Staff Sergeant Camilo Mejía, the first US combat veteran to publicly resist the war, joins us to give his reaction to the so-called US withdrawal of combat troops from Iraq. Mejía served six months in Iraq in 2003 with the Florida National Guard. While on a two-week leave in the United States, he decided never to return. In May 2004, a military jury convicted him of desertion, and he was sentenced to one year in prison. He served nine months behind bars, prompting Amnesty International to declare him a prisoner of conscience.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/20/iraq_war_vet_camilo_mejia_us

* Debate: Is DREAM Act a Solution for Millions of Undocumented Youth or a Funnel for Military Recruitment? *

The Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act—DREAM—would allow undocumented young people a chance at citizenship provided they attend college for at least two years or enlist in the military. It’s been described as a dream come true for undocumented youth wanting a chance to stay in this country without the fear of deportation. But many antiwar activists warn that the bill will simply funnel more young people into the military. We host a debate between Camilo Mejía of Iraq Veterans Against the War and pro-DREAM activist Gaby Pacheco.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/20/debate_is_dream_act_a_solution

* Headlines for August 20, 2010 *

UNICEF: Aid Appeal Inadequate to Address Pakistan’s Growing Crisis
Global Donations for Pakistan Lag Compared to Recent Disasters
Scientists Confirm Gulf Oil Plume, Dispute White House Claims
BP Delays Well Sealing Until September
Transocean Accuses BP of Obstructing Probe into Rig Explosion
Report: BP Settlements May Indemnify Gulf Firms
Jobless Claims Hit 9-Month High
Women Activists to Attempt Gaza Sailing
Reports: Israelis, Palestinians Agree to Hold Talks
UN: Israel Denies Palestinians Access to 17% of Gaza
Report: US Claims Israel Won’t Attack Iran for at Least 1 Year
Calderón: US Gun Laws Fueling Mexican Drug War
Report: Wyclef Jean Denied Bid for Haitian Presidency
Protesters Call on Trader Joe’s to Adopt Humane Conditions for Tomato Pickers
Report: Donations Surge to Sway Judicial Elections
Homeless Man Jailed for Stealing Food Freed After 13 Years

* Obama Admin Claims End to Combat Operations in Iraq, But Iraqis See Same War Under a Different Name *

The Obama administration says the last combat brigades have left Iraq. Is this the end of the Iraq war or just a rebranding of the US occupation? More than 50,000 troops remain in Iraq as well as 4,500 special operations forces and tens of thousands of private contractors. The US embassy in Baghdad is the largest in the world—the size of eighty football fields. We get a perspective on the so-called withdrawal rarely heard in the US media: that of two Iraqis, Raed Jarrar of Peace Action and Yanar Mohammed of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq.

Listen/Watch/Read
http://www.democracynow.org/2010/8/20/obama_admin_claims_end_to_combat

Dear Trista,
Last Wednesday, two local activists and I met with Rep. Garamendi’s district director. We were carrying our Bring Our War $$ Home signs. She said that the congressman was in line with our position, and encouraged us to attend his upcoming town hall and speak up during the Q and A.

Please join me and other peace activists at Congressman Garamendi town hall at:

6:30 PM on Monday, August 23rd, at Pleasant Hill City Council Chambers, 100 Gregory Lane.

Bring Our War $$ Home signs provided, or bring your own sign or banner. Wear your pink and arrive by 6 PM so we can have a showing on front before the town hall starts!

I’ll bring Bring Our War $$ Home flyers, with information about the cost of war to California’s 10th district, for us to hand out. This is a rare opportunity to engage both our new congressman, Garamendi, and local folks. MoveOn is rallying the folks on their list to turn out and raise the issue about fighting corporate personhood. Let’s show our colors and be part of the conversation about new priorities for a new economy that does not rely on war and militarism.

For information or to rsvp: call Janet Weil at 925-212-7477. I look forward to seeing you there!

Learn more on Congressman Garamendi and the issues he’s pushing here.

Bring Our War $$ — and ALL our troops and military contractors home!

