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December 16, 2006

NYT Says "Military Taking a Tougher Line (Than What!?) With Detainees": Or the 2016 PBS Documentary on Guantanamo

Someday, not too many years from now, when Ric or Ken Burns or their successors makes the definitive elegiac 20-hour documentary of the Iraq war and the irreparable harm it did to our country’s image and vision of itself I predict the following chapter:

Title Card: “Why Am I in Cuba?” Cue PBS/American Experience Dolorous Male Narrator (hereafter: PBSAEDMN) who will, as “Josephine’s Waltz” or some other Irish/Appalachian fiddle lament (hey, maybe the Dixie Chicks) plays in the background, and the camera pans over photos like this and this and this, recount how America, a country founded on the principal of human rights and due process and freedom from tyranny, descended into a pit of barbarity, best exemplified by our treatment of prisoners unlawfully held at Guantanamo Bay.

The PBSAEDMN will explain—along with a gray-haired Michael Beschloss and perhaps an apologetic Peter Beinart or Fareed Zakaria and a still aghast Frank Rich—how the impulse that led to their detentions, their treatment, their lack of legal recourse was perhaps understandable, given how traumatized the nation was after 9/11. The Iraq War; the rush to judgment against Jose Padilla, John Walker Lind, and dozens more U.S. citizens; the enemy combatant limbo imposed upon foreign nationals; the warrantless wiretapping and other corrosions of civil liberties—all these things were supported by good people, smart people, people who went to Harvard.

But then, the PBSAEDMN will explain, the truth about Guantanamo was slowly revealed. The underage prisoners. The chicken farmers sent there because of a bureaucratic mistake or tribal infighting. The torture. The desecration of the Koran. The female guards pretending to smear prisoners with menstrual blood. The rampant depression, psychic breaks, hunger strikes, and suicide attempts—successful and otherwise. The fact that hundreds of prisoners were found to have been misidentified or of “no threat” to the United States (which is to say: innocent).

As the utter miscarriage of justice that was Guantanamo became apparent to the American people and the rest of the world (which was fairly convinced all along) gradually, the PBSAEDMN and various talking heads will explain, the military began to loosen up. Prisoners were divided into population groups depending on their perceived risk and behavior, and scores of non-violent, non-threatening chicken farmers and pencil sellers and taxi drivers and stand-up comedians were quietly released. It seemed, for a while, that some small measure of sanity was creeping into our Guantanamo policy.

But then, in mid December, came news, via the New York Times, that new Gitmo commander Rear Admiral Harry B. Harris—the man who in June told Nightline that, despite all evidence to the contrary, “I believe truly that I am holding no innocent men in Guantanamo” and called the simultaneous suicides of three inmates to be “an act of asymmetric warfare”—had decided that the real problem at Gitmo was that the prisoners had it too easy.

Cue voiceover representing the New York Times:

Security procedures have been tightened. Group activities have been scaled back. With the retrofitting of Camp 6 and the near-emptying of another showcase camp for compliant prisoners, military officials said about three-fourths of the detainees would eventually be held in maximum-security cells. That is a stark departure from earlier plans to hold a similar number in medium-security units.

Officials said the shift reflected the military’s analysis — after a series of hunger strikes, a riot last May and three suicides by detainees in June — that earlier efforts to ease restrictions on the detainees had gone too far.

The commander of the Guantanamo task force, Rear Adm. Harry B. Harris Jr., said the tougher approach also reflected the changing nature of the prison population, and his conviction that all of those now held here are dangerous men. “They’re all terrorists; they’re all enemy combatants,” Admiral Harris said in an interview. He added, “I don’t think there is such a thing as a medium-security terrorist.”

Cue PBSAEDMN, who will note that Harris felt confident in asserting that now everyone in Gitmo is a terrorist because “the last of 38 men whom the military had classified since early 2005 as ‘no longer enemy combatants,’ had just been released.”

But, the PBSAEDMN will dryly note, another “100 others who had been cleared by the military for transfer or release remained here while the State Department tried to arrange their repatriation.”

(Fiddle swells…)

“A few days after Harris made his statement,” the PBSAEDM concludes, “another 15 detainees were sent home to Saudi Arabia, where they were promptly returned to their families.”

(Fade to black.)

