MOMocrats™

Is Release of Torture Photos Necessary? The MOMocrats Debate Obama's Decision.

Last Wednesday, under the advice of Pentagon officials, President Obama reversed a decision to comply with an appeals court's May 28th deadline for the public release of dozens photos depicting acts of abuse and torture perpetrated on detainees in U.S. custody by U.S. military personnel. The President now argues the public release of the photos should be withheld from public view because the situations depicted in the photos have already been investigated by the Pentagon, and some of the U.S. personnel who perpetrated the abuses have already been punished. Obama said in a May 13 press statement:

[. . .] this is not a situation in which the Pentagon has concealed or sought to justify inappropriate action. Rather, it has gone through the appropriate and regular processes. And the individuals who were involved have been identified, and appropriate actions have been taken.

It's therefore my belief that the publication of these photos would not add any additional benefit to our understanding of what was carried out in the past by a small number of individuals. In fact, the most direct consequence of releasing them, I believe, would be to further inflame anti-American opinion and to put our troops in greater danger.

Moreover, I fear the publication of these photos may only have a chilling effect on future investigations of detainee abuse. And obviously the thing that is most important in my mind is making sure that we are abiding by the Army Manual and that we are swiftly investigating any instances in which individuals have not acted appropriately, and that they are appropriately sanctioned. That's my aim and I do not believe that the release of these photos at this time would further that goal.

Now, let me be clear: I am concerned about how the release of these photos would be -- would impact on the safety of our troops. I have made it very clear to all who are within the chain of command, however, of the United States Armed Forces that the abuse of detainees in our custody is prohibited and will not be tolerated.

When we at MOMocrats discussed President Obama's decision to fight the court-ordered release of these photos, we discovered that our writers held a range of views on the pros and cons of the President's new position. Here is what six of the MOMocrats had to say about whether or not more photos of U.S. troops abusing and torturing prisoners should be publicly released:

Mother's Day Every Day Post Roundup

Happy Mother's Day, MOMocrats readers!

Many thanks to everyone who participated in our Mother's Day event to promote the Mother's Day Every Day initiative on behalf of The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood. Here is a list of posts from bloggers (and politicians!) who participated to help raise awareness about maternal mortality, and save mothers' lives. If we've missed or forgotten you, please add your post in the comments below and we will add you to the list in this post.

Ohio Secretary of State Jennifer Brunner

Houston's First Lady Andrea White

Women with Big Dogs and Infertility by Julie Pippert

Once Upon a Time, When You Were a Little Baby by Cynematic

How I Became a Mother by Glennia

Mother's Day Every Day: My Story by Jaelithe

Birth: A Love Story by Catherine Connors

Birthing Babies by Robin

Birth Story by Joie

Peeper's Birth Story by Whozat

Geekery and Pregnancy by Nicole

And we would also like to thank Morra Aarons Mele of MomsRising for promoting our event in her BlogHer post, Three Great and Good Ways to Celebrate Mother’s Day Online.

Mother's Day Every Day: Share Your Stories

CARE and The White Ribbon Alliance for Safe Motherhood, partners in the campaign to prevent maternal mortality by providing expectant mothers around the world with access to basic prenatal care and childbirth support from a properly trained doctor, midwife or attendant, launched a new public awareness campaign in February called Mother's Day Every Day.

Every minute, somewhere in the world, another woman dies in pregnancy or childbirth.

In addition to being daughters, sisters, friends and wives, many of these women are also already mothers of other children. Because children who lose their mothers are much more likely to suffer from poverty, malnutrition and illness, one woman's death in pregnancy or childbirth can have a negative effect on an entire community.

But many of these deaths could be prevented with the most basic pregnancy and childbirth care.

In fact, in most developing nations, it would cost less to provide women access to basic medical care during pregnancy and childbirth than those nations are currently losing from decreased productivity due to maternal deaths.

This year, in honor of Mother's Day, MOMocrats is partnering with the White Ribbon Alliance to ask for your help. 

We want to help the White Ribbon Alliance spread the word about the importance of supporting and protecting mothers. So we're asking you, our readers, to share your own stories about how your children came into the world (or into your family). To participate, this week, before Mother's Day, write or re-post a birth or adoption story that has personal meaning for you on your blog. Then ask your readers to visit the Mother's Day Every Day website, and provide a link to MothersDayEveryDay.org.

Include the MDED button (code below) in your post or your blog sidebar, link back to this post, and then email us or leave a comment letting us know that you've joined the MOMocrats Mother's Day Every Day: Share Your Stories event. We'll post a link to your entry here on MOMocrats.com on Mother's Day.   

Florida State Legislature Threatens to Cut Library Funding

The Florida State Legislature's House and Senate Transportation and Economic Development Appropriations Conference Committee has recommended that the state cut $21.2 million from its budget by eliminating all state funding for public libraries.

During a time when more and more people affected by the recession are using public libraries to provide books and free educational activities for their children, access the internet to search for jobs, and borrow books to research a new career or study for standardized tests as preparation for going back to school, the last thing citizens of any state need is for several of their local public libraries to cut hours or shut down.

But according to the Florida Library Association, that is precisely what will happen in Florida if the state legislature proceeds with this plan. That's why the FLA is asking Florida residents to take action to save Florida's public libraries by contacting their local representatives, Florida Governor Charlie Crist (Charlie.Crist@MyFlorida.com) and the media to let the Florida legislature know how losing public libraries would impact the people of Florida.

Hey, Florida: If you're looking for ways to save money, you might want to start with the salaries of the people who want to cut off kids' access to free books.

H/T Neil Gaiman. Yes, that one.

Unite for Hunger and Hope

Bloggers Unite and Heifer International have teamed up to raise awareness about world hunger today with the Unite for Hunger and Hope project. Bloggers Unite invites bloggers everywhere to join the effort and write a post about world hunger.

Previously on MOMocrats.com, we have featured several organizations that fight hunger and poverty both in developing countries and here in the United States:

Share our Strength fights childhood hunger in the U.S. by raising public awareness about hunger, organizing fundraisers, and awarding grants to hunger organizations and food pantries. MOMocrats partnered with Quaker Oats last year help to raise money for Save our Strength. 

Meds and Food for Kids is an organization that saves children from starvation in Haiti, one of the countries hit hardest by last year's spike in global food prices, by providing families with nutitional supplements created using locally grown ingredients; the group also teaches the local Hatian farmers who provide ingredients for their product new and better agricultural techniques and food safety methods. MOMocrats interviewed the founder of Meds and Food for Kids, Dr. Patricia Wolff, last December. 

Unicef also fights childhood hunger and poverty worldwide; in January, MOMocrats interviewed Dr. Brandao Co, UNICEF's chief of nutrition in Afghanistan, a country where agricultural production has been devastated by two decades of war, and current conflict makes it difficult for agencies to move food and medical supplies to the communities that need them. 

You can help fight world hunger by joining today's Bloggers Unite event, by donating to or writing about one of the organizations listed above, or by donating nonperisable items to your nearest food pantry.

Will Efforts to Halt Spread of Swine Flu Be Hampered By U.S. Sick Leave Policy?

As part of their effort to contain the spread of the strain of swine flu that has reportedly killed at least 149 people in Mexico, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control is advising Americans who feel sick with flu-like symptoms to avoid public places and stay home from work or school. Parents are advised to keep sick children out of schools and daycare centers until they have been symptom-free for at least 48 hours.

But with no federal regulations requiring employers to grant their employees paid sick leave, many American workers may find it difficult to take such advice. Due to exemptions for part-time employees and employees of small businesses, only about half of all working Americans are even eligible for unpaid medical leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act.

In contrast, worldwide, 145 other countries mandate that employers provide their employees with some sort of paid sick leave or emergency medical leave; the United States has one of the least generous medical leave policies in the industrialized world, ranking 21st among industrialized nations. 

Low-income, hourly wage workers like retail store employees, restaurant wait staff, and child care center workers — some of the very people most in contact with the public on a daily basis as an integral part of their jobs — are among those least likely to have paid sick leave, or even the ability to take unpaid days off to recuperate from illness or care for their children without seriously risking their employment. What will these workers do if they or their children become ill, and they are forced to choose between having enough money for rent and food, or following the CDC guidelines?  

MomsRising recently posted about the potential negative impact of U.S. sick leave policy on government efforts to control the spread of the swine flu, and has created an online petition asking the U.S. government create new legislation to require employers to allow their employees time off for legitimate health emergencies in the interests of public health.

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.

The Most Important Protest That Happened on April 15th

While American news channels were preoccupied following conservatives who threw Fox News sponsored Tea Parties across the U.S. yesterday to vehemently protest . . . something . . . (The shoddily regulated corporate bailouts initiated by President Bush that most progressives also do not like? President Obama's proposed return to Clinton-era tax rates for Americans with incomes in the top two percent? Conservatives losing political power by will of the majority in a peaceful, legal, democratic election?) you may have missed the news about a much more important protest that took place on April 15th:

About 300 Afghan women gathered in Kabul and braved an angry mob of anti-feminist religious fundamentalists to march in protest against a recently passed law that women's rights and human rights groups worldwide have warned will legalize marital rape, promote child marriage and seriously curtail women's rights.

The law in question, the Shia Family Law, applies to members of the Shia sect of Islam, a minority in Afghanistan. The law makes it illegal for a Shia woman to refuse her husbands' request for sex unless she is physically ill. The law also allows child marriage among Shia Muslims, grants Shia fathers ultimate custody rights over their children, and requires that a Shia woman obtain her husband's permission before leaving the house.

Dear Tea Partiers: The Revolution Already Started Without You

Tea Party Sign: THE WORLD IS FULL OF STUPID PEOPLE AND UNFORTUNATE THEY NOW OUT NUMBER US

About seven or eight thousand people showed up to the downtown St. Louis Tax Day Tea Party rally. In the parking garage near the public plaza where the rally was held, I watched attendees pull cardboard signs out of their cars: rusting pickups plastered with pro-gun bumper stickers, or pristine Cadillacs and Range Rovers in shades of champagne.

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.