Violence and Pacifism, An Either Or Proposition?

Tags

morality, torture, War

Let’s be clear. I have no answers here. I have questions and beliefs, and that is all. I’m not suggesting what we should do, other than have this conversation, no matter how unpleasant and uncomfortable it makes us.

Anyone who suggests there are easy answers, or who whats to “leave it to the experts” and sweep it under the rug of “not my pay grade” be damned. You can’t avoid your complicity by refusing to be a part of the issue.

The discussion of war/pacifism, torture, rules of war, and so on, have confronted the human mind since the beginning of human interactions. While a certain defense of one’s personal integrity seems genetically normal, beyond that, we argue through the ages about how much is too much, when, and how?

As I said, there are no easy answers. It is for instance easy for me to come down on the side of pacifism, since it is my natural proclivity to choose life over harm to every and all creatures. Yet as a carnivores, I am immediately confronted with my hypocrisy, though I can respond quickly with “well exactly what do you propose to do with pigs and cattle, turn them out to fend for themselves as easy prey for predator animals?” Not your problem?

The world consists of very few individuals who will willingly stand still in the face of a direct lethal attack, and say, “do what you must,  I will not lift a hand to defend myself.” And by doing so, do you contribute to the violence of another?

Both these are acts of violence whether you accept them or not. A strict pacifist can neither consume meat nor defend themselves against attack.

Trying to cut them out of the mix, and then say, well all else, I come down on the side of no violence is just as fraught with exceptions. One can, and I do, argue that I will not kill 2 to save 10, but figure that fate must be allowed to play out as it will. But turn that figure into killing 10 to save 10 million, and you see the dilemma. Now it looks quite a bit different. Surely Hiroshima and Nagasaki were justified on such grounds.

The Bush Doctrine of pre-emptive strike proved a disaster and surely violates in principle and act, the idea of “just war” theory. The Bush Doctrine might prove workable in the hands of a bright, moral being, but proved horrific in the hands of a stupid man egged on by arguably evil men at his side.

Just war “sounds” right, and surely has the imprimatur of the Catholic Church, but is it really just? How about all that talk of “rules of war”? Does not tidying up the killing to MOSTLY the perpetrators just prolong what would otherwise be so horrendous as to cause cessation? Do we appease the warmongers by pursuing military targets and not civilian? Was not some of the reasoning behind the US entry into WWII the magnitude of the killing? Was it not motivated in part by the inhumanity of the German war machine with its blitzkriegs, and the indiscriminate unfairness of the Japanese “surprise?”  Would it all have been better if they had followed the “rules?”

It is not as ugly to push buttons from Colorado to kill convoys in Yemen, where yes, we allow for “collateral” damage? Would it not be better to force humans to face up to the bodies they produce? Was not part of the argument about pilots the nicety of not having to see the mangled flesh they produced by their bombs?

Torture has been in the human playbook for as long at least as recorded history. We burned and drew, quartered, and stocked, long before waterboarding came along. Technology brought us advances which brought electrodes, cattle prods, chain saws, drills, and a host of other household items to the torture table. We justify all this of course by the need for intelligence.

We do the unthinkable because it is necessary to protect the greater good, so we tell ourselves. Our television screens are full nowadays of “heroes” who regularly break, stab, beat, human bodies in the quest for the information necessary to “save lives” and protect our way of life.

What way of life are we protecting in the end? The life that condones and is willing to survive as a result of such human acts?

Where is the line? And who calls it? Is Jack Bauer the one you want to decide? Or a feckless Congress who measures everything by political leverage and opportunism, all too often limited to their own personal professional lives? Do you want to throw the dice on an individual you vote for when the entire game is now rigged by the rich and powerful whose interests are almost never going to be yours and who live by the credo, that the birds do not consider the interests of the ants they eat?

Are we any better than they when we do what they do in the name of stopping them? Do we want to be better than they? Do we care beyond our own hides in the end? If not, then we need to stop flooding the world with our proclamations that we are moral and they  are not. We need to stop accusing them of violations when we are committing them at an even faster pace.

There is a reason we armed the Taliban against the Russians and then proclaimed them our enemy after 9-11. There is a similar reason interred the Japanese during WWII. We arm the bad guys all over South America because they agree to our long-term goals, while their peoples writhe in agony from the tortures they employ. We enlist countries with “softer” rules to be our locations where we can avoid our rules of law, and mistreat humans in the name of saving democracy.

I say all this and then I sit with my head in my hands because I don’t know where to come down on the oft used scenario: you have in custody the man who knows where the hydrogen bomb has been planted in NYC. You have six hours to find it. If it goes off, millions will die, and the country may well fall. Well? torture him or not?

Perhaps the scenario is unfair, perhaps using the worst-case scenario is unnecessary and unfair. But once you allow for it, then how about Springfield? Or Kalamazoo? How small does the scale have to get before we say, too far?

Does justice demand something else? Does it demand an all or nothing? Or does it ask us to submit to a conclusion unpalatable but possibly real? As long as humans care about living, we have to admit we are natural killing machines, and do it as efficiently as possible with as little collateral damage (innocent death) as possible?

