WITHOUT WARRANT

“National security” is not and should not be the definitive answer to all questions involving legal and moral ethics. FISA (the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act), which provides legally required judicial oversight, grants authorities enormous leeway to listen in on just about anyone. You can even set up wire-taps now and go to FISA three days later to get warrants.

The Bush administration broke the law by ignoring FISA completely and using warrantless wire taps. The telecommunication companies that abetted them in the commission of this crime did so knowingly, with legions of attorneys to advise them.

National security is certainly important, but if Congress decides, for national security reasons or any other reasons, to pass a new surveillance law that include retroactive immunity for these telecom companies, I see no reason why I should pay my parking ticket, or my taxes, or for that matter obey any law at all. Laws either apply to everyone or no one.

a foot on either side

BARACK'S SPEECH

The other day Barack Obama was forced to explain his long-time association with the inflammatory pastor of his church, Rev. Jeremiah Wright, whose condemnations of domestic racism and foreign policy had filled You Tube for several days. The resulting speech was an example of clarity and eloquence rarely seen in politics. It didn’t rise to the level of Dr. Martin Luther King’s 1963 “I have a dream” speech, but I don’t think it was intended to. It simply explained, in no uncertain terms, the nature and source of black anger at our historically repressive society, where that anger is often expressed and where it usually isn’t.

Listening to the endless critiques that followed, I can’t help but feel that some people heard an entirely different speech. Why did Obama persist in clinging to Rev. Wright, they wanted to know? Why hadn’t he simply, as the popular expression goes, thrown him under the bus, without equivocation? Perhaps it is because he is a man of integrity, someone who doesn’t abandon his friends because it is the easiest or most advantageous choice. I can see, however, why that strategy would befuddle most politicians and pundits – it’s so ... honest.

In the end, I wonder what they are so afraid of. What is the real fear they expressed by condemning this relationship? Do they think that in some dark part of Obama’s heart he agrees with Wright, that he secretly hates his country and if elected would do it harm? I don’t think so. Frankly, I don’t think they give a damn, one way or the other. I think they simply saw an opportunity to harm Obama’s candidacy by exploiting the derogatory words of a close friend. Nothing personal, just politics.

a foot on either side

SHOCK AND AWE

Anyone who read Michael Shceuer’s Sunday editorial, “Break out the shock and Awe,” was treated to a polar bear swim in the icy waters of the CIA’s think tank. The basic premise was that covert operations alone are not enough to win the war on terror. What’s needed is the full force of the American military.

Shceuer, a CIA veteran who headed up the first Osama bin Laden unit and helped create and run its rendition program, wrote, among other things, “Simply and callously put, covert forces cannot kill the number of enemies that require killing,” and, “... victory is only possible through the use of massive, largely indiscriminate military force.” In other words, if the enemy happens to be deeply imbedded in the civilian population, as is the case in the Middle East, killing them will certainly require killing tens of thousands of innocent civilians in the bargain. Scheuer doesn’t mention any other options.

I’m not qualified to comment on the military efficacy of Scheuer’s plan, but I am horrified by the complete absence of compassion or moral doubt. Have we so completely lost our way that we are willing to engage in genocide in order to secure our safety? And how safe would we be? How could we be sure we got them all? What if some of them escaped ... to France, let’s say. Would we then have to bomb France? And what if some were able to make it to America? Would we have to bomb Cleveland? Where would it end? Wouldn’t it always be – as it was in Viet Nam, as it is in Iraq – that victory is just around the corner? If we can only kill a few thousand more of these godless bastards, that will be the end of it, we’ll finally be out of this mess. Semper phi! Stay the course.

I am not naïve. I know there are fanatics out there who drool at the thought of American streets littered with American dead. And quite frankly, some part of me wants to believe that someone in the government is working non-stop to prevent that from happening. I’m just hoping it’s Colin Powell and not Charlie Manson.

a foot on either side

DANGEROUS LABELES

Leslie Bennetts wrote an editorial in the Sunday Times: "Go Away? Why should she?" I wrote this letter to the Times in response.


Ms. Bennetts misses the mark by a country mile with her wild claims of conspiratorial misogyny in the Democratic primary. As is often the case with sweeping lies, there is an element of truth in her comments: American women do have a reduced public presence as they age, and that is unfair. But invisible, rarely heard from? Hardly. Ask anyone with a mother, an aunt, or a grandmother. And for all her invisibility and lack of power, Sen. Clinton did manage to get herself elected and re-elected to the U. S. Senate. No small accomplishment for either gender.

Labeling all of Clinton’s problems as misogyny is an admission of tunnel vision. Perhaps she stumbled because of bad planning, poor execution, lack of a coherent theme, in-fighting among staff members, or her constant reference to “35 years of experience.” Being close to the man in the Oval Office simply does not qualify as experience. If it did, we could vote for Monica Lewinsky. Or maybe people just don’t want another Clinton in the White House. Think that’s unfair? Imagine how Jeb Bush feels.

