On January 28, 2009, Congresswoman Susan Davis (D-CA), chairwoman of the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Military Personnel, presided over the first of several hearings that will examine how the armed services handle cases of sexual assault. You can watch video of the first hearing on CSPAN.com, where you will hear the heart-wrenching testimony of Laura Watterson, former service member of the Air Force.


In researching this week's article, I looked all over Propeller for a post about the hearings, but didn't find any. What I did find, were lots and lots and lots of stories on the topic posted over the last few years. The Propeller community, it seems, is passionate about the issue of sexual assault in the military. To spotlight this longstanding concern, I have transformed this week's "Overlooked" into "Not Overlooked," and have solicited comments from a selection of users who posted and commented on the topic over the last two years.

berkeley

Story originally posted: "A Scandal Bigger than Walter Reed - The Rape, Assault and Harassment of Women in the Military"

Not simply is it a disgrace, but it is one that has been there for decades and been maintained by repeated official military cover-ups. The one recent event that came closest to getting coverage in the major media was the death of many women in Iraq from dehydration during the summer months. Because they were afraid to get up at night and have to walk outside to the bathroom for fear of being attacked by their fellow male soldiers, they didn't drink very much water in the afternoon or evening.

So officially, they died of dehydration. In fact they died because of the army culture of harassment and direct attack on female soldiers. Everyone in the military in Iraq knew this, and everyone knew nothing would be done about it.

What would make the military accountable? Severe consequences for any officer who failed to act against the men responsible for these crimes. Congressional hearings, with women telling their stories, would be a good first step.

TechnologyExpert

Story originally posted: "U.S. Military Sexual Assault Reports Spike by 24%"

I basically feel it does not get enough mainstream media attention. a) Some big story will come up, they will cover it, and it will vanish again. b) See a) :-) But also, I believe the military is a "good ol' boys network" that promotes or at least ignores that behavior. c) They should convene an overarching investigative committee to examine the issue. d) Well, Obama is the Commander in Chief....

Neophile

Story originally posted: "Rape in the Military: Congress Charges Cover-Up"

It is shameful that a woman is more likely to be sexually assaulted by a fellow service-member than killed by the enemy. It should give any woman considering serving her country pause. The military should stop trying to cover these cases up (obviously) and promote more women up through the ranks. Unfortunately, a better question would be, "How much interest does the military have in putting a stop to this?" Judging by their actions, it seems like they have little interest in that.

I am not sure what drew me to the story. I have always been concerned social justice I guess. I watch the Democracy Now! podcast every day while working ( http://www.democracynow.org ). It is likely that I first heard about this story there.

Please add to this important discussion so we can all attempt to understand why this happens, how it happens, and how it can be stopped. To read more Propeller stories on the topic, click here: Sexual Assault in the Military.

Amid the celebrities, hoopla, and promise of the recent inauguration of President Barack Obama, there was a quiet moment of bigotry (originally posted by Propeller user gynite) that went largely overlooked by the greater Propeller community.


On January 18, 2009, on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, openly gay New Hampshire Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson's address to the nation was dissed by HBO. At first it appeared that the network had deliberately turned the cameras off. Now it seems like there was a mixup between HBO and the Presidential Inaugural Committee about scheduling. HBO's coverage didn't start until 2:30 PM, and the Bishop Robinson's address began at 2:25 PM. So the argument can be made that there was a screw-up. Still, either HBO or the PIC should apologize, especially because there are probably a lot of folks wondering what would have happened if the speaker had been anyone other than an internationally controversial, openly gay bishop.

What's more, there were also "technical difficulties" during the address, so that not even most of those attending the event live could hear what Bishop Robinson was saying. However, Propeller user david_nwpa, who posted the second story about the issue, was able to rise above in his response to Overlooked.

