Pax Christi asks "What should Obama do first?"

cross-posted from: Progressive Blue: http://www.eenrblog.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=3428 Pax Christi asks "What should Obama do first?" by: Karita Hummer Thu Jan 22, 2009 at 02:01:52 AM EST

(Now, let's get down to business... - promoted by poligirl) Mr. President, we ask you! Pax Christi has asked its members on Facebook: "What should Obama do first?" Never shy at response, I offered my wishes, hopes and prayers there for Obama's first acts. This was my reply: 1. Obama should close Guantanamo and commit to International Law. He should end the War in Iraq. He should set up an international conference to deal with the Palestine/Israel conflict.*1 2. He should review the abuses of the (Bush) Administration and consider if crimes were committed regarding torture, wiretapping and civilian injuries in Iraq. *2 3. He needs to address Darfur. He needs to address the refugee crisis the Bush Administration inflicted on Iraq, and provide American remedies for the crisis we caused. 4. He also should investigate past election abuses and determine if crimes were committed in the execution of electoral processes. Old crime should not be swept under the rug. 5. He should commit to the Global Marshall Plan*4.. He should establish a Poverty Cabinet position and a department to address poverty in the world and here toward the end of eradicating poverty here and in the world. 4 6. He needs to strongly support unions right to organize and worker right to choose to join a union. 7. He should consider a Dept. of Peace. 8. He needs to set up a Watchdog Oversight mechanism for Lobbyists. Now that I think of it further, I would suggest that President Obama: 9. act boldly to initiate big infrastructure(as in building and digging and services, like Universal Health Care projects that resolve unemployment and global warming reduction at the same time - as among the biggest imperatives he has before him. *9 What would be on your wish list? More below...

That's all for now, Mr. President! So glad we have an ear in the White House. Karita Hummer For an abundance of information on solutions and remedies, and for ideas on how to advance and collaborate on such solutions, here are references for my wish list above: *1. On Gaza: http://www.spiritualprogressiv... *2. On Imperial Presidency and High Crimes: Elizabeth Holtzman, Holding Bush Accountable, The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/doc/2... and John Dean, John Dean: Will Obama Investigate Bush War Crimes? , the Nation: http://www.thenation.com/doc/2... *3 on Refugee Crises (of our making or that of others: International Rescue Committee http://www.theirc.org/, Catholic Relief Services, http://crs.org/ and Amnesty International, http://www.amnesty.org/ *4 On Election Theft and Electoral Reform and not letting high crimes of election theft go untried and unpunished and uncorrected, Velvet Revolution, http://www.velvetrevolution.us... Harvey Wasserman, A "Ten-Point Solartopian Starter Agenda for the Age of Obama", sub-section,"Universal Hand-Counted Paper Ballots", http://www.commondreams.org/vi... {{Harvey's total list with some surprises is great.}} Wikipedia has an enormous list of election reform groups and th national ones include: http://activism.wikia.com/wiki... [edit] United States [edit] National Election Activist Groups * 51 Capital March * Alliance for Democracy * Americans Coming Together * Answers.com * Audit the Vote * Backbone Campaign * Ban The Machine * Baker-Carter Commission * BlackBoxVoting.com * Black Box Voting.org * BradBlog.com * Bush Cheated '04 * Citizens Act * Citizens for Ethics * Citizens for a Fair Vote Count * Coalition Against Election Fraud * Coalition for Visible Ballots * David Cobb for President * Code Pink * Common Cause * Computer Scientist for Social Responsibility * Constitution Project * Count Every Vote * Dean People * Democracy for America o Election Reform Discussion Group * Demos * Election Assessment * Election Line * Election Science Institute (formerly VoteWatch) * Electoral Integrity * Electronic Frontier Foundation * Electronic Privacy Information Center * Electronic Vote and Democracy * ExitPollz * Fair Elections * Fair Vote * Help America Recount * Hunger for Democracy * Instant Runoff National List - Working to implement IRV everywhere in the United States * Investigate the Vote * Juice for Justice * Just a Fly on the Wall * League of Women Voters * Left.org * Lynn Landes - Voters Newswire * Mercury Coalition for Honest Elections * MoveOn * National Ballot Integrity Project * National Committee for Voting Integrity * National Network for Election Reform * National Voters Rights Coalition * National Voting Rights Institute * No Confidence Resolution * No Mandate * Nov2Truth.org * Nov3.us * Open Voting Consortium * Perfect Voting System * People For the American Way * Project Vote Smart * SAVE Democracy * Solar Bus * Stolen Election 2004 * This Time We're Watching * True Majority * Truth in Voting * US Counts Votes * US Voting Integrity Project * Vote America * Velvet Revolution * Verified Voting * Voice 4 Change * Vote Scam * Vote Trust USA * Voters For Open & Transparent Elections * VOTERGATE Resource Center * Voters Unite! * We Do Not Concede Coalition * Where's the Paper? * Working Assets: Work for Change * Email National Coalition for Verified Voting With that many groups(above)working on the problem of election reform (there is a recognition of the enormity of the problem and many solutions among them, to be sure.KH *5. On Poverty and Global Marshall Plan: Half in Ten: http://halfinten.org/ and http://www.spiritualprogressiv... *6 On Unions, Organizing and Joining Working America http://www.workingamerica.org/ and for a total potpourri of Union information, go to: http://www.aflcio.org/ Esther Kaplan, Can Labor Revive the American Dream?, The Nation, http://www.thenation.com/doc/2... *8 On Lobbyist Reform and oversight Obama should run (and we all should) to Change Congress and join with Lawrence Lessig and Joe Trippi in their efforts for lobbyist reform: http://change-congress.org/ *9. Environmentally Sound Jobs Creation: Bruce McF, "Transport Stimulus: You're Doing It Wrong" with commentss, Progressive Blue Blog, http://www.eenrblog.com/showDi... PLUS Green Jobs, Half in Ten, http://halfinten.org/category/... Green for All: http://www.greenforall.org/?gf... OK, enough of the problems and solutions, let's get to work on them in the Obama Administration and in Congress! Let's hear it for Progressive Law and Order. K.H.

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