Sources: Iran rebuked over nuclear ‘cover-up’ by UN watchdog, BBC News, November 27, 2009, by BBC News; and IAEA censures Iran over atomic site, Al Jazeera English, November 27, 2009, by Al Jazeera, excerpts quoted verbatim, commentary by Paul Evans:

 

In the furur over the discovery/announcment over Iran’s hidden and unnanounced nuclear facility at Qom, IAEA, the U.N. nuclear watchdog, has issued a preliminary condemnatory rebuking declaration. This was the first U.N. resolution against Iran in nearly four years. The vote was 25 to 3, with six abstentions. BBC reports:

The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) also demanded that Iran freeze the (Qom) project immediately.

… The IAEA resolution was passed with rare Russian and Chinese backing.

Speaking at a Commonwealth summit in Trinidad and Tobago, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said that the vote sent the clearest possible signal to Iran.

“I believe the next stage will have to be sanctions if Iran does not respond to what is a very clear vote,” he said.

It comes a day after the outgoing head of the IAEA, Mohamed ElBaradei, expressed frustration at Iran’s refusal to accept an international proposal to end the dispute over its nuclear programme (see video, below).

The plan envisages Iran’s low-enriched uranium being shipped overseas for processing into fuel. This is seen as a way for Iran to get the fuel it wants, while giving guarantees to the West that it will not be used for nuclear weapons.

Iran’s ambassador to the IAEA, Ali Asghar Soltanieh, said the resolution was a “hasty and undue” step that would jeopardise the chances of success of the talks on the proposal.

The US ambassador to the nuclear watchdog, Glyn Davies, said patience with Iran was “running out”….

Al Jazeera fleshes out the situation for us:

Alireza Ronaghi, Al Jazeera’s correspondent in Tehran, said that the resolution comes as Iran’s government faces pressure from its supporters inside the country to be forthcoming in its negotiations with the world powers over exchanging enriched uranium.

Ronaghi was referring to an IAEA-brokered plan to provide Iran with fuel for a nuclear medicine reactor in exchange for enriched uranium that could be turned into bomb material if further refined.

“Iran’s economy has been under pressure for almost four years, since President Ahmadinejad took power and immediately adopted some very aggressive policies in Iran’s nuclear programme,” Ronaghi said.

“It is not going to be easy to handle any more sanctions from now on. I’m sure it is going to be a very serious concern among members of Iran’s ruling elite.”

The well-known Arab news source adds important details to our knowledge:

The resolution notes that the IAEA cannot confirm that Tehran’s nuclear programme is exclusively geared towards peaceful uses and expresses “serious concern” that Iran may be hiding a military nuclear program.

On Thursday, Mohamed ElBaradei, the director-general of the IAEA, said an investigation into whether Iran was seeking to build nuclear weapons had reached “a dead end”.

Al Jazeera goes on to question the claim that the Qom facility had in fact been designed for peaceful purposes:

Tehran says the bunkered Qom site, which is to start operating in 2011, is a backup for its much larger Natanz enrichment centre in case it is bombed by foes such as Israel.

Western nuclear analysts say Qom’s low capacity makes it unsuitable for any purpose but to enrich smaller quantities of uranium suitable for a bomb.

Enrichment plants generally need tens of thousands of centrifuges to feed a nuclear power plant.

The Draft Resolution will serve as the basis for a Security Council resolution possibly including the aforementioned sanctions.

Several videos making the rounds on the internet heighten the concern about the immediate future. Iran is engaging in war games simulating its defense in the case of attack, and Israel is very gravely concerned with Iran’s nuclear potential for attack on it, given the Iranian leader’s calls for Israel’s destruction. The second video below from Russia today makes clear the gravity of the situation.

Israel has already “wargamed” the attack on Iran twice in training exercises. The most recent dry run included not just bomber but fighters with new fuel tanks allowing them to accompany the bombers the entire distance of the mission. These weren’t just computer simulations but air force flights to a comparable length of the mission, with the fighters. Saudi Arabia has been reported to have cleared the use of Saudi air space in such an attack. The two Saudi oil terminuses are particularly vulnerable to any reciprocal measures by Iran: even using their many conventional warheads on intermediate range missiles (they were reported to have some 1,500 about a year ago), these two terminuses would be history if Iran really were seriously attacked.

