[Sosfbay-discuss] Jello Biafra's Open Letter To Barack Obama

[Tian Harter]

Note: I first heard Jello Biafra live when he spoke at the 2000
Green Party Convention in Denver. He was one of the other Candidates
that ran for President in some of the Green Primaries that year. - Tian

http://tinyurl.com/66svg8
Jello Biafra Writes An Open Letter To Barack Obama
By: Jello Biafra Tuesday
December 16, 2008 6:30 am


Here, by semi-popular demand, are the suggestions I sent to Obama's
Change.gov site for citizen input. It veers from writing to Obama
himself to writing for the people who may actually read this. A lot of
these ideas may be familiar from my albums and spoken word shows. For
the most part I stayed away from the big no-brainers covered by others,
and from ideas he would never agree to in a million years.

I did not vote for him because of his record in Congress voting for the
PATRIOT Act, the anti-immigrant wall, numerous corporate breaks and
subsidies, the FISA bill legalizing all the NSA's illegal wiretapping,
etc. Nevertheless I, too, felt moved by his speech in the park that
night in Chicago, seeing Jesse Jackson cry and wondering how Martin
Luther King, Jr would have felt. I can only imagine how much this would
have meant to Wesley Willis.

And, yes, I am glad that the adult version of the Eraserhead baby and
his pitbull pal were not handed the keys to the White House.

I guess that's why it hurts so much more when the guy we all wish we
could hang out with when we see him on TV turns around and backs the
wrong position on something important. We expect this from the Clintons
and Bidens of the world, but it hurts more with Obama because he knows
better. He even said so on the FISA/NSA spying bill that he so
eloquently opposed before he changed his vote. His economic and national
security teams so far lack anyone from the "change" side of the
Democratic Party. Not a good sign.

If you have ideas or comments, don't just send them to me, send them to
Change.gov! Even I have the audacity to hope that if one of these ideas
penetrates up top, it is a chance worth taking. Tom Hayden is one of
many who have pointed out that it is up to this movement to drive Obama,
not the other way around.

Jello Biafra

OPEN LETTER TO BARACK OBAMA

PREAMBLE GAMBLE

Dear Mr. Obama,

Congratulations on your recent victory, and for helping build such a
strong mandate for change. In that spirit, please do not forget the
other aisle you need to reach across. All the relief and publicity for
the middle class won't do anything for the 40-100 million Americans who
are starving, unemployed or just plain poor.

You have gone out of your way to build a bridge to those of us fed up
with war, pollution, inequality, corporate lawlessness and business as
usual. You have energized a whole new generation who is far ahead of
their elders in knowing what urgently needs to be done. I have never
seen such an outpouring of heartfelt emotion, hope and support for an
American politician in my life, and I remember Kennedy well. You are the
first president in my lifetime to have a bona fide grassroots movement
behind you and ready to rock. I hope those crowds' hope and urgency has
penetrated deeply enough that you won't let that bridge be washed away.

I remember another person who had the audacity to exploit and toss aside
people's hope, and his name is Bill Clinton. Democrats fail time and
again when they shirk responsibility and settle for being dealmakers
instead of leaders. As important as it is to find common ground and
build consensus for change, our situation is so dire we cannot afford
any more dealmakers. The people voted for a leader. Anything less risks
breaking the hearts of an entire galvanized generation who may then
decide it is not worth it to get involved and participate any more.

Strong medicine is needed. Here are some ideas:

IRAQ – TRY THIS!

The closest thing to a solution I have heard was offered clear back in
April 2004 by the Organization of the Islamic Conference
(http://www.oic-ico.org ). The OIC is comprised of 57 Islamic countries
ranging from West Africa clear over to Southeast Asia. At their annual
meeting they found six member nations (Indonesia, Malaysia, Bangladesh,
Pakistan, Yemen and Morocco) willing to pony up enough of their own
troops (approx. 150,000) that our troops could have gone home! Who
slammed the door on that one? Colin Powell, on the grounds that having
the Islamic soldiers under UN command instead of Americans was out of
the question.

WHY??!? Wouldn't a neutral force of Muslim peacekeepers make a lot more
headway than the disaster we've made? Wouldn't they at least command a
lot more respect, resulting in a huge drop in violence? Surely the
non-stop carnage and Iracketeering we have spawned is Exhibit A that we
need to get over this colonialist illusion that other countries'
problems can only be solved by Americans. The OIC's proposal for US
withdrawal and peace in Iraq must be revisited immediately, and also
considered for Afghanistan.

We must end not just our military occupation of Iraq, but our economic
occupation NOW. Iraq is not ours to sell, and neither is its oil. Your
promise not to leave any permanent US military bases in Iraq is a good
start. But you have also backed leaving US troops in Iraq to "protect
American assets like the Green Zone." The Green Zone is not our "asset."
We stole it and we have to give it back. I hope you don't seriously
believe we can get away with that giant feudal fortress of an embassy we
are building, ten times the size of any other in history. We cannot
afford to waste any more money on this, or down the black hole of the
Bush administration's crony backroom deals with corrupt, incompetent
private contractors like Blackwater, KBR and Halliburton. We need to
fire them and they need to leave -- NOW.