Power to the peaceful,
Janet, Rae, and Valerie
Code Pink

by: Mickey Z., t r u t h o u t | Interview

(Photo: http://www.gwynnedyer.com)
While some humans choose to deny the existence of climate change, many have responded by changing the way they live. However, as freelance journalist and specialist on international affairs and geopolitics Gwynne Dyer warns, it’s gonna take a lot more than recycled toilet paper to deal with the mess we’ve created. “We are heading for the brink very fast,” he warns, and that’s why his new book is required reading. “Climate Wars: The Fight for Survival as the World Overheats” has been called “a truly important and timely book,” but I’d go much further than that. In fact, I’ll declare that this may be the most important book you’ll read this year.
To help spread the urgency, I recently spoke with Dyer and the results are below.
Mickey Z.: Just as it seems Americans are finally catching on about greener living, more and more folks like yourself are warning that CFL bulbs, recycled toilet paper and bringing your own bag to the store is not exactly going to turn things around. What do you feel an eco-minded person can learn from “Climate Wars”?
Gwynne Dyer: Most of the things people do to be eco-minded are useful in various way – fewer trees get cut down, less electricity is used, local pollution is cleaned up – but the problem of climate change is global and it can only be dealt with on the global scale. Changing the light bulbs reduces the amount of electricity you use, but if that electricity is coming from a coal-fired power plant you are still pouring carbon dioxide into the atmosphere every time you turn the light on. Unfortunately, there is a limit to the amount of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases that we can put into the atmosphere before we reach the point of no return and we are getting close.
MZ: What do you mean by “point of no return”?
GD: The “point of no return” is where we lose control of the process and the warming goes runaway and most climate scientists reckon it is around +2 degrees C (+3.5 degrees F). Once the warming passes that point, the warmth itself triggers various natural “feedbacks” like the melting of the permafrost around the Arctic, which would release huge amounts of greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. So long as it is mainly our own carbon dioxide emissions that are causing the warming, we are in control, at least in theory, because we could stop the warming by stopping our emissions. Past the “point of no return,” nature takes over and cutting our own emissions would no longer stop the warming. Stopping our own emissions is not easy, of course, because the fossil fuels we burn – coal, oil and gas – currently provide about 80 percent of the energy we use. Alternative energy technologies are available, but they are not being put into use fast enough to make much difference. At the moment, human greenhouse gas emissions are still RISING at between 2 and 3 percent a year, where they should actually be falling by about 4 or 5 percent a year if we are to have any hope of stopping before we hit runaway warming.
MZ: And governments seems unwilling to do anything, huh?
GD: All the world’s major governments, including the US government, agreed last year that we must never let the warming exceed 2 degrees C (though they didn’t tell the public exactly why that is so important). But they have absolutely no plan for how to achieve that goal and there is little chance that they will come up with one soon. The Obama administration’s decision not to even try to get a bill on climate change through the Senate this year probably means, in practice, that the United States will not agree to any limits on its emissions for another three years. If the US won’t do that, neither will China and between them they account for about half of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
MZ: What do you see as the price for such inaction?
GD: There’s another three or four years lost, at least and meanwhile we get closer each year to the point of no return. Once we have passed it, there is no obvious stopping point short of +5 or +6 degrees C (9 to 11 degrees F) and remember that that is a rise in average global temperature. Temperatures over land are typically a good deal higher than they are over the oceans, so increase those numbers by fifty percent or more for the interiors of the continents. At those temperatures things dry out and it becomes impossible to grow food in large parts of the world. There will be global food shortages, not just local ones, because the rising temperatures will be killing the crops in many places at once – and so there will be famines and waves of refugees and regional wars over what little water is left. That is the real problem we face and it can only be dealt with by switching from fossil fuels to other sources of energy. Changing the light-bulbs is not enough; you have to close down the coal-fired power plant and build something else in its place. Driving less is not enough; we have to find alternatives to oil for fueling our vehicles. We need deep cuts in fossil-fuel use right away and we must virtually eliminate fossil fuels in the next fifty years. That is technically and financially possible, but it is probably not politically possible. In which case we will pay a very high price for our failure.
MZ: I read where, despite the grim prognosis you lay out in this book, writing “Climate Wars” actually provoked a bit more optimism in you. Is that true? If so, please explain.
GD: I know a great deal more about the problem than I did three years ago, when I started the research and interview for this book and so I know that there are probably ways of getting through this without suffering massive losses in human lives. Even if we don’t cut our emissions fast enough and deeply enough to stop short of the +2-degree limit, there may be ways of holding the actual temperature rise down (they’re called geo-engineering) that would let us avoid runaway temperature rises and give us more time to work on the problem. We need to start doing research on these techniques now, because we may need them quite soon. We are in very deep trouble, because the fuels we built our civilization on are destroying the climate in which that civilization has flourished. But human beings are smart and tough and we are capable of cooperation on a global scale, which is what is needed to get us through this crisis. Success is not guaranteed, but we do have a chance.

