Privatization Endangering Our Troops in Iraq

Our troops are in danger and several have already died from shoddy electrical work by privatized contractors in Iraq according to an article in yesterday’s New York Times.

Over 283 electrical fires that destroyed or damaged American military facilities were reported in just a 6 month period from August 2006 – January 2007, including the military’s largest dining hall in the country, according to Times research. The article said the Pentagon has reported that 13 Americans have been electrocuted and many more injured.

Electrical problems were the most urgent noncombat safety hazard for soldiers in Iraq, according to an Army survey issued in February 2007. It noted “a safety threat theaterwide created by the poor-quality electrical fixtures procured and installed, sometimes incorrectly, thus resulting in a significant number of fires.”

 A Green Beret Staff Sergeant, Ryan D. Maseth, was electrocuted in January while showering due to poor electrical grounding.  Two soldiers in a nearby building had narrowly escaped an electrical fire caused by faulty wiring just two weeks before Sgt. Maseth’s death.

KBR, the Houston-based company responsible for providing electrical and other basic services for American troops in Iraq, claim they have found no link between their work and the electrocutions, even though their own study found a “systematic problem” with their electrical work. Pentagon officials who have been pressured into looking into Sgt. Maseth’s electrocution are also trying to deny the widespread danger from faulty wiring on Iraq bases have anything to do with his death.

Yet:

In another internal document written after Sergeant Maseth’s death, a senior Army officer in Baghdad warned that soldiers had to be moved immediately from several buildings because of electrical risks. In a memo asking for emergency repairs at three buildings, the official warned of a “clear and present danger,” adding, “Exposed wiring, ungrounded distribution panels and inappropriate lighting fixtures render these facilities uninhabitable and unsafe.”

The memo added that “over the course of several months, electrical fires and shorts have compounded these unsafe conditions.”

According to the New York Times article, since the invasion of Iraq in 2003 KBR and other contractors have been paid millions to repair and upgrade the Iraqi buildings our troops are housed in.

Millions of dollars, yet lame excuses as to why the work could not be done correctly:

Officials say the administration contracted out so much work in Iraq that companies like KBR were simply overwhelmed by the scale of the operations. Some of the electrical work, for example, was turned over to subcontractors, some of which hired unskilled Iraqis who were paid only a few dollars a day.

Government officials responsible for contract oversight, meanwhile, were also unable to keep up, so that unsafe electrical work was not challenged by government auditors.

Oops, our subcontractors hired unskilled labors for a few bucks a day!  Oops, the government inspectors couldn’t keep up with checking the work! 

Now, I’m just trying to imagine if we had similar problems with widespread faulty wiring with a number of new condos going up here in Seattle.  Residents getting routinely shocked, and occasionally electrocuted in their showers, or forced to flee while their unit is destroyed in a fire.  Then the condo builders claimed, “Oops, our subcontractors hired unskilled laborers for dollars a day, not our fault!”  I also try to imagine our city officials saying, “Oops, there are just too many condos going up and our inspectors just don’t have time to inspect all of them!”  Of course, the next thing I imagine is the lawsuits against both the contractors and the city.  I’m not sure if our military members can sue (I seem to recall hearing about restrictions), though if not, why not?

Meanwhile, our troops are still  in danger:

The Army documents cite a number of recent safety threats. One report showed that during a four-day period in late February, soldiers at a Baghdad compound reported being shocked while taking showers in different buildings. The circumstances appear similar to those that led to Sergeant Maseth’s death.

Another entry from early March stated that an entire house used by American troops was electrically charged, making it unlivable.

Of course, I’m opposed to the war, and already cynical about the Bush administration and their cronies.  Still, this is shocking (oops, pun not intended, but maybe appropriate) even by their standards. 

Even if you support the war and Bush, write him and your members of congress and demand both that they remedy the situation so our troops are not in danger from our own contractors shoddy wiring, and that KBR and the other contractors be held responsible.

 Update:  I’ve found a video, of the Senate Hearings on July 11, 2008 after posting this earlier today.  Testifying at the hearing are Sgt. Maseth’s mother and the mother of another electroctuted soldier, and two electricians from KBR.

Evidently I can’t post Brightcove videos to my free Word Press account like I can YouTube videos, so follow the link below:

http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1417423198?bctid=1662507268

Tags: Iraq+War, privatization, KBR, Bush+administration

Barack’s FISA Vote

I’m disappointed and disturbed by Obama’s vote for the FISA bill expanding the Bush administration’s wire tapping powers. That being said, I still believe Barack Obama is our best hope, and I think it’s important to fight both for his election and against FISA.

I think his decision probably had a lot to do with Democrat’s fears of appearing weak on defense, as suggested in the New York Times article.  While I know that’s the nature of politics, and am not surprised to find Barack has changed his position on this and other issues since winning the nomination.  This one is particularly disturbing though, especially given that he’s a constitutional scholar and knows better than most of us what these attacks on the Fourth Amendment mean.

Most of the articles focus on the immunity given to telephone companies who participated in Bush’s warrentless wire taps, which Barack actually did try to get our of there in a failed amendment.  I look at the ACLU’s fact sheet on the FISA Amendment, though, and there is considerably more at stake.  The government can monitor the phone and internet communications of anyone they want, without explanation, with little judicial oversight, as “the FISA court is regulated to reviewing only the government’s ‘targeting’ and ‘minimization procedures’.  It has no role in overseeing how the government is actually using its surveillance power.”

Ironically, I attended an Obama Salon last month on restoring the constitution.  We discussed habeas corpus, which the Supreme Court had just restored, and I was impressed when shortly after Barack did take a stand supporting the Supreme Court’s decision and took flak from McCain for doing so.  So why cave in on this one?