That is why not just liberals and peace advocates, but many intelligent foreign policy analysts are so focused on a diplomatic solution to the Iranian nuclear program crisis, and why President Obama has so far said no to Israeli requests to attack Iran. The situation is indeed dire, not just for Mideast peace, but for the whole world’s energy supply.

See also IAEA’s ElBaradei expresses ‘disappointment’ at Iran, November 26, 2009, Agence France Presse video on YouTube.

See also, Nuclear defiance? IAEA votes on Iran censure resolution, November 27, 2009, Russia Today video on YouTube.

IAEA Chief ElBaradei Reports on Iran

Israel likely to attack Iran?

Russia Today – November 24, 2009 – 4:12

This is posted on Comedy Central as one of the ten best Colbert Routines of all time. Mainly I didn’t think they were all among his best, but this is the most hilarious I have ever seen. Did you know that Israeli religious leaders have come up with a remarkably effective way to prevent swine flu?

 

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Evans Politics, November 27, 2009, by Paul Evans, photo of aspens by Tyler Finvold, photo of Capitol and tulips © Stockxpert:

 

What can be done to supplement and improve a social system of government in the United States which could be Christian, caring, and at the same time liberal, in the sense of housing the poor, ridding our communities of crime, caring for the sick, feeding the hungry, and helping those less fortunate and the elderly?

I am not advocating any sort of theocracy or nation which is officially “Christian.” Government is separated from religion by our nation’s guiding document, the Constitution, and I feel that the efforts of some elements within Christianity to claim otherwise, or to institute some sort of officially Christian government, are misguided, however well intentioned, and to however large a degree we are, in fact, a Christian nation, today.

That doesn’t mean I don’t want a Christian society for our nation. However we should understand that fully 24 percent of Americans do not feel they are Christians, and this is their nation, too. They fought and died in our wars, served in our governments, taught in our schools, and lived – most of them – decent, caring and thoughtful lives. To exclude them from our nation’s compact would be wrong.

The leading Jewish lights of Jesus’ day would have demanded that he not speak to the Samaritan woman; in fact, Jewish men were not to speak to women outside of strictly defined Judaism at all. I don’t think Jesus thought about that for a minute when confronted with that woman’s need, whom I note had been denied help by elements that were well “respected”. He helped her to the very best of his ability, as he did all those he came across in his life on this earth, did he not? As he did Cornelius’ son, and the man was a pagan and a citizen of a nation oppressing the aspirations of the Jewish people, yet Jesus did not hesitate to help the man in his need. Surely if we think of ourselves in any sense as a Christian nation or a Christian people, we need to follow his example and not shun those outside of our own faith group or even religion. Jesus didn’t.

This country belongs to all of us, yet I write this as a Christian espousing Christian principles upon which change for the better can be instituted, without excluding anyone, and without violating our blessed, inspired founding document which is the Constitution, and its separation of church of state.

My idea is very simple, really. It was begun to a limited extent under George W. Bush and President Obama has expanded it somewhat. Why not simply let churches be ONE of several instruments through which our secular government operates in the distribution of its expenditures and programs, and in fact do that legislatively.

President Obama, when a candidate, proposed greatly expanding the role that churches play as community centers and distribution centers for government aid programs. In other words, the churches would be empowered to carry out programs, BY the secular government, to carry out largely predetermined programs, to distribute aid, and to institute social action, for the good of the population, as determined by the government, which would continue as an entirely separate and parent institution.

It would not quite be a partnership, and participating church entities would need to realize this. But just as President Obama recognized that only at the local level are the needs of the community best recognized and addressed, when he proposed expansion of these programs, the programs could be legislated to allow considerable flexibility and some large degree of independence in the church’s activity and actions.

(In such legislation, of course, the devil would be in the details, and it must be noted, a goodly number of nonreligious and other non-Christian elements would be unhappy with the whole concept, unless it were handled and legislated quite carefully, and then even so to some large extent. When it is enacted in such a way that the church contribution is kept structurally nongovernmental and our current government remains secular and separate, as at present, perhaps many of the objections would fade. Nor could other religious groups be separated out of the process.)

