“Corner of Your Ear” Political Wisdom

FYI, this post is prelude, background, and explanation for the succinct plea of the “What if your child’s life was at stake?” argument.

I believe ignorance is NOT bliss. I don’t think that being well-informed is EVER a bad thing. However, lately I may have become too interested in (enlightened by) the minutia of political punditry. I’m outraged that the American public isn’t in a frenzy over the torture issue, but I have to stop myself and realize, they really aren’t paying that much attention. The same was true of myself not that long ago. Recently enough to be embarrassing.

I’m reminded of my vague “Bush is bad – Gore is not AS bad” vibe in 2000, which was the first presidential election in which I partook. When I cast my vote for Kerry in ’04, I distinctly remember thinking, “well, he’s obviously an effeminate Frenchy puss, but at least he isn’t Bush. ‘Cause I just wasn’t paying attention. So, I bought the MSM meme hook, line, and sinker.

Luckily, I’d actually been to France a couple times. Hell, I’d spent a month in Paris the year before the election. So, a French-like (as if there’s such an animal) candidate wasn’t as horrifying to me as it might have been to my fellow Carolinians. (To be fair, though, I had met enough French douches that it didn’t necessarily make it a point in his favor.)

I hadn’t read the in-depth analysis. I hadn’t even grazed the point / counter-point arguments. No one had grabbed my chin and pointed out to me the outright falsehoods leading to this general public perception. I just accepted it as common knowledge:

• The sun rises in the East.
• Irishmen like to drink.
• Kerry’s a bit of a wuss.

Somehow, (Swift Boat, anyone?) the fact that he is actually a highly decorated war hero didn’t make it into the “common knowledge” lexicon. And I’m a Democrat! Imagine what Republicans thought of him. That’s what happens when you aren’t paying attention. The big, attention-grabbing headlines are all that stick in the mind. Which, of course, is contributing to the journalism soul-searching we all witness now. Who decides which memes make the headlines and why?

Do you know, I didn’t find out until Obama was elected that Kerry is poly-lingual? Why wasn’t that the attention-grabbing headline? Have we ever even had a truly multi-lingual president? Why in the hell not?

Now, however, the Internet has brought new possibilities in analysis. Video/audio/transcripts of appearances, comments, and speeches by pundits and politicians are made available immediately after their points are delivered. In addition, a wealth of new outlets supply prior and/or contemporaneous video/audio/transcripts/interviews/analysis that provide the context, history, evolution, and, more often than not, the hypocrisy that frames their particular political commentary.

Entire sites have been established to demolish, point-by-painstaking-point, the lies, innuendos, and smears of both pundits and those in office.

It’s all there now. It’s all available. Only, and here’s the key, you have to pay attention.

Which is what we collectively, as a country, seem determined not to do. With all the tools now at our disposal, we as a people, are still determined to pick up the “collective wisdom” we hear with half an ear. When you are in the kitchen making dinner – helping one kid with his homework – scolding the dog to stop begging – asking your spouse to run and get some milk – it is easy to hear Cheney on the TV out of the corner of your ear (new coinage) saying that “enhanced interrogation techniques” saved “hundreds of thousands of American lives” and internalize that. I can see people doing that without even realizing its happened. If you asked me where I got the idea that Kerry was a wuss, I couldn’t tell you. I was probably busy doing something else and heard it about 9,000 times and the idea just sunk in.

I see poll after poll saying that a lot of Americans think torture is OK in the right circumstances.

Instead of the “wuss” meme, we are getting “enhanced interrogation techniques”  “save American lives’.  This time I’m crying BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT, BULLSHIT!

Turn off the stove, kick the dog outside, and tell the kids to go to their room. PAY ATTENTION! Watch the news, read the blogs, and, as I teach the greenest college freshman, “always rely on primary sources”. Actually read the torture memos. Read the Red Cross Report. Look at the Abu Ghraib photos. Imagine how bad the other photos must be for Obama to reverse the decision to release them.