I think Norman Soloman’s article, “Obama and the Progressive Base”, puts the situation in perspective. 

These days, an appreciable number of Obama supporters are starting to use words like “disillusionment.” But that’s a consequence of projecting their political outlooks onto the candidate in the first place.

    The best way to avoid becoming disillusioned is to not have illusions in the first place.

Sad, but true (and not just for Barack, but politicians in general).  Soloman then makes an important point that it is our responsibility to keep on Obama (and other politicians) to hold him to those better ideals he’s claiming.

Barack Obama is an extremely smart guy. And I can’t remember a major contender for president less inclined to insult the intelligence of the public. Let’s return the favor by directly challenging him when appropriate. We’d do him - and the Obama campaign, ourselves and the country as a whole - no favors by opting for silence instead.

    We can help the Obama for President effort when we hold him to his good positions - and move to buck him up when he wavers.

And it is important to get Barack elected, despite our disillusionment or lack of illusions:

Some progressives, now disaffected, might consider the prospect of Obama falling short on Election Day to be his problem, not ours. But this isn’t about Obama. It’s about whether the levers of power in the Executive Branch, and the Supreme Court along with it, are going to be redelivered into the hands of the right wing for yet another four years.

I think he will be a substantial improvement, while not perfect, and it’s still going to be up to us to keep him on track on the issues that matter.

Under a McCain presidency, we’d be back to square one, where we’ve found ourselves since January 2001. Putting Obama in the White House would not by any means ensure progressive change, but under his presidency, the grassroots would have an opportunity to create it.

Along the way, let’s strive to eliminate disillusionment by dispensing with illusions. No one who is a presidential candidate can proceed to overcome corporate power or the warfare state. The pervasive and huge problems that have proved to be so destructive are deep, structural and embedded in the political economy. The changes most worth believing in are the ones social movements can make possible.

Meanwhile, there’s still work to be done fighting FISA.  The ACLU has filed a lawsuit, your can read more on the ACLU website, and sign onto their petition. 

Sadly, one thing that got neglected by many of us (myself included), due to the uproar about Obama’s position, was contacting our won Senators.  Check the Roll Call vote and see how your Senators voted.  I was happy to see both Senators Murray and Cantwell voted against it. Still, I can’t help but wonder if all of the 23,247 members of the Obama group to get tell him to do the right thing on FISA had also all been mobilized to contact their own Senators if maybe the vote would have been any different.  It certainly didn’t ride on one Senator’s vote alone, even a Presidential candidate’s.

Tags: FISA, Barack+Obama, Democratic+Party, civil+liberties, ACLU, wire+tapping, Bush+administration, Norman+Soloman

Habeas Found?

Today the Supreme Court ruled in favor of habeas corpus once again, ruling as unconstitutional the provision in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 that denied detainees the right of filing a habeas corpus petition. Habeas corpus, first used in England in 1305, is the right, guaranteed under the U.S. Constitution, to ask for the reasons for and challenge your imprisonment.  It is the idea that no one, not even a King, Queen or President, can arbitrarily lock someone away without any charge or right to defend yourself against that charge.  An idea under attack by the Bush administration, under the guise of September 11.

As noted by today’s New York Times article, the administration first tried to claim the laws that U.S. Courts could hear habeas corpus petitions for detainees didn’t apply, because Guantanamo was outside the U.S. and U.S. jurisdiction.  Huh, who’s in control at Gitmo, then, the Cubans?  Right.  Fortunately, the Supreme Court didn’t fall for that one either, and said since the U.S. was in control of Guantanamo, U.S. courts could indeed hear the habeas corpus petitions.  Then the 2005 Detainee Treatment Act and Military Commission Act of 2006 were passed by Congress and signed into law by the President, providing an alternative process that Amnesty International, the ACLU and others found inadequate; as does the Supreme Court now (or at least the majority).

Writing for the majority, Justice Anthony M. Kennedy said the truncated review procedure provided by a previous law, the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005, “falls short of being a constitutionally adequate substitute” because it failed to offer “the fundamental procedural protections of habeas corpus.”

Justice Kennedy declared: “The laws and Constitution are designed to survive, and remain in force, in extraordinary times.”

Justice Scalia saw things differently, as quoted in the Washington Post:

The decision brought biting dissents from the four conservative justices, with Justice Antonin Scalia taking the unusual step of summarizing his opposition from the bench. “America is at war with radical Islamists,” he wrote, adding that the decision “will almost certainly cause more Americans to be killed.” He went on to say: “The Nation will live to regret what the court has done today.”

Does doing away with our constitutional safeguards really make us safer?  Remember the fact sheet from Amnesty on Guantanamo from the January 11th Global Protest?  Statistics like: 53% of detainees not determined to have committed any hostile act against the United States, 40% with no definitive connection with Al Qaeda, 18% with no definitive connection with Al Qaeda or the Taliban; with only 8% characterized as Al Qaeda fighters.

How did we get them?  “At the time when the United States offered large bounties for suspected enemies: 86% [of the] detainees were not detained on the battle field but instead arrested by either Pakistan or the Northern Alliance and turned over to United States custody.”

Are we really safer at night because anyone can turn in someone they may not like for cash, with the person having no right to contest, or even know the charges against them? Would we feel more secure, if, after the next Tim McVeigh, that logic is applied on U.S. soil for the “enemy within”?

Fear not, then.  Bush is looking for new loopholes, according to the Washington Post:

A disappointed President Bush was not as dramatic. “We’ll abide by the court’s position,” he said in Rome, in the midst of a European tour. “That doesn’t mean I have to agree with it.”

He also said the administration will consider new legislation “so that we can safely say . . . to the American people, ‘We’re doing everything we can to protect you.’ ”

Why do I not feel more secure?

