Misanthropy

I'm probably the last person on the planet to have seen this, but in case I'm not, according to Marvel, Joe Biden is a Knight Rider fanboy! Hee!

Screen shot from the web comic (Obama meets Spiderman!) below the cut, the whole of which can be found here (after the President's Day edition).

Imposter!Obama has just left on his way to the inauguration! Will the Real!Obama and Biden be able to stop him in time!???

( Scranton Joe Biden's drivin' now )

"As for our common defense, we reject as false the choice between our safety and our ideals. Our founding fathers faced with perils that we can scarcely imagine, drafted a charter to assure the rule of law and the rights of man, a charter expanded by the blood of generations. Those ideals still light the world, and we will not give them up for expedience's sake. . . . [Our ancestors] understood that our power alone cannot protect us, nor does it entitle us to do as we please. Instead, they knew that our power grows through its prudent use. Our security emanates from the justness of our cause; the force of our example; the tempering qualities of humility and restraint."

Linked by esmerelda_t, I had to pass this along. The BBC lists some of Bush's more misunderestimated sayings. Go read them and laugh until you weep.

But tonight I'm going to sleep happy, in a way I haven't been happy in eight years.

If you've friended this journal, you might want to read the third paragraph if nothing else.

I’ve been pretty much AWOL lately, and haven’t been spending much time online at all. (So, if there’s something anyone wants me to know, please tell me/post a link in the comments, because I haven’t been keeping up.)

I’m still working on the next part of Resurrection (a/k/a teh crack). I was hoping to finish it by the end of the year, but it’s going slooowly and I don’t seem to have much time/energy for it, so that seems unlikely--although I‘m going to try to have at least a draft done (provided work doesn‘t decide to explode in my face). I’m up to about 20 pages, although they need severe rewriting. There are a bunch of things in this chapter that I’ve been building toward for ages, so hopefully when it’s done, it’ll be somewhat exciting. It’s funny--I think I originally figured I’d get to these plot points in something like the sixth part. Ha! I actually remember sitting in an airport awaiting my connection on my way back from Austria, o so many moons ago (after I had been prodded into making this a series and realized I probably couldn‘t just get away with making bad jokes), and coming up with these vague plotty things. (I think I was smirking to myself because people in the waiting area gave me a couple odd looks. Or maybe that was because they were just worried I was a terrorist.) Anyway, this just means that in addition to the usual agonizing I do when writing this stuff, there’s no pressure or anything.

Also, I haven’t been paying attention to the friending thing for a while. I think a couple people have friended me. If you’re one of them, and you want me to friend you back, you can post something here. If you want to be added to my personal filter (mostly me venting my rage about work and other stupidities, but not even that lately), let me know, but I tend not to do that unless you have an active journal. And at some point when I get around to it, I am going to prune my filters, which are kind of a mess. This means that if you’ve haven’t commented much but are currently friended and included in the filter, I might defilter you on the assumption that you’re here for the fic (when I post any), which is all public. So, if you’re the quiet type, but don’t want to be defiltered, I’m afraid this is your chance to speak up. If you you aren't sure whether you're filtered and/or likely to be defiltered and care one way or the other, feel free to ask.

Ok, complete random change of topic: in one of the last posts I managed to make, the one after September 11, I quoted from a book by Rashid Khalidi, who is Middle Eastern scholar of moderate bent. I just recently saw this. You know, I do find it infuriating that even the hint of being critical of Israel in this country is enough to brand you as evil. I find this comment, made by a student, telling: "'It should have been like, yes, I know him, and I’d like to know more Middle East experts, because that’s an important thing when you’re making policies.’” How the hell are you ever going to begin to address the situation unless you can acknowledge the positions of both sides? It’s absolutely essential as a starting point--unless, of course, your ultimate policy is actually genocide.

And so what if Mr. Khalidi had babysat Obama’s kids? What’s wrong with the concept? The Colin Powell line seems to be the one to take here, not a simple denial. (And, to my mind, whatever else he’s done that I despise, Powell has completely redeemed himself in my eyes. He’s the only major political figure I’ve heard who’s made the point that I’ve felt like screaming since this whole Obama-is-a-Muslim stuff began.)

And also, btw, if anyone is interested in reading something from the non-Israeli perspective, I just finished Palestinian Walks, which is beautiful book about the landscape of Palestine and the change that Israel’s policies have wrought. It gives some sense of what it means to live in the occupied West Bank. I also read Let It Be Morning, a novel set in a Palestinian village in Israel just before the Oslo Accords were signed. Both are recommended.

And speaking of books, I’ haven’t bought a book in at least a month (I think). That’s pretty scary (and has nothing to do with the frightening state of the economy, since I‘ll forgo food before reading material). Consider it my contribution to the Halloween thing, since I worked late yesterday, did not dress up, ate no candy, gave no candy away, and played no tricks. I’m determined to make a good dent in my Big List of Shame. I’m actually down to under 20 books on my fiction list (we won’t mention the nonfiction). This, if you know anything about me, is pretty much unprecedented.

