When, What DHS knew—21st century extremism USA

Center for Public Integrity reports buried DHS domestic terror report
Editing, brief comment by Carolyn Bennett

“Two years before the Tucson massacre, a U.S. Department of Homeland Security report warned that right wing extremism was on the rise and could prompt ‘lone wolves’ to launch attacks.”

The Department backed away from the report amid intense criticism including criticism from now- Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, John Boehner.

The government buried the report and ‘disemboweled’ the unit that created the report. Asked about the report in late 2010, Department of Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the report was ‘ancient history.’

The report focused mainly on “the fear that if the economy continued its downturn, it could mix with racial and political opposition to the election of [U.S. President] Barack Obama and the ongoing debate about immigration. The report was especially concerned that these factors paralleled those that led to several incidents of domestic terrorism during the [U.S. President William Jefferson] Clinton era....”

However, beyond the severity of the1990s’ situation, the threat posed by lone wolves and small terrorist cells this time had deepened, become “more pronounced.”

Threat analysts within the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Extremism and Radicalization Branch, in addition to having produced the extremism report, also produced in late March 2009 a ‘Domestic Extremism Lexicon.’ This lexicon defined different extremist groups but, again, after anti-immigration and anti-abortion groups criticized the lexicon, the government buried it.

U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) “had been the target of violent threats over the past year. Hours after she voted for health care reform legislation in March of 2010, some person or persons vandalized Congresswoman Giffords’ Tucson office. Other Democrats experienced similar threats or vandalism.

In a democracy, the people have a right to know. They must know. They have a right also to expect good governance despite and perhaps especially in the face of extremist threat and backlash. Silence, denial, censorship are never virtues in a democracy. Quite the contrary: they have ongoing lethal consequences. Truth together with civility and nonviolence is our only way forward.

JANUARY 11 Tucson, Arizona, shooting
UPDATE

Doctors in Tucson told Canadian Broadcasting’s David Common that eight people wounded in Saturday’s shooting “remain in hospital, including [Congresswoman] Giffords, who is in critical condition after a bullet passed through the left half of her brain from back to front.” Doctors reported no signs of deterioration in Giffords’ condition. She still responds to simple commands but “the doctors indicated they have no real sense yet of how much damage has been done to her brain.”

Sources and notes
“DHS Report in 2009 Warned of ‘Lone Wolf’ Attacks Long Before Tucson, Government Warned of Extremists” (Aaron Mehta), January 10, 2011, http://www.publicintegrity.org/articles/entry/2815/

Center for Public Integrity — Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest This independent center’s published mission “is to produce original investigative journalism about significant public issues to make institutional power more transparent and accountable.” Toward that end “the Center:

Generates accessible investigative reports, databases, and contextual analysis on issues of public importance
Disseminates work to journalists, policymakers, scholars, and citizens using a combination of digital, electronic, and print media
Educates, engages, and empowers citizens with tools and skills to hold governments and other institutions accountable
Organizes and supports investigative journalists around the world who apply the Center’s values, mission, and standards to cross-border projects”

Aaron Mehta is a staff writer with The Center for Public Integrity. He is a graduate in history and communications from Tufts University (2007). He has worked with various political venues and campaigns. http://www.publicintegrity.org/about/our_people/staff/

“Tucson memorials planned for shooting victims,” January 11, 2011, http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/11/arizona-shooting-memorial.html
More on this story at: http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2011/01/11/arizona-shooting-memorial.html#ixzz1AkRlxpC2

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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BREAKDOWN reveals lethal character — again

A violent nation murders its own —
IT DOES NOT HAVE TO BE THIS WAY
Editing, brief comment by Carolyn Bennett

“… The rhetoric is incredibly heated—not just the calls, but the emails, the slurs. … Things have really gotten spun up. … You’ve got to think about it — Our democracy is a light, a beacon, really, around the world because we effect change at the ballot box … not because of these … outbursts of violence in certain cases and the yelling… Change is important. It’s a part of our process but it’s really important that we focus on the fact that we have a democratic process.…

“It is important for all leaders … [including] community leaders, figures in our community, to say, ‘Look, we can’t stand for this.’ … We need to realize that the rhetoric and firing people up [issuing targets lists, publishing crosshairs of a gun sight over our congressional districts] … — when people do that, they’ve got to realize there are consequences to that action.”

