Can Clean Insurance Fend Off Global Warming?

By Dean Baker
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Wednesday 09 August 2006

Al Gore's new film, "An Inconvenient Truth," has helped to focus public attention on the danger of global warming. It is good news that more people are now aware of the problem, but the real question is what are we going to do about it?

Well, if Gore produces a sequel, the hero could be a car insurance salesperson. To stop global warming, we will have to radically reduce our consumption of fossil fuels. This will not be easy, but there are some easy places to start, and car insurance tops the list.

The basic story is simple. People currently buy car insurance on an "all you can eat" basis. No matter how much you drive, you pay pretty much the same amount for your auto insurance. (Some insurers offer modest low mileage discounts, but these discounts are generally small relative to the cost of the policy.) Therefore, drivers have little incentive to take into account the cost of their insurance when they decide whether to drive their car.

In fact, the risk of an accident does increase if people drive more miles. This means that insurance would more accurately reflect risk, if the price of an insurance policy were proportional to the number of miles driven. In other words, if you drive twice as many miles, you pay twice as much for insurance. Switching from the current "all you can eat" insurance pricing to a pay-by-the-mile system would also have the advantage that it would give people an incentive to avoid driving.

The arithmetic is straightforward. The average insurance policy costs just under $1,000 a year, and the average car is driven close to 10,000 miles a year. This would translate into a pay-by-the-mile fee of 10 cents a mile. This is the amount that drivers would save by not driving. For example, a worker living in the suburbs who could avoid a 50 mile round-trip commute by car-pooling would save $5 for every day that she didn't drive.

Savings of this sort would likely have a considerable impact on driving. If an average car gets 20 miles a gallon, a 10 cent a mile insurance charge would have the same impact on driving as a $2.00 a gallon gas tax. The big difference in this story is that pay-by-the-mile insurance doesn't raise insurance costs on average at all. In fact, people will save money if they are low mileage drivers, and everyone will be able to save money if they can find ways to drive less. This sort of "clean insurance" policy would seem to be a relatively painless way of bringing about large reductions in greenhouse gas emissions.

The switch to pay-by-the-mile insurance will be somewhat more complicated than I just described. It would be important to preserve differential pricing based on driving history - a wreck-prone teenager would pay a higher per mile charge than a parent with a perfect driving record - and the accident risk in rural areas is much lower per mile than in inner cities. But these issues can be resolved. The key point is that clean insurance presents an opportunity to bring about large reductions in driving, without any increase whatsoever in average costs.

In fact, the shift to pay-by-the-mile insurance presents extraordinary political opportunities, since insurance is regulated at the state level. It is not necessary to fight for years to get Congress to act, states can move one at a time. State governments could mandate a shift to pay-by-the-mile policies, or more likely provide a modest tax credit to kick start the switchover, as Oregon has already done. They could also assist with enforcement, for example by requiring mandatory odometer readings at annual car inspections. These mileage numbers would in turn be reported to the insurer.

State governments could also attempt to amplify the effect of pay-by-the-mile policies by assessing car registration fees to a pay-by-the mile basis. If the annual registration fee is $100, this can be switched over to a fee of 1 cent a mile. This would give people even more incentive to reduce their driving.

Stopping global warming and reversing the effects of past emissions of greenhouse gases will require massive changes in the way that the country and the world consume energy. Many of these changes are likely to be quite difficult. However, changing the way we price insurance should be a very simple first step. There are no obvious losers in this story, and the planet could be a big winner.

Dean Baker is the co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR). He is the author The Conservative Nanny State: How the Wealthy Use the Government to Stay Rich and Get Richer (www.conservativenannystate.org). He also has a blog, "Beat the Press," where he discusses the media's coverage of economic issues. You can find it at The American Prospect's web site www.prospect.org/deanbaker/.

ECOLOGY

CLIMATE CHANGE ENDANGERS NATIONAL PARKS

REUTERS - Global warming puts 12 of the most famous U.S. national parks
at risk, environmentalists said on Tuesday, conjuring up visions of
Glacier National Park without glaciers and Yellowstone Park without
grizzly bears. All 12 parks are located in the American West, where
temperatures have risen twice as fast as in the rest of the United
States over the last 50 years, said Theo Spencer of the Natural
Resources Defense Council.

"Rising temperatures, drought, wildfires and diminished snowfalls
endanger wildlife and threaten hiking, fishing and other recreational
activities" in the parks, Spencer said in a telephone news conference.
"Imagine Glacier Park without glaciers or Yellowstone without any
grizzly bears."

http://www.rawstory.com/showoutarticle.php?src=http%3A%2F%2Freuters.
myway.com%2Farticle%2F20060725%2F2006-07-25T195143Z_01_N25190619
_RTRIDST_0_NEWS-ENVIRONMENT-PARKS-DC.html


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VENEZUELA TO PLANT 100 MILLION TREES

HUMBERTO MARQUEZ, INTER PRESS SERVICE - Venezuela has launched a
five-year reforestation project for Orinoco headwaters and tributary
rivers in which more than 900 conservation committees and students from
more than 100 schools will help plant 100 million trees in a
150,000-hectare area. "Campesinos who used to clear land for crops or
cow pasture are now turning to agro-forestry, which is more profitable
and better for the local environment," Miguel Rodriguez, vice minister
of environmental conservation, told Tierramerica.

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=34123

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SOLAR POWERED TRASH COMPACTORS

MATT VISER, BOSTON GLOBE - They're boxy and green and, at first glance,
don't even look like garbage cans; as Mayor Thomas M. Menino
demonstrated their use yesterday, some people downtown mistook them for
mail drops or traffic-light switch boxes. They are Menino's latest idea
for keeping the city litter-free: solar-powered, self-compacting trash
receptacles. Delivering a rant about overstuffed trash cans, while
trying to scrape gum off the bottom of his shoe at a Downtown Crossing
unveiling, Menino described the virtues of the new devices. They need
emptying only once or twice a day, not the 15 or more sanitation worker
visits required by some downtown trash cans. They don't spill. They
smell less. And, they hold some 150 gallons of trash, about five times
more than a standard city receptacle. Developed by a Jamaica Plain
inventor, they are powered by photoelectric panels, which supply power
to motor-driven compactors inside. Workers extract neat, 40-pound trash
bricks instead of trying to manhandle the messy contents of an
overflowing can. The city has placed 50 of the $4,300 machines in
neighborhoods and hopes to buy more as it gauges how much it can save in
labor costs.

The 4-foot-tall containers announce "TRASH" in four places and feature
several images of a person tossing an item into a can. Even so, some
passersby cast quizzical looks yesterday at the machines, which could
easily be mistaken for drop boxes for library books or postal packages.

"We don't want people putting their tax forms in there," joked Timothy
McCarthy, an aide to the commissioner of public works.

http://www.boston.com/news/local/massachusetts/articles/2006/07/26/
solar_power_compactors_press_the_mess_in_boston/

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NORMALLY REGIONAL HEAT WAVE & DROUGHT NOW GLOBAL

TIMES, UK - Hot, arid weather is afflicting millions in America and in
dozens of countries across Europe and parts of east Asia. The phenomenon
has surprised meteorologists who are used to seeing drought as a
regional, not global, problem. This weekend they said early analysis of
the hot weather, together with the size of the areas affected, suggested
it was linked to global climate change.

"Greenhouse gas emissions raise the likelihood of heatwaves like this
one," said Dave Griggs, a Met Office representative on the Joint
Scientific Committee for the World Climate Research Programme. "By 2040
this will be just an average summer and by 2060 it will be a relatively
cool one." . . .

In California the temperature in Death Valley reached 56.5C and in many
west coast towns it exceeded 40C. An estimated 130 people have been
killed by the heat and demand for power to run air-conditioning
overloaded power stations, leaving some areas without electricity for up
to three days. In South America, mid-winter temperatures in Uruguay,
Argentina, Chile and Brazil are up to 7C higher than average. The
accompanying drought has reduced the giant Iguazu falls on the
Brazil-Argentina border to a trickle.

Temperatures are averaging 7C higher than usual across southern England
and Scotland. Casualties are expected: a similar hot spell in August
2003 caused 2,071 deaths, according to estimates by the Office for
National Statistics.

Even Mediterranean countries were caught unawares. Last week Spain and
France, hit by temperatures 7-9C above average, had to shut down nuclear
power stations as the rivers supplying water for cooling became too
warm.

Pakistan, Bangladesh and southern India hit 3C above normal and much of
central China was up by 5C. A drought, the worst for 60 years, is
affecting the Chongqing region, leaving 2m short of water.

