President Barack Obama

By Steven R. Maher

“Unmanned Aerial Vehicles” have become the United States’ weapon of choice in the war on terror. Better known as “Predator drones”, these 8,000 remote controlled robots have devastated Al Qaeda, disrupted its chain of command, and played a large role in allowing American troops to be withdrawn from Iraq and now Afghanistan.

“According to data compiled by the New America Foundation from reliable news reports, 337 CIA drone strikes in Pakistan have killed an estimated 1,953 to 3,279 people since 2004, of which 1,526 – 2,649 were reported to be militants,” reports one Internet web site. “This means the average non-militant casualty rate over the life of the program is 18-23 percent. In 2012 it was around 10 percent, down sharply from its peak in 2006 of over 600 percent.”

“”In 2012 the USAF [United States Air Force] trained more drone pilots than ordinary jet pilots for the first time,” says Wikipedia.

What are drones made off and how do they work? What are the moral implications of “targeted killings”?
Primary aircraft

Drones were first used for high altitude surveillance in the 1990s. After 9/11, the drones were modified to include ordnance and automate the military’s “kill chain” – “find, fix, track, target, engage and assess” against high value, fleeting and time sensitive targets.

There is a large amount of Internet drone literature, including the Wikipedia entry and the U.S. Air Force web’s “fact sheets” on the nine drones in usage. Robert Valdes has published on Lafayette.edu an insightful article on drones. In an effort to convey to readers the essence of how drones operate, we boiled down the information available, summarizing data to reduce verbiage. Military acronyms are not used extensively. We concentrated on the RQ-1 predators.
“Following 2001, the RQ-1 Predator became the primary unmanned aircraft used for offensive operations by the USAF and the CIA in Afghanistan and the Pakistani tribal areas,” says Wikipedia.

The MQ1-B is an armed RQ-1. The change in designation came when the reconnaissance-purpose RQ-1 was armed with two Hellfire missiles in 2002, making it a multi-purpose device (hence the “M” re-designation). Not long afterwards, on November 2, 2002, a predator was first used outside the Afghan war drone, to kill in Yemen Qaed Senyan Al-Harthi, the Al-Qaeda commander of the October 2000 bombing of the USS Cole.
“The MQ-1’s capabilities make it uniquely qualified to conduct irregular warfare Operations in support of Combatant
Commander objectives,” says the air force.

How it’s built

Operated in clusters of four, the MQ1-B is made by General Atomics Aeronautical at a fiscal 2009 cost of $20 million for four Predators, the ground control station, and the satellite link up.

The MQ-1B is two yards high, nine yards long, and with a wingspan of roughly nineteen yards. It looks smaller than it appears in pictures. Miniaturization and nano-technology allow packing this small device with much hardware.

• The front compartment contains a “Multispectral Targeting System” that includes the Hellfire missile targeting system; an electrical optical infrared system which can see through haze, smoke or clouds; a laser designator; and a laser illuminator. There is also a GPS system and an ice detector. The equipment in this section “paints the target” by shooting a laser beam, which electronically puts a bull’s eye on the object by sending a pulse from the target to the two Hellfire missiles attached to the Predator. A computer generated “firing solution” calculates the distance, trajectory, wind speed, and other variables to hit the target with pinpoint precision.

• The second compartment contains a satellite communications antenna, a videocassette recorder, the de-icer, flight sensors, a receiver/transmitter, a “friend or foe” transponder, an avionics tray, and a communications sensor.

• The next third of the drone consists of a fuel cell, fuel cell assembly, and accessory bay.

• The fourth compartment of the plane contains the engine cooling fan; the oil cooler/radiator; secondary control module; two eight pound battery backups; a power supply; and a four cylinder, 115 horsepower engine similar to the engines used to power snowmobiles. At the rear is a two-blade propeller providing the drive and lift, and attached is a rudder, which is used to navigate the vessel.

The two fuel tanks are rubberized bladders in the fore and aft sections of the Predator, capable of holding 665 pounds (100 gallons) of 100-octane gasoline. The craft is lubricated by 7.6 liters of standard oil. The de-icer operates through microscopic “weeping holes” on the wings through which an ethylene glycol solution drips out to melt ice accumulated at the 25,000 feet altitude at which the MQ-1B flies.

