There was a moment... but it passed

I allowed myself a moment of optimism at the end of last month. It passed, of course, as moments do; but for that moment I could conceive of politicians acting according to their conscience and in the best interests of their constituents... their voter constituents.
It came to me in that moment that Congress might step up and reassert the primacy of the people over a corrupt administration with no political future and bills to pay to their multi-national corporate backers. At 58, I can still dream.
Instead I saw both California Senators... Democrats, by the way... vote to permanently reauthorize the "Patriot" Act.
Instead I saw the entire Congress distancing itself as far as possible from actually censuring the President for authorizing the NSA's domestic spying program.
How high up the ladder in British Petroleum, Royal Dutch Shell, or Halliburton does a person have to be to catch a break from these people?
And the public? Have you ever watched a bad horror movie and wondered why the guy just stood there and let the vampires bleed him dry? That'd be us.
We absorb the information that the President has decided to ignore the formality of a retroactive warrant to wiretap in clear violation of a law he pressed for, and eventually we convince ourselves that it's really okay because the guy... who has lied to us how many times before... says "trust me, I'm only doing it to suspected terrorists."
Okay, people, once again, one is presumed innocent until proven guilty. A lawbreaker telling you that he thought the other guy was a lawbreaker too does not make either of them any more or less of a lawbreaker.
If you haven't already done so, pop over to PureLand and read his post on macroeconomics.

It's so hard to know exactly where to start

Did the U.S. (i.e. this Administration) just agree to let an Arab company manage security for major U.S. ports?
I tend toward internationalism myself... I don't ask what ground my oil was pumped from or where my clothes were made or where my winter fruit was grown... but I can understand those who feel that there are some things that are so vital to our national interest that we need to keep it within our borders.
I thought it was kind of funny when the U.S. Army went to the black berets made in China. (Berets made no sense to me, but buying them from the PRC was a nice touch.) Employing any offshore company to manage security in U.S. ports is not so funny... in fact it's stupid.
Michael Chertoff reassures us that this company, Dubai Ports World, has been vetted. If Michael Chertoff had any credibility left at all after the 2005 hurricane season, that might count for something. I am not comforted that the people who said that Michael Brown was doing a heck of a job after Katrina now say that Michael Chertoff is doing a great job. In any case, I think the nationality of any non-U.S. company overseeing U.S. port security is beside the point.
We need a rule that says that if it's really and truly important to our national defense... or homeland security or whatever we're calling it today... we don't outsource it.

A Quick Note to the President

"By amending our mistakes, we get wisdom.
By defending our faults, we betray an unsound mind."
-The Sutra of Hui Neng

In Memory of HM3 John T. Fralish

Petty Officer 3rd Class John T. Fralish, 30, of New Kingstown, Pa., died Feb. 6, when enemy forces opened fire on a U.S. patrol northwest of Methar Lam in Laghman Province, Afghanistan.
Doc Fralish was assigned to the 3rd Marine Division Detachment, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe, Hawaii. He had previously served two tours in Iraq.
Semper Fi

A Quick Observation

I had to pop in this morning to add this from an article by Allan Sloan on Ford's $250 Million tax reduction claimed under the "American Jobs Creation Act of 2004."

"The bottom line: When you see a piece of legislation carrying a name that sounds too good to be true, it probably isn't true."

Now about the "Patriot Act"....