Democratic Primary 2008: Edwards In, Bayh Out

News has leaked from the John Edwards ur-campaign that the former North Carolina senator and vice presidential candidate will launch a run for president later this month. Edwards, Clinton, and Obama will likely outclass the other contendors for the Democratic nomination, including Al Sharpton, Dennis Kucinich, Tom Vilsack, Joe Biden, Bill Richardson, and others. (And don't forget the ghosts of elections past, Al Gore and John Kerry, who haven't put an end to speculation that they may be running.) To watch John Edwards talk about labor and the economics of the middle class, see this video from Hardball. He's a charming bugger, that Edwards.

One man who won't be running is Indiana Senator and former Indiana Governor Evan Bayh, who people have been discussing as a potential presidential candidate for years. Bayh didn't use the old "more time with family" line when announcing his non-run. He was actually quite forthcoming about the reason: he just couldn't win.

"And whether there were too many Goliaths or whether I'm just not the right David, ... the odds were longer than I felt I could responsibly pursue," Bayh's statement continued. "This path -- and these long odds -- would have required me to be essentially absent from the Senate for the next year instead of working to help the people of my state and the nation."

Bayh has spent a lot of time in Iowa and New Hampshire over the last year or so, which makes this decision to drop out at this point a little curious. Best wishes for continued success in the Senate, Mr. Bayh.

December 15, 2006

Pink Elephant, In Utero

This ultrasound from the journal Nature captures an 165-pound elephant fetus, already decked out with footpads, a trunk, and fur. Due in about three months, it has been gestating for almost 19 months and kicking for probably 14. How did scientists get close enough to get a good image?

Ultrasonographers donned shoulder-length gloves and gave the pregnant mother an enema before inserting an ultrasound probe up the length of her rectum.

Not so cute. But still, the image is breathtaking. Check out that serpentine umbilical chord and the wiry elephant fur. Click on the image to see it up close.

-- April Rabkin

The End of Lethal Injection?

Florida death row inmate Angel Nieves Diaz was pronounced dead at 6:36 pm on Wednesday evening — 34 minutes after the first needle carrying the standard lethal injection chemicals designed to kill him was inserted into his arm. The procedure took twice as long as usual and required a rare double dose of the toxic cocktail. The needles, which were supposed to be inserted directly into Diaz’s veins, tore through his veins and went into the inner tissue of his arms. One reporter who witnessed the execution observed Diaz shuddering, licking his lips, blowing, and grimacing as he lay strapped onto the gurney. In the end, his lifeless body was marred with two grisly reminders of the ordeal — 12 and 11 inch burns on his arms.

Florida Governor Jeb Bush, who has overseen over 20 executions while presiding over the state that ranks fifth highest in number of people killed, responded to Diaz’s bungled execution by calling for a moratorium on all executions in Florida until a commission is able to report its findings on March 1. And it's about time. This isn't the first botched execution in Florida’s history — two inmates' heads caught fire while being put to death in the electric chair in the 1990's. It also isn't the first time that an execution has lasted longer than it should. It took Crips founder-turned-Nobel Peace Prize nominee Tookie Williams 36 minutes to die in December of 2005. You can learn more about his execution, and the vigils and demonstrations that accompanied it, here.

Jeb Bush's decision is just one of the recent developments in the debate over lethal injection, which intensified in February when the execution of California inmate Michael Morales was put on hold pending further investigation into whether the condemned suffer unconstitutionally painful deaths. Also today, in a move that is arguably more monumental than Florida's moratorium, U.S. District Judge Jeremy Fogel ruled in the Morales case that California's method of lethal injection is unconstitutional because it classifies as cruel and unusual punishment.

So is this the end of lethal injection in the United States? Ty Alper, visiting professor at UC Berkeley Boalt Law School’s death penalty clinic, called today's events "indications of the further scrutiny that lethal injection is getting nationwide." He said, "No longer can we continue to pretend that lethal injection is painless and humane. In fact, to the contrary, it now appears that we have been torturing at least some inmates as we put them to death. At this point, we can hope that officials in both states will take these events seriously and either come up with a way to execute people humanely or abandon the enterprise altogether."

History lesson: Lethal injection was first adopted by the state of Oklahoma after local legislator Bill Wiseman introduced it as an alternative to electrocution. Thirty-seven of the 38 death-penalty states now use it as their main method of execution. Courtesy of Mother Jones, you can read or listen to why Bill Wiseman regrets promoting lethal injection and is now an Episcopal priest who advocates against the death penalty.

-- Celia Perry

Earth Hour

At 7:30pm on March 31, 2007, the lights of Sydney will go dark for one hour. It’s the brain child of Sarah Bishop, 22, who wants Australians to think about global warming, and to look at the stars:

I am 22 years old. These statistics [about climate change] represent my future.