The rib cage, surrounding the Predator like an elongated oval shaped skeleton, is made up of carbon/glass fiber tape and aluminum. The sensor housing and wheels are aluminum, the edges of the wings titanium. Between the rib cage and operating devices is a layer of carbon and quartz fibers with a mix of Kevlar. Further insulating the components are layers of foam and wood laminate; a sturdy fabric is sandwiched between these layers.
Empty of fuel and ammunition, the MQ-1B weighs 1,130 pounds, a very light aircraft. Fueled, armed, locked and loaded with two Hellfire missiles with a 450-pound payload, the Predator weighs 2,250 pounds, still a lightweight.

How it works

A drone can be disassembled into six parts and loaded into a single container, which can be transported to a war drone in a C130 Hercules, or larger transportation aircraft. It can be reassembled in four to eight hours. It takes 82 men or women to operate one four Predator active service unit over a twenty-four hour period. The flight begins, from a minimum 5,000 feet long surfaced runway, when an operator attaches a power cord to the Predator and turns the drone on.

The MQ-1B has a range of 700 miles and a cruising speed of 135 MPH. This means it must be launched from relatively near the war drone. It takes three to operate a drone: a pilot sitting in front of a computer screen using a flight stick to guide the aircraft, and two sensor operators. The pilot can see what the Predator sees in “real time”, i.e., instantaneously.

Once out of line of sight from its take off point, a satellite transfers control to an operator in the continental United States. “[I]f a predator is lost in battle, military personnel can simply ‘crack another one out of the box’ and have it up in the air shortly – and that’s without the trauma of casualties or prisoners normally associated with an aircraft going down,” writes Valdes. For a casualty conscious military, the predators are the perfect weapons; operators are not exposed to enemy fire. Click to continue »

By Michael Moore, filmmaker

To my friend who is not voting tomorrow:



I get it – and I don’t blame you. You’re fed up and you could care less whether Tweedledee or Tweedledumber wins on Tuesday – because on Wednesday, your life will be the same, unchanged, regardless who is president. Your mortgage will still be underwater. You will still owe $50,000 on your student loan. Your son will still be in Afghanistan. Your daughter will still be working two jobs to make ends meet. And gas will still be at $4.



Four years ago you gave in and voted – and you voted for Obama. You wanted to believe he would go after the Wall Street crooks who crashed the economy – but instead the banks that were “too big to fail” four years ago are now even bigger and more dangerous. You thought there’d be universal health care – but the new law only went so far (with most of it not taking effect until 2014). You were tired of war and homeland security measures that violated our civil liberties – but we’re still in Afghanistan, we’re sending in drones to Pakistan and basic constitutional rights to privacy and a fair trial have been ignored. And you thought you’d have a middle-class, good-paying job like your dad had – but you didn’t know that Goldman Sachs was Obama’s #1 private campaign donor in 2008, and well, he was beholden to corporate America in more ways we cared to think about. 



So, I get it why you’ve had it with all these politicians and elections. In the end, it doesn’t really seem to be our country any more. It’s run by those who can buy the most politicians to do their bidding. Our schools are made a low priority and women are still having to fight for just the basic human rights we thought they already had.



So, it’s hard for me to ask you for this very personal favor. It’s OK if you say “no,” but I’m hoping you don’t.



I cannot believe it is possible that, after a group of rich plutocrats wrecked the economy, threw people out of work and stole our future, we may actually hand the keys to our country over to…a rich Republican plutocrat who made millions by throwing people out of work! This is insane, and despite all the legitimate criticisms of Obama, he is nothing like the tsunami of hate and corporate thievery that will take place if Mitt Romney is president. As bad as it feels now, it will only get worse. I need your help to stop this.



