In the airport in Atlanta yesterday, I happened to be standing next to some American soldiers, wearing camouflage, on their way to Afghanistan. 
They knew the name of the province that they were going to, but they were arguing over what part of the country that province is in. One said the east. One said the south. One said the west. One of them thought that their destination was near Kandahar, but then they started arguing over where Kandahar is located. I hope that they get it all sorted out before the shooting starts. If they don’t know what part of the country that they’re going to, then what are the chances that they speak the local language? (There are 48 different native languages in Afghanistan.) What are the chances that they know anything about Islam? (Which is practiced by more than 99% of all Afghans, language differences notwithstanding.) To little fanfare, President Obama announced last week that he signed an agreement to extend the U.S. military occupation of Afghanistan for twelve more years. No one noted the irony of this, since under our Constitution, President Obama can be President for no more than another 41/2 years. Also under our Constitution, a treaty requires the concurrence of two-thirds of the Senate. (Article II, Section 2, Clause 2). No one in the Obama Administration even took a stab at explaining why this agreement with a foreign power was not being submitted to the Senate for concurrence. But the reason is obvious: the Senate would not concur. Also under our Constitution, you will search in vain for any provision that authorizes a lengthy military occupation of a foreign country. In fact, the Constitution does not authorize a standing army, much less an army standing in Kabul. In the Bizarro world in which we live, we have 27 Attorneys General challenging the constitutionality of 35 million Americans getting health coverage, but no one challenges the constitutionality of an undeclared war (see Article I, Section 8 on that) that has now entered its second decade. Presidential candidates Obama and Clinton obviously were separated by race and gender, but one of the few things that separated them on policy was Clinton’s vote in favor of the war in Iraq, contrasted with Obama’s 2002 statement that the war in Iraq was "dumb." This is what State Senator Barack Obama said, in October 2002, in the Federal Plaza in Chicago: I don’t oppose all wars. What I am opposed to is a dumb war. What I am opposed to is a rash war. What I am opposed to is the cynical attempt by Richard Perle and Paul Wolfowitz and other armchair, weekend warriors in this administration to shove their own ideological agendas down our throats, irrespective of the costs in lives lost and in hardships borne. What I am opposed to is the attempt by political hacks like Karl Rove to distract us from a rise in the uninsured, a rise in the poverty rate, a drop in the median income, to distract us from corporate scandals and a stock market that has just gone through the worst month since the Great Depression. That’s what I’m opposed to. A dumb war. A rash war. A war based not on reason but on passion, not on principle but on politics. Barack Obama was talking about the war in Iraq. But let’s be honest. At this point, after 11 years of pointless, fruitless, endless war, doesn’t all of that apply equally to the war in Afghanistan?
Posts Tagged ‘Alan Grayson’
Welcome to Kandahar-Letter to Editor
In EOC EYEONCITRUS.COM, LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Welcome to Kandahar on kp00 at 311214Dear Editor: Did They Die in Vain?
In EYEONCITRUS.COM, WORKERS UNITE on kp44 at 311112
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FORWARD By EYESONCITRUS
The United States is now considered a third world country in terms of labor, that is why the world’s auto maker’s build their plants here, to save their labor costs because their countries offer a livable wage to their workers, while ours continue to suffer. A Nation only prospers when all segments of society prosper, when the elite grab control which they have done in the states, they manipulate and incite, in order to divide and conquer. Americans have forgotten that their greatness is from being united, if we are ever to be great again it is time, once again to unite, arrest those who have lied to us, stole from us, misled us into wars, these are the true terrorists of the world and until the masses realize that, the future is not very bright.
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On July 6, 1892, in Homestead, Pennsylvania, 3800 workers went on strike, to win the right to organize. Three hundred hired and armed goons attacked them. Five people died.
On April 20, 1914, in Ludlow, Colorado, 1200 coal miners went on strike, to win the right to organize. The Colorado National Guard attacked their shantytown, and burned it to the ground. Nineteen people died. Two women and 11 children were asphyxiated, and they burned to death.
Here and around the world, many people have fought and died, so that you and I would have the right to organize.
And so that 250,000 public workers in Wisconsin would have that right, too.
This is not exactly a new idea. Six months after the Ludlow Massacre, President Wilson signed the Clayton Act, prohibiting the prosecution of union members under Antitrust Law. That was almost a century ago.
Two decades later, during the Franklin Roosevelt’s first term as President, he signed the National Labor Relations Act into law. It protects the right to organize. That was over 75 years ago.
The right to organize also is a fundamental principle of international law. Over 150 countries have ratified the “Right to Organize” Convention, an international treaty. It was adopted in 1949, over 60 years ago.
So why are we even talking about this, 11 years into the 21st Century?
Because the teabaggers want to “take back America.” They want to take it back, all right – take it all the way back to the 19th century. When there was no right to organize. When people worked for a dollar a day. When grown men competed against children for jobs. When women were barred from most jobs entirely. When you worked until you died.
Not to mention slavery.
I want to see an America that is healthy and wealthy.
They want an America that provides cheap labor to our corporate overlords. An America where the middle class is chained by debt.
We didn’t ask for this fight. But we have no choice except to fight back. For the survival of the middle class in America. For us, for our children, and for our grandchildren. And so that the victims in Haymarket, in Homestead and in Ludlow did not die in vain.
As Cardinal Spellman said 45 years ago, “it is a war thrust upon us, and we cannot yield to tyranny.”
I’m ready to fight for what’s right. What about you?
Courage,
Related Articles
- You: Wisconsin’s Legacy of Labor Battles (nytimes.com)
- Before There Were Unions by V.Lyn (tcmag.wordpress.com)
Fighting Foreclosure Fraud
In Bank Fraud, EYEONCITRUS.COM, foreclosure on kp13 at 311014Dear EYE ON CITRUS
| Stop the banks from taking our homes!
Sign my letter telling law enforcement officials: |
The banks have gone wild.
Over the last three months, I’ve been bombarded with stories of banks committing foreclosure fraud to take people’s homes. Foreclosure fraud happens when a bank decides that it wants to take someone’s house, but it doesn’t have legal title to do so. So it forges paperwork to show the court that it can take a home. Judges often agree to a foreclosure, because most of them can’t believe a bank would simply falsify paperwork. Since the foreclosure fraud story was exposed, however, Bank of America and JP Morgan-Chase have suspended foreclosures in 23 states, including Florida. Judges are getting more skeptical and demanding paperwork.
But this isn’t stopping the problem fast enough. JP Morgan Chase was just caught hiring a contractor to break into a woman’s home and change the locks, while she cowered in a bathroom and called 911. Then the bank claimed it was a simple mistake, as she wasn’t even in foreclosure.
Last month, I called for the Florida Supreme Court to halt these illegal foreclosures. The Florida Supreme Court declined, saying it had no authority to do so. I also asked Fannie Mae to stop working with law firms under investigation for falsifying paperwork. They have not responded. I recently sent a letter to the Treasury Secretary and our national bank regulators asking for a national moratorium on foreclosures while authorities assess the scope of the problem. I have also taped a 7-minute YouTube video explaining the whole situation.
But that’s not enough. We need to stop these “banks gone wild.”
I need your help. I’m sending a letter to the Director of the FBI and to Central Florida’s U.S. Attorney asking them to prosecute banks that foreclose illegally on homeowners.
Will you add your name to this letter? I will send this letter, along with all of the cosigners and your comments, to law enforcement officials.
You can sign it here, at NotTooBigtoJail.com.
Courage,
Congressman Alan Grayson
