Category Archives: Solutions Forum

Breaking news – heartbreaking, that is – HR 1540 signed on 12/31/11. All the troublesome provisions suspending constitutional due process and civil liberties that we’ve been concerned about are still in there, of course, so we’re starting off the new year with a clear national emphasis on protecting us from terrorism as brutally and unconstitutionally as necessary, no matter where the authorities might want to think they see the possibility of a threat. Well, perhaps there’s a little glimmer of hope in the text of President Obama’s signing statement, though it’s not terribly reassuring. This link contains full text of the signing statement. Expressing his “serious reservations with certain provisions” he says, “My administration will not authorize the indefinite military detention without trial of American citizens. Indeed, I believe that doing so would break with our most important traditions and values as a nation.” Happy New Year. – Lorenzo

Senate and House versions of the 2012 NDAA have been reconciled and passed by both houses as of 12/16/11; it now goes to the President to sign. Retreating from his earlier threat to veto the bill for its embedded “indefinite military detention” provisions, Obama appears ready to sign, based on the rationale that changes in the reconciled bill have made it acceptable, and that it just wouldn’t be right to hold up vital military appropriations to quibble about constitutional protections of due process and civil liberties. Columnist Glenn Greenwald clearly dispels three myths about the detention bill, revealing its key offending passages and comparing them to the corresponding but narrower provisions of the bill’s predecessor, the 2001 Authorization to Use Military Force (AUMF) enacted right after 9/11, which the NDAA would now expand and strengthen.

The immediate action item is to write, and get everyone else to write and call, President Obama stating your strong opposition to these provisions and calling for his veto of the 2012 NDAA or any other legislation that would overturn these foundational constitutional rights. – Lorenzo (12/17/11)

SAMPLE LETTER TO PRESIDENT OBAMA

[DATE]

President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500

Honorable President Obama,

I strongly urge you to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, which contains provisions for indefinite military detention without trial or charges of persons suspected of performing or supporting terrorist acts, even if those persons are U.S. citizens apprehended on U.S. soil.

These provisions would violate human rights, undermine the rule of law, and conflict with fundamental principles of justice, due process and civil liberties that are guaranteed in our Constitution. Moreover, such provisions would not contribute to our safety and security. Quite the contrary, by suspending the right of habeas corpus and other constitutional rights and protections, these provisions threaten our very identity as a free and democratic society and add to a general atmosphere of fear. In essence, if we resort to such dire measures in the name of security, the terrorists have won.

You had originally threatened to veto the legislation over earlier versions of these provisions. Since then, the changes adopted in the final bill do not relieve any of the concerns described above. I therefore call on you to follow through with a veto of the 2012 NDAA or any other legislation that would similarly violate Constitutional and basic human rights.

Respectfully yours, [SIGNATURE + ADDRESS]

In a recent interview on Democracy Now!, Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef offers a sane, reverent basis for economics, to replace the disastrous neoliberal paradigm that currently rules economic policy. He states it in the form of five postulates and one fundamental value principle.
1. The economy has to serve the people, and not the people to serve the economy.
2. Development is about people, not about objects.
3. Growth is not the same as development, and development does not necessarily require growth. Growth is a quantitative accumulation; development is the liberation of creative possibilities. Every living system in nature grows up to a certain point and then stops growing; each of us as individuals stops growing, but we continue developing ourselves. Development has no limits; growth has limits. There is a threshold principle, that growth increases the quality of life only up to a point; beyond that point, if there is further growth the quality of life begins to decline.
4. No economy is possible in the absence of ecosystem services.
5. The economy is a subsystem of a larger finite system, the biosphere, hence permanent growth is impossible.
The fundamental value principle to sustain a new economy: No economic interest under no circumstance can be above the reverence for life. Nothing can be more important than life. Life here means more than human beings, it means all life.
Listen to the entire 30-minute interview with Manfred Max-Neef (the second half of the program is with Derrick Jensen, also highly recommended). – Lorenzo

At the December 4 Solutions Forum, we decided to write personal letters to President Obama to urge his veto of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) authorizing indefinite military detention of US citizens. The following is a sample letter others are welcome to use.

President Barack Obama, The White House, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, DC 20500

Honorable President Obama,

I strongly urge you to veto the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act, because of detention provisions it contains that would violate human rights, undermine the rule of law, and conflict with the fundamental principles of justice and due process that are guaranteed in our Constitution.

Sections 1031-1032 of the Senate version passed earlier this month authorize indefinite military detention, without charge or trial, of civilians suspected of performing or in some way aiding terrorist acts, even if those persons are U. S. citizens apprehended on U. S. soil. I believe that such provisions do not contribute to our safety and security. Quite the contrary, by suspending the right of habeas corpus and other constitutional rights and protections they threaten our very identity as a free and democratic society and add to an atmosphere of fear. In essence, if we resort to such dire measures in the name of security, the terrorists have won.

You have rightly threatened to veto the legislation over these provisions. I call on you to follow through with a veto if these or similar provisions that violate Constitutional and basic human rights are included in the final legislation, or any other legislation.

Respectfully yours,