by: Peter G. Cohen, t r u t h o u t | Op-Ed

(Photo: John Wigham / Flickr)
Dear Mr. President,
The world is in crisis. There may not be a crisis in the Oval Office or the climate-controlled West Wing, but for the rest of us sweltering, freezing, thirsting and drowning humanity, there is a crisis. We are threatened with the greatest challenge in human history, the fossil-fuel driven climate change, which will become more violent and chaotic every year, unless we act now to reduce CO2 in the atmosphere.
As fossil fuels have been the driving force for the development of the modern world, shifting to other forms of energy will not be easy. It will require the smooth reduction in the use of coal, oil and gas with the simultaneous replacement of that energy with a rapid growth of wind, solar and other energy sources. It is difficult to even imagine such a transformation, such a balancing act.
It is even more difficult to imagine how we can proceed vigorously on this complex path without a very strong and able changeover agency to guide us through the process and to make the necessary adjustments as we go along.
While the slow, deliberative pace of Congress may be the best way to achieve modest progress through legislation, it has shown that it is entirely unsuited to the present situation. In the last few years, Congress has shown such divisiveness and has been so strongly influenced by vested interests that it took a whole year to make a few modest improvements in our health care system. The resistance is even greater to avoid the prompt reduction in the use of fossil fuels.
At the same time, this gradual reduction of fossil energy and the simultaneous increase in alternatives will require great knowledge of energy, of our economic and biological systems and the interactions of everyone involved. Our Congress is made up of lawyers, business people and teachers. They lack either the knowledge or the political incentive to handle this crisis effectively.
Mr. President, this is an emergency for all of humanity and particularly for its children. They will grow up in a world where weather will be life threatening, violent storms killing people in one area while unexpected droughts and expanding deserts drive people from their homes in others. It is likely that such chaos will cause people to fight over the most basic resources. Food scarcity will become extreme. Tragedies like that of Haiti and Darfur will become commonplace. But we are told these unexpected weather patterns can be modified and the Earth can return to the climates we have known if we can reduce the CO2 in the atmosphere to approximately 350 parts per million.
At the end of World War II, we established the GI Bill, the Marshall Plan and the United Nations. We exhibited great leadership in helping the world to rebuild after the terrible destruction of that war. To a large degree, that victory and the vision that followed was a result of the War Production Board and the almost unbelievable production of tanks, ships and planes that it made possible. As a veteran of WW II, I know what America can do, and I believe we can do it again by facing and controlling the worldwide threat of climate change.
The Climate Change Agency
Mr. President, I urge you to declare a climate change emergency. The American people have seen enough of violent storms and freezing cold, of sweltering heat and drying rivers to know how urgent it is that our climate be controlled. Once you have declared this emergency, it will be possible to create the Climate Change Agency to plan and direct a smooth changeover from fossil fuels to alternative energies. This giant task will require people with authority and a profound understanding of the issue. Atmospheric scientists, biologists, economists together with public relations and other specialists can implement the changeover by slowly increasing taxes on fossil fuels and direct those funds to stimulating the development and manufacture of new energy systems for the United States and the world.
It can also train workers for jobs in these new energy systems. People losing jobs in coal and oil could be given preference in wind and solar manufacture, installation and maintenance. Others will be needed to expand the existing electrical distribution system to connect alternative energy farms to manufacturing centers. Still others will be needed to improve the efficiency of existing factories, buildings and homes and the conversion of our transportation from petroleum to green energy systems. This transformation to avoid the worst disasters of global warming is also the key to developing a whole new generation of job opportunities in the energy sector. The longer we wait, the more difficult the job will be.
Please, President Obama, do not delay in facing this enemy of human life.

