cross posted from Oh…My Valve!

Apart from conducting the Resident-Select’s whitewash of his transition team’s involvement with Blagogate, soon to be White House Council Greg Craig has been flying somewhat under the radar of late. At the outset let me say that I’m sorry, but unless you’re a singer, actor, or circus performer, having a first and last name that rhymes is definitely a strike against you in the game of life (having Bestor as a middle name must have made for a guaranteed pummeling on the playground of Phillips Exeter Academy, unless his parents were richer than the other kids). Unfortunately for the American people, Greg Craig has a lot worse things going for him than a rhyming name.

Here’s a quick refresher course on Greg Craig through the prism of the 2008 election cycle. As some of you may remember, John Podesta recruited Greg Craig to head President Clinton’s legal team during the impeachment hearings (as we all know now, it’s far worse to lie about fellatio in the White House than say about…weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, which must be why Quadrophonic Speaker Pelosi didn’t call for impeachment hearings). Greg Craig was buds with Bill and Hillary back in Yale Law School. He was also one of the first of friends to throw Hillary under the bus, in 2007. First question I’d like to ask Greg Craig would be, “So who tipped you off that the primaries were going to be rigged, Coward Dean or Naughty Nazi Nancy?”

So let’s assume that Greg Craig knew the fix was in. What else has Greg Craig had his grubby little hands in while mucking about with the rich and powerful?

Let’s see…here’s a wholesome fellow…Pedro Miguel Gonzalez Pinzon. Cool name eh? He is a Panamanian legislator who was wanted in the 1992 murder of a U.S. soldier, Zak Hernandez Laporte. Awesome. He was acquitted of that murder, but is still under indictment in the U.S. Some of you might remember the subsequently underreported story of the conflict of interest faced by Greg Craig during the election.

Seems that Mr. Pinzon was elected President of the Panamanian legislature in 2007. Many of our upstanding and ethical legislators, who would never consider giving themselves a raise while bilking us out of billions of dollars for their wealthy Wall Street benefactors, have very righteously lifted their support for the Panama/US Free Trade Agreement (PUFTA) as long as Pinzon was playing a part in the negotiations. And guess who was among them? Why it’s our own Teleprompter Jesus, Barry Soetoro. Because he is a pillar of morality, Pampers had also refused to move on a vote regarding the agreement. Thank goodness we have such virtuous legislators showing the way to Utopia.

During the election his Barryness said he would not vote for the agreement while the issue of the Pinzon case remained unresolved. He has since been quoted by AFP as saying that, the success of American business depends on, “strong, robust trade, and open doors for American products.” Thankfully, the Resident-select also assured us that any trade agreements he signs will have, “the interests of our whole nation and our workers at heart.” Wow, I feel much better now. I guess he plans on paving the road to hell with good intentions. Great. I think we ought to just assume that the agreement will be a done deal and we’ll all get screwed. That way no one will feel surprised when it happens.

For his part in the affair, Greg Craig found himself in quite a conflict of interest pickle, working as a foreign policy advisor for Pampers, and legal council to Pinzon. Fortunately he and Commander Waffalo worked out a transparent, and morally sound solution to the problem. Greg Craig, according to Panama News Briefs, simply told everyone, “The campaign knows of my involvement and I have removed myself from participation in discussions with the candidate or his advisers on relations between the United States and Panama.” Another political ethics disaster narrowly averted.

But the Panama Pajama Game is only one of a slew of shadeofgreynesses for Greg Craig and Latin America.

Though the Council on Hemispheric Affairs reports that he had an “open door” for victims of human rights abuses while working for Ted Kennedy, Greg Craig apparently ran afoul of the Bolivians when he represented former Bolivian President Gonzálo Sánchez de Lozada and former Minister of Defense Carlos Sánchez Berzaín.

Sánchez Berzaín and Sánchez de Lozada have been indicted in the United States for their being involved in the killing of 67 protestors in El Alto, Bolivia during the fall of 2003. Apparently, then-president Sánchez de Lozada ordered troops into El Alto and Sánchez Berzaín gave them approval to open fire on unarmed civilians. Whoops!

According to CoHA:

Human rights advocates believe that Craig’s continued representation of Sánchez de Lozada and Sánchez Berzaín demonstrates his readiness to defend the interests of the rich and famous against the poor (emphasis added by me). Admittedly, such charges complicate his reputation in Latin America, and for some bring into question his true commitment to regional solidarity.

Readiness to defend the rich and famous against the poor? Gosh, that sounds like a guy who would be standing up for someone like say, Ron Blagojevich, not someone helping bring hope and change to Washington.