"The damage is now done," he writes, "and it is too late for HBO to make up for the omission. That said, I am not upset about HBO not airing Bishop Robinson's prayer. First, HBO has a considerable amount of programming related to GLBT causes. Second, HBO had a misunderstanding with the transition team regarding the time at which the broadcast should begin. Ideally, HBO will offer to rebroadcast the concert along with Bishop Robinson's prayer, and make the entire program available on DVD."

Whatever version of the story you believe, this lack of attention to detail is the kind of red flag we constituents should keep an eye out for.

The complete prayer of Bishop V. Gene Robinson on Jan.18, 2009:



For additional feedback on this story, check out Bishop Robinson's response on NPR.

Omer Goldman describes Israel and Palestine as having "a culture of war," and is, along with a few young friends, refusing to perform her military service for an "army [that] enforces Israel's 40-year occupation of the Palestinians." It is the hope of Omer and her fellow Shministim, or 12th graders--the age at which Israelis are expected to enlist--that their protest will somehow change this long-running and devastating status quo.


The 2008 Shministim began their protest in August, when the first objector, Udi Nir, was arrested on August 19, the day he was required to enlist in the army. Propeller member berkeley posted this Huffington Post story about Omer. It got just one response, from hyperbola, who wrote: "A fine young woman whose courage is to be celebrated. It is an honor for the jewish religion that there are so many jews that resist the crimes of the zionist ideologues."

Indeed, the 2008 Shministim are not the first to refuse to enlist for the military service that is mandatory for all Israelis. Israel actually has a long history of refusnikism, as spelled out in this article.

While at least some of the 2008 Shministim do support Israel's right to go to war to defend itself, they consider the occupation of Gaza and the West Bank to be a form of oppression. This is the same sentiment expressed in a 1971 letter to Moshe Dayan, who was then serving as Israel's Defense MInister. "We are unwilling to serve in an army of occupation," wrote the conscientous objectors of that era. "It has been demonstrated in history that occupation means foreign rule; foreign rule begets resistance; resistance begets oppression; oppression begets terror and counter-terror."

Recently, the Propeller community began picking up the story of the 2008 Shministim. The official website of the 2008 Shiministim was posted by rezbi just after the first of the year, and soon after, populist used the issue to post his feelings on the subject of a draft in this country, defining it as "modern slavery." Nobody commented on populist's story. Yet it's a discussion worth having: if you were eligible for the draft--imagine that the cut-off age were raised to 45--what would you be willing to kill and die for? For themselves, in this moment, the Shministim have largely answered that question. For her part, berkeley, when asked to comment on the Shministim, conscientious objection, and the prospect of a draft in this country, had this to say:

"There have been conscientious objectors to every war. In the really bad old days, they were killed. During the Vietnam war, they were either given alternative service, drafted as non-combatants, or imprisoned. Tens of thousands of draftees simply walked away, costing the FBI millions of dollars in looking for them. Career military men vowed never to deal with the draft again. Unwilling soldiers don't make obedient compliant troops.

Given the size of our Empire, the military has not attracted enough people to maintain it, leaving them with two unacceptable choices: resume the draft or shrink the Empire.

Israel is the only country in the world that maintains obligatory military service for women. Every 18 year old woman must serve two years, men must serve three. They must remain in the Reserves until the age of 51. The social pressures to keep quiet and do your time are immense. Yet in spite of this, some find the courage to say no. I knew about them before I found this article, but it was a good short summary, so i posted it."

If you are under the age of 45 and healthy, or have children, brothers, or sisters, 45 and younger, how would you feel if the draft was reinstalled in America...???

[Last year we began running a new feature called "Overlooked," which highlights stories missed or unacknowledged by the larger Propeller community. After a brief hiatus, we're bringing the feature back. Each weekly installment will focus not only on the story but on the community member who posted it. All Propeller members are welcome and encouraged to keep an eye out for important, overlooked stories. If you find such a likely candidate, please send a sitemail to Alexia Prichard.]

Just before the holidays, Propeller member berkeley submitted a story about Congressman Jerrold Nadler, who had called for an independent counsel to investigate the shenanigans of Vice President Dick Cheney and former
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld.

