Eideard

Mothers and families of El Salvador’s assassinated, disappeared 40,000 citizens
Mike Goldwater photo

An immigration judge in Florida has cleared the way for the deportation from the United States of Gen. Carlos Eugenio Vides Casanova, a former defense minister of El Salvador, finding that he assisted in acts of torture and murder committed by soldiers under his command during the civil war there, including several notorious killings of Americans.

The decision by Judge James Grim of immigration court in Orlando is the first time that federal immigration prosecutors have established that a top-ranking foreign military commander can be deported based on human rights violations under a law passed in 2004, in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, intended to bar human rights violators from coming to or living in the United States.

Judge Grim found that General Vides assisted in the killings of four American churchwomen on a rural road in El Salvador in 1980, a crime that caused shock there and in Washington and presaged the bloody violence that would engulf the Central American nation for the next decade. The immigration judge’s ruling is the first time General Vides has been held responsible for those deaths in a court of law.

Five soldiers from the Salvadoran National Guard were eventually convicted of the killings and served long prison sentences. General Vides was the commander of the National Guard at the time of the murders.

The effort by Department of Homeland Security officials to seek the deportation of General Vides, who was El Salvador’s defense minister from 1983 to 1989, is a turnabout in American foreign policy. He was a close ally of Washington throughout the war against leftist guerrillas in the 1980s, and was embraced as a reformer despite rampant rights violations by the armed forces under his command.

Judge Grim also determined that General Vides had assisted in the torture of two Salvadorans, Juan Romagoza and Daniel Alvarado, who testified against him in hearings last spring in the immigration court in Orlando.

“This is the first case where the Department of Homeland Security has taken this relatively new law and applied it to the highest military commander of their country to seek their removal,” said Carolyn Patty Blum, senior legal adviser for the Center for Justice and Accountability, a nonprofit legal group in San Francisco that represented several torture victims in the case. She called the decision “hugely significant” for future efforts to bring immigration cases for human rights abuses against the highest-level military commanders and government officials.

Republicans and Democrats alike have always justified the Murder, Incorporated style of American foreign policy as expedient during the Cold War. The ending of the Cold War has done nothing to change the style and substance of those policies. And, frankly, this case is surprising in its challenge to established strategy.

They could recall Dick Cheney, secretary of War under Bush the Elder – who declared no involvement of the United States or Salvadoran political thugs in any of these murders.

The U.S. government’s list of suspected terrorists who are banned from flying to the United States or within its borders has more than doubled over the past year, a counterterrorism official told CNN…

The “no fly” list produced by the FBI now has approximately 21,000 names on it, according to the official, who has knowledge of the government’s figures. One year ago about 10,000 individuals were on it.

Only about 500 people currently on the no-fly list are Americans, the official said…

The United States can now ban people from flying who are “deemed to be a threat to national security” or who had gone to terrorist training camps, said the official. The earlier standard was to block only those considered a specific threat to try to bring down a plane…

…Analysts can now use single-source information, if it’s considered credible, to recommend someone for one of the government’s terror watch lists, including the no-fly list…

The government also has a much larger list, called the Terrorist Screening Database, with approximately 510,000 names currently on it. The smaller no-fly list is a subset of that.

About 1,000 changes are made to the catalog of possible terrorists each day. Names are added and deleted, or more information is included on individuals.

If I ever intended to fly again, I’d probably take the time to harass the bureaucrats in charge of this crap to see if I made the list, yet.

Actually, I refuse to travel anywhere in the world I can’t drive to in my old pickup truck. Courtesy of George W. Bush, Homeland Insecurity and the TSA.

Three U.S. citizens traveling to spend the holidays with their relatives in Mexico were among those killed in a spree of shooting attacks on buses in northern Mexico…A group of five gunmen attacked three buses in Mexico’s Gulf coast state of Veracruz on Thursday, killing a total of seven passengers in what authorities said appeared to be a violent robbery spree.

The Americans killed were a mother and her two daughters who were returning to visit relatives in the region, known as the Huasteca, said an official in the neighboring state of Hidalgo, where the mother was born.

Hidalgo state regional assistant secretary Jorge Rocha identified the dead U.S. mother as Maria Sanchez Hernandez, 39, of Fort Worth, Texas, and the daughters as Karla, 19, and Cristina, 13. Rocha said all three held dual U.S.-Mexican citizenship. A 14-year-old Mexican nephew traveling with the three was also killed…

While funeral plans were unclear, Rocha said Sanchez Hernandez’s mother wants her daughter to be buried in Mexico.

Three other Mexican citizens were killed in the Thursday attacks on the three buses. The five gunmen who allegedly carried out the attacks were later killed by soldiers.

Earlier in their spree, the gunmen shot to death three people and killed a fourth with grenade in the nearby town of El Higo, Veracruz…

The US consulate urged Americans to “exercise caution” when traveling in Veracruz, and “avoid intercity road travel at night.”

As I have advised my friends and relatives – stay the heck out of Mexico!

You can bet Pepsi had insurance
Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Heavy rains, deep snowfalls, monster floods and killing droughts are signs of a “new normal” of extreme U.S. weather events fueled by climate change, scientists and government planners said on Wednesday.

