Friday, December 24th, 2010
Michael Kinsley, - Politico
Stephan: Why do we venerate men who kill multitudes with wild abandon in pursuit of their power dreams? The Viet Nam War was a horrible insane mistake, triggered by a wildly and intentionally distorted event. Is it, as Stalin said, that 'one death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic?' I think this is a very important question to ponder, and this essay raises some of the salient issues.
So where is the Great American Umbrage Machine when we really need it? The microscandal over Williams’s reflections was a top story for days. The outrage over MoveOn and ‘General Betray Us
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Friday, December 24th, 2010
CHRIS COUGHLIN, - Courthouse News Service
Stephan: This is a horrible report, and one that can be directly tracked back to the sexual repression and hypocrisy that permeates so much of our culture. Rape is about power more than sex. When units of soldiers, individuals whose lives are in each other's hands, rape it should be the final evidence that we need to put aside the distorting hand of religiousity and deal appropriately, and candidly, with our sexuality. It's not that we don't know how to create a society in which rape is a rare mental illness aberration, but that we choose not to create it. Just as we know that prenatal care is essential if a child is to have a healthy brain, but do little to assure the availability of such care support. These are self-inflicted wounds arising from self-righteous moral judgments.
NEW HAVEN, Conn. — Rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment ‘occur nearly twice as often within military ranks as they do within civilian life’ and are the leading cause of post-traumatic stress disorder in women veterans, but the Pentagon refuses to release information on it, or on its feeble efforts to help women who suffer from it, the Service Women’s Action Network says in a federal FOIA complaint.
‘Service members still are not adequately protected from MST [military sexual trauma] while they serve, and victims still are not adequately cared for after they leave,’ the complaint states. ‘The government has resisted releasing information that might show the true scope of the problem or highlight its own negligence – information that must be known for the problem to be solved.’
With the ACLU as co-plaintiff, the Service Women cite surveys which ‘indicate that between 6 and 23 percent of women experience one attempted or completed rape during their service period, depending on the decade. And the story gets worse: 37 percent of military rape victims experience multiple rapes, and 14 percent experience gang rape.’
The complaint continues: ‘Due to underreporting, the prevalence of MST is likely far greater than current reports […]
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Friday, December 24th, 2010
Stephan: I ask each of you to provide at least one meal for Christmas, whether it is asking someone left behind to dinner, or a donation to an organization. If you really want to step up, pay for or invite a family.
I had lunch today with Lynn Willeford, an extraordinary woman here on the island who has begun not one but a series of programs that have changed the lives of individuals and families in profound and wonderful ways. She remarked that it was hard for many people who had formerly been comfortable to ask for help, even though they were in great need. The shame and discomfort in their own eyes was too much. She said, I ask them, 'Have you helped somebody in the past?... Well then you're pre-paid.'
With the Great Recession continuing to take a toll on America’s middle class, it should come as no surprise that homelessness and hunger remain tough problems for America’s cities, as the annual report by the U.S. Conference of Mayors points out.
In the 2010 Hunger and Homelessness Survey, 27 large and medium sized cities throughout the nation were studied and the report found that homelessness increased by 2 percent across surveyed cities and family homelessness increased by 9 percent.
According to the mayors’ conference, every city surveyed reported that requests for emergency food assistance increased by an average of 24 percent over the past year. Among those requesting emergency food service, 56 percent were families and 30 percent were employed. When asked to report on the three main causes of hunger, respondents cited unemployment, housing costs and low wages.
‘While there is currently an historic effort to restore America’s economy, the effects of hunger and homelessness are clearly evident in America’s cities and urban centers. This is why mayors have been so proactive in supporting and encouraging local food programs and why federal programs like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program — food stamps– are so critical,’ said Asheville, NC Mayor Terry Bellamy, chair […]
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Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
RAYMOND HERNANDEZ, - The New York Times
Stephan: Another piece of good news today. This should make us feel good about the country. How some could oppose this I have no idea. If we ask people to commit themselves without reservation to some national need we have a moral obligation to take care of them after the event, when they are impaired. Morally this is the same as the need to take care of the young men and women who come back damaged from the insane never ending wars
5:42 p.m. | Updated The Senate on Wednesday approved a bill to cover the cost of medical care for rescue workers and others who became sick from breathing in toxic fumes, dust and smoke after the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The vote, passed by unanimous consent, came soon after a deal was reached between conservative Republicans and Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, Democrats of New York. Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand agreed to changes demanded by the conservative lawmakers, who raised concerns about the measure’s cost and prevented the bill from advancing in the Senate. After drawing criticism in recent days from Democrats and Republicans alike, the Republican senators backed down.
Under the new agreement, the bill provides $4.3 billion over five years for health coverage to the 9/11 workers, instead of the original $7.4 billion over eight years.
In a joint statement issued on Wednesday, Mr. Schumer and Ms. Gillibrand called the deal a ‘Christmas miracle.
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Thursday, December 23rd, 2010
HOWARD LAFRANCHI, Staff Writer - The Christian Science Monitor
Stephan: This is a profound and positive piece of good news. I spent over a year involved with the naval aspects of the START Treaty, and I just can't over-emphasize how important and positive I think this development is. I also want to acknowledge those Republicans -- mostly members who have been in the Senate long enough to remember why START is so critical -- who broke ranks with their party to make the life affirming choice.
WASHINGTON — With Wednesday’s Senate ratification of a new nuclear-arms reduction treaty with Russia, President Obama accomplished what he has said for months was his top foreign-policy priority.
The irony of Mr. Obama’s triumph is that, rather than constituting the dawn of a new era of measures reducing the nuclear threat, it may turn out to be the high-water mark in his efforts to rid the world of nuclear weapons.
With Vice President Joe Biden presiding and Secretary of State (and former senator) Hillary Rodham Clinton in attendance, the Senate voted 71 to 26 to ratify the new Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START), achieving the two-thirds vote required to ratify a treaty.
In Wednesday’s vote, 13 Republicans voted for ratification. The Senate that takes office in January will be more Republican (though it will still have a Democratic majority), and a number of new senators will be markedly more conservative on foreign-policy issues like arms control, some political experts say.
‘The 2010 elections changed the political landscape,
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