), a senior committee member sent a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency and the Labor Department demanding that all response and recovery workers responding to the Deepwater Horizon BP Oil Spill be provided proper protective equipment, including respirators. They also demanded that all federal laws governing worker safety and respiratory protection be enforced.

Numerous workers have fallen ill after exposure to the oil, the dispersants, or some combination of the two. In their letter to EPA Administrator Lisa Jackson and Labor Secretary Hilda Solis, Oberstar and Nadler urged the federal government to ensure that BP is properly protecting the workers, and that BP is not allowed to evade liability or shift the cost to the taxpayers for any potential health effects.

“There are several hazardous substances present in the oil and in the chemical dispersants that are supposed to break up the oil, forming a ‘toxic soup,’" Oberstar said.

"The dispersant that BP has chosen to use, Corexit, is considered one of the most toxic. Last week, several cleanup workers were taken to the hospital complaining of nausea, shortness of breath and other respiratory ailments. It is the federal government’s responsibility to enforce public health and safety laws."

Immigration rights advocates' semantics obscure reality

By BOB DANE

WASHINGTON - In the wake of Arizona’s new laws, the illegal alien special interests are working overtime making their last ditch pitch for amnesty before mid-term elections, robotically reciting how they want to “fix” our immigration problems.

For those in the know, of course, it’s all nonsense - word play and empty promises:

When they say the system is broken they actually mean illegal aliens face deportation, and that America is not admitting enough legal immigrants fast enough. The fact is illegal aliens aren’t supposed to be in the United States - by definition they do not have legal status. As regards our level of legal immigration, America currently allows in more than one million people a year, more than any other industrialized country on the planet.

"Fix our broken system": The bottom line is that the only thing broken about our immigration system is an unwillingness to impose sensible limitations and enforce the laws. Truth in labeling might suggest that their version of “fixing a broken system” should be read as “making a broken system worse."

"Path to citizenship": Euphemisms for amnesty wear thin quickly so the new phrase “path to citizenship” has entered the lexicon. We already have a “path to citizenship” and it starts with applying for a green card and getting in line.

"Go to the back of the line": To most people, going to the back of the line would mean returning home, filling out the necessary forms, and then waiting for a reply. What amnesty advocates mean by going to the back of the line is that we create a brand new line for those who have broken the law right here in this country.

"Get right with the law": This phrase suggests that administratively converting 13 million people from illegal status to legal status “gets them right with the law.” Accommodating law-breaking by simply rewriting the rules to fit the circumstances is one of the most insidious aspects of amnesty.

"Undocumented workers": Given the huge sums of money the special interests have, one would assume their high-paid consultants would have told them that this euphemism expired years ago. We all know it means illegal aliens, but amnesty advocates believe that using the adjective “undocumented” magically erases the illegality, while claiming they are “workers” suggests all are gainfully employed, which they’re often not.

The proper reference is “illegal aliens.” “Illegal” means prohibited by law. Yes, entry without inspection into the U.S is prohibited. And “alien” is a term defined in 8 U.S.C. Section 1101 and used by legal professionals across the board including the United States Supreme Court. It’s OK to say illegal aliens. You’ll be in good company.

"Orderly flow of workers": This is a phrase that by its own definition assumes we actually need more workers. It refers to our foreign guest worker program.

In addition to the 1.2 million legal immigrants the U.S. admits each year, and the 13 million illegal aliens currently living here, the U.S. also brings in another one million foreign nationals through work visas year after year. With a national unemployment rate of 9.9 percent, any endorsement of our massive foreign guest worker flow, or a suggestion that we should increase it, should be challenged on the grounds that it is imposing unfair competition for scarce jobs.

Instead of “orderly flow of workers” the proper translation is “more foreign labor to take your job.”

"Secure the border": They save the biggest and boldest claim for last. Amnesty advocates promise to secure the border for no other reason than to make their plans for massive amnesty more palatable. The special interests don’t mean it and they don’t want to do it. After all, they have stymied every single piece of immigration enforcement legislation in recent years and relentlessly pressured the Obama administration to systematically dismantle most existing immigration enforcement.

There is immigration enforcement and then there is amnesty. One has nothing to do with the other. Revealing the motives of the illegal alien lobby is an ongoing responsibility because as Burke said, “a very great part of the mischiefs that vex this world arise from words.”

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Bob Dane is communications director at the Federation for American Immigration Reform

This time Israel's gone too far

By PATRICIA DeGENNARO

NEW YORK - This time Israel's government has gone too far. The storming of a civilian flotilla carrying 700 humanitarian activists and 10,000 tons of aid, in international waters, at night and in the dark, is reprehensible. It was no secret to anyone that this effort was underway. The organizers made it abundantly clear what the mission would be. It has been in the news for weeks.