According to the New York Times, McCain is “concerned” about the ruling (he helped craft the Military Commissions Act).  I’m happy to say that Obama, on the other hand, is on the side of the Constitution:

Mr. Obama issued a statement calling the decision “a rejection of the Bush administration’s attempt to create a legal black hole at Guantánamo” that he said was “yet another failed policy supported by John McCain.”

“This is an important step,” he said of the ruling, “toward re-establishing our credibility as a nation committed to the rule of law, and rejecting a false choice between fighting terrorism and respecting habeas corpus. Our courts have employed habeas corpus with rigor and fairness for more than two centuries, and we must continue to do so as we defend the freedom that violent extremists seek to destroy.”

I am glad to see habeas back, but as you’ll see from our Amnesty International main page, our work is not done.  Guantanamo has not closed.  We still have extra-judicial rendition.  We need to convince Congress not to go against the Supreme Court ruling (and the Constitution) this time.  See AI’s press release, take action online, or even consider joining a Close Guantanamo Delegation to the local offices of your U.S. Senator or Representative.

Tags: habeas+corpus, Supreme+Court, Amnesty+International, ACLU, U.S.+Constitution, John+McCain, Barack+Obama

Seattle’s Winter Soldier Hearings

What struck me most about the testimony I heard last week’s Winter Soldier hearing at Town Hall was not so much that I’ve heard it before, but the sinking feeling of hearing it all again, with a younger generation of vets. 

I found it much more disturbing, and was surprised by that (and I actually missed much of the testimony, running late because my health was acting up again).  I think maybe it was the rawness of seeing young veterans and soldiers just back, talking about what’s still going on. 

Real Change published a good article on the hearings this week.  One of the young men describes how what was supposed to be a humanitarian mission of his first tour turned out to be mostly about harassing people.  Then shortly into his second deployment, a roadside bomb killed several officers in his platoon, and “the rules of engagement changed from disarming civilians to killing them.”

“Pretty much all we did was just go out on the town and search for people to shoot,” Kochergin said. “Later on, we had no rules of engagement at all. It was go out there and if you see something that you think is not right, take ‘em out.”

Another veteran described how “American soldiers rip Iraqi men from their homes and families, often based on a tip from a neighbor seeking a payoff from the U.S. military.”  Now think about that.  Imagine what it would be like if someone who didn’t like you could not only turn you in and have you put in detention and tortured, but could also get paid for it.

• Joshua Simpson: “People know that the U.S. has a military that will pay for people to give information to us, [but it’s] the names of people [that] don’t have anything to do with terrorist attacks or the insurgency. It’s people they dislike or something, a neighbor who had a feud with them – sometimes just random people. And this would be the basis of the raids that we would do.”

Nor are our troops or their families immune from the damage of this war:

About a third of those returning suffer from either PTSD or major depression, he said, with up to 20 percent struggling with the loss of function from a traumatic brain injury brought on by constant exposure to blasts in Iraq. At that rate, out of the 1.6 million military personnel deployed to Iraq, Kanter estimated a total of 300,000 to 400,000 “psychiatric casualties” will be coming home, out of which 18 veterans a day are already committing suicide – the highest rate ever recorded, he said.

The result for families, said Tracy Manzel, who spoke on the panel with her husband Seth, is domestic violence, broken marriages and, in one case she cited, a wife murdered by a husband in Seth’s unit. “The Bush Administration talks of family values and how much these values are attacked, but really what the administration is doing is splitting families apart,” she said.

Racism is, sadly, not dead in the U.S. military, as reported in the Seattle PI article on the hearings:

Many said they went to Iraq hoping to help civilians, but found that often wasn’t the case. U.S. troops frequently referred to all Iraqis and Middle Easterners as “hajji,” an ethnic slur. In medical units, they became “range balls,” meaning they were like the golf balls hit on driving ranges that are of low value and that you don’t mind losing.

Sexism isn’t either.  One of the people who testified at the hearing was the mother of a young woman still in Iraq (though it sounds like, at least, with a different unit now) who suffered from “command rape.”  It’s so common, there’s a name for it.  Her daughter told her that the prevalent attitude in the military is that women in uniform are all either “bitches, dykes or whores.,” and didn’t know what to do. 

There was a second panel on GI resistance (which is sprouting up, just as it did during the Vietnam War), including a film from those who have fled to Canada.

After the hearing, we all marched, down from Town Hall to Westlake, via Pike Place Market.  I just wished there were more of us, more of us marching.  There actually are more people against the war than when we held the biggest marches before it happened (I was remembering Seattle Center packed at the start of one of them as I walked through the grounds the other day).

 

 

 

Tags: Winter+Soldier, IVAW, Iraq+War, Veterans+for+Peace, Seattle

Seattle’s New York Dreams

So, the pretty blue awnings went up this week for the soon to be opened (well, allegedly) Arctic Club Hotel and it’s Juno restaurant (pregnant pause  ; sorry, couldn’t resist), as Seattle’s hard-core Pioneer Square area goes upscale.  At least they’re keeping the venerable walruses on the Arctic Building.  Our office building, nearby, is also soon to be renovated, and we’ve already been warned about cleaning up the clutter on our window sills (even though they can’t be easily seen, unless someone has a telescope spying on us). 

They’ve torn down the annex of the old First United Methodist Church (though, thankfully, have saved the sanctuary) in preparation for a new glass tower.  We’re treated to the sounds of jackhammers and other construction noises.  I already have little doubt that the rents will  be increasing in our own office building once our lease is up in a few years.  We’ve already moved down the street from the beautiful art deco Seattle Tower and I’m not sure where we’ll go next (a co-worker suggested the Kalakala, in the middle of Elliott Bay.)