Is there a philosophy that can cut through all this and make it a simple argument that cannot be denied?

I surely wish for one, but so far, I have not found it.

I remain sickened. I know what I would stop, but I can’t give you a logical play it out to the end answer that works for all things in all times.

If you can, please tell me.

But damn don’t avoid the issue, for we all are complicit whether you like it or not.

Wandering Through Christendom

Tags

abortion, Catholic, Christians, Episcopalian, gay rights, terrorism, torture

There are times when I might be hard put to define what a Christian is. Oh not from a technical standpoint. Any good dictionary will do for that, and certainly either the Nicene Creed or Apostles’ fits the bill.

What I mean is that in examining the speech and behavior of some people, I’d be hard put to define them as Christian, and this from a person who loathes the judgmentalism that is prevalent among some of the faithful toward those whom they disagree with.

I’ve been known on a forum to exclaim more than once, that I am “stunned and would surely never assume this place was a religious forum but for the sign on the door.” I hear things said that are to my mind at least decidedly unChristian in nature. I refrain, I truly do, from the judgment that might follow, for I recognize that only God truly knows the mind of another.

Yet the post at AlterNet is truly troubling. It’s not that I haven’t read the statistic before, but well, this article is simply devastating in fleshing out the numbers. Fully 54% of non-Hispanic, Catholic, white evangelicals and mainline Protestants find torture okay in some circumstances.  More appalling perhaps is that these folks are “regular” church goers.

It’s almost incomprehensible that the teachings of Jesus can be so misunderstood, ignored, or twisted in order to support the intentional infliction of serious pain on another human being as a means of “getting information.” More shock? Those who rarely attended church were rather convincingly against torture.

Those of you who recall The Brothers Karamazov, recall the Grand Inquisitor having Jesus before him and saying:

“Didst thou forget that man prefers peace, and even death, to freedom of choice in the knowledge of good and evil? … We teach them that it’s not the free judgment of their hearts, but mystery which they must follow blindly, even against their conscience. … In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet [and] become obedient. … We shall tell them that we are Thy servants and rule them in Thy name. … We shall tell them that every sin will be expiated if it is done with our permission.”

It sounds indeed as if someone in the Bush Administration read the book and discovered the means to controlling people–fear.

There is much more in the article and I urge you to link up and read it. It is chilling.

***

Hats off to the Quakers! For some decades at least, Quakers have blessed same sex relationships. Now their full communion, meeting at York University, has opted to extend their efforts to legally marry same sex couples.

This relates to Britain, but I understand that American Quakers also bless same sex relationships, so I wonder if they are moving in this same direction.

I recall in reading Robin Meyers’ book, “Saving Jesus from the Church,” (reviewed here recently) he mentioned that he thought that perhaps Quakers had gotten Jesus and the early church most right of anyone.

This move would tend to suggest that at least to me.

***

Meanwhile, the Vatican is said to be none too pleased by the actions of the Drug Agency in Italy which has approved the use of an abortion pill in the first seven weeks of pregnancy.

It is not believed it’s use will be wide since it is considered to be “self-excommunicating” to use it, prescribe it or administer it.

It has however been being used on a trial basis and is commonly used throughout Europe.

It seems that even Italy is no longer safe from what religious would refer to as secularism.

 

***

As many no doubt have heard, at the recent General Convention, the Episcopal Church voted to end the moratorium on GLBT members who seek discernment as priest and bishop. All are to be admitted for discernment and processed without regard for sexual orientation.

It appears that such matters are underway as dioceses in California and Minnesota to elevate  gay priests to the office of Bishop.

Previous to this the Archbishop of Canterbury had urged that TEC continue to honor the moratorium. The decision to not do so was passed by a rather strong majority of voting members.

***

Short Takes on the Day, 05/21/09

Tags

Adam Lambert, American Idol, Barack Obama, CIA, dancing with the stars, Daniel hauser, Dick Cheney, Entertainment, Hodgkin's disease, Jamie Foxx, Johnny Depp, Martin Scorsese, medicine, Nancy Pelosi, parental rights, Shawn Johnson, torture

As some of you may know, Shawn Johnson, of Iowa, (toot toot) won the “Dancing with the Stars” competition night before last.  I predicted the win when she tied Gilles Marini in the final dance. It just was obvious that Shawn would get huge votes from every little girl gymnast in America as well as half the state, which Gilles couldn’t count on as much from his acting in the “Sex and the City” movie.

He was the better dancer, hands down, and had been throughout the competition. I take nothing away from Shawn, she was very good, but Gilles was the professional looking one. Coupled with the early demise of “lil Kim” (apparently rap enthusiasts just don’t watch “Dancing,”), it wrapped up another show where the better performer lost.

It appears, though I didn’t watch, that the same thing has happened on “American Idol,” which finished off last night with a win by Kris Allen over the favorite Adam Lambert. You can read a piece at the Huff Po, which will explain how this was a total travesty.

Word is that Adam was just “too gay” to win. I hope that is not true. But I trust that he was the better singer since I heard that pretty much everywhere.