I can’t promise you that your life will get better, easier under Barack Obama. I do think he cares and I know for sure that if the other guy is sitting in the Oval Office, I can guarantee you that not only will your life not get better, it will get much, much worse. Don’t take my word for it. Just ask your parents what life was like before a 30-year pillage by the Republicans of the middle class. Your parents bought a house and eventually owned it outright. They weren’t in debt. College was free. They bought a new car every 3 or 4 years. They took vacations and were home for dinner by 5 or 6 PM. They had a savings account in the bank. They didn’t live in fear of not knowing if they’d even have a job next year. 



That’s all gone. I don’t know if we can get it back, but I do know that Mr. Romney would love the chance to complete the final elimination of the middle class and the American Dream. 



He must be stopped. Take 20 minutes on Tuesday and go vote. If you don’t want to do it for your country, then do it for me! It’s the only favor I’ll ever ask of you.



Thanks for taking the time to read this. I know that you care, and care deeply, about your future and your kids’ future. You have every right to be cynical about all this. And you hold the power to stop the bastards who plan on squeezing every last dime out of you that they can. Take a stand. And make a statement to those who are hoping against hope that you’ll stay home on Tuesday. Your presence at the polls is what they fear most.



Go scare the s**t out of them! For me.

Great little New Yorker essay! Watch the FDR clip! Go, FDR, go!!!  Click on link below:  - R.T.

http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/newsdesk/2012/10/roosevelts-message-to-obama.html?mobify=0

editor’s note: Scott Brown needs to be dumped by the voters this fall. Brown is nothing more than a smooth-talking opportunist. He puts his finger in the wind and decides how to vote based on: WILL THIS GET ME RE-ELECTED? No character. No moral code. No beliefs worth fighting for – so unlike our late, great Teddy Kennedy. Brown is just an empty vessel wearing a barn jacket.

- R. Tirella

Dozens of Medicaid recipients, providers and advocates demand answers from the commonwealth’s junior senator as national debt deadline looms!

BOSTON – As politicians continued their high-stakes horse trading over the national debt in Washington, dozens of Massachusetts residents directly affected by the negotiations rallied Thursday to demand answers from their own US Senator, Scott Brown. The broad coalition of local Medicaid recipients, service providers and independent living advocates gathered to ask Brown: “Will you choose Medicaid or Millionaires?”

“Because of my disability, I depend on Medicaid funds to live and work independently,” said David Sandison, a local Medicaid recipient who relies on in-home assistance. “So I have a question for Scott Brown: will you vote to save Medicaid, or will you support tax breaks for oil companies and billionaires?”

Questions from constituents and journalists on debt-related Medicaid cuts have gone unanswered for weeks, as Brown and his staff continue to avoid taking a position on more than $500 billion in proposed cuts to federal health care programs.

Stacy Hart, a consumer advocate with the Boston Center for Independent Living, explained that for many families – including her own – the funding of Medicaid programs is a matter of life and death. “Medicaid saved my husband’s life. He was in a coma for several months until the doctors could address a very serious medical condition,” said Hart. “Without Medicaid, my husband never would have woken up, rejoined his family, or come back to work as a member of the community. We need to know where Scott Brown stands on these cuts.”

Joseph Rotella, a successful business owner from Waltham, called on Brown to do the right thing for the most vulnerable in Massachusetts – even if that means raising taxes.

“I’m a beneficiary of the Bush-era tax cuts. But as someone fortunate enough to be in the top income bracket, I’m fully able and willing to make my contribution to society,” said Rotella. “So I have to ask Scott Brown to take a hard look at where his priorities lie. Will he stand up and protect Medicaid funding for those who need it most? Or will he cut those funds to protect tax breaks that aren’t really necessary?”

Amy Whitcomb Slemmer, Executive Director of Health Care for All, put the decision before Brown in the starkest of terms, calling on the senator to set partisanship aside and take a stand in support of his constituents.

“I know it’s tough for Senator Brown to balance serving his party and serving the people of Massachusetts – but there should be no choice between maintaining the health of our state’s elderly and disabled residents and cutting taxes for the most wealthy among us,” said Whitcomb Slemmer. “Hundreds of billions of dollars in health care cuts, and millions of lives, are at stake. We call on Senator Brown to show leadership by supporting health care for our state’s most vulnerable populations.”