I guess none of this should surprise me, after seeing the gentrified Pioneer Square website this winter, which seemed to have little to do with what was then (and to a great extent, still is) Pioneer Square’s current reality, but rather a vision of what the elite wish for it’s future.

Where is this all going?  Well, as the Seattle PI unveiled yesterday, the city is planning on lifting height restrictions and filling in the Pioneer Square area and more with high rises on the south side of the ever expanding Seattle downtown.

The sweeping proposal of land-use and other policy changes seeks to make room for 6,000 new housing units and enough office space to support 16,000 additional jobs by 2030 in an area bureaucrats have dubbed “South Downtown,” which includes Little Saigon east of Interstate 5 and the northern tip of Sodo near Qwest Field.

Combine this with the plans to build up the South Lake Union area (on the north side of downtown), as reported in the PI as well, and on the Mayor’s website, and you get a full vision of the coming sprawl of downtown.  Just like Seattle’s original pioneers, our current city big shots seem to envision Seattle as “New York, by and by.”

Myself, I’m not so sure I’m in a “New York State of Mind.”  At least, not for Seattle.

More on this topic at a later point.  I leave you with the walruses.

Tags: Seattle, Pioneer+Square

Rocking out with Mike McCready

So, last weekend at The Showbox (the original, near Pike Place Market) I got to rock out to Pearl Jam’s Mike McCready and a number of other incredible local musicians as a fundraiser for the Chrohn’s & Colitis Foundation (Northwest Chapter).  I knew Mike’s Hendrix tribute alone would be worth the price of admission.  Great music for a great cause!

I’ve always appreciated Mike speaking out about Chrohn’s Disease (which he suffers from), like he did before the show in the Seattle PI, even before I started having troubles with something similar (though, fortunately, not as serious).  I went to Portland a couple summers ago for a Pearl Jam benefit for Chrohn’s and marveled about Mike being able to play through the pain.  Then about a half year later, towards the start of December, my own guts got hit. 

At it’s worst (from Dec. to Feb. last year), whatever I had (Group Health never diagnosed it, but I think it’s IBS) was definitely as bad as Mike describes in the article.  While it got better with medicine and watching what I eat,  I was still on shaky ground though most of last summer, and still have to be careful.  Eating out or at friends can still be a landmine (especially as all of the veggie sources of protein are problematic with me, which means eating more meat and being a bad girl; as most of my friends are vegetarians or vegans). I’m pretty much a wimp when it hits at it’s worse, no matter how many times I play Inside Job, the incredibly beautiful song Mike wrote about dealing with Chrohn’s.

I know, I’m digressing (if not digesting) too much.  On with the show!

There was a long line waiting to get in when I got there, held back about 20 feet from The Showbox, with a scenic view of the historic Pike Place Market while we waited, a captive audience for the panhandlers working the crowd.  They let us in a few at a time, to split up between ticket holders and those of us on will call or buying (a much slower line).  I liked how the security guy taking tickets was asking everyone to smile before he let them in.

Kristen Ward (who the Seattle Times is predicting as Seattle’s next big star) opened, and proved her mettle.  Kristin (and her band) really rocked out a lot more, and had more of an edge, than the few clips I had checked out on her MySpace page (which I enjoyed) let on.  She has a sultry voice and her songs tend toward folk rock and Americana.  I was especially impressed she was able to hold a crowd bent on hearing Mike McCready’s tributes to Jimi Hendrix and UFO, even when she had to pause to tune her guitar.

During the break, the young man who was mc’ing (well, young to me, maybe late 20’s, early 30’s) talked about his own experience with Crohn’s and the camp for young sufferers where he volunteered as a counselor, which the concert proceeds would help.  I bought 5 raffle tickets for $20, and a chance to win autographed cds,  an autographed Ames Brother’s poster book, boxing gloves (autographed by famous boxers, who I’m absolutely clueless about) and 4 seats to a Mariners/Boston Red Sox game.

(Photo from CCFA website)

Next up, Shadow, a reunion of Mike McCready’s first band, with Mike playing an incredible tribute to Jimi. Killing Floor, Voodoo Chile (someone YouTubed this one, which I’ll try to post below, but here’s the link), Star Spangled Banner (which Mike often tag’s off the end of Yellow Ledbetter at the end of Pearl Jam shows, sometimes with), Little Wing (Kim Virant joined them to sing lead vocal on this one), ending the Hendrix tribute with Watchtower.  Next Duff (formerly of Guns N’ Roses) joined them for The Ramones’ Chinese Rocks and Iggy Pop & The Stooges’ I Wanna Be Your Dog.

Mike seemed to me to be playing through the pain during the Hendrix set.  I couldn’t help but notice the young man mc’ing watching from the wings in awe at Mike’s playing (as were we all).

After that Feral Children took over the stage.  No, really, that’s the band’s name; and how they played!  I was waaaay too old for this music.  Then again, a fundraiser should have a band waaay too young for someone approaching her birthday which is only 2 years from the official AARP invite (which happens waaay too young; still I will be 30 years older than the average freshman at UW this fall -ouch!).

Just before Mike came back on stage, his wife came out, introduced as the one who got Mike to do something about his disease.  She helped sell a lot more raffle tickets (and said the Mariners’ tickets were choice seats – her’s and Mike’s) and there was a drawing . . . Nope, I didn’t win anything (but a great evening).

Then it was time for a Flight to Mars (Mike’s UFO tribute band).  No, I don’t think they have anything to do with the Pluto is a Planet protest I blogged about and took photos of.  Mike played another fantastic set with Flight to Mars.  Just incredible guitar playing.  He was the star the whole night and took over the show, even when he wasn’t the lead singer.  You know how good Eddie has to be to really take the lead and why Pearl Jam is such a great band.  Mike was obviously feeling better when he came back out, too.  He was even mugging for the crowd and all their digital cameras they had out (I kind of regret not bringing mine).