Huff Po writer, Jim Davis, suggests that the American public is just too stupid to be given a hand in these things. He points to the election of G. W. Bush twice as an example. Yet, he focuses  mainly on the homophobia that he believes was the root cause of Adam losing.

I dunno really. It’s hard to say. We bailed on “Survivor” after a very few episodes figuring if the contestants were so stupid they couldn’t make the obviously correct call, why should we waste our time. So it seems that audience or not, these shows thrive on stupid behavior whether from the contestants or the voting public.

Maybe we are seeing the demise of this genre, and that might be a good thing. They continue to devolve, and the new one’s being added are getting sillier and sillier. We are rethinking our watching that’s for sure.

***

Meanwhile, my heart breaks and my anger builds at the woman in Minnesota who has taken her son and run, to avoid court ordered chemotherapy for the boy’s Hodgkin’s disease.

The family belongs to some strange religious cult that eschews medical treatment in favor of herbs and other “natural” stuff. There is a 95%+ cure rate if  13 year old Daniel Hauser,  receives traditional treatment.

This make me reassess the efficacy of requiring “qualifications” for parenthood. I don’t care about the religious cult, be my guest, but no parent can be allowed to endanger their child’s very life like this. I agree that just as great harm can be done to children psychologically by abusive parents and we have no real way of policing that. And I agree, where to draw the line, is problematical. But this just is wrong. I hope they find them before it is too late.

This just tickled me, and gave me an opportunity to drop another Johnny Depp photo on the blog.

It seems as a joke, some blogger type entertainment post, suggested that Jamie Foxx was being tagged to play the lead in the new Scorsese pic, “Sinatra.”

It was picked up by a UK tabloid and published as accurate. Word is that Depp is the one Scorsese actually wants. Oh be still my fluttering heart!

***

Meanwhile, back in Washington, Rethugs continue to try to make mountains out of molehills. I guess when you are down that low, they look pretty darn tall. GOP’ers are busy trying to create a ruckus about Nancy Pelosi and what she did or did not learn about the “enhanced interrogation techniques” or torture as we know it.

As if this matters a good deal. Are the Rethugs going to be “shocked” and “dismayed” if Pelosi knew and didn’t do anything? I mean it was their team that was doin’ it right? And this kinda all falls flat when Bob Graham publicly states that the CIA informed him incorrectlythat they had briefed him four times, and it turns out only once, and Graham is not sure so far from his notes that he was ever briefed on water boarding and all those nasty things.

Newt and Boehner are so busy screaming that that “woman can’t be Speaker when she calls the CIA a liar” that they have lost what remaining brain cells they have. I mean, ask the average person. “Do you think the CIA lies?” The reply might well be, “how many times in a day?” They are a spy company for goodness sakes. Duh.

***

There was a rumble last night. The battle of the “who is keeping America safe” was fought by the ever elegant, every brilliant, ever sane President of the US of A, against the dark force, ever lying, ever whining, ever not letting go shadow of a human, Dick “The Dick” Cheney.  Read it round by round, point by point at the Daily Beast.

The winner would be obvious, but you can score your card and see what you think.

***

That’s all folks!

Cuz You’re Just Dying to Know My Opinion

Tags

Arlen Spector, conservatives, GOP, judicial activism, Protestant, religion, religious right, Rush Limbaugh, SCOTUS, Seuter, torture

Justice Souter is retiring. You probably already know that. It is said that he grew to hate his job, but more so he hated Washington. He is a 19th century man trapped in the 21st century.

It is reputed that in his cabin in New Hampshire, there are stacks upon stacks of books, but nary a TV. He writes his opinions longhand with a pen.

So Obama will be looking for a replacement. Let’s hope he can ferret out closet conservatives. Souter was a closet liberal if you were to ask George  H. W. Bush, the President who appointed him. I guess he often said it was one of his worst decisions as President.

When I was at MSU, I took a course on the federal judiciary. I had a professor there who had worked out a computer program wherein he could plug in the important aspects of a case going up, and predict how the SCOTUS would vote, and who would vote which way. He could do it with an accuracy of about 97%.

It all came down to understanding the belief system of a justice on certain key issues. For instance on search and seizure. A justice might be more than willing to allow police all kinds of latitude in intruding on an individual as long as they saw the scope pretty limited to criminal types. Once the latitude might slip over to “honest” citizens, it became too intrusive for his taste. You could thus analyze a case based on the concept of “could this happen to me” and figure out how this justice would likely vote.

By the way, there is really no such thing as “judicial activism” versus “strict construction. ” Well, there is, but most of the people who yammer about it haven’t a clue about what it means. THEY mean that when a judge does  something they don’t like, he’s an impermissible activist, and when he does which they do  like, he’s a strict constructionist.

Plenty of people in and out of Iowa are trying to suggest that the recent case of Varnum v. O’Brien was a case of judicial activism. It was the very antithesis of that. It was nothing but plain old judicial review, which was established by Marbury v. Madison back in the Jefferson Administration.