America tortured. Forget EIT. That’s a bullshit euphemism.

I keep hearing the “corner of your ear” rationalizations of the ticking time bomb scenario. One that never has, nor ever will actually happen. But, these half an ear believers ask “can you honestly say, if someone had taken your child, was holding him, and was going to kill him, would you not to anything and everything to stop them?”

To them I have an answer that can only be heard with your whole ear. I do have a son. Let me refer you back to “What if your child’s life was at stake?“

What if your child’s life was at stake?

In support of torture, it all keeps boiling down to the argument, “can you honestly say, if some group was holding your child hostage, was going to kill him, and you had caught someone who knew where he was, would you not do anything and everything to stop them?”

To that question I have a legitimate, honest answer that can only be heard with both ears, cold rationality, and a full sense of the moral tightrope implied by that particular scenario. If this unlikely and terrifying event were to actually occur, I think every parent would pray to have the strength and mental clarity to summon all those assets.

I do have a son. He’s almost 19. If he were captured by some group that fervently believe that different cultures pose an existential threat, are convinced of the righteousness of their cause, and are spurred on by the moral superiority of their god, I’d be terrified for my son’s life.

My son is a good kid, but he probably hangs out with some people I wouldn’t approve of. If he happened to be hanging out with those people and inadvertently got rounded up by these zealots, I’d just pray those zealots weren’t the United States government.

someone's son

Because I see this picture and weep for his mother. I don’t care what he did or did not do. He is a human being with a mother and father. He was an infant and a toddler, and someone loves him. Most children’s first recognizable word is “dada” in English, but maybe he was like my son, and his first word was Arabic for “ball”.

It’s called “inhumane” treatment or a reason. No human being deserves to be treated like trash. If he is guilty, try, convict, and execute him. But don’t dishonor the United States commitment to human rights in my name or in a hypothetical attempt to protect my son.

Best TeaParty Commentary I’ve Seen So Far

Kevin Siers / The Charlotte Observer (April 17, 2009)

The Power of Words

I’m trying to figure out Republican logic. The purpose of the organizing party is to win elections, right?

Well, Obama won big on HOPE and CHANGE.

I think the Republicans are thinking that if THEY can just find the magic word, they’ll start winning again too.

Think about all the catchy new Republican words being thrown around. They are just hoping something sticks.

• Socialist
• Fascist
• Tea Party
• Teleprompter
• Banana Republic

A Few Bad Apples?

When the Abu Ghraib scandal broke, the conventional wisdom was that the misconduct was the result of a few bad apples. I didn’t really buy it then. Now, of course, we know the truth.

A Nate Silver post on Republican contenders for the 2012 Presidential election suggests Mike Huckabee would be a better bet than the higher profile candidacies of Palin, Romney, or Gingrich.

My first thought was, well, thank god! The idea of a Palin or Gingrich presidency frankly scares the hell out of me. Romney, I don’t know much about. But my next immediate thought was “What if ANY of them actually won?”

 Shouldn’t they all scare me?

I never liked George Bush. From the start, throughout his campaign in 2000, he seemed like a smirking idiot. In November of 2000, I frankly couldn’t believe the vote was even close enough for the SCOTUS to give him the job. But, once it was done, I was okay with it. I would have preferred Al Gore, being a Democrat, but at that point I didn’t see what impact either one of them would have on my own personal existence.

Again, we all know better now.

Getting back to the 2012 election, as much as I like Obama, the old me would have been okay if he didn’t win a second term. I’d have been disappointed, but I always believed that a Democratic candidate was, at best, the lesser of two evils.

Now, however, I’ve spent the last few years listening to Republicans defend torture. As more and more details emerge, I keep expecting Republican politicians to begin disassociating themselves with the Bush administration. Is there not one out there who will say, “Whoa! His intentions may have been good [they weren't], but this behavior was clearly illegal, immoral, and just plain WRONG! I am nothing like Bush!”

