Did I miss this story in the Athens Banner? The NY Times and The Independent write about President Carter's thoughts about Obama but the story is not in the Athens Banner? What about the rest of the mainstream US media? Do the Obama supporters here in Athens think that it's okay to have drones over the US, and for Obama, winner of the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize, to order the killings of people around the world by drones, even US citizens?
"The truth is, there is no right or left. There is only right and wrong."--By Kevin Newsom
"Carter makes the telling point that these criminal actions have been carried out with "bipartisan executive and legislative" support and virtually "without dissent." Indeed, as if to prove his point, his own statements in the column--which have explosive political significance--have been largely passed over in silence by the mass media. Carter's words are a warning. The threat of an American police state and the use of the murderous methods employed by US imperialism abroad against the working class at home is real and growing. The working class must prepare accordingly, mobilizing its independent political power against the capitalist profit system from which these threats arise."--By Bill van Auken
"Despite an arbitrary rule that any man killed by drones is declared an enemy terrorist, the death of nearby innocent women and children is accepted as inevitable."--President Jimmy Carter
"Recent legislation has made legal the president's right to detain a person indefinitely on suspicion of affiliation with terrorist organizations or "associated forces,' a broad, vague power that can be abused without meaningful oversight from the courts or Congress. At a time when popular revolutions are sweeping the globe, the United States should be strengthening, not weakening, basic rules of law and principles of justice enumerated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. But instead of making the world safer, America’s violation of international human rights abets our enemies and alienates our friends."--by President Jimmy Carter
"Is Obama really any different than the capo di tutti capi of Mafia infamy? The Godfather sits back in his overstuffed, leather chair puffin’ on a ‘gar and casually orders a hit on his competition. Which will then precipitate a revenge hit, until the urban battlefield is strewn with one guy getting whacked after another. Isn’t this the story of Afghanistan and Pakistan?"--by stateofthenation2012
"Former president Jimmy Carter has blasted the United States for anti-terror strategies such as targeting individuals for assassination and using unmanned drones to bomb suspected targets, saying they directly flout the basic tenets of universal human rights and foment anti-US sentiment."--by David Usborne
"Targeting individuals, including Americans, for assassination and with drones proves United States government is violating human rights, committing war crimes, aiding terrorists. As other nations are having popular revolutions to strengthen human rights, former US president Jimmy Carter says the United States government counterterrorism policies are clearly violating at least 10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and that drone strikes and targeted assassinations see the nation violating rights in a way that "abets our enemies and alienates our friends."--Deborah Dupre
"There should be a return policy on Nobel peace prizes. President Obama did a remarkable bait and switch job by conveying that he would be a head of state always seeking peaceful diplomatic solutions and complying to the rule of law. President Obama not only convinced many American voters but also an overwhelming proportion in the international community, that he would respect international laws. He criticized his predecessor, George W. Bush, for the detentions of suspect,without trial, at Guantanamo and in the secret overseas CIA facilities of the so called “rendition” program. If Bush’s forte was torture and arbitrary detention of “suspects”, Obama has become the chief of America’s illegal, by any standards of international law, drone assassination program. If Bush was the torturer in chief, Obama has become the empire’s new “judge” and executioner, without holding a trial." --By Gilbert Mercier
Rep. Regina Quick, R-Athens, was one of two local delegates to score less than an "A+" in the Chamber of Commerce's annual legislative score card. She and I played phone tag Monday when I was reporting the story and I wasn't able to get her comments in a timely fashion.
Instead, she sent over this statement Wednesday morning and she did not mince her words. (Links and italicized portions are my own; otherwise, it's as she wrote it.)
Dear Friends:
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The committee opted Tuesday night to put off deciding on the ordinance until, at the earliest, its next meeting. Of note: The Athens-Clarke County attorney highlighted that the proposed times are, in essence, placeholders for the commission to change or keep as it pleases.
Full text of the Use of Public Right-of-Ways ordinance draft is below.
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