And let us not forget how Greg Craig spun like a dreidle on speed in the wake of the Flip Flop Waffle a la Pampers this past summer, when the Resident-Select got whiplash while swinging from filibustering FISA to voting for it. In what could only be described as massive rationalization of garbage, Greg Craig said that Dear Leader felt, “it was better to get a compromise than letting the law expire.”

That’s right, when faced with defending our right to privacy and our Fourth Amendment rights, Greg Craig told America that it was better for his boss to screw the Constitution, and let the telecom companies off the hook for helping Resident Bush tap our phones without warrants. You don’t suppose that had anything to do with the fact that Pampers took money from California lobbyists for AT&T, or that AT&T was the principle corporate sponsor of the Democratic National Convention on Mt. Olympus do you? Naaaaah. That’s just crazy talk.

This is really just scratching the surface of the moral ambiguity that is Greg Craig. Perhaps he is perfect for Pampers. Not so great though for those who were expecting hope and change. Oh well, I’m sure they’ll find some morally ambiguous way to justify the ethical circus that the media will refer to as the Obama administration.

In 1991, on the eve of the collapse of the Soviet Union, I went to visit my grandmother in Florida (all those stereotypes you hear about retirees and the early bird special…they’re true).  She was born in Ukraine and immigrated with her family to the United States when she was a teenager, shortly before the breakout of World War I.  Though she spent most of her life living here, she continued to follow the political events in what became the USSR. 

One night during my visit she expressed concern that the fall of communism would not spell sunshine, lollypops, and moonbeams for the Russian people.  In fact, she saw civil wars, and an unchecked black market mafia tearing the old empire apart.  She wasn’t too far off.  Something else she said to me that night stuck with me.  The world was expecting the old Soviet Union to embrace democracy and hold hands with the West.  She knew that was not going to happen.  She went on saying that the Russian people had never known anything resembling democracy in their history.  They would always turn to, and feel safer with, a strong centralized government.  That’s what they had under the Czars, and under communism.  Why should post-communist Russia be any different?  She also correctly predicted that any democratic Russia would be short lived, and that eventually power would be consolidated back into the hands of the old communist apparatchiks who would move to reconstitute the old empire.  Was I surprised by the rise of former KGB (FSB…same difference) head Vladimir Putin?  Not really.

 So let’s fast forward to the summer of 2008.  Russia invades Georgia.  I don’t believe this was a dispute about borders, territory, protecting Russian nationals, or any other presumed reason.  Putin has been telegraphing messages for months.  The first is that Russia is intent on rebuilding its empire, not only within its immediate sphere of influence, but in the Middle East as well. 

We already know that the Russians are assisting the Iranians with the construction of Chernobyl South (if there wasn’t an acute risk of Iranian uranium ending up in a suitcase in downtown Tel Aviv, or packed into a long range missile, I wonder if the Israelis would be content to wait on the new plant to go China Syndrome and turn Iran to a sheet of glass).  It is also no secret that Israel has established good relations with Georgia, selling them weapons to the tune of $300 million dollars last year.  Mother Russia was not at all pleased.  Israeli defense experts believe that Russia has sold surface to air defense systems to both Syria and Iran, specifically the SA-3 Goa, a low altitude system that might be used to say…defend against an attack like Operation Ofra where the Israeli Air Force leveled the Osirak nuclear reactor in Iraq, much to the private cheering of Iraq’s neighbors.  Rosoboronexport, the firm holding a monopoly on Russian arms exports, claims that it made no such sales. And yet Bashar Assad went to Russia to secure an arms deal in August.  How many sides of one’s face can someone speak out of at the same time?  Maybe we should consult the President-Select on that one.

 I’m recalling those golden Cold War days of yesteryear when the Soviets and the United States fought their proxy war via Israel and the Arabs.  Happy days are here again…oy gevalt.

 But what I think was really behind the aggression against Georgia was a shakedown for the Russian military in the event they move against the real prize: Crimea, principle home of the Black Sea Fleet, the majority of which Russia retains.  Controlling Crimea would, in my opinion, translate into Russian proxy control of Ukraine.  There is already a Russian military presence there, and the Russian government has stirred up a great deal of controversy by distributing Russian passports to residents.  Could this be laying the groundwork for an invasion based on the pretext of defending Russian nationals?  One need only look at Georgia for the answer to that question.  And clearly the Ukranian leadership is concerned, as it restricted the movement of Russian ships to and from the Black Sea Fleet’s home port of Sevastopol, after Russia used Black Sea Fleet ships during the Georgia invasion.  Russia retains a 20 year lease on the Sevastopol port.

