Harvard University Needs To Clean Up Its History
By David Mixner
Copyright by David Mixner
Jun 16 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/06/harvard-university-needs-to-clean-up-its-history.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29
Harvard As time moves on, more and more of the history of our brutal oppression surfaces. Recently Queerty.com ran a story about a new play by Stan Richardson called "VERITAS." Resurrecting a horrible stain on Harvard University's history from the 1920's, this play will bring attention to a crucial piece of the LGBT history.
After reviewing the details of this horrible episode, it is clear to me that Harvard needs to make amends for its participation in this witch hunt that literally destroyed lives and created an atmosphere of terror on the Harvard campus at that time. The story of what Harvard did to homosexuals is not a pretty one.
Queerty.com writes of the witch hunt:
"In August at the New York Fringe Festival, the New York City-based playwright Stan Richardson will unveil Vertias, a play about Harvard University's gay witch hunt in 1920 that, ninety years ago, investigated 30 men and found guilty ten of them, including a recent graduate, of "homosexualism." They were, Richardson writes, expelled from "not only the campus but also from Cambridge itself. Two of the then-students were later readmitted, but the other seven never had the opportunity to sit at their commencement and listen to an exegesis on the finer points of the interpretation of law."
The decision was made by the Secret Court ("the actual label on the box of files that was discovered by a researcher for The Crimson in 2002"), which was composed of "three deans, a regent and a professor of hygiene." Two of the men found guilty killed themselves."
Am in total agreement with those voices who suggest that Harvard University needs to honor/acknowledge these men at the next graduation. If this past shameful human oppression is condoned in a liberal institution such as Harvard, there will be a lack of urgency about today's battle for equality. The university needs to bring these men back to honor, dignity and in some metaphorical case
Rolling Stone: "The Spill, The Scandal and the President"
By David Mixner
Copyright by David Mixner
Jun 16 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/06/rolling-stone-the-spill-the-scandal-and-the-president.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29
Burning-oil-rig-explosion-fire-photo11 After six weeks of watching oil pour into the Gulf of Mexico and endless stories of the suffering of people, wildlife and the eco-system, it is hard to read any more. In some sense, a hopelessness has settled in with the American people who have come to view their government as powerless to manage any crisis. In recent years, government has been the force that has taken our sons and daughters to unpopular wars, ignored the cries of Katrina and now seems unable to stop the greatest environmental disaster in American history.
How did we get to this point? I have written about what President Obama could have done after the crisis began in May However, Rolling Stone magazine has a brilliant in-depth article chronicling from day one of the spill. The long article goes into details of missed opportunities, lack of regulation, dishonesty and denial. It should be required reading and I can't urge you strongly enough to pick up a copy or click here to read "The Spill, The Scandal and The President." by Tim Dickinson.
Here is an excerpt:
Even worse, the "moratorium" on drilling announced by the president does little to prevent future disasters. The ban halts exploratory drilling at only 33 deepwater operations, shutting down less than one percent of the total wells in the Gulf. Interior Secretary Ken Salazar, the Cabinet-level official appointed by Obama to rein in the oil industry, boasts that "the moratorium is not a moratorium that will affect production" – which continues at 5,106 wells in the Gulf, including 591 in deep water.
Most troubling of all, the government has allowed BP to continue deep-sea production at its Atlantis rig – one of the world's largest oil platforms. Capable of drawing 200,000 barrels a day from the sea floor, Atlantis is located only 150 miles off the coast of Louisiana, in waters nearly 2,000 feet deeper than BP drilled at Deepwater Horizon. According to congressional documents, the platform lacks required engineering certification for as much as 90 percent of its subsea components – a flaw that internal BP documents reveal could lead to "catastrophic" errors. In a May 19th letter to Salazar, 26 congressmen called for the rig to be shut down immediately. "We are very concerned," they wrote, "that the tragedy at Deepwater Horizon could foreshadow an accident at BP Atlantis."
Later in this compelling piece he writes:
...Except that it didn't. Salazar did little to tamp down on the lawlessness at MMS, beyond referring a few employees for criminal prosecution and ending a Bush-era program that allowed oil companies to make their "royalty" payments – the amount they owe taxpayers for extracting a scarce public resource – not in cash but in crude. And instead of putting the brakes on new offshore drilling, Salazar immediately throttled it up to record levels. Even though he had scrapped the Bush plan, Salazar put 53 million offshore acres up for lease in the Gulf in his first year alone – an all-time high. The aggressive leasing came as no surprise, given Salazar's track record. "This guy has a long, long history of promoting offshore oil drilling – that's his thing," says Kierán Suckling, executive director of the Center for Biological Diversity. "He's got a highly specific soft spot for offshore oil drilling." As a senator, Salazar not only steered passage of the Gulf of Mexico Energy Security Act, which opened 8 million acres in the Gulf to drilling, he even criticized President Bush for not forcing oil companies to develop existing leases faster.