We do owe the Iraqi people help, and we have an obligation to clean up
the mess we have made. That goes double for Afghanistan. But I can't see
this getting done unless someone other than the United States is in
charge. Let us also not forget the 2 million-plus refugees stuck outside
Iraq who are draining the economies of Iraq's neighbors, especially
Jordan and Syria.

TERROR -- STRATEGY AND DIPLOMACY, NOT WAR

Even if we kill off every insurgent and terrorist-sympathizer from sea
to shining sea, what will their kids be like? And theirs? Wake up. The
major cause of terrorism is not evil, it's poverty. Michael Moore said
it best after 9/11: "Will we ever get to the point that we realize that
we will be more secure when the rest of the world isn't living in
poverty so we can have nice running shoes?" What do we need an empire
for anyway? Ever notice how much happier the British and Europeans are
now that they don't have to worry about policing colonial empires anymore?

Many experts and heads of state, in the Middle East and beyond, agree
that the best way by far to pull the rug out from under the terrorists
and reduce their attacks dramatically is a just and humane resolution of
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Israel's right to exist is threatened
most by the fact that hardcore zealots are running the show on both the
Palestinian and Israeli sides. If we don't have the courage to stand up
to them, who will? As painful as withdrawal to Israel's pre-1967 borders
will be, our future depends on it. So does Israel's. As Reagan said to
Gorbachev, "Tear down this wall!"

Threatening Iran made for great red meat on the campaign trail. But any
attack on Iran -- by us or using the Israelis as a proxy -- will blow up
in our face worse than Iraq and Afghanistan combined. It will wipe out
any good will and benefit of a doubt we have left in the eyes of the
rest of the world. Iran is three times the size of Iraq and much more
mountainous. The people there already hate our guts, thanks to our
overthrow of their democratically elected leader Mohammed Mossadegh in
1954, ushering in 25 years of torture under the Shah. Backing and aiding
Saddam Hussein in the eight-year Iran-Iraq war that cost a million lives
did not help either.

So, alas, we will not be "greeted as liberators." But we could run
straight into a worldwide "Day the Earth Stood Still" if Iran responds
by blocking all oil shipments out of the Persian Gulf. Iran knows full
well they wouldn't even have to blockade the narrow Strait of Hormuz.
All they would have to do is sink a tanker or freighter or two and no
other ships will move. Not from Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, the United Arab
Emirates, Qatar, Bahrain, Iraq, nothing. Surely we can do better than
this. Even Robert Gates seems to think so. Reckless threats against
Pakistan will not solve anything, either.

JUST SAY NO TO TORTURE

Closing Guantanamo Bay is not enough. All torture, detentions without
trial, kidnappings ("renditions") and illegal and unnecessary spying
must end -- and end with transparency now. Otherwise we are no better
than Saddam Hussein or the Nazis. The whole world knows this and the
whole world is watching. What about the 20,000 people we still have
locked up without charge in Iraq, and thousands more in Afghanistan???

The USA PATRIOT Act is just about the worst mistake our government has
made since FDR threw over 100,000 Japanese-American citizens into
concentration camps during World War II. Even you panicked and voted to
make the PATRIOT Act permanent. It should be repealed and flushed down
the toilet immediately -- all of it. Even worse is the Military
Commissions Act, in which Senators who should know better, such as
Robert Byrd, Sherrod Brown, Ken Salazar and even John McCain voted with
the majority to legalize torture, kidnapping and secret trials with
secret evidence, wiping out the centuries old human right to habeas
corpus. Again, isn't this what our "greatest generation" fought so
bravely in World War II to stop the Nazis from doing to us?

What galls me most is that all this iron-fisted trashing of our basic
human rights has not caught and convicted one significant terrorist!
Even the FBI admits that torture doesn't work.

Meanwhile, if we're serious about preventing another terror attack, why
is only 10% of the cargo entering our ports on ships ever inspected?
Sure, no airliners have been hijacked by a terrorist wielding the
wrong-sized shampoo bottle. But those cargo containers are big enough to
smuggle in a small arsenal of rocket launchers and shoulder-fired
missiles that could actually bring down a plane; dirty bomb material; or
even Bin Laden himself. I sometimes wonder if he's driving a cab in
Manhattan right now.

