Have You Ever Met a Nice South African?

Bush Further Bastardizes the English Language

All is well, folks. The establishment of Africom and the attempt to further project US power over Africa won't result in any new US military bases on the continent. Just "offices." This will undoubtedly be a great comfort to those killed by the new "office workers" who will be moving in. I'm reminded of Phil Ochs' great song "Talking Vietnam Blues," where he comments on the presence of US "trainers" in Vietnam:

Well the sergeant said its time to train
So I climbed aboard my helicopter plane.
We flew above the battle ground
A sniper tried to shoot us down.
He must have forgotten, were only trainees.
Them commies never fight fair.
Friends the very next day we trained some more
We burned some villages down to the floor.
Yes we burned out the jungles far and wide,
Made sure those red apes had no place left to hide.

Check out Horace Campbell at Pambazuka for the real scoop on Africom.

The Revolutionary Left Gets a Facelift

Chickity check out the forthcoming, new and improved Socialist Worker website!!!

Obama Tacks Left, Hillary Just Tacky

A useful article from the LA Times.

Clinton intensifies her attacks on new front-runner Obama

Email Picture

Eric Gay / Associated Press

Democratic presidential hopeful, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., gestures while speaking at a campaign stop in McAllen, Texas, Wednesday, Feb. 13, 2008.

She calls on her rival for the Democratic presidential nomination to accept more invitations to debate, including one before next week's Wisconsin contest.

By Michael Muskal, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
12:00 PM PST, February 13, 2008

A day after she lost her status as front-runner for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Rodham Clinton stepped up her attacks on Sen. Barack Obama, challenging her opponent to debate.

Obama of Illinois won three contests on Tuesday, in Virginia, Maryland and the District of Columbia, extending his recent streak to eight consecutive wins over Clinton, of New York. The victories give Obama a slight edge in delegates over Clinton, who has long portrayed herself as the inevitable winner of the Democratic nomination.

On the Republican side, Arizona Sen. John McCain solidified his claim to be the presumptive candidate by defeating former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee in Tuesday's three primaries. Huckabee has insisted he will stay in the race even though he is too far behind in delegates to win the nomination.

After visiting GOP members of the House, McCain told reporters that he would like Huckabee to end his campaign, but understood the former governor's desire to stay.

"I would like for him to withdraw today; it would be much easier," McCain said. "But I respect his right to remain in this race for just as long as he wants to."

In the wake of Tuesday's primaries, the edginess and drama were mainly on the Democratic side as Obama and Clinton campaign for next Tuesday's contests in Wisconsin and Hawaii.

Clinton has called for more debates with Obama and her campaign stepped up the call today in a broadcast ad that notes the former first lady has accepted an invitation in Wisconsin to debate.

"Hillary Clinton has said yes," the announcer says. "Barack Obama hasn't."

"Maybe he'd prefer to give speeches than have to answer questions," the announcer adds in the 30-second spot.

"Wisconsin deserves to hear both candidates debate the issues that matter. . . . And that's . . . not debatable."

Clinton today was in Texas, which holds its primary on March 4, along with Ohio, Rhode Island and Vermont.

Obama campaigned this morning at a General Motors plant in Janesville, Wis., where he blamed Washington, D.C., for current economic problems. Exit polls by the Associated Press showed that voters on Tuesday cited the economy as the No. 1 issue in the campaign.

"We are not standing on the brink of recession due to forces beyond our control," Obama said in his speech. "The fallout from the housing crisis that's cost jobs and wiped out savings was not an inevitable part of the business cycle. It was a failure of leadership and imagination in Washington.

"It's a Washington where politicians like John McCain and Hillary Clinton voted for a war in Iraq that should've never been authorized and never been waged -- a war that is costing us thousands of precious lives and billions of dollars a week" that could be used on infrastructure, job training and healthcare.

David Wilhelm, a top official in former President Bill Clinton's 1992 campaign and a former chairman of the Democratic National Committee, is scheduled to endorse Obama today in a conference call set up by the Obama campaign.

Wilhelm was a previously uncommitted superdelegate, the group of Democratic Party officials and office-holders who are expected to determine the nominee after the primary process ends in June.

Different media outlets have different delegate counts, but all agree Obama is slightly ahead in the tally. The Associated Press gives Obama 1,223 delegates to Clinton's 1,198. Democrats require 2,025 delegates to win the nomination.

The Clinton campaign, which has seen two people leave top posts in recent days, today concentrated on the delegate count. In a memo by chief strategist Mark Penn, the campaign noted: "This election will come down to delegates. Votes are still being counted and delegates apportioned, but Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are separated by approximately 40 delegates right now -- that is, barely 1% of all the delegates to the Democratic convention" in late August.

"After March 4th, over 3,000 delegates will be committed, and we project that Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will be virtually tied with 611 delegates still to be chosen in Pennsylvania and other remaining states," Penn said.