The Contrarian is right. We need to put term limits on our SCOTUS. It was fine when people served 10-15 years and then died or retired. Now it’s 30-40 years and a couple of bad choices can literally reshape the world to their image. It’s not right.

Oh, here’s my pic in the dark: A Hispanic woman.

***

The Contrarian came a running around the corner of the door and said, “Did you hear? Arlen Spector has left the GOP and is joining the Democrats!”

I hadn’t, but I refreshed my reader and on that page of about 20, 18 were “News flash! Spector defects to Dems!” I figured I didn’t need to make any announcement myself.

I don’t have much to add to what you already know. He’s a moderate, won’t vote with his new party on everything by a long shot, but I can understand his disgust at what has happened to the Republicans. They have gone off the trolley line and are barreling down the hill.

Rush suggested that it was “good riddance and you can take McCain with you!” Nice of Rush. But gosh, I don’t know as we want him. He’s still doing his best to be relevant but all he sounds like is a whiner.

Did ya hear that the Rethugs are gathering again in a small summit with the hope that they can re-market themselves? I’m not sure they invited Boehner, and I know they didn’t invite Steele. The party of NO hopes to find a theme. They explain the idiocy of Michelle Bachmann by suggesting that they are a “big tent.” More like a pup tent if you ask me. Nothing left but right wing crazies.

***

This next one saddens me beyond measure but unfortunately doesn’t surprise me.

I’ve been frequenting a forum fairly regularly lately. Most of you know which one. I’ve been shocked to see forum threads “Is waterboarding really torture?” As if there was something to actually argue about here.

One has to look at the anomalous situation of the “compassionate born again” President, George W. Bush, being the instigator of such a practice. And not just one, there were others. It is the “sanctity of life” dude who thinks it’s okay to do this kind of thing.

Well, statistics reinforce the image. A Pew poll finds that it is frequent (once a week) church goers that are more in favor of torture than those that don’t go much.

A full 54% of regular church goers said torture was often or sometimes okay. Only 42% of less regular goers agreed with this. This is truly scary stuff.

Now those that attend faithfully like to think of themselves as more religiously minded, and better Christians. They constantly rail at those who are less frequent as  being not serious about their faith, living too secularly, and giving but a passing glance to God.

Again, the statistics bear this out, with Evangelicals more likely to support torture, by a margin of 6 out of 10. Those who have no affiliation and probably seldom attend church only supported torture at a rate of 4 in 10.

Mainline Protestants, Episcopalians, Lutherans and Presbyterians were least likely to approve of “enhanced” techniques, with only 3 in 10 approving.

So it turns out that the more ‘traditional” you are in your faith, the more faithful, the more you are churched along the most conservative lines, the more you approve of torture.

It tends to go pretty much in hand with what I see. These types are quick to point out what is wrong with everyone else, to the degree that they seldom if ever it seems bother to read the bible and discover just what Jesus taught. At least that is how it appears. Shameful isn’t it?

So what do you think?

Hope you like the new header! It’s another of Clark Little’s. And a new wisdom quote for the month. Happy May 1.

Short Takes on the Day, 04/27/09

Tags

conspiracy theories, divorce, Health & Human Services, Health care, John McCain, medicine, pandemics, Pope Benedict, swine flu, torture, waterboarding

Well, yesterday’s post must have concerned God, since he went to some efforts to make me feel better about missing church yesterday. Later in the morning, I developed a definite fever, and felt lethargic. Rut-row, was the swine flu coming my way? We had been in a hospital for goodness sakes only Friday, and you know that everybody gets sick when you go near those places!

It didn’t last long. After I ate, I felt quite a bit better and the “symptoms” disappeared. So I started to feel a bit justified in my choice. Turns out though that it was never to be.

Today, which cooking up a storm, I finally got to sit down and turn toward my daily office practices. I happened to gaze out the window, and you guessed it, a solidly flat tire met me. Given that with all the rain, something like four inches total, nothing was getting down the lane but the Bronco, I was never going to church yesterday anyway. So I figure God was telling me it was okay, that I sorta fudged on “not being able to get out.”

***

John McCain continues to fascinate me. His daughter has come out in favor of gay rights and is taking plenty of pot shots at Karl (slight of hand) Rove. But the old man continues his shameful crap. He’ s more than willing to accept that waterboarding is torture and we shouldn’t do it, but thinks we should “move on” and not prosecute the slime balls who have ignored the Geneva Conventions and well, defend the practice on unproven claims that “it worked.” McCain remains the candidate who cuts corners on ethics to continue stroking the base. Word is  that he’s getting a real run for his money by an ultra conservative in Arizona, who is beating him over the head about his immigration policy (which of course, McCain no longer wishes to even speak of.)

***

Speaking of the new swine flu, and we were, how’s come we keep getting diseases from animals? I mean this seems always the case doesn’t it? Do they ever get sick from us? Other than getting murdered for food and tested for cosmetics and such? I mean that’s enough to be really mad at us I guess. But I haven’t seen any pigs sneezing. Is that a sign? I yell at one of our cats, Kate. She sneezes all the time, and never covers her nose, but that’s another story.