RESTORE THE RULE OF LAW

This means investigating and prosecuting each and every Bush
administration official and their cronies who may have committed crimes
while in power. Otherwise the lesson learned is you can get away with
anything you want because the next administration will be too spineless
to take action. For crying out loud, DO NOT make the same mistake Bill
Clinton did when he let the rampant corruption, perjury and even
terrorist acts of the Reagan and Bush I regimes go unpunished in the
interest of moving on from the past. The crime here is this: Not only
does everyone involved assume they have license to break even more laws
the next time they hold power, but those who should be in jail for the
lying, arms smuggling, assassinations and drug dealing in the
Contra-gate scandal (like Elliot Abrams, Colin Powell, Richard Armitage
and Robert Gates among others) are instead handed even more powerful
positions where they have done even worse damage. Can you imagine the
havoc and hooliganism if we put our heads in the sand after Watergate,
let bygones be bygones, and G. Gordon Liddy wound up as director of the
FBI? Secretary of Defense Haldeman? Attorney General Ehrlichman? Karl
Rove's chair occupied by Colson, Magruder or Segretti?

Watergate and even Contra-gate pale in comparison to the wholesale
lawlessness this time around. From Jack Abramoff's bribes, to outing
Valerie Plame; from lying about weapons of mass destruction and getting
thousands of people killed; from wholesale fraud and attacks on the
right to vote, to the gutting of the Justice Department, to torture and
other possible war crimes -- this can't be allowed to go on.

Cheney and Rumsfeld were bad enough. But it is equally critical that
lower-echelon culprits lacking household names like John Yoo, David
Addington (nicknamed "Cheney's Cheney"), and General Geoffrey Miller be
held accountable for their alleged involvement in torture and other
serious crimes. Otherwise, they could one day rise to Attorney General,
Secretary of Defense, or even the Supreme Court and pick up right where
they left off in their blood-soaked shredding of the Constitution.

Even a South African-style Truth Commission would be an important step
in preventing this from ever happening again. Otherwise, why should I or
anyone else obey the law when my own government does not even pretend
to? Even if Bush pardons the most blatant war criminals, all we have to
do is fulfill President Clinton's promise to join the rest of the world
in the International Criminal Court and they might not get away with it
after all. We must come clean and drain the swamp now or it is just
going to get dirtier. A lot dirtier.

Rule of law must also be restored when it comes to the NSA, FISA and
domestic spying. The Internet revolt by your own followers was right.
Your vote for letting the NSA, and even the phone companies, off the
hook for massive illegal spying on American citizens was a very bad
mistake. These are the exact same crimes that got Nixon thrown out of
office for Watergate. Now Watergate is legal too? I have to say it --
this doesn't remind me of Nixon as much as Italy's ordeal under Silvio
Berlusconi. In Italy I have heard the joke again and again that
"Berlusconi has to stay in power or else he'll go to jail." Sure enough,
every time Berlusconi gets indicted for yet another crime, his majority
in Parliament simply changes the law and he goes free. There should be
zero tolerance for Berlusconi disease.

Plus, does this much spying even make sense? What are we gaining here
besides a bigger avalanche of useless data? If 9/11 was an inside job,
it was not one of conspiracy but colossal, runaway incompetence. We were
already spying on way too many people, collecting way too much data that
no one had time to analyze. Thus finding the real terrorists before they
struck was like looking for a needle in a football stadium.

I have a feeling you may sign an important bill or two right from the
podium during your inauguration speech. It might be an economic stimulus
package or lifting the ban on stem cell research. How about also signing
your first executive order declaring all of Bush's presidential signing
statements he added on to bills he signed to be null and void. These
things will go a long way toward restoring the rule of law.

STAMP OUT ELECTION FRAUD -- RESTORE THE RIGHT TO VOTE

I never thought that after all these years we would once again find
ourselves fighting for our right to vote. In the United States of
America? It is well-established now that every election at least since
2000, including the midterms, has been marred by widespread vote fraud,
especially via the hacking and manipulations of electronic voting
machines. But these widespread crimes have never been fully
investigated, let alone prosecuted. Even the US Civil Rights Commission
recommended prosecuting then-Governor Jeb Bush over all the fraud and
voter intimidation in Florida during the 2002 election. But his
brother's Justice Department declined.

It is obvious the Help America Vote Act has backfired and done the
opposite. Optical scan machines are not the answer at all. They have now
been proven to be just as hackable as the notorious paperless
touch-screens. They should all be junked once and for all. Digital is
not always better, and voting should not be privatized. Any system where
the people's votes are counted in secret behind closed doors has no
place in a democracy. Nor is there room for contracting out the
verification of our registration forms to the same corrupt biased
companies that manufacture the phony voting machines.

We can't just let this massive, widespread vote stealing go on and
pretend it isn't happening. It may be too late to reverse the wreckage
of all the stolen elections. But again, a Truth Commission to prove how
it was done and who did it is essential to the survival of our
democracy. Anyone in Congress with a spine for this? The people have a
right to know.

