I would argue, and did quite strongly to one of my favorite political debate buddies today, that the “outrage” argument is easily flipped. The outrage is already there! Everyone in the world knows we’ve tortured in the past! They probably imagine it to be a lot worse than it really is… which is why the less common but more relevant argument is the “fear that it would plant doubts in foreign governments about the U.S. ability to shroud collaborative activities” is easily beaten as well.
It’s simple to me: by releasing the details of this torture we’re basically saying to the world: “We get it. We screwed up and we’re willing to make it right by being open and honest about it.” and also, perhaps even more importantly, if you’re interested enough to read details of these methods, you’ll probably be underwhelmed. My thought was “wow, that sounds unpleasant, but it’s not exactly pulling out fingernails or pouring tar on someone’s back.”
I know that last part sounds crude, but if you’re a detractor of America, you could easily spin wild tales of what we did to our detainees… exaggerating wildly. But now, we’ve put it out there and, well, they’re not that bad! Hopefully some people will get a grip and find someone else to hate…
Besides, someone needs to be held accountable. That’s just obvious.
That’s my main argument on these memos… but I wanted to make another point about Obama. When reading this Politico article just now I was struck by how awesome Obama’s decision making process was:
Seated in Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel’s West Wing office with about a dozen of his political, legal and security appointees, Obama requested a mini-debate in which one official was chosen to argue for releasing the memos and another was assigned to argue against doing so. When it ended, Obama dictated on the spot a draft of his announcement that the documents would be released, while most of the officials watched, according to an official who was present. The disclosure happened the next day.
THIS is how it should be! Get the big dogs in an office, have them air the good the bad and the ugly of the issue… and make a decision! He did that in one sitting. He was deliberate AND decisive!
Okay, enough Obama love. Going to a play now…
justin
Newt has got it wrong. He and fellow conservatives think that we should continue to let big banks spend exorbitant amounts of money on jets and CEO compensation. He says that if the government is allowed to cap pay then the best and the brightest will go work elsewhere… and that young entrepreneurs will decide to work for the government instead.
Normally I think Newt is one of the smarter conservatives out there… but this thinking is outdated hogwash and this is why:
First of all, I’m a “young entrepreneur” just like Newt is professing to understand, and nothing about the current economic crisis, the bank bailout, or even the stimulus bill makes me want to work for someone else, not even a little bit! If I worked for someone else (including the government), I would probably have been laid off by now. There is plenty of money to be made in a slow economy and as a small business, I can adapt to the changing times faster than a bigger company or government that might hire me. That means I’ll have a better chance at getting ahead. That fact has not changed since the economic disaster… instead it’s gotten more pronounced.
Secondly, to call the CEO of a big bank an “entrepreneur” is a misnomer of epic proportions. None of these guys started the banks they work for, and most probably never started any company. They’re usually career bankers or executives sucking the silver spoon as they work their way up the ladder until they, too, can get a $1.2 million office. How nice for them. It was their stupidity (in the dubious forms of credit default swaps and mortgage derivatives) that got us into this mess and they should be held accountable! Since these aren’t just companies anymore and have become “institutions that are too big to fail” (hardly a place for an entrepreneur) we were forced to bail them out and take on a nanny role. Newt, would you rather we not have any oversight of the federal dollars? Oh, wait, you’d rather have the banks fail and experience another great depression under the new democratic administration… oh yeah, now I get it.
And lastly, Obama wants to help jump start a new economy… a green one where there is boatloads of money to be made. Your sacred free market has been extremely slow to innovate with new energy technologies because we’ve had cheap energy for so long. Well, the market doesn’t work in these circumstances, and it’s government’s job to point the free market in the right direction (in a macro way) and encourage innovation with tax credits and government grants and contracts.
There aren’t too many good things happening for Republicans these days. Saxby Chambliss held onto his Senate seat in Georgia in his Dec 2 runoff… and they have a few appointments to the Obama cabinet… but overall their leaders look, well, non existent.
The partisan side of me kinda wants to see Sarah Palin run in 2012 because it wouldn’t be too tough to beat her and it would further discredit the party. But I’m not really a partisan and would like to see at least 2 national parties to have a healthy debate. Nate Silver of 538.com recently analyzed the numbers from the recent election and the conclusions should sober any Republican.
His conclusion:
Although the Republicans face an arduous task in crafting a path to 270 electoral votes, finding 218 viable seats in the Congress might represent the more difficult challenge.