The most comfortable places, at least in terms of temperature, were
western Russia, North Korea, Siberia and Japan, which were 3C cooler
than usual.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2087-2291760,00.html

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AMAZON RAINFOREST ON BRINK OF BECOMING DESERT; WOULD BE A GLOBAL
DISASTER

INDEPENDENT, UK - The vast Amazon rainforest is on the brink of being
turned into desert, with catastrophic consequences for the world's
climate, alarming research suggests. And the process, which would be
irreversible, could begin as early as next year. Studies by the
blue-chip Woods Hole Research Centre, carried out in Amazonia, have
concluded that the forest cannot withstand more than two consecutive
years of drought without breaking down.

Scientists say that this would spread drought into the northern
hemisphere, including Britain, and could massively accelerate global
warming with incalculable consequences, spinning out of control, a
process that might end in the world becoming uninhabitable.

http://www.heatisonline.org/contentserver/objecthandlers/index.cfm?id=6016&method=full

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60% OF NATION SUFFERS FROM DROUGHT

JAMES MACPHERSON, ASSOCIATED PRESS - More than 60 percent of the United
States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from
Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota,
Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the
National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at
Lincoln

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060729/ap_on_re_us/northern_plains_drought;_ylt=
AmllFxv6d185TVxrY4zMZzADW7oF;_ylu=X3oDMTBhZDhxNDFzBHNlYwNtZW5ld3M

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DROUGHT REVEALS WEAKNESS OF NUCLEAR POWER

JULIO GODOY, ONE WORLD NET - The extreme hot summer in Europe is
restricting nuclear energy generation and showing up the limits of
nuclear power, leading environmental activists and scientists say. The
heat wave since mid-June has led authorities in France, Germany, Spain
and elsewhere in Europe to override their own environmental norms on the
maximum temperature of water drained from the plants' cooling systems.
The French government announced July 24 that nuclear power plants
situated along rivers will be allowed to drain hot water into rivers at
higher temperature. The measure is intended "to guarantee the provision
of electricity for the country," according to an official note. France
has 58 nuclear power plants, which produce almost 80 percent of
electricity generated in the country. Of these, 37 are situated near
rivers, and use them as outlet for water from their cooling systems. The
drought accompanying the hot summer has reduced the volume of water in
the rivers, and might force some power plants to shut down.

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines06/0728-06.htm

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TAX DOLLARS BEING USED TO FUND ANTI-ECOLOGY PROPAGANDA

PROGRESS REPORT - Corporations from a variety of industries are funding
a coordinated propaganda blitz attacking global warming science. Some of
the details were revealed in a memo by the Intermountain Rural Electric
Association, a small electric cooperative in Colorado that purchases
electricity from coal-based power plants, distributed "to the more than
900 fellow members of the National Rural Electric Cooperative
Association." The memo, written by IREA general manager Stanley
Lewandowski, expresses fear that government action on global warming
could hurt the profitability of coal-based power generation. In
response, Lewandowski says it is necessary to "support the scientific
community that is willing to stand up against the alarmists." (Such
people are also referred to in the memo as those "whose true motivation
is to stop growth, develop renewable resources [and] discontinue the use
of fossil fuels, especially coal.")

The memo acknowledges that almost all the doubters have no "involvement
in climatology." Their solution is to lavish money on the one
climatologist who they are confident will do their bidding: Pat
Michaels. The memo reveals that the small Colorado cooperative has paid
Michaels $100,000 this year and is aggressively seeking more donations
for Michaels from other electric cooperatives.

Pat Michaels is a climate scientist based at the University of Virgina.
John P. Holdren, a Harvard scientist, told the Senate Republican Policy
Committee that Michaels has "published little if anything of distinction
in the professional literature, being noted rather for his shrill op-ed
pieces and indiscriminate denunciations of virtually every finding of
mainstream climate science." In 2003, Michaels "proved" that global
warming was mostly hype by mixing up degrees and radians. In 2004,
Michaels told Business Week, "We know how much the planet is going to
warm. It is a small amount, and we can't do anything about it." This
year, Michaels completely misrepresented a study by University of
Missouri Professor Curt Davis to falsely claim that Antarctica has been
gaining ice in recent years.

Michaels' views about climate change are at odds with the conclusion of
the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a rigorously
peer-reviewed report that involved thousands of scientists from over 100
countries, which concluded, "There is new and stronger evidence that
most of the warming observed over the last 50 years is attributable to
human activities" and that, absent aggressive mitigation efforts, future
warming will be significant and dangerous.

Tax dollars are paying for this propaganda attacking global warming
science. The Intermountain Rural Electric Association, like all electric
cooperatives, is federally-subsidized. So when the IREA gives $100,000
to Pat Michaels, some of that comes from federal taxpayers.

In his memo, Lewandowski also described larger efforts to distort global
warming science. According to Lewandowski, "Koch Industries is working
with other large corporations including AEP and the Southern Company on
possibly financing a film that would counteract An Inconvenient Truth."
According to the memo, Koch Industries will also finance a coalition
attacking global warming science "administered by the National
Association of Manufactures."

The memo also stresses the importance of the Competitive Enterprise
Institute, an anti-global warming science "think tank" heavily funded by
Exxon Mobil and other corporations, in these efforts. Lewandowski notes
that Michaels, CEI, and Koch meet regularly to "discuss their
activities."

http://www.americanprogressaction.org/site/apps/nl/content2.asp?c=
klLWJcP7H&b=1331575&ct=2846581

Vietnam: The War Crimes Files

06 August 2006: Files produced by a Pentagon task force in the
early 1970s, that shows that confirmed atrocities by U.S. forces in
Vietnam were more extensive than was previously known. The
documents detail 320 alleged incidents that were substantiated by
Army investigators. The records contain material related to more
than 500 alleged atrocities that Army investigators could not prove
or that they discounted. The 1968 My Lai massacre was not part of
this total. These files were declassified in in 1994.

Seven massacres from 1967 through 1971 in which at least 137
civilians died by US troops in Vietnam.
Seventy-eight other attacks on noncombatants in which at least
57 were killed, 56 wounded and 15 sexually assaulted.

One hundred forty-one instances in which U.S. soldiers tortured
civilian detainees or prisoners of war with fists, sticks, bats,
water or electric shock.

Investigators determined that evidence against 203 soldiers accused
of harming Vietnamese civilians or prisoners was strong enough to
warrant formal charges. These "founded" cases were referred to the
soldiers' superiors for action.

Ultimately, 57 of them were court-martialed and just 23
convicted, the records show. Fourteen received prison sentences
ranging from six months to 20 years, but most won significant
reductions on appeal. In many cases, suspects had left the
service. The Army did not attempt to pursue them, despite a written
opinion in 1969 by Robert E. Jordan III, then the Army's general
counsel, that ex-soldiers could be prosecuted through courts-
martial, military commissions or tribunals.

Abuses were not confined to a few rogue units, a Times review of the
files found. They were uncovered in every Army division that
operated in Vietnam.

Retired Brig. Gen. John H. Johns, 78, a Vietnam veteran who served
on the task force, says he once supported keeping the records secret
but now believes they deserve wide attention in light of alleged
attacks on civilians and abuse of prisoners in Iraq.

Top Army brass should have demanded a tougher response, says
retired Lt. Gen. Robert G. Gard, the highest-ranking member of the
Pentagon task force in the early 1970s.

The Times examined most of the files at the National Archives in
College Park, Md. and obtained copies of about 3,000 pages - about a
third of the total - before government officials removed them from
the public shelves, saying they contained personal information that
was exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

Comment: There is no statute of limitation for war crimes.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080606Y.shtml

US military is poisoning our citizens

The US military is poisoning the very citizens it is supposed to
protect in the name of national security.

04 August 2006: It wasn't terrorists who laced our cups and
bathtubs with these poisons - it was private contractors employed by
the US Air Force. Hughes Missiles Systems Co. (which was purchased
by the Raytheon Corp. in 1997) worked at the Tucson International
Airport, spilling chemicals off the runway and letting them sink
into the soil of a city entirely dependent on its underground water
supply.

Tucson neighborhood'

s public water supply was one of thousands
nationwide contaminated with TCE. To this day, some area wells
remain polluted, and most estimate cleanup will not be completed for
another 20 to 50 years. Meanwhile, residents have the small
consolation their water supply is being monitored.

Last week a study was released by the National Academy of
Sciences, raising already substantial concerns about the cancer
risks and other health hazards associated with exposure to TCE, a
solvent used in adhesives, paint and spot removers that is
also "widely used to remove grease from metal parts in airplanes and
to clean fuel lines at missile sites." The report confirms a 2001
EPA document linking TCE to kidney cancer, reproductive and
developmental damage, impaired neurological function, autoimmune
disease and other ailments in human beings. TCE contamination is
disturbingly common, especially in the air, soil and water around
military bases.

