Thursday, July 17, 2008
End The Prison Industrial Complex. End It Now. (11:44 am)
(Via Doster), In light of this:
Unnecessary deaths and amputation, grossly inadequate medical care, systematic prisoner beatings.
These are just some of the findings from a 17-month probe of the Cook County Jail by the U.S. attorney’s office.
In one case, an inmate left untreated for a gunshot wound developed sepsis and died. Another inmate went untreated and needed an amputation. Just one dentist serves 9,800 inmates and he only deals in extractions. The U.S. attorney’s office found that 25 percent of the dental procedures result in infection.
It’s really loooong past time we start thinking about this:
If the prison boom was indeed produced by a historic collision between the jobless ghetto and a punitive politics of civil rights backlash, retreating from mass incarceration will involve equally fundamental shifts in politics and economics. What would a new politics of criminal justice look like, and what policies would it promote?
Bruce Western’s comprehensive look at such policies is, like everything Western writes, an absolute must-read. Do not delay.
posted by Brian Cook | start the discussion
Write-in John Quincy Addams (11:34 am)
Oh Bruce Bartlett, your logic makes so much sense! Many 23-year old Chicagoans like myself think highly of public education. I think that means we should vote Whig in 2008, no?
Scott Lemieux has more.
posted by Adam Doster | start the discussion
Chris Hayes is a machine (11:27 am)
Read his 6,000 word opus on MoveOn. He gets at some of the tensions I highlighted in my piece from last year on the intersection between progressive activists and the Democratic Party leadership, but presents it in more interesting and erudite fashion than my little brain is capable of producing. Read it now.
posted by Adam Doster | start the discussion
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
The opposite of a good read (3:22 pm)
Just when you thought “Plame-gate” couldn’t continue, couldn’t possibly become a more byzantine saga, simply had to collapse under the massive weight of its own complexity, President Bush and the House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee (read: Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.) are still keeping this party going.
I don’t mean to say the Plame party should stop (although I stopped tracking it after Scooter walked), or to suggest this particular legislative/executive round is unnecessary or futile. I just want to express my deepest sympathies for the reporters covering this new executive privilege battle; they must know it’s only the rarest of all readers who can still get through an entire story about this mess.
posted by Jeremy Gantz | start the discussion
What’s Next For Guantánamo? (2:09 pm)
Now that detainees held by the U.S. at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, have the right of habeas corpus, members of one congressional body are asking, howwill that work?
While the Supreme Court, with its decision in Boumediene v. Bush, granted prisoners held as enemy combatants at Guantánamo the right to their day in court, many questions remain unanswered — including whether the Boumediene decision applies to “enemy combatant” prisoners held by the U.S. in facilities other than the famed prison camp in Cuba. The Commission on Security and Cooperation in Europe, an entity of Congress also known as the Helsinki Commission, yesterday asked the guidance of three experts in a packed hearing
room.
Both Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md., and Rep. Alcee Hastings, D-Fla., who co-chair the commission, spoke of the damage done to the U.S. image among its European allies by virtue of the fact of Guantánamo, a place where prisoners have been subject to indefinite detentions and interrogation methods classified as torture in international law. Other commissioners spoke of “getting an earful” about U.S. detention and interrogation policies when they travel abroad on commission business.
“[I]n light of the latest defeat for the administration’s detention policies at the hands of the Supreme Court…” said Cardin, “I think it is high time to stop tinkering with a failed system and re-open entirely the question of how we handle terrorism suspects.”
“The fact that Gitmo is still open is testament to the genuine challenges we face in relocating its residents…,” Hastings said,... read more
posted by Adele Stan, Media Consortium | start the discussion
Monday, July 14, 2008
Obama’s Iraq Policy (9:04 am)
In today’s New York Times, Barack Obama pens an op-ed about his plan for troop redeployment in Iraq:
We can safely redeploy our combat brigades at a pace that would remove them in 16 months. That would be the summer of 2010 — two years from now, and more than seven years after the war began. After this redeployment, a residual force in Iraq would perform limited missions: going after any remnants of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, protecting American service members and, so long as the Iraqis make political progress, training Iraqi security forces. That would not be a precipitous withdrawal.
