Friday, December 16, 2005 -- "TAKE CHENEY AWAY"

It's time that we Americans finally admit the obvious: Dick Cheney is insane.

I say this with no malice, but in the sincere hope that his loved ones and close political cohorts will do the compassionate thing, gently leading him off the national stage to some quiet, dark, soft spot where he can rest for a very long time and try to collect his wits.

Of course, Dick has never been too tightly wrapped. He's a sour, snarly sort of guy, quick to snap at anyone who crosses him. Then there's that sneering smile of his, slashing across his face like the smile of a landlord who just evicted another widow. Also, we've long been exposed to a high level of Cheney's chronic sense of omnipotence (manifested in his blatant acts of cronyism with Halliburton) and to his frequent bouts of psychotic delusion (such as his maniacal insistence that the occupied people of Iraq would gratefully shower our troops with rose petals).

But recently, Dick seems to have gone from being merely unbalanced ... to unhinged. For example, he has been the twisted force so ferociously trying to stop congress from declaring as official policy that the U.S. government will not engage in torture. Even the Republican-controlled senate voted 90 to 9 against torture, but this has not deterred Cheney, who has continued snarling and snapping like a mad dog to keep torture in the toolkit of American foreign policy.

Speaking of snapping, Dick has also been frothing at Democrats who've been making the obvious point that the BushCheney regime misled the nation about their reasons for invading Iraq. He snarled that such Democrats are "dishonest and reprehensible," as well as "corrupt and shameless." Excuse us, Dick, but you've just attacked 57 percent of the American people who now agree that you Bushites "deliberately misled" us about the war.

This is Jim Hightower saying... Cheney's favorable ratings are already down to 19 percent. Mad Cow disease ranks higher! Time to take Dick away.

Sources: "Senate Votes Again for Ban on Abusing Prisoners in U.S. Custody," The New York Times, November 5, 2005.

"Cheney launches nuclear attacks on his foes," Austin American-Statesman, November 26, 2005.

Copyright - Saddleburr Productions, Inc

HALLIBURTON's "TCNs" Is any low too low for Halliburton? -- 12/7/2005

This giant government contractor with tentacles running straight into the White House has previously been caught overcharging U.S. taxpayers and shortchanging U.S. troops for its work in Iraq. But now we learn that Halliburton has been profiting in Iraq by mistreating foreign workers.

By "foreign," I don't mean Iraqis, even though thousands of folks there are desperate for jobs. Instead, I mean impoverished Asian laborers brought by the thousands into Iraq from southern India, Thailand, and the Philippines to work for Halliburton on U.S. bases as cooks, electricians, launderers, custodians, etc. They are mostly 20-somethings, powerless... and exploited.

When recruited, most had no idea they were headed for a war zone. Once there, they are branded as TCNs – Third Country Nationals – which is both a derogatory term and an assurance of third class treatment, at best. They are paid a fraction of what other Halliburton workers get, and their meager paychecks are often several months behind, keeping them in debt and in place. They work 12-hour days and are allowed only one day a month off – without pay.

The TCNs are housed in cramped trailers jammed end-to-end with bunk beds. They're not allowed to eat with the Americans, nor do they even get to eat the same food – theirs is shipped in from elsewhere and often is cold and tasteless. They cannot use the internet, the phone center, or the recreation facility. Even though their bases regularly come under attack, TCNs are issued no body armor or helmets.

It's bad enough that Halliburton is doing this at all, but it's far worse that it's doing it under our flag, in our name. What must Iraqis and Asians think as they watch how one of our country's most favored corporations treats workers who are non-white and poor?

This is Jim Hightower saying... To learn more, go to the globalization watchdog group, corpwatch: www.corpwatch.org.

When challenged directly by a crowd of America's troops about the Bushites' ongoing damnable failure to provide adequate armor for our soldiers, Pentagon chief Donnie Rumsfeld was momentarily speechless. As the crowd murmered, Rummy said: "Now, settle down, settle down. Hell, I'm an old man, it's early in the morning and I'm gathering my thoughts here."