In a press release dated December 19, 2008, Congressman Nadler cited an interview the Vice President gave on ABC on December 12, 2008, in which he admitted being aware of the waterboarding of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Added Cheney: "And I supported it."

At the time, only Propeller member tehranchik offered a comment, saying: "When is the last time any of us remembers having any kind of control of our government?"

Congress returned from recess Monday, and as stated in this press release, Nadler has "reintroduced a resolution in the House of Representatives demanding that President Bush not issue pre-emptive pardons of senior officials in his Administration during his final days of office."

When I asked berkeley what had drawn her to Nat Hentoff's original story, she had this to say: "Nat Hentoff is one of the few journalists that consistently keeps track of First Amendment issues, so when I remember, I look at his column in the Village Voice. While Propeller has had many articles on the crimes committed by the Bush Administration, Congress and the Press have generally given them a free pass. But here was an actual Congressman, Mr. Nadler, who introduced a bill about Presidential Pardons that I had not seen before. That was reason enough to submit it.... The complicity of Congress for the past eight years was the prime reason they had no stomach for challenging Bush. If they had, they would have been indicting themselves."

[On a side note, Nat Hentoff was fired from the Voice on December 30 after 50 years (!) on staff.]

You could feel the electricity when she walked out onto the stage. This crowd had been waiting desperately for Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, and when she finally emerged on the third night of the Republican National Convention here in St. Paul, MN, the hall went nuts.


After almost two full days of nonstop scrutiny and questions about her family dynamic, Governor Palin greeted the convention with an unforced confidence, and, with her speech, seemed to reinvigorate the ticket and the party.

Last night Medea Benjamin and Jodie Evans, the two founders of activist group "Code Pink, Women for Peace," were forcibly removed from the Xcel Center as Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin gave her acceptance speech.

Actor Jon Voight was mobbed by the media when he appeared at the Xcel Center for the Republican National Convention's third day. During an afternoon otherwise filled with chatter and speculation about what Vice Presidential nominee, Sarah Palin, will say in her speech tonight, the Academy Award winner's presence came as a welcome respite.

Despite being squashed into a crowded hallway, Voight looked very much in his element as he took the opportunity to hold court on Senator Obama, Russia, and Georgia...

It's a question of the homogenizing intrusiveness of regulation -- of laws that lump us all together when we are clearly, magnificently different -- and it's about the skirting of the Constitution.

That's the Ron Paul argument, anyway.


On the second day of the Republican National Convention here in the Twin Cities, instead of spending time at the Xcel Center in St. Paul to watch the resurrected GOP reclaim their convention schedule from Hurricane Gustav, I went into downtown Minneapolis to the Target Center to observe the Ron Paul "Rally for the Republic."

For those of you who, like me before yesterday, don't know much about Congressman (R-TX) Paul's "Campaign for Liberty's" message, here are the bullet points:

#1, "Stick to the Constitution." It was written carefully for a reason, and we need to go back to it. In fact, we need to follow it to the letter, and that means...

#2, "Leave me alone." If something isn't specified in the Constitution the federal government can't swoop in and make you do it anyway. This is spelled out very clearly in the 10th Amendment:

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

So, if you want your thing to become law you have to try at the state level or go ahead and attempt to get the Constitution amended. This leads us to...

#3, "Smaller government" -- although this argument would be a lot easier to understand if it were described as "Smaller FEDERAL Government," cuz the business of law-making can still become a Jarndyce & Jarndyce-like trainwreck at the state level.

But those are just the bullet points. In order to get a deeper understanding of these issues let's hear from two of the campaign's top insiders: former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura, and Grover Norquist, President of Americans for Tax Reform.

As the Republican National Convention neared the end of its first day, even amid great efforts made to support hurricane-affected Gulf states, there was still plenty of talk about vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin.