With Mr. Bush Defending Us, Terrorism Isn't Our Biggest Problem

I've been doing it again... I've been dithering over how to make this a "good" blog post instead of just writing the damn thing... and I need to get this out.
It has come to me why it is that I am so opposed to any continuation of the "Patriotic Act." It is that I can't believe a word that comes out of this President's administration or the Congressional leadership.
They crafted and approved the "Patriot Act" with a requirement for a warrant in order to wiretap... they even addressed the urgency issue by saying that the warrant could be issued up to three days after the wiretap. The President told people that this was the case, which to my mind would affirm his understanding of the law.
This country was founded by people who had lived their entire lives under terrorist threat, tyranny and oppression. They formed a government of checks and balances dividing power among the executive, legislative and judicial branches specifically because they did not want a strong executive. Mr. Bush' administration has perverted the intention of Congress in authorizing the "Patriot Act" and has cut the judiciary out of the review process entirely. I am assured that the Justice Department (Executive Branch), headed by the guy who wrote the book on how to get away with the torture of prisoners, and... I heard Bush say this morning "all kinds of lawyers" are monitoring the illegal program to make certain that our civil rights are preserved. I am not comforted.
The first Republican President, Mr. Lincoln, described ours as a government of, by and for the people. This President has stood that premise on its ear. The only one of the three branches of government less representative of the people than the executive branch is the judiciary and Mr. Bush is getting ready to seat his second Supreme Court justice... although in his world judicial review isn't a requirement.
There may be another terrorist attack here in the U.S. someday. There's no way of knowing for certain, but there is that possibility. Of more immediate concern to me is the certainty of my belief that George W. Bush and his administration are attacking the institutions of the United States and doing irreparable damage to them each and every day they are in office. With friends like them who needs enemies?

An Observation Regarding Samuel Alito

I don't want to knock Ronald Reagan from the fast track to sainthood so many seem to feel he deserves. I'm just saying that having Samuel Alito come up through the Reagan Justice Department through the years of the Iran-Contra affair... and now he's been nominated to the Supreme Court of the U.S. by an administration populated with rehabilitated names from the Iran-Contra affair... Poindexter and Abrams come to mind... and some of the briefs that he is acknowledged to have written during those years to argue cases before the Supreme Court.
Today he is saying that, as a judge, he doesn't "give heed" to his "personal views," but that he just interprets the law. Given that he will probably win the Senate's consent and sit on the Court I would really like to believe that. I would. Really. I would like to believe that a guy who came up representing the Iran-Contra administration could sit on the highest court in the country and give a fair hearing to arguments against... domestic spying?... civil rights of "suspected" terrorists?... malfeasance and fiscal improprieties by members of Congress and lobbyists?... and interpret the law fairly. I would also like to believe in Santa Claus.

An Opportunity to Do the Right Thing

I don't really have a post today, but I want to try to say a few words about doing the right thing... and to point out that I've added Kay's Thinking Cap and Craig's Donkey Path over to the right.
I am often troubled by the mindless pigeon-holing of significant issues as conservative or liberal, Republican or Democrat, etc. At the extremes there are "every man for himself and the devil take the hindmost" and "from each according to his abilities, to each according to his needs." Nearly all of us stand somewhere between those two extremes. Generally I believe that, if we would stop to reflect, we would see that our differences are, for the most part, differences of degree.
Ronni Bennett has proposed that we make Universal Health Care a litmus test issue for 2006. It is an easy thing for a politician to say that they respect the Golden Rule, but it is another thing entirely to provide the healthcare for all of our fellow Americans that we would move heaven and earth to provide for our own families.
Is it socialized medicine? Would necessary services be rationed? Would there be an issue with a lack of participating physicians? Those are some of the typical hysterical responses. One might ask if any of those are true of Medicare. Ronni has better citations and statistics, but from my reading it would be a near-immediate economic blessing to all of us... particularly to anyone whose care might have been denied or delayed due to restrictions on pre-existing medical conditions. Wouldn't that be something if the humane choice was also a sound business decision?
The bottom line, to my mind is that it is the right thing to do. We don't try to do the right thing by people because of who they are. We try to do the right thing by people because of who we are. Even if Universal Health Care wouldn't immediately break even or result in substantial savings, if we can return 54% of the Bush tax cuts to date to the top 20% of income earners, $230 billion, while spending another $230 billion on the war in Iraq can we not provide healthcare to our citizens? Who are we?

