MOMocrats™

First Lady Michelle Obama's First 100 Days

President Obama has a work ethic like nobody's business. Already, in the space of 100 days, he's signed laws (or reversed harmful Bush-era policies) that benefit women in 14 different key ways.

But there's no moss growing on First Lady Michelle Obama either. And it's clear there's a supportive dynamic between the legislation President Obama signs and the causes Mrs. Obama champions. Within days of moving into the White House, President Obama signed the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and Michelle Obama led the celebration of the signing and tribute to Ms. Ledbetter.

Go Read It: Frank Rich on the Bush Administration, Torture, and Justifications for the Iraq War

Bush, but especially Cheney, would have the nation believe that information culled from torturing Abu Ghraib detainees "helped prevent another 9/11" and "kept us safe."

But that claim is worse than wishful thinking; it's untrue. Instead, Bush-Cheney authorized torture for a far worse purpose--so argues Frank Rich in an editorial in the NYT today.

Increasingly, evidence shows that torture was authorized by the Bush White House to extract information from detainees to manufacture information supporting an otherwise non-existent link between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein, in order to bolster rationalizations for the United States' "pre-emptive strike" on Iraq. Not only is torture wrong, in this case the moral blight was a tool to mitigate the original moral blight: dragging the nation into war under false pretexts, when the Bush White House knew no connection between al Qaeda and Saddam Hussein existed.

Now that the truth is emerging, the question is: what do we the people do with it? I'm talking to all people of voting age in this country, no matter who you voted for in the past election. Do we even care? At the very least, don't we owe the families of 4,278 Iraq war dead a reckoning from the commander-in-chief who asked the ultimate sacrifice of them in bad faith?

Calls to Action on Justice Department Torture Memos

In a victory for government transparency, over the objections of Senate Republicans and several intelligence officials, including former CIA Director Michael Hayden, President Obama authorized the release yesterday of four Bush Administration era Justice Department Office of Legal Counsel memos that explicitly authorized the use of techniques internationally recognized as torture during interrogations of prisoners in U.S. custody.

The memos had been the subject of an ACLU Freedom of Information Act lawsuit originally filed during the Bush Administation; Attorney General Eric Holder has been arguing for several weeks that the documents should be declassified. According to anonmous government sources quoted in The Daily Beast, several Senate Republicans threatened to "go nuclear" and block the pending confirmation of President Obama's nominee for Justice Deparment Chief of the Office of Legal Counsel, Dawn Johnsen.

Go Read It: Nicholas Kristof on International Family Planning

This past Sunday, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof wrote a glorious op-ed, Pregnant (Again) and Poor. In his column, Kristof highlighted women's unmet need for family planning services -- some 70 to 80 million unwanted pregnancies per year, according to the UN.

A few days later, he followed up with blog posts, including one that asked readers to share family planning organizations worthy of financial support. I've compiled the list below, with a few additions.

Also, if you want to see what happens when family planning isn't available and women resort to unsafe abortion, go watch Not Yet Rain, Lisa Russell's documentary -- made with help from Ipas (see below) -- on Ethiopia's 2006 decision to liberalize its abortion law.

Breaking News: Obama Response to North Korea Missile Launch

President Obama issued the following statement from the Czech Republic, in response to the news of North Korea's missile testing:

North Korea's development and proliferation of ballistic missile technology pose a threat to the northeast Asian region and to international peace and security.  The launch today of a Taepo-dong 2 missile was a clear violation of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1718, which expressly prohibits North Korea from conducting ballistic missile-related activities of any kind.  With this provocative act, North Korea has ignored its international obligations, rejected unequivocal calls for restraint, and further isolated itself from the community of nations.

We will immediately consult with our allies in the region, including Japan and the Republic of Korea, and members of the U.N. Security Council to bring this matter before the Council.  I urge North Korea to abide fully by the resolutions of the U.N. Security Council and to refrain from further provocative actions.

