McJunta!

John McCain has chosen a real class act to run the GOP convention in St. Paul.

Meet Doug Goodyear, the CEO of consulting firm DCI Group. Last year, the firm earned $3 million lobbying for clients including General Motors and everyone's favorite company as we approach 4 bucks a gallon, ExxonMobil.

But it gets better.

Six years ago, DCI was paid $348,000 to represent the totalitarian miltary junta ruling Burma/Myanmar.

As Newsweek puts it:

Justice Department lobbying records show DCI pushed to "begin a dialogue of political reconciliation" with the regime. It also led a PR campaign to burnish the junta's image, drafting releases praising Burma's efforts to curb the drug trade and denouncing "falsehoods" by the Bush administration that the regime engaged in rape and other abuses.

And as usual, we have to wonder if McCain will get questioned on this one or will he get his bazillionth pass from his beltway fan club.

I know this isn't quite as important as whether or not a candidate attaches flag-themed costume jewelry to their lapels, but you'd think the media might want to look into the fact that McCain has hired a known opponent of democracy to run the show when he gets nominated.

UPDATE: Looks like Goodyear has now resigned. Now we can all praise the maverickish departure and not question the judgment of the man who hired him in the first place.

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Meanwhile, the junta has went on with its fake election. The rigged referendum is designed to solidify military rule. Despite the fact that the nation is reeling from a cyclone that has killed 100,000, the vote was not called off.

From AP:

Human rights organizations and anti-government groups have bitterly accused the government of neglecting cyclone victims to advance its political agenda, and have criticized its proposed constitution as designed to perpetuate military rule.

Local journalists said they saw cases of intimidation of voters at various polling stations around the country.

Photos by AP: Top: Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., laughs during a campaign stop at the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J. on Friday. Bottom: A Myanmar protester holds a placard showing a caricature, during a demonstration outside the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Saturday. Some 500 activists demanded that Yangon call off its constitutional referendum even as voting began in the military-ruled nation despite a devastating cyclone.

More than 100,000

Reuters:

State Myanmar radio and television, the main official sources for casualties, reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in Asia's most devastating cyclone since a 1991 storm in Bangladesh that killed 143,000.

A U.S. diplomat in Myanmar said diplomats were hearing there could have been more than 100,000 deaths.

Also Reuters:

Aid officials say hundreds of thousands will have been left homeless in the vast swamplands of the delta, where mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue are endemic.

There will also be the risk of cholera and chronic diarrhea from filthy water and corpses rotting in the tropical heat and humidity of Southeast Asia.

Woman lays the cloth to dry at a market in Yangon, Wednesday, May 7, 2008. International aid began trickling into military-ruled Myanmar, but much of the Irrawaddy delta, where most of the 22,464 reported victims perished, has remained cut off since Cyclone Nargis hit early Saturday. (AP Photo)

Death toll rising

The death toll of the cyclone in Burma now stands at more than 15,000.

10,000 are from one town alone.

3,000 missing.

The Junta is allowing some foreign aid.

After getting a "careful green light" from the government, the United Nations said it was pulling out all the stops to send in emergency aid such as food, clean water, blankets and plastic sheeting.

"The U.N. will begin preparing assistance now to be delivered and transported to Myanmar as quickly as possible," World Food Programme (WFP) spokesman Paul Risley said.

A Thai military plane carrying 9 metric tons of food is due to leave Bangkok later on Tuesday, the first outside aid package.

In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, monks clear up roads damaged by cyclone in Yangon, Sunday, May 4, 2008. Residents of Myanmar's biggest city lit candles Monday, May 5, lined up to buy water and hacked their way through trees fallen in a cyclone that killed more than 350 people, destroyed thousands of homes and caused widespread power cuts. (AP Photo/Xinhua, Zhang Yunfei)

Crisis in Burma

The biggest story in the world Sunday is the cyclone that hit Burma (or Myanmar, as it's called by the military rulers there).

Thousands of homes were destroyed and at least 350 people are dead.

Compounding the tragedy is the fact that due to the secrecy and iron grip of the junta, international aid may be kept out.

From AP:

The Forum for Democracy in Burma and other dissident groups outside of Myanmar urged the military junta Sunday to allow aid groups to operate freely in the wake of the cyclone — something it has been reluctant to do in the past.

It would be difficult for other countries to help unless they received a request from Myanmar’s military rulers.

“International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently required. The military regime is ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the cyclone,” said Naing Aung, secretary general of the Thailand-based forum.