The biggest story was one driven by an article that appeared a couple of days ago on the blog The Daily Kos that suggested that Palin's fifth child, Trig, was actually her grandson--the child of her daughter, Bristol. The story went 'round and 'round all day, eventually forcing the Palins to make a statement intended to halt the rumors about Trig's parentage. Ironically, the statement said nothing about Trig, but instead revealed that Bristol was currently pregnant--5 months along, in fact, and that the father's name is Levi.

Leaving aside, for a moment, the potential can of worms that an illegitimate pregnancy in the immediate family could (and should) be for a conservative, abstinence-only-supportive candidate, there was still plenty of discussion about Palin's potential role as Veep of the nation.

To get into some specifics about her selection, I first spoke to Barbara Ciara, President of the National Association of Black Journalists--a watchdog group that monitors media coverage for diversity, as well as makes sure that people of color are represented in newsrooms--and then to Patti Johnson, a member of the Texas delegation, and a huge fan of Palin's.

At a press conference this morning, John McCain's campaign manager, Rick Davis, gave an update of the stripped-down schedule for the 2008 Republican National Convention's first day. In the face of the difficulties in the Gulf region due to Hurricane Gustav, convention events were pared-down to just the legal essentials.

"In order for the Republican Party to officially exist and for Senator McCain to qualify for the ballot, we are - by law - required to conduct specific official business. At this point, our program on Monday has been scaled back and will only include what party rules governing the nomination of our candidates for president and vice president require. We will perform the official business as required. In addition, we have set aside time to make delegates and Americans watching our proceedings at home aware of what they can do to assist in relief efforts designed to help those who will be affected by Hurricane Gustav."

Additionally, the McCain camp and the RNC have established the "Affected States Working Group" and the "Affected States Information Center" for delegates to visit inside the convention center to keep up with news and information about Hurricane Gustav and it's effect on the Gulf.


Right now the room isn't much more than a wide, abbreviated space with a few computers in the bowels of the Xcel Energy Center, but it is there. And so were the buses and the planes that took Gulf state delegates as close to home as they could get on Saturday to be with loved ones when the storm hit.

All those things and partnerships in place with Target and Fed Ex to package and ship 80,000 "comfort packages" to the devastated areas on Wednesday, suggest that the RNC's quick thinking stands to have a significant psychological impact in the Gulf as well as nationwide. And while that sounds like a blueprint for a political angle, it's as possible that it's not. What the McCain campaign and the RNC have done is just doggone good. Politics aside, they made the right decisions.

I first interviewed New Orleans resident and musician, Margie Perez, in February 2007 in her new home in the Upper Ninth Ward. Margie had won a coveted spot in Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis' "Musicians' Village," a post-Katrina development co-sponsored by Habitat for Humanity that was intended to help bring musicians back to the Crescent City.

The following interview took place over the phone on August 27, 2008. I called Margie from the Democratic National Convention, where she had spoken from the podium only two days earlier. As there was a lot of ambient noise where I was, I've included in the video a transcription of Margie's responses...

The Global AIDS Alliance Fund is an organization on the front lines in the fight against HIV/AIDS. At a luncheon at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver, CO, members of Congress and others were recognized for their work in the struggle against this devastating disease.

When she finally stepped out onto the stage and waved to the adoring crowd, how many of us felt just a little bit sad? Here was the passing of a dream for women. The just-missing of the 200-meter record. I would have been very critical of her as she moved through her first 100 days, but it still felt oddly a bit wrong to see her giving a speech at the DNC on Day 2 rather than 4; so odd, in fact, that, for a moment, as she waved to her throng of devoted supporters, I honestly couldn't decide whether we had made the right decision or not.

Obviously, I came around, as did many of her devotees. In the post-speech analysis the prevailing sentiment was gratitude that she "did what she needed to do" to "unify the party" and get as many undecideds on board with Barack.

I met Maine delegate, Jill Duson, on one the shuttle bus going back to the Pepsi Center from the Colorado Convention Center. While we rode, she told me about Maine's and her hopes for an Obama presidency...