by: Elizabeth McGowan | SolveClimate

(Photo: Humberto Moreno; Edited: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)
Washington D.C. is projected to see 100 summer days above 90 degrees by 2050, if emissions continue unabated.
Washington – When “snowmageddon” buried the nation’s capital in February, Sen. Jim Inhofe’s grandchildren delved into the record-shattering drifts to construct an igloo near the U.S. Capitol.
They jokingly labeled it Al Gore’s new home.
Six months later, the thought of taking refuge in an icy shelter is quite appealing to heat-weary Washingtonians. While the Oklahoma Republican senator used the igloo to tweak the former vice president and as a prop in his relentless crusade to prove global warming a hoax, climate scientists are once again emphasizing that current and upcoming weather extremes are no laughing matter.
Oppressive temperatures gripping Southern and Eastern U.S. states this summer will only worsen if little is done to curb greenhouse gases, according to an August report update from the National Wildlife Federation (NWF), a conservation group.
“2010 is a sample of what’s to come,” said Amanda Staudt, lead climate scientist for the report titled “Extreme Heat in Summer 2010: A Window on the Future.”
“Global warming is bringing more frequent and severe heat waves, which will seriously impact vulnerable populations.”
It is a supplement to the federation’s 2009 report “More Extreme Heat Waves: Global Warming’s Wake-Up Call.”
This hot summer is a continuation of what the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says is already the hottest January through June on record. New Jersey, Delaware and North Carolina have already recorded their hottest June ever and Rhode Island and Delaware have recorded their steamiest July, according to NOAA. Hundreds of daily temperature records were set across the country — with July being among the top five hottest on record for 10 Eastern states.
Through Aug. 11, Washington has already dripped its way through 51 days where temperatures were 90 degrees or higher; twenty of those days have been 95 degrees or higher, according to data published on the Washington Post’s Capital Weather Gang.
Typically, Washington has 18 days through July 31 with temperatures above 90 degrees. This year, that number had more than doubled — to 39 — by the end of July.
And Washington is by no means alone. The federation’s analysis of large cities on the Eastern seaboard shows most locations have had roughly twice as many days with temperatures exceeding 90 degrees than they typically would by the end of July. Cities in the south-central United States also are running hot.
“For each of these cities … sweltering the last couple months, summer 2010 could be considered mild compared to the typical summers of the future,” the report’s authors state.
The report explains how summers such as this one could become the norm by mid-century if carbon dioxide emissions aren’t brought under control.
For instance, Washington is projected to sweat through 100 summer days above 90 degrees by 2050 if emissions continue unabated. That number could hold steady at about 55 days, however, under a lower-emissions scenario.
The report’s predictions in Philadelphia and St. Louis are equally alarming. Through the end of July, Philadelphia has had 25 days above 90 degrees and that number is predicted to grow to at least 55 by year’s end. St. Louis is on track for 45 extremely hot days this year, about 10 above average.
By 2050, Philadelphia is projected to have 40 days above 90 degrees under a low-emissions scenario and 60 such days with high emissions. St. Louis is projected to have 60 days above 90 degrees under a low-emissions scenario and 80 such days if emissions are unabated.
Using maps from the U.S. Global Change Research Program, the report shows how end-of-the century climate predictions are even more dramatic if heat-trapping gases are unchecked. Days with temperatures above 90 degrees could double between now and 2099. That would leave much of the South almost unbearable for three or four months when temperatures rarely — or ever — dip below 90 degrees.
“We need to take these trends toward more extreme heat waves into account when designing urban areas and public health programs,” Staudt said. “We can no longer plan based on the climate we used to have.”

by: McClatchy Newspapers | Report

Sacramento – Gay couples looking to get married will have to wait longer. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals on Monday blocked same-sex unions until at least December.
U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who ruled unconstitutional the gay marriage ban under California’s Proposition 8, had stayed that ruling until Wednesday, opening the door to possible marriages after the stay expired.
But the 9th Circuit extended the stay until the appeal can be heard. That won’t happen until December, making a decision from the court in 2010 virtually impossible.
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Opponents of Proposition 8 noted that the 9th Circuit expedited its review of the merits of the case, which should deliver a final resolution — most likely at the U.S. Supreme Court — earlier than would occur under the appellate court’s normal pace of business.
“We are very gratified that the Ninth Circuit has recognized the importance and pressing nature of this case and the need to resolve it as quickly as possible by issuing this extremely expedited briefing schedule.,” aid Attorney Theodore B. Olson in a prepared statement. “As Chief Judge Walker found, Proposition 8 harms gay and lesbian citizens each day it remains on the books. We look forward to moving to the next stage of this case.”