Currently the EPA limits TCE to no more than five parts per billion
parts of drinking water. Stricter regulation could force the
government to require more thorough cleanups at military and other
sites and lower the number to one part per billion.
The EPA found it impossible to take such action back in 2001,
because, according to the Associated Press, the agency was "blocked
from elevating its assessment of the chemical's risks in people by
the Defense Department, Energy Department and NASA, all of which
have sites polluted with it." The Bush administration charged the
EPA with inflating TCE's risks and asked the National Academy to
investigate. Contrary to the administration's hopes, however, the
committee's report has reinforced previous findings, which
determined TCE to be anywhere from two to 40 times more carcinogenic
than previously believed.

The Pentagon is responsible for over 1,400 properties contaminated
with TCE. The Defense Department is willing to poison the very
citizens it is supposed to protect in the cause of national security.

http://www.truthout.org/docs_2006/080406E.shtml

Unions Say EPA Bends to Political Pressure

02 August 2006: Washington - Unions representing thousands of staff
scientists at the Environmental Protection Agency say the agency is
bending to political pressure and ignoring sound science in allowing
a group of toxic chemicals to be used in agricultural pesticides.
Leaders of several federal employee unions say the chemicals
pose serious risks for fetuses, pregnant women, young children and
the elderly through food and exposure and should not be approved by
Thursday, the Congressional deadline for completing an agency review
of thousands of substances in pesticides.

"We are concerned that the agency has not, consistent with its
principles of scientific integrity and sound science, adequately
summarized or drawn conclusions" about the chemicals, union leaders
told the agency administrator, Stephen L. Johnson, in a newly
disclosed letter sent May 25.

Another senior EPA scientist who also spoke on condition of
anonymity said the agency often ignored independent scientific
studies that contradicted the industry-subsidized study that
supported many regulations on pesticides.
She cited a North Carolina researcher who found that
chlorpyrifos might have a more damaging effect on developing brains
than other studies. "What we heard back from headquarters was, 'No,
he's wrong,' " the scientist said.

"Chemicals like these can be harmful to children in ways we
don't understand yet," the scientist said. "If there is
disagreement, doesn't that cry out for further research?"

Nine union leaders representing 9,000 agency scientists and other
personnel around the country signed the letter. It was given to The
New York Times on Tuesday by environmental advocacy organizations
working on their behalf in the hope that it would arouse public
outcry and increase pressure on the agency to withdraw the chemicals
from use.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/02/washington/02pest.html?
ex=1312171200&en=f9e53951d77a186e&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss

A Rallying Cry for Democratic Populism

31 July 2006 Sen. Byron L. Dorgan (D-N.D.) urges Democrats to
take on Republicans in just that way in his new book, "Take This Job
and Ship It: How Corporate Greed and Brain Dead Politics Are Selling
Out America."

Democrats are deeply divided, of course, about whether to adopt his
advice. Many prefer pro-business, pro-trade positions that
distinguish them a little from the GOP, but not a lot. A growing
number of others, however, are in Dorgan's radical camp. They think
the way to finally win is to just say "No."

He recommends a litany of solutions, including repealing a tax break
that encourages the outsourcing of jobs overseas, prohibiting
imports from countries that abuse their workers and setting a
ceiling on our trade deficits. He would stop approving free-trade
agreements of the kind that have flowed through Congress in recent
years. To Dorgan, big corporations are the villains and labor
unions the saviors.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-
dyn/content/article/2006/07/30/AR2006073000552.html

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HITLER BECOMES FÜHRER:

There are soem historic events that must be recognized even though there may be belated recognition. I feel that this is one of them.......................PEACE.......................Scott



HITLER BECOMES FÜHRER:
August 2, 1934

With the death of German President Paul von Hindenburg, Chancellor Adolf Hitler
becomes absolute dictator of Germany under the title of Führer, or "Leader." The
German army took an oath of allegiance to its new commander-in-chief, and the
last remnants of Germany's democratic government were dismantled to make way for
Hitler's Third Reich. The Führer assured his people that the Third Reich would
last for a thousand years, but Nazi Germany collapsed just 11 years later.Adolf
Hitler was born in Braunau am Inn, Austria, in 1889. As a young man he aspired
to be a painter, but he received little public recognition and lived in poverty
in Vienna. Of German descent, he came to detest Austria as a "patchwork nation"
of various ethnic groups, and in 1913 he moved to the German city of Munich in
the state of Bavaria. After a year of drifting, he found direction as a German
soldier in World War I, and was decorated for his bravery on the battlefield. He
was in a military hospital in 1918, recovering from a mustard gas attack that
left him temporarily blind, when Germany surrendered.He was appalled by
Germany's defeat, which he blamed on "enemies within"--chiefly German communists
and Jews--and was enraged by the punitive peace settlement forced on Germany by
the victorious Allies. He remained in the German army after the war, and as an
intelligence agent was ordered to report on subversive activities in Munich's
political parties. It was in this capacity that he joined the tiny German
Workers' Party, made up of embittered army veterans, as the group's seventh
member. Hitler was put in charge of the party's propaganda, and in 1920 he
assumed leadership of the organization, changing its name to
Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei (National Socialist German
Workers' party), which was abbreviated to Nazi.The party's socialist orientation
was little more than a ploy to attract working-class support; in fact, Hitler
was fiercely right-wing. But the economic views of the party were overshadowed
by the Nazis' fervent nationalism, which blamed Jews, communists, the Treaty of
Versailles, and Germany's ineffectual democratic government for the country's
devastated economy. In the early 1920s, the ranks of Hitler's Bavarian-based
Nazi party swelled with resentful Germans. A paramilitary organization, the
Sturmabteilung (SA), was formed to protect the Nazis and intimidate their
political opponents, and the party adopted the ancient symbol of the swastika as
its emblem.In November 1923, after the German government resumed the payment of
war reparations to Britain and France, the Nazis launched the "Beer Hall
Putsch"--an attempt at seizing the German government by force. Hitler hoped that
his nationalist revolution in Bavaria would spread to the dissatisfied German
army, which in turn would bring down the government in Berlin. However, the
uprising was immediately suppressed, and Hitler was arrested and sentenced to
five years in prison for treason.Imprisoned in Landsberg fortress, he spent his
time there dictating his autobiography, Mein Kampf (My Struggle), a bitter and
rambling narrative in which he sharpened his anti-Semitic and anti-Marxist
beliefs and laid out his plans for Nazi conquest. In the work, published in a
series of volumes, he developed his concept of the Fúhrer as an absolute
dictator who would bring unity to German people and lead the "Aryan race" to
world supremacy.Political pressure from the Nazis forced the Bavarian government
to commute Hitler's sentence, and he was released after nine months. However,
Hitler emerged to find his party disintegrated. An upturn in the economy further
reduced popular support of the party, and for several years Hitler was forbidden
to make speeches in Bavaria and elsewhere in Germany.The onset of the Great
Depression in 1929 brought a new opportunity for the Nazis to solidify their
power. Hitler and his followers set about reorganizing the party as a fanatical
mass movement, and won financial backing from business leaders, for whom the
Nazis promised an end to labor agitation. In the 1930 election, the Nazis won
six million votes, making the party the second largest in Germany. Two years
later, Hitler challenged Paul von Hindenburg for the presidency, but the
84-year-old president defeated Hitler with the support of an anti-Nazi
coalition.Although the Nazis suffered a decline in votes during the November
1932 election, Hindenburg agreed to make Hitler chancellor in January 1933,
hoping that Hitler could be brought to heel as a member of his cabinet. However,
Hindenburg underestimated Hitler's political audacity, and one of the new
chancellor's first acts was to exploit the burning of the Reichstag (parliament)
building as a pretext for calling general elections. The police under Nazi
Hermann Goering suppressed much of the party's opposition before the election,
and the Nazis won a bare majority. Shortly after, Hitler took on dictatorial
power through the Enabling Acts.Chancellor Hitler immediately set about
arresting and executing political opponents, and even purged the Nazis' own SA
paramilitary organization in a successful effort to win support from the German
army. With the death of President Hindenburg on August 2, 1934, Hitler united
the chancellorship and presidency under the new title of Führer. As the economy
improved, popular support for Hitler's regime became strong, and a cult of
Führer worship was propagated by Hitler's capable propagandists.German
remilitarization and state-sanctioned anti-Semitism drew criticism from abroad,
but the foreign powers failed to stem the rise of Nazi Germany. In 1938, Hitler
implemented his plans for world domination with the annexation of Austria, and
in 1939 Germany seized all of Czechoslovakia. Hitler's invasion of Poland on
September 1, 1939, finally led to war with Germany and France. In the opening
years of World War II, Hitler's war machine won a series of stunning victories,
conquering the great part of continental Europe. However, the tide turned in
1942 during Germany's disastrous invasion of the USSR.By early 1945, the British
and Americans were closing in on Germany from the west, the Soviets from the
east, and Hitler was holed up in a bunker under the chancellery in Berlin
awaiting defeat. On April 30, with the Soviets less than a mile from his
headquarters, Hitler committed suicide with Eva Braun, his mistress whom he
married the night before.Hitler left Germany devastated and at the mercy of the
Allies, who divided the country and made it a major battlefield of Cold War
conflict. His regime exterminated nearly six millions Jews and an estimated
250,000 Gypsies in the Holocaust, and an indeterminable number of Slavs,
political dissidents, disabled persons, homosexuals, and others deemed
unacceptable by the Nazi regime were systematically eliminated. The war Hitler
unleashed upon Europe took even more lives--close to 20 million people killed in
the USSR alone. Adolf Hitler is reviled as one of history's greatest villains.


