THE LIBYAN WAR: THE RIGHT WAY OR NO WAY

                                                       deyan ranko brashich & nikola kostich

          Our Constitution has been criticized for being vague and subject to interpretation with changing morals and times. Scholars and judges have wrestled with the meanings of “establishment of religion”, “freedom of speech”, “right of the people to keep and bear arms”, “cruel and unusual punishment”, “unreasonable search”. However, the Constitution, Article I, Section 8, Clause 11, makes it crystal clear that Congress, and only Congress, shall have Power  

“To declare War, grant Letters of Marque and Reprisal, and make Rules concerning Captures on Land and Water;”

          The Civil War, America’s first modern war with weapons of mass destruction and casualties in the hundreds of thousands, was presided over by Abraham Lincoln. Perhaps it is apt to consider his take on the War Powers Clause when he sat in Congress and debated the beginning of the Mexican-American War in 1846:

“The provision of the Constitution giving the war-making power to Congress, was dictated, as I understand it, by the following reasons. Kings had always been involving and impoverishing their people in wars, pretending generally, if not always, that the good of the people was the object. This our Convention understood to be the most oppressive of all Kingly oppressions; and they resolved to so frame the Constitution that no one man should hold the power of bringing this oppression upon us. But your view destroys the whole matter, and places our President where kings have always stood.”

          President Obama is not a “king”. He and his Adninistration’s  [Vice President Biden, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, Attorney General Eric Holder and the Generals and Admirals constituting the Joint Chiefs of Staff] violation of the War Powers Clause by unilateral military action in Lybia should be condemned and not condonned.

          Now don’t confuse me with euphemisms like “no fly” zones. That is pure unadulterated Orwellian double speak. It’s a war, that’s what it is, pure and simple. Secretary of Defense, or should it be Secretary of War, rightfully said “Let’s just call a spade a spade. A “no-fly” zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses.” We are now bombing not only their air defenses but we are destroying tanks, military installations and their “beans and bullets” as one of our generals aptly put it. If that ain’t war, what is? You can’t hide a war by calling it a “limited military engagement aimed to protect civilians”. You can’t deny engaging in regime change when you target a regime’s leader with your smart bombs and missiles.

          Americans and their elected Representatives sitting in Congress have for too long allowed Presidents to abuse their power. Starting with Harry Truman and his “Police Action” rightfully called the Korean War with some 50,000 dead American soldiers. Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon all wallowed through the Vietnam War. Reagan had his Granada moment, and Bush I had Panama and the Gulf War. Bush II got us into the mess in Iraq and Afghanistan.

          We all expected more from Obama. Yet he sorely disappoints us. First he reneged on Afghanistan and Guantanamo. He authorized military action in Pakistan, our ally, and one that we support yearly with billions of dollars. But Libya is were Congress and we the people should draw the line, the line in the sands of Libya.

          The reason for Congress’ inaction is dodging the blame game should something go disastrously wrong. “It’s the other guy’s fault” sydrome of modern politics, the Alfred E. Newman “Who, me?” moment. In fairness the Presidents have sported Congressional fig leafs of War Power Resolutions and Congressional funding of their wars. It is time for Congress to fully shoulder its constitutionally mandated responsibility in declaring war, if war is what the people want.

          Now don’t give us that the exigency of the situation required Obama to act without Congressional approval. That’s bull. Obama and his administration dithered for days before raming through the United Nations Security Council Resolution authorizing a “no fly” regimes, with five nations abstaining. Do we have to remind you the attack on Pearl Harbor occurred on December 7, 1941 and that Congress declared war on December 8? You have a simple resolution and you vote for or against it. War or no War. That the right and honest way of doing it.

          It’s time that we jerk the President’s leash and bring him to heel. Remind him, and future Presidents, that the prerogative of war is not his to make. Force Congress to reassume its Constitutional power to represent us in deciding if war is want we want, what we are willing to pay for, and ultimately to die for.

          The world is peopled with bad actors, despots and dictators. Muammar el-Qaddafi is a prime example and as crazy as a “Mad Hatter” to boot. That said, there is a right way and a wrong way to invoke the War Powers Clause. We must insist on the right way or no way. 

           

               

TAX GOD: A BUDGET HAIL MARY PASS

          A “Hail Mary Pass”, as everyone knows, is a very long forward pass made in sheer desperation with only a small chance of success, usually thrown at the end of a football game. Faced with catastrophic and huge budget deficits, American politicians at the state and city level should seriously consider lobbing their own Hail Mary Pass: Tax God, Tax Religion.