I was exhausted and properly rocked by the end of the show; and I almost lost my hat.  Yeah, my goofy hippie hat.  I had tucked it into the pocket of my jacket, which I had tied around my waist, along with my sweatshirt (too cheap to pay for the coat check).  Someone found it and asked at the end of the show.  I say I’m tired of it, but I quickly reclaimed it (and there was a young woman more than willing to take it if no one else did).  Ahh, well, the Hatterdashery booth will be back again, I’m sure, starting with the University District Street Fair next weekend.

Oh, and I was just a few people away from the stage for both of Mike’s sets (and on his side of the stage for the second set).  How lucky I am to live in Seattle, you may say (especially if you’re a Pearl Jam fan).  Indeed, I could have caught Stone doing a Hank Williams tribute this week, and Stone and Jeff will be playing as part of the reunited Green River band for the Sub Pop anniversary event this summer.  However, . . . Pearl Jam doesn’t seem to ever play here!  Indeed, Eddie didn’t even play here for his solo April Fools’ tour.  No, the Gorge isn’t Seattle (not for those of us without cars, anyways).  It’s in the middle of nowhere and there are no concert buses.  I’m half seriously thinking of moving to Boston or Chicago so I can see Pearl Jam!  They always play there (and, indeed, are playing Boston once again this summer).

Could it be, the Seattle audiences?  I don’t know, but I think I finally understood after getting to slip in to see the Los Lobos show I tabled at Benaroya; and finding no one, or almost no one, was dancing!!!  Seriously, everyone sitting, like it was the symphony, at a rock concert!!!  The two (or three, counting me) people dancing had to move to the back of the room to not disturb anyone!!!

Excuse my language, but WTF?!!  OK, I was tabling that one for Amnesty International, so really excuse my language.  I’m not projecting a good image here.  It’s just, what has happened to rock and roll?  At least in Seattle.  You know, I do have some cousins in Boston. . .

Photos from the show: Lizardkings1 on Photobucket

Voodoo Chile by Shadow, featuring Mike McCready:

Tags: Mike+McCready, Flight+to+Mars, Showbox, Shadow, Jimi+Hendrix, UFO, Crohn’s+Disease, IBS, Seattle, Kristen+Ward, Feral+Children, Eddie+Vedder, Pearl+Jam, Los+Lobos, hats, Hatterdashery, Seattle+crowds

Amnesty International in DC - Igniting Hope (& Keeping Cool)

I survived Washington, D.C.!  I just don’t seem to travel well these days, and had a rough start for my first day and a half of last weekend’s Amnesty International Annual General Meeting. 

First, my flight was a little late, and it took longer getting into DC from Dulles then I thought it would.  Then I proceeded to get lost wandering around National (OK, I know it’s called Reagan now), thinking it would be an easy walk from the airport subway stop to the nearby conference hotel, the Hyatt Regency Crystal City (and later found it was the seemingly further Crystal City stop that was the walkable one.

So, I managed to miss not only the Town Hall Meeting and Welcoming Plenary (with Amnesty International Secretary General, Irene Khan as the featured speaker), but even the Welcoming Reception.  I did meet my Amnesty friends from Seattle and we had food and drinks.  It was warm, and my friends were happy to be away from chilly Seattle.  I don’t know, it just seemed smoggy to me, and I found I had forgotten just how badly I do with the heat.

Unfortunately, my hostel room was hot, and even though it brought to mind my experience at the Portland one on Hawthorne, following the Pearl Jam concert last summer; I was tired and just went to sleep.  In the morning, following a too early shower (hoping to make the 7:30 am breakfast with Irene Khan at the conference hotel) thought at first I had food poisoning (well, Julia did find a fly at the bottom of her beer where we ate) and went back to lie down a while longer.  Aaron was eating a hearty $2 breakfast downstairs when I made it down there, though.  So, shortly after, it dawned on me, that it was the heat again. 

I made it for the last half hour of the session on the China Olympics (fortunately, both Aaron and Larry were already there).  I liked the banners we can borrow advocating human rights in China.  In addition to our annual participation in the Tiananmen Square Massacre commemoration, we are thinking of doing an Olympics walk-a-thon around Green Lake locally.  What is kind of tricky about Amnesty’s position, is that, as usual, we can’t take part in boycotts (and that is not something we’re calling for, although other allies are).

Our focus plenary started with a film about one of Amnesty International’s freed former Prisoner of Conscience, General Gallardo from Mexico, and an intern from AI who was working tirelessly on his case and met him after he was freed.  Then Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, spoke.  This year’s Ginetta Sagan Award was then presented to Betty Makoni who founded the Girl Child Network in Zimbabwe to train girls to succeed in school and survive, or, hopefully, resist sexual abuse and rape.  We then heard via satellite, from former Guantanamo detainee Moazzam Begg, followed by Emi Maclean from the Center for Constitutional Rights on what’s happening at Guantanamo and efforts to close it.

I unfortunately was still feeling ill from the heat and skipped the local groups’ lunch, just sitting in a chair in the common area and drinking a lot of water. 

I made it to the second workshop session, most of it anyways (fortunately sitting near the door).  It was on waging “lawfare” in the war on terror (which is what the government has accused the lawyers fighting for human rights in the so called “war on terror” of doing).  Panelists included Lieutenant Commander William C. Kuebler from the Judge Advocate General’s Corps, counsel for Guantanamo prisoners; Ben Wizner, from the ACLU and Margaret Satterthwaite, Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

I was still feeling ill from the heat, so I went back to my hostel to lie down awhile (and found the window was open and, mercifully, a cool breeze was blowing in).  After a few hours, when it cooled down, I went off, hoping to make the National Archives to see the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights before it closed.  Alas, my guidebook was wrong and it had already closed at 7 pm, not 9.