Republicans require 1,191 delegates to win the nomination. The Associated Press gives McCain 821, Huckabee 241, and former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, who ended his campaign last week, 288. Texas Rep. Ron Paul has 14 delegates.

In Washington, D.C., today, McCain met with House Republicans, with whom the Arizona senator has sparred. Since Romney dropped out of the race, McCain has concentrated on smoothing GOP feathers, principally those of conservatives.

"I'm very gratified by the very warm reception that I received from the Republican conference this morning -- a spirited and a good discussion of some of the issues," McCain told reporters after his meeting. "I'm very grateful for our pledge to work together."

"Clearly, I've had some disagreements with Senator McCain over the years," said Republican leader John Boehner, of Ohio. "But I've got to tell you, I've watched this presidential race unfold, and I've watched John McCain be a strong advocate for the principles I believe in."

michael.muskal@latimes.com

Times staff writers Michael Finnegan in Washington, D.C., and Maria L. LaGanga in San Francisco contributed to this report.

Anti-war protesters to Recruiters: Get the Hell out of Dodge!

A group of young students who strolled down the sidewalk shared that sentiment. They derided one of the protesters who argued the United States was involved in an illegal war in Iraq.

"Where's the logic in that whatsoever?" one of the young men said. "That's our national security, and you're here protesting the Marines."

Hahaha. Well done Berkeley!

Romney: If I Stay in the Race, the Terrorists Will Win

Too good.

Army Suicide Rate highest in nearly 30 years

Cnn is reporting that the suicide rate in 2007 is the highest since the Army began counting this in 1980 and the number of self-injuries is nearly double the pre-September 11th levels. This flies in the face of the Bush Administration's claims that they are truly 'supporting our troops' by providing adecuate mental health care. Also, the suicide rates coincides with the increase in death over the year, nearly the highest since the invasion.

Stats on Black Inequality

A comrade in my branch asked me to assemble some stats on Black inequality today, so here it is.

Jonathon Kozol on educational apartheid in America.

Glenn Ford on the how the sub-prime crisis has affected Black folks.

Pam Oliver's page on racial disparities in incarceration.

Campaign to End the Death Penalty fact sheet on the racist death penalty.

Kellie Middleton on racism in the health care system.

Jared Bernstein from Economic Policy Institute on Black/White wealth and income inequality.

YWCA report on residential segregation. Notable statistic: 41% of African-Americans live in areas which are described as "hyper-segregated." This report is basically a distillation of the longer 2006 Fair Housing Trends Report, available here.

The Two Articles You Should Read on Iraq This Week

Dahr Jamail on what Iraqis actually think of the occupation.

Andrew Cockburn on the the fissures in the al-Sahwa (Awakening) movement.

General Suharto Dead!

From the New York Times. No mention, of course, of the copious U.S. aid Suharto received all the while he was gunning down Communists and East Timorese.

Economic Influence on Abortion Decisions

This is a great article that points out, according to a friend's outline,
-- the most common reason for abortion is so women feel they will be better mothers to other children (born or not yet born)
-- the economic context of this decision
-- who actually gets an abortion (not primarily the young white middle-class women in the media)
-- the hold anti-abortion conservatism has taken in some black politics
-- the way that lack of access to a clinic actually limits access

Tom Engelhardt on The Surge

In this article Tom Engelhardt argues, quite astutely, I believe, that the main "success" of the surge has not been in Iraq but in the U.S. This seems quite right to me. After all, Dahr Jamail and Ashley Smith have eviscerated the claims for success in Iraq, and in spite of the continued obscenity of the war the antiwar movement is still basically moribund. Englehardt does an admirable job both analyzing the political effects of the surge and the reasons why violence in Iraq won't go away.

Iraqis Typically Ungrateful for the Surge

Those miserable ingrates. Don't they realize the freedom they now enjoy was bought with the blood of American soldiers? Don't they understand that if a year ago we had, instead of following President Bush's courageous plan to retake the country, listened to what a majority of Iraqis had said and left the country, it would be today, in the words of John McCain and Joe Lieberman writing in the Wall Street Journal, "a country in chaos...a failed state in the heart of the Middle East?"

After all our sacrifice, listen to what the despicable little bastards have to say about life in their liberated country:

“Is it good that we still cannot go to Baghdad to sell our crops and buy seeds and other necessary things for our farms,” said young Jassim from Fallujah. “Is it good that we only plant ten percent of our land because there is not enough electricity and fuel to run our pumps?”

“If the U.S. generals mean they will hand over security to Iraqis and leave the province, then I will salute them all,” retired Iraqi army colonel Salman Ahmed told IPS in Fallujah. “But I know it is just another comedy like that played elsewhere in Iraq, where Iraqis (officials) are just ropes for American dirty laundry. We want our country back for real, not just on paper.”

