HIGH NOON

The earth shook yesterday, but you’d never know it because the media apparently decided it wasn’t news. Not a peep on the national news, either last night or this morning. Not a word in the Times today. You’d almost think nothing happened.

What did happen is that Sen. Chris Dodd, a second tier presidential candidate in the Democratic primary, stood on the floor of the Senate yesterday for more than eight hours and managed to block, albeit temporarily, passage of the FISA bill, which would have granted retroactive immunity to phone companies for their participation in illegal surveillance of American citizens. Here’s the deal:

The Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act stipulates that in order to tap a phone or secretly read the of “suspected” terrorists, you must first get the approval of the FISA court, made up of eleven judges. This court is historically supple, virtually never saying no. But that wasn’t good enough for Bush and co., who wanted the freedom to spy on suspected terrorists with absolutely no judicial oversight. So five years ago they went to a number of telecommunication companies, AT&T for one, and asked them to simply ignore the law and tap whatever phones they were told to. Several companies said no. AT&T said yes, and now they want immunity from any possible prosecution. President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if it does not include this immunity, thereby endangering our national security. In other words, he’s willing to put us at risk in order to protect these phone companies.

Chris Dodd saw what had to be done and he did it. He deserves our thanks. And I suspect he deserves our votes.

a foot on either side

TORTURE

I got out of bed to pee the other night but a pinched nerve in my back stopped me in my tracks. Peg found me in the dining room, lying naked on the cold, hardwood floor, unable to move. After a few quick jokes about weight gain she brought me a pad, a pillow and a blanket, and there I lay for the rest of the night. An hour later, still unable to move, I remembered I had to pee. Paralyzed with pain and my bladder bursting, I had some quiet time to think about torture and the American way of life.

It is inconceivable to me that we are even discussing the possibility of torture in America. America, for God’s sake! I know it’s a tough world out there, but you’re either the good guys or the bad guys, and good guys do not use torture. Period! And calling it “enhanced interrogation techniques” makes you a torturer and a liar (and an idiot, since no one believes you anyway).

Some people are so angry at these boogeymen that they are willing to sacrifice their sense of morals in order to regain a feeling of safety. First of all, though I am sure there are people out there who wish us ill, I don’t believe for a second that there are terrorists hiding under every bush, which is exactly what Mr. Bush would have you believe. It is the classic first step in the dictator’s playbook: create a universal enemy. Make it so scary and ubiquitous that reasonable people will voluntarily give up their civil rights in exchange for protection. But you can take the shoes off every passenger on every flight in America and some crazy jagoff will go shoot up a mall in Omaha. There is no protection from life.

Second of all, I don’t think torture is intended for terrorists. If it were, they would be more secretive about it. But since they are discussing it so openly, many people suspect (and I agree) that the torture is intended for us. People are much easier to control when they realize that something painful and frightening awaits them if they dare to step out of line.

America is a free country. The down side of living in a free country is that people are free to do evil things. No amount of torture them or restriction of freedom will change that. The way to stop terrorism is to remove our occupying forces from foreign countries, stop trying to dominate the world, and act like civil human beings. This is not appeasement - this is common sense.

a foot on either side

THE BOY WHO CRIED NAOMI WOLF

Naomi Wolf got famous in 1991 when her book, The Beauty Myth, explored America’s obsession with an artificial standard of beauty, how it affected women and how it affected men. She is a careful, thoughtful writer whose latest book, The End Of America, published earlier this year, sounds a warning bell to which we should all pay serious attention.

Ms. Wolf compares events in America in the last decade with world wide events in the 20th century. Specifically, she looks closely at countries that shifted from open democracies to closed dictatorships – how it was done and how little time it took – and compares them to the current American political landscape. Along the way she points out ten steps that were taken in every case.

This short book, written as a warning letter to a young friend on the eve of his wedding, should be read by every American who cares about his country, left wing or right, makes no difference. If they take away our freedom we’ll all be on the same side.

a foot on either side