Scoundrel Act

Patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. - Samuel Johnson

Extension of the Patriot Act is being 'debated' in Congress. We'll keep this question simple so that even politicians can understand: which provision of the Act would've prevented 9/11? Any other provisions should be removed. I'd bet there'd be little if anything left of the bill.

And here's a handy guide to legislation: if the name of the bill tries to suggest that opponents must be heathens or idiots, the law is probably bad. You can bet that the unintended consequences of the "Motherhood and Apple Pie Act" would make apples unaffordable and send mom to the salt mines.

Courage under Fire in DC

The US armed forces are advertising for recruits. They could not hope for a better "poster boy" than General Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. His behavior is exactly what the military aspires to: spontaneous courage and morality.

Courage under fire is an abstract concept for most of us, thankfully, but courage to correct your boss? That's something we can all appreciate and admire. It must be especially hard for a military man, who is presumably accustomed to following orders. In this case, the General corrected the Secretary of Defense, Donald Rumsfeld, a boss already shown to punish those who disagree with him. Fortunately, General Pace recognizes that his real boss is the American people and, ultimately, his own soul.

Rumsfeld, the moral dwarf, had said that the responsibility of American military was to report any torture they observed. Pace demurred, stating that "it is the absolute responsibility of every U.S. service member, if they see inhumane treatment being conducted, to intervene, to stop it" (emphasis added). General Pace courageously defended his position in the face of Rumplestiltskin's fierce attempt to "correct" or clarify the serviceman's responsibility.

It's a sad state of affairs when it takes personal courage to be moral. This administration is the most deceitful and vindictive since Nixon's. It will be interesting to see how the Pentagon and administration toadies, who seem to outnumber those with backbones, will respond.

Buying into an Ownership Society

The Republicans talk about an ‘ownership society’. The concept is that owners take care of their property. When Jack Kemp says it, it means empowering the poor and middle class to invest and build, simultaneously enriching everybody. When the Bush administration says it, they really means the owner’s society: deforming social security and giving more to the super rich.

Why don’t the politicians start with something relatively simple: like implementing the ownership society in government? The federal budget is incomprehensibly big – what’s another $100 million for a bridge or $10 billion for a weapon? To make things understandable, we should know where our tax dollars are going, what exactly we are buying. Someday, we should be able to choose what we want to ‘own’. Do you want your family's taxes to buy 10 minutes operating costs for a submarine or 6 months salary for a border patrol officer? People might soon ask the real questions, like just who is the sub protecting us from?

This is actually an old idea. Rich Athenians bought triremes for their navy and bought art for public places. Those ships were likely built on budget and the art was probably better than the wall coverings that now pass for public art.

Tortured Logic

Apologists for torturers are fond of the ‘ticking time bomb’ example. Their favorite scene: your prisoner knows the details about a bomb that is planted somewhere in the city and will explode soon. They contend that the urgent danger justifies using torture to extract information. Let’s examine their case.

The dilemma hinges on knowing the prisoner is guilty. We need to add a few real-world details. Just how exactly do you know there is a bomb?
* Did the prisoner tell you? Maybe the prisoner just wants to cause panic.
* Did one of your own people tell you? How can they be sure?
* Did someone else tell you? Maybe this person is lying. Or maybe they know more than they are telling you. Clearly, their credibility is weak if they were members of the terrorist organization. How likely is it that you know your prisoner is a terrorist and you know that a bomb is ticking but you don't know where or when?

The case for torture fails on another logical point. If torture succeeds in making the prisoner say where the bomb is, then you stop the torture while the information is confirmed. This takes time. A lie is as good as the truth to stop the pain, while (putative) the bomb keeps ticking.

Finally, two brief mentions. First, the experts (Israelis) don’t believe that short-term torture is effective. Second, nobody would prosecute an agent who kills a would-be assassin, so certain exceptions are made. There is no benefit to legalizing torture. Experts recommend drugs and psychology, not torture, to get the truth.