by: Mark Trumball | The Christian Science Monitor | Report

(Photo: aflcio; Edited: Jared Rodriguez / t r u t h o u t)
Fully 500,000 Americans filed new claims for government unemployment insurance last week, the highest number in nine months and a sign of persistent trouble in the job market.
The Labor Department’s jobless-claim numbers, which had been falling for much of 2009 and early this year, have been trending up in recent weeks. This reflects continuing layoffs in the private sector and in state governments, even though corporate profits have risen this year and the economy, as measured by the gross domestic product, is officially expanding. At the same time, other Labor Department reports show that employers continue to be reluctant to hire.
The number of weekly unemployment claims is still far below the levels seen in early 2009, when initial claims were rolling in at a pace above 600,000 per week. In a good economy, which would still have some “churn” of jobs being lost, economists say initial claims should be below 400,000.
Because the week-to-week numbers can be volatile, the Labor Department also reports its numbers as a four-week moving average. But this measure has been rising as well. The most recent four-week average is 482,500 claims per week. Again, that’s the highest since late 2009.
The news weighed on stock market investors Thursday, contributing to a morning decline in the Dow Jones Industrial Average.
A central worry, for investors and job seekers alike, is that the economy may be stuck in a sort of neutral gear — no longer plunging but not growing fast enough to generate jobs. Some forecasters worry about a dip back into recession later this year.
Still, many economists predict some strengthening in the months ahead, based on a modest pickup in consumer spending. Industrial production is rising, and the amount of bank lending rose in the most recent month. All that should spur a return to at least modest job growth, they say.
In fact, in a separate economic report Thursday, the Conference Board’s Leading Economic Index rose 0.1 percent in July.
“The data do not point to a recession,” said Conference Board economist Ken Goldstein, in releasing the numbers. But it’s a “weak economy with little forward momentum.”

The era that Net Neutrality supporters have long predicted is here—major companies have begun divvying up the internet. Last week, Google and Verizon announced a “policy framework” of how the rules for the internet could work in the future. The framework is a disturbing vision for the future. Wireless internet—such as services delivered over smart phones—would be completely unregulated; companies would be free to prioritize their own services—for everything from music to video to chat—over those of competitors.

Telecom providers could also do whatever they want with managed services, like Verizon’s FIOS, that are offered directly to the companies but use the same wires and bandwidth as the regular internet. Regulators under this new framework would be neutered, reduced to policing a narrow area of consumer complaints with no power over vast swaths of the web. If these new rules are adopted, the regular internet will quickly become a backwater. All the investment and capital funding would go toward building up the managed services and wireless networks where the companies would have free reign to use their market power to make the most money.

But none of this is inevitable. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is considering action this fall to regulate telecommunications providers so that they have to provide full, fair service to everyone with no discrimination or deals between companies.

>> Take action: Support the FCC’s efforts to restore Net Neutrality.

Take action to help protect LGBT students like Ceara Sturgis from harassment and discrimination. Urge your Representative and Senators to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act.
The ACLU filed a lawsuit this week against a Mississippi high school that excluded a female student’s name and senior portrait from the yearbook rather than publish a photo of her in a tuxedo. The lawsuit charges that Ceara Sturgis was unfairly discriminated against by the Wesson Attendance Center based on her sex and unfair gender stereotypes.

Ceara was an honor student and a member of several sports teams at Wesson, where she attended school from kindergarten through her senior year. At home and at school, she dresses in clothing that is traditionally associated with boys and had previously not encountered any problems from her peers or teachers.

When she had her formal senior portrait taken, she opted to wear a tuxedo, rather than a drape that gives the appearance of wearing a dress or a blouse. Because of her attire, the school refused to publish her photo and name as part of the senior class. The lawsuit charges Ceara’s rights were violated under Title IX, which prohibits discrimination based on sex and sex stereotypes, and the Fourteenth Amendment’s guarantee of equal protection.

“This should never have been an issue. Title IX and the Constitution prohibit school officials from forcing students to conform to gender stereotypes. Ceara should not have been expected to compromise her everyday appearance and identity for her senior portrait,” said Bear Atwood, interim Legal Director for the ACLU of Mississippi. “The school’s actions are discriminatory, unlawful and mean-spirited.”

>> Take action to help protect LGBT students from harassment and discrimination. Ask your members of Congress to support the Student Non-Discrimination Act.