We'll Call It "The Global War on Terrorism"

The headline jumped right out at me this morning: "U.S. to cede duties in rebuilding Afghanistan."
Let us bear in mind for a moment that the United States actually has been attacked... repeatedly... by terrorists. One who immediately comes to my mind is Osama bin Laden, the leader of al Qaeda who has given aid and comfort by the Taliban for a number of years.
According to the Post, this summer we will hand over "control of the volatile southern region -- plagued by persistent attacks from Islamic militias."
"The shift will allow the Bush administration, which has spent more than $47 billion on military efforts in Afghanistan since 2001, to cut the U.S. troop presence by 13 percent, from 19,000 to 16,500."
The Afghan defense minister points out that "the abrupt withdrawal of U.S. support after the decade-long Soviet occupation ended in 1989 precipitated a civil war that culminated with the Taliban movement taking power."
The U.S. is "is pinning its hopes on Afghan provincial governors to eradicate poppy fields" which account for a third of Afghanistan's GDP according to the CIA. We're planning to provide them with $600 million in aid in 2006.
At the same time we are committed to "stay the course" in Iraq until terrorism has been eradicated, insurgency suppressed, and that country is back on its feet. So far it's only cost us $231 billion as I write this.
I leave it to better minds than mine... is this about a war against international terrorism? Leaving the Taliban in the field and al Qaeda in the mountains of Afghanistan? $47 billion... $231 billion...
Hint: There is no money/oil in Afghanistan... just the guys who planned and directed the 9/11 attacks.

"Trust Me, I Lied But Your Own Good."

Okay, here's the deal as I understand it.
In April, 2004, the President said, "Now, by the way, any time you hear the United States government talking about wiretap, it requires -- a wiretap requires a court order." This is true, by the way, even though the order could be requested and executed after the wiretap and now he denies that it requires an order at all.
Now he's arguing that he needed and continues to need to be able to wiretap without judicial review because "We've got to be fast on our feet, quick to detect and prevent," which may make some sense in an alternate reality where getting no warrant slows you down less than getting one three days after the fact.
Mr. Bush has clearly acted outside the scope of any existing law, even outside the scope of the "Patriot Act," and yet he says, "I want to make sure the American people understand, however, that we have an obligation to protect you, and we're doing that, and at the same time, protecting your civil liberties."
Sen. John Cornyn of Texas says that "none of your civil liberties matter much after you're dead." This is from a U.S. Senator who has supported putting more than 130,000 young Americans out there ostensibly to defend and extend those civil liberties. It all begs the question: is there a non-negotiable principle left in this country?
You know... just a few years ago a President was impeached for lying to us about an extra-marital affair. What on earth is wrong with the forty four percent of you who continue to support this Administration?
Is it that he's a "wartime President?" He made the war up! We executed Timothy McVeigh six years and 53 days after he blew up the Murrah building, and we don't even have Osama bin Laden in custody. We don't need a war on terror. We need a war on malfeasance! Instead, the Justice Department is opening an investigation into how we found out about the domestic spying program.
These people are shameless, and forty four percent of you still approve of them. Get some help.

Happy New Year!

"May no fears affect you.
May no illnesses afflict you.
May no dangers come your way.
May you enjoy good health and long life."

Through the Looking Glass

I know... believe me, I know... that I've been horrible about blogging. I wish I had a better handle on why that is, but there are moments when I have to say something or spend years telling myself that I should have said something.

Today I awoke to the news that TSA was putting federal agents - air marshals - on Los Angeles' Metrolink. This is being marketed as "test" but the public is reminded that the 'T' in TSA covers all forms of transportation. This is apparently a "test" being conducted across the country.

This is one of those incremental changes that people say I overreact to... Like when I-5 and I-15 were blocked by Border Patrol checkpoints on the San Diego County line at least 75 miles north of the US-Mexican border. The one response I got was that they were successfully catching "a lot" of drug smuggling activity.

For forty two years I was taught that totalitarian government was the antithesis of liberty. I was employed for twenty years in the defense of that concept. The very idea of a central Department of Homeland Security brought to mind nothing so much as the Soviet KGB. Now I am forced to accept that federal surveillance and intervention is acceptable to protect us... not from (other) totalitarian governments but from common criminals.