          New York State is slashing payrolls and threatening to fire and furlough teachers. Connecticut is nor far behind. Wisconsin has just passed a law abrogating collective bargaining rights for state employees and mandating an 8% pay cut concession. New Jersey is closing psychiatric institutions and limiting state aid to education, the arts, cities and municipalities. California, Nevada, Rhode Island are but a few of the states considering taxing the sale of marijuana to solve the deficit. Adding insult to injury, the Town of West Hartford is considering extending parking meter hours, noting that for every extra taxable parking hour the Town will reap a benefit of $67,000 a year. 

          All of these proposals and measures seem to fall "disproportionately on the backs of the middle class, the poor, the elderly, schoolchildren, college students and inner-city residents, while leaving largely unscathed the wealthy and most businesses". OK, so why not tax dumb, fat, happy and rich tax targets, God and Religion?         

          But before taxing God, religion’s historic context should be considered. After twelve years of debate, our Constitution was finally adopted in 1787. The Bill of Rights was added in 1794. These two documents delineate the powers of government. Supposedly a secular nation, they prohibit “the making of no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof”. Nada, niente, rien, niśta and nothing more.

           Religion is and was a major political player. Seizing on Chief Justice John Marshall’s opinion that “the power to tax involves the power to destroy”, religion promoted itself to a position of privilege. Religion secured advantageous tax treatments, on both the federal and local levels, relieving it of any burden of contributing to the general welfare. Religion assured that its secular wealth would be protected, and not taxed, allowing it to pursue its own agenda.

          Religion flourished and continues to flourish.  It built temples, cathedrals and churches; magnificent, opulent and expensive places of worship; and some not so grand; but all to be found in every nook and cranny of our country. It played and continues to play a major role in education. Religion gave its leaders a bully pulpit to preach and to advocate. Religion is the very embodiment of the First Amendment’s protection of free speech, assembly and the right to petition the government for redress. A truly commendable achievement. But it did so on the cheap, for free.

          On the other hand, religion today has a negative impact on our society. It has become embroiled and mired in politics. This not to say that such political advocacy and involvement is in any way improper. It is to be encouraged since it is constitutionally protected. But one asks, at what price? Not on the taxpayer's dime, says I.

           There is no rational reason why religion is relieved from the burden of paying taxes. St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York's magnificent gothic marble edifice, enjoys the protection of the police and the fire department. It benefits from mass transit that ensures attendance by worshippers. All aspects of today’s infrastructure and today’s federal, state and local government services benefit lay institutions and religious institutions alike. Yet the lay institutions are taxed, as they should be, while the religious ones are not, which they should be.

          The first step would be to tax religious real estate, now exempt. This would fairly spread the tax burden and surely help the budget deficit. Cities such as New Haven and Hartford have long raised the issue that purely secular institutions, such as colleges and universities, share in the cost of municipal services. Why not religious institutions?

          The second step would be to tax religious income on an equitable basis with other secular entities. Income, after all, is income no matter who makes it. We tax the National Football League and Major League Baseball, why not the Roman Catholic Church? After all, they both entertain the masses. This would free religion to advocate and become politically active without government interference. Of course, the level and efficacy of such activity would be constrained by the availability of after tax dollars. To put it rather vulgarly, religion should pay its fair share for state provided services and put its money where its mouth is, for the privilege of exercising its First Amendment rights. The budget crisis may well be solved.

                                                 

           

YOU WANTS A "NO FLY ZONE", YOU GOTS A "NO FLY ZONE"

         You just can’t keep up with the news, even if you are engaged full time. After posting comments on the follies of war on what is known as the internet, the true meaning of which I must ruefully admit I do not even begin to understand, I was alerted by a “site” [again, don’t ask me what the hell this means] known as “Justwatch” to a profound statement made by the Gulf Cooperation Council, apparently a body representing six tiny nation states in the Persian Gulf.

          Now Justwatch is a pretty nifty site. It is run by the University of Buffalo, last heard an accredited institution of higher learning. It is apparently both totally apolitical and rabidly partisan. If you enjoy intellectual mud wrestling on an international scale, I urge you to log on. Hours of unmitigated fun tempered with liberal [pun intended] ministrations of valium.  

          Back to the Justwatch posting: “The Gulf Cooperation Council demands that the Un Security Council take all necessary measures to protect civilians, including enforcing a no-fly zone over Libya” calling on “the international community, especially the UN Security Council, to face their responsibilities in helping the dear people” [emphasis supplied].

