re: "Obama and the War Powers deadline"

Crush at Blackfive ("the paratrooper of love") has both clarity and a suggestion for lawmakers.

Money quote(s):

"Section 1544(b) of the War Powers Resolution states that "the President shall terminate any use of United States Armed Forces" at the end of the 60-day period unless Congress:

1.declares war or authorizes the use of force
2.extends the deadline
3.is unable to meet as a result of armed attack

I am not a lawyer, but 1,2, or 3 have not happened.

If the will of the people was to fight in Libya, either due to threatened interests or some internationalist Responsibility to Protect doctrine, Congress would have authorized force or declared war. Since they didn't, the campaign should be over. Just as you or I can't pick and chose which laws we will obey, the president can't either."

Just like consular officers don't get to pick and choose about implementing citizenship and immigration laws, so is the president similarly constrained.

However.....

There are such things as co-equal branches of the federal government, presidential authorities, and the like. There's a balance of power. The president has powers and authority as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, but not unlimited power in that regard. Just where the line gets crossed is a bit blurry, particularly the last few decades, and the War Powers Act may actually have made things worse, even as it attempted to both bind the president and to delegate some power back over to him.

"(W)hat Congress needs to do now is to craft clear and concise laws instead of the problematic War Powers Resolution. What is a "war?" What does it mean to "declare" war? What constitutes an "enemy?" These should be black-and-white answers and not subject to debate. Therefore, future adventurist presidents will be constrained from sending troops in instances where U.S. security and interests are not threatened."

I'm not sure if some of this is even Constitutional. Can Congress (or the president, or the supreme court) go ahead and attempt to define or refine Constitutional provisions by statute rather than through the amendment process? It seems to me that the War Powers Act tries (and fails) to do that already.

S&S - Reserve chiefs: Our people deserve better retirement

Stars and Stripes

Reserve chiefs: Our people deserve better retirement

By Tom Philpott, Special to Stars and Stripes


Pacific edition, Saturday, March 7, 2009


Reserve and National Guard members deserve a better retirement plan, one that pays an annuity earlier than age 60 at least for those willing to serve longer than 20 years, Reserve leaders have told Congress.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Reservists might deserve extended health care coverage too, also in recognition of their full operational role in Iraq, Afghanistan and future wars, said some reserve component commanders who testified Tuesday before the House armed services subcommittee on military personnel."

"Current reserve retirement offers little or no incentive for members to serve past 20 years, Stultz said, because longer service doesn’t change the age 60 start of annuities. So it’s hard to persuade members or spouses that another hitch is worth the risk of returning to war or being separated, Stultz explained. He cited a recent conversation with a Guardsman whose skill, truck driver, is dangerous and in demand among units deploying for war."

&

"A law passed in early 2008 does allow earlier retirement than age 60 for Reserve and Guard members with 20 or more years if they deploy for war or national emergency. For every 90 consecutive days they spend mobilized, reservists will see the start date for annuities cut by three months. But Congress made the change effective only for deployment time after Jan. 28, 2008, leaving out many thousands deployed since 9-11.

Rep. Joe Wilson (R-S.C.), ranking Republican on the personnel subcommittee, a retired Army reserve officer and father of four children now serving on active duty or in the reserves, has reintroduced a bill (HR 208) to extend last year’s reserve retirement change retroactively to cover mobilizations since 9/11. Another Wilson bill (HR 972) would allow Guard and Reserve member who earn early retirement to receive full TRICARE benefits between the time annuities start and 60."



To comment, e-mail milupdate@aol.com, write to Military Update, P.O. Box 231111, Centreville, VA, 20120-1111 or visit: www.militaryupdate.com.

Boomberg - Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas

Bloomberg



Microsoft, Intel Firings Stir Resentment Over Visas

By Dina Bass

Feb. 20 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp.’s plan to eliminate U.S. workers after lobbying for more foreigner visas is stirring resentment among lawmakers and employees.

