Two Weeks of R & R

Commission Proposes Formal Role for Congress in War Decisions

CQ TODAY MIDDAY UPDATE
July 8, 2008 – 1:51 p.m.

Two former secretaries of State unveiled a plan Tuesday to require better consultation between Congress and the president over sending U.S. troops into war.

The legislation, the product of a blue-ribbon commission headed by James A. Baker III, secretary of State under President George Bush, and Warren Christopher, who held the same office under President Bill Clinton, would establish a joint congressional committee and require that the president consult with its members before sending the military into battle.

“This statute gives Congress a seat at the table in deciding whether or not to go to war — not just a seat at the table, but one with a permanent staff, a permanent professional staff, and access to all the available intelligence information,” Christopher said.

Christopher and Baker urged Congress and a new administration to quickly take up their proposal, and said they had reached out to the campaigns of Sens. Barack Obama , D-Ill., and John McCain , R-Ariz.

The plan also would require Congress to vote on a concurrent resolution to authorize the conflict within 30 days after military action begins. If that resolution fails, it would allow an expedited vote on a joint resolution of disapproval, which would become law only with the president’s signature or over his or her veto.

Any military action expected to last more than a week would require consultation, and formal consultation would continue every two months. If action requires secrecy, the president would have to consult within three days after the action began. Covert operations, humanitarian missions, limited reprisal against terrorists and repelling attacks on the United States would be exempt.

Under the Constitution, only Congress can declare war. However, since the end of World War II, presidents have committed the U.S. military to several conflicts without asking for declarations of war, though in some cases Congress has enacted authorizing resolutions, as it did in the run-up to the war in Iraq. Congress also has the power to limit spending for military operations, though it could be politically difficult to do so once U.S. troops have been committed to a conflict.

The proposal would replace the 1973 War Powers Resolution, which the commission concluded was ineffective at best and unconstitutional at worst.

Beijing Olympic Games of 1936

Now it’s 2008, we’re just one month away from Beijing Olympic Games.
Several heads of States already confirmed participation in the first political opening of an Olympic Game from XXI Century. Yes, political.
Why not speak about the megalomaniac greatness of these Games, as a matter of fact, one sister of the Olympic Games of 1936.

Germany was then a flourishing economy with a lot of people willing to do business with, and also a lot of people willing to look at the other side, about the human rights agenda.
We only discovered about the slave camps Auschwitz, Treblinka and other death camps after the end of World War II.
And even then many people didn’t want to, if the American Commander didn’t record in pictures and films the holocaust, a lot of people would say then and today: it didn’t happen.

In the same way, today, we try to look at the other side, for political or economical reasons.
And we try to forget that liberty was shot in Tiananmen Square 19 years ago.
We can’t run from the comparison.
Doing business with China is good for bottom line, but may be good for the bottom, but for the head is terrible.

Once president Kennedy said that “we choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.”

Now we chose to go to Beijing not because it’s right, but because it’s easy.
It’s easy to forget the slave camps who manufacture cheap things for us.
It’s easy to forget the political oppression and the end of liberty.

I don’t know what you’re going to do, but I do know that if the governments are not willing to displease the Chinese government, I may be the only one, but I’ll boycott the Olympic Games not watching anything, nothing at all.

And I invite you to do the same, not because it’s easy, but because it’s right.

Written by Ary S Dib Dias Filho

Just another day at the Space Station

DoD Standardizes Waiver Process

The Department of Defense announced changes today to improve the enlistment screening process by standardizing enlistment criteria and generating uniform reporting of waiver types across all services.

This week DoD and the nation celebrated the 35th Anniversary of the All Volunteer Force (AVF). Since its inception, our volunteer military has upheld the traditions of strong and selfless service to the nation. Presently, more than 1.4 million men and women choose to serve on active duty, along with nearly 1.1 million members of the National Guard and Reserves.

"Waivers have long been a part of the enlistment process, allowing communities a greater voice in identifying young persons who, despite factors such as youthful misconduct, are judged trustworthy and capable, and found fully qualified for service in the armed forces," said Bill Carr, deputy under secretary for military personnel policy.

The most noticeable change to the policy is in the area of conduct waivers. Previously, each service categorized offenses differently, making it impossible to provide reliable comparisons across services, over time.

"Under the new policy all conduct offenses will be classified into one of four different categories. The most severe offenses will be classified as "major misconduct," while less severe offenses will be considered "misconduct," "non-traffic," or "traffic" offenses. Also new is a coding system allowing services to track the level of the misconduct and the specific offense in question," said Carr.

Recent research suggests patterns of smaller offenses such as underage drinking and curfew violations are often more problematic over a career than a single major youthful offense such as burglary, which is the most common offense in the "major misconduct" category.

About one in five recruits receives exceptional admission to the military by means of a waiver. About one third are for medical waivers– most frequently for high body fat – and nearly two thirds involve youthful misconduct waivers.

The standardization of data will allow the department to better analyze the relationship between offenses or categories of offense on the one hand, and attrition or performance concerns on the other.

This new policy, will go into effect on Oct. 1, 2008, does not prohibit further changes in the management of the military's screening for service in the armed forces, but it does represent another affirmative step in sustaining the pattern of success that has come to characterize AVF.

Today's AVF is highly educated with nearly 95 percent of recruits holding a high school diploma, compared to about 75 percent of contemporary youth. Moreover, two thirds are drawn from the top half of American youth in math and verbal aptitude.

The new policy can be viewed online at DTM 08-018

DoS - Negotiations with Poland on Missile Defense

Press Statement
Sean McCormack, Spokesman
Washington, DC - July 4, 2008

We have seen Prime Minister Tusk's remarks concerning Missile Defense negotiations and are studying them closely. Poland remains a close and important ally of the United States. We remain in negotiations with Poland and do not plan to comment publicly on the details.

Missile defense is an important potential area of cooperation between the United States and Poland. An agreement would be an important means of deepening the defense and security relationship between our countries. This is also important for the security of NATO nations as recognized in the Bucharest summit communique which endorsed this effort and spoke of its importance to the security of the Alliance.

2008/546 - Released on July 6, 2008

Ukraine stands by demand for departure of Russia's Black Sea Fleet

Kiev has warned Moscow that its Black Sea Fleet cannot stay in the Crimea after 2017. Vasily Kirilitch, the head press officer within the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry, said on 24 June that Russian naval units stationed on the Crimean peninsula must leave and not return by 29 May 2017: the day the Russian-Ukrainian agreement on the Black Sea Fleet division, signed in 1997, expires. Kiev said there would be no further negotiations on this issue because it would run counter to the country's constitution

[first posted to http://jdw.janes.com - 03 July 2008]

Rio in Color - Film 1930's

The butterflies art does not exist anymore like it was in the 1930's. Faded way in 1960's. Besides that, is a beautiful and somehow precise documentary. For example it is true that Brazilians does not agree with the sense that the word America means US and not the whole Continent.

This film is a beautiful look in a City which still exist although under a lack of good governments.