Speaking ill of the dead

Howard Hunt, for whom laws, democracy and ethics were obstacles to the American Way, died this week.

Hunt may be best known for his role in recruiting most of the Watergate burglars. MeTheSheeple knows him best, though, for his role in overthrowing a democracy because the elected president (Time's man of the year) decided to buy a company's land ... for what the company said it was worth. That evil travesty of justice is described in a Wikipedia entry but more commonly in an older book, "Bitter Fruit," which is still occasionally read in college courses.

They say you shouldn't speak ill of the dead. Well, if the dead are cheating bastards, what else are you supposed to say? None of this has kept a publisher from trying to cash in on Hunt's death with a post-mortem autobiography:

His Editor, Stephen S. Power, said "For decades Hunt served our country well, and that is how he should be remembered: as an honorable man whose patriotism was misused and whose sense of duty to his president was abused. It was a privilege to work with him."

Yeah, just the poor, babe-in-the-woods, honorable, honest man, taken advantage of by someone else. Never mind he'd had a lengthy career as a friggin spy by then, a group of people not known for being easily dominated and deceived.

It's hard for me to tell now who is the bigger asshole: The bastard dead guy, or the bastard editor? Even today, neither seems willing to face the truth.

Signing statements revisited

Calvin Trillan offers up a superb response to George W. Bush's use (=abuse) of signing statements.

Trillan writes the following in George W. Bush Explains His Signing Statements, Among Other Things:

They sent me a law against torture.
I signed it, although it was quaint.
I said, though, that I'm the decider
Of if something's torture or ain't.

I'll do what I want when I want to,
Though Congress's will may be foiled.
I've always done just what I want to.
You see, I'm a little bit spoiled.

There's a good bit more to the poem, which only gets better. It's in the current issue.

Showing Muslims what America stands for

Boston lawyer Melissa Hoffer has an op-ed column in today's Globe that should shock anyone who still believes in this country.

This time last year, Hadj's 6 -year-old daughter, Saaima, died of congenital heart failure. He had not seen her since the fall of 2001, when he and the other five men were arrested by Bosnian authorities under pressure from the United States, which asserted that they were involved in planning terrorist activities in Bosnia. After a three-month investigation, the Bosnian federal prosecutor recommended to the Bosnian Supreme Court that all six be released. But again under heavy pressure from the United States, the Bosnians caved, and as the men were released from a jail in Sarajevo, the Bosnians turned them over to the United States. Hooded, shackled, and packed into waiting cars while their horrified families watched, they began the sickening odyssey that continues today.

Saber's wife was pregnant when he was taken to Guantanamo. He has never met his daughter Sara, whose shiny face framed in pink plastic sunglasses peers out from the photographs we send to him. Mustafa, a former karate champion who suffered months of facial paralysis from a brutal beating inflicted by Guantanamo camp soldiers, worries about his ailing mother in Algeria. With each passing day, it becomes more likely that he will never see her again.

Not one of these men has been charged with a crime.

This is appalling, simply appalling. This is brought to us by an administration that keeps saying, "Trust us!" blunder after blunder. This is the same Guantanamo that beat a baker to the point where he tried to kill himself ... and again ... and again ... and again.

This Christian Science Monitor article from 2001, "Why Do They Hate Us?", seems stunningly prescient today:

And voices across the Muslim world are warning that if America doesn't wage its war on terrorism in a way that the Muslim world considers just, America risks creating even greater animosity. ...
The vast majority of Muslims in the Middle East were as shocked and horrified as any American by what they saw happening on their TV screens. And they are frightened of being lumped together in the popular American imagination with the perpetrators of the attack.

But from Jakarta to Cairo, Muslims and Arabs say that on reflection, they are not surprised by it. And they do not share Mr. Bush's view that the perpetrators did what they did because "they hate our freedoms."

Rather, they say, a mood of resentment toward America and its behavior around the world has become so commonplace in their countries that it was bound to breed hostility, and even hatred.

Meanwhile, our freedoms disappear.

Debate needed

The Chicago Tribune offers some video and transcripts of Ted Kennedy's speech calling for a true debate before any additional troops are sent to Iraq.

Dan Kennedy's Media Nation rightfully questioned the vocabulary of a "surge". Kennedy's calling for more than that.



Watch it. It's just two minutes, but it's invaluable in showing how far our country has strayed from the idea of a robust democracy that we even need to talk about this.

"The president's speech must be the beginning, not the end, of a new national discussion of our policy in Iraq. Congress must have a genuine debate over the wisdom of the president's plan. Let us here the arguments for it and the arguments against it, then let us vote on it in the light of day."

Good ideas

There's a lot of doubt about whether new Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick can be an effective leader, not least because his first, ill-executed effort at leadership failed miserably.

There's a lot to be said, on the other hand, for the ideals that Patrick brings to political office. MeTheSheeple would love to see these sort of ideals fueling national politics, where the executive branch once again decided laws and warrants were inconvenient.

Patrick offers some hope for something better:

But really America herself is an improbable journey. People have come to these shores from all over the world, in all manner of boats, and built from a wilderness one of the most remarkable societies in human history. We are most remarkable not just for our material accomplishments or military might, but because of the ideals to which we have dedicated ourselves. We have defined those ideals over time and through struggle as equality, opportunity and fair play – ideals about universal human dignity. For these, at the end of the day, we are an envy to the world. ...

I took the oath this morning with my hand resting on that same Bible [from the Amistad] -- and with my resolve strengthened by that same legacy. I am descended from people once forbidden their most basic and fundamental freedoms, a people desperate for a reason to hope and willing to fight for it. And so are you. So are you. Because the Amistad was not just a Black man’s journey; it was an American journey. This Commonwealth – and the Nation modeled on it – is at its best when we show we understand a faith in what’s possible, and the willingness to work for it. ...

What has distinguished us at every signature moment of our history is a willingness to look a challenge right in the eye, the instinct to measure it against our ideals, and the sustained dedication to close the gap between the two. That is who we are.

Let's hope others share, or come to share, that message.