I headed down towards the Capitol.  Along the way I passed the Newseum and looked at the display of newspapers outside (one for each state).  I also checked out what appeared to be a country/gospel concert in the park near the Capitol, which I could hear all the way down the street.  Next I headed toward the White House.  When I finally found a place to view the front of the White House (from quite a distance these days); we had thunder and lightening, which seemed appropriate given the bunch in there (non-Amnesty comment).  Did I say I was missing the rain?  Actually, I was with the heat (I’m sure the only one in our group who was happy to see it).  The Pearl Jam version of The Who’s Love Reign O’er Me came to mind with Eddie wailing the lyrics, as I headed back to the hostel through rainy DC streets.

Next morning, I took it easy, much as I would have liked to have gone to the 7:30 Board Candidates Breakfast Forum, I really didn’t have the energy to get by on that little sleep and made the $2 breakfast downstairs in the hostel instead.  I made it in time for the Resolutions Voting Plenary (which actually finished in time, even a little early, in spite of there even being an emergency resolution).  I had time to hit the group sales room, and bought a hat before lobby day training started.  Since I was new to this, I went to one of the Lobbying 101 break out sessions.  Then back to the ballroom where the session ended with more inspiration from Ginetta Sagan Award winner Betty Makoni and AIUSA Director Larry Cox.

One final chance to catch some of the sights of DC that evening, so I toured the monuments by dark.  Starting with the Washington Monument by twilight.  Next was the WWII Memorial at one end of the Reflecting Pool (unfortunately, too late at night to really see the pool).  I wandered a long way in the dark after that, hoping to find the Vietnam Memorial, which I realized once I got near the Lincoln Memorial and saw buses of high school students heading over to it, was off the path I had taken.  I decided to go to see Lincoln first (who was very impressive).

Heading back to the Vietnam Memorial, I came across the statue of the three war weary soldiers first.  I couldn’t help thinking when I saw another group of high school students gathered around it on the way back, that they were about the age of those who were sent off to Vietnam (and some still, to Iraq, yet another senseless war, though at least there’s no longer a draft).  It was too dark to see the actual memorial, although I finally thought to photograph the roses and other items left, and could see parts of the monument in the flash.  So many roses.  A song about the senselessness of the fighting in Northern Ireland came to mind – There Were Roses by Tommy Sands (I have the version from the album of the same name by Mick Maloney, Robbie O’Connell, Jimmy Keane and Liz Carroll on record and cd - available for download on E-Music):

There were roses, roses
There were roses
And the tears of the people
Ran together

While the situation is different, the part about the orders isn’t:

I don’t know where the moral is or where this song should end,
But I wondered just how many wars are fought between good friends.
And those who give the orders are not the ones to die.
It’s Bell and O’Malley and the likes of you and I.

Now we have all the chicken-hawks, draft dodgers in their own, respectable way, from the “W” Bush administration sending off another group of young men and women to kill and die.

Across on the other side of the Lincoln Memorial is the Korean War Memorial, a ghostly battalion of troops (especially at night, although my camera could not do them justice).  Very moving and disturbing, especially as one reminded me of a Veteran for Peace friend who served in Vietnam. 

After that, I headed off around the tidal basin, to what I thought would be my last memorial of the evening, the Jefferson Monument.  I walked around the circle until I came to: FDR in a wheelchair?!  I found the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial, a series of alcoves and waterfalls and quotes, and statues – of a man listening to a fireside chat on the radio, a soup line, FDR with his little dog, and Eleanor as the first American delegate to the UN.  All about the Great Depression and WWII, what times he led this country though; and what times my parents (both gone now) lived through.  It gives me hope if we made it through all of that, we can make it through our current, scary era.  Of course, a President who’s a real leader would be helpful. . .

Finally, it there was the Jefferson Monument, with Jefferson, larger than life, and quotes.  The one about slavery seemed a little ironic, though, as he never freed all his own slaves. 

Then, I went back to the hostel and ironed my dress, to get ready for the next day, which was lobby day.

We were told if it rained on lobby day we would meet at the Amnesty International DC office, so Aaron, Larry and I hopped the subway and got there - early, it turned out, they were just setting up. Julia met us there.  We had breakfast and more instruction. A group photo was taken in the round, to be stitched together (the non-rainy day plan was the Capitol steps).

It turned out there weren’t enough buses planned for people who had 10:30 appointments (it being after 10 by the time we got back out – and having just been warned to never be late) and those of us from Seattle and Olympia were trying to figure out how to hail a cab in time.  Larry Cox actually stopped by, concerned about what was going on.  They decided to let us ride in the aisle of the bus (it being a short trip anyways, time being the real issue, not distance).

We got off the bus and Leanne, our Washington State Legislative Coordinator from Olympia, showed us the way to Jim McDermott’s office before going off on her own visit to Representative Baird’s.  We met with Anne Grady, one of McDermott’s Senior Assistants; who asked us a lot of questions about the International Violence Against Women Act (IVAWA)we were asking for him to support and co-sponsor (once it got to the house).  We also asked him to sign on to a “Dear Colleague” letter calling on Mexican authorities to take action against police officers who raped Barbara Italia Mendez and others who were arrested for taking part in a demonstration in support of street children.   We got news last week that Rep. McDermott has signed the “Dear Colleague” letter; and today that IVAWA has been introduced in the house, within 48 hours of the lobby day visits.

We met up again with Leanne to debrief after our meetings and then went back down in front of McDermott’s office to take a Seattle delegation group photo. 