This attack signals just how truly paranoid a state can become despite its immense wealth and strength without healing its own peoples past. Instead of acting like the economic and military power it is (Israel ranks 50th when it comes to the world's top per capita income states and has the third most powerful military in the world), Israeli soldiers boarded and killed nineteen unarmed civilians and wounded scores of others. Then claimed they were "attacked." The boat was bringing much needed medicines and supplies to the besieged Gaza. I'm sure the passengers and crew looked very scary coming at the Israeli military with Band-Aids.

Since its inception, Israel has done little to mature into a nation. It can no more interact with its neighbors, than frightening peace activists. The paranoia of the State has reached a level above and beyond. If it were an advanced and secure nation, the military would not have been ordered to exercise such brutality on helpless individuals outside its own borders of authority.

The state remains attached to its victim-hood too blind to see that it has willingly become the victimizer. Since its inception, hundreds of thousands of indigenous Palestinians have been displaced. Many remain in impoverished and overcrowded refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and the West Bank. Land that is not considered "Israel proper" within the context of 1967 international agreements, namely Gaza and the West Bank, have been and remain occupied by the Jewish State for more than 50 years. Within that time frame, "settlements" better known as illegal land confiscation has left no hope for those who may dream of an independent Palestinian state.

Further, Israel continues to hold the Shebba Farms in Lebanon, not willing to even negotiate the water rich land with its rightful Lebanese owners. The water is used for the houses build for solely Jewish residents who remain on Syrian contested land and those who continue to annex Palestinian land to build State funded homes and swimming pools. The occupied remain without the same opportunity for the water's coveted use.

Under the occupation Palestinian Arabs are relentlessly mistreated. Movements are controlled, checkpoints abound and resources allocated, if at all, by the Israel. Gaza is a cordoned off prison lacking food, water and shelter. The strip continues to be bombarded by unmanned drone plans despite the fact that it is already destroyed.

The Gaza war of 2009 left 75 percent of the people dependent on humanitarian assistance. More than 45 percent of its people are unemployed. During the war, more than 1,400 people lost their lives, and more than 5,500 are still suffering from injuries. Over 20,000 houses were demolished. According to the World Health Organization most children (50 percent of the population of Gaza are children) suffer from post-traumatic stress syndrome and not one is getting the help they need to live a more normal life.

Youngsters, many under the age of 15, in the West Bank are often sentenced to jail for months because they threw rocks at soldiers in tanks. They are humiliatingly housed in Israeli prisons built by Israelis on Palestinian land. Many are psychologically and sexually abused.

The international community has become increasingly critical of this ongoing occupation, the land confiscation, and ever desperate situation in Gaza. The behavior Israel exhibited toward these humanitarian ships has infuriated them as well and with good reason.

Passengers aboard were from the U.S., Britain, Australia, Greece, Canada, Malaysia, Algeria, Serbia, Belgium, Ireland, Norway, Sweden and Kuwait.

Further, there were over 400 Turkish citizens causing a further rift between two allies. As Anita McNaught, an Al Jazeera correspondent pointed out. "Since the Gaza war [Turkish-Israeli] relations have nose-dived and it would be absolutely fair to say that this is the lowest point." In fact, Turkey has now recalled its ambassador from Tel Aviv.

There should have been no resistance to these lifeboats. Especially since they were only equipped with supplies for those in Gaza who are suffering. In fact, Israel could have offered to meet them ready for inspection instead of forcefully boarding in waters they do not legally control. Then it could have escorted the boat to Gaza ensuring that those they will be living with forever begin to see the seriousness of their intention to improve the future.

That is what a mature nation that was serious about peace would do. Unfortunately what happened was quite the opposite.

These types of actions are committed by weak nations, which Israel is not. Therefore, it is time for Israel to start acting like a grown up and it is high time the international community, including the U.S., started treating it like one.

Israel must begin by owning its successes and recognizing its failures. It is time to take the high road. To work with the international community and its largest benefactor, the U.S., to find a way to live where it has chosen making peaceful deals with its neighbors that are fair and aligned. The excuses, the confiscations and the intimidation must stop.

Israel should not only be required, it should volunteer, to sign the Nuclear Proliferation Treaty joining all other nations that possess nuclear weapons. Thereby setting a precedent for other nations being pressured to do so. Asking Iran to do this while ignoring Israel's own status is hypocritical and should not be tolerated.