Can we get that going elsewhere on the same night, same time? Think of it as casting a ballot in the first global election.

Military's Map-Making Supremacy Remains Unchallenged

Buried in a very good story about sectarian violence and the breakdown of civil society in Baghdad, the London Times scored itself a little scoop. It publishes a (really cool) U.S. military map deconstructing Baghdad by ethnic neighborhoods and degree of danger.

The US military has drawn up a new map of Baghdad to reflect its ethno-sectarian fault lines. Published here for the first time, it lists the mixed neighbourhoods considered to be most explosive. Four of the five are on the western bank of the Tigris, called Karkh, where mixed neighbourhoods are still prevalent. Predominently Shia Kadhamiya and the largely Sunni areas of Qadisiya, Amariya and Ghazaliya have become the deadliest battlegrounds, according to US forces.

Also interesting is that part of the Green Zone seems to be under Sunni control.

Larger version here. H/T Kevin Drum.

MoJo: It's Elementary

A San Francisco area elementary school recently had its fourth grade class do a project on Mother Jones -- both the early 20th century labor leader and our little rag. See below for what really ought to be MoJoBlog's Christmas-Diwali-Kwanzaa-Hanukkah card. From us (and our adorable friends) to you: happy holidays.

PS - You can read the issue on display here (November/December 2006) online.

Apple's Rotten Environmental Record

Apple, though beloved by progressives, hipsters, and their favorite rockers (John Mayer in October’s Esquire said, “it’s got us by the balls.”), is nonetheless looking a little bit brown these days, like a Granny Smith or Delicio, sliced, and left on the kitchen table too long. The company’s dirty little secret, known to enviros and few consumers, is that it’s way behind the curve in the race to build a personal computer that doesn’t make people sick, especially when recycled, as is the tendency these days, by kids rummaging through e-waste dumps in Asia and Africa.

To highlight the gap between the San Francisco-area company’s squeaky clean image and dirty electrical components (which include substances being phased out by rivals such as Dell), the folks at Greenpeace bathed Apple’s Fifth Avenue store in New York in a green spotlight yesterday, sending the light refracting through store’s slick glass façade. A press release called the display, “a symbol of the ‘green’ Apple that is needed this holiday season.”

Compelling Apple to go green, whether it wants to or not, are new environmental rules passed by the European Union this week (see the post below). Still, Greenpeace deserves props for shining a spotlight on unsavory practices that Apple would just assume hide under its crisp white casings.

Given Chance to Make History, New Jersey Punts

Well, knock me over with a feather! Faced with a high court mandate to create either civil unions or gay marriage, New Jersey legislators opted yesterday for civil unions. Civil unions in New Jersey will now reap all of the benefits of marriage except the name.

Can you sense my surprise emanating from your screen?

There are only a few noteworthy things to say about yesterday's developments.

First, a few Republicans were bold enough to vote against the measure even though the court ruling demanded it.

Second, Senator Loretta Weinberg (D), who sponsored the civil unions bill, implied that the court had not left marriage-rights advocates enough time to take the more difficult route. Weinberg and Wilfredo Caraballo (D), who introduced the measure in the Assembly, emphasized that the law leaves room for same-sex couples to earn the right to marry down the road. Republicans tried unsuccessfully to preclude that possibility by proposing an amendment defining marriage as the union between a man and a woman.

Finally, gay rights advocates aren't having it, and are planning to protest the enactment of the law.

New Jersey will become the third state in the union—with Vermont and Connecticut—to recognize civil unions with all of the privileges (but none of the gravitas) of marriage. Only Massachusetts allows gay marriage. (See my posts here and here to see how hoppin' mad the state's homophobes are.)

Americans Fat, Lonely, Frequently Injured by Bikes

The New York Times has a neat article today on the most recent census, and what it says about Americans. Judge for yourself.

Americans:

- Drank more than 23 gallons of bottled water per person in 2004.

- Consumed more than twice as much high fructose corn syrup per person as in 1980.

- Remain the fattest inhabitants of the planet.

- Spend about eight-and-a-half hours a day watching television, using computers, listening to the radio, going to the movies, or reading. In short, not interacting with other people. The average American spends more than 64 days a year watching television.

- Occasionally have sex with members of the same sex. Six percent of men and 11.2 percent of women say they have had same sex contacts.

- Are more frequently injured by wheelchairs than by lawnmowers.

- Are most frequently injured by bicycles and beds.

- Enjoy this here series of tubes. 16 million Americans used a social or professional networking site and 13 million created a blog.