After that, we went back out into the rain to deliver IVAWA petitions I had gathered at an Ani DiFranco concert I tabled for AI just before the conference.  After a side trip up the steps of the Supreme Court, we stopped by Senator Cantwell’s office first, then headed over to Senator Murray’s.  We didn’t have an appointment with their staff, as visits to their office weren’t on the official AI agenda (turns out we were targeting specific, mostly Republican, Senators to co-sponsor the bill for the greatest chance of bi-partisan support); but their staffs were friendly and let us leave information on IVAWA along with the petitions.

As we had a member of Representative Reichert’s district who signed up, but couldn’t make it to lobby day; Leanne was going and asked us if we wanted to go along.  Aaron, Julia and I decided to go with her.  It especially seemed like worth trying, given the violence against women issues, as he was the one who caught the Green River Killer and is has worked to help on domestic violence issues at a local and national level.  We met with Lindsay Manson, from his legislative staff, who seemed receptive and also asked us a lot of questions (though not quite the grilling we got in McDermott’s office; maybe the difference between meeting with Senior staff and a younger staff member).

We then ate at the house cafeteria, before heading back to the Amnesty International office by cab (and got an Eritrean cab driver, probably one his few fares who actually knew where his country was; sadly because, as he mentioned, they persecute journalists and in fact, I had just had a petition out at Ani’s concert for one of them).  We debriefed and everyone talked about their experience.  One interesting fact from one delegation was that there was a “shadow” letter for Barbara Italia Mendez from some of the Republican’s.  Just my private speculation, not AI’s, but it can’t hurt to have the Mexican authorities hear concerns from both US parties, even if they can’t all agree to sign on to one letter.

I was worried about getting to my flight in time, having read online something about luggage not being checked for Southwest Airlines at Dulles Airport if you weren’t there 45 minutes before the flight (or at least, that’s what I thought it said); which would have meant losing most of my toiletries (I never used to check my luggage until the liquids rules).

I headed out into a downpour, back to the DC hostel, to the lockers for my luggage (and snuck back upstairs to change, not wanting to travel in a dress).  I thought I was making good time and headed off to where I thought the 5A to Dulles stopped downtown, not realizing I had mixed up NW and SW and found myself lost, with little time left.  I went to the subways to try to find the stop for a train to the Rosslyn station where I could transfer.  Got totally lost with the first instructions and asked again in the next station I ended up in.  I wasn’t going to make it within the 45 minutes, by the looks of it (although, at least I did have time at the transfer point to track down a cup of coffee; actually, a Starbucks, which I never go to in Seattle).

I was, in fact, late, with my luggage at Dulles.  It turns out, though, only that they couldn’t guarantee it would get there when I did, and I might have to go back to Sea-Tac Airport the next day to pick it up.  I got to my flight and it didn’t look like they were boarding yet; but turned out they had already boarded. 

After getting in to Midway Airport in Chicago, I found I had a call from a member of the Eastside (King County) AI group about tabling with me, if we got to do the Los Lobos concert on that Wednesday, which was still, well, up in the air (having only just gotten permission to table their shows, it was kind of last minute for getting permission from the venue).  Fortunately, I got through (as it would be after 11 pm by the time I would be able to call again).  Fortunately as well, maybe, our flight was delayed, and I actually got to eat.    I got into Seattle around 11:30 (and found my luggage had arrived as well), took a getting scarier all the time late night run of the 174 into downtown (I will be relieve when we get light rail out to the airport), and the bus home (nodding off every stop as I got closer).  Fortunately, I had the next day off as well (although the Los Lobos concert wasn’t to finalize until the next day, just hours before the show).

Seattle Delegation:

For more photos, see my DC photo album, or the subset of the AGM (without all the tourist photos).

More information on our local group, Amnesty International Group 4 at:

http://www.scn.org/amnesty/

If your in Seattle, consider stopping by one of our events or meetings. 

If you live somewhere else or are a student, you can check out online if there’s a group near you in the US or around the world.

 

Tags: Washington,+D.C., Amnesty+International, China, human+rights, International+Criminal+Court, Ginetta+Sagan+Award, Prisoner+of+Conscience, China+Olympics, Girl+Child+Network, Zimbabwe, Mexico, Center+for+Constitutional+Rights, Guantanamo, war+on+terror, National+Archives, Newseum, Pearl+Jam, The+Who, Larry+Cox, Washington+Monument, WWII+Monument, Vietnam+Memorial, Lincoln+Memorial, Korean+War+Memorial, Franklin+Delano+Roosevelt+Memorial, Jefferson+Memorial, Veterans+for+Peace, Jim+McDermott, Stop+Violence+Against+Women, Dave+Reichert, Maria+Cantwell, Patty+Murray, Ani+DiFranco, Los+Lobos, Eritrea, Southwest+Airlines, Dulles+Airport

A Dream in Doubt - Hate Crimes in post 9/11 America

Yesterday I went to a pre-screening of A Dream in Doubt at Northwest Film Forum, which will play on PBS’s Independent Lens later this month. A Dream in Doubt is about the murder of Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh whose killed because of his beard and turban in a hate crime in the Phoenix area four days after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks; and his brother, Rana Singh Sodhi’s fight against the hatred threatening his family and community. While there is an outpouring of support against the bigotry from the greater Phoenix community, other friends in the Sikh community are also assaulted, and another brother is murdered under mysterious circumstances while driving a cab in San Francisco.

Ironically, most of the Sikhs immigrated to America because of the prejudice and discrimination against their religion in India.  Following Indira Ghandi’s murder in 1984 by two Sikh bodyguards, a large number of Sikhs were massacred in mob violence. 