“It’s a new normal and I really do think that global weirding is the best way to describe what we’re seeing,” climate scientist Katharine Hayhoe of Texas Tech University told reporters.

“We are used to certain conditions and there’s a lot going on these days that is not what we’re used to, that is outside our current frame of reference,” Hayhoe said on a conference call with other experts, organized by the non-profit Union of Concerned Scientists.

An upsurge in heavy rainstorms in the United States has coincided with prolonged drought, sometimes in the same location, she said, noting that west Texas has seen a record-length dry period over the last five years, even as there have been two 100-year rain events.

Hayhoe, other scientists, civic planners and a manager at the giant Swiss Re reinsurance firm all cited human-caused climate change as an factor pushing this shift toward more extreme weather…

“What we’re seeing is the new normal is constantly evolving,” said Nikhil da Victoria Lobo of Swiss Re’s Global Partnerships team. “Globally what we’re seeing is more volatility … there’s certainly a lot more integrated risk exposure…”

Aaron Durnbaugh, deputy commissioner for natural resources and water quality for Chicago, said adapting to climate change is a daunting task…

The city of Chicago’s cost of dealing with extreme weather events through the end of this century has been conservatively estimated in a range from $690 million to $2.5 billion, Durnbaugh said, with the cost to homeowners and local businesses expected to be far higher.

Globally, da Victoria Lobo said the annual average economic losses from natural disasters have escalated from $25 billion in the 1980s to $130 billion in the first decade of the 21st century.

Having your nation answer to the imperatives of investment bankers and corporate greed isn’t likely to encourage planning beyond 2 fiscal quarters. Don’t be so surprised at the expansion rate of disasters as normal.

Perish the thought that a bit of science and understanding creeps into the consciousness of someone who thinks Fox offers news and network television anything more than cheap circuses.

I think Gadhafi is channeling Michael Jackson
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

The State Department said late Tuesday it has chartered a ferry boat to evacuate Americans from Libya by sea amid increasingly violent unrest in the North African state as Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi vowed further crackdowns on opponents seeking his ouster.

In a notice sent to U.S. citizens in Libya, the department said Americans wishing to leave Libya should report to the As-shahab port in the capital of Tripoli with their passports starting at 9 a.m. local time on Wednesday. The ferry will depart for the Mediterranean island of Malta no later than 3 p.m. local time. That’s right now, 8AM EST, 6AM MST.

It said boarding the vessel would be on a first-come, first-served basis, with priority given to those with medical emergencies or severe medical conditions. Travelers will be allowed one suitcase and one small carry-on item, the notice said, adding that pets would be allowed on the ferry but that they must meet European Union requirements…

Immediate family members of U.S. citizens who are not themselves citizens will be able to board provided they have travel documents valid for their final destination.

The evacuation comes amid deteriorating security conditions throughout Libya, with Gadhafi vowing to defeat opponents that now control cities in the eastern part of the country.

Unsuccessful attempts were made Monday and Tuesday to evacuate by airplane 35 non-essential American diplomats and family members of U.S. Embassy personnel, prompting heightened fears for their safety.

The Brits and other nationals are going through a similar evacuation – with the same sort of lack of cooperation and threats from the Gadhafi government. Unlike the phony case for armed response in Grenada, the nutball-in-charge may be stupid enough to threaten the lives of Americans fleeing his regime.

I hope everyone makes it out OK.

The majority of Americans have limited understanding of the planet’s climate system and the causes and threats of climate change, according to a new study by Yale University. Only 1 in 10 of those surveyed by the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication said they are “very well informed” about climate change issues. And while 63 percent believe that global warming is occurring, many do not understand why.

According to the survey, 57 percent of respondents know that the greenhouse effect refers to heat-trapping gases in the atmosphere; 45 percent understand that carbon dioxide traps heat from the planet’s surface; and only 25 percent are aware of coral bleaching or ocean acidification. And the majority of respondents had significant misconceptions about climate science, including the incorrect belief that the hole in the ozone layer, toxic waste, aerosol spray, and acid rain cause global warming.

Based on these results, the authors say only 8 percent of respondents would have knowledge equivalent to a grade of an A or B, and more than 52 percent would receive an F grade.

Anyone surprised?

Ignorance ain’t bliss, folks.

Reminding you why the Republicans came up with the idea

Anti-establishment candidates are capitalizing on widespread anti-incumbent fervor and proposing term limits as a way to bring the power back to the people. As political hopefuls try to persuade voters to send them to Congress, they’re also promising they won’t be there long.

It’s a message that polls well and gets applause at campaign rallies, but David King, director of Harvard’s program for Newly Elected Members of the U.S. Congress, said term limits do more harm than good.

“It’s political junk food. It tastes good but hurts the body politic in the long run,” he said.

Advocates and opponents of term limits are after the same thing: keeping the power out of the hands of lobbyists and special interests.

King says term limits do the opposite by taking the business of lawmaking away from elected representatives and giving it to professional staff and lobbyists.

Instead, the elections process needs better campaign finance laws and a more engaged electorate, he said.