If any of the Bushites need clarity on the scandalous way they treat our soldiers, they need only visit Army Specialist Robert Loria of Middletown, New York. Last February, he was in one of Rumsfeld's unprotected Humvees when it was hit by a roadside bomb in Iraq. Loria's left hand and forearm were blasted off and shrapnel ripped through his body. He spent months in rehab, trying to learn how to live without a hand. Finally, just before this Christmas, he was due to be released and return home when he was hit with another bomb.

Rumsfeld's Pentagon presented Loria with a bill for $1,700, claiming he'd erroneously received family separation pay while in rehab, plus travel expenses connected to his treatment. Also, they billed him for some of the Humvee parts damaged in the bombing that tore off his hand!

Loria was devastated, but the Army brass didn't care, demanding payment before they would release him. Hello. The Halliburtons rip off billions from us taxpayers, but the Pentagon is hounding the grunts! "It's almost like I'm being abandoned," Loria said. "Like, you did your job for us and now you are no use. That's how it feels."

Is that clear enough for you, Mr. Rumsfeld?

Thanks to press coverage and intervention by some members of congress, Loria's nightmarish treatment by the Pentagon has finally ended. The Army was forced to clear Loria's hokey debt and send him home.

But why should a soldier who's made such an extreme sacrifice be treated so shabbily in the first place? And how many others are getting the same back of the hand?

"He Lost An Arm in Iraq; The Army Wants Money." Times Herald-Record, December 10, 2004

"Army Takeds Action on Soldier: Family sets up benefit fund." Times Herald-Record, December 10, 2004

"Troops Sting Defense Chief. Rumsfeld: 'You go to war with the army you have.' " Denver Post, December 9, 2004

Home Depot is coming to my town, riding in on tracks of gold––courtesy of us taxpayers.

This is not merely another of Home Depot's big-box stores, mind you, but, By Gollies, a high-tech data center! To get the giant corporation to choose Austin, state and local officials approached it in the professional manner that corporations now expect: By frantically hurling huge sackfulls of taxpayers' money at them, desperately hoping that our sacks are fuller than those being hurled by other cities. In this case, our sacks contained more than $30 million, and––lucky us!––Home Depot grabbed them.

Our public officials are high-fiving each other and peacocking around over this deal, bragging that they're delivering 500 jobs to We the People, averaging $58,000 a year in pay! Actually, though, you wouldn't get one paying 58K. That average includes the salary, bonuses, and such of those up in the new data center's executive suite. Averages, you see, are tricksters––if you are paid $20,000 for example, and the top dog gets $200,000, you're averaging $110,000 each.

Home Depot's package includes nearly $6 million in a special tax break from the Austin school district. Yes, that means that $6 million that should go to the education of school kids will not, for district officials have given this corporation an exemption from paying its school taxes. Yet, the Austin school board is trying to pull a fast one on us by asserting that the state reimburses school districts for any revenue they lose when they dole out tax breaks to corporations. As one board member put it: "There is no cost to the Austin taxpayer."

Earth to school board: The Austin taxpayer is also a state taxpayer! The tax giveaway to Home Depot still comes from our pockets, and it's still $6 million that could have been added to education...but now won't be.

Home Depot is a super-rich corporation. Why shouldn't it pay its taxes, like our home-grown businesses do?

"Home Depot Got Some Help on Tax Breaks: Austin School District Considering Request Based on a New Method." Austin American-Statesman, December 6, 2004.

"School District OKs Home Depot Deal." Austin American-Statesman,

Anyone who thinks that labor unions go on strike just for the hell of it – has never been on strike.

Ask the 70,000 supermarket workers in California who are faced with bullying demands by the executives of Safeway, Kroger, and Albertsons to slash their families' health care benefits. When Safeway honchos refused to back off from this takeback, its 20,000 employees went on strike last October. The very next day, in an anti-competitive collusion, Kroger and Alberstons locked out their 50,000 workers.

Five months later, the hardships being endured by these workers are staggering. They get no unemployment compensation, no health coverage, and their union strike benefits are down to $125 a week. Ironically, it's hard for these grocery workers even to buy groceries on that. Many can't meet their rent and car payments, and their stress is enormous.

