There appears to be a reactionary letter writing campaign (or is it a propaganda campaign) asking "What is wrong with waterboarding?" It's this: Waterboarding is torture. Torture is illegal. If you want to get philosophical, the responsibility to kill in self defense is not a right to rape in retribution. The former is the right of free citizens, the latter a prerogative of dictators, fascists, Stalinsts - of Hitler Youth, not Boy Scouts of America.
I wrote this, published in the Asbury Park Press, May 14, 2009:
Torture won't make us safer
What's wrong with Waterboarding? In a word, it's torture. It's illegal. It's immoral and it doesn't work. It won't keep us safe. In fact, it makes us less safe.
Torture is illegal. It violates the U.S. Constitution and precedents set by George Washington. During the American Revolution, while the British were torturing American soldiers, Washington refused to torture British soldiers our army captured. This gained us political allies in England even as we were fighting for our independence.
Torture is immoral. Torture is what the Nazis did in World War II. And the KGB and the communist Chinese.
Torture doesn't work. The victim will tell the torturer anything to get the pain to stop. Torture doesn't make us safer. The victims will hate us for the rest of their lives and want to exact revenge.
The way to stop terror is with good old-fashioned police work, just as the way to end war is with diplomacy.
The responsibility to kill in self defense is not a right to rape in retribution. Torture is illegal. Waterboarding is torture. Period.
My risking my life to protect my family is different than the President, Vice President, Secretary of Defense and Attorney General and defining a policy in which they would violate the Constitution. Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld, Rice, Gonzales, etc ignored the 8/6/1 memo "Bin Laden preparing to Strike In US." After 9/11/1 they let bin Laden go in Tora Bora to target Saddam and Iraq's oil. They dropped the ball, left the US weak, and helped Achmadinejad - got rid of his enemy. Torture is punishment, not information gathering. Rather than justify torture as "it stopped beheadings" why not just kill the bastards? A bullet in the head is more effective than waterboarding. And why let bin Laden go? A bullet in his head would have been more effective than knocking off a two-bit dictator 1500 miles away.
But here's an important question. Do native born and naturalized US citizens who's parents are from India, Pakistan, Bangla Desh, Sri Lanka, etc. consider themselves American Indians? My parents - and my wife - were not born here. Yet, I'm an American. My kids are American. If my parents were Indian, Bengali, Pakistani, or from some other part of the sub-continent, I'd be an American Indian. As it is I'm a native American.
Even tho President Obama is an African American, prejudice and race remain problems. Colin Powell rose thru the ranks to very high positions. Condi Rice and Clarence Thomas prove that even incompetence is color blind (as long as it's politically expedient). America is changing. Mixed race couples don't raise an eyebrow. Same gender couples don't raise an eyebrow here, while in Baghdad and Gaza fathers are expected to kill their homosexual children, to preserve honor.
We're all the same under the skin. Compatible blood types, identical neurotransmitters, complimentary DNA. Every human from every culture recognizes smiles, joy, and tears. Those who don't hug, deep down, wish they could.
Montana: "Big Sky Country." However, considering Senator Max Bacus behavior last week, it could also be considered "No Heart Country.” Bacus' conduct shows a contempt that Marie Antoinette and Dick Cheney would be proud of. The Senator from Montana makes me proud to be a citizen of New Jersey.
On Nov. 5, 2006 I saw Bill Clinton with Senator Robert Menendez in Newark. On Nov. 2, 2006, I saw Senator Menendez and Barack Obama speak at campaign rally in Hoboken. After hearing then-Senator Obama I called my father and said “I think I just saw the next President of the United States.” I heard Senator Menendez say "As a Representative in Congress I can't vote to support a war unless the war is in our national interest and unless I would send my own children to fight." This also makes me proud to reside in New Jersey. I am proud also that On Election night, 2008, I had the good luck to personally meet and congratulate Senator Lautenberg on his re-election, on the steps of the Helfrich in New Brunswick. A few minutes later, I watched President Obama’s victory address, and felt pride in my country, and pride in the small things I did to help President Obama’s campaign.