I missed this last night, but I've been waiting years. Unfortunately, nothing seems likely to come of it, but it's about time. It's unquestionable (unless you're a fact-immune pundit) that Bush has broken the law numerous times, and there's every legal justification for impeachment.

You can see the video at Crooks and Liars (and I hope a bunch of other places).

I’ve been keeping the politics limited to snide comments recently, but I want to point out this New Yorker article, discussing the CIA’s “interrogation" program. Its worth a read, especially if you’re an American--know what sort of barbarianisms your government has been engaging in to “defend” you.

A few excerpts:

The C.I.A.’s interrogation program is remarkable for its mechanistic aura. “It’s one of the most sophisticated, refined programs of torture ever,” an outside expert familiar with the protocol said. “At every stage, there was a rigid attention to detail. Procedure was adhered to almost to the letter. There was top-down quality control, and such a set routine that you get to the point where you know what each detainee is going to say, because you’ve heard it before. It was almost automated. People were utterly dehumanized. People fell apart. It was the intentional and systematic infliction of great suffering masquerading as a legal process. It is just chilling.”

The former officer said that the C.I.A. kept a doctor standing by during interrogations. He insisted that the method was safe and effective, but said that it could cause lasting psychic damage to the interrogators. During interrogations, the former agency official said, officers worked in teams, watching each other behind two-way mirrors. Even with this group support, the friend said, [Khalid Sheikh] Mohammed’s interrogator “has horrible nightmares.” He went on, “When you cross over that line of darkness, it’s hard to come back. You lose your soul. You can do your best to justify it, but it’s well outside the norm. You can’t go to that dark a place without it changing you.” He said of his friend, “He’s a good guy. It really haunts him. You are inflicting something really evil and horrible on somebody.”

Ordinarily, the U.S. legal system is known for resolving such mysteries with painstaking care. But the C.I.A.’s secret interrogation program, Senator [Carl] Levin said, has undermined the public’s trust in American justice, both here and abroad. “A guy as dangerous as K.S.M. is, and half the world wonders if they can believe him—is that what we want?” he asked. “Statements that can’t be believed, because people think they rely on torture?”

I don't usually find our Republican overlord and his hangers-on all that amusing, but ROTFLMAO over the fight between Condoleeza Rice and James A. Baker III over Middle East policy. I never thought I'd be siding with James Baker in any universe, but you go, JB!

The New York Times described Baker as having "made little secret in private that he regards the administration as a bunch of diplomatic go-cart racers, more interested in speed than strategy and prone to ruinous crashes."

Oh. Hee. I knew there was a reason I still read you, NYT. The full article is here.

So I've been holding off on saying anything, lest it get jinxed, but it looks like the Democrats have now won the majority in both chambers of Congress. Taylor has finally conceded and James Webb has won the Virgnia seat (despite appearing on the voting machines as “James H. Jim” in parts of the state (notably in the liberal parts)). Woot!!

For a little while anyway, I'm going to let myself just be optimistic about this and be happy that (despite the voting machines, the redistricting, the terror-politics and Fox news) starting January there will finally be something to check this administration. I'm not particularly happy with the Dems, whose saving grace right now is mainly just that they aren't Republicans, but, at last, there is ray of hope after five bleak years. Don't let us down, Democrats. I want the day to come when I'm once more feeling complacent about the longevity of the Constitution and its system of checks and balances, the rule of law that it enshrines and the fundamental rights it guarantees. I want to wake up one day and no longer feel quite so ashamed of the country I was born in.

Also as everyone knows by now, Rumsfeld has finally resigned, which can only be a thing of joy. But I will be very surprised if Gates is any way better than Rumsfeld, although Gates is being touted as more moderate and pragmatic than the neo-cons--no doubt, precisely why he was chosen. He's no prize. One, he's Bush's choice (pretty much enough to make me dubious about anyone). Two, he's a former head of the CIA (and we all know how law abiding that institution is). Three, he's known as being less than honest about his government activities (for example, if you recall, he was investigated for lying to Congress about his role in Iran-Contra). Four, he is not a military expert (he served only two years in the military). Five, his expertise is in the cold war, not the Middle East. Six, he has a reputation of pressuring analysts to shape conclusions to fit the administration’s positions (exactly what this administration needs more of).

From an article in the Times:

“This is not a person with a history of telling truth to power,” said the former subordinate, Melvin A. Goodman, a Soviet analyst from 1966 to 1990. Mr. Goodman called Mr. Gates a micromanager and “not a big-picture person,” though he also called him “a hard-working, disciplined person who’s totally loyal to his bosses.”

Sounds like Bush’s kind of guy, so don't hold your breath on the bold new path thing--if he even manages to be confirmed. I hope it’s a tough battle.

The U.S. Government has (NOT including Guantanamo) been keeping 14,000 prisoners overseas--outside the reach of any law. That's FOURTEEN THOUSAND people being held under the name of the United States, without any due process, without being told why they are being detained, without access to evidence, without access to counsel, without access to any court or public forum, without contact with family, without any any rights whatsoever.

If you don't read anything else on the subject, read this. A couple ( excerpts )