To some extent the opportunity already exists in the federal program the right has demonized, Serve.gov. Why not incorporate church groups and institutions INTO this effort en masse, rather than berate and demonize the effort? Or why not create something very similar in a restructuring of the current institution and idea?

What we are saying here should not be so averse to those who are not religious, or who belong to another religion. It is simple recognition that in communities across the nation, no entity other than our religious institutions are organized well enough, with a ready cadre of volunteers and many others ready to answer the call, other than are our churches, to act as a channel for the institution of programs, which will have already been legislated and determined by our pre-existing and secular government as currently instituted.

In other words, it would be a new layer, not of government, but of social action, cleaning up crime in our cities, directing the application of anti-poverty and anti-hunger programs, providing care for the elderly and other very necessary help, under the government’s direction and supervision. They would not BE the government, they would be the government’s foot soldiers and intermediaries and, to a certain extent, moderators and administrators (I know some will object to the use of that word), at the local level. As for those in the higher levels of these church institutions, I’m sure that the programs could be structured so that plenty of opportunities and efforts at feedback to the parent governmental institutions are structurally incorporated into the plan, so long as a separation is maintained.

This is just an idea I felt directed towards. I liked the idea before I was ever a Christian, when I read of it during the Obama campaign, yet have not heard that much about it since. As a Christian people, we go to worship on Sunday, meet on Wednesday nights, and make our own efforts as best we can within our individual churches and denominations. Yet how much more could be done at the national level, with the resources available from the federal government, and with the strong participation of our religious community?

Might it not actually have a positive impact on our nation’s future? And it need not be a sweeping, wholesale change, either. A reorganization of Serve.gov with strong religious participation could start slowly yet be the instrument of a great change in America, it seems to me.

I realize that this is an apolitical, somewhat naïve and unresearched discussion. How do you feel about it? What are your objections and how do you feel my ideas could be improved upon? If you think this is a worthwhile idea, please share this article using the little “Share” button at the top. And if you feel so directed, please feel encouraged to leave a comment. ~ Paul

Special for Evans Politics, Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009, by Paul Evans, relying on The Season of Our Discontent: Poverty and Hunger in America, Truthout, November 17, 2009, by Mark Winne for Yes! Magazine, a national, nonprofit media organization that fuses powerful ideas with practical actions.

 

As we drive to see relatives and other loved ones and friends to sit down to the feast that is Thanksgiving dinner, and maybe watch a football game afterwords, it is good and right to reflect on those less fortunate than we are. For some of us, this Thanksgiving meal is an unusual day of feasting in a life where, commonly, the choice is between eating decently or paying the rent, or mortgage, and the heating and electrical and similar bills. All too often, people – people who are hardworking, people with jobs – go hungry. And, all too often, people are living in subsidized housing ridden with hard drugs and crime, with very few resources at all for food, except perhaps government food stamps.

Here are the statistics you don’t want to read this Thanksgiving Day. Don’t worry, I won’t belabor what, in fact, we already know in our hearts: millions of people are hungry – or homeless and hungry and cold – this Thanksgiving day. But I feel compelled to drive home the point, even though lots of you have stopped reading by now. From Truthout:

November is when the U.S. Department of Agriculture announces the latest rates of domestic food insecurity and hunger (labeled by the department’s experts as “very low food security”). In 2007, the numbers stood at 12.1 percent of all Americans, about 36 million of our brothers and sisters. On November 16, the department announced that 49 million Americans were now food insecure, the highest figure since the department started measuring domestic hunger in 1997. It was a figure so appalling that it even shocked long-time anti-hunger advocates.

The revelation that there are that many hungry Americans will no doubt prompt government agencies to tout the safety net virtues of the food stamp program and the Department of Agriculture’s other 14 food assistance programs. Now giving more than 36 million Americans (yes, also a record) a not terribly generous $1.30 per meal, food stamps will again be revealed for what they are and are not: a pretty good way to keep people from starving, but a failure when it comes to addressing the root causes of food insecurity, namely poverty.


Do YOU want to try to live decently off $1.30 a meal? Do you think it really can be done with any decency – not to mention full stomachs and acceptable nutrition?