Ms. Bennetts notes the complaint of a Hollywood mogul’s wife that “women became invisible after they pass the age of 25.” Lew Wasserman’s wife, Edie, was widely acknowledged as one of the most powerful people in town. Perhaps this female invisibility is not a universal truth.

Should American women, as Ms. Bennetts suggests, rise up as one, recognize their timeless sisterhood, and sweep Sen. Clinton into the White House? Maybe. But I think women are smarter than that, less selfish, more inclined to vote for whichever candidate they feel is best for the whole country, not just best for women. And by the way, there is no guarantee that HIllary would be the best candidate for women. In the end, however, I suspect Ms. Bennetts' real motivation is to boost sales of her book, The Feminine Mistake. But hey, I could be wrong.

SECONDARY CONCERNS

Golf is a complicated game with complicated rules. For a new golfer like me, the joy of the game is being outside, walking around with friends, laughing, hitting one great shot in an entire round. Certain of those friends, however, have somewhat higher standards. Seasoned golfers, far more accomplished than I, they find equal joy in playing the game strictly by the rules. If you’re gonna cheat, they say, even a little, you might as well not play.

The electoral process is also complicated and has many rules. One of the rules is that the Democratic National Committee has the authority to determine, among other things, when each state may hold its primary election. Certain states, those with primaries scheduled for late in the process, felt they were being shorted, as the candidate may well have been chose before their primaries were even held. So they decided to break the rules by moving their primaries forward a couple of months. They were warned that if they did so, their delegates would not be counted in the final vote. They gave the DNC the finger and went ahead with their early primaries anyway.

Suddenly, Hillary Clinton finds herself standing at the 200 yard marker with her electoral golf ball sitting behind a tree. She’d like to improve her lie a little, nudge that ball out onto the fairway to give herself a better shot at the 18th greet. Mind you, she isn’t doing this in secret. She isn’t looking one way and kicking the ball the other, hoping no one will notice. No – in the highest tradition of low-life politics, Mrs. Clinton doesn’t want to break the rules, she wants to change them. To do that, she simply redefines the argument.

It would be a crime, says the Clinton camp, to disenfranchise Florida and Michigan just because of some “arbitrary” rule; especially Florida, after the 2000 election. Those voters have a right to be heard. Democracy isn’t democracy if everyone isn’t heard from. Hey, what’s the stupid tree doing on the golf course anyway? If the point of the game is to hit the ball onto the green, who needs trees? Move the goddamn tree!

One has to wonder whether Sen. Clinton would make the same argument if she were standing instead, as she fully expected to be, at the edge of the green, with a perfect lie and a clear shot. Hey, if you’re gonna cheat, even a little, you might as well not play.

a foot on either side

PRIMARY CONCERNS

Ohio OBAMBA 44% CLINTON 54%

Rhode Island OBAMA 40% CLINTON 58%

Texas OBAMA 51% CLINTON 48% (approx)

Vermont OBAMA 60% CLINTON 38%


Delegate count OBAMA 1,307 CLINTON 1,175


There’s is the result of last night’s primaries. Clinton won Ohio by ten points and Rhode Island by almost twenty. Obama won Vermont by twenty points and Texas by only a couple. The overall result is that Obama has gained four delegates and now leads by 132. Hillary might be able to catch up before the convention this summer, and I might be able to lower my golf score twenty points by the same time. But I wouldn’t bet on either one.

For now, the Democratic primary rolls on. Many senior party members will be encouraging Hillary to step aside ... you know, for the sake of the party. Despite my support for Obama, I disagree. She has fought a tough campaign and deserves to go down swinging, if that’s what she wants. Or win, you never know. It is very much the American way.

What Sen. Clinton will probably do is try to stick it out till the convention, then push the rules committee into bending some her way. She’ll want Florida’s delegates to be counted, even thought they’ve already been disqualified, and she’ll want the super delegates to vote for her, since she won the big states and is therefore more likely to win them in the general election. In other words, while she is unwilling to step aside for the sake of the party now, she will argue that the super delegates should ignore the popular vote and make her the candidate for the sake of the party later. I think it's worth mentioning that just because Hillary was able to beat Obama in these big states does not mean that she will be able to beat McCain in the same states.

This morning on TODAY, looking a little the worse for wear after along night in Ohio, Hillary hammered away at the same old rhetoric: she’s the one with the experience to be commander in chief, to steward the economy and provide universal health care. There is only one training program for the presidency, and that is sitting at the desk in the Oval Office. Not being married to the guy sitting at the desk, but actually sitting there and being forced to make those unthinkable life-and-death decisions. Beyond that, it is all conjecture.

As for her “solutions” for the economy and health care, saying it is one thing, making it happen is a whole other deal, as she should well know. Despite her claims to the contrary, Hillary has no more solutions than Obama. She is simply following the age old political tactic of the big lie: If you repeat something often enough, people will eventually believe it, or at the very least, they'll get so tired of hearing you say it that they'll vote for you in the desperate hope that you'll stop talking.

Whatever happens, we’re in for one very long primary season, the ultimate winner of which is by no means assured. However, if McCain continue on the path of last night’s acceptance speech, none of us will make it to the end – we’ll all be bored to death.

a foot on either side