Barack Obama was not always my candidate of choice. Because of his position on medical care, I supported John Edwards. Medicare works well for my father. The equivalent works well, I understand, for every member of the House and Senate. And by the way, MY tax dollars pay for THEIR health care. As far as me, my health insurance costs almost as much as my mortgage. And just as my house is worth less than it used to be, my medical insurance covers less and less yet costs more and more.
Very few people seriously believe in "socialism" as opposed to free enterprise. The facts that before their system collapsed the Soviets copied American computer designs prove the value of the market. However, most people do understand that there are some facets of the economy that should be managed publicly. Law enforcement, for example. Private police forces and private armies are hallmarks of drug cartels and dictatorships. And medical care. The fact that 45 million Americans - which is almost one out of six - can't get access to health care is a terrible indictment of our system.
While campaigning for President, John McCain echoed George W. Bush and said "Anyone has access to health care - people can just go to the emergency room." While this is true, when people without health insurance go to the emergency room, the costs of their treatment are pushed onto the citizens. This implies a national health care policy. However, it's one that is poorly thought out, inefficient, and badly financed. And emergency rooms are not equipped to manage things like high blood pressure, diabetes and cancer. They can't help you if you have diabetes - unless you're in a coma. If you have high blood pressure you're out of luck, until you have a heart attack or a stroke. And cancer - forget about it. And one other thing: John McCain is not the President. McCain lost the election! Americans voted for Barack Obama – his values and his policies!
- Focus, Hard Work, and Discipline win games, marathons, and wars. If it needs to be done, do it urgently, and do it well. If it doesn’t need to be done, don’t do it at all. If it needs to be done, and you can’t do it; find someone who can.
- Keep Things Simple. Rube Goldberg’s designs could work – but were not meant to be implemented. Write clearly.Write clearly, with brevity and precision. Dickens was paid by the word. If you're not, then be brief.
- The Journey Is An Adventure. However, it is not the only adventure. Beach Time Is Important.
- Smile When You're Talking, Think Before You Speak, and Listen.
- A good hand in a storm is irreplaceable, even when the sun is shining. Credentials show education. Experience shows knowledge, judgment, and the ability to work.
- Challenge Talent, Reward Performance, Stimulate Creativity, and Accept Mistakes. Learn from mistakes, and move on. Punishing mistakes stifles performance and pushes talented creative performers out the door.
- Negotiate in good faith. Or don't negotiate at all. Poker is winner-take-all. Business is better played win-win.
- The Ends don't justify the means. And the means don't justify the ends. The President of the United States must obey the law.
- Loyalty is a two-way street. Respect must be earned. People who kiss up and piss down are worthy of neither.
- Assholes are full of shit. Shit flows downhill. If you work for an asshole . . .
Medical Insurance can cost $12,000 per year for a family if everyone's healthy. That's a new car every two or three years. Or every year. That's a down payment on a house. That's a mortgage. And that's ridiculous.
It's why Honda and Toyota are in better shape than GM, Ford, and Chrysler. The government takes care of the health care needs of Japanese auto workers – and everyone else.
We need a single payer system, or Medicare for all Americans.
People say this is "socialized" medicine. But the alternative - "anti-social" medicine - is terrible. Medicare works very well for everyone I know over 80. Insurance works poorly at best, whether you're employed, self-employed, or unemployed. I have friends who are out of work and who have no access to medical care, was there myself. When I was out of work I couldn't afford health insurance. (My kids were covered, thanks to Bill Clinton and SCHIP.)
There are some things that the government must do. Nobody believes that police and fire-fighters should be private for-profit companies. Private armies and private police forces are what you see in places like Iraq and Columbia.
Think of the national security implications. If I am near someone who is sick, and who can't go to the doctor – I'm exposed. I'm in danger. So's my wife, so're my kids. I have a family. As a father I don't want my kids exposed because some poor guy lost his job.
Bush and McCain actually said "We have a national health care policy - it's "Go to the Emergency Room."
This is great when you break your arm or get hurt. But it costs you and me more for some un-insured guy to go to the emergency room for a check-up then to go to see a physician in an office. And Emergency Rooms are not clinics. They can't do anything if you have high blood pressure or diabetes, unless you had a stroke or a heart attack or you're in a coma. And then it's too little to late.