          When I see Saudi jets, bought for hundreds of millions of dollars from the United State patrolling Libyan skies, Egyptian F 16’s and Jordanian F 15’s, all paid for by United States military aid assistance programs, and whatever other military hardware NATO countries have sold to the Middle East enforcing a “no-fly” zone, then, and only then, will I say “You wants a no-fly zone, you gots a no fly zone”, now you enforce it. Never happen, I bet. Bets are taken at drbrashich@aol.com.

THEY SHOULD HAVE THEIR HEADS EXAMINED

         West Point, America’s War Academy, makes you proud to be an American, yet at the same time it fills you with dread and loathing. The pride comes from Bastogne, the “Battle of the Bulge”, Ivo Jima, Corregidor, Bataan and Valley Forge. The dread comes from the Battle of Gettysburg, the firebombing of Dresden, the blood spilled at Shiloh and some 800,000 American dead in our Civil War. The loathing comes from Viet Nam’s Mai Lai Massacre, Iraq’s Abu Ghraib prison and the hell hole of Andersonville’s prisoner of war camp.

That stone fortress, with its colorful flags flying high above the Hudson River, was an appropriate venue for Robert Gates, our Secretary of Defense [perhaps we should use the old moniker “Secretary of War”], to make a speech ten days ago bluntly warning:

“In my opinion, any future defense secretary who advises the president to again send a big American land army into Asia or into the Middle East or Africa should ‘have his head examined’, as General MacArthur so delicately put it.” [emphasis supplied]

          I am a believer in conspiracy theories. Without a shred of evidence, a scintilla of proof, I believe that Gates was throwing the gauntlet, drawing a line in the sand, giving fair warning, cautioning those in power that starting a war with Iran is suicide, hara-kiri. Just don’t go there, or for that matter into any local conflict now inflaming the region.

There are war hawks amongst us, mad dogs [mixed metaphor, I know] hell bent for war at any price, in lives or money. War for them is a way of life, a solution to what ails us, or for that matter the world. They may be part of the Israeli lobby seeking a safe haven for that country. They may well be idealists seeking a perfect world or they may be money hungry opportunists seeking to cash in on war. Or they may be just deluded fools.

Rumsfeld, Bush and Cheney are peddling their memoirs and false memories giving us a revisionist history of the debacles that Iraq and Afghanistan have proven to be. They still hew to the long discredited straw man theory of Hussein’s weapons of mass destruction, robust nation building and other far fetched fairy tales

Now the hawks are promoting that America’s fighting machine is in place to topple the regime in Iran and embark on another protracted war of futile nation building. The troops, the tanks, the Humvees, the ammunition dumps are there, right in the heart of the Middle East, Iraq, ready to roll across the sand to Teheran, or the shores of Tripoli. After all we have pacified and succeeded in nation building both in Iraq and Afghanistan, right?

President “The Happy Warrior” Bush on May 2, 2003 told us that “major combat operations in Iraq have ended”, the war was officially over. This was straight from the horse’s mouth, from the deck of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, after old George, all decked out in a World War II bomber jacket, and had flown in on a broomstick of a jet telling us that:

“In this battle we have fought for the cause of liberty and for peace of the world. Our nation and coalition are proud of this accomplishment.”

Remember? And yet some 8 years later we are still there.

While Gates was giving fair warning to a new generation of chicken hawks, North African and Middle Eastern regimes were toppling like proverbial dominoes. Egypt’s “President” Mubarak and Tunisia’s “President” Ben Ali are  gone. Yemen is tottering. Bahrain and perhaps Saudi Arabia are next to. Libya is in the midst of a civil war.

Only a year ago Secretary of State Hilary Clinton was promoting “democracy” and testifying on Capital Hill in support of $2.5 million in aid to Muammar el-Qaddafi’s regime. She was proudly photographed with Qaddafi’s son. Now Qaddafi is clinging to his megalomaniac dictatorship by his fingernails and Hillary is telling us that the United States has under “active consideration” the imposition of a no-flight zone over Libya. Has she forgotten that Iraq’s “no-fly” policy [1991-2003] was a failure and ineffective? Gates just testified in Congress

“Let’s just call a spade a spade. A “no-fly” zone begins with an attack on Libya to destroy the air defenses.”

Does she even listen to the Secretary of Defense, the guy who should be in the know? Everyone who is clamoring for war against Iran is now clamoring for us to intervene, for us to embark on more nation/democracy building when we haven’t completely, even remotely, the last two that we have started.

So, who should we have, or should have had, their heads examined: Wolfowits, Cheney, Rumsfeld, President Bush, Tony Blair and now Hillary Clinton?                  

          Having one’s head examined is the first step in treating a mental disorder. The time to treat a mental disorder is before the patient commits grave injury. Those who lead us into this mess are long gone. They have retired. You can’t impeach a politician who is no longer in office. The only recourse now is war crime trials and criminal indictments for malfeasance and misfeasance in office.