No, instead they cling to “Torture Works”® and “Obama has made us a target by releasing the memos!” [BTW, I think their irony meter clearly has a short circuit when they say it’s not the torture itself that made us unsafe, but admitting it.]

Now, I don’t think I would EVER be able to trust another Republican president. Apparently Bush and his ilk aren’t just a few bad apples. The entire Republican Party is the poisoned tree.

I wonder if the Gallup poll results due out Monday will show that the rest of Americans feel the same way. Guess we’ll know for sure in 2010 and 2o12.

If it turns out that it is just me, Canada is just too cold. I hear Australia is nice.

Defending Torture

I have had some strong disagreements with Republican thinking before, but I am just shocked at the current discourse. These people are now actively, openly, and loudly DEFENDING torture!

This is not about politics. This is about basic human decency.

If a report came out showing that a Democratic president killed babies “to protect us” I would condemn him/her. I would not jump on the baby-killing bandwagon out of solidarity with my party. “Oh, there’s nothing wrong with a little baby killing! Quit being such pussies!”

Of course, we know now that the torture was not committed to protect us, but to build a false case for war and profit (plus some sick sadistic pleasure on the side).

Republican shills, let me correct your faulty sense of priorty for you. It’s supposed to be:

3. Republican

2. American

1. Human Being

Try to keep your loyalties in the correct order. Being a decent human human being should be slightly more important to you than getting your party reelected, dumbasses. I cannot believe that needs to be explained to some people.

behavioral drift

One of the many new catch phrases about to become part of the national dialogue. I think I’ll start a list.

The list will most definitely include an oldy but a goody:

Serious Failure in Judgement

Senate Armed Services Committee Detainee Final Report

I’ve just dashed off a quick email to Chevron. It’s late and the gesture is weak, but I felt I had to do something tonight or I wouldn’t be able to sleep.

Feel free to send your own. They have a convenient “Contact” form on their site.

As a citizen and former customer, I wanted to be very certain you are aware of your Chief Corporate Council’s history.

Might I direct you to the Senate Armed Services Detainee Final Report at:

http://armed-services.senate.gov/Publications/Detainee%20Report%20Final_April%2022%202009.pdf

Reading this it was very clear who the good guys were in this national nightmare and who the bad ones were. Congratulations. You’ve hired the worst bad guy to defend your company and reputation.

I will be taking all my business to your competitors from now on, as will the rest of the country starting tomorrow when reporting begins on this.

I’d suggest disassociating yourself as quickly as possible.

I’ll try to do my bit more strongly tomorrow.

Eleven-Year Machiavellian Plot?

Just a thought – a wicked, evil little thought:

Was the entire Clinton impeachment manufactured to insure permanent Republican immunity?

I’m starting to think they impeached a President over a BJ just to ensure that all future Republican Presidents could literally get away with murder.

They knew that Democrats (being fair-minded, decent human beings – unlike themselves) would hesitate to go after a successor for fear of the appearance of “retribution.”

Fuck that. This is not a partisan issue. These are war crimes. When I read that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed was waterboarded 183 times in March 2003, I felt sick to my stomach.

I felt the same sickness I felt on 9/11.

Not because he was an innocent citizen, like the victims of 9/11. I’m sure a lot of the detainees (but not all) are/were not. I felt that way because we, the American citizens as a whole, were the innocent victims here. This monstrosity was done in our names. Americans are not animals.

I am NOT okay with my government making me one.

And I am not okay with immunity for anyone on this. Neither is the U.N. I’ve sent the following quote to my senators, congressman, the DOJ and White House. I’m trying to figure out what else I can do. This cannot stand.

CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE
and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading
Treatment or Punishment

Article 12
Each State Party shall ensure that its competent authorities proceed to a prompt and impartial investigation, wherever there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been committee in any territory under its jurisdiction.

I believe there is more than enough reasonable ground here.

This is not a partisan issue, this is justice.