“If security is so good then let them end the tragedy of our city,” a member of the Fallujah City Council, speaking on condition of anonymity told IPS. “We want our freedom back and we want to leave and enter our city without this humiliation by soldiers and policemen. Fallujah is dying, and our masters (Americans) are bragging about security and prosperity.”

“Let them (Americans) take everything and bring me my son back,” she said. “He stayed to guard the house in the November 2004 siege and the Americans captured him. Now he is missing. Some people who were released told us he was with them in the airport prison.”

US Has Most Deaths from Preventable Disease in the Industrialized World

At Medical News.

Dahr Jamail Sums Up Iraq in 2007

A slap in the face for ParliamentBy Dahr Jamail WASHINGTON - The end of 2007 produced a telltale indication of what the New Year seems likely to bring to Iraq. "We the Iraqi members of Parliament signing below demand a timetable for withdrawal of the occupation forces [MNF] from our beloved Iraq," 144 members of the 275-member Parliament, a clear majority, wrote in a declaration April 2007.

Despite this, the George W Bush administration and the Iraqi government led by US-installed Prime Minister Nuri al-Malikipushed a resolution through the UN Security Council to extend by another year the legal cover for foreign troops to operate in Iraq.

The move on December 18 violated both the Iraqi constitution and the resolution passed earlier this year by the Iraqi Parliament. Many Iraqi lawmakers say that any renewal of the UN mandate not ratified by Parliament is illegal. The move almost guarantees an increase in violence and a deepening of sectarian tensions.

"Bypassing the Iraqi Parliament and continuing to undermine the Iraqi political process will push more Iraqis to choose armed resistance instead of political non-violent resistance," Raed Jarrar, Iraq consultant at the Public Policy Office of the American Friends Service Committee in Washington, an independent peace group, told Inter Press Service. "The US role in supporting the unpopular and unelected Iraqi cabinet will increase violence and undermine Iraqis' plans to achieve national reconciliation," Jarar said. "The best way to support reconciliation in Iraq is to stop supporting a minority of Iraqi separatists against the majority of Iraqi nationalists."

The policy of building up armed Sunni militias is already leading to Sunni divisions with Shia groups, and with the Shia dominated government. "One can only wonder, now that the United States has 'liberated' Iraq from Saddam Hussein, just who will liberate Iraq from the United States," Jarrar wrote in a recent article.

One of the more troubling aspects of what 2008 may bring Iraq remains the massive refugee crisis. Despite the fact that in recent weeks tens of thousands of Iraqi refugees in Syria have been returning to Baghdad after a decline in violence in the capital, the number is still small compared to total refugee numbers. According to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), as of December 2007, 2.4 million Iraqis were internally displaced and at least another 2.25 million had fled the country.

A UN official in Damascus, speaking on condition of anonymity, had told IPS last summer that UNHCR figures for Iraqi refugees were "consistently far below the real numbers" and did not accurately reflect the "catastrophic reality of the refugee crisis which has been generated by the occupation of Iraq". The Iraqi government has announced that 46,000 refugees returned in October. But a UNHCR report released in November said that "only 14% of respondents said they were returning to Iraq because they believed the security situation had improved, as opposed to 70% who cited financial and visa reasons". The majority of the estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees in Syria, as in Jordan, have never been allowed to work legally. With the price of basic commodities and rent continuing to increase, many who have used up their savings are now unable to stay any longer.

Many who have returned have found their homes destroyed, looted or occupied by strangers. The government is offering each returning family one million Iraqi dinars (about US$900). "This amount is not enough to buy furniture for two rooms," said Ibtissam, who has returned to live now in her brother's house. The Iraqi government is airing offers on state television of free bus rides from Damascus to Baghdad. This is despite official acknowledgement that the country is not safe and that it cannot absorb the large numbers of refugees who wish to return home.

Another crisis that seems certain to deteriorate in 2008 is the Turkish military assaults in the Kurdish north. Shelling and air strikes targeting the rebel Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) have led more than 4,000 people to flee their homes during the last weeks of 2007.

All of this is against a backdrop of 50-70% unemployment within Iraq, 70% inflation, and on average less than seven hours of electricity a day. More than $50 billion has been paid out to Western companies in Iraq thus far, but the infrastructure remains a shambles and is far worse than under the regime of Saddam Hussein, even through more than 12 years of economic sanctions. But construction continues at the US Embassy in Baghdad, the largest embassy anywhere in the world. Construction also continues at US military bases.

In May 2007, Tony Snow, former spokesman for President Bush, announced that Bush would like to see a lengthy US troop presence in Iraq as in South Korea, where the US has had thousands of troops for 50 years. "The Korean model is one in which the United States provides a security presence, but you've had the development of a successful democracy in South Korea over a period of years, and, therefore, the United States is there as a force of stability," Snow told reporters. (Inter Press Service)