Cornell West talks about the Obama Administration
Avi Lewis, co-director of the documentary The Take, interviews Professor and author Dr. Cornell West. They discuss the Obama administration and African Americans, US as Empire and Racism in the US.
The American Civil Liberties Union filed a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) lawsuit today demanding that the government disclose the legal basis for its use of unmanned drones to conduct targeted killings overseas. In particular, the lawsuit asks for information on when, where and against whom drone strikes can be authorized, the number and rate of civilian casualties and other basic information essential for assessing the wisdom and legality of using armed drones to conduct targeted killings.
“The public has a right to know whether the targeted killings being carried out in its name are consistent with international law and with the country’s interests and values,” said Jonathan Manes, a legal fellow with the ACLU National Security Project. “The Obama administration should disclose basic information about the program, including its legal basis and limits, and the civilian casualty toll thus far.”
The CIA and the military have used unmanned drones to target and kill individuals not only in Afghanistan and Iraq but also in Pakistan and, in at least one case in 2002, Yemen. The technology allows U.S. personnel to observe targeted individuals in real time and launch missiles intended to kill them from control centers located thousands of miles away. Recent reports, including public statements from the director of national intelligence, indicate that U.S. citizens have been placed on the list of targets who can be hunted and killed with drones.
The ACLU made an initial FOIA request for information on the drone program in January. Today’s lawsuit against the Defense Department, the State Department and the Justice Department seeks to enforce that request. None of the three agencies have provided any documents in response to the request, nor have they given any reason for withholding documents. The CIA answered the ACLU’s request by refusing to confirm or deny the existence of any relevant documents. The CIA is not a defendant in today’s lawsuit because the ACLU will first appeal the CIA’s non-response to the Agency Release Panel.
“The government’s use of drones to conduct targeted killings raises complicated questions – not only legal questions, but policy and moral questions as well,” said Jameel Jaffer, Director of the ACLU National Security Project. “These kinds of questions ought to be discussed and debated publicly, not resolved secretly behind closed doors. While the Obama administration may legitimately withhold intelligence information as well as sensitive information about military strategy, it should disclose basic information about the scope of the drone program, the legal basis for the program and the civilian casualties that have resulted from the program.”
The ACLU’s lawsuit seeks, in addition to information about the legal basis for the drone program, information about how the program is overseen and data regarding the number of civilians and non-civilians killed in the strikes. Estimates of civilian casualties provided by anonymous government officials quoted in the press and by various non-governmental analysts differ dramatically, from the dozens to the hundreds, giving an incomplete and inconsistent picture of the human cost of the program.
Attorneys on the case are Manes, Jaffer and Ben Wizner of the ACLU National Security Project and Arthur B. Spitzer of the ACLU of the Nation’s Capital.
The ACLU’s complaint can be found here: http://www.aclu.org/national-security/aclu-v-doj-et-al-complaint
The ACLU’s FOIA request can be found here: http://www.aclu.org/national-security/predator-drone-foia-request
Last night members of the Stop Targeting Our Kids (STOK) coalition spoke to the Grand Rapids School Board about their work and some possible ways in which to partner with the school district.
During the public comment a STOK spokesperson stated:
The STOK coalition is grateful for all that you do in service to the health and well being of our children, our families, our schools and our community. We are also deeply concerned about a staggering national rise of in-school advertising, marketing and product placement. As parents, educators and community members we believe that the practices of advertising and marketing that target children and youth are in direct conflict with the healthy physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of our youngest community members.
As a Grand Rapids based organization, we encourage the GRPS Board and administration to explore the rapidly increasing relationship between commercial interests and public schools. We are interested to learn as to whether the GRPS Board has considered the establishment of policy to help our school leaders, teachers and staff as they navigate the ever growing barrage of corporate advertising disguised as educational programming, materials, products and offers. Committed to the practices of education, advocacy and research surrounding the effects of commercialization on children, STOK coalition members are ready and eager to partner with GRPS stakeholders to ensure that the Grand Rapids Public Schools maintain a mission rooted in integrity, best practice, quality and awareness in the face of the tremendous onslaught of marketing and advertising directed towards children and youth.
The School Board made no commitment at this time as to whether or not this is an issue they will investigate.
Media Bites – Bud Light Book Club
In this week’s Media Bites we take a look at another Budweiser commercial, one that first aired during the 2010 Super Bowl. In this ad a guy interrupts a women’s book club because there is Bud Light present. He demeans the women and what they are discussing, just so he can get beer. Essentially, this ad is about male privilege.
Students Protest GRPS Policies
About 60-70 students gathered yesterday outside the administrative offices of the Grand Rapids Public Schools to protest two issues the students don’t think are in their best interest.
One issue is a proposal to consolidate all four of the GRPS high schools into one large graduation ceremony. The students we talked to said that they want the tradition of walking on stage with their school to get a diploma.
A half hour later, during the GRPS school board meeting, a student liaison to the board asked a question about this proposal to change graduation ceremonies. GRPS Superintendent Taylor said that this was a “rumor” and that he guarantees that students will walk and get a diploma, but he never said that each school will have its own ceremony.