NAUTILUS TRAVELS UNDER NORTH POLE:
August 3, 1958

On August 3, 1958, the U.S. nuclear submarine Nautilus accomplishes the first
undersea voyage to the geographic North Pole. The world's first nuclear
submarine, the Nautilus dived at Point Barrow, Alaska, and traveled nearly 1,000
miles under the Arctic ice cap to reach the top of the world. It then steamed on
to Iceland, pioneering a new and shorter route from the Pacific to the Atlantic
and Europe.The USS Nautilus was constructed under the direction of U.S. Navy
Captain Hyman G. Rickover, a brilliant Russian-born engineer who joined the U.S.
atomic program in 1946. In 1947, he was put in charge of the navy's
nuclear-propulsion program and began work on an atomic submarine. Regarded as a
fanatic by his detractors, Rickover succeeded in developing and delivering the
world's first nuclear submarine years ahead of schedule. In 1952, the Nautilus'
keel was laid by President Harry S. Truman, and on January 21, 1954, first lady
Mamie Eisenhower broke a bottle of champagne across its bow as it was launched
into the Thames River at Groton, Connecticut. Commissioned on September 30,
1954, it first ran under nuclear power on the morning of January 17, 1955.Much
larger than the diesel-electric submarines that preceded it, the Nautilus
stretched 319 feet and displaced 3,180 tons. It could remain submerged for
almost unlimited periods because its atomic engine needed no air and only a very
small quantity of nuclear fuel. The uranium-powered nuclear reactor produced
steam that drove propulsion turbines, allowing the Nautilus to travel underwater
at speeds in excess of 20 knots.In its early years of service, the USS Nautilus
broke numerous submarine travel records and on July 23, 1958, departed Pearl
Harbor, Hawaii, on "Operation Northwest Passage"--the first crossing of the
North Pole by submarine. There were 116 men aboard for this historic voyage,
including Commander William R. Anderson, 111 officers and crew, and four
civilian scientists. The Nautilus steamed north through the Bering Strait and
did not surface until it reached Point Barrow, Alaska, in the Beaufort Sea,
though it did send its periscope up once off the Diomedes Islands, between
Alaska and Siberia, to check for radar bearings. On August 1, the submarine left
the north coast of Alaska and dove under the Arctic ice cap.The submarine
traveled at a depth of about 500 feet, and the ice cap above varied in thickness
from 10 to 50 feet, with the midnight sun of the Arctic shining in varying
degrees through the blue ice. At 11:15 p.m. EDT on August 3, 1958, Commander
Anderson announced to his crew: "For the world, our country, and the Navy--the
North Pole." The Nautilus passed under the geographic North Pole without
pausing. The submarine next surfaced in the Greenland Sea between Spitzbergen
and Greenland on August 5. Two days later, it ended its historic journey at
Iceland. For the command during the historic journey, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower decorated Anderson with the Legion of Merit.After a career spanning
25 years and almost 500,000 miles steamed, the Nautilus was decommissioned on
March 3, 1980. Designated a National Historic Landmark in 1982, the world's
first nuclear submarine went on exhibit in 1986 as the Historic Ship Nautilus at
the Submarine Force Museum in Groton, Connecticut.

Nygaard Notes #339

Nygaard Notes
Independent Periodic News and Analysis
Number 339, July 31, 2006

On the Web at http://www.nygaardnotes.org/

******

This Week: Thinking About Wars

1. “Quote” of the Week
2. Off the Front Page: U.S. Violates International Law (Again)
3. Thinking About Wars, and So Forth

******

Greetings,

Last week I said I would apply the “MCD” way of thinking to a range of other issues. So that’s what this issue is all about. It’s just a little thought experiment, but I hope it will stimulate some questioning and some original ideas in some of the readers of the Notes. Let me know if it does!

In solidarity,

Nygaard

******

1.
“Quote” of the Week

Here’s an old story that I first heard many years ago. (It’s not really a “Quote,” but so what?)


Once upon the time there was a small village on the edge of the river. The people there were good and so was life in the village. One day a villager noticed a baby floating down the river. The villager quickly jumped into the river and swam out to save the baby from drowning.

The next day the same villager was walking along the riverbank and noticed two babies in the river. He called for help, and both babies were rescued from the swift waters. And the following day four babies were seen caught in the turbulent current. And then there were eight, and still more.

The villagers organized themselves efficiently. The rescue squads were now snatching many children each day. Groups were trained to give mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. Others prepared formula and provided clothing for the chilled babies. Many were involved in making clothing and knitting blankets. Still others provided foster homes and placement. While not all the babies could be saved, the villagers feel they were doing well to save as many as they could each day.

One day, however, someone raised the question, “But where are all these babies coming from? Who is throwing them into the river? Why? Let's organize a team to go upstream and see who is doing it.” The seeming logic of the community’s leaders countered: “And if we go upstream who will operate rescue operations? We need every concerned person here.”

“But don't you see,'' cried the one lone voice. “If we find who is throwing them in, we can stop the problem and no babies will drown. By going upstream we can eliminate the problem.”

“It's too risky,” replied the leaders.

And so the number of babies who drown increases daily. The number of those saved increases, but the number of those who drown increases even more.

******

2.
Off the Front Page: U.S. Violates International Law (Again)

On July 29th various news agencies reported that the UN Human Rights Committee on Friday called the U.S. an international outlaw. That’s not exactly how they put it, but here’s some of what they did say:

Agence France Presse (AFP) said, “The committee is concerned by credible and uncontested information that the state party [the U.S., that is] has seen fit to engage in the practice of detaining people secretly and in secret places for months and years on end...”

“‘The state party should immediately abolish all secret detention facilities. It should also grant prompt access by the International Committee of the Red Cross to any person detained in connection with an armed conflict,’ said the Committee.”

The Reuters News Service said that “The UN body also expressed concern at the acknowledged past use of interrogation techniques like prolonged stress positions and sleep deprivation that could be seen as torture.”

The call of the Human Rights Committee to immediately abolish all secret detention facilities “echoes a similar demand in May by the UN Committee Against Torture,” said Reuters.

Officials of the U.S. government issued a novel response to the U.N. Committee’s report. They “accused the committee of spending too much time on the United States,” said the Reuters report, which went on to quote U.S. State Department Legal Adviser John Bellinger saying, “We find these conclusions outside the scope of the Committee's mandate and an unfortunate diversion of the Committee's attention.” In other words, the U.S. will ignore international law, as usual when it is inconvenient.

This attitude and pattern of behavior did not escape the notice of the Rights Committee. The AFP reported that the UN’s 18 legal experts, in their report, “listed a wide range of concerns relating to the conduct of US President George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’, but also about the human rights situations in the United States.”

“[Bush administration officials] were isolated in their interpretation of international law and even their concept of domestic law does not match that of the Supreme Court,” said the Human Rights Committee's chairwoman.

I saw one brief report on all this in the U.S. press, in the form of a few paragraphs on page 4 of the July 29th New York Times. I don’t think it ran anywhere else in the U.S., although it was widely covered overseas. Seems like Front Page News to me.

******

3.
Thinking About Wars, and So Forth

In Nygaard Notes #146 I published an essay entitled “Fetishes, Cults, and Infinite Possibilities.” (That’s one of my favorite titles of all time, by the way.) In it, I spoke of what I called the Three Pillars of American ideology: Individualism, Dualism, and Fetishized Freedom. In the essay, I described each pillar and attempted to explain how the three, working together, function to limit our humanity. You can read the whole essay online at www.nygaardnotes.org/issues/nn0146.html
“Carried to their logical conclusions,” I said, “these intertwined ways of thinking can be expected to lead us to exactly where we are.”

Where we are is in a state of perpetual war. War on Terror, War on crime, War on drugs, War on Immigrants, War on Cancer, War in Iraq, and now War in Lebanon and Gaza. How did we get here? How are these “wars” connected?