I’m just wondering if this is some massive conspiracy by the animal kingdom to do us in. I can understand why they might think it a good idea, but really our menagerie of spongers are way to lazy to work for their supper or pay any rent. They need us, like it or not. So enough with giving us all this darned illness! (You know this might have something to do with birds committing suicide by flying into jet engines……just thinkin’.)

***

Oh and while we are still talking about the flu, and we still are cuz I said so. Just wanted to give a nice shout out to the Rethugs for their help. Not only did they insist that money allotted to “pandemic disease” control be taken out of the stimulus package because it somehow didn’t create jobs, but they are blocking the appointment of Gov. Kathleen Sebelius for HHS. You know, it’s to the point where you almost have to think there is a satanic force at work making sure the GOP is on the exact wrong side of everything these days. (Shall we reload in our circular firing squad boys and girls, and continue to off each other faster than a Democrat can win an election against ya?)

***

It seems that all was atwitter for nothing much. Lots of speculation was afoot that things would not go well when Charles and Camilla had a private audience with his Holiness Benedict XVI.

First of all, it was expected that the Pope would be chastising the couple, since both are divorced, which is not kosher in the Vatican (I love mixing religions like that). It was also theorized that Benedict would present the couple with a facsimile of Henry VIII’s request for annulment. Neither one happened.

Apparently the meeting was quite chatty. This of course leads to new speculation that the Vatican is thinking about relaxing the divorce prohibition for its flock. Camilla was married to a Catholic, although Charles was not (actually it’s against the law for a royal to marry a Roman Catholic under current Acts of Secession). The pope we understand did want that dropped.

I’d not place too much emphasis on his meeting the two and not wagging his finger at the couple for “living in the sin of adultery” though. It would take some mighty fancy foot work to change the Church’s stance on divorce without a whole lot of other dogma threatening to collapse. When you make claims that the Church is prevented from error by the Holy Spirit, it is a big no no to suggest said Spirit in error.

Course, there are ways around this, but who is gonna be big enough to say they “misinterpreted” the Spirit? So don’t look for any change soon. So far the willing martyr has not been found. Swords are being readied perhaps for the inevitable falling upon though.

***

that’s all folks!

The Good, the Bad, the Bush

Tags

Bush, education, foreign policy, Health care, Iraq, legacy, presidential power, torture

There are precious few days left in the Bush debacle called a presidency. And much as I am delighted to see him go, I shall miss the great opportunities the numbskull presented for humor.

Why just a couple of days ago, the boy wonder gave his last press conference. And within a couple of sentences we were treated to the new word he invented: misunderestimate! Yep our backward idiot boy never loses his touch does he?

Well I couldn’t resist this article by the one and only National Review, written by Rich Lowery. He decided he could come up with 10 mistakes Bush had made. Amazing, given that Bushie himself can barely think of one.  Anyhow, this stuff is mostly code, so let me interpret.

Not getting congressional buy-in on detention policy immediately after 9/11. Going to Congress would have forced more deliberation when the administration was rushing into the hasty improvisation of Gitmo and made it harder for Democrats to grandstand once it became controversial. (Yeah, forget the legalities. Bush should have gotten the Dems married to the policy so they couldn’t oppose the unconstitutionality of it later. Dumb mistake.)

An ineffective management style. Bush the “CEO president” wisely wanted to delegate. Alas, the quality of some of his Texas loyalists wasn’t particularly high, and when people under Bush failed, his first instinct was to stand by them stalwartly (see Rumsfeld, Don) rather than to hold them accountable. ( Dang, and we thought Cheney ran everything. And, it helps if the “CEO” reads and has a clue when his underlings are stupid. It had nothing to do with loyalty and still doesn’t.)

Not replacing George Tenet after 9/11. Someone should have taken responsibility after the terror attacks. Tenet’s exit wouldn’t have prevented the WMD debacle, but at least he wouldn’t have been around to give his dramatic “slam-dunk” demonstration in the Oval Office. (When you are going to use a scapegoat, use ’em early in the game. When you lie to people they have a disturbing habit of regurgitating your lies. Unfortunate  truly.)

Deferring to his generals. Bush believed that his job was to listen to his generals and give them what they wanted. This made him overly passive during much of the Iraq War. It wasn’t until his generals had nearly lost the war that Bush fully stepped up to his role as commander in chief, going around the brass to order the surge, the most successful and consequential initiative of his second term.
(Admission that you don’t know a thing about war planning and pursuit is not a good thing. Who gave Bushie the surge? Are you saying that nobody including Cheney thought the generals were wrong?)

Not taking charge during Katrina. As soon as the National Weather Service bulletins were warning of the possible destruction of an American city, Bush should have rode herd on the tangled homeland-security bureaucracy and, once the storm hit, federalized the response to save New Orleans from the incompetence and limited capabilities of its state and local governments. (The man cannot correct what he doesn’t understand. He still doesn’t think he did a thing wrong with Katrina. Now how can he spot incompetence when he is incompetent? He can’t help it, he thinks it’s all about whether he landed Air Force One or not.)