 Would Putin be willing to make this move with John McCain in the White House?  I think he would be a lot less likely, than say with a foreign relations novice in the Oval Office.  Soon to be Secretary of State Clinton, do America a favor and fully debrief the man who would be king on the situation.  Last time I checked he thought he could convene the United Nations Security Council and get them to condemn Russian aggression (you might also want to remind him that Russia is a permanent member of the UNSC and has veto power over any and all resolutions).  And maybe put face time with the Russian leadership near the top of your agenda.  But considering your wonkish grasp of the world scene I would imagine you’ve got that covered.

 Hold on to your butts folks.  This could get ugly.  I wonder if Big Joe Biden is girding his loins yet.  At least someone with the capacity to see the big picture, and the spine not to back down, will be in the big chair at Foggy Bottom.  Can you imagine John “Lurch” Kerry asking Vlad to pass the Camembert? 

Sunset in the Black Hills

Firstly, I’d like to thank Larry Johnson, and the other outstanding writers here at NQ, for inviting me to be a contributor here.  In a year when waking up became a moral imperative, this community has been a standout force.  I’m honored to be a part of it.

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In his book Cosmos, the late Carl Sagan wrote about whales and their songs. Before the arrival of the steam powered ship, whales could sing to each other across vast expanses of ocean. Songs were learned, exchanged, added to, and perhaps comprise the extensive narrative of their history and knowledge. With the human presence, on and beneath the seas, the distance these songs can travel is drastically limited, cutting them off from communities with which they would exchange information. The cerebral cortex of whales is far larger than ours. There is no telling how far back a whale’s memory reaches. I’m no cetaceans expert, but I would imagine our abilities pale in comparison. Still, there lies within us a thread that connects us to place, time, generations.

The Lakota believe that the earth has a beating heart, and that heart is in the Black Hills, the Paha Sapa, in South Dakota. They believe that the universe has a song. Everything in the universe carries a piece of that song, but the song exists in its entirety in the Paha Sapa. According to their creation story it is from this place that they were born. To them there is no time that this place has not been a part of who they are.

Tenacious warriors, and skilled diplomats, the Lakota transformed themselves from a horseless, agrarian/hunting society into a nomadic horse culture, becoming the dominant nation of the Northern Plains. At the time of the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, their territory extended from what is now western Minnesota, south to Nebraska, and west into eastern Montana and Wyoming.

Lakota society was traditionally matrilineal, well ordered, and egalitarian. Within different bands, societies or subcultures were formed. There were societies for warriors, hunters, shamans, security, healers, and so on. There were societies for men and women. But Lakota women were recognized as being endowed with unique power as the nation’s source of life, as reflected in the Legend of the White Buffalo Calf Woman.

After the hunt the women tended to the kill. Everything derived from the bison belonged to the women. The meat, the hides, the bones, organs, every part, and everything made from them was the property of the women. This means the tools, the water bags made from bladders, and most importantly, the clothing, food and tipis, were all controlled by the women.

When it came to matrimony, in many bands it was customary for a potential suitor to sit outside the tipi of the woman he desired. If she wanted him as a husband she invited him inside. If not, too bad. If the couple divorced, the man was homeless as the tipi was not his, a major incentive for being a productive partner and treating one’s wife with respect (in other words, being the equivalent of Al Bundy would be a first class ticket to Coldville). And it was the grandmothers who were consulted as the final arbiters of crucial decisions. Long before American women could vote, Lakota women were central to the power structure in their society. But the American encroachment, presented to us as the notion of Manifest Destiny, broke the circle.

When gold was found in the Montana territory, the trail Americans wished to utilize, the Bozeman Trail, took them through the Powder River region of Wyoming, the heart of western Lakota lands. The Americans proposed building a series of forts along the river to protect prospectors. When the Oglala Lakota, led by Chief Red Cloud, arrived at Fort Laramie to negotiate the treaty, they found that men and materials were in place and the forts were already being built. Realizing that the Americans had already decided their course, and knowing they would not be negotiating in good faith, Red Cloud left the meeting. Four years earlier the Lakota of Minnesota were expelled. Not wanting to suffer the same fate Red Cloud led the people in war against the United States.