Part of the answer is, I think, found in an understanding of the Three Pillars. But it also occurred to me as I was writing last week’s essay “Lebanon: Root Causes and Unconventional Thinking,” that there is a way of thinking that leads us repeatedly down the same path. I think this way of thinking actually forms the basis for the Three Pillars. As I said last week, that way of thinking tends to be Dualistic, Simplistic, and Static. I call it DSS.

Also last week I briefly spelled out a different way of thinking that I called MCD. That stands for Multi-faceted, Complex, and Dynamic. I said that if we were to break away from the conventional DSS way of thinking and move toward the MCD way, that would go a long way toward helping us to understand not only the current war in Lebanon, which was last week’s focus, but would also help us understand a whole bunch of other issues.

So, this week, the plan is to try to take a bunch of issues and try to apply the MCD way of thinking to them, and see what happens. As with last week’s summary, this smorgasbord will be so brief that it risks oversimplifying these complex issues. But the point here is to hint at a different way of thinking, not to solve all the world’s problems. So, adjust your expectations accordingly. Here goes...

Contrasting Two Ways of Thinking

DSS Leads To: THE WAR ON DRUGS. Dualistic: There are drug users and non-drug users. Simplistic: Drugs are bad, and to use them is to abuse them. Static: If we catch and punish enough drug users and dealers, we will win the War on Drugs.
MCD Leads To: AN ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH DRUGS AIMED AT HELPING PEOPLE DEVELOP A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH MOOD-ALTERING CHEMICALS. Multi-faceted: Almost everyone uses drugs of some kind. Complex: People use drugs for all kinds of reasons, and drug use is different from drug abuse. Dynamic: While drug use and abuse have always been with us, and are a part of almost every culture, an ongoing understanding of and attention to the causes of abuse is the best way to reduce the social harm caused by drug abuse. To reduce drug abuse, we need to address BOTH the consequences of abuse and the factors that contribute to it.

DSS Leads To: THE WAR AGAINST TERROR (The WAT?!) Dualistic: There are “Good Guys” and “Bad Guys,” or “us” and “them.” Simplistic: You are either “with us” or “against us.” and one side will win. Static: The Good Guys have to make war until all the Bad Guys are gone, and “terror” is eliminated.
MCD Leads To: AN ACTIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH TERROR AIMED AT PREVENTING HUMAN SUFFERING IN THE SHORT TERM AND ADDRESSING THE CAUSES OVER THE LONG TERM. Multi-faceted: What we call “terror” is perpetrated by a wide range of people, including some people who might be classified as “us.” Complex: While terror is not to be condoned or excused, it can be understood, at least in part. Terror does not arise overnight, and what gives rise to it can be different in different times and in different places. Dynamic: A simple response to a complex problem can give rise to new and different problems, or even make the original problem worse. Actions provoke reactions, and some actions aimed at “eliminating” terror may actually increase it. To rely on a policy of suppression only is like pulling babies out of the river in this week’s “Quote” of the Week. As a current bumper sticker says: “We’re creating enemies faster than we can kill them.”

DSS Leads To: THE WAR ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION. Dualistic: There are legal people, and there are illegal ones. “What part of ‘illegal’ don’t you understand?” Simplistic: If people break the law, they should be sent back where they came from. We need to enforce our borders, and we need barriers and police and military force to keep people out. Static: With proper enforcement, only legal immigrants will come to the U.S.
MCD Leads To: A SEARCH FOR AN ECONOMY THAT WORKS FOR ALL. Multi-faceted: People are people, and we all seek to better our lives in various ways, including migrating to a better place. Complex: People understand their life-enhancement options differently. The decision to cross a border in search of a better life has a thousand reasons behind it. Dynamic: The “enforcement only” approach may reduce the incidence of undocumented entry into the country temporarily, but unless the thousand reasons are addressed, people will find ever-more creative ways to migrate where they want to in order to have a better life, reinforced borders and all.

DSS Leads To: THE WAR ON CANCER. Dualistic: There are good cells and bad cells. Simplistic: We need to make war against the “bad” cells and kill them all. Static: Bad cells dead = Health.
MCD Leads To: A NATIONAL COMMITMENT TO HEALTH AND WELLNESS. Multi-faceted: Human life exists in a continuum of “illness” and “health,” with many cells living and dying all the time. Complex: Cancer, and other diseases, are symptoms of an underlying distress or imbalance, with many causes and many interrelated forces working simultaneously. Dynamic: In order to reduce the chances that cancer or the other diseases will recur, perhaps in more deadly forms, we need to deal with these underlying causes. This will also reduce the numbers of people who come down with these illnesses in the first place.

DSS Leads To: THE WAR ON CRIME. Dualistic: Crimes are committed by “other” people who are “bad” people. “We” are “good” people. Simplistic: Bad people must be imprisoned or killed. If there is an increase in crime, we need more cops to catch and imprison the “bad” people. Static: If we have enough cops, and put away enough “bad” people, we’ll have less crime.
MCD Leads To: CREATIVE ENGAGEMENT WITH ANTI-SOCIAL BEHAVIOR. Multi-faceted: Every society has to deal with behaviors that harm people, or that harm the society itself. We are all capable of committing crimes, given the right set of circumstances. Complex: Real security is the result of a social equilibrium that is based on a general sense of justice and fairness. Locks on our doors are important, but they are not fundamentally what keeps burglars out of our houses. What keeps us safe is a general respect for the social order. There will always be some who don’t respect others, and to deal with those people we will always need police and jails. But that is not “the” answer. Dynamic: There is a connection between economic and social injustice and the crime rate, and people’s respect for the law is always evolving and changing. Our job is to understand that evolution and adapt to it effectively by making the law worthy of respect.

DSS Leads To: THE WAR IN IRAQ. Dualistic: There are “good” countries and “bad” countries. Simplistic: If a country is “bad,” then a “good” country can invade it and make it “good.” Static: Once a country is made “good,” it will stay that way, since everyone agrees with our definition of “good.” Our way leads to “stability.”
MCD Leads To: PEACE. Multi-faceted: There are a lot of countries in the world, and every one is different. Complex: Every country is a mix of “good” and “bad.” Including our own. Dynamic: Everything about a country is constantly changing, including the common understanding of what is “good” and “bad” for that country. The relationship between any country and other countries is always changing, as well. To engage with this ever-changing mix of domestic and international factors requires ongoing dialogue and compromise. Even a war doesn’t settle things; it just changes the things that are unsettled.

So many more things I could talk about! Economic policy, tax cuts, health care, environment, same-sex marriage, abortion, energy policy, Social Security, you-name-it. But this is just a small newsletter, and I think you can get the idea from the few examples given here. Try thinking about the issue of your choice, using the MCD system. See if it works for you.

The point here is not to teach anyone the “correct” way of thinking. Rather, the idea is to suggest that there are different ways of thinking that lead to different understandings. That’s not only a good thing to remember when you are trying to understand a particular issue. It’s also a good thing to remember when someone who is different from you seems to have it “all wrong.” They may just have a different way of thinking.

**********

If you have received this issue of Nygaard Notes from a friend, or by accident, or through some other bizarre quirk of inexplicable fate which leaves you with no useful return address, be aware that you can receive your own free subscription by asking for it in an E-mail sent to Nygaard Notes at Or visit the Nygaard Notes website at http://www.nygaardnotes.org/

I would like to continue to provide this service for free. You could help by making a voluntary contribution (anything you can afford, whether $5.00 or $500.00) You can donate online by going to the Nygaard Notes website at http://www.nygaardnotes.org/ Then just get out your credit card and follow the instructions. Of course, you can always just send a good old check through the mail. Make checks payable to “Nygaard Notes” and send to: Nygaard Notes, P.O. Box 14354, Minneapolis, MN 55414. Thank you!

--
Jeff Nygaard
National Writers Union
Twin Cities Local #13 UAW
Nygaard Notes
http://www.nygaardnotes.org

CLUES THAT YOUR COUNTRY MAY BE TURNING INTO A FASCIST STATE

NOTE: Some of these symptoms are found in non-fascist countries where
they should be treated as serious warning signs. On the other hand,
fascist states - unlike democratic nations - have many, if not all, of
these symptoms:

Your president asserts the right to ignore part or all of laws passed by
the national legislature.

Massive warrantless searches

Your president and other officials regularly lie to you

Fraudulent election counts

Government monitoring of letters, emails, phone calls and checking
accounts

Secret courts

A government subservient to the interests of the country's largest
corporations.