“That leads to a situation in which we reward politicians or statesmen or stateswoman who have been around for a long time and are terrific, while at the same time being able to get rid of the low-quality legislators at all levels,” King said.

Term limits are the perfect solution for lazy-ass whiners. Someone in office you disagree with – will be gone sooner rather than later. It’s about as undemocratic a solution as you might have. The voting electorate loses a choice.

Long favored by populists, it favors political machines over independent elected officials. The machines will be around forever, staffed by willing adherents to 2-party narrowness. An independent activist in office won’t have time enough to build a following, an interactive group of peers willing to fight beyond “safe” limits.

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A Pakistani court on has sentenced five Americans to 10 years each in jail after finding them guilty of criminal conspiracy and funding a terrorist group, officials said.

The five Americans aged 19 to 25 had been on trial in a closed court behind prison walls in the eastern city of Sargodha since March. The judge found them guilty of two charges, but acquitted them of three other charges.

Both the defence and the prosecution vowed to appeal the verdict, which saw each defendant handed down concurrent sentences of 10 and five years and fined 70,000 rupees.

“We will appeal the verdict and ask for 20 years,” said Rana Bakhtiar, the deputy prosecutor general representing the Punjab provincial government in the case.

The Americans – of Egyptian, Eritrean, Pakistani and Yemeni descent – were arrested in December in Sargodha on charges of plotting a terror attack…

Defence lawyer Hassan Katchela told AFP…“We are surprised by the decision. We respect the judgement but this was not a case for a conviction. We will file an appeal against the decision…”

Pakistani officials have said the young men planned to travel to neighbouring Afghanistan and join up with Taliban-led militants fighting US and Nato troops.

Investigators claimed that the men planned to travel to South Waziristan, a training ground for Islamist militants in Pakistan’s lawless tribal belt and a region targeted by a major military operation last year.

Now, the propaganda battle can begin.

Five gullible, ignorant, religious kids will go to jail.

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

Residents of major world cities cite climate change as the most pressing global issue, except residents of large U.S. cities who list the economy as the bigger problem, according to a survey by HSBC Bank.

Climate change topped the list of concerns by some two-thirds of Hong Kong residents polled as well as majorities of residents of London, Paris, Sao Paolo, Toronto, Vancouver and Sydney, according to the poll of 2,044 urban residents around the world.

Residents of U.S. cities, however, ranked the economy as the biggest global issue, closely followed by terrorism with climate change ranking third…

“When you look at what the impact of the recent global downturn has been, U.S. individuals had a larger percent of their portfolio or a larger percentage of their wealth negatively affected,” said Andy Ireland, head of premier banking for HSBC Bank NA. “I think there may be a correlation between the two.”

Think so, eh?

U.S. respondents were hardest hit by the economic downturn with 56 percent reporting a decrease in their portfolio value.

Fifty five percent of Paris residents said their portfolios dropped in value and 45 percent of Londoners reported a decrease. However, just 19 percent of Hong Kong respondents said their portfolios lost value.

I wonder if they took into account the idea that Americans think we are the only victims in the world?

Daylife/Reuters Pictures used by permission

The three murders that occurred at two locations in the violent Mexican border city of Juárez on the afternoon of March 13 were themselves horrifying enough. Jorge Alberto Salcido, 37, a Mexican citizen whose wife works for the U.S. consulate, was killed at the wheel of his Honda; his two young children were wounded in the gun attack and were rushed to a hospital. Minutes later, say police, gunmen in another part of the city chased down the Toyota SUV driven by Lesley Enriquez, 25, who also worked for the consulate, and her husband Arthur Redelf, 30, both U.S. citizens who lived across the border in El Paso, Texas, and shot her in the head and him in the neck as their baby watched from an infant car seat in the back.

Mexico’s powerful and bloodthirsty narcomafias, facing a U.S.-backed antidrug offensive by Mexico’s military, have in recent years flirted with attacks on American officials. Two years ago, for example, drug gangsters hurled a grenade at the U.S. consulate in the northern Mexican city of Monterrey. No one was hurt. But if the March 13 murders were an announcement that the warnings have ended — that the narcos now consider U.S. authorities to be targets just like the local police and politicians they’ve been gunning down for years — then the Mexican drug war has entered a dimension not seen since the Colombian drug cartels’ wave of terrorism 20 years ago. “It proves that we’ve yet to see the worst from the narcos,” who are already responsible for almost 20,000 killings in Mexico over the past decade, says Lucinda Vargas, head of the community-development organization Plan Estratégico de Juárez.

But civic leaders like Vargas, who is a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen, say the Obama Administration and the government of Mexican President Felipe Calderón need to pay closer attention to what many believe is the real reason the narcos are turning even more vicious…

Now, Calderón is pushing social and financial reform — including the kind of judicial modernization that tends to spook drug lords more than soldiers do. Last week, for example, the legislature in Chihuahua state (which includes Juárez) passed an asset-seizure law, similar to U.S. RICO statutes, that if enforced could seriously drain the cartels of the cash and property that lets them buy their guns and launder their profits.

RTFA. Consider the details – including expanded and updated participation from U.S. police and military.