          The International Community is clamoring for the ICC, the International Criminal Court [a court that George Bush, Hillary Clinton, Condolleezza Rice, Madeleine “The Price is Right” Albright, Colin Powell and United States all have refused to recognize], to try Qaddafi, Mubarak and others. Perhaps that is an appropriate step for us to take.

          But for those who want more war, whether in Iran, Libya or for that matter anywhere else in the world, we should first have their heads examined.

A WASTED REVOLUTION, WHAT A BUNCH OF DUPES

Because of who I am, I am very sensitive when it comes to name calling and ethnic slurs. My hackles bristle, wrong metaphor, try “rise”, when somebody starts talking about dumb Polacks, greedy Jews, smelly Pakis, stupid Spics, Greasers and Beaners. There are a lot more, but there is no reason to list them all.

When it comes to ethnic slurs there is one that I do not condemn. That is the universal slight of “stupid” when applied to any country or people that deserve it.

          Egyptians have just earned the Olympic Gold Medal for Stupidity, all 70 million of them. They deserve whatever the future holds for them, for they have surely screwed themselves royally even though most of them do not remember or were alive when King Farouk was sacked in ‘52. They have exhibited ignorance and stupidity. I don’t care what their IQ and SAT scores are, or those other indices of intelligence and knowledge we use to judge others. They are just plain dumb.

          Here they are jubilantly dancing and a’prancing in the streets having forced a doddering 82 year old tyrant Hosni Mubarak from office, leaving in place all those others that enabled him to hold power. A dictator with jet black dyed hair as glossy as Italy’s Berlusconi’s. What a hollow victory, what a wasted effort, what a failed revolution!

          Power was wrested from the hands of a criminal American backed and financed despot after 30 years. After enduring years of repression, torture and corruption, first under Anwar Sadat and then Mubarak, Egyptians took to the streets for three weeks of protest and a relatively peaceful revolution, even though a number of “martyr” deaths and casualties have been reported. What did this ruckus, this wasted effort, these sacrifices achieve?

Well, let me tell you, nothing, nada. Power first shifted from President Mubarak to Vice President Omar Suleiman. By the way, there was no Vice President for 30 years. An office recently created for a man who was the Chief of Mubarak’s General Intelligence Directorate to try to help Mubarak retain power. “Intelligence” in like the guy that ran the secret jails and helped us commit rendition crimes of torture. Change what change? Now the power has been vested in the “High Council of the Armed Forces” lead by Mubarak’s Defense Minister Mohamed Tantawi. Democracy what democracy? No, the road to another repressive regime.

As the French are wont to say “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”. Or in this case the Egyptians, just when I thought they couldn’t be any dumber, they go and do something like this, to paraphrase Dum & Dumber, the movie, remember? Throwing out one dictatorship in exchange for another.        

DEMOCRACY CAN TURN AROUND AN BITE YOU IN THE ....

          This post is going to be short, sweet and to the point, not researched, off the cuff, by the seat of my pants, shooting from the hip, blind justice, on the fly, off the top of my head, at the drop of a hat, without beating around the bush and full of clichés.

          Beware of what you wish for, especially in Cairo, North Africa, the Middle and the Far East. Better the Devil you know than the Devil you don’t. Because if you do: You will be damned if you do, and damned if you don’t.

          Any change in Egypt will put the United States between a rock and a hard place. For years we have advocated the spread of democracy in the most unlikely of places. We publicly declare that “Dictatorships shelter terrorists, and feed resentment and radicalism, and seek weapons of mass destructions. Democracies replace resentment with hope, respect for the rights of their citizens and their neighbors, and join the fight against terrorism. Every step toward freedom in the world makes our country safer –so we will act boldly in freedom’s cause.” George W. Bush, State of The Union Speech, 2006. What self serving crap, and a flagrant lie to boot.

          All this while we were supporting President Hosni Mubarak’s 30 year reign of terror to the tune of $1.3 billion a year in military aid to what has now been proven to be a failed dictatorship. That is in addition to billions of aid to failed states, Iraq and Afghanistan included, and $349 million to Tunisia’s deposed former President Ben Ali, now basking in the sun in Saudi Arabia. Would that the United States and Presidents Bush and Obama put their mouths were our money was being wasted.

          But even if they had put their money where their mouths were, the democracy they want is only democracy that we favor. They forget, and don’t want us to know, that in the 2005 Egyptian elections 88 seats, or 20% of the 444 parliamentary seats were won by the Muslim Brotherhood. In the January 2006 Palestinian Parliamentary Elections Hamas, the political wing of the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood, won 56% of the parliamentary seats.