Use of torture on prisoners

Courts that support presidential use of unconstitutional powers

Massive spying on citizens, especially those involved in political
dissent

A government that uses words like democracy, freedom and peace while
engaging in acts dramatically at odds with such words

Government agencies or officials declaring themselves exempt from
portions of the law or constitution

Creation of watchlists, no-fly lists and similar exclusionary documents

National ID cards

Massive use of cameras to spy on citizens

A media supportive of, or obsequious towards, the government in covering
its police state activities

Lack of legal recourse to stop illegal government actions

Prison without trial and arrests without charges

ADDITIONS ARE WELCOME
news@prorev.com

PERMANENT LINK
http://prorev.com/fascisthints.htm


||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
WAR DEPARTMENT
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||

THOSE WITH GREEN CARDS TO BE FINGERPRINTED EACH TIME THEY ENTER OR LEAVE
U.S.

ERIC LIPTON, NY TIMES - The nation's estimated 12 million legal
permanent residents would be subject to fingerprinting every time they
re-entered the United States, under a plan the Homeland Security
Department intends to announce Thursday. The new security checks would
be used at all international airports, seaports and land borders. Even
before the proposal was officially announced, it drew strong opposition
from some immigrant advocates who said it would send the wrong signal to
people who were legally trying to become citizens.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/27/washington/27security.html?ref=us

The Chalabi Factor

By William Rivers Pitt
t r u t h o u t | Perspective

Friday 28 July 2006

Their man - the dissident leader who sat behind the first lady in the president's box during the State of the Union address in which Bush prepared the country for war - appeared to have been working for Iran all along.

- James Bamford, "Iran: The Next War"

Ahmad Chalabi has been many things to many people over the last several years. Officials in Jordan considered him to be a petty criminal, convicting him of 32 counts of bank fraud and sentencing him in absentia to 22 years in prison.

Chalabi was, for a time, the leader of a manufactured dissident group called the Iraqi National Congress, and received millions of American taxpayer dollars thanks to the passage of the Iraqi Liberation Act. This made him a source for New York Times reporter Judy Miller, who used his false information about Iraqi WMD capabilities to frighten the populace into war.

Chalabi enjoyed a short, shining moment in the spotlight during Bush's harrowingly incoherent speech to the United Nations in September of 2003. The occupation was only six months old at that point, and Bush was before that body to try to justify the whole thing. Below him, seated in Iraq's chair as if he were already in power, was Mr. Chalabi. Chalabi also sat beside First Lady Laura Bush during the State of the Union address that propelled America toward the invasion.

For Donald Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney and the masterminds of the Iraq invasion, however, Ahmad Chalabi was the anointed one, a statesman-to-be, the man who would replace Saddam Hussein once they figured out a way to attack and overthrow his regime. Chalabi had been chosen for this position as early as 1997, before this whole mess was anything more than a twinkle in the vice president's eye.

As it turns out, September 11 gave Rumsfeld and Cheney the pretext they required. Once the so-called "cakewalk" of invasion was over, they believed, Chalabi could be installed as the next Iraqi leader and the nation could be happily run by remote control from Washington and Houston.

It didn't quite work out that way.

Chalabi was in the mix, to be sure. He ran for the prime minister's spot and was handily defeated, but resurrected himself long enough to become the oil minister. He was a mover and a shaker, adept at playing both ends against the middle, at one point standing as the avatar of American power and at another fashioning himself as the anti-American savior of Iraqi Shiites.

And then his house got raided, and the whispers began to percolate. Something happened with Iran, something bad, and soon enough it became clear that Chalabi was playing a double game. Rumsfeld's promise to put him in power, and to give him unfettered access to Iraq's vast oil wealth, had not been fulfilled. Chalabi, therefore, switched sides.

Author James Bamford, in a meticulously researched article for Rolling Stone titled "Iran: The Next War," has finally and completely ripped the cover off exactly what Mr. Chalabi was doing while dressed in the clothing of an ally of the Bush administration.

"For years," wrote Bamford, "the National Security Agency had possessed the codes used by Iran to encrypt its diplomatic messages, enabling the U.S. government to eavesdrop on virtually every communication between Tehran and its embassies. After the U.S. invaded Baghdad, the NSA used the codes to listen in on details of Iran's covert operations inside Iraq. But in 2004, the agency intercepted a series of urgent messages from the Iranian embassy in Baghdad. Intelligence officials at the embassy had discovered the massive security breach - tipped off by someone familiar with the U.S. code-breaking operation."

"The blow to intelligence-gathering could not have come at a worse time," continued Bamford. "The Bush administration suspected that the Shiite government in Iran was aiding Shiite insurgents in Iraq, who were killing U.S. soldiers. The administration was also worried that Tehran was secretly developing nuclear weapons. Now, crucial intelligence that might have shed light on those operations had been cut off, potentially endangering American lives."

"On May 20th," continued Bamford, "shortly after the discovery of the leak, Iraqi police backed by American soldiers raided Chalabi's home and offices in Baghdad. The FBI suspected that Chalabi, a Shiite who had a luxurious villa in Tehran and was close to senior Iranian officials, was actually working as a spy for the Shiite government of Iran. Getting the U.S. to invade Iraq was apparently part of a plan to install a pro-Iranian Shiite government in Baghdad, with Chalabi in charge. The bureau also suspected that Chalabi's intelligence chief had furnished Iran with highly classified information on U.S. troop movements, top-secret communications, plans of the provisional government and other closely guarded material on U.S. operations in Iraq. On the night of the raid, the CBS Evening News carried an exclusive report by correspondent Lesley Stahl that the U.S. government had 'rock-solid' evidence that Chalabi had been passing extremely sensitive intelligence to Iran - evidence so sensitive that it could 'get Americans killed.'"

"The revelation," concluded Bamford regarding Chalabi's spying, "shocked [Defense Intelligence Agency member Larry] Franklin and other members of [Defense Department official Douglas] Feith's office. If true, the allegations meant that they had just launched a war to put into power an agent of their mortal enemy, Iran. Their man - the dissident leader who sat behind the first lady in the president's box during the State of the Union address in which Bush prepared the country for war - appeared to have been working for Iran all along."

It is possible, by way of a long series of very deep breaths, to objectively encompass the vast array of blunders, missteps and outright catastrophes that have marked the passage of the Bush administration. We lost two towers in New York. We lost the city of New Orleans. We invaded and occupied a nation that was no threat to destroy weapons of mass destruction that weren't there. A lot of people have been killed and maimed, and our national bank account is deeply in the red.

And now comes this Chalabi revelation, and the deep breaths stop working. This man manipulated the neo-conservatives within this administration into an invasion with false information they were all too willing to believe, and did so to gain himself a nation and its oil revenues. Once this didn't work out, this man sold our soldiers and intelligence services out to Iran in hopes of wrangling himself into power by way of a Shiite-dominated Iraqi government run by remote control out of Tehran.

Ahmad Chalabi was able to do all this because Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush administration picked him, groomed him, touted him, championed him, and helped him along every step of the way. Ahmad Chalabi was the physical manifestation of their dreams for Iraq. He has become, instead, the physical manifestation of absolutely everything that has gone sideways since this catastrophe was first undertaken.

2,570 American soldiers are dead, along with tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians. Those civilians are dying now at the rate of 100 a day, according to the Washington Post, killed in the streets in a wave of sectarian violence that has all but doomed that nation to complete chaos. Iran, more than any other nation, reaps the benefits of this terrible situation.

Ahmad Chalabi has been many things to many people. Now, with the story fully told, we know him to be a back-stabbing spy for Iran. We know him to be responsible for an unimaginable number of deaths, thanks to the assistance he gave Iran in tracking our troops and foiling our intelligence networks.

We know him to be a long-time friend and boon companion of Donald Rumsfeld.

William Rivers Pitt is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of two books: War on Iraq: What Team Bush Doesn't Want You to Know and The Greatest Sedition Is Silence.

I recieved this and haven't had an opportunity to check out the information as being valid or not. Take it as you will..................PEACE................Scott

Great info:

For lost or stolen cell phones

Here is something worth knowing if you have a mobile phone.

Have you ever wondered why phone companies don't seem interested in trying to prevent the theft of mobile phones? If you have ever lost, or had one stolen, and if you are on a plan, you still have to pay the plan approximately up to 24 months, and you have to buy another handset and enter into another contract. This is more revenue for the phone company.

There is a simple way of making lost or stolen mobiles useless to thieves. The

phone companies know about it, but keep it quiet.

To check your mobile phone's serial number, key in the following on your phone:

star-pound-zero-six-pound ( * # 0 6 # ) and a fifteen digit code will appear on the screen. This is unique to your handset. Write it down and keep it safe. Should your mobile phone get stolen, you can phone your service provider and give them this code. They will then be able to block your handset, so even if the thief changes the sim card, your phone will be totally useless.

You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know that whoever stole

it can't use/sell I either. If everybody did this, there would be no point in stealing mobile phones.

You may want to send this to as many people with mobiles as possible.