Too much accommodation of a GOP Congress. Bush got what he wanted out of Congress at the price of looking the other way from burgeoning earmarks and a creeping culture of corruption. More triangulation at the expense of his own party’s leaders would have served Bush — and perhaps the ill-fated GOP majority — well.(So he was not supposed to act like a Republican? Who says he looked the other way? He is the free market dude right? I thought Congress, except for those pesky Dems were doing exactly as he wished.)

Not reading enough history. Bush has admirably applied himself to an extensive reading program as president, but if he had absorbed more history before taking office — particularly about military matters — he’d have had a better grounding to make important decisions. (Gosh are you saying there should be actual qualifications for president beyond age and origin of birth? That means we should be in pretty good shape now huh? Stop assuming the revisionist history of the ‘reader’ president is sticking to the wall Rich. It ain’t. Bush is a dolt and everyone knows that.)

Refusing to settle the internal war within his administration. The acrimony between the State Department and CIA on the one hand and the Defense Department and vice president’s office on the other was poisonous and debilitating. It hampered the prosecution of the Iraq War and led to the “Scooter” Libby mess that was the highest-profile “scandal” of an otherwise relatively clean administration. (I thought you just said this was his management style? It doesn’t appear that Bush was aware of much of this at all. He said after all that any leaks in the Valerie Plame affair would be prosecuted. I suspect he had no clue, since he had no clue about most things.)

Underestimating the power of explanation. By temperament and   ability, Bush was more a “decider” than a “persuader.” He’s not naturally drawn to public argument, giving his administration its unfortunate (and not entirely fair) “my way or the highway” reputation at home and abroad. (Yeah, we all agree, Bush was an asshat, anything more to say? Arrogance was his middle name. He was abetted in that by Cheney who can give a rat’s ass what the public thinks about anything, since they are mere vermin used to carry out policy and die in wars.)

Ignoring health-care reform too long. By the time Bush unveiled a serious and sensible health-care reform in 2007, it was DOA, leaving Democrats with the initiative on this crucial issue. (That requires that you believe in health care reform in the first place. Bush doesn’t care, nor do Republicans generally. People who are uninsured are just lazy. Next question.

Well, after that rather vapid list of “errors” made by Bush, one couldn’t end things like that. No, the intrepid Fred Barnes, co-host of the Beltway Boys, and co-editor or such of the Weekly Standard, weighs in on the ten things Bushie got right. Alert: Fred Barnes is nuts, so don’t expect any rational argument. The dude wrote a book about how Bush would be remembered as one of the greatest presidents ever–you have been warned.

1. His decision to jettison the Kyoto treaty.  (The sure sign that something is no good is that environmentalists, Al Gore, “elites” and Europeans are for it. So nothing is better than something. According to Fred, consensus on Global warming has “collapsed.” Your brain has collapsed Fred.)
2. Torture and other eavesdropping methods. (Fred calls this enhanced interrogation to get around the naughty word torture. Of course it saved lives, but nobody has ever explained where and how. Just trust them. Saying you got crucial evidence is not errr, evidence.
3. The rebuilding of Presidential authority. (Fred go and consult any constitutional professor you want. Part of your proof here is Cheney, and Cheney said he wasn’t part of the Executive, so his abuses of power hardly bolster your argument. We have heard the old “commander in chief argument for suspension of the constitution. Nobody with a brain is buying it.
   
4. Bush’s unswerving support for Israel. (Yep, the peace process in the Middle East has certainly moved forward in the last eight years. Fred seems to like any action that upsets Europe or the UN. Bush’s policies certainly did that. Fred says he was good at saying one thing and doing another. Yes, a fine legacy I’d say. Lie!)
5. No Child Left Behind. (Most have been mildly supportive of the measure, but Bush just discontinued pushing. Lots of complaints that teachers have to teach to the test rather than actually teach. It’s not at all clear that kids have learned more. Most say they haven’t. )
6. A foreign policy of actively promoting democracy. (Yes, at the point of a gun too. How original. Fred says he’s zinged a few dictators. Yes, they do seem to be backing down everywhere Fred. Could you point out one?
   
7. The Medicaid reform on proscriptions. (Tons of folks got no benefit at all. And it was and remains very confusing to figure out what plan is best. This is what the Rethugs call health care reform. I’m still looking for all this competition and price reduction from the drug companies.)
8. The elevation of John Roberts and Sam Alito to the Supreme Court. (Well I can’t argue with you here Fred. But I see it as a sad disaster where you see it as grand. So much for social issues. At least Obama can stem the tide and keep it even with his next choice.)
9. Bush increased our friendships in Asia without pissing off China. (Not at all sure what Fred uses as evidence here. China has us by the economic balls and we all know it. Fred ignores Pakistan of course. )
10. The Surge. (The surge stemmed the tide of American dead. Little else. It had little to do with troops, it mostly had to to do with paying off the tribal chieftains to war against the insurgents and al Qaeda. Furthermore, a lot of the violence ceased because the ethnic cleansing in Baghdad has been pretty much accomplished.

That pretty much says it all. What else is there to say?