I am mindful of the quotation attributed to Benjamin Franklin: "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

For the record, I object to federal interference/intervention in the internal affairs of the city and county of Los Angeles and the state of California. If TSA wants to ride Metrolink, make them buy a ticket.

P.S. While I have the soapbox out, Mr. Bush did not take us to war in Iraq on the basis of faulty intelligence. He took us to war in Iraq on the basis of manipulated intelligence, and he damn well knew it.

The Pot Calling the Kettle Black

For Dubya and, especially, for Dick Cheney to rant at the injustice of being accused of deception in their rush to war makes me nuts. Yes, the Democrats saw the same intelligence that Republicans did, but for whom do all of our intelligence agencies work? Are they not all within the Executive Branch of government? Do their directors not all serve at the pleasure of the President?
I don't want this to be a partisan issue. I firmly believe that most Republicans are, as most Democrats are, reasonably honest people.
I believe that, in years to come, the evidence will prove conclusively that Bush and Cheney sliced, diced, and cooked the intelligence... or, more likely, had it done... in order to make their case for a war they intended to see take place.
I'll grant you that Mr. Cheney knows a thing or two about "dishonest and reprehensible" conduct. Yesterday Mr. Cheney said: "“The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out.” One of my friends with a better command of language than mine has to give me the word for a guy who had "other priorities in the '60s than military service," who later manufactures a war to suit the amoral interests of his cronies, and then presumes to lecture me on my cynicism and integrity.

A Few Words About HM2 Allan Espiritu

Petty Officer 2nd Class Allan M. Cundanga Espiritu, 28, of Oxnard, CA, died Nov. 1 from an improvised explosive device while conducting combat operations in the vicinity of Ar Ramadi, Iraq.
"Doc" Espiritu was assigned to 2nd Force Service Support Group (Forward), II Marine Expeditionary Force (Forward).

Thoughts on Janet/Foxy

I need for you folks to bear with me for a moment. I've been having issues with the news I just got about Janet/Foxy, especially as I return home after a successful surgery. She's a contemporary I've chatted with only a few times in passing. Janet has cardiomyopathy, and has now lapsed into a coma as her other vital organs begin to go offline.
This has been somewhat of a challenging year for me... the prostate cancer diagnosis, the broken femur just before my first scheduled surgery date, the blood clot just before the second date, the delay in the third date as the doctors worked out how to remove the cancer without killing me with an embolus... but I've never felt particularly threatened by any of it.
For whatever reason, as soon as I heard "Houma" during the news coverage of Katrina I immediately thought of Janet. When I didn't hear from her I discounted it because we’ve never been what anyone would call close, but it's been in my mind that she was in trouble.
I've come to terms with the idea that Janet's to-do list for this lifetime has apparently been completed, and mine apparently hasn't. I am mindful that there are billions of people more "deserving" of an eighth... ninth... tenth chance than me. I’m not unappreciative of my life or of my continued capacity to enjoy it. It just seems like there should be merit points factored in somewhere.
I feel better having learned that she was offered the option of a transplant. I tell people that would be my call... that there are only 52 cards in the deck and you can't swap them out... but she walked the talk.
I hope she knows that she's been on folks' minds and that she'll be missed. I hope that, if we run into each other again down the line, she'll say "Hi."
"May all beings without exception be released from suffering, and find true happiness and everlasting peace."

Place Marker

I know... I haven't had my head in the game lately.
I'm scheduled for surgery tomorrow... barring any further complications.
My absentee ballot for tomorrow's special election went in last week.
If all goes as one might hope, I should be back early next week.
Thank you for your patience.

I need to get better at this...

My vision for this blog... for my own purposes as well as for yours... is to articulate my thoughts based on my experiences and the shared ideas and experiences of others. To bring that vision into reality, I need to be able to cite my sources... to dig a little into their sources... to distinguish fact from probability and hearsay.