No charge for directory assistance. Phone companies are charging us $1.00 or

more for 411 - information calls when they don't have to. When you need to use the 411 / information option, simply dial 1-800-FREE-411 or 1 800 373 3411 without incurring a charge.

This is information people don't mind receiving - Pass it on. Works on home
phones and cell phones.

Vol. 5 No. 3 July 2006

Uncommon Denominator

The Newsletter of the Commonweal Institute

http://www.commonwealinstitute.org/

"It has been observed, that they who most loudly

clamour for liberty, do not most liberally grant it."

– Samuel Johnson, from the Life of Milton

CONTENTS

Talking Points: Ghosts of Mount Misery

Wit and Wisdom: Two choice quips

Quoted! George Bush on global geography

Check It Out: Environmental websites

Eye on the Right: American authoritarianism

Featured Article: "Why Conservatives Can’t Govern"

Happenings: Monthly round-up

Endorsements: David Brock

Get Involved: Spread the word; become a contributor

TALKING POINTS

Once upon a time, in a small Maryland town on the Chesapeake Bay called St. Michaels, a teenaged slave named Frederick Douglass beat up a white farmer named Edward Covey who had been hired to "break" the difficult boy. That fight was a turning point in Douglass’s life, liberating him from fear and instilling self-respect, and it set him on a path that would lead him out of slavery and into a career as the preeminent African American spokesman of the nineteenth century.

The fight took place at Covey’s home, a relatively modest brick manor called "Mount Misery," purportedly because of the gloomy temperament of the Englishman who originally built it in 1804. Today, the home is owned by U.S. Secretrary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, who bought it in 2003 for $1.5 million, and now uses it as a weekend retreat (closer to Washington D.C. than is his other vacation home in Taos, New Mexico). The house, which had been a bed-and-breakfast before Rumsfeld acquired it, has five bedrooms, five fireplaces, four bathrooms, and sits on four beautifully landscaped acres. Recent renovations to Mount Misery were overseen by the Secretary’s wife, Joyce Rumsfeld.

Clearly there’s a story here, one involving race and power and history, but just what that story amounts to is not entirely clear. Not many people have taken note of the case, given the surfeit of other matters to worry about nowadays, and those few who have taken note tend to fall into either of two camps. A handful of lefty bloggers have suggested that there’s something sinister about the historical coincidence, and that it’s "not surprising" that Rumsfeld now owns the house where so many slaves were beaten and broken. On the right, meanwhile, a few commentators have suggested, predictably, that the New York Times somehow endangered national security by including a photograph of Mount Misery (from the end of the driveway) in its recent puff-piece about St. Michaels as an up-and-coming resort community. And that’s where the debate, such as it is, stands, having petered out into simplified perspectives on either side.

Some context, as always, is helpful. First, St. Michaels, whose local economy long depended upon crabbing and oystering in addition to farming, has undergone a remarkable transformation. In 1833, as Douglass recalled in My Bondage and My Freedom, "[t]here were a few comfortable dwellings in it, but the place, as a whole, wore a dull, slovenly, enterprise-forsaken aspect." Moreover, a "drinking habit" had set in among the population, such that "it was admitted, by the few sober, thinking people who remained there, that St. Michael’s had become a very unsaintly, as well as an unsightly place." In the decades following the Civil War, it began to appeal to well-heeled folk from nearby cities who wanted a place to get away to. More recently, although its population still barely clears a thousand inhabitants, it has become quite fashionable indeed, with a number of high muckety-mucks having bought in. In addition to Rumsfeld, these include Vice President Dick Cheney and White House press secretary Tony Snow, among others. It’s uncertain whether the town’s drinking habit has abated any.

We also need a good sense of who Edward Covey and Frederick Douglass really were. Covey, as Douglass describes him, was a man unusually fit for his job as a tamer of slaves. Cruel, hypocritically religious, hyper-vigilant, and unyielding, "[h]e knew just what a man or boy could do, and he held both to strict account" and "had the faculty of making us feel that he was always present." We have no other writings, unfortunately, that might contradict such a description, but we also have no good reason not to believe Douglass’s account. And one thing is certain: Covey played a vital and malignant role in the power structure of a slave society. As for Douglass himself, it is important to have a clear understanding of just how central, and remarkable, a figure he was in American history. Born a slave, he went on to become one of the antislavery movement’s most effective orators; an independent writer, editor, and publisher; an influential autobiographer who powerfully shaped African American literature; a tireless campaigner for civil rights after the Civil War; Recorder of Deeds for the District of Columbia; U.S. Marshal; and U.S. ambassador to Haiti, among other positions of public service.

So what does the purchase and refurbishing of the house by the Rumsfelds tell us? Why should we care? Why does it matter?

On a crude, practical level, perhaps it doesn’t matter. There’s certainly no shortage of other things to be concerned about right now, and the question of which politician owns what building can seem trivial next to such problems as global warming or religious war in the Middle East.

On a deeper level, however, the fate of Mount Misery represents something troubling. We might be tempted to see it as symbolizing the perseverance of a caste system whereby the poor, the weak, or the oppressed are made to work and fight and die while the privileged few reap the benefits. Donald Rumsfeld is no Edward Covey, of course, and no one is suggesting that he doesn’t work hard or that he advocates racial supremacy, but he does, by all accounts, evince the same overbearing personality whose power is based on intimidation and on the subservience of others, and he does work for an administration whose policies have been deeply harmful to the African American community. Although not put quite so explicitly, this is evidently the perspective shared by those liberal bloggers who see something "fitting" in the Rumsfeld-Mount Misery connection. But it doesn’t really get to the heart of the issue, for it leaves off at questions of race and power, as reflected in personality, without fully addressing the historical problem.

Here’s the rub. What the current state of Mount Misery (and its previous incarnation as a B-and-B) represents is an attitude toward history in which the meanings of past events, people, and places do not deserve our preservation, respect, or full understanding. It represents, in particular, an attitude toward American history in which legal property rights take precedence over the uncodified right of the people to their shared cultural past. From this view, the old Covey house in St. Michaels, Maryland, becomes just another piece of real estate on the "free" market, while anything that may have transpired there is erased, forgotten, or – more accurately – absorbed and homogenized into the modern story of American progress.

Secretary Rumsfeld himself might be responsive to such an argument. On April 29, 2005, during an award ceremony for Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld had this to say about history: "History is not always generous to the men and women who help to shape it. Great abolitionists like John Quincy Adams and Frederick Douglass would not live to see full equality for African Americans that they had envisioned and fought to bring about." (Read the full transcript of the event, if you can stand it, on the Department of Defense website at http://www.defenselink.mil/transcripts/2005/tr20050429-secdef2622.html).

Indeed, history has not always been generous to its shapers! And one of the main reasons for that is not just that the historical course of events transcends the contributions of any single individual, but that we who are responsible for preserving and understanding history often fail to give its major figures their just due. Rumsfeld strained to make this point about Wolfowitz ("History will see Paul as one of the consequential thinkers and public servants of his generation"), but perhaps he should have looked closer to home, so to speak.

For would not the most fitting outcome for Mount Misery be as a museum wherein a key moment from the country’s past can find its rightful place in the public memory? The old Covey house, and the fight between slave and slave-breaker that took place there, are together emblematic of two of the fundamental themes of American history – on one hand, the horrors of bigotry, racial oppression, and legally sanctioned violence, and on the other hand, the nobility of the struggle against unjust authority. Our democracy has had to fight many such battles, and Douglass’s defeat of Covey symbolizes perhaps the most important dimension of the struggle, that of the fight against America’s own internal anti-democratic forces. Rumsfeld professes, certainly sincerely, to want to promote democracy around the world, and to fight for it if necessary. The Secretary, and those close to him personally and philosophically, could help to honor the tradition in which they see themselves by honoring Douglass’s lonely personal battle against tyranny. They can honor that battle by preserving Mount Misery as a public site of contemplation, where the meanings of democracy and despotism are given a human face, and a very American face. That would help keep St. Michaels from becoming merely a resort for the wealthy. That would help preserve its soul.

WIT AND WISDOM

"Still no letup in the Mideast crisis. Israeli planes have been dropping thousands of leaflets that warn Lebanese citizens to stay away from Hezbollah members. The leaflets also promote a special at Nate ‘n Al’s Deli in Tel Aviv." — Conan O’Brien

"President Bush says he is personally working on a solution for global warming. He says thanks to Republicans, soon every American will receive a voucher for a free popsicle." — Jay Leno

QUOTED!