- Lost their jobs. From 2000 to 2005, the number of manufacturing jobs declined nearly 18 percent. Employment in textile mills fell by 42 percent.

- Aren't very likable. In 1970, 79 percent said their goal was developing a meaningful philosophy of life. By 2005, 75 percent said their primary objective was to be financially very well off.

- Are seeing some form of gender equality. In 1970, 33,000 men and 2,000 women earned professional degrees; in 2004, the numbers were 42,000 men and 41,000 women.

As for the fact that Americans spend more and more of their leisure time doing solitary activites, that's right in Harvard Professor Bob Putnam's wheelhouse. He wrote the very good "Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community." Wouldn't you know it, the Times got a quote.

"The large master trend here is that over the last hundred years, technology has privatized our leisure time," said [Putnam].... "The distinctive effect of technology has been to enable us to get entertainment and information while remaining entirely alone."

Except, of course, if you are one of those 16 million Americans who spends your lonely internet time on social networking sites. In that case, you are blowing Bob Putnam's mind.

December 14, 2006

Swim Away Shamu

Sick of traffic, bumper-to-bumper at 30 miles an hour, sucking exhaust and abuse? Yearn for the freedom of open spaces and no speed limit? Then take a cyberbreak with NOAA's website on the long-distance wanderings of blue sharks, mako sharks, sharks, sea lions, elephant seals, blue whales, sea turtles, and albatrosses, and more.

Then if you feel inspired to ensure those finloose beings continue to do what we would like to do but have surrendered in exchange for the questionable benefits of an acronym-driven reality of LCD TVs, SUVs, and DVDs, check out this URL, and the very cool way the South Africans are providing realtime education on what you can eat from a sustainably fished ocean. If you’re not lucky enough to live there, you can contemplate navigating the catch of the day safely. Or catch a safe list on Seafood Watch.

Wonder what is really entailed in taking the bluewater wanderers out of the wild for display in marine parks, so that you can stare at them in an unreal world, where cheap tricks are bought with dead sardines? Ever wonder why some killer whales try to kill their trainers? Then check out this video from the long-distance travellers at BlueVoice who’ve seen the ugly underside of the capture business.

Mass. Same-Sex Marriage Opponents Seek $5 Million in Damages

You've heard the argument that same-sex marriage threatens the institution of marriage—though you've never seen evidence because none exists (heterosexual marriage rates in Massachusetts, the only state where gay marriage is legal, increased slightly from 2004 to 2005).

Yesterday, a Massachusetts anti-marriage group, VoteOnMarriage.org, went so far as to sue 109 state lawmakers for $5 million in damages (almost $46,000 apiece) over the issue.

So what damage could possibly have been done to gay marriage opponents when only about 8,000 same-sex couples have married in Massachusetts? The suit centers on legislators' move to recess last month rather than vote on an anti-gay marriage amendment. VoteOnMarriage.org claims the move violated its constitutional rights to free speech and due process. Anti-gay groups obtained 170,000 signatures in favor of putting an amendment on the 2008 ballot, but they also need the support of 50 legislators in two consecutive terms before an amendment can appear on the ballot. Unless lawmakers provide those votes on the last remaining day of the session, January 2, which appears unlikely, gay marriage opponents won't get their way.

The suit basically amounts to foot stomping. The legislature used a democratic parliamentary procedural maneuver to avoid giving the amendment a yay-or-nay vote. Lawmakers' strategy is in keeping with the one-sided political discourse surrounding gay marriage: You either vote against it with maximum flourish or you don't bring the issue to a vote. Because same-sex marriage has the support of more than 50 percent of Massachusetts voters, the lawmakers put the amendment quietly to bed.

Good night and good riddance.

Arab Street Turns Against Uncle Sam

American political leaders are no longer the only ones earning a bad rap among the populace in the Middle East. Public opinion of the U.S. public, as well as American products, are hitting new lows. And this is in countries that are considered to be allies of the U.S.

The Arab American Institute painted this bleak picture today, releasing the latest results of an opinion poll that Zogby International has been conducting annually since 2002, which gauges public sentiment toward the U.S. in the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon, and Morocco.

Speaking this morning at press conference in Washington, James Zogby, the president of the AAI, said that the souring of public opinion could hinder diplomatic efforts by the U.S. to address the situation in Iraq, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

According to Zogby, these findings reinforce the recommendations of the Iraq Study Group Report, which were released last week. Among other things, the report recommended direct diplomatic talks with countries in the region including Israel, Lebanon, Palestine, and Syria.

