White House

Secretive White House Office For Lobbyists

August 4, 2014 Heather Rogers, www.propublica.org Educate! Lobbyists, Secrecy, Transparency, White House

In early 2011, after years of study, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration moved to reduce the permissible levels of silica dust wafted into the air by industrial processes like fracking, mining or cement manufacturing. The move came after years of public comment and hearings, and reflected emerging science about the dangers posed by even low levels of dust. OSHA predicted the rule would save 700 lives annually and prevent 1,600 new cases of silicosis, an incurable, life-threatening disease. The proposal stirred fierce opposition from an array of industries, which argued that the costs of reducing silica levels far outweighed the potential benefits. When OSHA pushed ahead, the lobbyists took their arguments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, a division of the Office of Management and Budget. Few people have ever heard of OIRA even though it is part of the White House and has broad authority to delay or suggest changes in any draft regulation. OIRA's deliberations on the silica rule began in February 2011, and lasted two and a half years. During that time, records show, its officials held nine meetings with lobbyists and lawyers for the affected industries, but sat down only once with unions and once with health advocates. Last August, the office sent a revised version of the rule back to OSHA; the worker protection agency has yet to act.

More Than 100 Arrested In Deportation Protest Outside White House

August 1, 2014 Hatzel Vela, www.wjla.com Resist! Immigrant Rights, Immigration, Protest, Religion, White House

Police said 112 demonstrators intentionally had themselves arrested outside the White House Thursday in protest against the Obama administration’s response to the sudden surge of illegal immigrants across the border with Mexico. The protest took place as Republican leaders withdrew legislation aimed at the immigration crisis from consideration in the U.S. House. The act of civil disobedience was organized mostly by religious groups, including the Catholic Sisters of Mercy and the United Methodist Church. Several hundred additional supporters looked on as the activists staged a sit-in on the sidewalk outside the White House grounds, prompting National Park Service police to remove and arrest them for obstructing foot traffic in a highly choreographed, but peaceful, demonstration. “We are gathered here to make our voices heard,” the Rev. John McCollough said in a prayer service before the arrests. “We are here to pray for this president, our President Obama, to ask him to lose the bonds of injustice and let the oppressed go free. Si se puede!” The demonstrators demanded the Obama administration cease the deportation of an estimated 1,100 of those illegal immigrants per day — a number expected to rise as the federal government grapples with the hundreds of thousands believed to have slipped through in the last nine months, and a 106 percent increase over the same period last year.

White House Emails Torture Report Talking Points

July 31, 2014 Xeni Jardin, www.boingboing.net Educate! Journalism, Prison, Torture, White House

A White House staff member 'accidentally emailed' non-classified talking points about a classified torture report to an Associated Press reporter. The document says a Senate report concludes the CIA initially withheld information about torture and secret prisons from then-Secretary of State Colin Powell and others. A Senate report on the CIA’s interrogation and detention practices after the 9/11 attacks concludes that the agency initially kept the secretary of state and some U.S. ambassadors in the dark about harsh techniques and secret prisons, according to a document circulating among White House staff. The still-classified report also says some ambassadors who were informed about interrogations of al-Qaida detainees at so-called black sites in their countries were instructed not to tell their superiors at the State Department, says the document, which the White House accidentally emailed to an Associated Press reporter. Read the full AP item: "Powell maybe not told early about CIA techniques"

Black Is Back Coalition Holds National Conference In Philadelphia

July 31, 2014 Glen Ford, www.blackagendareport.com Organize! Barack Obama, Black Power, Conference, White House

In November of 2009, the newly-formed Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations marched from Malcolm X Park through the gentrifying streets of Washington to the White House, loudly denouncing the First Black President of the United States. Barack Obama had been in office only ten months, but the militarist and corporatist trajectory of his regime was already quite clear. Obama had retained George Bush’s Secretary of Defense, escalated the drone wars in Afghanistan and Pakistan, placed Bill Clinton’s Wall Street operatives in charge of the economy, announced his intention to cut Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, even as he pushed through Congress a health care bill that was largely written by private drug and insurance companies. Like George Bush before him, Obama sabotaged the Durban II World Conference Against Racism, in order to derail demands for reparations for slavery and colonialism. And, only 100 days into his administration, Obama had served notice to African Americans that he would propose no programs to alleviate the suffering of Black America, which had been hit hardest by the economic meltdown. The Black is Back Coalition was determined that the first politician in history to spend a billion dollars to win the presidency would not get a free pass from all of Black America – even if his father was an African. One of the biggest contingents in that first anti-Obama march and rally was the Newark, New Jersey-based People’s Organization for Progress, “POP” – perhaps Black America’s most dynamic regional grassroots organization. POP’s membership, after much debate, had endorsed Obama in the 2008 election, but that did not stop them from chanting their outrage at his policies at the gates of the White House.

Muslim Americans Boycott White House Ramadan Dinner

July 16, 2014 Kevin Gosztola, www.dissenter.firedoglake.com Resist! boycott, FBI, Guantanamo, Muslim, White House

Muslim American groups and individuals are boycotting the White House’s Iftar dinner and will instead be participating or supporting a protest outside the White House against United States government policies, which disproportionately impact Muslims all over the world. The Iftar is when Muslims break fast during Ramadan. In the past, the White House has held its Ramadan dinner with members of Muslim groups and various distinguished Muslim Americans. The dinner has been seen as an opportunity for Muslims to engage with officials in power. And, while there will still be Muslim Americans who attend the dinner, there is a growing concern that policies simply keep getting worse and they would be complicit if they attended the Ramadan dinner. More than a hundred Muslim advocates, activists, and scholars put out an open letter the day of the dinner explaining why they believed a boycott was necessary. They claimed the dinner “represents nothing more than an attempt to whitewash state violence, absolve government institutions from taking responsibility and creating mechanisms of accountability and transparency for the civil rights violations that have been perpetrated towards Muslims and Muslim Americans, and Americans at large, beginning from even before the onset of the War on Terror.”

White House In Denial About Asian Ties To Russia

March 26, 2014 Pepe Escobar www.atimes.com Educate! Asia, Russia, White House

What the White House calls "the international community" - roughly the "Hague Declaration" G-7 plus a few European minions - could not possibly admit that. Asia, on the other hand, clearly identifies it. China, Japan and South Korea, for starters, identify Russia with a steady supply of oil and gas and further business deals. Even considering that Japan and South Korea are essentially US protectorates, nothing could be more anachronistic in their calculations than a Western-provoked New Cold War. Asia will not "isolate" Russia - and Asians and Russians know it, as much as The White House is in denial. Beijing's abstention in "condemning" Moscow - talk about the American angry-schoolmaster brand of politics - is classic Deng Xiaoping-style "keep a low profile", as China is Russia's strategic partner and both are busy working for the emergence of a multipolar world.

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