The second issue that the students were protesting was the recent announcement that the school district will offer more online classes. Students told us that this means that some teachers will lose their jobs and they don’t support that. In addition, as Jakayla Holstein, a student at union said, “lots of students can’t concentrate as well with instruction from a computer screen, they need a real live teacher.” Danny Santiago, also a student at Union said that students are already skipping class and he thinks that having fewer teachers and class online will only increase the amount of student absenteeism.
However, if you look at the local news coverage from last night’s protest, most of the major commercial news agencies did not even address this second issue.
The WOOD TV 8 story makes it sound as if the students cause for concern “was rooted in confusion.” In the WZZM 13 story, more time is given to Superintendent Taylor and other school staff that to the students grievances. The WXMI 17 story states that the school district hasn’t come to a decision on the matter school graduation ceremonies.
The only major local commercial news agency to mention that the students were also protesting the issue of online classes was the Grand Rapids Press, which stated that the students were “saying they deserve to be taught by human beings.”
In addition, none of the news agencies bothered to ask the students how they organized this protest and what means they used to get the word out. One of the organizers, Paris Lara, told us that had just found out on Friday about these proposals, so he and others began to call people, text them and used a Facebook page that was created called the Grand Rapids Public Schools Student Union. Several of the students we talked to said they would keep pressuring the GRPS administration until their concerns were heard.
Vampire Movies, DVD Sales & the front page of the GR Press
It is certainly not surprising that the main story on the front page of today’s Grand Rapids Press is devoted to consumerism, since we have noted this in the past. However, a notable difference with today’s article is that it essentially acts as advertisement for local retailer.
The story in question is headlined “Retail revels in ‘New Moon,’” which is about the upcoming sale of the 2nd movie in the Twilight trilogy. The story basically provides a format for representatives of various local retailers to discuss their plans to market DVDs of the much-hyped teen movie. In addition, other sources cited in the story are those from the DVD distribution industry and a fan-based magazine.
However, the most outlandish aspect of the article was the sidebar next to the photo that accompanied the story. The sidebar is essentially a run down of what five area retail stores are planning along with the sales of the Twilight DVD and their hours of operation.
At a minimum the Press should have reserved this article for the “Your Life” section of the paper or better yet it should have just been run as a straight up advertisement. Making this a news story is not only an affront to journalistic standards, but it is an insult directed at the public.
GRIID Classes for Spring 2010
GRIID is pleased to announce that we will be offering two classes this spring beginning the second week of April as part of our ongoing effort to offer popular education opportunities for people in West Michigan.
On Mondays from 6-8pm beginning April 12, we will be offering a class on US Policy in Afghanistan. As the US occupation not only continues but escalates, it is important for people to have solid historical analysis of US policy in Afghanistan since the mid 1970s. We will be using the book Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords and the Propaganda of Silence.
The other class is Making Sense of US Foreign Policy. This class explores US foreign policy since WWII and looks at US War, US interventions, plus, military, diplomatic and economic policies as it relates to outside of the US. The text we use for this class is Rogue State: A Guide to the World’s Only Superpower. The US Foreign Policy class will be on Wednesdays from 7 – 9pm beginning April 14.
To sign up for either class contact Jeff Smith jsmith@griid.org or Mike Saunders outobol@gmail.com.
Free Empowered Women’s Health workshop March 20
Empowered Women’s Health
Sat. March 20 10 a.m. – 4 p.m.
The Bloom Collective
1134 Wealthy SE
Info: bloomcollective@gmail.com
www.thebloomcollective.org
Celebrate Spring Equinox in solidarity with sisters! The Bloom Collective hosts a free workshop, Empowered Women’s Health, Sat. March 20, starting at 10 a.m. at 1134 Wealthy SE. The workshop will share information on alternative practices and philosophies around the issues of women’s healthcare as well as provide a safe space for women to share health wisdom with each other.
Such wisdom was the basis for good health in times past, before healthcare became a commodity on the stock market and a product on the pharmacy shelf. The workshop is intentionally free because access to health information, or healthcare for that matter, should not be based on one’s ability to pay.
Sessions include:
- Simple Herbal Remedies for Mothers and Others, a presentation by Chrysta Coronado, local herbalist and women’s health advocate.
- DIY facial and body care recipe exchange.
- De-sanitizing Our Menstrual Health with Rachael Hamilton, a presentation/discussion which will include a DIY pad making activity.
- Women & AIDS: Alive and Well in Kent County, Kelly Knudtson, CleanWorks.
- Expressive Language and Self-esteem with Dance, Painting
and Writing, a participatory session with Zulema Moret, director of Latin American Studies, GVSU.
We’ll have coffee and muffins in the morning and a potluck lunch—please bring a dish to pass. The Bloom Collective will provide vegan dishes. We do have seating available but if you have your own comfortable folding chair, bring it along.
It’s hard these days not to turn on the TV or read a newspaper and come across a news story or an advertisement that proclaims the benefits of green products and green businesses.
