The US Embassy Cable Leaks: Bradblog Notes JFK and Daniel Ellsberg On Government Transparency

26 Dems Editorial Comment:  The world is astir concerning the impact of the publication of  top secret leaks about U.S. foreign policy in major newspapers, the New York Times, the U.K. Guardian and Der Spiegel .  The leak of some 250,000 documents is unprecedented, and leaves the U.S. diplomatic establishment exposed. 

The New York Times and other papers were given this material weeks ago and did thorough research concerning any adverse impacts on U.S. security. After checking with the State Department first and considering diplomatic concerns, the Times decided to publish information the editors felt was necessary to inform the public about U.S. foreign policy.  The decision for transparency was not made lightly. U.S. officials have known that these papers would soon leak and now are in damage control mode. It appears that embarrasing personal remarks made by U.S. ambassadors may be among the several objections to publication.  


Diplomacy has always operated under a cloak of secrecy. We live in tumultuous times that have caused governments for the sake of national security to put us all under surveillance and do virtual searches of our bodies at airports.  Emails are subject to secret scrutiny.  Newspapers, television and cable stations serve the interests of fewer more powerful masters. The Right Wing scare machine tramples and intimidates, serving to manipulate, not inform.

Now we know that the Bush administration conducted a propaganda campaign to take us to war in Iraq. We later found out that there was no truth to the claim that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. The government is obsessed with the activities of millions of Americans, but what are
Americans allowed to know about their government? All too often the main stream press remains silent in its role as a servant to power.


These recently leaked papers change the game by letting Americans know the truth about foreign policy decisions President Obama must make to keep us safe in an increasingly dangerous world.  Politicians on both sides of the aisle have condemned the leaks as irresponsible and threatening.  What will happen now to sensitive negotiations is the subject of debate.  What cannot be denied is that the cables enlighten all of us to the substantial truth about the pressures President Obama and Secretary Clinton are operating under to bring nations with divergent interests to the table to prevent escalation of  armed nuclear  conflict with Iran.  

The cables make it absolutely clear that the U.S. must continue to negotiate with Russia and must ratify the New Start treaty immediately. Why would we not support inspecting and securing loose nukes? Brigadier General Ret John Adams has skillfully dealt with any legitimate questions fueling the "doubts" of Sen. Jon Kyl.  The cables lay bare a foolish irresponsible and dangerous political game when the security of the world  is at stake. 


Read The Bradblog for an insightful analysis of the benefits of disclosure.  If we are interested in preserving our democracy we should hearken back to a time when presidents believed that they were obligated to serve the people and when the press had an obligation to analyze and ask hard questions. 

View the You Tube video featuring JFK's 1961 Secrecy is Repugnant Speech

 

PDA Action Alert: Keep Social Security Safe

The Co-Chairs of the president’s Deficit Commission have proposed deep cuts to Social Security under the guise of reducing the budget deficit. They want to cut benefits for middle-class workers and reduce annual Cost of Living Adjustments. On top of that, they want to increase the retirement age to 69.

We must stop them!

Tuesday, November 30, is the National Call-In Day to say “No!” to Social Security and Medicare benefit cuts. We need every person to call their senators and representative and demand that they keep Social Security intact. Nothing can happen to Social Security unless Congress lets it.

Call the Capitol Switchboard at
(800) 962-3524 or (202) 224-3121.

Find your representative or senators here
and contact them directly.

When you call, tell them:

•    Gutting Social Security will not reduce the budget deficit. Social Security is funded separately, from employee contributions. It is entirely self-sufficient—even at today’s retirement age and funding levels—until 2037.

•    Americans are hurting right now. The only thing that these misbegotten changes to Social Security and Medicare will do is to harm its beneficiaries—the disabled, the retired, the middle class, and the poor.

•    Every dollar paid out from Social Security goes right back into the economy. People who receive Social Security house, feed, and clothe themselves with the payments.

•    Face the elephant in the room: Military spending must be cut. PDA members will be in DC lobbying Congress to cut military spending while the rest of the country makes calls on November 30.

For talking points on protecting Medicare from cuts, click here.

Take “the pledge” to make these calls on November 30 here.

Let’s make this a call-in day that Congress will never forget.

Peace,

Tim Carpenter, PDA national director

Brig. Gen. John Adams Discusses New START Treaty on MSBNC

American Security Project

Consensus member and former Deputy US Military Representative to NATO, Brigadier General John Adams, USA (Ret.), discussed why the New START treaty needs to be ratified now on MSNBC’s The Daily Rundown.

