Of Secrecy and Sex in Washington
If it’s August, there must be something the White House is trying to slip by the Congress and the public.
The patterns were there long before the Bush administration was a jot - let alone a tittle - on the pages of U.S. history.
- Congress invariably is in recess and many members are traveling abroad;
- Parents, distracted by the need to prepare for the approaching school year, find themselves beset by children’s pleas for another day or two at the amusement park;
- Hurricanes often (but not always) are prolific, but the month is always hot and humid;
- The president is spending “down time” either at Camp David or at the “family” home, but that does not stop him making recess appointments that would not get through Senate confirmation.;
- The big names in the media are also “on break” - barring a major disaster.
In short, the federal government seems torpid, weighed down by the now invisible miasma that, in the early days of the nation, would rise from the shores of the Potomac at the aptly named Foggy Bottom, driving all who could afford the expense to leave for high ground.
One highly controversial practice is the use of regulatory agencies within the Executive Branch to by-pass the constitutional procedures for enacting laws. Incidences of this practice skyrocketed after passage of the USAPATRIOT Act and other “anti-terror” legislation. Pleading the exigencies of the president’s self-declared “global war on terror,” Washington has been buried under a virtual blizzard of presidential findings and directives and administrative rulings by government mediators, adjudicators and judges in independent agencies. These little-noticed but far-reaching changes to procedures that private citizens, companies, or other organizations must follow in interactions with federal government agencies can be amended later but are rarely revoked.
One such ruling in effect for two years requires U.S. charitable, humanitarian, research, or policy-oriented organizations (e.g., educational anti-war groups) that receive financial support from U.S. foundations to certify in writing that none of their employees have any connections with terrorism or terror organizations.
A new wrinkle, due to take effect August 27, requires charities and other non-governmental organizations that receive funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) to provide personal information - birth dates, telephone numbers, email addresses and other data - on individuals occupying key positions in these organizations. Ostensibly, this is - again - to be able to ferret out any one with ties to terrorists and terrorism.
As usual, there is no information on who proposed the rule or why - beyond the by now boilerplate language about terrorism. What standards are to be used, what exceptions (if any) might be made, and what office will conduct any inquiry also remains unknown. Nor is there any indication of when, if ever, the Administration intends to reveal how the information will be used. No information is provided about what procedures prospective recipients denied funding can use to determine why they were turned down, or even how to ensure that the government corrects erroneous information it might have received, such as identical names of a key officer in a charity and another individual with a “connection” to a terrorist group. Our nation’s history of problems with blacklists should be raising a host of red flags.
The possibilities for misuse of this data are legion. One that springs readily to mind would deny government funds to any organization that sends delegations to countries, such as Syria and Iran, designated as “state sponsors of terror” as part of “Track II” or public diplomacy - especially should a delegation be invited to meet a prominent government official once the group arrives in the country. Under this new proposal, a religious group or national church denomination involved in a peace delegation to Iran could be denied government support for other activities completely unrelated to Iran such as feeding the hungry in Africa.
The new USAID restrictions are another effort to discourage legitimate non-government and civil society organizations from trying to advance development, humanitarian, and peace agendas in areas ravaged by human folly, natural disasters, and war. And once the information is collected, it will not be destroyed. That was made clear last Tuesday when the Pentagon announced it was ending the TALON program that had been collecting information on the activities of individuals, religious denominations, and other organizations that engage in peaceful anti-war protests. But the Pentagon also said that the data would not be destroyed. Instead, a “copy” will be stored at the Pentagon for “record-keeping purposes.”
If the information were collected illegally, it would seem that it is equally illegal to retain it. Simply to “stop analyzing” the data is only a partial measure, not the full step that would redress the invasion of civil liberties that became a feature of this “anti-terror” program.
One thing seems clear: there are too many people in this administration spending too much time creating obstacles to the vital participation of civil society in relieving the suffering of millions of men, women and children who desperately need America’s help. Another headline earlier this week illustrates this point perfectly: “White House Manual Details How to Deal With Protestors.”
Of course, it may be that some in the Administration are so driven by fear that they are unable to get life’s priorities in order. They might find some useful guidance in another front page story in a recent edition of the Washington Post: “Elderly Staying Sexually Active” - especially the observation that,”There’s no reason to believe they [older people] give up the basic human desire for love and intimacy….This just shows that the light …the flame doesn’t go out.”
Be assured, the light of love diminishes not one jot or tittle.
Col. Dan Smith is a Senior Analyst at the Friends Committee on National Legislation, and a frequent contributor to Foreign Policy In Focus.
© 2007 Foreign Policy In Focus
And the Bushists are hoping We remain in such an august “comma”. NOT!
- An Eternal Flamer
By the harvest of 2008 there will be enough ethanol refineries to turn every bushel of corn we now export into SUV fuel. The United States now accounts for 75% of the world’s corn exports. That corn accounts for feeding several hundred million human souls. World grain stocks are near all time lows already with less than a 60 day surplus. There are also massive programs underway in Brazil and China to convert agricultural production into bio fuels.
Since the end of W.W. II the famines of the world were largely regional, and a product of nature or civil unrest. Within the next two years that will change with vast areas of Africa, Asia, and Latin America facing critical food shortages.
“Of course, it may be that some in the Administration are so driven by fear that they are unable to get life’s priorities in order.”
Only SOME?