Over the next two years Red Cloud utilized a successful strategy against the Powder River forts that led the Americans to call for negotiations to end the hostilities. It was the single greatest victory for an indigenous nation against the United States. In the Treaty of 1868, the United States dismantled the Bozeman trail forts, granted the Lakota all the territory now claimed by the Republic of Lakota and the Lakota Freedom movement, as well as control of the Black Hills in perpetuity. The peace lasted until 1874 when an illegal expedition into the Black Hills, led by George Custer, found gold in them thar hills.

The Lakota went to war again, but were broken by the government sanctioned massacre of the bison herds, and relentless military pursuit. Sitting Bull led the remaining holdouts until 1881 when he and the 186 Lakota with him surrendered. Since then it has been a steady decline. Traditions faded without the bison and access to the Paha Sapa. The matrilineal lines were broken. Children were taken off reservation to be Americanized. Lakota language is rapidly fading. Only 14% of Lakotas are fluent in their language, and most of them are 60 or older. Statistically it will become a dead language in a matter of years. But still they fight to keep their traditional ways alive.

Some of the traditional leaders are advocating a restoration of the matrilineal line, and are building a total immersion school to help their youth retain their language and their culture, before the keepers of their way of life are gone.

Many of us in the human family find themselves struggling; for their rights, for their freedom, for the preservation of their way of life. In this time, in this verse of the song of human history, we are not alone in the notion that essential to that struggle is the empowerment and equality of our women. Traditional Lakota leaders consider the return to matrilinealism a transformative act, one that will lift their society, and renew it. And in many respects, the women have been exercising their power for many years, as lesser known players in the overall women’s rights movement. The most notable example being Women of All Red Nations or WARN. WARN co-founder, and a leader of the Lakota Freedom Movement states,

“What we are about is drawing on our traditions, regaining our strength as women in the ways handed down to us by our grandmothers, and their grandmothers before them. Our creation of an Indian women’s organization is not a criticism or division from our men… [but] a common struggle for the liberation of our people and our land…”

America has a rights based tradition. In fact, the very thesis of our nation is that all people are created equal. But as Elizabeth Cady Stanton pointed out in the Declaration Sentiments in 1848, and Dr. King pointed out 120 years later, America has still not lived up to what it said on paper. We have yet to fulfill our nation’s thesis. Doing so would surely transform us, reshape our society, open doors that have, as yet, remained closed.

To my mind, I see as our new “manifest destiny,” in the shadow of the misogynistic attacks launched at women in both major political parties, as being a coming together of women, and the men who support them, from across the political spectrum, setting aside their ideological differences to engage the Three State Strategy and achieve the ratification of the ERA. The political and societal ramifications are staggering.

Today being the first Native American Heritage Day, I’m thinking about Canupa Gluha Mani, one of the leaders of the Lakota Freedom movement. In an article at Earth First he asked, “Why do you think the rights of humanity are being stripped away? It’s because we are stubborn enough to allow it to happen. We don’t know how to say ‘no’ anymore!” In a year when the woman who inaugurated a new wave in the campaign for women’s rights, by calling for the world to recognize women’s rights as human rights, and human rights as women’s rights, became the most successful female candidate for President in our nation’s history, it seems to be more than a coincidence that the theme of this year’s 16 days against of activism against gender violence is “Human Rights for Women< > Human RIghts for All,” marking the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Clearly there is a stirring in the human Oversoul that is grocking the notion that achieving equality for women is something that will move all humanity forward.

What do you as the women, who in 2008 learned how to say “NO!”, and the men that support them, see as acts, large and small, that will be levers of transformation that will not only help elevate women to the rightful place they should hold, but will lift up our society as a whole, transform it, and bring it to a greater sense of consciousness, moving us toward the fulfillment of our nation’s thesis: the enforcement of universal human rights? What is your piece of the song?

cross-posted at Oh…my valve!

First, I want to address those supposed internal poll numbers that have McCain ahead in PA, MI, NJ and closing in on CA. I have not been able to verify those numbers. They could be true, they might not be. I said back during the primaries that a Pampers nomination would put PA, MI, and NJ in play. Since we know that the pollsters have not been releasing accurate numbers, as their models are weighted heavily to Pampers, with interviewees being mostly Democrats, I think it is safe to say that this race is tied, and will be decided by the undecided voters, which have been breaking for McCain, and will continue to do so. Why? Because if you haven’t made the commitment to Pampers by now you are nervous enough about his fraudulent fascist ass that you are going to hold your nose and vote for McCain; at least he is a known quantity. Internals cannot always be trusted either.