Cruise in for a Bruisin’

After 20+ years of stardom, Tom Cruise is in deep trouble. What was that boy thinking advising Brooke Shields on her response to postpartum depression? I’m a guy, so what do I know, but I’ve heard and read that most people, especially female people, will ask for advice if they want it. Don’t hold your breath, buddy. What make it worse in this case is that Brooke Shields seems to be a thoughtful person. So rule #1 (since you ask): no unsolicited advice. This rule is carved in granite when you are biologically incapable of literal sympathy (same feelings).

Probably 80% of Tom’s fans are female. I’m a guy, so what do I know? I loathed Top Gun and Risky Business was ridiculous but A Few Good Men showed promise and Born on the Fourth of July was brave and brilliant. And he’s been very good in many other films. But this isn’t about his development into a fine actor. This is about his being a Movie Star. His latest, War of the Worlds, was probably hurt by his personal appearances and comments. It won’t help that he fired his sister/agent. She didn’t get him in this trouble.

Now, he’s gone and said something stupid like “quiet!” to the mother of his child. Worse, he apparently believes she should be quiet while delivering their baby! Remember rule #1 in granite. Add mantra: I’m a guy, so I don’t know nothin’ about birthin’ babies.

He can still recover so that this midlife crisis isn’t fatal to his career. He has to return to the basics: smile, laugh, and don’t take himself so seriously. If he wants to proselytize, run for elected office. It didn’t hurt Clint Eastwood with the right wingers (much) that he was mayer of a lefty town. Keep Good Morning America and Today for happy talk! But what do I know, I’m just a guy.

Mirthless

Representative Murtha, a veteran and Democratic hawk, has called for an orderly withdrawal of most US armed forces from Iraq because they have become the principle targets of violence. He proposed an “over the horizon” force that could return in force as necessary to help the Iraqi government. The White House turned like a rabid dog on Mr. Murtha. They snarled a mischaracterization of his proposal as “surrender” and “cut and run”. Even loyal Republicans are aghast at the stupidity of the White House. This administration is practically over – it has lost all credibility, it shows no sign of even trying to reform itself, and the events it set in motion show all signs of worsening in the future.

There should be no mirth even among the most staunch Democrats. If this were a game, we might enjoy the discomfort of the administration. But this administration is in power for another 3+ years. Although this administration has been a disaster for America and the world, leaderless drift benefits nobody.

Let’s hope the administration comes to its senses. Cheney must resign. Attribute it to his health, or use the excuse popular in business, “wanting to spent more time with his family”. Nobody will care why and everybody will applaud the most hopeful signal that the administration could send. Hell, if you need it to seal the deal, give him the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Carbon “Footprint” and the Human Energy Reference Day (HERD)

A new ad campaign by BP (British Petroleum, or, if they prefer, beyond petroleum) asks people whether they know their "carbon footprint". The first ad was all people saying, essentially,"huh?". The second has people guessing, correctly, that it refers to our individual use of fossil carbon fuels and contribution to greenhouse gases, especially carbon dioxide (CO2). This could be a wonderful example of corporate responsibility. At least it might get more of us thinking about our collective and individual impact on the earth.

How should we measure our impact? What's a meaningful measure? Tons of CO2? Barrels of oil? These measures are pretty abstract. Let's do some calculations and see if we can derive a more useful unit of measure.

We each use about 2,000 k calories each day just living and breathing. A serious athlete might use twice as many while a comatose patient might use half as many. These calories all come from carbon, which we consume as food and exhale as CO2. This is our absolute minimum "footprint". I propose we use this as our measuring unit, a human energy reference day (1 HERD).

Here are a couple examples. If you use a 2 kilowatt hours of electricity in a day, that's about the same as your body burns, so 1 HERD. If you use 10 gallons of gas per week, that amounts to 45,000 kcal per day, or 20 HERDs. Looks like carbon "tire tread" is more appropriate than carbon "footprint".

By the way, eating more food than you need produces fat but not CO2 as long as you're alive. America's epidemic of obesity is not all bad. Taken together, these unburned calories represent an enormous carbon sink that should help mitigate global warming! Can you say carbon credit?