In other Burma news, the U.S. Campaign for Burma has recruited several big names to star in a series of videos to run online. It's good to see attention being directed to this long-ignored situation.

30 Days for a Million Voices kicks off with Will Ferrell.

More about the series can be found here.

Photo: In this photo released by Democratic Voice of Burma, people walk past fallen trees at a street in Yangon on Sunday May 4, 2008. More than 350 people have died in Myanmar from a powerful cyclone that knocked out power in the impoverished country's commercial capital and destroyed thousands of homes, state-run media said Sunday.(AP Photo/ Democratic Voice of Burma, HO)

Countdown to the Olympics

From AP:

DEHRA, India - More than 100 Tibetan exiles began a hunger strike Thursday after police in northern India dragged them away from a six-month march to their homeland to protest China's hosting of the Olympic Games.

The demonstrators had vowed to march from India to Tibet to coincide with the start of the Aug. 8-24 Games. Indian officials — fearing the march would embarrass China — banned the exiles from leaving the Kangra district that surrounds the city of Dharmsala — the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India.

And from Times Online:

Beijing laid siege to at least three monasteries in Tibet today, leaving monks trapped with dwindling food supplies, as the biggest anti-Chinese demonstrations in nearly two decades intensified.

Monks at Ganden monastery, located on a hilltop near the regional capital Lhasa, were reported to have started a hunger strike to protest against the deployment of armed paramilitary police, who continued to surround them today after being sent in to restore order yesterday.

Soldiers were today also reported to have been stationed around the Sera and Drepung monasteries. Drepung, in particular, was surrounded by "three layers" of army personnel, a witness told the AP news agency, while the Sera monastery was surrounded by more than 2,000 police.

China continues to brutally occupy Tibet, support the military rulers of Burma and has worked to undermine the UN mission to Darfur. The Olympics will be a boost to the totalitarian government in Beijing and it's time for the calls to boycott the games and its sponsors to kick into high gear — not to mention an overdue reevaluation of U.S. trade policy (though that may be difficult, as our 'leaders' in Washington have this nation in debt to China to an appalling degree).

Photo: Indian police detain Tibetan protestors at Dehra, about 20 kilometers (12 miles) from the Kangra district boundary that surrounds Dharmsala, the headquarters of the Tibetan government-in-exile in India, Thursday, March 13, 2008. Police detained more than 100 Tibetan exiles marching in northern India to Tibet in protest of China's Olympic Games early Thursday morning, organizers and officials said. (AP Photo/Ashwini Bhatia)

And in Burma

The junta announces the rules for its fake constitutional referendum.

Opponents of military rule aren't getting the option to give input.

From AP:

The announcement broadcast on state TV and radio evening news said the junta had passed a law covering the matters such as the preparation of electoral rolls, vote counting and postponement and cancellation of voting.

Oh, and that Nobel Prize winner who won the last real election in 1988 and was put on house arrest?

Taken care of.

Guidelines for a constitution released by the government late last year would bar Suu Kyi from national office because she was married to a foreigner — her late British husband, Michael Aris — and enjoyed the rights to a foreign passport, residency and other privileges as a result.

Meanwhile, China is trying to deal with activists calling for a boycott of the Beijing Olympics, due to the nation's continued support for the military rulers.

Also AP:

The 88 Generation Students group, which was instrumental in last year’s pro-democracy demonstrations in Myanmar, accused China of bankrolling and arming the junta and failing to facilitate a meaningful dialogue between it and detained pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi and her National League for Democracy party.

The 88 Generation Students joined a growing group of critics urging an Olympic boycott over complaints ranging from Beijing’s human rights record to its failure to more actively press Sudan — where China is a major oil buyer — to end violence in the Darfur region that has killed at least 200,000 people.

And in a Tri-State connection, while I'm not the biggest fan of Kentucky's Sen. Mitch McConnell, credit is certainly due for his action last week:

Weeks after the House of Representatives voted 400 - 0 to award the Congressional Gold Medal to the leader of Burma’s democracy movement Aung San Suu Kyi, 75 US Senators have introduced an identical measure today in the US Senate.

The effort is spearheaded in the US Senate by Senators Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) and Mitch McConnell (R-KY). The measure is supported by Presidential front-runners Hillary Clinton, John McCain, and Barack Obama.

Photo: Supporters of Myanmar's National League for Democracy, the party of Aung San Suu Kyi, shout anti-junta slogans near the entrance of the NLD's headquarters during Union Day ceremonies Tuesday, Feb. 12, 2008, in Yangon. (AP Photo)

Junta schedules another fake election

A follow-up to yesterday.