As many as 5,000 employees are being shown the door at Microsoft, which uses more H1-B guest-worker visas than any other U.S. company. Some employees and politicians say Microsoft should get rid of foreigners first.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Across the technology industry, some of the biggest users of H1-B visas are cutting jobs, including Intel Corp., International Business Machines Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. The firings at Microsoft, the world’s largest software maker, came less than a year after Chairman Bill Gates lobbied Congress for an expansion of the visa program.

Even before Microsoft announced the cuts, its first-ever companywide layoffs, comments on a blog run by an anonymous Microsoft worker angrily debated getting rid of guest workers first. The author of the Mini-Microsoft blog eventually had to censor and then completely block all arguments about visas, after the conversation “got downright nasty.” "

LAT - U-visa program for crime victims falters.

Los Angeles Times



U-visa program for crime victims falters. llegal immigrants who help law enforcement officials are eligible, but although 13,300 people have applied, only 65 documents have been issued.


By Anna Gorman January 26, 2009

When Jorge Garcia delivered a pizza in Van Nuys in September 2003, he was forced at knifepoint to enter the apartment.Garcia said two men choked him until he passed out. When he awoke, his neck and wrist had been sliced and his stomach burned with an iron. The men told Garcia they had a gun and threatened to kill him. Then the assailants picked him up, threw him in the trunk of his car and dumped the vehicle.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Congress created the U-visa in 2000 to bolster law enforcement's ability to investigate and prosecute certain crimes while offering protection to the victims.

After an eight-year delay, the government issued its first U-visa last summer.

Through the end of 2008, 65 such visas had been issued, although about 13,300 people have filed applications.

Twenty have been denied.

After a preliminary review, the government also has given temporary benefits to 10,800 applicants while they wait for a final decision, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration."

&

"To be eligible for a visa, the victim must have information concerning the crime, be helpful in the investigation or prosecution and have suffered substantial physical or mental abuse as a result of the crime.

After three years, visa holders can apply to become legal permanent residents and can eventually become U.S. citizens.

The law allows 10,000 applicants to receive visas each year.

They can petition for certain family members to also receive visas.

Because it took so long to create the regulations for the visas, the government created an interim relief for qualified applicants. Until a decision is made on the visa, those applicants are protected from deportation and can receive work permits and access to public services while they are waiting, according to U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services."

JG - Zimbabwe, African liberation and decolonisation

From my archive of press clippings:

Jamaica Gleaner

Zimbabwe, African liberation and decolonisation

published: Sunday July 6, 2008

Robert Buddan POLITICS OF OUR TIME

Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe is faced with sanctions from the west, mediation by Southern Africa and a call for a government of national unity from the African Union. The African Union opposes western sanctions being organised by the French leadership of the European Union (EU) and the American leadership of the UN Security Council with the British in tow.

Read the whole article here.

Snippet(s):

"Mugabe was leader of the liberation movement, Zimbabwe African National Union (ZANU), which had fought for independence against the apartheid-like policies of white-ruled Rhodesia, a country that had relied on the support of apartheid South Africa.

In fact, Zimbabwe's 17-year liberation war paralleled that of South Africa's African National Congress (ANC) and both leaderships (Mugabe and Thabo Mbeki) remain close today.

The former Rhodesia became independent as Zimbabwe on April 18, 1980."

&

"Colonisation began when Cecil Rhodes, with the backing of the British, took over land that is now mostly Zimbabwe.

The Shona and Ndebele people fought their first liberation war in 1896/97 to get their land back but white power only grew.

White agriculture flourished and the Shona and Ndebele were shunted off into 'African reserves', the dust bowl of Zimbabwe.

Even when the war for liberation won independence it was a highly compromised independence.

Rhodesia's whites had made up less than five per cent of the population but held 95 per cent of the votes and 70 per cent of the Africans' land.

An agreement for independence reserved as many as one-third of the parliamentary seats for these whites, 20 Assembly seats and 10 seats in the Senate, and whites remained in control of the police, army, air force judiciary and civil service.

Mugabe's liberation government abolished the reserved assembly seats at the first chance in 1987 and the Senate seats in 1990."