Gen. Adams said:

“This morning, I saw sign that the fire marshall has inspected the elevator for fire safety. I trust the hotel, but I’d like to see the sign that the fire marshall has verified it’s safe from fire. The same with the treaty. We need to get our inspectors back on the ground to verify and monitor the Russian nuclear arsenal. The idea of having 90% of the world’s nuclear weapons between us and the Russians without verification, without monitoring, it’s just irresponsible.”

VIDEO

Campaign for America's Future: Tell President Obama to Reject Social Security Cuts

We must send an urgent message to President Obama – to tell him to reject the proposal to slash Social Security benefits coming from the co-chairs of his deficit commission. If President Obama tries to cut Social Security, it would spell political disaster in 2012.

Sign this critical petition to the President below. And please email at least five friends with the link for this petition, as well share the petition on Facebook and Twitter if you can.

The presidency of Barack Obama depends on it.

PETITION TO PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: REJECT SOCIAL SECURITY CUTS

Please reject the proposal by the co-chairs of your deficit commission to slash Social Security benefits and raise the retirement age.

Social Security has its own financing and does not contribute one dime to deficit. Social Security has successfully provided secure retirements for 75 years. It is fiscally sound and will never go bankrupt. Yes, work to bring down deficits and spur economic recovery, but don’t cut Social Security, which contributes nothing to the deficit.

I’m also worried that if you embrace proposals to cut Social Security, you will continue to lose seniors and anger future retirees whose retirement security has just been hit hard by the recession. And losing that support would endanger your re-election chances and the rest of your agenda for change.

You have continually fought to protect and strengthen Social Security. Don't stop now.

Take ACTION. Click here.

3 Things You Can Do to Keep the Deficit Fearmongers From Looting Social Security

By Dave Johnson
OpedNews
Nov. 25, 2010

That Washington Post headline is the manufactured reality. Here's your "sharp focus": The public hates this!

Today's Washington Post has punch two of a one-two punch. Punch one was the Simpson/Bowles "plan" to cut Social Security, cut middle-class tax breaks and programs (and dramatically cut taxes on the rich.) Punch two is pushing this plan hard with headlines claiming this solution is actually popular, while shutting out voices who explain why we shouldn't do this. This is full-on Shock Doctrine, wait for an emergency like the terrible recession so people are in shock and want solutions, and then change everything so fast they can't respond while telling them how this is good for them.

This is how they do it, folks, demonstrated by this story in today's Washington Post: Consensus is forming on what steps to take in cutting the deficit,

After an election dominated by vague demands for less debt and smaller government, the sacrifices necessary to achieve those goals are coming into sharp focus. ... Smaller Social Security checks and higher Medicare premiums. [. . .] the plan unveiled this month by co-chairmen Erskine B. Bowles ... and Alan K. Simpson ... has been respectfully received with a few exceptions by both parties. Its major elements are also winning support from a striking line-up of commentators. [. . .] The strange bedfellows are a "testament to the moderate nature" of the ideas under discussion.

Consensus? Sharp focus? Here's your "sharp focus": The public hates this!

That headline is the manufactured reality. The real reality is that the public just hates this, and has voted against and will vote against politicians who push it.

Last month you saw campaign ad after ad hitting Democrats who "cut $500 billion from Medicare," and Democrats lost the senior vote and the midterms. The public hates this.



A recent Greenberg Quinlan Rosner Research report showed that an overwhelming 69% of voters agreed that "politicians should keep their hands off Social Security and Medicare" when they address the deficit. The public hates this.
Only 6% of the public says the government's priority should be deficits now. The public hates this.

An AARP poll finds that 90% of people aged 18 to 29 say Social Security is important. The public hates this.

An NBC/WSJ poll finds that 57% are against cutting Social Security no matter how bad the deficit is. The public hates this.

A USA Today poll finds that the public by 66/31 says don't cut benefits to fix the deficit. The public hates this.

I can continue citing poll after poll; there are no polls that show the public is in any way behind this. 
Continue reading here. 

Happy Thanksgiving

START Treaty Must Not Be Derailed

By Valerie Plame Wilson
Fmr. CIA covert operations officer
Huffington Post
November 23, 2010

For me, the most bittersweet moment watching the new movie Fair Game comes when it shows my clandestine CIA work involving nuclear counterproliferation. I remain passionate about the issue of preventing rogue states and terrorist organizations from ever procuring a nuclear weapon. Since resigning from the agency however, I realize that much of what I had been doing may only have served to delay the inevitable. My thinking on proliferation has therefore evolved considerably, and I now believe that the best way to ensure our national security for the long term is to move to achieve the goal of total, global elimination of nuclear weapons.

Recently, I have read with increasing alarm about possible derailment of the Senate ratification of the new START treaty signed by President Barack Obama and Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in April. If a handful of U.S. senators succeed in their efforts to block ratification of the New START treaty this year, it could fray hard-earned Russian support for tough sanctions on Iran and disrupt important strategic initiatives with the Russians to secure all nuclear materials globally so they don't fall into the hands of terrorists.