CAMPAIGN FINANCE REFORM -- THE EASY WAY

I am sure you would agree that this election campaign was way WAY too
long. Other countries, including one just north of us, limit campaign
time to between 30 and 60 days. Election fever is much more focused so
voter participation is higher. Why can't we do this? Sure, these other
countries use parliamentary systems (another change I hope for) where
the party in power calls an election and it takes place a short time
later. But think of what we could save -- and what we would gain -- if
we limited campaign time to 90 days. There could be 30 days between
announcements and the primaries, followed by a 30-day primary season,
then a 30-day home stretch to Election Day. Anyone who jumps the gun by
jockeying, soliciting contributions or electioneering too early is
automatically disqualified.

I hope you would also agree that campaigns for high office have become
obscenely expensive. We now have a full-blown Election Industrial
Complex. Wouldn't it be great if you didn't need $750 million to run for
President? The way our campaign contributions and lobbyists work today
has another name in other countries. It's called bribery.

Another way to restore sanity is to go national with a law enacted by
popular vote in Nevada. If you don't like any of the candidates for an
office in Nevada, you are allowed to vote None of the Above. If N.O.T.A.
wins, they have to re-run the election with all new candidates.

You say you want more people to get up and get involved? Lower the
voting age! To get people's attention I have suggested lowering it clear
down to age 5. But more realistically, I suggest showing people they
have a stake in our democracy by allowing ages 14 and up to vote on
school boards and school bond issues, 16 and up for local offices and
ballot measures, and 18 and up for everything else. Overcoming voter
apathy is hard, but when young people cast votes and see results,
they'll stick with it long term.

RETHINK AND SHUT DOWN THE WAR ON DRUGS

Prohibition is as absurd and fruitless today as it was when Eliot Ness
ran around shooting up Chicago trying to stamp out illegal beer. The
world is laughing at us while real people are being robbed, jailed,
assaulted and even killed. We have more people locked in prison than any
country in the history of the world. But our drug use rate has barely
dropped at all. The blood and violence from gangs and narco-traffickers
that have left Colombia and Mexico on the verge of becoming failed
states is spilling across our borders. This is no country for old men --
or old laws.

Could we do worse than to at least try the Harm Reduction programs used
most successfully in Holland and other parts of Europe? As unorthodox as
this sounds, decriminalizing (not legalizing) even harder drugs, making
them available on prescription from the government for free, along with
a safe place to use them, has led to a much lower crime rate -- and even
addiction rate -- than ours. Why? The free prescriptions mean the addict
does not have to rob and kill people to pay the drug gangs' high prices,
and the gangs are put out of business. Dealers are still treated harshly
and rehab is strongly encouraged. This could also save up to $50 billion
a year for rehab and education that is otherwise wasted by throwing
people in prison.

This also frees up billions and billions of dollars to treat the addicts
when they want to get off drugs -- which will be sooner rather than
later. Rehab costs 2/3 less than prison. Our mushrooming
prison-industrial complex is draining our money so badly that state
after state is slashing funds for education -- education! -- to pay for
throwing more and more people in prison. In California, a prison guard
now makes more money than a teacher. So much for family values.

What is wrong with this picture?!??? As president I suggest the
commuting of federal prison sentences of all small-time non-violent drug
offenders to time served and releasing them immediately. Then strongly
urge governors to do the same at the state level. Again, think of all
the wasted taxpayer dollars this will free up for more important things
like education and rehabilitation. Estimates run as high as $50 billion
nationwide.

This does not mean any of these drugs should be legalized, just
decriminalized. That is, strictly regulated like alcohol and tobacco,
with big-time dealers and gangs treated as harshly as ever. For another
way to fight the drug lords, consider this. In 2005 the United States
spent $780 million on drug eradication in Afghanistan. Where on earth
did it all go? It worked so poorly that $600 million of poppies and
heroin escaped into the market anyway.

Do the math: We could have saved a whopping $180 million if we had
simply gone to the suppliers and bought the drugs, and then destroyed
them so they won't keep making people sick and killing my friends. As
sickening as it is to even think of doing business with drug cartels,
can anyone think of a better way to cut off the supply? A
counter-argument is that this will actually force the gangs to drive the
street price way up. But with Harm Reduction programs already in place
they will have nothing to sell, no place to sell it, and no suckers
willing to buy.

And for crying out loud, isn't it time to finally get real and
decriminalize marijuana? If current strains are more potent than the old
days, so what? Study after study still proves that marijuana is less
harmful -- and less addictive -- than alcohol or tobacco. Nowadays,
going overboard against marijuana has not only flooded our prisons to
the breaking point, it has driven the price of cannabis so high that
young people are going straight into crack cocaine and methamphetamines.
Is this wise?

On top of that, it is not just oil we are dangerously low on, we are
running out of wood. If we ever hope to turn the tide on global warming
and save what is left of our forests, we must remove all bans on the
cultivation of cannabis for its many industrial uses -- including the
strain of hemp that has no THC in it to get anyone high but is still
banned anyway. Recycling is not enough. Why chop down millions of trees
to make paper when we can use hemp or kanaf and then grow another crop
of paper a few months later? It does not get any greener than this. It
will also help rescue a lot of family farms.

