Things you don't know about new laws

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Sun, 28 Nov 2004 17:13:11 +0000 (GMT)

Things you don't know about new laws

 

Have any room for more outrage?

 

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FORT WORTH STAR-TELEGRAM

 

MOLLY IVINS

 

November 25, 2004

 

 

 

AUSTIN, Texas -- As we take this long weekend to digest our

Thanksgiving dinners and the ensuing leftovers, let us also devote

some time to digesting a few political developments that have flown in

under the wider media radar recently.

 

-- Mental health experts say we face a crisis because one in

six returning soldiers from Iraq is suffering from post-traumatic

stress, and the number is expected to grow rapidly. You will not be

amazed to learn that the Pentagon did not anticipate the problem,

since it has yet to anticipate anything about Iraq correctly.

 

A study by the Walter Reed Army Institute found 15.6 percent

of Marines and 17.1 percent of soldiers surveyed after tours in Iraq

suffer from major depression, generalized anxiety or post-traumatic

stress disorder (PTSD), which can cause flashbacks, sleep disorders,

violent outbursts, panic attacks, acute anxiety and emotional

numbness. The numbers are expected to be higher among reservists than

among career soldiers.

 

According to the Los Angeles Times, 30 percent of Vietnam Vets

experienced PTSD, and the greater tragedy was that at first it went

unrecognized and later often went untreated. This time, we should have

known it was coming (except this was supposed to be a " cakewalk " and

our troops greeted with flowers). We're totally unprepared again, and

the system cannot move fast enough to treat the problem. But hey,

anyone who criticizes the Pentagon is " not supporting our troops, " right?

 

-- The Wall Street Journal spotted yet another depressing

trend in the pension field. Many companies have started suing their

own retired employees in order to cut their pension benefits.

 

" Many companies have already cut back company-paid health-care

coverage for retirees from their salaried staff, " the Journal notes.

" But until recently, employers generally were barred from touching

unionized retirees' benefits because they are spelled out in labor

contracts. Now some are taking aggressive steps to pare those benefits

as well, including going to court. "

 

Here's the part I love: The companies' legal argument is that

the " lifetime " coverage specified in the contracts does not mean the

lifetime of the workers, but the " lifetime " of the labor contract.

Cute, eh?

 

-- Here's a dandy: Our government now arranges " torture

flights. " We are outsourcing torture. A Gulfstream 5 jet has been

leased by the Department of Defense and the CIA. We use this plane to

transport suspected terrorists from other countries or U.S. military

bases to countries that practice torture.

 

A Swedish television program tracked two Egyptians arrested

there and supposedly " extradited " by Egypt. They were flown out on the

leased American plane, and both suspects were then tortured in Egypt.

According to Britain's Sunday Times, the plane's logbooks show it has

been to 49 destinations outside the United States in the past two

years, including Guantanamo and other U.S. bases, Egypt, Jordan, Iraq,

Morocco, Afghanistan, Libya and Uzbekistan.

 

-- We already know that a kitchen sink of unrelated stuff,

including a new restriction on abortion and a gross invasion of

privacy through our tax returns, was included in the obscene

appropriations bill. Riders that were never voted upon or discussed in

either House have been added during conference committee meetings, and

likewise, amendments never brought up during conference have been added.

 

This is what the media call a " procedure story, " which they avoid

like the plague. All editors believe that the public is bored silly by

procedure stories. Indeed, only a legislator would wind up in a

red-faced fury because some article 21 of subsection C of Rule 22 has

been broken.

 

Nevertheless, every little, petty violation of the rules means

that laws affecting our lives are being made by something other than a

democratic process.

 

The Natural Resources Defense Council found these undebated

gems in the appropriations bill, just the place for anti-environmental

legislation:

 

-- California developers pushed for an amendment to weaken the

Endangered Species Act by weakening protection for critical habitats.

 

-- A measure removing all endangered species protections from

pesticides. According to the NRDC, this last-minute addition would

take away the ability to limit pesticide use even if it meant the

extinction of the bald eagle.

 

-- A rider to authorize the largest public-lands logging in

history,

overriding environmental review and prohibiting judicial review.

Passed for a forest in Oregon, courtesy of Sen. Gordon Smith, R-Ore.

 

-- Approximately $17 billion in pork barrel water projects, a

measure that was never debated in the Senate.

 

-- A waiver of environmental review of grazing permits on

public lands. We keep selling grazing rights to Western ranchers at

below-market prices, even when the grazing destroys public lands.

 

-- Oil drilling in an Alaskan wildlife refuge, of course.

 

-- A provision allowing commercial fishing within wilderness

areas of Alaska. Hey, don't all wildernesses have commercial fishing

operations?

 

And so on. And so forth.

 

No one is claiming that following proper procedures will produce

brilliant legislation untouched by corporate or parochial interests.

But it

would help.

 

 

 

Copyright 2004 Creators Syndicate

 

http://www.creators.com/opinion_show.cfm?columnsName=miv

 

 

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