I Can Clean Rings around Rings!

Tags

American History, Archaeology, Bush, Catholicism, Colonial America, Cuba, cupcakes, Desserts, fabric patterns, fundamentalism, gay rights, GOP, horse racing, immigration, Iowa, Iraq, Italian, John McCain, medicine, Pizza, quilting, science, sin, theology, torture, Veterans, Women's history

The photograph was done by David Octavius Hill and is called “Newhaven Fishwives.” I don’t know if this refers to Connecticut or not, but I see no fish and I would think it difficult to clean fish in these clothes. You can view it at MMA.

Sorry about yesterday. The kitchen assignment was a good deal more involved than I had planned for and I did want to finish it once I started. It was just cleaning the counters. I neglected to take into consideration that I have a couple of big crocks that I use for utensils around the stove, and all the things I don’t use often had a fine sheen of that sticky grease coating it. So the cleaning was both slow and tedious. Today I zoomed through cleaning the stove and hood and spice rack. We took off the railing on the rack and decided it was much better off. Still, I had that greasy sheen on all my spice jars to clean off. But it went surprisingly fast. The kitchen is really starting to show its sparkle now; I just have under the sink, one narrow cabinet that will go very quickly and the windows to do. The floor will take another day, as I have to scoot around and work on the corners and along the baseboards that the mop consistently misses.

Let’s get on with the news:

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Abby Sweets opens the day with cupcakes, orange-cocoa cupcakes to be exact. I don’t know why, but they sounded good, so take a look at the recipe and see if you agree.

I probably wouldn’t include this kind of post given that Bush is halfway out the door, but it’s by Adrianne Huffington, and her take is worth reading. It has to do with the appalling state of the GOP and why it is so very necessary we throw the bastards out in November. It’s from her latest book, Right is Wrong.

Blue Girl Red State has a nice expose’ on our continuing issue of torture in the name of protecting us all. If you saw Boston Legallast night, you got a nice little rant about the whole issue as well. I love that show for exactly that reason, the impassioned plea to America that it stand up and be counted as this horrid administration does it level best to remove every political right we have.

I admit that I watch the triple crown races, but I also take a very dim view of racing in general. I believe that the horses are bred to be fast, and much like certain breeds of dogs, it compromises them physically. It seems to me that more horses are breaking down then ever before. I recall watching the Breeder’s Cup years ago and three horses broke down during that series of races. Read the post from Britannica Blog and see what you think.

Catholic Anarchy has a interesting post on sin and the Church. I’m referring to the Catholic Church and not anyone elses. Of course some claim that God directs the Catholic Church in every respect so the Church presumably can not be sinful. According to this theory it cannot err in any respect either. Since I learned yesterday that the Church some years ago declared that capybara, a rodent of South America, was actually a fish, I’m somewhat doubtful of this claim. Anyway, the post is in two parts and so I’ve linked you to the main site. This relates to the theology of Karl Rahner, one of the most important Catholic theologians of the 20th century. It’s the second and third post.

Wow, today’s Civil War Women features a woman from Iowa, Melcenia Elliot. Although born in Indiana, she was raised in Iowa and went to college here as well. She traveled to hospitals and cared for the wounded. Several of her brothers also served as soldiers during the war. Her service was extensive and she traveled around the country, always working for the care of the soldiers.

This recipe sounds about right for a hot summer evening. Pizza is always good. This classy one is Tuna Mozzarella and Basil and sounds so fresh and tasty.Epicurious gives us this lovely one. It has some interesting twists so be sure to take a look.

I must say that overall I’m quite impressed bythe Democratic led Iowa response to the Postville raids. Uniformly Democrats from the Governor on down have responded with concern for immigrant rights and compassion and concern. Essential Estrogen has more on the subject.

Garrison Keillor has blessed us with another post. Just a pleasant break in the day to read his delightful musings. This one is about the upcoming Memorial Day. It’s an especially biting and good one today folks. Don’t miss it.

History of American Women has a lovely historical look at the colonial world of Pennsylvania. Included is a profile of William Penn and Quakerism and general life in this fascinating colony of early America.

Inside-Out the Beltway continues to impress with its witty posts. This one is a great little ditty about the ever changing metamorphosing John McCain. What we said yesterday, we may change today, depending on whom we are pandering to. And so it goes. This time he’s flipped on Cuba, since he is speaking to mostly Cubans! Read it and giggle along.

I always find a drop by at inspired by antique quilts to be well, inspiring. If I ever get this housecleaning done, and the redecorating done, and the gardening done, well then maybe just maybe I can get to quilting. She does push me forward you can bet your quilt on that! She shows three great border options on her medallion quilt. Which one do you like?

No doubt you think of this often. I know I do. What are the ten greatest mysteries in science? Come on, guess one at least! Live Science has the story for you. Who are you? Betcha didn’t know that that one was on the list. Each has a link to the “answer” such as it is, or isn’t.

Niki’s Ventures sends us to another great site for free patterns. Called Amy Butler Design, you can download all her patterns for free. They range from quilting patterns, to business card holders, and all kinds of other fabric related items. Take a look, I’m sure you will see something that catches your eye.