Finally, the Joe Biden-authored Illicit Drug Anti-Proliferation Act
(formerly known as the RAVE Act), passed as a rider to the Amber Alert
Bill, is as big a disgrace as the PATRIOT Act. It has no place in a free
society and should be repealed immediately. Long-term rescue of our
social fabric and society, not to mention our southern neighbors,
depends in major part on enacting humane drug laws.

RESTORE BALANCE TO THE SUPREME COURT

Even George Will complained that Bill Clinton's Supreme Court nominees
were too moderate; that the court needs a good progressive or two for
the full and thorough consideration of each issue. Balancing the court
means choosing a justice or two with the passion and spirit of a
Thurgood Marshall, John Marshall or William O. Douglas, even if you do
not fully agree with them. You may only have a two-year window before a
mid-term Congress cramps your style.

MEDIA REFORM

The Federal Communications Commission should get off their high horse
about Janet Jackson's "wardrobe malfunction" or naughty words that
everyone says anyway, and instead focus on the rampant hate speech and
outright lies that are falsely broadcast as impartial news. Sure,
celebrity bullies like Rush Limbaugh, Lou Dobbs, Glenn Beck, and Ann
Coulter have a right to say what they want. But when no one -- even the
target of a personal attack -- is allowed the right to reply, the very
idea of an informed democracy goes out the window. Was that their goal
in the first place?

Nowadays, mainstream corporate media deliberately dumbing down the news,
omitting key facts and sides of the story, or neglecting to report the
story altogether is the worst form of censorship going on in America
today. Since the big mergers, most debate that gets aired at all is
restricted to right wing versus ultra-right wing, while the rest of us
are allowed to laugh along with Stewart and Colbert. What kind of
democracy are we when freedom of speech -- or the equally important
right to communicate -- belongs only to the oligarchs who control the
airwaves?

There used to be a law called the Fairness Doctrine that guaranteed the
right of reply, without Bill O'Reilly yelling at you to shut up every 15
seconds. It was allowed to expire late in the Reagan years, and urgently
needs to be renewed. Your stated opposition to this puzzles me. What
better tool is there for "opening up the airwaves and modern
communications to as many diverse viewpoints as possible" than making
sure they are allowed to be seen and heard in the first place? And how
about some enforcement of the laws guaranteeing that the public, not
corporations, owns the airwaves. Even the big corporate media barons
should again be required to renew their FCC license to broadcast every
five years, complete with public hearings.

I also do not think anyone should be allowed to graduate from high
school until they pass a class on media literacy. Sadly, we do not yet
have the curriculum. In the meantime we must all pitch in with the
teaching -- to both adults and children.

ECONOMIC STIMULUS -- START WITH PEOPLE WHO NEED IT MOST

I'm glad there seems to be a sense up top that national security, the
economy, climate collapse and the environment are all intertwined. Think
about it. No rogue state or terrorist threatens our national security
nearly as much as our collapsing economy. The growing gap between the
rich and poor is what is tearing apart the lives of average Americans
and their families.

National security means:

• Everyone has a home.

• Everyone has enough decent food to eat.

• Everyone can drink the water without having to buy it in a bottle from
Coke or Pepsi.

• No one has to worry about getting their hand cut off at work or having
their job outsourced overseas.

• Everyone can be who they are without fear of being detained and
tortured without trial.

• Everyone can vote without fear, knowing their vote will be
counted—accurately.

• Every woman has the right to choose what to do with her own body.

• Everyone has enough money for life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

• Everyone, even if they don't have money, has the right to see a doctor
if they're sick or hurt. In so many other countries this is a guaranteed
human right by law.

Stimulating and reviving the economy will only succeed from the ground
up. This means getting a lot more money quickly to the people on the
bottom who need it the most. When they finally have some cash in their
pocket they will be more than eager to spend it. Stores perk up, jobs
are saved, and the train is finally rolling out of the station. This is
why leaders as diverse as Martin Luther King, Milton Friedman and even
Richard Nixon have at different times proposed a guaranteed annual
income so that everyone can participate and keep our economy humming.
Raise the minimum wage to a living wage: $9.50 an hour helps, but $12 an
hour is closer to a true living wage. Welfare should not be a dirty
word, especially after PBS reported last month that if you count all the
Americans who have given up looking for work because they can't find any
and dropped off the radar screen, unemployment is actually around 12%!
So please remove the time limits on unemployment compensation, welfare
benefits and Aid to Families with Dependent Children that were slapped
on the least fortunate during the Clinton years.