“What this says to me is if we want to salvage ourselves in Iraq, if we want to salvage the situation in Iraq, we have to salvage our credibility and legitimacy in the region,” Zogby said. “All these numbers do is tell me that the linkage issue is absolutely critical.”

While in previous polls the American people had been viewed favorably, only Lebanon had a positive view this year. The shift in sentiment was largest in Jordan and Egypt, where 76 percent and 72 percent of respondents, respectively, had worse opinions of the U.S. than one year ago.

--Caroline Dobuzinskis

Michael Crichton Hits Below the Belt

A few weeks ago, I noted that global-warming denier and airport-gift shop supplier Michael Crichton had dissed Mother Jones in his latest tome. Now it looks like we got off easy. The New Republic's Michael Crowley, who had written a harsh assessment of State of Fear, has been immortalized as a poorly-endowed child rapist in Crichton's Next. Writes Crowley: "And, perhaps worse, [he] falsely branded me a pharmaceutical-industry profiteer." [Full article behind NRO sub wall.]

Bakker: What the Hell is Wrong With Christianity?

Over on CNN's site, punk preacher (and son of Jim and Tammy Faye) Jay Bakker offers a quick smack-down of the Religioius Right and others who mix religion and politcs:

What the hell happened? Where did we go wrong? How was Christianity co-opted by a political party? Why are Christians supporting laws that force others to live by their standards? The answers to these questions are integral to the survival of Christianity.

While the current state of Christianity might seem normal and business-as-usual to some, most see through the judgment and hypocrisy that has permeated the church for so long. People witness this and say to themselves, "Why would I want to be a part of that?" They are turned off by Christians and eventually, to Christianity altogether. We can't even count the number of times someone has given us a weird stare or completely brushed us off when they discover we work for a church.

When I spoke with Bakker a few days ago, he said he doesn't like either party laying claim to the moral high ground. As the bumper sticker on his car reads, "God is not a Republican... Or a Democrat." Perhaps God is a registered independent.

Dispatch from Chile: On Pinochet, "He Did Nothing to Me"

While the news of Pinochet's death has been met with celebrations and rioting in the streets of Santiago, responses in the more rural environs of the country have been far more staid. Santiago, the political heart of the country, also holds fully a third of the country´s 15 million people and they are largely the ones who felt Pinochet's wrath.

In the expansive, sparse southern tip of the lean country the size of California, residents respond with a mix of recollection and resignation. "Presidents don´t come to this part of the country," says Theresa Ruiz, a seventy-some year old resident and innkeeper who was born and has lived her entire life in the Patagonian region of southern Chile. "We have had to take care of ourselves, to take care of each other, the government was never much help." Nor, she said, did it particularly hurt her or those around her, saying, "Pinochet did nothing to me," his actions were more of neglect. Ruiz adds that she's glad his reign is over if he harmed people. "I would say that about half the country, a little more than half, are celebrating right now, the other half? They were not as affected." Or, they benefited.

After Castro

With Fidel Castro at death's door, Miami is frothing at the mouth. The authorities are bracing for the worst, anticpating that the leader's death could send an armada of row boats into the seas between Miami and Cuba, as some Cubans rush home to reclaim lost businesses and properties and others to foment a guerrilla war against the weakened regime. "The message we want to send is, 'Do not throw yourself to the waters,'" Amos Rojas Jr., the South Florida regional director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement said yesterday. "'Be patient, the trip is very dangerous.'"

What happens in Cuba when Castro dies is in no way predictable. Today the nation is tied into an economic coalition with Venezuela and China. In addition to its important supplies of nickel, used in the manufacture of various types of specialty steels, there are solid signs of an oil field off its north coast. If so, energy independence could be in sight. (In fact, the Caribbean is becoming something of an energy trove—and not necessarily just for the U.S. Trinidad is the center of a major gas field which currently is providing gas for LNG shipments to the east coast of the U.S. where the demand for gas is steadily increasing.)

If the Democrats control the Congress—and with South Dakota Senator Tim Johnson’s sudden illness yesterday this is no longer assured—U.S. policy toward Cuba is not likely to change much. In all likelihood it will continue along the same lines it has since 1959, when Secretary of State Christian Herter declared "economic warfare" on Cuba, cutting off the sugar trade and its fuel supply. The idea, as Ricardo Alarcon, Cuba’s vice president recently put it in an article printed in Counterpunch, has been "to bring about hunger, misery and desperation among the people of Cuba."