Notice how the war in Iraq has seemingly disappeared again from the airways? The wonderful media, ever ignoring what the Bushites seem to want it to, have well ignored it plain and simple. They have remained quiet as pictures of returning coffins was banned, they have remained silent as suicide rates among returning veterans skyrockets. Just when are we going to see the awful truth. Read Timothy Egan’s piece in the NYTimes today.

The Interfaith Alliance president has a take on the recent decision of the California Supreme Court to strike down a ban on gay marriage. He argues that it was a step in protecting religious freedom. I agree. Do you? This article is from the On Faith section of the Washington Post.

Finally the media has decided to actually call Mac on his closeness to Ron Parsleyand continue reporting on the sewage spewing from Hagee’s mouth. Mac is so far quiet on it all, though he has continued to welcome Hagee’s endorsement. Now we find that the Holocaust is the result of the Jews not working hard and fast enough to reclaim Jerusalem. God’s vengeance and all. How sickening.  Parsley, whom Mac has called “my spiritual advisor,” meanwhile is busy revising history. Did you know America’s goal in life, given by God is to eradicate Muslims? And Mac calls him a “moral compass?” Oh I can’t wait for this one to continue heating up. Thanks to Political Animaland the Contrarian who both alerted me to the news.

I have to admit it, I am concerned about McCain’s psychiatric history. While we seem to wait interminably, and that makes you wonder itself, for his medical records to be given up, he apparently is refusing to show us his psychiatric records. From someone who spend six years as a POW amid torture of various kinds, I do think its a very legitimate concern of Americans. The Contrarian says I make too much of this, but I don’t think so. Read the Salon‘s report and see what you think. Folks this is a very very good post, detailed and I think everyone should take a look. There are a lot of things in it I certainly was unaware of.

Science Daily has a fascinating look at stem cells and how they determine to become what they become. It turns out that several genes work together to turn them on when conditions are right. As this subject is so important in medical science research today, I thought you might like to keep up on what is being learned.

OOPS!. Since we didn’t post yesterday (oh God I’m doing the Royal We again), you missed your Fundamentalist fix. Scoot on over to the American Prospectand catch up. Susan Posner will not be pleased if you miss it.

Well, Nike has done it again. Always the first on the block to sign the next great superstar to a contract. Word is that they have signed Big Brown to a contract for those flashy horseshoes. Be the first at the watercooler tomorrow with this one! Air Brown’s will be what every horse in your paddock is demanding for sure!

I rather think that Republicans are drinking something in their Kool-aid these days. How else explain Lindsay Graham’s urging his fellow GOP’ers to nix the Webb New GI Bill, promising that a vote no will find them “rewarded” in the next election. Rewarded with a huge defeat you wingnut. If you bothered to  check the polls, then you would see that 81% of the American people favor the measure. Or do we still not count for anything? Oh I do believe some Repubs have a death wish, which we are happily going to grant them. Course, Dubya says he will veto, but the margins seem at this point veto proof.

Not all things in Iran are about nukes and Aminawhateverhisnameis. It seems that archaeology is still rolling along and members of an ancient royal family have been uncovered in Ramhormoz. Women of Historyhas an interesting post about it, and some nice research about the Elamites.

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“Before I got married I had six theories about bringing up children; now I have six children and no theories.” John Wilmot

“Never give a party if you will be the most interesting person there.” Mickey Friedman

“To me, boxing is like a ballet, except there’s no music, no choreography, and the dancers hit each other.”  Jack Handey

“Genius may have its limitations, but stupidity is not thus handicapped.” Elbert Hubbard

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Celebrity Quotes:

“Some people say that I must be a terrible person, but it’s not true. I have the heart of a young boy in a jar on my desk” -Stephen King

“Middle age is when your age starts to show around your middle.” – Bob Hope

“A hippie is someone who looks like Tarzan, walks like Jane and smells like Cheetah.” – Ronald Reagan

“I’ve had a wonderful evening, but this wasn’t it.” – Groucho Marx

“I’ve been on a calendar, but I’ve never been on time.” – Marilyn Monroe

“Husbands are like fires – they go out when unattended.” – Zsa Zsa Gabor

“My one regret in life is that I’m not somebody else.” – Woody Allen

“You’re not drunk if you can lie on the floor without holding on.” – Dean Martin

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You know, on the news earlier tonight, they showed Barack Obama back in Iowa. And I got scared. I went, “Oh, no. We’re starting all over again!” Jay Leno

This week, Barack Obama, true story, campaigned on an Indian reservation and the tribal chief adopted him. Yeah, the Indians actually prefer Obama to John McCain, because they still remember when McCain took their land. Conan O’Brien

The Indy 500 is this weekend. To most Americans, the pit is a surreal environment. Mechanics finishing service and repairs all in one day.

Scientists have successfully planted the DNA of an extinct tiger into a mouse. The results have been startling to the lab. When he wants a piece of cheese, he’d better get a piece of cheese. – Alan Ray, Stockton, Calif.