Well, just in case I have made you feel bad, here are some resources if you want to try to help those less fortunate Americans who are in poverty, especially help them to get some food. Then I’ll leave you alone for Thanksgiving…. after all, even bloggers need a holiday, and I’m driving up to Akron to see my sweet girlfriend, to have some turkey with her and her sister and brother-in-law. I wish you a truly happy Thanksgiving… I just wanted to remind you of those less fortunate than you, who need your help.

First, let me tout our own government’s Serve.gov website, where there are many tools to volunteer and make a difference. You can download their “Anti-Hunger Volunteer Toolkit” and get involved in ways that make a difference here.

According to the Truthout article, there are “205 private food banks. Their mailed, emailed, radioed, and televised pleas for assistance will tell us that demand is up, the shelves are bare, and their warehouses are too small. They need turkeys, cans, and dollars.” Demand is way up, and donations are considerably down.

The website Evans Politics really recommends is Feeding America, which has given 9 million meals to date. If you yourself need food, there is a foodbank locater. If you’d like to watch some videos about this, Feeding America’s YouTube channel is here. If you would like an inexpensive and simple way to make a small difference, may I suggest their Holiday Cards or ecards. It’s a nice way to make a small difference.

As Truthout notes, the problem in America is only hunger at the surface level (unless you don’t have any means of getting something to eat — then I would say that hunger is very much the main problem, right?) The problem in America is the 17 plus percent real unemployment, the problem in America is POVERTY and the lack of a living wage for millions of Americans.

See Bailed-Out AIG Forcing Poor to Choose Between Running Water and Food, AlterNet, November 26, 2009, by Yasha Levine.

Well, bless all of you this Thanksgiving Day and throughout the year. But in case you don’t feel uneasy about your neighbors and fellow citizens’ hunger and poverty, here is a nice and beautiful music video just for Thanksgiving Day: Silent night, sung by Nancy Wilson and Kimiko Itoh, with some very beautiful imagery. As you watch, ask yourselves, why does this video upset me so much in this context?

Evans Politics, November 25, 2009, by R. J. Shulman, also carried on Citizens for Legitimate Government, here, quoted verbatim, used with permission:

 

Karl Rove has been the mastermind of a new movement called the Shift of Blamers — or SOBs — who have replaced the birthers, deathers, Tenthers, and teabaggers as the most successful anti-Obama group thus far.

Satire by R. J. Shulman

NEW YORK – (PTSD News) – Karl Rove announced today on Fox News that the Republican strategy to shift the blame for all of America’s woes from anything the Republicans may have caused to Obama and the Democrats is a complete success. “Our goal as Republicans, which was so eloquently spoken by Rush Limbaugh, is not to be the party of ideas or solutions, but the party that makes Obama fail. And the best way to do that is to shift blame for everything we Republicans screwed up to the current president.”

Rove has been the mastermind of a new movement called the Shift of Blamers — or SOBs — who have replaced birthers, deathers, Tenthers, and teabaggers as the most successful anti-Obama group thus far. The SOBs are made up of prominent Republicans, Fox News, FeedomWorks, and the vast majority of talk radio.

“We needed to defeat or water down any health care reform that would cut into the profits of our friends who run the health care industry,” said Rove, “and luckily for us, the Democrats haven’t learned that lies always trump facts and that every congressman has his price.”

“Health care was just the start,” Rove said, “we’ve turned Bush’s blunder in Afghanistan into Obama’s war in which if he sends more troops in, he’s a warmonger, and if he pulls out, he’s a gay French chicken. It took Bush eight years to completely mess up the economy, but we have taken less than eight months to blame the entire mess on Obama, bank bailouts and all.”

“When it comes to women’s rights, traditionally a Democrat issue,” Rove said, “we have been able to pin the sexist label on the liberals for their harsh treatment of Sarah Palin and Carrie Prejean. This is surely some of my best work since I was able to convince millions of Americans that George W. Bush should be in the White House rather than the nut house.”

“With the help of all of those SOBs, we will regain Congress and the White House in no time,” Rove concluded. “Remember, it’s not whether you win or lose, but how you shift the blame.”

Visit R. J. Shulman on MySpace.