But where will the money come from when we burn it all up shoveling it
down the mouths of the dragons on Wall Street? You are right to point
out that trickle-down supply-side economics never trickled down. It
wasn't supposed to. How will this be any different? To the average
taxpayer this so-called bailout looks more like the last great looting
of our treasury before Bush and his cronies get the hell out of dodge.
There is also growing concern about the appearance of self-dealing by
officials with connections to Goldman Sachs and Citigroup.

So far your own economic team seems alarmingly slanted toward the robber
barons who helped create this mess in the first place. Where is Joseph
Stiglitz? Where is Robert Reich? Are we still all in this together? Your
Economic Advisory Council is supposed to be a council, not a choir! You
say you want a support staff that debate and give you diverse ideas. So
even if you do not agree with them, how about adding William Greider or
Doug Henwood or even Naomi Klein as well?

GREEN JOBS THROUGH GREEN AID

Let's move even faster on climate collapse. The clock is ticking…

Your proposal to spend $150 billion on our crumbling infrastructure is a
good beginning. But it is only 10% of the $1.5 trillion in urgent
repairs the American Society of Civil Engineers says we need right now
to avoid more disasters like the freeway bridge collapse in Minnesota.
This does not even account for restocking the Bush-depleted Superfund to
clean up toxic waste, or creating affordable housing for everyone. Your
plan states, "We'll put people back to work rebuilding our roads and
bridges, modernizing schools that are failing our children and building
wind farms and solar panels, fuel efficient cars and the alternative
energy technology that could free us from our dependence on foreign oil
and keep our economy competitive in the years ahead." Therefore, it
makes a lot of sense to spend whatever it takes to weather-strip and
winterize old homes and buildings now if the owners can't afford it. It
will reduce our swollen carbon footprint dramatically and save tens if
not hundreds of billions of dollars over the next few years. How about
aid for solar panels? Home windmills too? Not just tax breaks, aid. Most
people just don't have the money for this. Time magazine reported in
2001 that an American farmer could get $50 for an acre of wheat and
$2000 for an acre of wind power. We either pay to do this now or pay a
lot more later. Europeans are already way ahead of us on this one.

Also, look for ways to accomplish two or three things at once with every
renewal project. Replacing the water or sewer lines? Lay fiber optic
cable! Our not-so-liberal mayor in San Francisco, Gavin Newsom, nixed
that idea because there was not enough graft in it for telecom
companies. His own silly plan for wi-fi towers fell on its face, so a
smart opportunity was wasted.

AUTO AID -- REQUIRE GREENER CARS

Ever seen a documentary film called Who Killed the Electric Car? They
worked so well their owners did not want to give them back. But when
their leases came up, Detroit snatched them away and destroyed them. Now
Detroit wants a great big handout? Then another? Then another? There
should be no bailout for carmakers if all they are willing to offer in
return is more fuel-hogging clunkers like the Ford Flex. No aid until
they bring back the electric cars! If the Chevy Volt is so great, why
aren't they selling them now? For almost 30 years, people who go to
design schools have told me that the car designers almost always pursue
jobs overseas because Detroit is still unable to adapt as quickly to
fresh ideas for the future.

So far "clean coal" seems to be about as clean as our mountains of
"clean nuclear waste." Again, no aid to big coal companies unless they
end their environmentally devastating "mountain top removal" plundering
once and for all.

TRAINS MAKE SENSE -- PEOPLE ARE READY

Another crucial way to fight global warming and reduce our dependence on
foreign oil is to wake up and get serious about a nationwide high-speed
rail system and better rapid transit in the cities. Again, Europe,
Japan, and even China are way ahead of us. When I do my speaking tours
in Europe it is so much easier and less expensive than traveling here:
Just take my backpack and go. Even a normal train is often faster than
flying. No traffic jams getting to the airport, no long security lines,
no baggage claim wait, no traffic jams back into the next town. I just
get on the train and get off the train, right downtown. The scenery is
pretty cool too.

Amtrak has hemorrhaged money year after year. But ridership is finally
going up, in spite of the decimated service. People have finally grown
so fed up with traffic jams, fuel prices and the arrogance of our
bumbling airline industry that a proper train system would now do very
well. Just ask former Salt Lake City mayor Rocky Anderson, another
intriguing choice for a high position in your administration.
Californians finally passed a bond issue to begin work on a long-overdue
bullet train system between San Francisco Bay and Los Angeles. People I
have talked to in random conversation are almost as excited about this
as they are about your own election. A similar initiative passed in
Florida in 2000, but Governor Jeb Bush impounded the funds.

Surely we can find the money by canceling a few aircraft carriers, tanks
and planes we don't need, and by shutting off the faucet for the
hundreds of billions wasted on Reagan's star wars fantasy -- now known
as "missile defense." Are those new installations in the Czech Republic
and Poland really worth all the grief they're stirring up with the
Russians? The Czech and Polish people don't even want them there!