Rather than having the Republicans surge back with their current policies of social conservative driven discrimination, I’d rather see another party come and challenge both Democrats and Republicans. A more progressive party that represents a new American ideal!
The problem with the Republican Party is there are too many wooly mammoths like me wandering around. It’s time to kill us off. Just slaughter us all. Drive us into the tar pits and move on.
He’s right. And it’s going to take a long time for the Republican message to resonate with the American people again.
I hope that your holiday was spent with friends and loved ones. At one of the two Thanksgiving dinners I attended, those present took turns saying what they were thankful for over the past year. I’ve always felt better and happier after identifying all that I am thankful for in my life. One of the things I am most thankful for is this blog and all of you who read it and contribute to it. This blog has been such a blessing for me. It has provided a medium for thoughtful debate and true growth in ideas. I’m thankful to those of you who have continued to encourage us in your emails and comments.
I’d especially like to thank Justin for being a true friend and companion in this endeavor. Of all my liberal friends (and I do have a few), Justin is among the most insightful, respectful, and considerate. For that, I am grateful. Thanks Justin.
Black Friday….
I’ve never been a part of Black Friday, a fact that almost makes me prideful. I’m amazed at the intense motivation that arises in those who participate in the biggest shopping day of the year. Late Thursday, my friend’s niece informed all of us at the dinner table of her plans to wake up at 4 am down in San Diego and go shopping with her friends. I was reminded of my cousins in Irvine, CA who make it an annual routine to shop from around 4 to 8 am every Black Friday. They plan out every hour, what they want, how long they’ll wait for it, and when they are done. When I hear these stories, I can’t help but be amazed at the cultural significance of this day, and it’s all based on materialism. On the one hand, I hoped that the day’s consumption would slow down, cushion, and perhaps help turn around the decrease in consumer spending, the primary indicator of confidence in our economy. The initial results indicate that it was a good year for retailers. On the other hand, I worried about what the obsession with materialism meant for our culture and future.
My girlfriend had to work during Black Friday. Her store opened at 8 pm on Thanksgiving day and wasn’t scheduled to close again until 11 pm Saturday. When I was dropping her off, I couldn’t believe the amount of people that were at the outlet mall in Carlsbad, CA. I’d never seen the parking lot that busy…and it was just after 4 am!! I was appalled by the rudeness and downright idiocy I observed as people fought for parking spots and pushed and shoved each other on their way to the next big deal. When I went back to pick up my girlfriend at 11 am, I watched at least 10 standoffs between opposite lanes of traffic for opening parking spots. Anger, frustration, and bitterness filled the air. It was as if the benefit of a deal outweighed common decency toward one’s fellow man. This is an ugly side of cultural material obsession. Nothing could be more tragic than what happened in Long Island at a Walmart store. I found this account from the article particularly telling of the price of materialism in our culture, “When they were saying they had to leave, that an employee got killed, people were yelling, ‘I’ve been on line since Friday morning!’” Cribbs said. “They kept shopping.”
And all this for more stuff. You see, I just moved to a new apartment. For those of you who have moved before, you can understand the feeling of frustration with the amount of stuff (or junk) that you accumulate over the years. I’ve made it a point to try to reduce the amount of stuff I have. The thought of getting more stuff (even at greatly reduced prices) made me depressed. And yet, our culture pushes us toward an ever increasing accumulation of stuff.
All this said, I still couldn’t help getting caught up in the energy of the day. What did I need? A flat screen TV? I just gave my old tube TV to Goodwill. A Bose sound system? I still have a boom box. It was almost too easy to justify buying whatever I wanted to justify buying. Maybe next year I’ll plan to wake up a little earlier, practice yelling in the mirror, and head to the stores for whatever current gadget suits my fancy!
Is it worth saving? I’m not sure. I’m quite conflicted on this one.
On one hand, I agree with Mark Morford that GM, Ford and Chrysler have been woefully inadequate in the last several years and don’t make any cars really worth buying. They’re obsession with the SUV and the big margins they made on them got them drunk and silly… now they’ve got a hangover and we’re supposed to bail them out? NO WAY!!
But then I read articles like this with some really great ideas on ways we can transform the beleaguered auto makers with government intervention because they obviously haven’t been able to do it themselves. Thomas Friedman describes how we got here and where we might want to go from here better than anyone.