Back in the late '1970's Amory Lovins, of the Rocky Mountain Institute coined the term "NegaWatts" to describe the energy that could be saved with conservation and efficiency. "The cheapest energy," he said, "and the cleanest energy is the energy you don't use."
Lovins' associate, Marvin Resnikoff, PhD, then teaching physics and environmental thinking at SUNY University of Buffalo and Rachel Carson College, used the term "nuclear constipation" to describe the nuclear waste problem. It's an apt metaphor - the waste doesn't go away.
We struggling not only with nuclear constipation, but carbon constipation. We burn carbon, liberate the energy in chemical bonds, to get from place to place, to heat and cool our homes, but the carbon doesn't go away. It goes into the air from under the ground. To paraphrase Al Gore,
We are borrowing from China to buy oil from the middle east and rip coal out of the ground to burn it in ways that destroy the planet. But enough wind blows through the midwest corridor in a day, enough sunlight falls on the earth in FORTY MINUTES to provide the power we need for a year.
Harnessing the wind, the sun, and the earth eliminates these problems. Rather than burning a fuel; wind, solar, geothermal harness a process. The sun shines whether or not we use solar panels to capture some photons. The wind blows regardless of our decision to use a few particles to spin a turbine. We are hitchin' a ride on a moving train.
This is the choice: Wind and Solar or Coal and Nuclear. "Negawatts and clean pure Eco-Watts or Deadly-Watts, Morta-Watts, Killer-Watts.
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Negawatt - unit of energy you don't use.
Ecowatt - unit of energy generated in a clean sustainable way, such as via solar power or wind power.
Killer-watt - unit of energy generated by burning or consuming fuel such as coal, oil, gas, or radioactive material.
In Strasbourg, April 3, President Obama summed up the challenges we face:
"We know that the pollution from cars in Boston or from factories in Beijing are melting the ice caps in the Arctic, and that that will disrupt weather patterns everywhere. The terrorists who struck in London and New York plotted in distant caves and simple apartments much closer to your home. And the reckless speculation of bankers that has now fueled a global economic downturn that’s inflicting pain on workers and families — is happening everywhere, all across the globe.
And told us what he wants to do:
"... what I want to be able to do is not only fix the immediate crisis, but, working in partnership with other countries, create a path for sustainable, responsible growth. And I think we can do that. There are a lot of people who benefit from globalization, but there are also people who have been harmed by globalization. Globalization in and of itself can be good, but can also be destructive.
"... we could have just spent the money on the same old ways of doing things. But part of what we decided was if we're going to be spending a lot of government money anyway, why not spend it to double the amount of renewable energy? Why not spend it on retrofitting existing government buildings so that we drastically reduce their energy consumption?"
I agree with Al Gore that we should move from coal and 100% solar, wind, geothermal, marine kinetic, and other renewable, sustainable energy systems in 10 years. I believe that President Obama's stated goal, to double the amount of renewable energy, is a good start.
I wrote on this at Popular Logistics, and e-mailed Rachel Maddow (rachel@msnbc.com)
Burning one ton of coal creates about 3.5 tons of carbon dioxide. According to Robert Bryce, the U S burned about 1.1 billion tons of coal in 2007 creating about 4 billion tons of carbon dioxide, not to mention the fly ash, arsenic, mercury, etc. Is that not a problem? When she was on Air America Rachel criticized the coal industry. Why did Rachel ignore Obama's comment on sustainability? Last night the coal industry ran an ad on The Rachel Maddow Show. Rachel's hands are tied with coal rope, she is bound by anthracite handcuffs.
So while the good news is that the progressive agenda has become so mainstream that two nightly TV news programs are blatantly left of center; the bad news is that the buy-partisan coal industry is co-opting the progressive tv news. I guess it's back to the NY Times which covers all the news that's fit to print, SNL Weekend Update which is still not ready for Prime Time, Jon Stewart, where nothing is sacred, and The Colbert Report, where Stephen Colbert is sacred, and NPR.