Salazar was far less aggressive, however, when it came to making good on his promise to fix MMS. Though he criticized the actions of "a few rotten apples" at the agency, he left long-serving lackeys of the oil industry in charge. "The people that are ethically challenged are the career managers, the people who come up through the ranks," says a marine biologist who left the agency over the way science was tampered with by top officials. "In order to get promoted at MMS, you better get invested in this pro-development oil culture." One of the Bush-era managers whom Salazar left in place was John Goll, the agency's director for Alaska. Shortly after, the Interior secretary announced a reorganization of MMS in the wake of the Gulf disaster, Goll called a staff meeting and served cake decorated with the words "Drill, baby, drill."
Salazar also failed to remove Chris Oynes, a top MMS official who had been a central figure in a multibillion-dollar scandal that Interior's inspector general called "a jaw-dropping example of bureaucratic bungling." In the 1990s, industry lobbyists secured a sweetheart subsidy from Congress: Drillers would pay no royalties on oil extracted in deep water until prices rose above $28 a barrel. But this tripwire was conveniently omitted in Gulf leases overseen by Oynes – a mistake that will let the oil giants pocket as much as $53 billion. Instead of being fired for this fuckup, however, Oynes was promoted by Bush to become associate director for offshore drilling – a position he kept under Salazar until the Gulf disaster hit.
"Employees describe being in Interior – not just MMS, but the other agencies – as the third Bush term," says Jeff Ruch, executive director of Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, which represents federal whistle-blowers. "They're working for the same managers who are implementing the same policies. Why would you expect a different result?"
Proposition Eight Court Case: A Moment In History
By David Mixner
Copyright by David Mixner
Jun 17 2010
http://www.davidmixner.com/2010/06/proposition-eight-court-case-a-moment-in-history.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+DavidMixnerCom+%28DavidMixner.com%29
Proposition 8 Without question, future generations will look back at the court challenge to Proposition 8 by the American Foundation for Equal Rights as one of the great moments in the history of the LGBT community. We can only hope that those living today will appreciate the historical nature of this case. With closing arguments being presented and an opinion by Judge Vaughn Walker expected not too far into the future, already the collateral impact of this case has been monumental.
The Foundation's case, Perry vs Schwarzenegger, has resulted in two of the nation's best attorneys, David Boies and Theodore Olson, representing the LGBT community in its attempt to overturn the horrific passage of Proposition 8 in California. On behalf of their clients, the impressive and brave Kristin Perry, Sandra Stier, Paul Katami and Jeffrey Zarrillo, new legal ground has already been obtained. The shining light of the law in this trial has forced our opponents out of the shadows. Through depositions and testimony the public and press at last can see that Proposition 8 supporters' arguments are not based on rational thought but instead based on myths, misinformation and simple bigotry. Even their lawyers have had to explain away the outrageous backgrounds of their 'experts.'
In the court of law, it is hard for bigotry to stay in the closet.
Boies and Olson should have a special place in the hearts of every LGBT citizen for the rest of their lives. These scholars were not content to just provide adequate representation the court room. All over this nation they have spoken out, written OpEds and given extensive interviews on this case, the injustice of Proposition 8 and the need for full equality for LGBT citizens. In my fifty years of activism, their actions, work and generosity stand out among the giants in the battle for civil rights for all people. We never will be able to thank them enough.
The American Foundation for Civil Rights started this case with little support from the LGBT community. They have proceeded with a professionalism unmatched in this struggle. They have kept their focus on the case and our lawyers. Their press operation has been spectacular. While initially opposing this case, many of our national organizations should now learn from the Foundation's conduct over the last months. I am in awe of their work.
No matter what the decision Judge Vaughn Walker hands down the case will, with certainty, be appealed by one side or the other. This takes money. I urge you to contribute anything from $1 to $10,000 to support this case. Even if you gave tons of money to the campaign to stop Proposition 8, you will get an even bigger bang for your buck by contributing to the Foundation and making sure Boies and Olson have the resources they need to continue this incredibly epic and historic case.
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