Member of the U.S. House of Representatives Gabrielle Giffords shot by a U.S. assassin over the weekend was speaking in March of last year.

Democracy Now spoke today with Representative Giffords’ colleague in the U.S. House of Representatives from Arizona, Congressman Raúl Grijalva. This is some of what he said.

“There’s a tone and a tenor that’s been set in our national dialogue that we cannot get away from.

“Each member of Congress, each governor and the leadership in our state had better reflect on this and take it very seriously.

“Words have consequences, as Gabby said.”

Setting a tone — whether it is through the shock radio disc jockeys in Arizona and elsewhere where [personalities] continue to promote divisiveness and hatred, where they demonize people, where they make a politician who disagrees with them not just an opponent but a deadly enemy — these things have consequences. A toxic atmosphere develops.

“I think everybody needs to take a step back and realize that they have some shared responsibility. This is not about abridging free speech. This is not about the right to petition our government. This is not about the right to assemble. This is about responsibility.”

As leaders, we must lead by example. Introduce civility, healthy, hard-fought debate — without demonizing or making people our enemies.


Sources and notes
“‘Politics in Arizona Have Become Fueled By Hate...Driven By Anger:’ Rep. Raúl Grijalva on Shooting of Giffords— Federal prosecutors have charged Jared Lee Loughner with the attempted assassination of [U.S.] Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ). She was shot in the back of the head at close range on Saturday morning outside a supermarket in Tucson, Arizona, where she was holding an event called ‘Congress on Your Corner’ to meet with constituents. In all, 20 people were shot, six were killed. The dead include U.S. District Judge John Roll, Congresswoman Giffords’ aide, Gabriel Zimmerman, a nine-year-old girl born on September 11, 2001, and three people in their late 70s,” January 10, 2011, http://www.democracynow.org/2011/1/10/politics_in_arizona_have_become_fueled

Gabrielle Giffords is a U.S. Representative from Arizona. She was born in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona (June 8, 1970). She was a member of the Arizona state house of representatives (2001-2003) and member of the Arizona state senate (2003-2005) before being elected to the 110th Congress and to the two succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2007-present). She is a member of the Democratic Party. Giffords has been a businesswoman and analyst; and is a graduate of Scripps College (Claremont, California, BA, 1993) and Cornell University (M.R.P, Ithaca, N.Y., 1996), http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000554

Raúl M. Grijalva is a U.S. Representative from Arizona. He was born in Tucson, Pima County, Arizona (February 19, 1948). He was a member of the Unified School Board (1974-1986) and supervisor of Pima County, Arizona (1989-2002) before being elected to the 108th Congress and to four succeeding Congresses (January 3, 2003-present). He is a member of the Democratic Party. Grijalva is a graduate of the University of Arizona (BA, 1986), http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=G000551

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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WAR DEAD, violence 2011

Killing Fields — U.S. occupation, invasion, blood flow at home and abroad
Compiled and edited by Carolyn Bennett

HOMELAND USA

Three-term U.S. Member of Congress Gabrielle Giffords died today in Tucson, Arizona, “after being shot in the head at point-blank range outside a supermarket.” In the state she represents, Giffords was holding a public event when she was gunned down in cold blood.

Six other people died. During her tenure in office, Congresswoman Giffords focused on immigration reform, military issues, stem cell research and alternative energy.

CORRECTION AND UPDATE Sunday January 9

Daily Mail UK January 9: Congresswoman Giffords “survived, despite the shooters’s bullet passing through her brain.” She is still in a critical condition. “Federal judge John Roll, 63, and Christina Green, a nine-year-old schoolchild, are among the dead. Others who died were Giffords’ aide Gabe Zimmerman, Dorothy Murray, 76, Dorwin Stoddard, 76, and Phyllis Scheck, 79.” http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1345413/Arizona-shooting-Gabrielle-Giffords-fights-life-judge-schoolgirl-dead.html?ITO=1490

A 22-year-old white male American, Jared Loughner, with an arrest history, is being reported as alleged Tucson shooter. http://news.yahoo.com/s/dailycaller/20110108/pl_dailycaller/allegedarizgunmanjaredloughnerhadpriorruninswithpolice

OCCUPIED TERRITORIES

West Bank
A 67-year-old Palestinian civilian died Friday when Israeli troops in the southern West Bank city of Hebron opened fire on while he was sleeping at home. The dead man’s son, Rajaeh Kawasme, told Agence France Press, “Troops entered the house while his mother was praying and his father was asleep. They had locked her in another room then opened fire on his father in his bed. ‘They murdered him in cold blood with 13 bullets in the head without even checking his identity. After they killed him, they asked for his identity card.’” An AFP correspondent at the scene said “the shooting took place in a bedroom on the building’s first floor [and] the bed was drenched in blood.”