A State Department analysis in April 1960 said that since "the majority of Cubans support Castro, the only foreseeable means of alienating internal support is through disenchantment and disaffection based on economic dissatisfaction and hardship." To weaken the economic life of Cuba there was a need to take a "positive position which would call forth a line of action while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

The policy didn’t work. After 46 years of ceaseless machinations to kill or topple Castro, the U.S. has gotten nowhere. In 2004, the Bush administration’s Commission for Assistance to a Free Cuba put out a report that insisted the Castro government was about to collapse, after which a U.S. transition team could effect an occupation and remake the place in the democratic image of the U.S. — just like in Iraq.

However, as Wayne Smith, a former U.S. diplomat who served in Cuba and who has extensive knowledge of U.S.-Cuban relations, noted, instead of collapsing, the Cuban economy "has shown strong signs of reinvigoration. Even the CIA gives it a growth rate of 8 percent."

December 13, 2006

Some Speech Is More Inappropriate Than Other Speech

Ever since Rosie O'Donnell joined the cast of The View, she has received sharp criticism from other members of the media. O'Donnell's pique with Kelly Ripa over a supposedly homophobic remark seems silly to some, significant to others. Joe Scarborough--who is as obsessed with O'Donnell as Keith Olbermann is with Britney Spears--has sharply criticized O'Donnell for saying such "inappropriate" things as her observations that radical Christianity is as threatening as radical Islam, and that Bush is less than a stellar example of a leader. Other conservatives were oh, so shocked by O'Donnell's statement that post-September 11 America is like the McCarthy era.

Scarborough has repeatedly said that he does not understand why a principled person like Barbara Walters puts up with O'Donnell. That in itself is absurd. Walters is an uninformed conservative, she is sexist, and she calls herself a "close friend" of the late Roy Cohn. Of course, Scarborough is also confused that politics is discussed on a "women's" show.

Now O'Donnell has gone and done something really offensive--her "ching chong" remark about the news in China, and her detractors are having a field day. She deserves the criticsm. (Her original defense was that she is a comedian, but there are two things wrong with that--she was not doing a comic act when she appears on The View, and she does not make fun of other cultures or minorities.) But those same people have totally ignored Don Imus's recent reference to Jewish CBS radio management as "money-grubbing bastards."

The talking heads pick and choose whose (and which) inappropriate language they attack. They were quick to jump on Mel Gibson's drunken anti-Semitic remarks, but never said a single word about his drunken misogynist remarks, made during the very same traffic incident. And they are quick to jump on gay, liberal O'Donnell whether her speech is truly inappropriate or just truthful.

It is unfortunate that Gibson said vile things about both Jews and women, that O'Donnell made fun of Chinese people, and that Imus perpetuated a terrible Jewish stereotype. But you won't get the full story from their peers in the news--you'll get what they want you to remember.

The Muscles from Brussels

Today the European Parliament passed one of the most comprehensive and far-reaching EU regulations in its history, a set of environmental rules that will hold companies liable for the health effects of some 30,000 substances used in everything from computers to laundry detergent. The law—which applies to any company that wants to sell into the huge European market (pretty much any global corporation, these days)—signals the evolution of the EU from a paper tiger into the new global arbiter of environmental standards. The rules are sure to affect products produced and sold in the United States much more so than any law recently passed by the U.S. Congress.

To read more about the new law, known as REACH, for Registration, Evaluation and Authorization of Chemicals, and how it will affect the environment stateside, check out The Muscles From Brussels, my article in Mother Jones’ November/December issue.

Breaking News: Dem Senator Has "Stroke-Like Symptoms." Could Balance of Power Shift?

Via CNN:

Sen. Tim Johnson, D-South Dakota, was hospitalized Wednesday after he suffered stroke-like symptoms in his Washington office, his staff said.

Johnson, who turns 60 on December 28, was taken to George Washington University Hospital by ambulance about 11:30 a.m., sources in his office said.

A statement issued by Johnson's office said he was suffering from a "possible stroke."

At this stage he is undergoing a comprehensive evaluation by the stroke team," the statement said. Staffers said that Johnson was conscious when he was transported to the hospital.

A lawyer and longtime state lawmaker, Johnson was first elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1986. He served five terms before he was elected to the Senate in 1996.

He is the senior senator from South Dakota and serves on numerous committees, including appropriations, budget, banking, energy and natural resources, and Indian affairs

.Should Johnson not be able to complete his term, which ends in 2008, South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds, a Republican, could appoint his replacement, which could shift the balance of power in the Senate.

Johnson battled prostate cancer in 2004, and after surgery, tests showed he no longer had the disease, according to his Web site.