Israel must stop bombing Gaza. These random attacks are only making matters worse. If they do not, America should stop all weapons sales without delay. Nations like Israel who refuse to be accountable for their own actions should not be allowed to purchase any U.S. weapons period.

Finally, Israel must either acknowledge that it must spread true democracy by bringing in and assimilating all Palestinians including refugees in both the West Bank and Gaza. If this is not acceptable, the occupation of the West Bank and the cordoning of Gaza should cease immediately. Palestinians too deserve to build their own state and be free. To date, there is not a single sign that Israel is willing to allow this to happen.

These few steps are a beginning. As Israel reaches its prime, it, of all nations, should strive to become a country that never allows the degradation of others and is committed to using its wealth and power, like an adult, responsibly.

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Patricia DeGennaro is an assistant professor at New York University’s Center for Global Affairs and a senior fellow at the World Policy Institute in New York.

Gates to assure South Korea

By JOHN BANUSIEWICZ
American Forces Press Service

SINGAPORE - Defense Secretary Robert Gates said today he'll provide assurances during the "Shangri-La Dialogue" Asia security summit of the U.S. commitment to help South Korea and other Pacific nations deal with continued provocation from North Korea.

Speaking with reporters traveling with him shortly before landing here for his fourth Shangri-La Dialogue as defense secretary, Gates noted the March 26 sinking of the frigate Cheonan, which killed 46 South Korean sailors.

"An important element this time will be to reassure the South Koreans of our support as they face these provocations and a [North Korea] that seems even more unpredictable than usual," he said.

The conference also provides a chance to touch base with other partner countries of growing importance, Gates said, adding that he's also looking forward to a second annual trilateral meeting June 5 with his South Korean and Japanese counterparts.

"I think we all have a lot to talk about at this point," he said.

The secretary's schedule for tomorrow includes bilateral meetings with his Indonesian, Vietnamese and South Korean counterparts and India's national security adviser. He'll also meet less formally tomorrow with New Zealand's defense minister.

On June 5, Gates will deliver a speech at the conference's first plenary session. Later, he'll meet informally with Mongolia's defense minister, and in addition to the trilateral meeting with Japan and South Korea, he'll have a bilateral meeting with Singapore's defense minister and meet with Singapore's president afterward.

The secretary said the Shangri-La Dialogue, which is hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies, and similar opportunities for partner nations to get together aren't intended to reach concrete solutions to specific problems.

"I think these meetings are more about getting a deeper understanding of positions of other countries and their thinking on these issues," he said. The time pressures and relatively short length of such meetings, he explained, don't allow for protracted negotiations or getting into the details of problems that concern the participating nations. Rather, he added, the meetings help in providing a framework for solving problems as the nations involved share their positions.

In addition, he said, the forming and strengthening of personal relationships at such conferences is beneficial.

"I think you establish the kind of personal relationships that then allow you to pick up the phone, or when you have a bilateral meeting in Washington or in a capital, that allow you to address these problems more effectively," Gates said.

Gates noted that his presence in Singapore is an important signal to regional allies.

Baseball's disgraceful call

By ROBERT GARCIA
Paltalk News Network Contributor

I always thought Bud Selig was the single worst commissioner in the history of baseball and now it’s official. His stubborn refusal to entertain the expansion of instant replay in the sport is now making baseball look extremely foolish.

By now, you have probably heard about the blown call by first base umpire Jim Joyce last night that cost Detroit Tiger pitcher Armando Galarraga a place in baseball history. It just can’t get worse than this for an umpire or for the game; to blow a call on the 27th out that would have given the young man a perfect game…and baseball, its first season ever with three perfect gems.

Jim Joyce is not to blame. He is an experienced 21-year umpiring veteran and one of the best in the business. He blew it because he’s human. A more heart-rending mea culpa will never be heard. He apologized directly to Galarraga following the game after he’d seen the replay. There was a hug involved. He cried in an interview saying he felt so bad that he had deprived the kid of a perfect game.

Even Detroit Manager, Jim Leyland, after going nuts on the field after the contest, seemed to undergo a change of heart later when he said Joyce was a good ump who just missed a call.

So why isn’t there instant replay in baseball other than for home run calls? There’s always been the “purist” argument; that the game’s events have always been decided by the umps and that humanity and it’s occasional failings are just part of the sport. Rather quaint, I’d say.

The real reason for limited instant replay is the insane concern the sport has had for years about the length of its games; that instant replay would just drag things out too long. I’ve never understood why there’s a problem with long baseball games. Baseball’s powers-that-be seem to be perpetually paranoid that their sport isn’t fast or exciting enough. Which shows how fundamentally they misunderstand their own sport.