West Bank
The Electronic Intifada reports that although a 2005 Palestinian call for boycott, divestment and sanctions urges a complete economic, academic and cultural boycott of Israel — modeled on the one that helped end apartheid in South Africa — until Israel respects and recognizes Palestinian rights and complies with international law, a Palestinian is pushing continued development.

“Bashar Masri, a Palestinian and CEO of the company that is developing the Rawabi luxury real estate project in the occupied West Bank, appears to be actively helping Israel deepen its hold on the Palestinian economy despite his earlier claims that he is trying to help end this relationship.”

Ali Abunimah, co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of One Country: A Bold Proposal to End the Israeli-Palestinian Impasse, says, “Masri as well as other Palestinian business men who promote normalization with Israel seem to be doing all they can to undermine the [boycott, divestment and sanctions] campaign, while making handsome profits along the way.”

West Bank Bil'in — Abu Rahmah Family: three dead and wounded in as many years
Israel’s army in late 2004 ordered construction of the “separation wall.” The wall would annex almost 60 percent of Bil'in's land — mostly agricultural land essential to the villagers and the village’s economy.

The Bil'in Committee of Popular Resistance Against the Wall and Settlements (Bil'in Popular Committee) was formed in February 2005 and the group carried out weekly non-violent demonstrations.

Despite harsh reactions from Israeli military personnel who, among other things, “raided the homes of and arrested protest organizers in the middle of the night, the demonstrations continued.”

The Abu Rahmah siblings, non-violent activists in Bil'in’s Popular Committee, began taking fatal hits from the military.

• Ashraf Abu Rahmah in July 2008 was detained by Israeli soldiers in the nearby village of Ni'lin. The soldiers tied him up, blindfolded him and, as their commander watched, shot him in the foot at close range with a rubber-coated steel bullet. The rubber coating of these weapons “is paper-thin and encases a marble-sized steel ball that can break bones or even kill.” The shooting was videotaped “making it impossible for the Israeli military to deny responsibility.” The Israeli Supreme Court handed down a strong indictment against the commander. The soldier who committed the deed was investigated. Two weeks after the investigation, the charges against him were dropped and he resumed Israeli military duty.
• Bassem Abu Rahmah in April 2009 was participating in the weekly protests. An Israeli soldier shot “a high-velocity teargas canister directly at [Bassem’s] chest from a distance of about 40 meters [44 yards]. Many protesters and media had been driven away by the billowing teargas but those still present heard a desperate call for an ambulance. There was no ambulance in the village that day. After a few drawn out minutes, a small beat-up car sped down the road to the spot where Bassem lay. As it approached, the soldiers shot at it with teargas canisters. Bassem’s limp body, his chest covered with blood, was carried to the car and driven 30 minutes to the nearest hospital.
• Jawaher Abu Rahmah died on the eve of 2011 after inhaling teargas that had targeted the Bil'in Committee of Popular Resistance Against the Wall and Settlements’ weekly protest.

CENTRAL SOUTH ASIA and MIDDLE EAST

AFGHANISTAN — Pakistan border
Sixteen (estimated) civilians and a police commander died yesterday and 20 others suffered wounds when a suicide bomb exploded in southern Afghanistan’s Kandahar province on the border with Pakistan. In separate incidents, three NATO service members died in roadside bombings in southern Afghanistan.

The United Nations reports that 2,412 civilians died and 3,803 suffered wounds between January and October of 2010. These casualties amount to a 20 percent increase over 2009. Seven hundred and eleven (711) foreign troops reportedly died in 2010 compared with 521 in 2009. A total of 1,292 (estimated) Afghan police and 821 Afghan soldiers died in 2010.

