OB Rag

New General Accounting Report serves as a peephole into the myriad internal problems of the executive branch, depicting a federal bureaucracy that is rife with mismanagement, inefficiency, and faulty communication practices—all of this combining to jeopardize both the nation’s health and security.

Five Blackwater Worldwide security guards indicted in Washington for the 2007 shooting of Iraqi civilians plan to surrender to the FBI today in Utah, a person close to the case said, setting up a fight over the trial site. The five guards, all military veterans, were indicted for their roles in a 2007 shooting in Baghdad that left 17 Iraqi civilians dead.

Frank and I with my camera at the ready strolled down to Newport last evening to catch a glimpse of the OB Holiday parade and rub elbows with some of our neighbors. We took in the lights and sounds at the intersection with Sunset Cliffs. Meanwhile our good friend and photographer, Jeff Stone, had his camera at the other end of Newport, down near the end of the parade. This year’s Parade Theme: Peace.

President-elect Barack Obama put himself on the side of the workers at the Republic Windows and Doors factory Sunday:“When it comes to the situation here in Chicago with the workers who are asking for their benefits and payments they have earned, I think they are absolutely right,” Obama said Sunday at a news conference.

The worker occupation of the Republic Windows and Doors factory on Chicago’s Goose Island by members of UE Local 1110 went into its third day on Sunday, and workers have vowed to continue the occupation until they are paid back pay and benefits, or until the plant is re-opened. An rally was held Saturday in support of the occupying workers.

BILL AYERS: In the recently concluded presidential race, I was unwillingly thrust upon the stage and asked to play a role in a profoundly dishonest drama. I refused, and here’s why. Unable to challenge the content of Barack Obama’s campaign, his opponents invented a narrative about a young politician who emerged from nowhere, a man of charm, intelligence and skill, but with an exotic background and a strange name.

Workers who got three days’ notice that their factory was shutting its doors have occupied the building and say they won’t go home without assurances they’ll get severance and vacation pay.
About 250 union workers occupied the Republic Windows and Doors plant in shifts Saturday while union leaders outside criticized a Wall Street bailout they say is leaving laborers behind.

In a meeting devoid of the drama that led up to it, the San Diego City Council resolved a dispute with the mayor Friday, agreeing to more than $22 million in midyear budget cuts. The council begrudgingly approved the staggered closure of six city customer service centers, but retained three painting jobs the mayor wanted to eliminate.

Canada’s Prime Minister, Stephen Harper, shut down the country’s legislature yesterday until January 26, in an effort to avoid a no-confidence vote that he was about to lose. This has provoked a constitutional crisis. Canada’s parliamentary opposition reacted with outrage. The opposition accused Harper of undermining Canada’s democracy. Thousands demonstrated yesterday in protest of the shut-down.

TOM HAYDEN: What does the US-Iraq Security Pact mean for the antiwar movement? It certainly may cement an American perception that the war is finally over, stranding the peace movement as public opinion turns its attention to the economy and the Obama administration. If the Pact’s terms are maintained, President-elect Obama will be acquiescing in a doubling of his 16-month deadline for withdrawal of combat troops, but also for the first time accepting a date for removal of so-called residual American forces–since “all” means all counter-terrorism units, advisers, trainers and back-up forces that could total 50,000 or more.

Jennifer Davis was stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic on Nov. 18 near Boston, her contractions just 3 minutes apart. Her husband, John, was driving in the breakdown lane. They pulled up behind a state trooper to ask whether they could continue using the lane to reach the next exit. Not only did the trooper say no, he gave them a $100 citation for driving in the breakdown lane, made them wait for their citation, and even seemed to ask for proof of pregnancy.

Though many on the left put forth an analysis that appreciated the importance of defeating McCain and the Republican party, few of us were prepared for the raw emotion that surfaced in the wake of Barack Obama’s victory on November 4th. Cities across the US celebrated spontaneously in the streets and it seemed like the whole world celebrated with them. People’s feelings of joy can be attributed to a wide range of reasons, but a few of them seem primary.