Baseball is what it is. Sometime it’s fast, sometimes it’s as lethargic as a slow, humid summer day. That’s part of the charm. It’s three hours of mostly slow, strategic ritual interspersed with exhilarating moments of breathtaking action.

Baseball should be willing to wait a few minutes while the umps take a look at a controversial call on a replay. Everyone, except the record books and the box scores, knows Armando Galarraga threw a perfect game last night. You cannot deny the truth you see with your own eyes.

Leave it to Bud Selig and his crony owners to cripple the sport into making it accept a lie as reality; that Cleveland’s Jason Donald was safe at first base on the evening of June 2nd, 2010 and that a 28-year old Venezuelan pitcher for the Detroit Tigers did not achieve perfection.

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Robert Garcia blogs at http://garciamedialife.com/

Will the Justice Department move to block Arizona's new immigration law?

By ERIN ROSA
Media Consortium

Over Memorial Day weekend, 10s of thousands of people marched in Phoenix to protest SB1070, a law that requires immigrants to carry papers at all times and makes it possible for any police officer to detain on suspicion of immigration status alone.

At RaceWire, Jorge Rivas reports that “an official crowd estimate was not available for Saturday’s SB1070 protest,” but that “officials overheard on the police scanner estimated the crowd at about 30,000.” Marchers also demanded that President Obama nullify SB1070 by means of a legal challenge from the Justice Department.

Phoenix has become well-known for its anti-immigrant hysteria. The city is part of Maricopa County, home to Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is being sued by the American Civil Liberties Union for racial profiling after targeting Latino neighborhoods and work sites for raids. The sheriff has also garnered addition civil rights lawsuits and a pending investigation by the Justice Department relating to civil liberties violations in Arpaio’s “tent city” jail.

Meanwhile, the fate of a comprehensive immigration reform bill is up in the air. The U.S. Senate is balking at the issue, even though reform proponents continue to participate in civil disobedience actions and marches.

But there may be hope. Jessica Pieklo at Care2 writes that “It is becoming clearer and clearer that the only resolution to this issue will be a federal-state showdown, reminiscent of the ordered desegretation of the South.” This week, unidentified Justice Department officials traveled to Phoenix to discuss SB1070, which be enforced on July 29th. They came to no consensus.

In response to the number of anticipated legal challenges against SB1070, not to mention mounting national pressure, Eric Lach reports for TPM Live Wire that Gov. Jan Brewer will “have outside counsel defend the state against legal challenges to the laws — not the state’s Attorney General Terry Goddard, a Democrat and one of Brewer’s opponents in Arizona’s gubernatorial race.” The announcement came shortly after federal officials traveled to the state to discuss SB1070.

Back at Care2, Pieklo also notes that SB1070 has polarized Arizona’s law enforcement community, with “Sheriff Joe Arpaio and some associations representing rank-and-file officers supporting it while a number of police chiefs have expressed growing unease with the law and see it as a means of driving a wedge between law enforcement and the Latino community, which represents approximately one in three legal Arizona residents.”

The U.S. Senate has been notably absent from the immigration reform debate. Even though a reform proposal is already on the House floor, if the Senate doesn’t introduce a bill soon, immigration reform will likely fail this year. Despite two separate proposed drafts of plans for a bill in the Senate, nothing has been introduced officially. Even if a bill is introduced, the Senate still needs time to debate it, which makes for an uneasy race against the clock.

AlterNet reporter Michele Waslin examines the how the immigration issue has influenced recent electoral primaries. “For the last several years Congress has failed come up with a solution, despite the evidence that this is an important issue to their constituencies,” Waslin writes.

“Because Congress hasn’t acted and the problem isn’t resolving itself, some states and localities have taken action—some out of a genuine desire to fix the problem, and others to score political points. The newly passed law in Arizona and the various copycats are evidence that the states are not backing down.”

Currently, the chances that the Senate will have the gumption to take on a reform bill appear bleak, especially with a Congressional election in November.

Meanwhile, the White House’s decision to send 1,200 troops to the U.S.-Mexico border has drawn sharp criticism from border communities in Texas. Hidalgo Mayor John David Franz, who represents roughly 7,000 constituents along the Rio Grande, lobbied against the troop deployment.

“Before Congress throws more money at the border, we’re asking them to take a step back and assess whether it’s working first,” Franz said in an interview with The Texas Observer. “We want common sense to rule. We don’t want wasteful spending, and we don’t need any more walls.”