The supermarkets are eating big losses, too, for California consumers have rallied behind the workers and sought out other grocers for their food purchase. But the top executives continue to draw their fat salaries and enjoy Rolls Royce health coverage, so they refuse any serious negotiation, even when the union offered a major concession that would have saved the corporations a third of a billion dollars on their employees' health plans.

One reason the top dogs think they can stall and effectively starve out the workers is that they entered into a mutual aid pact weeks before the strike, agreeing not to compete, to share costs and revenues, and to act in unison against their workers. The state attorney general has filed an antitrust suit against the three, but they'll keep this stuck in courts... while workers suffer.

This is not a dispute about 70,000 workers, but a class war about whether corporations everywhere can simply reduce all of us to low-wage, no benefit Wal-Mart workers. It's a corporate war against the middle class. To help, go to this website: ufcw.org.

"Labor Raises Pressure on California Supermarkets," New York Times, February 10, 2004.

"RPT-California controller ureges Safeway to end strike," www.reuters.com, January 27, 2004.

"Supermarkets reject union health cost offer," North (San Diego) County Times, December 21, 2003.

"The 10 Worst Corporations of 2003," Multinational Monitor, December 2003.

Under the guise of forest fire prevention, the Bush Administration's Forest Service has proposed logging in California's Sequoia National Monument, home to some of the world's tallest and oldest trees, reaching ages of 3,200 years or more.[1] Also at risk are the Pacific fisher, the California spotted owl, and many other threatened species dependent on ancient forest habitat.[2]

Established by President Clinton in 2000, the Monument designation was the culmination of years of work by environmentalists. But in its draft environmental impact statement (EIS) for management of the Monument, the Forest Service chose the most environmentally destructive of six alternative management plans, the one calling for the most intensive logging.

Under the Forest Service's "preferred alternative," 80,000 acres would be opened for logging, including trees up to 30 inches in diameter, a size not permitted in most National Forests throughout the Sierra Nevada.[3] The Forest Service's proposal calls for 180 clearcuts, producing 10 million board feet a year.[4]

The Forest Service plan is based on the idea that if the ancient Sequoias aren't logged, they will be vulnerable to catastrophic fires (despite the fact that they have somehow managed to survive for thousands of years on their own). But the real motivation may lie in a sentence buried deep in the EIS, which says logging in the Monument "might make the difference between continued operation and closure of the one mill available to serve the Monument."

If fire prevention is actually the Forest Service's agenda, experts cite better ways to accomplish this, such as thinning the forest near homes and businesses, and increasing the number of prescribed burns.

Logging in the Monument will actually increase the likelihood of severe fires, since removal of the large trees reduces the cooling shade of the forest canopy, and because highly flammable brush accumulates in open areas where logged trees once stood.[5]

In a final insult, the Forest Service plan will actually be subsidized by taxpayers, to the tune of $34 million. Much of that will go toward road building, even though there are already 900 miles of roads in the Monument. And nearly $14 million of taxpayer money will be spent for "mechanical thinning of conifer" -- otherwise known as logging. [6]

SOURCES: [1] Presidential Proclamation establishing Sequoia National Monument, April 15, 2000.

[2] "Forest Service Bushwhacks Giant Sequoia National Monument," Sierra Club. http://www.sierraclub.org/ca/sequoia/monument/fs_bushwacks_gsnm.html

[3] "Forest Service Proposes to Log Sequoia National Monument," The Wilderness Society.

http://www.wilderness.org/WhereWeWork/California/sequoiamonument- logging.cfm

[4] Ibid.

[5] Action Alert, Sequoia ForestKeeper. http://www.sequoiaforestkeeper.org/currentprojects.html

[6] Ibid.

INTRODUCTION REVOLUTION - July 31, 2005 Revolutionary Communist Party, USA ACTIVIST SONG WRITERS ACTIVIST WEB SITES ANIMAL RIGHTS END OF FOSSIL FEMALE ACTIVIST INFORMATION and SERVICES LABOR ISSUES LAUGHING HORSE BOOKS PEACE MAKERS PETE'S WRITINGS PETITION IN DEFENSE OF IRAQI WOMEN PROGRESSIVE MEDIA SEPTEMBER 11, 2001 UPCOMING EVENTS WAR ON THE UNIVERSE WOMEN'S CONFERENCE 2004

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