Quote Of Note - Rob Boston

"Minority rights are just as important as majority ones." - Rob Boston

It's Only Money, Who Needs It?

The Bush administration's plan to help the United States seems to be to not raise taxes and not spend any government funds on the United States itself, but to send all our money to foreign nations. Why? How does this help the citizens of the United States? There are so many ways this money could be more wisely spent.

From Plan Mexico by: Maya Schenwar:

As Congress gears up to fund another year of war and occupation in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is also readying a nearly half-billion-dollar aid package that would initiate a Colombia-like drug war in Mexico. The majority of funds would fuel the Mexican military, known for rampant human rights abuses and participation in organized crime.

Yet, according to human rights advocates, the plan prioritizes companies over people, lining the pockets of American defense contractors while putting both political dissidents and ordinary Mexican civilians at risk. Government documents leaked to the nonprofit Center for International Policy provide an idea of what the specifics of the plan will look like: more than half the funds would pay for technology and personnel to bolster the Mexican military's counternarcotics operations. The initiative would ignore the US's own involvement in the transport and sale of drugs.

Plan Mexico allots no money for drug treatment and rehabilitation.

Read more here.

The U.S. Ranks Right Up There With China And Russia

Way to go United States. As a violator of human rights we rank right up there with China and Russia. Can you say “We’re number one!”? Well maybe not number one when it comes to human rights violations, but we should be ashamed of ourselves for being mentioned at all.

From China, Russia, U.S. focus of human rights report:

Human rights and freedom of the press in China, the detention of terrorist suspects by the United States and Russia's treatment of political dissent are the focus of scrutiny in Amnesty International's annual report, released Wednesday, which looks at the state of human rights around the world.

As it has in previous annual reports, Amnesty criticized the detention of hundreds of foreign nationals at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

"The USA must close Guantanamo detention camp and secret detention centers, prosecute the detainees under fair trial standards or release them, and unequivocally reject the use of torture and ill-treatment," Amnesty said.

The group noted that Guantanamo detainees are held indefinitely, most of them without charge and without recourse to U.S. courts. Most detainees there are held in isolation in maximum-security facilities, heightening concerns for their physical and mental health, Amnesty said.

In fact, more is written on the United States than any other country listed in the report. Asked about that at a press conference Tuesday, Khan said, "We certainly devote a lot of time to Sudan, to China, to Zimbabwe and other countries. But we look to the U.S. to provide leadership around the world. Governments around the world look to the United States as a role model for their own behavior."

Read more here.