These “Green” businesses often use terms like sustainability to present what they are doing for the public. However, a critical look at this issue has not been explored much in the commercial media world, thus making it difficult for people to judge how sustainable these green business practices really are.
A critical examination of corporate appropriation of the concept of sustainability is exactly what author Adrian Parr investigates in her recent book Hijacking Sustainability. “Parr argues that the more popular sustainable development becomes, the more commodified it becomes; the more mainstream culture embraces the sustainability movement’s concern over global warming and poverty, the more “sustainability culture” advances the profit-maximizing values of corporate capitalism.”
We see this over and over again in local news coverage, where businesses make the claim that they are engaging in sustainable practices are not questioned in the news coverage.
For example, on Sunday, the Grand Rapids Press ran a story about a new solar panel grid that the Padnos Iron & Metals Co. have just installed in their Wyoming facility. The very first thing that Padnos President, Jeff Padnos says in the article is, “One of the first rules of sustainability is to make a profit.”
This underscores a fundamental flaw in the corporate sustainability movement, in that their primary motive for installing the solar panels is to make a profit. The article doesn’t talk about the environmentally sustainable benefits of such an undertaking, but how “State property tax breaks and tax credits for alternative energy projects also have a role in giving the panels an estimated payback of eight years.”
The article continues with an emphasis on how this will benefit businesses by stating, “Public policy favoring alternative energy helps manufacturers ramp up for the time when the market favors renewable sources.” So the market has to find renewable energy sources as beneficial in order for it to work? This question is not asked in the story, but presented merely as fact.
More importantly, the article states that Consumers Energy will be buying the excess electricity from Padnos, since State law requires it. Thus, Padnos will make a profit eventually on generating more electricity than they can use. Nowhere does the reporter question why the excess electricity cannot be turned over to the public in order to lower residential energy costs. This is another major flaw of the corporate sustainability movement in that even if renewable energy is created it is still confined to the free market system. Why not have energy that is generated in a renewable fashion be held in the public commons, the same way that parks, forests and rivers are? This would mean a radical shift in public policy, but would ultimately be more sustainable, since having energy generation in the public commons would mean that the public would have a say in how it is produced and consumed.
One last aspect of this Press article that should be explored is why the reporter did not even ask a question about the business practices of Padnos Iron & Metal Co. Is what Padnos does in and of itself sustainable? How much energy do they consume in the metals and iron recycling process? Does the company contribute to environmental contamination? Look at the picture included here of one of the Padnos facilities and ask yourself if there is no environmental contamination occurring. The Press reporter could have contacted the Michigan DEQ to find out if any of the Padnos facilities have committed State violation or are under review.
These are important questions, which journalists must pursue in order for the public to have as much information as possible before being able to determine whether or not businesses can be truly sustainable.
MLive and Forbes List of Richest People
Yesterday, MLive reported that Rich DeVos and Fred Meijer are once again on Forbes annual list of the world’s richest people. Grand Rapids Press reporter Troy Reimink posted the story and in typical fashion just mentions where Meijer and DeVos are on the Forbes list.
What is typical about this kind of reporting in West Michigan is that the reporting does not discuss how these men acquired their wealth and how they spend it. Both men are generally presented as wonderful philanthropists that we should all be grateful for.
However, both Meijer and DeVos have a history of anti-union/anti-worker practices. Meijer also has a track record of intimidating communities over tax and land-use issues when they want to build new stores, as was the case in Traverse City in 2007.
DeVos has a much longer track record of supporting pro-business and far right projects. He is one of the all-time biggest individual donors to the Republican Party and has made significant contributions to groups like Free Congress Foundation, Michigan Right to Life, Focus on the Family and the Family Research Council. DeVos also played a major role in shutting down William James and Thomas Jefferson colleges, which were part of Grand Valley State University and considered too radical for the Billionaire.
The Richest Men in the World
Press reporter Try Reimink also mentioned that the world’s richest man, according to Forbes is now Carlos Slim, a Mexican national. Reimink doesn’t give any information. Carlos Slim was a friend of former Mexican President Carlos Salinas and was the direct beneficiary of the privatization campaign that Salinas oversaw in the late 1980s/early 1990s. Slim was basically handed the national telephone system Tel-Mex and shortyly afterwards increased phone rates for the country. Slim also owns a huge chain of malls throughout Mexico as well.
Reimink mentions that Carlos Slim surpassed Bill Gates, who had been at the top of the list for several years and then ends with this sentence. “Donations to cheer up Gates can be made in care of his foundation.” It is hard to tell if Reimink is just joking by this statement, but either way his article omits anything about what Gates’ foundation is up to.
The Gates Foundation has been at the forefront of promoting the use of genetically modified agriculture in Africa in what some are calling the new Green Revolution. This new Green revolution is also seeing the Gates Foundation fund land grabs in places like Africa for the purpose of benefiting other multinational corporations. However, if one were relying on Grand Rapids Press reporters to provide the kind of analysis that goes beyond headlines, they would be easily disappointed.