As a result of my counterproliferation work at the CIA, I believe that nuclear terrorism is the most urgent threat we face and locking down all nuclear materials is a national security imperative. But without Russia's cooperation in those goals, an effective international effort may be impossible to achieve.  

Continue reading here.

Democracy Now: Chalmers Johnson, 1931-2010, on the Last Days of the American Republic

The distinguished scholar and best-selling author Chalmers Johnson has died. He passed away in California on Saturday afternoon at the age of 79. During the Cold War, he served as a consultant to the Central Intelligence Agency and was a supporter of the Vietnam War, however, later became a leading critic of U.S. militarism and imperialism. He wrote the book, Blowback: The Costs and Consequences of American Empire in 2000, which became a bestseller after the 9/11 attacks. He went on to complete what would become a trilogy about American empire. Today we re-air part of our last interview with Chalmers Johnson from 2007. 

Wendell Potter Apologizes to Michael Moore, Exposes Industry Scheme to Smear "Sicko,"Push Moore off the Cliff"

Krugman Sounds Alarm: Simpson Calls for Blood

OP-ED COLUMNIST
There Will Be Blood
By PAUL KRUGMAN
New York Times
Published: November 22, 2010

 Former Senator Alan Simpson is a Very Serious Person. He must be — after all, President Obama appointed him as co-chairman of a special commission on deficit reduction.

So here’s what the very serious Mr. Simpson said on Friday: “I can’t wait for the blood bath in April. ... When debt limit time comes, they’re going to look around and say, ‘What in the hell do we do now? We’ve got guys who will not approve the debt limit extension unless we give ’em a piece of meat, real meat,’ ” meaning spending cuts. “And boy, the blood bath will be extraordinary,” he continued.

Think of Mr. Simpson’s blood lust as one more piece of evidence that our nation is in much worse shape, much closer to a political breakdown, than most people realize. 
Continue reading here.

D-Day in the Class War

By Joseph A. Palermo,
Associate Professor, American History, California State University, Sacramento
Huffington Post
Posted: November 17, 2010 08:52 PM


After a decade of stagnant or declining real wages, "bipartisan" schemes are proliferating to shift the burden of Washington policymakers' own catastrophic mismanagement of the nation's fiscal policies right onto the shoulders of working people. The press commentary has been abysmal. All "serious" thinkers out there on television or in print are in full agreement that "entitlements" must take a big hit, along with education and health care.

President Obama's "bipartisan" deficit commission, co-chaired by Erskine Bowles and Alan Simpson, (sometimes referred to as the "Cat Food Commission" because of the likely dietary changes some senior citizens will have to make if its prescriptions are implemented), wants to cut taxes for the wealthy and corporations. Another high-profile group, headed by Pete Domenici and Alice Rivlin, (which might be called the "Kibble Commission"), wants to strip $650 billion out of the Social Security trust fund with a payroll tax holiday (to be paid back later!) that they believe will create economic growth. So the Cat Food Commission views Social Security in crisis and bordering on insolvency, while the Kibble Commission believes that Social Security can absorb a $650 billion hit. And these are the best and the brightest.

Both "bipartisan" bodies claim that "tough decisions" must be made. Yet their policies are only really tough if you happen to belong to America's struggling working middle class. They want to inflict the "pain" on the government programs that have traditionally given working people a slight leg up. In these "bipartisan" schemes the financial services crooks who wrecked the economy come away smelling like roses. 

Are we forgetting that it was working- and middle-class taxpayers who bailed out Wall Street's biggest investment banks in what could be the greatest gesture of working-class benevolence toward the super-rich in American history? Working-class taxpayers also paid for the unemployment insurance and infrastructure projects that were needed following the pillaging of America's housing sector. Working-class taxpayers continue to foot the bill for the bloated military budget and two wars. (They've also sent their sons and daughters off to fight.) And about eight million of them who had jobs in 2005 didn't have them anymore by the middle of 2009.

Continue reading here.

Poll: Most don't know what GOP won

Fewer than half of Americans know that Republicans have majority only in the House next year. 

By MEREDITH SHINER | 
Politico
11/19/10 7:45 AM EST Updated: 11/19/10 12:11 PM EST

Fewer than half of all Americans know that Republicans will have a majority in the House next year but not the Senate, according to a new poll.

Only 46 percent of respondents in a Pew Research poll released Thursday knew that the GOP had taken over only the House, while a mere 38 percent can identify Ohio Republican John Boehner as the incoming speaker. Three times as many young people, under age 30, could properly identify Google's new phone software, Android, as could identify Boehner.


Read more: