Rev. Danny Fisher

This past Saturday, George W. Bush vetoed legislation that would have banned the CIA from using waterboarding and other severe tactics. In his weekly radio address, Mr. Bush said that banning such methods of interrogation “would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror.” The Washington Post reports:

The legislation would have limited the CIA to 19 less-aggressive tactics outlined in a U.S. Army field manual on interrogations. Besides ruling out waterboarding, that restriction would effectively ban temperature extremes, extended forced standing and other harsh methods that the CIA used on al-Qaeda prisoners after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

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[Waterboarding] was used on three al-Qaeda suspects held in secret prisons in 2002 and 2003. The tactic involves strapping a prisoner to a board with their head lower than their feet, placing cloth or cellophane over the face and pouring water on their head to make them fear they are drowning.

The practice as used by the CIA bears similarities to the methods of the Khmer Rouge in Cambodia, and by the current dicatorship in Burma, according to congressional testimony and torture experts.

For me, there’s no real debate about all of this. These tactics certainly violate articles of the United States Bill of Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.

Amnesty International is concerned about Bush’s veto too. They’re asking supporters to call their local radio station or write their local paper and say the following:

Please consider adding your name to the ONE Campaign’s petition to the U.S. Senate regarding the international affairs budget. The text of the petition reads:

In the great American tradition of helping others help themselves, we, the undersigned, ask that the U.S. Senate pass the Durbin-Smith amendment to restore $2.6 billion to the international affairs budget.

This money is vital in the effort to “make poverty history.”

Increasing the size of the international affairs budget is vital to increasing the amount the U.S. gives to poverty-focused development assistance. The international affairs budget funds all the proven solutions that we call for time and again: lifesaving AIDS medications, basic education, access to clean water, and many more programs like TASO [The AIDS Support Organization] helping people to work their way out of poverty.

Sign your name to the petition here.

The earth is most certainly in the midst of what Nobel Peace laureate and former U.S. Vice President Al Gore has called a “climate crisis.” We all know that there is lots of work to be done if we are to avoid complete catastrophe. Two newly published scientific studies, however, suggest that we’re going to need to work a lot harder. According to this morning’s Washington Post:

The task of cutting greenhouse gas emissions enough to avert a dangerous rise in global temperatures may be far more difficult than previous research suggested, say scientists who have just published studies indicating that it would require the world to cease carbon emissions altogether within a matter of decades.

Their findings, published in separate journals over the past few weeks, suggest that both industrialized and developing nations must wean themselves off fossil fuels by as early as mid-century in order to prevent warming that could change precipitation patterns and dry up sources of water worldwide.

Using advanced computer models to factor in deep-sea warming and other aspects of the carbon cycle that naturally creates and removes carbon dioxide (CO2), the scientists, from countries including the United States, Canada and Germany, are delivering a simple message: The world must bring carbon emissions down to near zero to keep temperatures from rising further.

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Although many nations have been pledging steps to curb emissions for nearly a decade, the world’s output of carbon from human activities totals about 10 billion tons a year and has been steadily rising.

For now, at least, a goal of zero emissions appears well beyond the reach of politicians here and abroad. U.S. leaders are just beginning to grapple with setting any mandatory limit on greenhouse gases. The Senate is poised to vote in June on legislation that would reduce U.S. emissions by 70 percent by 2050; the two Democratic senators running for president, Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), back an 80 percent cut. The Republican presidential nominee, Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), supports a 60 percent reduction by mid-century.

The studies are especially compelling because of the new approaches taken by their authors.

Until now, scientists and policymakers have generally described the problem in terms of halting the buildup of carbon in the atmosphere. The United Nations’ Framework Convention on Climate Change framed the question that way two decades ago, and many experts talk of limiting CO2concentrations to 450 parts per million (ppm).

But Caldeira and Oregon State University professor Andreas Schmittner now argue that it makes more sense to focus on a temperature threshold as a better marker of when the planet will experience severe climate disruptions. The Earth has already warmed by 0.76 degrees Celsius (nearly 1.4 degrees Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial levels. Most scientists warn that a temperature rise of 2 degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) could have serious consequences.

Schmittner, lead author of a Feb. 14 article in the journal Global Biogeochemical Cycles, said his modeling indicates that if global emissions continue on a “business as usual” path for the rest of the century, the Earth will warm by 7.2 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100. If emissions do not drop to zero until 2300, he calculated, the temperature rise at that point would be more than 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

“This is tremendous,” Schmittner said. “I was struck by the fact that the warming continues much longer even after emissions have declined. . . . Our actions right now will have consequences for many, many generations. Not just for a hundred years, but thousands of years.”

If you would like to do something about global warming, please visit the Alliance for Climate Protection–the organization to which Fmr. Vice President Gore donated 100% of his Nobel Prize money.

Reuters has obtained an advance copy of the statement His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama will make later today in commemoration of Tibetan Uprising Day. According to the news service:

The Dalai Lama, Tibet’s exiled spiritual leader, will urge the international community to call on China to respect freedom of expression during the Beijing Olympics, according to an advance copy of his statement obtained by Reuters.

Monday marks the 49th anniversary of an uprising crushed by the Chinese People’s Liberation Army, driving the Dalai Lama, now 72, into exile in India.

“The language, customs and traditions of Tibet … are gradually fading away,” the Dalai Lama will say in the speech from Dharamsala, the north Indian hill station where he lives.

Tibetans “have had to live in a state of constant fear, intimidation and suspicion under Chinese repression,” he will say.

“Repression continues to increase with numerous, unimaginable and gross violations of human rights, denial of religious freedom and the politicization of religious issues.”

As a result of China’s policy of population transfer, the non-Tibetan population has increased many times, reducing Tibetans to an “insignificant minority in their own country … I urge the Chinese government to bring an immediate halt to such policies,” the Dalai Lama will say.

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Turning to the Olympics, the Dalai Lama will say he has supported Beijing hosting the Games from the very beginning, dismissing an accusation by China’s top official in Tibet, Zhang Qingli, that he was trying to “sabotage and cause trouble.”

The Dalai Lama will urge the international community to urge China to prove itself a good host by respecting freedom of expression during the Games.

“The world should … explore ways of investing their collective energies in producing a continuous positive change inside China after the Olympics have come to an end,” he will say.

The Dalai Lama will have no harsh words for Chinese President Hu Jintao, who said last week stability in occasionally restive Tibet had a bearing on the stability of China as a whole.

The Dalai Lama will welcome China’s emergence as a powerful country thanks to its economic progress, but he will prod China to improve observance of the rule of law, transparency, the right to information and freedom of speech.

Despite “no concrete result” in talks between China and the Dalai Lama’s envoys, the Dalai Lama will say his “determination to pursue the middle-way policy and to continue our dialogue with the Chinese government remain unchanged.”

This from Reuters:

China will tighten its controls over foreign singers and other performers after Icelandic singer Björk shouted “Tibet! Tibet!” at a Shanghai concert last weekend, the Ministry of Culture said on Friday.

Björk chanted the name of the Chinese-ruled Himalayan region after performing her song “Declare Independence,” which she has used in the past to promote independence movements in other places such as Kosovo.

The performance “not only broke Chinese laws and regulations and hurt the feelings of Chinese people, but also went against the professional code of an artist,” the ministry said in a statement quoted by the official Xinhua news agency.

“Any attempt to separate Tibet from China will definitely be opposed by the Chinese people and all righteous men across the world.”

The ministry said it would investigate the concert and handle the matter according to the law. It did not elaborate.

Björk said on her Web site that her references to independence were more personal than political, but she added:

“The fact that it has translated to its broadest meaning, the struggle of a suppressed nation, gives me much pleasure. I would like to wish all individuals and nations good luck in their battle for independence.”

Below is the video for “Declare Independence.” The director is Oscar-winner Michel Gondry, whose films include Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Science of Sleep, and the recently released Be Kind Rewind.