These people are entirely driven by fear, they’ve spent their entire lives running away from situations where they could be held accountable or put on the spot for anything. Dick Cheney spends his life in ‘undisclosed locations’ — while his various organs may be replaceable, he thinks he isn’t, hence five deferments & the sudden itch to procreate when he discovered that no more deferments were forthcoming.
They fear us far more than we fear them; they are the insects, we the people are the giant — but we recoil because we’re fearful of being stung.
The next President, assuming it’s not another loyalbushie, will need to wipe the slate clean and declare everything the cult did to undermine Democracy and America null and void, from the signing statements to the regulation tweaks.
Hit the reset button.
frank1569 says “Hit the reset button.”
Won’t work - too late. IMPEACH BUSH/CHENEY NOW
Not a loaded question, but an honest enquiry:
All this talk of *terror* (and taking into account Dichterfreund’s notes about ‘fear’ posted above) ::: are Americans innately a *fear-full* race? Is this possible at all?
Could this explain the rampant emphasis on gun ownership etc and a seeming obsession with military matters which other countries seem happily to play down and more-or-less ignore??
It appears that Americans have a larger quotient of fear in their make-up than many other races, and if so, *why is that* do we think?
** And what can be done about it? **
Is it maybe that Americans lack a certain *trust* in life? Is it even a dearth of ’spiritual’ trust, as in: not really trusting that ‘the Universe’ will protect them sufficiently, and thus they ought arm themselves to the teeth, and fear any who come too near?
Are Americans a tad too paranoid?
Fearful people do not act best well, a different part of their brain cuts in when the fright / fight / flight adrenals are pumping away. Hasty decisions and actions are made, ~ and regret often follows hard on the heels of such impulsive actions…
What do others think on this topic I wonder?
To UN-Common-dreams: when you speak of “Americans”, I assume you mean North Americans: i.e. the nation whose homeland is divided into sovereign territories of Canada and the USA. I assume you are not referring to the Spanish-speaking majority on this continent. And to get to your question, in my opinion the answer is: yes, we are an unusually fearful nation. And the reason stems from two facts about our history: our relations with the American Indians and our relations with the African slaves. Much of this country was taken by force from the Indians, with extreme violence, and ever since we have feared, at some level that they would try to get revenge. That fear may seem absurd now, given the demographic balance, but I think the fear has remained with us to some degree as a kind of subconscious psychological legacy from our ancestors. The second issue is slavery. Even those of us who hate Blacks and profess to have no sympathy for them know, deep down, that we owe them a huge debt which has never been paid, and we fear their revenge. Again, at the societal level these fears are largely subconscious, but they are very deeply engrained and they affect our overall approach to the world around us.
Mark Marshall
Toronto
“And once the information is collected, it will not be destroyed. That was made clear last Tuesday when the Pentagon announced it was ending the TALON program that had been collecting information on the activities of individuals, religious denominations, and other organizations that engage in peaceful anti-war protests. But the Pentagon also said that the data would not be destroyed. Instead, a “copy” will be stored at the Pentagon for “record-keeping purposes.””
How is it that the Pentagon has no problem with “record-keeping” when dealing with anti-war protests but can’t seem to find any competent bookkeepers to keep track of their spending practices with taxpayers money?
Another cause for fear…………….on an unconscious level, our intuition tells us that our elected leaders are “doing bad things” ! Unable to pull it forth and examine it only exaggerates it’s importance in distorted ways.
We are disconnected with nature as a result of the industrial age and technology. Thomas Jefferson predicted that if more than 50% of Americans moved to the city and stopped farming……….Democracy wouldn’t work!
I have a wonderful book “Seeing with the Minds Eye” The History, Techniques, & Uses of Visualization, by Mike And Nancy Samuels. There were 23 editions 1975, 76, & 77, 45,000. copies total. See of you can find one and read it! One of the most objectionable acts by Reagan was the book warehousing act of 1981. AS I understand it, it made it too costly to print large editions and store them. At the same time publishers were merging………. voila: the beginning of the right wing dumb down plan!
To Madhoosier:
It’s even worse than you think. See here
http://environment.newscientist.com/channel/earth/dn11849-biofuels-demands-eating-into-us-corn-stockpiles.html
and you’ll find that in 2006 20 % of the US corn crop was used for ethanol instead of for food and in 2007 the percentage of the US corn crop used for ethanol will rise to 27 %. This has already caused the price of feed corn in my state to more than triple and all the local dairy companies are saying they will have to raise prices or go bankrupt. This affects a very large portion of agricultural products but particularly such things like chicken meat , eggs and milk.
Furthermore , this makes no sense because even if we used 100 % of the corn crop for ethanol it would still only offset an insignificant 15 % of US gasoline needs. We could starve ourselves and it would still not make any sense energetically.
GAIL: Excellent question… and insight.
RUCOGNIZANT: Interesting posting. I guess this explains why I have paid to store all my books between owning homes and joke that I have a veritable “Library of Alexandria” as per difficult to find books, particularly of the esoteric genre.
UNCOMMON DREAMS: Fear as coupled with extreme macho images starting with cowboy/Indian films, evolving to bad guy/detective films, all in the interest of furthering the “need” for gun ownership and identification with force AS heroism or might. This all breeds especially well with militarism, the chief export of this wounded nation.
UN-common-dreams, re: fear, lack of trust.
Agreed with all you wrote, and wish to note that the Bill of Rights and the Constitution seems to enshrine paranoia, specifically fear/distrust of Government, as a patriotic virtue.
I’d call it almost a ‘genetic’ predisposition of USA democracy towards fear.