Here are some suggestions that have been put out there… and the upcoming Obama administration is probably going to do some or all of these things when they do bail out Detroit. I hope it works:
Stock goes to zero
Existing debt-holders take a hit ($0.30-$0.40 on dollar?)
Money dispensed in small amounts in return for senior convertible debt, pending the meeting of goals
Management and board gone as soon as strong replacements can be found
Union contracts torn up
Company radically downsized
Remaining employees offered new, fair employment terms (pay, benefits) which they can accept or decline at their choosing
Company commits to designing and building cars that people want.
No, I’m not talking about the last two weeks in the news. I’m talking about my life over the last two plus weeks.
For those of you who are new to the blog and have only been reading Justin’s comments over the last several weeks, allow myself to introduce…myself. I am his other better half. You can think of me as the rational side of the argument. I need to very much apologize for being distinctly absent on these pages over the last few weeks. Especially over an incredible election. This blog was never intended to be a one way conversation on the issues. Justin recently told me that he believed my lack of input was due to my apathy over the poll numbers leading up to the election. I won’t say he is entirely wrong, though I would only attribute apathy to about 10% of why I haven’t been writing recently. Instead, I can attribute my absence to the ridiculous nature of my life over the last 14 days. One week before the election, I began six straight days of shooting in which my earliest call time was 5:30 am and my earliest arrival home was 11 pm. Didn’t expect that. We were shooting in a location where cell phones worked only half the time. Didn’t expect that either. I got very little sleep. After those six days, now one day before election day, I planned on sleeping in and catching up on the latest news only to discover that my landlord rented my apartment (I had given her 30 days notice in October and never rescinded it). I definitely didn’t expect this. So last week, I was forced into an emergency move which took the better part of the week. On election day, after one all-nighter, rather than staying updated on the latest poll numbers, I was stressed with trying to move my refrigerator and large bookshelf from my old apartment to my new apartment. Moving a frig sucks! Then I had a shoot that lasted into the early evening. But, at the end of the move, I found myself in a one bedroom as opposed to a studio so there is a good part to the story. Due to the move, I was without internet for a full five days! Can you imagine? No internet for five whole days!!! It’s amazing how much we rely on computers and the internet to conduct our day to day affairs. I have to admit it was kind of nice to not check my 50 plus emails a day. But it was painful to go through 250 emails at the end of the week. I now on and off contemplate moving to a remote location in order to shun all technology and cleanse my spirit. Maybe I’ll study math in a tiny little cabin and start wearing hooded sweatshirts. Just joking! Gosh, calm down.
As you can guess, this was the last way I expected to spend election week. I was, however, able to make it over to Justin’s on election night to see the speeches by John McCain and Barack Obama. I was impressed by both. For the record, I voted for John McCain. He remains to me a true patriot and American hero. But, I share in the concerns of many fellow conservatives in his distinctly negative campaign and his selection of Sarah Palin (I know I didn’t always feel this way). As it turns out, these two areas ended up hurting him in the end. It does sadden me the finger pointing I’ve heard about from the right after the election. As for the election of Barack Obama…I’m happy for him! Truly. I wish him the best. I’m happy for my liberal friends who are so energized by this event. I will say that one comment I heard on election day, “He shouldn’t be called President Obama, he should be called King Obama” made me chuckle before realizing the potential power that the people could give to this man. Just as a word of caution, we should think very clearly and carefully as an electorate, especially in this time of economic emergency, in giving too much power to any one man. Obama’s celebrity image makes it all the more likely that we will willingly give him a blank check to do as he wishes. I’ll admit this is cynical. But crazier things have happened in history. In the end, I think Obama has the potential to be a good, if not great, president. I’m happy that the Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton era of race relations will now come to a close. No minority has an excuse for the “man” keeping him down as a reason to not succeed and excel in life. For this reason, I have hope for an Obama presidency. I will pray for him as I did his predecessor.
Well, my place is now less of a disaster than it was two days ago, which is saying a lot. I couldn’t even walk through my living room without stepping on bags, papers, and other stuff that I should have burned long ago. Had I needed to move into a place other than the building next door, I would have contemplated lighting a match and throwing it on the floor before I left for one of my shoots. I don’t consider myself a very materialistic person, but daggonit I have a lot of junk!
In time, I’ll respond to some of Justin’s recent comments. Stay tuned…..