In NC internal numbers had Clinton within 5 points and shaving a point each day off Pampers lead; she lost by 15, but we know now that was due to double counted ballots, and other methods of fraud. Numbers can be given to motivate workers, volunteers, and voters. I think the best strategy is to not put faith in numbers and work your asses off in the next 24 hours to defeat Pampers. Keep making calls. Keep canvassing, get out the vote, and go vote yourselves. The Pampers fraud machine is in full force so we need every vote for McCain to count (we can deal with the “what should have been” with Hillary later). DO NOT ALLOW ANY POLL NUMBERS MAKE YOU FEEL THIS IS OVER.

And lay off the conscientious abstainers. They have made their decision based on their ethics. Respect it. If, in the privacy of the voting booth they have a change of heart, they will do that without being cajoled by us (my entire immediate family is voting for Pampers, guess how that feels?). Now, on to Pennsylvania.

I believe that John McCain is going to win the 21 electoral votes in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on Tuesday. In 2004 Bush lost the state by 144,248 votes (see the above map of the 2004 result). The cities of Philadelphia, Allentown, Pittsburgh, Wilkes-Barre, Scranton, and Erie went to Kerry, while the entire rest of the state voted for the Shrub. Pampers will no doubt take Philadelphia. But McCain doesn’t need Philadelphia to win. He needs, and he’s going to get, Allegheny County.

In 2004 Kerry won Allegheny, and outlying counties, by slim margins:
Allegheny: 96,987

Beaver: 2,230
Washington: 552
Fayette: 4,075
That’s 103,844 votes. Leaving a margin of 40,044 votes in the 2004 totals.

There is one reason and one reason only that Kerry took these counties: Tereza Heinz-Kerry. Knowing this, Obama tried to trot her out in the run-up to the Pennsylvania primary. Her lack of enthusiasm for the candidate was pretty obvious. Obama has no such connection. In fact, the one thing he had going for him in the area, John Murtha, decided to pick the scab off the bitter/cling incident by calling his constituents racists, and then rednecks. Personally I think Murtha fell on a grenade, potentially ending his political career to prevent Obama from getting into the White House. Between that, Joe the Plumber, Bittergate, the Hillary/PUMA effect and Obama’s ever shrinking tax break income threshold (it used to be $250,000…now his ads say $200,000….his VP says $150,000….Bill Richardson says $120,000….we know it’s really around $42-50,000…middle class, get ready for the mugging) chances are McCain is going to win all four of those counties.

Another Kerry stronghold was Lackawanna and Luzerne Counties. Margins were not that wide there either.
Lackawanna County (Scranton is County Seat): 14,807
Luzerne County: 4,620

I believe that it is the PUMA effect that will have the greatest impact in drawing Democrats away from Obama. Forget Biden’s connection to Scranton. He hasn’t had any there in decades. No one is seeing his appearance there as a homecoming. It’s a hey I used to be from here vote for me kind of feeling. When Democrats for McCain and Harriet Christian are leading PUMAs on major canvassing safaris, reminding everyone what Obama and the DNC did to Hillary, the candidate they still love, what Obama said about them, etc. I see both counties in play big time. Thank you all for your hard work and dedication up there!

Joe the Plumber will also pull in votes in Allentown, and Erie. We hear time and time again that working class voters are “values voters,” meaning that they vote with the candidate whom they feel represents their beliefs, even if they are voting against their economic interests. In 2008 the McCain/Palin ticket not only speaks to them more, especially with a woman who comes directly from the working class, but will better serve their economic interests by not taxing them into the poor house, or taxing their employers into laying them off (and with those ever lowering tax thresholds that is exactly what is going to happen).

The simple fact of the matter is that if McCain’s internals didn’t have him in striking distance he and Palin wouldn’t be wasting their time. And if Camp Pampers didn’t think the same thing he and Biden wouldn’t be there either.

One final factor working for McCain: Pampers fatigue. Pennsylvania was the state that shocked the nation when polls came out saying they were sick and tired of hearing Pampers’ voice and seeing his face everywhere. They felt that way during the primaries. I can only guess how they feel now. I would imagine there are a lot of people in PA doing what I do…turning down the volume on the TV, changing the channel, or throwing random objects. No one overkills like Pampers whose motto must be, “Too much of me is never enough.” Pampers, I’ve got news for you; too little of you is too much of you. PA is also the state where Pampers told Ed Rendell, “We don’t need the people, we just need the checks.”

Don’t be surprised if it’s going to be Pennsylmania for McCain tomorrow. Sorry Pampers, you need the people, not just the checks.

[More of Shtuey Van Shtuey's superb writing can be found here]