I felt the movie was very fair with the perpetrator, who may very well have mental issues (and certainly, anger management problems); but also considered himself a “patriot” at the time for killing Sodhi, and trying to kill a couple others. While there may be something to the issue of how, as he maintained from death row (now reduced to life in prison), the news playing over and over again affected him (which he compares to the rioting in the black community following the Rodney King verdict, with the police abuse having played over and over); still, we’ve had that lynch mob psychology long before television existed. 

Really disturbing was another man they interviewed, who, while he thought they should ask questions first, if someone happens to look like the perpetrators of Sept. 11 (or really, more specifically, bin Laden); that if in fact, the people these vigilantes stop happen to be from the same country, they should be beaten (not killed, though, because then you’d be in trouble).  Of course, the stupidity of this logic would show if you applied it to the worst terrorist attack before Sept. 11, which was in Oklahoma City by Timothy McVeigh and Terry Nichols, two clean cut former military men.  So, by this logic, it would be okay to randomly beat up white guys with short, military haircuts, just because they happened to look like and wear their hair the same as the terrorists in Oklahoma City (as long as they were from the same country, which was, the U.S.).

Which, of course, would never happen.  That is the thing, there is the whole racist and xenophobic element of the attacks on the Sikhs and others after the September 11 terrorism.  It’s too easy for a lot of people to see anyone different as the other, to feel uncomfortable with them being here in the first place, and judge them all together when even one person in their community does something wrong.

In addition to Rana Singh Sodhi and the film maker, the panel included Sukhvir Singh, a Sikh taxi driver who was violently assaulted right here in Seattle, and who’s perpetrator had just been sentenced.  This is one of those things you like to think “can’t happen here”.  Yet another reminder, the Seattle Civil Rights Commissioner who spoke about the attacks on gay people in the Capitol Hill neighborhood.

A Dream in Doubt is playing again in Seattle tomorrow, April 21, at 4 pm at the University of Washington, Gates Hall, Room 138.  There are also still upcoming ITVS Community Cinema screenings of A Dream in Doubt in other cities across the country, including in Portland, Oregon on Weds. April 30. Then it will be on PBS stations across the country on May 20.

Tags: Sikhs, human+rights, Independent+Lens

Danny Federici & Melanoma

The Danny Federici Melanoma Fund, mentioned on the official Bruce Springsteen site, is now up and running. They’ve included a link to make a donation to the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in Danny’s memory.

There’s a statement by Danny about the melanoma and the danger of too much sun (especially for those of us with fair skin); which is something a lot of people still don’t give a lot of thought to. 

“What people take for granted on a daily basis, among so many other things, is their skin. I spent my life, like many others, catching some rays, surfing, hanging out in the sun and it never bothered me until now. Who knew that something as simple as a proper sunscreen or keeping yourself covered up on a sunny day could one day save your life? Our culture looks at a nice tan as a sign of luxury. We spend time in tanning booths when we can’t go to the beach or lay by the pool. It’s time to think again. Especially if you’re fair skinned, have freckles, or light eyes. Be aware of the dangers, take precaution, and have yourself checked out regularly by a dermatologist from head to toe. It could absolutely make the difference in your life.” - Danny Federici

Also included is a wonderful account by his son, Jason Federici, about his father’s now legendary last show with the E Street Band in Indianapolis.  How Bruce and Max talked him into it, while he was under treatment at Sloan-Kettering, transported Danny, his family, and doctor to the show, and the love given Danny by Bruce and the rest of the band on that magical night.

Wow! 

I was hoping Danny would make it to Seattle, and when that didn’t happen, a little “further on up the road”.  A lot of great memories and music.  We’ll miss you, Danny.  Maybe they needed your organ playing skills in heaven (especially these days). . .

 

Tags: Bruce+Springsteen, melanoma, Danny+Federici

Danny is Gone - A Sad Day on E Street

Danny Federici, whose organ and accordion playing was the backbone for so much of the music of Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band died earlier today.  Even though I knew he was sick for a while with melanoma, it hit me hard and I’m still in shock.    I always thought he’d be back with the band someday and the E Street Band, in it’s full glory would go on forever.

It’s bittersweet to find out the members of your favorite band are mortal (as someone said on a post on the Backstreets message board tonight).  Bittersweet, especially, because with most bands we would have learned that lesson far sooner; as one or more members self-destructed to booze or drugs or other self destructive behavior.  No big egos and fights and the band splitting up and tolerating each other for reunion tours rehashing their greatest hits, either.  Sadly, Bruce did set them all free for a few years, but once they came back together again the sheer joy of each others company just shines through.

No, thankfully, Bruce, Danny and the rest of the band never quite seem to have gotten how to live as rock stars!

Oh, but to be missing Danny’s signature organ,  and that accordion on Sandy (which I was just listening to on the way home from work tonight, ironically).  Danny was one of the E Streeters that got taken for granted.  As someone noted tonight, he wasn’t up front, playing off Bruce, like Clarence, or Little Steven, or Nils; but his organ set the mood, and helped make the magic, the good magic that is the E Street Band.

Official news, from the Springsteen website:

DANNY FEDERICI

“Danny and I worked together for 40 years - he was the most wonderfully fluid keyboard player and a pure natural musician. I loved him very much…we grew up together.”
—Bruce Springsteen

Danny Federici, for 40 years the E Street Band’s organist and keyboard player, died this afternoon, April 17, 2008 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York City after a three year battle with melanoma.

The Federici family and the E Street family request that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Danny Federici Melanoma Fund. A web site for the Fund is being established and we’ll post its link when it is on line.

Bruce Springsteen’s concerts scheduled for Friday in Ft. Lauderdale and Saturday in Orlando performance are being postponed. Replacement dates will be announced shortly.

Video from Danny’s last show with the band in Indianapolis:

We’ll miss you Danny!  Rest in peace.

Tags: Danny+Federici, Bruce+Springsteen