According to AP, Myanmar's military government announced it will hold elections in 2010 and that a constitutional referendum will be held in May.

Pro-democracy activists are not impressed.

“The announcement is vague, incomplete and strange,” said spokesman Nyan Win.
“Even before knowing the results of the referendum, the government has already announced that elections will be held in 2010,” he said, implying that the government was certain that the draft constitution will be approved.

They have reason to be skeptical. The referendum is scheduled so as to make it difficult for the government's opponents to organize.

Not to mention that the last time the junta promised an election, they locked up the winner for prime minister, Aung San Suu Kyi.

From the Burma Campaign:

On Saturday 9 February the junta announced that it would hold a referendum on a new constitution in May, and general elections in 2010. However, the constitution enshrines military rule, giving 25 percent of the seats to the military, and also gives the military effective veto power over decisions made by Parliament.

“This is a move away from democracy, not towards it,” said Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. “It is public relations spin because they are afraid of stronger sanctions being imposed. They are defying the Security Council by going ahead with this sham process and refusing to hold genuine talks with Aung San Suu Kyi and leaders of ethnic groups. There needs to be a strong international response to say that this will not be accepted.”

While the media slept...

...or obsessesed over Britney's psych ward visit.

You won't hear about this from cable journalism:

From AP:

BANGKOK, Thailand—A Buddhist monastery that provided a hospice for AIDS patients has been closed down by the regime in Myanmar, which is also still arresting dissidents, the top U.S. diplomat in the country said Friday.
The monastery, in the biggest city Yangon, was raided Thursday. "Apparently, it was ordered closed. No one knows why," said Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires at the U.S. Embassy in Myanmar.

She was speaking to reporters during a visit to Bangkok in neighboring Thailand.

Three military trucks arrived outside the Maggin Monastery and told everyone inside to leave, according to the online edition of The Irrawaddy, a news magazine run by Myanmar exiles in Thailand. The AIDS patients were moved by the authorities to an unknown location, it said.

Nor could you find anything about the mass protests last October of one of the world's most brutal regimes in the nation formerly known as Burma. You had to seek out the few real journaists working today, Amy Goodman, to get the story:

The image was stunning: tens of thousands of saffron-robed Buddhist monks marching through the streets of Rangoon, protesting the military dictatorship of Burma. The monks marched in front of the home of Nobel Peace Prize-winner Aung San Suu Kyi, who was seen weeping and praying quietly as they passed. She hadn't been seen for years. The democratically elected leader of Burma, Suu Kyi has been under house arrest since 2003. She is considered the Nelson Mandela of Burma, the Southeast Asian nation renamed Myanmar by the regime.

After almost two weeks of protest, the monks have disappeared. The monasteries have been emptied. One report says thousands of monks are imprisoned in the north of the country.

The U.S. has been strangely quiet on the matter. Other than a few stern words from Laura Bush, no real action has been taken.

You may wonder why an administration that presents itself as one that "spreads freedom" seems to ignore these atrocities.

Goodman has that covered, too:

The U.S. government has had sanctions in place against Burma since 1997. A loophole exists, though, for companies grandfathered in. Unocal's exemption from the Burmese sanctions has been passed on to its new owner, Chevron.

Rice served on the Chevron board of directors for a decade. She even had a Chevron oil tanker named after her. While she served on the board, Chevron was sued for involvement in the killing of non-violent protesters in the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. As in Burma, Nigerians suffer political repression and pollution where oil and gas are extracted, and live in dire poverty. The protests in Burma were actually triggered by a government-imposed increase in fuel prices.

The U.S. ignored the crimes of Saddam Hussein's Iraq when they were occuring throughout the 1980s. Reagan's envoy at the time Donald Rumsfeld was on warm and fuzzy ground with Saddam and was more than eager to do business with him. It wasn't until 2003 that Rumsfeld suddenly had a problem with what happened.

Restoring democracy to Burma could easily be done peacefully. Forcing Chevron to cut ties with the Myanmar junta would deprive the military rulers of their financial stability and hold on power.

Maybe we can count on a future U.S. president addressing the issue 20 years after the fact.

(Photo: Members of the Solidarity Committee for Burma's Freedom Fighters stage a sit-in demonstration, demanding immediate release of Myanmar citizens Monday, Feb. 4, 2008 in Calcutta, India. 36 Myanmar citizens were arrested by Indian defense personnel near Andaman and Nicobar Islands in February 1998 and put under trial, according to a press release from the Solidarity Committee. The Associated press)