As of press time, Brown has offered no additional clarity on his potential support of the $500 billion health care cut – or tax breaks for the wealthiest of Americans – that remain at the center of ongoing debt negotiations.

BOSTON – Leaders from across the Massachusetts healthcare spectrum are joining together today to oppose proposed Medicare and Medicaid funding cuts Congress is now considering as part of an agreement on national debt reduction.

The Massachusetts Hospital Association (MHA), 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, the Massachusetts Medical Society (MMS), and patient advocacy groupsHealth Care for All joined representatives from the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals (COBTH), Massachusetts Council of Community Hospitals, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, Massachusetts Senior Care Association … at a press conference on the State House steps to sound the alarm on the serious unintended consequences such cuts would create for patients, caregivers and employees.

“The formula-driven, arbitrary budget targets that have been set out as potential elements of an agreement to reduce the national debt and increase the debt ceiling would result in across-the-board cuts to healthcare,” said Veronica Turner, Executive Vice President of 1199SEIU. “Such cuts would be bad for care, bad for jobs, and bad for the overall economy.” Click to continue »

Everybody Knows

Song by Leonard Cohen

Everybody knows that the dice are loaded
Everybody rolls with their fingers crossed
Everybody knows that the war is over
Everybody knows the good guys lost
Everybody knows the fight was fixed
The poor stay poor, the rich get rich
That’s how it goes
Everybody knows
Everybody knows that the boat is leaking
Everybody knows that the captain lied
Everybody got this broken feeling
Like their father or their dog just died

Everybody talking to their pockets
Everybody wants a box of chocolates
And a long stem rose
Everybody knows Click to continue »

By Jack Hoffman

Three things recently happened that may have put the final nail in the coffin of what was once known as America’s democracy.

It involved a Supreme Court case brought by an obscure conservative political group. The group versus The Federal Election Commission. Ironically, it involved the use of raising corporate money by showing a documentary that highlights Democrat Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential run. The conservative group believed that the use of corporate money fell within their First Amendment rights and freedom of speech.

The Supreme Court’s majority decision of 5 to 4 is easy to figure out. To quote the majority: “A corporation has the same rights as an individual.”

Wait a sec! Did I miss something in my reading of the First Amendment? A separate entity, yes, but the same rights as an individual?! You have got to be kidding me!!! Click to continue »

By film maker Michael Moore

Dear President Obama,

I understand you may be looking to replace Rahm Emanuel as your chief of staff.

I would like to humbly offer myself, yours truly, as his replacement.

I will come to D.C. and clean up the mess that’s been created around you. I will work for $1 a year. I will help the Dems on Capitol Hill find their spines and I will teach them how to nonviolently beat the Republicans to a pulp.

And I will help you get done what the American people sent you there to do. I don’t need much, just a cot in the White House basement will do. Click to continue »

By Michael True

In a recent announcement of its office at 901 Pleasant St., Worcester, the Center for Nonviolent Solutions committed itself to providing education and resources for people in the Worcester Area to help increase our understanding of nonviolence and to reject violence in resolving conflict.
On October 17, at the Center’s successful launch at the Worcester Public Library, Congressman James McGovern said he expected to be attending “a meeting.” Instead, he added, he came upon” a movement”—a broad coalition of peace and justice organizations, neighborhood groups, churches, colleges and universities, in the Worcester area.

Over the past three months, the Center has committed itself to programs for achieving its vision, by providing educational resources for concerned citizens, such as information and assistance on nonviolent solutions to conflict. Click to continue »

By Richard Schmitt

In his Nobel acceptance speech, President Obama once again showed himself for the intelligent, brave, and upstanding man he is. He boldly sets out to face the contradiction of receiving a peace prize while trying to bring the Iraq war to an end and escalating the war in Afghanistan. He refuses to plead that he inherited these wars and, instead, unflinchingly defends just wars, in general, and the Afghanistan war in particular as one such just war.

President Obama is keenly aware of the ambiguities in world politics – of having to wage war and kill in order to save lives and provide security, of having to use force in order to defend freedom. The president here points to a deep and frightening truth about human lives and human actors. We are all of us violent when it serves our self-interest, and that violence sometimes requires a violent response. Click to continue »