For instance, when people talk about the Republican base or the Democrat base, I have read that they are talking about something like 15% of the population who might be described as very conservative or to the right for Republicans or 15% of the population who might be described as very liberal or to the left for Democrats. I need to remember where I read that because, if it's true, that's an enormous opportunity for change! Excluding another 5% of the population too extreme to be represented by either the right or left, that's 65% of the population who've seldom if ever had anyone representing them in Washington... or in Sacramento.

At some level I believe we know this, but we don't believe we can do anything about it. When Arnold was running against Tom McClintock for Governor I'd ask people what they were thinking when they supported Arnold, and they'd tell me that it was because McClintock couldn't win! Because?

Okay, Perot and Nader are both nuts. Senator McCain has made maybe one too many deals. Senator Jeffords? I know next to nothing about him. Is there a John Anderson out there? Is there a John Anderson in your district?

If we're ever to get back to being able to choose from among the best qualified candidates for anything we can't wait for the Republicans or the Democrats to move away from what works for them.

I need to do a much better job of keeping track of where I hear or read stuff.

HM3 Christopher W. Thompson

Petty Officer 3rd Class Christopher W. Thompson, 25, of N. Wilkesboro, N.C., was killed in action on Oct. 21, from an IED explosion while conducting combat operations against enemy forces in the Al Anbar Province of Iraq.

"Doc" Thompson was assigned to Echo Company, 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines, 8th Regimental Combat Team, 2nd Marine Division, Fleet Marine Forces Atlantic, based in Camp Lejeune, N.C.
Semper Fi

Navy Birthday

Today is the 230th Birthday of the U.S. Navy.
I won't go on about it. I think you'd need to have been out there.

Dealing With Hard Truths and Bitter Reality

This is the last Proposition I'm going to discuss at least until I get a chance to study 80 some more.
Proposition 73 on the November ballot calls for parental notification at least 48 hours before termination of a minor's pregnancy. I hate this issue. I think it's a "dad" thing... maybe a "parent" thing... but I hate it.
The "argument" in favor of this proposition begins by saying that a daughter under 18 can't get an aspirin from the school nurse without a parent knowing, but she can have an abortion.
Okay, that's true... it's been true since 1953 in California that a pregnant minor may consent to medical care related to the prevention or treatment of pregnancy. Of course, there is an important second issue that is completely ignored in this proposition which is that if your thirteen year old daughter carries her pregnancy to term and becomes a mother, then she has to make the decisions for the child if she decides to keep the child and not give it up for adoption. Sooner or later the daughter will be making her own decisions for this pregnancy.
I know that it eats at many parents that "just say no" isn't the panacea that they'd hoped it would be, but it just isn't. Go figure!
I have a daughter... and I've been a quasi-dad to another teenaged girl... and I can tell you that, for all of my failings as a husband, by the time Prop. 73 would have become an issue my daughter and I would have had that talk. We did have that talk.
If your daughter has become pregnant before you have taught her your beliefs and values... If your daughter has become pregnant feeling that she could not share her life and her feelings with you... If your daughter has agonized until she got the gumption to go to Planned Parenthood or wherever... then what on earth are you, as parents, going to accomplish by making her wait two more days. Will you love her? Support her? Encourage her? I'm sorry, but I believe that if that was the case you would have already had that talk.
Governor Schwarzenegger is in favor of Prop. 73. Late last week Governor Schwarzenegger also vetoed two bills that would have supported and minimally expanded California's Healthy Families programs (SB 23 and AB 624).
Listen, California has had a "safe haven" law on the books for a few years now... leave a newborn at any healthcare facility or fire station within 72 hours with no questions asked... and this week they found yet another dead full-term baby boy with the umbilical cord still attached next to a dumpster near USC.
Teen pregnancy sucks... abortion sucks... but really what are the chances that these lame-ass parents wanting to get involved at the last minute are going to make things any better?
Let the girl be.