Please clean this stain on our national reputation. If we do not, it means that the US condones torture. I, for one, DO NOT. Please represent our people by investigating.

The Memos

From the New York Times:

Even for those who believed that brutal treatment could produce results, the official said, “seeing these depths of human misery and degradation has a traumatic effect.”

Does anything else need to be said? Really, are we, as Americans , not to mention human beings , even debating this? According to Fox “news” and Bush apologists, we are.

I started this blog in hopes of offering witty, urbane commentary on the often unintentional humor found in modern life and politics. My favorite blogs are able to pull this off with apparent ease. But I’m just getting started, and honestly, I cannot for the life of me find anything humorous in the cascade of events in the last week . Aside from the Palin implosion, of course, but AKMuckraker seems to have that coverage well in hand (Kudos and many thanks for a consistently great read!).

I am deeply, deeply, saddened and disappointed in our president. The light in the tunnel for me is that even now, my heart and mind tells me that he is a good man and an even better political strategist. What immediately jumped out in his comments regarding the memos was how carefully it was phrased.

In releasing these memos, it is our intention to assure those who carried out their duties relying in good faith upon legal advice from the Department of Justice that they will not be subject to prosecution. The men and women of our intelligence community serve courageously on the front lines of a dangerous world. Their accomplishments are unsung and their names unknown, but because of their sacrifices, every single American is safer. We must protect their identities as vigilantly as they protect our security, and we must provide them with the confidence that they can do their jobs.

Special Olympics gaffe aside, I do not think this man says anything to the American public without careful measure. His memo statement was remarkable not for what he said, but for what he left unsaid. Those who implemented these policies will not be prosecuted. His veiw on the fate of those who authorized torture was glaringly absent. Numerous calls for clarification from the media went answered.

That in itself is significant. Obama is a thoughtful, careful speaker. If the architects of this monstrosity were off limits for prosecution, I believe he would not leave this fact unsaid. He would not have the American public struggle to parse his words for real-world implications. If the plan is to purposely ambiguous so as to leave all options on the table, I disagree with the strategy. Figuring out what he really meant is becoming a full-time occupation in the blogosphere. If I wanted to decode presidential statements for meaning, I could buy the Bushisms books.

However, despite my tentative disillusionment, I think that if it were Obama’s intention that investigation was off the table, as Pelosi declared impeachment in 2006, he would have put the rumors and speculation to rest in no uncertain terms. How many times have we heard this man say, “Let me make this perfectly clear . . . ” followed by detailed explication of his plans, his goals, and the reasoning behind them?

The statement that “we will not prosecute those who implement these policies” was explicit. However, I found the absence of a similar statement in regard to corresponding immunity for those that dreamed up these crimes was striking.

I am becoming disillusioned, yes. I am steeling myself for bitter disappointment. But . . .  I have heard his speeches. I have read his books. I have witnessed what most (read: all) democrats would see as genuine “politically suicidal” opposition to corporate interests and the status quo in his swift policy enactments.

I have (dare I say it?) hope. So far, there has been some change. Now, there must be change in this, THE most crucial battle against special interests. In this case, the special interests are the teflon-coated Washington elite. Obama has said, “No one is above the law.”

I hope this is political strategy. Put the info out there, then let the public outrage dictate action. Obama could then “grudgingly” support an investigation. Probably not soon, but in his first term. In this manner, he (and the American public) can achieve a fundamental necessity: a full accounting and accountability for war crimes. By playing it this way, by letting the public “demand” investigation, justice will be served and he won’t carry the reputation of a partisan hack out for blood. (See Clinton Impeachment for a genuine example of the latter by Republicans)

My disappointment regarding Bagram are another story, best discussed in another post.

For now, I’m disillusioned, but leaving room for the possibility that I shouldn’t be. And hoping that future events will prove my cynicism premature.

I really, truly, hope this is the case – from the depths of my heart. I cannot tell you how much a little peice of myself would die if it turned out The Who had it right all along.