Ex Patria

She did WHAT???

Sarah Palin resigned!

I'm ridiculously excited about this, and at the same time intensely  dread that she will in fact prepare to run in 1012.  I mean, really.  This woman is da bomb and I don't mean this in a flattering way.

UPDATE: Heh.  I beat Andrew Sullivan to this piece of news.  I guess that means I'm a news junkie.

Whee-haw, down the slippery slope we go!

Although it looks more like a greasy pole from where I stand.

Obama's decision not to release the torture pictures has, I'm sorry to say, not really surprised me.  It's the logical continuation of the earlier announcement to "look forward", not back (i.e. let's all just move on and not talk about those skeletons in the closet) and the potentially disastrous decision to appoint Stanley McChrystal as commander to Afghanistan.  Not even six months into the new future, into Hope, and we're turning back to where we came from on the torture issue.

Yes, there are arguments to be made in favor of the decision.  Some say it's going to ignite more Anti-American sentiments, that it casts a bad light on the troops. There is even the rather funny argument that abolishing torture would draw more recruits to Al-Quaida, since they will not have to expect any worse repercussions than a cushy cell.

I find all these argument ludicrous. The photos won't ignite Anti-American sentiments, it's the act of torture that does.  The bad light that is cast on the troops is not the fault of those who are pointing fingers, it's the fault of those who committed those crimes.  It's like you have this perverse uncle who constantly molests children and you just won't say anything because after all, he's family.  All the while he goes around distroying the lifes of young women and men.  Just squeezing your eyes shut won't help anybody.

I'm sure I don't want to see the photos.  I don't really understand why we must see them as they are likely to depict cruel and sadistic practices that I'd rather not want to know about.  I'd rather not have nightmares. If they were to be published, I would not look at them.  But they are evidence - and since when is evidence harmful for the prosecution?

I see this decision as another step into the wrong direction, right down that slippery slope.  More excuses, more exceptions.  I've said before that the prohibition and prosection of torture has to be absolute.  There cannot be any excuse.  Not only has torture proven to be ineffective - the whole debate whether or not torture has saved American (!) lifes is already acknowledging torture as an instrument.  There should be no debate about this issue.  There should be a nationwide outcry against torture, and it's long overdue.

The fact that there isn't a public outrage is very chilling.

It's time to sign up for the ACLU.  Yes, I mean you.  And you.  Do it now, it the least you can do.

Medienkritik

Well. 20 days into the experiment and I'm still here, that's the good news. The bad news it, it's not going quite as I had envisioned it: I feel I'm writing too much about daily stuff with the boys that nobody but my family and friends ought to be interested in. But, you know, I'm keeping at it, even though the November blues has hit me badly, so there's that.

I found an interesting blog today, called "Davids Medienkritik" (David's media criticism) which deals with anti-Americanism in the German media. It's interesting because a. there is a disturbing trend in the German media and b. it's so much a trend that an anti-American bias is commonplace these days and hardly remarkable. This is, of course, not a good tendency at all, so I'm glad I found these guys to sensitize me a little and make me think.

However, the comment sections of some of the posts are just appalling. There is some good stuff but sometimes, it's just sheer vitriol about the "other" side, and nothing but prejudices without any facts backing them up. I'm big on facts. I'm also wary of facts (aka statistics) but I'm more wary of people how shout at the top of their lungs and repeat old stereotypes without applying a bit of own creative thinking.

Arguments from both sides of which I'm particularly tired:

"We helped rebuild German so they should be grateful and not critique us."

"Americans don't know anything about Europe."

"Europeans are much more sophisticated/educated than Americans."

"Germans are sourpusses and deserve to be ignored."

Um.

I'm not even going into any of these in detail because that would cause me to froth at the mouth. Let me say this: We need each other. Probably Germany needs the US more but the US also needs us. We really ought to grow up and try to be civil with each.

Heh, I did my part. I went so far as to marry one. I can recommend it! We are building our own Trans-Atlantic bridge here, and we find that we can learn lots of interesting things from each other. And my best friend is an American Jew. Take that!

What do you think you could learn from Germany? (Or in the very rare case that you are German, what do you think we can learn from the US?)

Angry

I'm really angry at myself. It's for a funny reason too: I'm angry at myself for being nice and polite. I feel, in retrospect, I shouldn't have been nice at all.

I got to talk to a man who had caused us considerable… problems. In his official position, he had made a decision that affected us, a decision that was unwise, rash, and offensive. I met this guy at a party and didn't know who he was, and he seemed a nice enough guy to talk to at a party. Then, I made an off-hand remark about said problems, and he jumped at it, and confirmed that the decision was indeed made with especially us (and some few others) in mind, and he didn't seem the least be abashed about it. He even made noises about wanting to meet us again, and asked for our names. And I gave him my name, and said his daughter was cute (which she is).

My husband doesn't understand my anger. I've been steaming for a day. Doug says I behaved appropriately and commendably. I'm not so sure myself.

There is a bit of humbling karmic justice in this. In my roiling anger the last week, I remarked to a friend that I never, ever, ever wanted to interact socially with this guy and that I did not want to have anything to do with him.

There's a lesson in there somewhere, I'm just not so sure what it is.

Makes him look younger

Here's my take on the whole story:  There is no phony beard, and no hiding in Southeast Asia.

The man's dyed his beard and his hair because it makes him look younger.  Even terrorists can have a sense of style, no?

That one's easy.

Peace, now

icasualties.org:

U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer  Scott A.M. Oswell

Age:	33
From:	Not reported yet, Washington
Assigned To:	4th Squadron, 6th U.S. Air Cavalry
Based In:	Fort Lewis, WA
Fatality Date:	Wednesday, July 04, 2007
Fatality Cause:	Non-hostile - helicopter crash
Fatality Location:	Mosul, Iraq

Doug's little cousin.  The family is distraught, we are all shocked and sad and outraged.  He leaves two girls, a little boy, his wife, parents, brother, cousins, friends... he will be missed. 

I'm thinking of his family now and wish them strength and courage.

South Dakota, again

Elijah Page, age 24, is scheduled to be South Dakota’s first execution since 1947 tonight at 10 pm.

Mr. Page has pleaded guilty to the torture killing of a 19-year-old man, himself being 18 at the time. The killing was uncommonly brutal and horrid and Mr. Page deserves life in prison for his crime.

Like many on death row in the USA, Elijah Page’s childhood was one of deprivation and abuse. According to reports, from when he was two years old living with his siblings and his drug-addicted mother in abandoned buildings in Kansas City, Missouri, his mother would allow people to sexually molest him in exchange for drugs.

When he was about seven years old, his mother lost custody of the children because of the abuse, violence and deprivation to which they were being exposed. The state placed the children in the care of their stepfather, but the abuse and deprivation persisted.

Taken into state care again when he was about 13, for the following year Page lived in more than a dozen foster homes and ran away on numerous occasions. By the age of 14 or 15, psychiatric assessments recorded that he was displaying aggressive and anti-social behaviour. By the time he drifted to South Dakota in 1999 at the age of 17, he had a history of time spent in juvenile detention facilities, including as a result of burglaries and car thefts. 
(Quote: Action Center AIUSA)