Jay Bakker's Quiet Revolution

Tonight, the Sundance Channel debuts "One Punk Under God," a documentary series that follows Jay Bakker, the son of Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. Since his parents' PTL ministry collapsed in the late '80s, Bakker hit the bottle, got a ton of tattoos, sobered up, rediscovered God, and became a preacher. He's now spreading the word from a Brooklyn storefront, but it's a distinctly different message from the one we're used to hearing from megachurches and televangelists. I recently talked to Bakker about his philosophy, his decision to become a "gay-affirming" church, and what tricks of the trade he picked up from his parents. Check it out here.

Proxy War Anyone?

The New York Times reports today that Saudi Arabia will back the Sunni minority in Iraq if the United States withdraws its troops. This move by the Saudi government sends a strong message that they will not be passive observers of Iran's involvement in Iraq. Nawaf Obaid, a security adviser to Saudi Arabia, writing in the Washington Post last month, warned of this impending possibility, although he made clear his views were not those of his country. It appears now that they are. King Abdullah expressed Saudi Arabia's intentions to support Iraq's Sunnis to Dick Cheney during the VP's visit to Riyadh two weeks ago. It's a foregone conclusion that bordering nations will play a role in the outcome of the situation in Iraq. What possible roles are still unknown, but there are several scary prospects floating around. Obaid wrote, "To be sure, Saudi engagement in Iraq carries great risks -- it could spark a regional war. So be it: The consequences of inaction are far worse."

A proxy war between Iran and Saudi Arabia is definitely one of the looming possibilities.

Cheney Cutting and Running

U.S. News and World Report is reporting that Dick Cheney's recent absence from the public eye is an attempt to disassociate himself with the war.

"I think we'll see less of him than ever," says [an] associate. "Iraq is now Bush's baby, and Cheney doesn't want to be tarred with it in the eyes of historians."

Right... For a reminder of exactly how involved in the war effort Dick Cheney was, see the "Cheney" portion of the Mother Jones Iraq War Timeline.

December 12, 2006

Methane, Midges & Morons

From the AGU (American Geophysical Union) meeting in San Francisco comes word that the frozen fields of methane known as clathrates underlying the seafloor exist at much shallower depths than previously thought. Nature reports that Michael Riedel of McGill University in Montreal and colleagues found methane clathrates off Vancouver Island in only 200 to 400 feet of water—less than half the depth previously predicted, based on our current understanding of the temperatures and pressures required to keep frozen gases stable.

It’s ominous because the rapid melting of frozen methane is a feared consequence of global warming, as described in this issue’s cover story, The Thirteenth Tipping Point. In a warming world, shallower clathrates would melt sooner, a very bad thing for life on earth.

If you’re wondering the extent to which scientists are pouring their efforts into the study of global climate change, from the monumental to the microscopic, check out this study of the changes in midge communities in western American lakes. Also reporting at the AGU, David Porinchu, lead author and an assistant professor of geography at Ohio State University, found that midge species inhabiting western American lakes shifted dramatically as lake temperatures rose the past three decades.

Doesn’t matter though to Oklahoma Senator James Inhofe, recently deposed chairman of the Committee on Environment and Public Works. According to his Guide to Debunking Global Warming Alarmism:

My skeptical views on man-made catastrophic global warming have only strengthened as new science comes in.

In scientific parlance, that’s called skepticitis, a disorder affecting human intelligence in a very bad way for life on earth.

Is Gary Miller (R-CA) a Crook? Ask Jeeves. . .

In the latest dispatch from the seismically unstable mansion known as the California Republican Party, former aides of Rep. Garry Miller accuse him of turning them into butlers. The aides say Miller required them to help his children with schoolwork, search for rock concert tickets and send flowers to family members and friends. "There was never a clear line in the office between what was congressional business and what was just business," one former aide told the LA Times. "The expectation was that you would do both." Miller is also accused of new self-dealing involving real estate (a longstanding theme), which I won’t bore you with here, except to say that he paid himself $75,000 in rent for the use his real estate development firm as a campaign office, which, it appears, wasn’t used for much campaigning.

The theme of gilded excess at the California GOP was dusted off last year when former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham admitted he’d conspired to take bribes that included a Rolls Royce, a yacht and a 19th Century Louis Philippe commode. Of course, Miller has built on the notion of GOP graft with all the embellishment of a Fisherman’s Wharf caricature artist. Voters showed they care about such things by ousting Rep. Richard Pombo in November for, among other things, his associations with Jack Abramoff, but the carnage Out West left plenty of other sketchy legislators standing. See MJ’s November article, Washington’s Shadiest Shoo-ins, for a shout-out to SoCal’s indomitable Jerry Lewis.