PAKISTAN — capital Islamabad
In a popular market district in Islamabad, a place popular with wealthy Pakistanis and expatriates, close to the governor’s home, populated by embassies, frequented by foreigners and considered “fairly safe” — Pakistan’s Punjab governor, Salman Taseer, died. Police said on Tuesday a member of the governor’s security detail had assassinated him. Salman Taseer was a high-profile member of the ruling Pakistan People’s Party (PPP).

PAKISTAN — children on a bus
Fifteen children ages eight to 12 suffered wounds Tuesday in southwest Pakistan when a “remote-controlled bomb ripped through a bus carrying children of paramilitary soldiers.” Of the 30 children traveling in a van attacked near Ata Shad Degree College, five suffered critical wounds.

IRAQ — resistance to foreign occupation
The Iraqi Shia Muslim religious leader, Muqtada al-Sadr, “has called on his followers to resist the ‘occupiers’ in Iraq. In his first public address since returning [to Iraq] from self-imposed exile, [Al-Sadr] called on the newly formed government to make sure all U.S. forces leave Iraq by the end of the year as planned.”

Al-Sadr is reported telling a crowd of thousands outside his ancestral home in Najaf on Saturday, “‘We are still resisting the occupation through armed, cultural and all kinds of resistance, so repeat after me: no, no to occupiers.’”


HORN OF AFRICA

SOMALIA — Mercenaries
“Western officials have acknowledged that a number of other private security contractors have begun operating in Somalia.” Somalis are resisting.

Somalia’s interim parliament on Thursday “called on the prime minister to explain a series of contracts given [without consultation] to foreign security firms operating in the country. They also called on Mohamad Abdullah Mohamad to suspend the deals until they can get more information as to what exactly they involve. Somali politicians have accused the prime minister and the president of making secret deals.

UN officials in separate actions have raised questions about whether some of the [mercenary] contractors might be helping organize and arm new pro-government militias, possibly in violation of the UN arms embargo on the country.

U.S.-led

WAR DEAD?

Casualty sites reporting January 8, 2011

(accurate totals unknown)

• Anti-war dot com Casualties in Iraq since March 19, 2003

[U.S. war dead since the Obama inauguration January 20, 2009: 204]

Wounded 32,943-100,000

U.S. veterans with brain injuries 320,000

Suicides estimated: 18 a day

Latest update on this site: January 2, 2011

http://www.antiwar.com/casualties/

• Iraq Body Count (civilian deaths from violence) figures:

99,341 – 108,457

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

• ICasualties figures:

IRAQ: 4,432 U.S., 4,750 Coalition

AFGHANISTAN: 1,449 U.S., 2,290 Coalition

http://icasualties.org/oif/

Sources and notes

“U.S. politician killed in Arizona — Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords has been shot dead, along with six others, while at a community event in Tucson,” January 8, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/01/20111818478375413.html
“Israel army shoots dead elderly Palestinian in bed,” Saturday, January 8, 2011, HEBRON, Palestinian Territories (AFP), http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20110108/twl-israel-palestinians-conflict-westban-4bdc673.html
“Rawabi developer Masri helps deepen Israel's grip on West Bank” (Ali Abunimah), The Electronic Intifada, January 6, 2011, http://electronicintifada.net/v2/article11717.shtml
Bil'in: A village in mourning, January 7, 2011,
http://english.aljazeera.net/indepth/features/2011/01/20111513358119488.html
“Civilians killed in Afghan blast — Taliban claim attack targeting a police commander inside a public bathhouse in a town close to the Pakistan border,” January 7, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/2011178365522845.html
“Pakistan’s Punjab governor killed — Police say Salman Taseer, an outspoken member of ruling party, was assassinated by an elite guard in capital Islamabad,” January 4 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/201114115730846269.html
“Pakistan bus bomb targets children — More than a dozen children of paramilitary soldiers injured as a remote controlled device hits their school bus,” January 1, 2011,
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2011/01/2011148381326449.html
“Al-Sadr calls on Iraqis ‘to resist’ — Shia leader urges peaceful resistance and a rejection of violence in his first address since returning from exile,” January 8, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/01/20111872647305497.html
“Somali MPs seek contract inquiry — Prime minister urged to explain deals with security contractors in strife-torn nation,” January 1, 2011, http://english.aljazeera.net/news/africa/2011/01/201111145350763809.html
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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Beyond Betrayal to actualized renewal — Pinkney

Commentary on what is, what’s possible
From Larry Pinkney's piece in Online Journal
Editing by Carolyn Bennett

WHAT IS

Many people in the United States “were insidiously lulled into a slumber” but some are now waking from their slumber.