The red/blue map of the United States we’re used to changed on Tuesday. Obama’s 50 state strategy made the electoral college work for him, unlike Al Gore in 2000. Obama won more than double the electoral votes that McCain but only 6% more in the popular vote. The electoral college doesn’t fully represent the population in each county or state and certainly not the margin by which the candidate wins. For a better look at our country scroll down…
I cried a little last night about the election. Last time my tears were not quite so happy… to say the least. My spirit is refreshed, my confidence surges and my optimism transcends. Hope. It’s infectious I guess… it’s all around. Even W seems pretty happy about it. How can one not pause and appreciate the sheer magnitude of what America did last night? This is why I love America and her democracy… it has the ability to reinvent itself. A dramatic force for justice is the US election this year… and if Obama has anything to say about it, ad infinitum.
My real kick in the ass came when I thought back to Martin Luther King, Jr. and the passionate hope filled fight he waged against intolerance and justice… and I cry again. Sob, in fact…. so proud of my country right now that I hope it will take a long time to wear off. I’m sure it has something to do with how angry I was for the last 8 years. The release is incredible… and the best part is that I know millions of Americans feel the same joy. This is an amazingly historic time to be alive and tonight I want to thank God for today.
Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr. dared to dream of this day back on August 28, 1963. Many of my fellow Americans saw this speech 45 years ago. I can only imagine what they must be feeling when they think back to this moment of history from the prism of November 4, 2008:
Nineteen sixty-three is not an end, but a beginning.
This will be the day when all of God’s children will be able to sing with a new meaning, “My country, ’tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim’s pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring.”
And if America is to be a great nation this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania!
Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado!
Let freedom ring from the curvaceous slopes of California!
But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia!
Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee!
Let freedom ring from every hill and molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
And when this happens, when we allow freedom to ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God’s children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, “Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!”
Obama won last night and America has changed for the better. We will be a more united and ambitious than even the landslide of the election shows. I have tremendous hope for our future… now more than ever.
But there was a setback for equality yesterday as well. Florida, Arizona, and even California voted to deny same-sex couples the right to get married… (but not Connecticut) and Arkansas even will deny gays the right to adopt children. Predictably, it was the bigoted Mormon church that funded Prop 8 in California and ironically it was the huge African American turnout that may have spelled its doom… but the battle has not been lost… just put off.
My favorite enigma, Andrew Sullivan, who is a conservative gay blogger supporting Obama, has has a great deal to say about this issue and no doubt will lead the fight in the future. But today, his sober thoughts:
But I realize I am not shattered. My own marriage exists and is real without the approval of others. One day soon, it will be accepted by a majority. And this initiative in California can and will be reversed, as California’s initiatives are much more fluid than those in other states; and the younger generation is overwhelmingly - 2 to 1 - in our favor. The tide of history is behind us; but we will have to work harder to educate people about our lives and loves and humanity.
To gay people across the nation, your separate but equal status will be shot down one day as it was for blacks in the 60’s. Have faith that Americans are inclusive and loving as a people… this election on a broader scale has proven that progress will come. You’re next.
Ironically, given that he first won over so many independents by speaking his mind, the case for Mr McCain comes down to a piece of artifice: vote for him on the assumption that he does not believe a word of what he has been saying. Once he reaches the White House, runs this argument, he will put Mrs Palin back in her box, throw away his unrealistic tax plan and begin negotiations with the Democratic Congress. That is plausible; but it is a long way from the convincing case that Mr McCain could have made. Had he become president in 2000 instead of Mr Bush, the world might have had fewer problems. But this time it is beset by problems, and Mr McCain has not proved that he knows how to deal with them.
Is Mr Obama any better? Most of the hoopla about him has been about what he is, rather than what he would do. His identity is not as irrelevant as it sounds. Merely by becoming president, he would dispel many of the myths built up about America: it would be far harder for the spreaders of hate in the Islamic world to denounce the Great Satan if it were led by a black man whose middle name is Hussein; and far harder for autocrats around the world to claim that American democracy is a sham. America’s allies would rally to him: the global electoral college on our website shows a landslide in his favour. At home he would salve, if not close, the ugly racial wound left by America’s history and lessen the tendency of American blacks to blame all their problems on racism.
and the persuasive closing argument:
…this cannot be another election where the choice is based merely on fear. In terms of painting a brighter future for America and the world, Mr Obama has produced the more compelling and detailed portrait. He has campaigned with more style, intelligence and discipline than his opponent. Whether he can fulfil his immense potential remains to be seen. But Mr Obama deserves the presidency.