In carrying out this strategy, we would inevitably need to make tactical adjustments. As I have often said, I would consult with commanders on the ground and the Iraqi government to ensure that our troops were redeployed safely, and our interests protected. We would move them from secure areas first and volatile areas later. We would pursue a diplomatic offensive with every nation in the region on behalf of Iraq’s stability, and commit $2 billion to a new international effort to support Iraq’s refugees.
This comes after weeks of accusations that Obama has reversed policy on Iraq. The plan in today’s op-ed is remarkably similar to Obama’s Iraq War De-escalation Act, from way back in January 2007. That plan, according to the Washington Post in January 2007, would…
…begin a troop withdrawal no later than May 1, 2007, but it includes several caveats that could forestall a clean break:
It would leave a limited number of troops in place to conduct counterterrorism activities and train Iraqi forces. And the withdrawal could be temporarily suspended if the Iraqi government meets a series of benchmarks laid out by the Bush administration. That list includes a reduction in sectarian violence; the equitable distribution of oil revenue; government reforms; and democratic, Iraqi-driven reconstruction and economic development efforts. Obama’s proposal also would reverse Bush’s troop-increase plan.
During those important Senate proceedings on the Iraq War early last year, John McCain was noticeably absent.
posted by Dan Dineen | 3 comments
Sunday, July 13, 2008
Greens Tap McKinney (1:39 pm)
Greens from all over the country gathered at Chicago’s Symphony Hall yesterday to cast their votes for the Green Party’s 2008 presidential nominee. Former Georgia Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney received 313 of the 532 votes cast, enough to secure the nomination on the first round. Despite not actively seeking the Party’s nod, Ralph Nader received the second highest total, with 78.5 votes.
The voting process got off to a slow start as technical problems arose with the big-screen scoreboard. But after a half-successful attempt by restless delegates to initiate “the wave” and chants of “turn the White House green,” things eventually got back on track and voting continued.
Along with the state delegations, the Green Party also recognizes delegates from handful of caucuses, including the Women’s, Black, and Lavender (LGBT) caucuses, all of which cast their own votes.
Each delegation had a chance to say a few words about their state and its successes and/or failings on Green issues. One state delegation, Hawaii, expressed its displeasure with being a state, and another, the District of Columbia, expressed its desire to become a state.
McKinney is the first African-American woman nominated for president by the Green Party. She served twelve years in the U.S. Congress as a Democrat. In 2006 she lost her bid for reelection.
The new nominee used her acceptance speech to stress the importance of building a nation-wide movement. Her goal, she said, is to earn 5% of the national vote.
“A vote for the Green Party is a vote for the movement that will turn this country right-side-up again,” she said.
posted by Mark Berlin | 3 comments
Friday, July 11, 2008
Turning the Grassroots Green (2:40 pm)
The Green Party is holding their national convention this weekend in Chicago.
Former Georgia Congresswoman (and former Democrat) Cynthia McKinney is favored to beat out three other candidates to win the presidential nomination. Earlier this week she tapped community organizer and Hip-Hop activist Rosa Clemente to be her running mate.
Despite the quixotic vibe running through the halls at the historic Palmer House Hotel, I don’t think anyone has any illusions as to the Greens’ presidential chances this November. The real action in the Greenosphere, however, is happening on the local level.
“It’s the grassroots where we make a difference,” said Scott Summers, a candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives from Illinois.
The Green Party boasts 231 elected officials across the country, from mayors to school board representatives. I talked to a few of the Greens who are running on local tickets this year. There was a common theme of Greens stepping up to act where Democrats are falling short.
Farheen Hakeem is a Green running for state representative in Minnesota. (Hakeem is also a Muslim woman who wears the hijab.) In 2005 she ran as a Green for mayor of Minneapolis and received 14% of the vote, coming in third out of twelve candidates. Then in 2006 Hakeem ran for a county commissioner seat. Even though she lost, Hakeem garnered 33% of the vote as a relative unknown in a race that pit her against a long-time Democratic machine candidate.
That impressive showing caused the Minnesota Democratic Party... read more
posted by Mark Berlin | start the discussion
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