"Russia’s big and so is China." – George W. Bush, in an unscripted moment during the G-8 summit

NOTICE

The Commonweal Institute is seeking a few volunteers to help map the social networks among progressive organizations. This is a good opportunity to strengthen the progressive movement, learn about social networks and network analysis, and do a short-term volunteer project in your own home during the next month or two. As a volunteer, you will be asked to contact individuals via e-mail and telephone interviews and to assist them in completing a short questionnaire. This volunteer work will require that you be comfortable doing phone interviews, using e-mail and Excel (no mathematics involved), have unlimited or generous telephone minutes available for long-distance calls, and be available to make calls during business hours (M-F, 9-5) to various parts of the country. A total of 100 questionnaires will be completed; the more volunteers we have and the more time they can put in, the faster we can get this work done. If you are interested in volunteering for the social network project, please contact Kate Forrest at 650-854-9796 or kforrest@commonwealinstitute.org.

CHECK IT OUT

As part of our ongoing effort to help people understand the specifics of environmental change in the modern world, particularly global warming, the Uncommon Denominator would like to recommend two websites that help bring the subject to life.

The first is NASA’s "Scientific Visualization Studio," at http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/search/mostrecent.html, which provides a wealth of information about conditions on the planet’s surface and in its atmosphere, including sea temperature, storms, ozone levels, precipitation, deforestation, fires, and arctic ice levels, among others. The mission of the studio is "to facilitate scientific inquiry and outreach within NASA programs through visualization. To that end, the SVS works closely with scientists in the creation of visualization products, systems, and processes in order to promote a greater understanding of Earth." The result is a fascinating repository of images and ongoing scientific imaging projects that is both educational and entertaining, both inspiring and sobering.

The second recommended website is the "Ecological Footprint Quiz," at http://myfootprint.org, which allows you to calculate, roughly, how much "nature" your lifestyle requires, and to translate that into how many planets would be required to sustain humanity if everybody used the same amount of natural resources. In 2005, the organization that designed the quiz, Redefining Progress, discovered that humanity’s ecological footprint is about 57 acres per person, while Earth’s biological capacity is just 41 acres per person – a 40% ecological "overshoot" that means we should all, as individuals, start living within our means.

Two very interesting sites. Check ‘em out.

EYE ON THE RIGHT

Recent years have made dramatically apparent what many people have suspected for a long time – that American conservatism is highly authoritarian, that it has become more so, and that, most troublingly, it displays an orientation toward "the authoritarian personality" who commands excessive obedience or loyalty by followers. There is also extensive research that backs up this claims. In his new book, "Conservative Without Conscience," former Nixon counsel John Dean reports on 50 years of academic research which has found that conservatives are much more likely to follow authoritarian leaders, and that about 25% of Americans are hardcore conservatives who will follow an authoritarian leader no matter what. These findings, Dean argues, provide crucial context for understanding the sharp rightward trend in modern American politics, the rhetorical strategies of elected conservatives, and the potential consequences for our society.

In a remarkable interview with MSNBC’s Keith Olbermann, Dean says that "[t]here’s no question that, particularly the followers, they’re very aggressive in their effort to pursue and help their authority figure out or authority beliefs out. They will do what ever needs to be done in many regards. They will blindly follow. They stay loyal too long and this is the frightening part of it."

Both the video and a transcript of the interview are available at:

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2006/Video_50_year_study_says_conservatives_0711.html

FEATURED ARTICLE

The following is an excerpt from Alan Wolfe’s "Why Conservatives Can’t Govern," which appears in the July/August 2006 issue of Washington Monthly.

"Contemporary conservatism is first and foremost about shrinking the size and reach of the federal government. This mission, let us be clear, is an ideological one. It does not emerge out of an attempt to solve real-world problems, such as managing increasing deficits or finding revenue to pay for entitlements built into the structure of federal legislation. It stems, rather, from the libertarian conviction, repeated endlessly by George W. Bush, that the money government collects in order to carry out its business properly belongs to the people themselves. One thought, and one thought only, guided Bush and his Republican allies since they assumed power in the wake of Bush vs. Gore: taxes must be cut, and the more they are cut – especially in ways benefiting the rich – the better.

"But like all politicians, conservatives, once in office, find themselves under constant pressure from constituents to use government to improve their lives. This puts conservatives in the awkward position of managing government agencies whose missions – indeed, whose very existence – they believe to be illegitimate. Contemporary conservatism is a walking contradiction. Unable to shrink government but unwilling to improve it, conservatives attempt to split the difference, expanding government for political gain, but always in ways that validate their disregard for the very thing they are expanding. The end result is not just bigger government, but more incompetent government.

"‘Ideas,’ a distinguished conservative named Richard Weaver once wrote, ‘have consequences.’ Americans have learned something about the consequences of conservative ideas during the Bush years that they never had to confront in the more amiable Reagan period. As a way of governing, conservatism is another name for disaster. And the disasters will continue, year after year, as long as conservatives, whose political tactics are frequently as brilliant as their policy-making is inept, find ways to perpetuate their power."

Read the whole article at http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/features/2006/0607.wolfe.html.

HAPPENINGS

Democracy Fest – Commonwel Institute Executive Director Laurie Spivak and Co-Founder Katherine Forrest spoke at the the third annual Democracy Fest, held July 14-16 in San Diego. Their panel, "Present Actions for Future Elections," address the challenge of "having a sustained impact beyond the ‘next election’ focus." Laurie described the Right’s development of conservative political infrastructure, how it has operated to move public opinion and the nation’s policy agenda to the right, and the window of opportunity progressives have for catching up by building their own infrastructure. Kate talked about two topics of interest to organizations that want to stengthen their capacity to communicate progressive values and ideas between elections: Expanding and Diversifying Membership of Grassroots Groups, and Strengthening Grassroots Groups’ Position and Influence.

Media Exposure – CI Fellow Dave Johnson has been invited to serve as a regular contributor to the Huffington Post, an online progressive periodical. One of his recent posts, "The Swiftboaters Are Back in the Water," analyzes the political tactic of "swiftboating" that the Republicans used so successfully against John Kerry and have subsequently used against other Democratic candidates, and can be read at: www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/the-swiftboaters-are-back_b_25223.html. Another of his essays, "Survivor Lebanon – Like Katrina, Americans On Their Own Again," (www.huffingtonpost.com/dave-johnson/survivor-lebanon-like-k_b_25455.html) led to a boisterous apperance on the Jay Severin radio show, with Dom Giordano sitting in. Read a description of the exchange at www.seeingtheforest.com/archives/2006/07/radio_tonite.htm.

New Associates – The Commonweal Institute is proud to welcome Dahvi Wilson and Jeni Krencicki as associates. Dahvi Wilson is currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Environmental Management at Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, where she has been researching the development of the modern progressive movement and seeking to develop new solutions for encouraging strategic coordination within the progressive community. She also serves on the planning committee of the Next Generation Leadership Retreat with the Center for Whole Communities, the planning committee of Inspiring America, and the planning team of a Yale speaker series titled, "Shades of Green: Recognizing Diverse Environmental Leaders." She is beginning work with Redefining Progress to organize a gathering of progressive think tank leaders. Jeni Krencicki is currently pursuing a Master's degree in Environmental Science at the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies. While at Yale, she has been busy creating and co-teaching the university’s first course addressing the environmental impacts of war and militarization, as well as working closely with classmate Dahvi Wilson on the "Progressive Synergy Project," an effort to design an innovative organizing model for increased collaboration within the Progressive movement. Her political experience includes working as an in-house consultant to Environment2004, coordinating the national environmental outreach for the Gore 2000 campaign, serving as a Bessette-Kennedy Fellow in Public Policy with the California Democratic Party, and working as a Conservation Organizer with the Sierra Club.

Recognition for Leonard Salle – The California State Assembly adjourned in memory of the late Leonard Salle, CI’s President and Co-Founder, on May 18. The Assemblypersons who proposed this honor were Ira Ruskin (of southern San Mateo County) and Sally Lieber (of northern Santa Clara County).

ENDORSEMENTS

"For all of us who are tired of being on the receiving end of the Republican Noise Machine’s ongoing assault, the Commonweal Institute has provided an antidote." – David Brock, President and CEO of Media Matters for America

GET INVOLVED

If you agree with David Brock (see above), there are a number of ways you can help the Commonweal Institute achieve its goals.

Right now, as you read, you can simply forward the Uncommon Denominator to friends and family who might be interested in learning about the Commonweal Institute. Getting the word out is crucial.

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© 2006 The Commonweal Institute

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I'M BACK..........SORT OF/ PART 2

Well I came back from Montana to find that my hardrive had crashed while I was gone. It has taken me sometime to put things back together. I didn't lose everything but it is frustrating trying to get things back to "normal"(whatever that is !!!!!!!!!!!!!!...........LOL) Anyway I thought I'd better post something so you would know that I hadn't disappeared completly. Please bear with me while I wade through some 500 plus e-mails that have accumulated since I was off line. Thanks for your patience............PEACE............Scott

Here are some pictures of what I encountered when I took a quick trip through the Grand Tetons National Park.