Activism Across America

The U.S. Forest Service has been caught in an insult against state environmental officials in Arizona and New Mexico, and assault on land in those states, a reckless endangerment of fragile ecosystems there, and a violation of a legal settlement, and a lie to the American people.

The U.S. Forest Service, in a 1996 legal settlement, agreed to protections for areas of ponderosa pine and other conifers in Arizona and New Mexico. However, in 2007, the Forest Service abruptly ended its adherence to the legal settlement, and changed the official rules for the management of that land.

Trying to blunt protest over this betrayal, the Forest Service claimed that state officials from Arizona and New Mexico had expressed no concerns about the changes. Records from the Game and Fish Department of Arizona show that’s just not true. State environmental officials expressed profound objections to the loosening of rules protecting the land. The Forest Service simply ignored their concerns.

This particular case shows how the right wing federal government’s refusal to accept its responsibility for environmental protections doesn’t affect wildlife. The neglect also affects relationships between the federal government and state governments. In both respects, the anti-environmental government set up by Republicans has failed to function.

(Source: Center for Biological Diversity, November 27, 2007)

There’s the economy, and then there’s the economy. Some people try to understand the economy by looking at the value of stock in big oil companies. Others look at the items like the news summarized by the Food Research and Action Center: In Arizona, one in five children are living in poverty.

That rate of child poverty is above the national average, and far above the blue state average of just 15 percent. In recent presidential elections, Arizona has been voting as a red state - for the Republican candidate. However, it’s clear that Republican economic ideology, with its emphasis on reduced government assistance in the battle against poverty, just isn’t working for Arizona.

In 2008, voters in Arizona ought to vote for their own economic self-interest. For the sake of their economy, and brighter opportunities for their children, Arizona needs to help elect a progressive President in 2008.

People of Arizona, celebrate: Arizona Indymedia is still going strong.

For years now, the people at Arizona Indymedia have been providing coverage of the stories that the mainstream media is too lazy or too indifferent or too biased to cover. On March 20, 2004, Arizona Indymedia gave a rich account of protests against the Iraq War at a time when the mainstream media was still under the thrall of George W. Bush’s claims that it would all, somehow, work out all right in the end.

On August 8, 2005, Arizona Indymedia covered the demonstration by hundreds of Arizonans in Tucson in support of Cindy Sheehan.

On October 17, 2006, Arizona Indymedia gave the thoughts of Phoenix Copwatch on the observation of National Day Against Police Brutality.

This last weekend, Arizona Indymedia provided information about an anti-torture protest at Fort Huachuca.

This is not the kind of news you’ll get a hold of by watching the national cable TV news networks, or by reading the Associated Press newswire. Thanks, Arizona Indymedia, for your years of work. Keep it up.

Over the weekend, when I went looking for information about John McCain’s laughing acceptance of the derogatory term “bitch” to refer to his Senate colleague Hillary Clinton, I went first to the progressive blogs that we have listed over at our Arizona progressive directory. To my surprise, not one of those blogs covered the story.

Why? Does John McCain hold some sort of intimidation factor over Arizona progressives, or is it just that Arizonans are so used to outrageous behavior from John McCain that they don’t even bother to talk about it any more? I’ve spent time in Arizona, but I’m not from Arizona, so I’d love for a native Arizona progressive to explain this to me.

Here’s what happened: At one of his presidential campaign events, an audience member asked Senator McCain, “How do we beat the bitch?”. “The bitch” referred to was Senator and presidential candidate Hillary Clinton. The word “bitch” is only polite when it’s used in its narrow, literal sense - to refer to a female dog. When the word is used to refer to a woman, it’s a derogatory insult akin to the word “nigger”.

Everyone knows that the word “bitch” is extremely vulgar and offensive. Yet, John McCain laughed when he heard it used as a description of Hillary Clinton. In response, he said that the audience member had asked “an excellent question”, as if he appreciated the insult.

It’s outrageous to me that anyone seriously campaigning to be President of the United States would embrace the use of a derogatory term for women. After all, slightly over half the population of the USA is female. Politicians like John McCain who cannot accept that women are fully human and deserving of respect are not themselves deserving of our support.

This week, the following states, along with the Canadian provinces of British Columbia and Manitoba, announced the formation of the cross-border Western Climate Initiative, in which the member states and provinces agree to cut their greenhouse gas emissions by 15 percent before the year 2020:

What was Harry Mitchell thinking?

Over the last two months, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales has come in front of Congress, and he has been caught lying time after time after time. Gonzales has been found to be so dishonest in his dealings with Congress that even Republicans say they don’t trust him any more.

As head of the Department of Justice, Alberto Gonzales has been caught covering up the abuse of American citizens’ freedoms, breaking the law in order to spy on Americans in ways that go beyond even the lax provisions of the Patriot Act. Gonzales has also been exposed as using his position as Attorney General to dispense the law unjustly, trying to interfere with investigations into bribery and other forms of corruption by Republicans in Congress.

Alberto Gonzales has also taken part in the design of torture programs that violate the protections in the Bill of Rights against cruel and unusual punishments. He called the Geneva Conventions “quaint”.

So, how does Democratic Representative Harry Mitchell from Arizona respond to the rampant abuses and criminal activity by Alberto Gonzales? Congressman Mitchell decided to reward Alberto Gonzales for it by giving Alberto Gonzales even more power to use against the American people.

Why would Harry Mitchell do such a thing? Harry Mitchell is afraid of George W. Bush. He’s afraid to stand up to a President who has approval ratings below 30 percent.

The saddest thing of all is that Democrat Harry Mitchell just doesn’t have the courage to do what he’s promised to do. He doesn’t have the courage to fulfill his oath of office, in which he swore that he would defend the Constitution of the United States of America.

This weekend, when George W. Bush ordered Harry Mitchell to vote in favor of a law that violates the constitutional rights of American citizens, Harry Mitchell lost his spine. He didn’t have the nerve to say no. Harry Mitchell was weak and afraid.

So, Harry Mitchell did what George W. Bush told him to do. He voted for the ironically-entitled Protect America Act, which attacks the Bill of Rights, the foundation of American freedom.

Under this new law, Alberto Gonzales gets new powers to order people to help him spy against law-abiding American citizens. Gonzales now has the power to eavesdrop on our telephone calls and read our personal emails without any else approval, without even asking for a search warrant, and he never has to tell anyone about what he’s doing and which Americans he is spying on.

Under the new law that Harry Mitchell voted for, Alberto Gonzales becomes a spy master who can peek into the private lives of Americans at will, without anyone having the power to tell him to stop.

Do you trust Alberto Gonzales with that kind of power?

Harry Mitchell did.

Do you think you can trust Harry Mitchell with the power he has been given as a member of Congress? The Democrats of Arizona must do better than Harry Mitchell. He has broken the trust of his constituents, and helped George W. Bush and Alberto Gonzales abuse the trust of the American people.

In 2008, it’s time for a Democratic primary challenger to face down Harry Mitchell’s weakness, and tell him it’s time to step down and let a Democrat with a backbone do the job.