One might hope that Republicans, being the perpetual underdogs in California, would at least serve as the party of conscience, as advocates of balanced budgets and moral probity. At times they’ve been known to fill this role, such as last year, for instance, when former Secretary of State Kevin Shelley was implicated in a money laundering scandal and a Republican appointee replaced him (for a few months at least, until he lost this year’s election to a Democrat). That the Democrats rebounded from the scandal so quickly underscores how much the Republican voice of conscience has lost its credibility, or been replaced by pillow whispers with the powerful.

Victory for Hemp

Starting on the first of next year, farmers in North Dakota can apply for licenses to grow hemp, the biological cousin of marijuana that can be used to make everything from soap to rope to groovy hacky-sack covers. Tired of watching their Canadian neighbors making good money off the stuff, state legislators legalized industrial hemp production last year. But there's still one major hurdle: the DEA has to give approval, since it considers hemp no different from pot - even though you'd have to smoke about an acre of the stuff to get a buzz. Of course, federal authorities have never been known for the rationality of their approach to anything connected with marijuana. The Supreme Court, for instance, just upheld a 55 year sentence for a guy convicted of selling three bags of pot to an undercover cop. Even the judge who was forced to impose the punishment, thanks to mandatory-minimum sentencing laws, called it "unjust, cruel and irrational."

Is There a "New Way Forward"?

The Washington Post reports today that five advisers commissioned by Bush to help him find a "new way forward" (Note to GWB: love the marketing) in Iraq are both critical of the President's old way of handling the Iraq war (main message: fire your National Security Team) as well as the Iraq Study Group's recent recommendations. Think Progress has a good rundown on exactly what these military experts had to say. Four were critical of the ISG's recommendations (mainly the idea of troop withdrawal) and three were in favor of or open to escalation (an increase in troops). Although I do agree that the ISG report left much to be desired, as Jonathan pointed out shortly after it was released (as have many others), an increase in troops isn't the answer either.

The Wall Street Journal reported yesterday about the Army's cash crunch. I know, no surprise to anyone, but the piece did, for me at least, solidify the point that even if the administration or a bipartisan panel or a slew of military experts thought adding 20,000 troops would suppress sectarian violence, train Iraqi security forces, and lead to a picturesque withdrawal down the road, we can't afford it anyway. And furthermore, many experts say 20,000 wouldn't do the trick, not even close.

Why are there no other options? Why are we left with Option 1: Stay, bleed the 2007 budget, send more troops that we don't have, and potentially see no advancement; or Option 2: Leave (which seems unlikely at this point as Bush has made abundantly clear that victory in Iraq is still possible, at least in his mind), and risk civil war or even regional war? Are there no options because we have dug ourselves so far down, that, like Vietnam, we must admit failure, cut our losses, and retreat? If that really is the only feasible scenario, it is hard to admit, isn't it? And maybe it is hard for those advising Bush to admit as well. Matt Iglesias over at the American Prospect points out that the ISG recommendations are useless for this very reason -- the panel is in denial.

"What's especially egregious about the ISG's recommendations is that the commission clearly recognizes the nature of the problem, as evidenced by the opening section of its own report. It then fails to address its own analysis simply because the only reasonable conclusion to draw from it is the politically unacceptable one that we've lost and we need to leave."

America's next task may be swallowing the idea of defeat.

The "Global Rich List" Makes This Blogger's Day

From time to time, one contemplates the funny little nuances of life as a blogger. Like how bus fare can end up being a sizable portion of a blogger's monthly income, or how health care can be a near impossibility.

But then one finds the Global Rich List web tool, and innocently plugs in a blogger's annual salary. And what does one find? That 93% of the world makes less than a blogger, and that for $30 a blogger could buy an ER DVD boxset or a first aid kit for a village in Haiti. If only a blogger could convince a blogger's girlfriend that a first aid kit for a village in Haiti is what she really wants for Christmas...

To be serious for a moment, the Global Rich List really is a neat tool, and deserves to be forwarded far and wide (many have already seen it). It provides some perspective on how comfortable almost all quarters of the United States population really are. Simply plug in your annual salary and find out what percentile of the worldwide population you place in. The website also provides neat facts, like, "$8 could buy you 15 organic apples OR 25 fruit trees for farmers in Honduras" and "Microsoft CEO Bill Gates has more wealth than the bottom 45 percent of American households combined."

Count this blogger safely in that 45 percent. Check it out.