The peace prize-toting, constitutional lawyer and purveyor of war … has demonstrated for the clarity of all conscious people that mere color or gender, et cetera, must never be deciding factors for making crucial choices and or political decisions. … Superficiality is superficial!

The android [automaton, robot in human form]-like state of so many is being replaced by “the pain of betrayal and the recognition that the Obama/Biden regime (notwithstanding the Obama and corporate-stream media double-speak) has, over the last two years repackaged and accelerated the Bush/Cheney policies of war abroad and economic, legal, and political disenfranchisement at home.”

Understanding that the corporate Obama/Biden regime and the scandalous Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill have, for all practical purposes, established and codified in law, a very real, often not-so-subtle police-state in this nation — strengthens everyday people’s resolve to throw off this unacceptable and intolerable situation.

WHAT MUST BE

Everyday people in this nation must grasp the international nature of the struggle for justice and human rights worldwide.

“The people of the United States must recognize that our struggle here for political, economic and political justice and human rights intertwines with those of everyday people in Haiti, in Spain, in Greece, in Germany, in Norway, in Venezuela, in Brazil, in Argentina, in Palestine, in Zambia, and in every nation of every corner of the Earth!”

Internationalism must be the answer of everyday people to the blood-sucking bane of globalization. We are not alone — no matter what corporate-stream media might try and have us believe! This planet belongs to everyday people — not to the vampiric corporate elite.

We must be guardians and sustainers of this planet. …

… Let us move beyond betrayal to an actualized and sustained vision of renewal! Organize, Organize, and then Organize some more! At stake is our existence, the existence of the offspring and the planet itself.

Sources and notes

“Is the United States a nation of psychological androids?” (Larry Pinkney Commentary), January 7, 2011, http://onlinejournal.com/artman/publish/printer_6774.shtml, Copyright © 1998-2007 Online Journal

Larry Pinkney
Former university instructor Larry Pinkney is a lecturer and writer whose pieces have appeared in a number of news sources including the San Francisco Bay View Newspaper, The Boston Globe, The Minnesota Daily, The Guardian (New York), Canadian Dimension Magazine, Vancouver (Canada) Indymedia, the ONLINE JOURNAL, and It’s About Time. Larry Pinkney has been co-chair of the San Francisco Black Caucus working closely with the Black Panther Party in the areas of employment, education and housing discrimination, and police brutality. Pinkney “is best known internationally for being the only U.S. citizen and former Black Panther Party member to have successfully self-authored a civil/political rights case from prison to the United Nations.” http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larry_Pinkney



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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Same Ole Bought, Bossed, Bad — seating the 112th

Excerpting, editing, comment by Carolyn Bennett

Thirteen corporations, unions or special interest groups that lobby the federal government bought a full-page advertisement in Wednesday’s print editions of Washington-based Roll Call, The Hill and Politico. Ten of these 13 groups in the first nine months of 2010 spent at least one million dollars on federal lobbying efforts.

Here is some of what the Center for Responsive Politics (Open Secrets) reports on this same ole buying and selling of a place “the people” don’t have at tables — in board rooms and bar rooms, on floors (of House and Senate) and in temples — of entrenched power and influence:

Chevron in the first nine months of 2010 spent an even ten million dollars lobbying the federal government — second behind ConocoPhillips among oil and gas industry interests.  In its mission, Chevron employed more than 40 individual lobbyists. Additionally, during the 2010 election cycle, Chevron’s political action committee “gave” more than $582,000 to congressional candidates.

General Electric and Rolls-Royce in the first three quarters of 2010 spent a cool thirty-two million dollars on federal lobbying efforts, while Rolls Royce-North America chipped in $1.27 million. Additionally, in the past election cycle, General Electric’s political action committee “gave” $1.46 million to congressional candidates. Rolls Royce’s political action committee “gave” $317,500.