          If you truly support democracy in its rawest form, be prepared to have that democracy, one that we may well not like and that may well hate us, come back and bite us in the ass.

HERE COME DE JUDGE: CLARENCE THOMAS

“‘tis, better to be silent and be thought a fool, than to speak remove all doubt”

          Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has just proven Abraham Lincoln’s observation to be on point. Thomas often called the “silent” member of the Court for not having asked a question during oral arguments for at least seven years, has just spoken and removed any doubt as to his stupidity. This judge is not only a fool but may well have violated civil and criminal statutes. And by the way, he is one of the guys that are the final arbiters of the law in our country.

          Thomas is not only silent but deaf and dumb. It seems that old Clarence is married to a lady by the name of Virginia, “Ginnie” to her friends. This good woman is gainfully employed, a commendable effort on her part. Far be it for me to suggest that her employment was a perk thrown Thomas’ way. From 2003 to 2007 she was employed by the Heritage Foundation of Washington, D. C., a conservative think tank, and Hillsdale College of rural Michigan and was paid a substantial sum for her efforts, $686,589 to be exact.

          It is unclear what exactly Virginia did to earn this salary but from available sources she was the author of a number of position papers with such arresting titles as Restoring Integrity to Government with Performance, Results, and Accountability; Not More Laws – More Oversight; Time for Congress to Hold Legal Services Corporation Accountable, and Legislation without Adequate Oversight. Emphasis Supplied. She clearly stood for oversight, accountability and full disclosure. Good for her!

          In 1978 the Ethics in Government Act was passed with the admirable purpose of ordering all public officials, including Supreme Court Justices, to provide financial disclosure of their, their spouses’ and certain dependents’, income and liabilities. Failure to do so in a timely and truthful fashion made the filer liable for fines for late filing, civil liability for willfully filing false information and potential criminal prosecution. Old Thomas filed the required forms for the years in question but somehow failed to note that Ginnie was gainfully employed and by whom. By the way, the Supreme Court Financial Disclosure Form does not require disclosure of the amount of her compensation.

          When this tiny oversight, after all it was only $686,589, was brought to Thomas’ attention by Common Cause, a liberal advocacy group, he promptly filed amended financial disclosure statements for six years claiming that this financial bagatelle was “inadvertently omitted due to a misunderstanding of the filing instructions”. Either he is a fool, the more likely scenario, or he takes us for fools. If you believe that lame explanation you may well be interested in a bridge that I am trying to sell, the Brooklyn Bridge.

          The Supreme Court disclosure form entitled FINANCIAL DISCLOSURE INDIVIDUAL AND SPOUSE, SEE PP. 17-24 INSTRUCTIONS]. Part A is FILER’S NON-INVESTMENT INCOME. Old Clarence filled out that part properly. But then he was stumped by Part B, SPOUSE’S NON INVESTMENT INCOME.  He was stumped by that one presumably after reading the instructions. After all the $686,589 was not investment income so why bother reporting it. Whatever!

          Old Clarence was not deterred in his false non reporting by the language of the Certification Section: I CERTIFY THAT ALL INFORMATION GIVEN [INCLUDING INFORMATION PERTAINING TO MY SPOUSE AND MINOR OR DEPENDENT CHILDREN, IF ANY] IS ACCURATE, TRUE AND COMPLETE TO THE BEST OF MY KNOWLEDGE AND BELIEF…… Nor was he deterred by the language directly below his signature: NOTE: ANY INDIVIDUAL WHO KNOWINGLY AND WILFULLY FALSIFIES OR FAILS TO FILE THIS REPORT MAY BE SUBJECT TO CIVIL AND CRIMINAL SANCTIONS [5 USC app §104].

          Now Thomas went to law school and not just any law school but Yale Law School. One would think that he is aware that §104 allows the Attorney General to bring a civil action “against any individual who knowingly willfully falsifies or who knowingly and willfully fails to file or report any information that such individual is required to report” and seek a civil penalty not to exceed $50,000. Being not only a lawyer but a judge to boot he should be aware that 18 USC §1001 provides that “whoever…knowingly and willfully…conceals…a material fact; makes any materially false…statement or representation; or makes…a false writing or document knowing the same to contain materially false…statement or entry; shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years…or both”.

          Clarence Thomas called himself an “Uppity Black” during his confirmation hearings. It will be interesting to see if American justice is truly color blind and whether the powers that be, the Establishment, calls him to task in accordance with the law as it is now stands.