Preventing the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction and their means of delivery is a high priority for my administration.  The United States is fully committed to maintaining security and stability in northeast Asia and we will continue working for the verifiable denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula through the Six-Party Talks.  The Six-Party Talks provide the forum for achieving denuclearization, reducing tensions, and for resolving other issues of concern between North Korea, its four neighbors, and the United States.  North Korea has a pathway to acceptance in the international community, but it will not find that acceptance unless it abandons its pursuit of weapons of mass destruction and abides by its international obligations and commitments.

North Korea last launched missiles in 2006, which led to UN Resolution 1718.  This launch failed after 40 seconds, landing the missiles 800 miles off the coast of Japan.

New Guantanamo Bay Documentary Premieres This Week on National Geographic

The National Geographic Channel will be showing a new documentary about the U.S. prison camp at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba this Sunday, April 5th. Part of the National Geographic Explorer series, the documentary, Explorer: Inside Guantanamo, offers an exclusive look inside the infamous facility where hundreds of prisoners have been held for years without trial.

The U.S. Department of Defense granted the Directors John Else and Bonni Cohen and their crew unprecedented access to the prison camp for three weeks, beginning in August 2008, during the final months of the Bush administration. Although the camera crew were allowed to speak with government officials and soldiers at the camp, and were allowed to film some scenes inside parts of the Guantanamo compound, they were subject to several restrictions. 

The Ironic Behavior By the Super-Wealthy: Delicious.

Gonna need an extra-large spork to handle the latest heft of delectable irony being ladled out by the extra-rich (extra + extra = yum-o!).  (Discovered on TPMMuckraker)

The, uh, scoop, via NYT:

UBS was sued on Tuesday in a Swiss federal court by wealthy American clients seeking to prevent the disclosure of their identities as part of a tax-evasion investigation by the United States Justice Department.

The lawsuit accuses UBS and Switzerland’s financial regulator, the Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority, or Finma, of violating Swiss bank secrecy laws and of conducting what Swiss law considers illegal activities with foreign authorities. It also named Peter Kurer, the chairman of UBS, and Eugen Haltiner, the chairman of Finma, as defendants.

The suit, filed by a lawyer in Zurich, Andreas Rued, on behalf of nearly a dozen American clients, underscores the growing clash between Swiss banking secrecy laws and those of the United States. Tax evasion is not considered a crime in Switzerland. Disclosing client names under Swiss law is a criminal offense and can expose bank executives and officers to fines, prison terms and other penalties.

Isn't it grand?  Rich people don't have to pay taxes because they have enough money to stash it in some super-secret vault that has given itself special, above-the-law privileges to avoid having to reveal whose money is stashed within.  And the rich people have enough money to sue THE LAW-MAKERS over having to potentially reveal their super-secret identities (gee, are they superheroes, only with a $ symbol instead of an S?), because they have alla that money.  Stashed away.  In the super-secret vault.  That they're not paying taxes on.  To cover the expenses/incomes of the law-making law-makers.  And the courts.  And the system THEY'RE RELYING ON TO KEEP COVERING UP THEIR SUPER-SECRET IDENTITIES.

I wonder if irony tastes good on ice cream.  It's certainly quite intoxicating on its own.

Let Your Voice Be Heard: Foreign Affairs

The House Committee on Foreign Affairs is taking public comment on foreign assistance reform.

Rep. Howard Berman (D-CA) has indicated that one of his top priorities this congress is to rewrite the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961. The last attempt at rewriting the FAA was in 1994 when Clinton wanted to repeal it and replace it with the Peace, Prosperity, and Democracy Act; the bill never made it out of the House committee and was never introduced Senate-side. You can read then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher's remarks on the PPDA here.

Photo credit: Sokwanele on Flickr. Creative Commons License.

That Sinking Feeling

My stomach dropped this morning. No, not a bad bagel but rather a headline in the Washington Post:

Justice Dept. Uses 'State Secrets' Defense, Obama Backs Bush Decision on Rendition Lawsuit

This is... unbelievable.

Global Tributes to Bush...A Statue in Iraq

This is how we can remember W: fittingly, the people of Iraq have erected a statue to commemorate the man who undoubtedly had such impact on all Iraqis.

I must admit, it's kinda awesome. Photo,  over the jump.