Communications Workers of America through September 2010 spent $650,000 on lobbying. Additionally, in last election cycle, Communications Workers of America’s political action committee filled the coffers of congressional candidates with an estimated $1.63 million.

Coca-Cola in 2010 stepped up its lobbying, employing more than 40 registered lobbyists to “work with” members of U.S. Congress and others in the federal government. Coca-Cola in the first nine months of 2010 spent an estimated $4.9 million (before 2008, its federal lobbying had never exceeded $2 million).  In 2009, Coca-Cola spent an estimated $9.4 million on federal lobbying efforts. Additionally Coca Cola’s political action committee in the 2010 election cycle “gave” $385,500 to congressional candidates. Increased lobbying expenditures during the past two years aimed “in part to defend against a hypothetical soda tax and other food-related proposals.”

Companies, organizations placing Wednesday adverts
Buying and retaining place, influence, entrenched power:

Company / Organization	Politico	Roll Call	The Hill	Lobbying $	PAC $
Boeing	1 page			13,180,000	2,094,000
Motorola	1 page			2,600,000	294,000
GE / Rolls-Royce +	1 page	1 page	1 page	33,320,000	1,784450
Heritage Group *	1 page			N/A	N/A
Coca-Cola	2 pages			4,890,000	385,500
Communications Workers of America	1 page			650,000	1,629,550
Chevron	2 pages		2 pages	10,000,000	582,500
Lockheed Martin	1 page			9,918,390	1,875,250
SNR Denton **	1 page			2,170,000	N/A
American Gas Association	1 page			770,000	309,500
Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers of America	1 page			1,250,000	1,061,750
Goldman Sachs	1 page			3,510,000	595,900
National Beer Wholesalers Association		1 page	1 page	620,000	2,708,000
Pfizer			1 page	10,740,000	1,049,367
World Wildlife Fund		1/4 page		760,000	N/A

Sources and notes

“Major Influence Peddlers Fill Capitol Hill Newspapers with Advertisements on Congress’ Inauguration Day” (Dave Levinthal), January 5, 2011, Open Secrets, http://www.opensecrets.org/news/2011/01/major-influence-peddlers-fill-newspapers.html

The Center for Responsive Politics publishes its mission to inform, empower and advocate.

This 27-year-old nonpartisan, independent, nonprofit organization is the nation’s premier research group tracking money in U.S. politics and its effect on elections and public policy.

The Center for Responsive Politics “aims to create a more educated voter, an involved citizenry and a more transparent and responsive government.” Specifically to:  

• Inform citizens about how money in politics affects their lives
• Empower voters and activists by providing unbiased information
• Advocate for a transparent and responsive government

Center for Responsive Politics pursues its mission largely through its award-winning website, OpenSecrets.org — the most comprehensive resource for federal campaign contributions, lobbying data and analysis available anywhere.

Center for Responsive Politics relies on financial support from a combination of foundation grants, individual contributions and income earned from custom research and licensing data for commercial use.

The Center accepts no contributions from businesses, labor unions or trade associations. Center for Responsive Politics direct contribution portal: OpenSecrets.org; Center for Responsive Politics, 1101 14th St., NW, Suite 1030, Washington, DC 20005-5635, (202) 857-0044 • fax (202) 857-7809, info@crp.org, webmaster@crp.org. http://www.opensecrets.org/about/index.php

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]

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Resolution kernelled from Revolutionary thought

Edited, excerpted by Carolyn Bennett

“… Not Enough to ‘Do Good’ in a Bad World —

We Must Bring Into Being a Whole, Better World”

Scan the globe starting with Pakistan and Afghanistan where U.S. drones rain death down on families in wars grinding on seemingly without end.

Move to the Democratic Republic of Congo where political forces and militias—set up by, and serving competing capitalist entities and governments—systematically rape women and girls so brutally they are no longer able to hold their bladders or their bowels.

Look at the razing of the planet’s forests, extermination of its species, poisoning of its waters and air by corporations and militaries competing for dominance.

Cast your eyes into the concrete and broken-glass ghettoes of the USA where Black and Latino youth as young as ten or twelve years old are daily brutalized by police.

Turn to the United States’ southern border where immigrants live in the shadows and in fear of imprisonment and deportation for nothing more than crossing the border in search of a means to survive.