Green energy technology should also be shared, even given, to the
Chinese ASAP. Here on the West Coast I have to wipe a brown sooty film
off my windshield every couple of days -- and my car is in a garage! It
is coal dust from Chinese factories. They open a new coal plant every
few days. According to Mother Jones, sustaining an American lifestyle
for a Chinese middle class predicted to reach 600 million will require
the resources of several more Earths!

COMPETE GLOBALLY -- TAKE BETTER CARE OF OUR PEOPLE

Other countries prefer a healthy workforce and are willing to pay for
it. Here we stick our workforce with fat, greedy insurance companies who
serve no purpose but to act as a tollbooth or a gatekeeper and charge
exorbitant fees before a person can even see a doctor. The result, of
course, is the most expensive healthcare system with the least benefit
for the buck of any in the industrialized world. You say the big
insurance companies "should have a place at the table." Aren't these
companies the problem?

Other counties want their workforce to be as well-educated as possible
to better care for themselves and compete in the global economy. So they
are willing to pay to make sure this happens, instead of kicking them in
the face with back-breaking student loans and cutting school funding to
the bone.

Other countries want their children to grow up well-nourished and loved
instead of dysfunctional. They are happy to pay welfare for single
parents to stay home with their little ones, and for 12-18 months
maternity leave with 80-90% pay for either parent to make sure no child
is left behind.

Traveling overseas it is not hard to notice that many European
countries, and not just Scandinavia, have a higher standard of living
than we do, and the gap is widening. The reason is they are willing to
pay for it.

HUMANE TAX REFORM

Please do not break your promise to raise income taxes on the wealthy
and close those Titanic-sized loopholes that allowed two-thirds of US
and foreign corporations who do business here to pay no tax at all
between 1998 and 2005. We used to have a tiny tax on security
speculation and stock transactions. Britain still does. If the annual
amount of wheeling and dealing in the stock market really amounts to the
reported $500 trillion a year, a mere 1% tax could raise $5 trillion per
year and Wall Street would not even feel it! Other ways to raise badly
needed revenue without hurting Joe the Plumber would be to tax companies
who pollute, divert funds overseas, and ship jobs out of the country, as
well as taxing stock windfalls rewarded by Wall Street for balancing the
bottom line with employee layoffs.

Last September the Bush administration quietly dynamited Section 382 of
the tax code allowing big banks to run off with as much as $140 billion
dollars in new tax breaks that many suspect are illegal. Was this
illegal? Please enforce the law and stop the bleeding now.

We could also follow the lead of Berlin, Moscow, Beijing, and even the
state of Maine and encourage cities to start their own municipal or
community banks. Being a non-profit, these banks would provide low-cost
loans for homes and small businesses. They would also save cities
millions of dollars apiece that they now waste on private banking fees.

Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D - IL) proposes generous tax breaks and
shareholder advantages to "patriotic corporations" who limit management
salaries to 100 times the lowest-paid fulltime worker. I think 10 times
is better. Shareholders need better legal tools to limit runaway CEO pay
and looting by top executives.

Schakowsky would also give tax breaks to corporations that: produce at
least 90% of their goods and services in the United States; spend at
least 50% of the research and development budgets here at home; stay out
of employee organizing drives; are clean with the EPA, OSHA and the
NRLB; and provide their employees with generous and portable pension
funds and health insurance. They must also agree not to price-gouge
consumers.

So how do we convince Americans that it is in our best interest to help
pay for all of this? It would help if you use your power to inspire and
persuade, to get through to people in this country that not all taxes
are automatically bad, especially when spent in a way that benefits them
directly. Starting with the Boston Tea Party in kindergarten, it is
drilled into us that taxes are this terrible violation of our freedom.
As adults we have had 30 plus years of media sermons from both parties
that we are no longer a community, but a marketplace, and that
competitiveness is more important than caring about one another. Isn't
it interesting that the people least interested in paying taxes are
often the first to complain when a government service they take for
granted doesn't work any more?

To wise people up and chip away at this I suggest pointing out what
happened to California when voters passed Proposition 13 and gutted what
was once the number one education system in the country, if not the
world. It is now almost dead last. According to the ACLU, some schools
in Los Angeles are not only short on books and desks, they don't even
have toilet paper. Californians also voted down an initiative
guaranteeing universal healthcare after the Disease Industry ran a blitz
of TV ads claiming it would raise people's taxes. They banked on people
failing to do the math and see how a slight tax increase would
dramatically reduce their own medical bills.

Another example is the tale of two of the Quad Cities on the Mississippi
River. In the 1990s, Rock Island, IL voters were willing to raise taxes
to build a floodwall. Voters in Davenport, IA rejected a wall three
times because it would raise taxes. Guess whose town was devastated the
next time the Mississippi flooded? To raise local money for local and
state projects voters have to be shown that it is worth raising taxes to
pay for these things.