Look to Washington, D.C., the pulsing heart of a so-called beacon of ‘freedom’ and ‘democracy.’ Witness the ever-narrowing range of political discourse — open fascism at the one end; an aggressively repressive, compromising-with-fascism administration at the other.

Revolution newspaper makes no chatter about “the best dressed in 2010” or the “latest celebrity breakup.” It offers no predictions about “trend-setting iPhone applications.” No tips on “how to take off inches gained over the holidays” or the etiquette of “exchanging gifts” received …

Revolution calls attention to something that is much less reported, less known, Bigger-hearted, more global-minded, and much more consequential — … A movement for revolution struggling to be born...

A revolution that can lift all of humanity out of its war-torn, blood-soaked, hunger-stricken state...

A revolution that will empower people to build a society where people are no longer exploited, competing with each other just to survive, and brutally oppressed.

[A revolution] that can not only put a stop to the plunder and destruction of the planet; but can unleash the creativity and joyfulness, the critical thinking and highest aspirations of masses everywhere as they join together to transform the world — and themselves — in the most liberating ways.…

… Let us refuse to let the weight of horrors we detest restrict our dreams, diminish our determination. Let us not aim merely to ‘do some good’ in a terrible world; but, instead, take up the challenge “to bring into being a whole, better world.

Source
A Revolutionary Resolution (Revolution No. 221), January 9, 2011),  http://revcom.us/a/221/editorial-en.html

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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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Thoughts for a New Year — Gary Barlow lyrics

Excerpting, editing by Carolyn Bennett

…Never forget where you’re coming from
Never pretend that it’s all real

Someday soon, this will all be someone else’s dream…

*

… We’ve come so far and … reached so high

We’ve looked each day and night in the eye…

… Been on this path of life for so long

Feel I’ve walked a thousand miles

Sometimes strolled hand in hand with love

… With danger on my mind I would stand on the line of hope

And I knew I could make it

Once I knew the boundaries, I looked into the clouds and saw

My face in the moonlight

… I realized what a fool I could be

Just ‘cause I look so high you don’t have to see me

Finding paradise wasn’t easy but still

There’s a road going down the other side of this hill

Never forget where you’re coming from

Never pretend that it’s all real

Someday soon, this will all be someone else’s dream

This will be someone else’s dream…

Sources and notes

Take That: Never Forget Lyrics by songwriter Gary Barlow [excerpt, editing], http://www.metrolyrics.com/never-forget-lyrics-take-that.html

Gary Barlow of Take That received BBC’s Broadcasting House Cultural Figure of the Year award. See BBC Radio 4 Broadcasting House feature: interview with arts correspondent Rebecca Jones, January 2, 2011, http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006qnj3

One of Britain’s most successful artists, Gary Barlow is singer-songwriter, pianist and producer, member and lead of the pop-rock group Take That. Barlow has had two Number 1 singles and a Number 1 album as solo singer, and has had sixteen top-5 hits, eleven Number 1 singles and seven Number 1 albums with Take That. He is a five-time recipient of the Ivor Novello Award and has been voted the greatest British songwriter of all time.

Gary Barlow (b. Frodsham, Cheshire, England, January 20, 1971): active years:1988–present; genre, Pop; labels Sony Music, Polydor, San Remo, Future Records Associated acts Take That; website garybarlow.com; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gary_Barlow


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Bennett's books available in New York State independent bookstores: Lift Bridge Bookshop: www.liftbridgebooks.com [Brockport, NY]; Sundance Books: http://www.sundancebooks.com/main.html [Geneseo, NY]; The Book Den, Ltd.: BookDenLtd@frontiernet.net [Danville, NY]; Talking Leaves Books-Elmwood: talking.leaves.elmwood@gmail.com [Buffalo, NY]; Book House of Stuyvesant Plaza: http://www.bhny.com/ [Albany, NY]; Mood Makers Books: www.moodmakersbooks.com [City of Rochester, NY]; Dog Ears Bookstore and Literary Arts Center: www.enlightenthedog.org/ [Buffalo, NY]; Burlingham Books – ‘Your Local Chapter’: http://burlinghambooks.com/ [Perry, NY 14530]; The Bookworm: http://www.eabookworm.com/ [East Aurora, NY]; LONGS’ Cards and Books: http://longscardsandbooks.com/ [Penn Yan, NY]
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