Taxes also wouldn't hurt so much if the people had more say in where
their money went. How about placing 12-15 categories in US income tax
forms so people can vote what percentage of their tax money they want
spent where? I'll bet education, the environment, infrastructure, and
services would go straight up and our bloated military cash cow would go
straight down.

HELP PEOPLE RESIST FORECLOSURES

To fight the plague of foreclosures, I suggest following the lead of the
Cook County Sheriff in Chicago by declaring a moratorium on foreclosure
evictions. Debts to predatory lenders should be forgiven at once. Many
families are fleeing their homes because they are so frightened of the
cruel Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005,
they are willing to default on their mortgage just to keep up with their
credit card debts. You voted against this law. Now let's get rid of it.
I am inspired by City Life/Vida Urbana in Boston who have said "Yes We
Can" to reviving the Depression-era practice of volunteer rolling
brigades who show up to defend people's homes from eviction, and if need
be take all the furniture and belongings back from the curb into the
house. In addition, they alert the media to help shame the banks and
predatory lenders from coming back. In many cases it has worked.

The most intriguing proposal flying around the Internet is for everyone
who files an individual tax return to be given $1 million dollars on the
condition that they use it to pay off their mortgage in full (thus
bailing out the banks) and buy an American car within the next three
years. Whatever is left over is theirs to keep and invest. Unfortunately
the math does not add up. Even the staggering estimated total of $8
trillion thrown at our collapsing economy would only bring $57,971.01
for each of the 138 million individual tax returns filed each year. Too
bad, it is an interesting idea.

"THIS MOVEMENT IS NOT JUST ABOUT ONE PERSON . . ."

I'm glad to hear you say that, but I keep waiting for you to expand and
take it further. To point out how much it also matters who is in the
Senate, who is in the House, the Governor, the State legislature,
mayors, city councils, school boards, ballot initiatives, county
commissioners, you name it. To say that if a person is not satisfied
with what is going on in their community, they should get involved. If
they are not satisfied with how they are being represented, they should
consider running for office themselves. A lot of inspired people would.
What else can we do in the meantime to make things better? What simple,
easy steps can we take in our own lives? You have two more chances --
Inauguration and the State of the Union. Before people return to the
slumber of Soundbite McNews.

Bill Clinton could have won back Congress in 1996 if he had used his
popularity, convention speech and pulpit for something besides his own
shoo-in re-election. But he didn't. I was in the room for Al Gore's
acceptance speech in 2000. He didn't bother either. It was just about
one person.

I'll be amazed if Mr. Obama or anyone close actually reads this, so this
last part is for you folks who have. To me, if there is an Obama
movement, it is more like the Pope-mobile. You know, that cage of
bulletproof glass on wheels that rolls around with the Pope inside,
waving at his adoring flock, "Yo! I'm here! Look at me, I'm the Pope!"
Then everybody goes home. But who is driving the Pope-mobile? Can a
crowd organize to block the wrong turns and steer it in a better direction?

I did not vote for you, but I dearly want you to succeed at delivering
the change you have promised. We have very little time and may not get
another chance. Recent history shows we have eight years maximum before
the pendulum swings back the other way -- and hard. She may lose once or
twice, but I fear the Pitbull with Lipstick will one day be bigger than
Reagan.

In many ways, people seem to be looking to you as their new
great-and-powerful Oprah as much as they look at you as their President.
This can be useful too. To revive people's sense of community and what
it entails. To persuade people that voting for small local tax increases
brings much greater benefits for everyone down the road. To encourage
people to not just recycle but look for ways to stop wasting so much.
Those same European countries whose standard of living seems to be
higher than ours use a fraction per capita of natural resources we do.
How do they do it? Think of all the forests we could save just by
showing people how much paper they can save just by writing on the other
side before they throw it away? Imagine if lawyers figured this out.

HONOR AND RESPECT YOUR MOVEMENT

Please don't ever forget why so many people who had given up hope are
investing so much of their hearts and hope in you. If that hope is
shattered and they feel betrayed, a great deal more will collapse for good.

So to keep your movement alive -- and help it grow beyond you -- keep
those texts and e-mail lists alive! Keep your Blackberry. Does it matter
if it all becomes public record? How about posting a daily log of what
you did and who you and your staff met with, including lobbyists. Why
not keep all those campaign offices you opened all over the country
alive too? Convert them to branch offices. Senators and House members
have branch offices all over their districts. You now represent the
whole country. Keep the branches.

Above all, be a leader, not a dealmaker. There are times when cutting a
deal is the same as cutting and running. To put it mildly, we can't
afford that anymore. There are no sails left to trim.

And if this is a movement about change and not just about one person, it
is up to the movement to drive the President, not the other way around.
Please do not stand in the way.

Sincerely,

Jello Biafra

-- 
Tian
http://tian.greens.org
Jimmy Carter sent me a holiday greetings card with a
reddish painting titled "Tulips are People II" on it.