Prosecuting Torture...and Surprise from Fox's Shep Smith

I've been waiting to talk about this as it continues to develop. However, it seems a few things are quite clear on the subject of what we've done to suspected terrorists. Memos have been released. We knew it before but now it is a bit more official.

People at the highest level of the Bush administration (including Bush himself) authorized tactics such as water boarding. Who took the heat? Ground-level people -- soldiers, sergeants -- pawns in a classic government game. Some were jailed, careers were ruined, embarrassed, one went as far as committing suicide.

Some still argue, including the former Vice President Dick Cheney, that the methods were effective in obtaining information that prevented further terror attacks. So, even if it is immoral and illegal, if it is effective, should we do it? Do the ends justify the means? Do we have principles, or do we just say that we do until times get tough? Does America torture? Is it wrong if we do?

And so is the same with going forward to prosecute Bush officials who committed these acts. Logically, it'd make sense to hold those who made an illegal call accountable. But what a bind to be in when those people are the opposition party in the highest government office in the most powerful nation in the world? Serious conundrum for the Obama administration.

Lets be clear. Torture is an ineffective long-term strategy. At the most, if Dick Cheney is right, torture is a band-aide and that's it. On the flip side, terrorists who have been innocently tortured have gone back to attack America after their release. There is a much larger systemic problem having to due how we deal with terror organizations and enemy countries. This is an answer for smart, sophisticated, and policy-driven people.

So should we prosecute Don Rumsfeld, Dick Cheney, and Condoleeza Rice? Legally, if it looks like they did what it looks like they did, yes. Morally, is it right to go after people at the top (even if those people are the very top level elected officials), yes. No one is above anyone else, right? Politically, should we? Maybe not. This is Obama's conudrum.

Here's one offered solution that I don't know if I agree with, but I'll offer it: Free up the ones who paid the price down the line, acknowledge the mistake on the part of the country, make known big time throughout the world who signed off on it, and then make clear that this administration won't do the same.

This was surprising as hell, but am pleased to see it:

Shep Smith, Fox News Host, "We are America, We Do Not Fucking Torture": http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/22/shepard-smith-torture_n_190350.html

Rick Warren: In Hot Water with the Christian Right? Politics vs. Policy

Rick Warren, the pastor who presides over the massive Saddleback Church in Orange County, California, is now taking heat by many who share many of his same view points on social issues. Last week, Warren was on Larry King denying that he ever campaigned and supported Proposition 8, the amendment to ban gay marriage in California. Prior to this week, Warren and President Obama were protested from the left when Warren gave the invocation at Obama's Inauguration.

A good point made by Chris Matthews today...Warren is a pastor, exclusive to some degree to those who follow the same belief system about God. Not rocket science, and hardly controversial is this statement. So why is he so immersed in the political scene?

The answer: Us.

Church vs. State. And the separation, or not, of the two. Religion is something so ingratiated in the fabric of our culture and at the same time, a fine line that his constantly been walked and interpreted by many a political animal.

My argument: Politics is one thing. Policy is another. Politics contains bargaining, negotiating, protesters, people with signs, shenanigans, pursuasive techniques based on ends and not means. Policy is drama-free, a bit unexciting, powerful, meaningful, substantive, and most of all, rational. Policy can be arrived at through the politics of smart and well-intentioned people.

What Do I Mean By This? Marriage is a lawful contract that legally binds two people, allowing for, among other things, the benefit of joint health insurance and tax breaks. Marriage doesn't have to be done at a Church or any other religious institution. The Church is a ceremonial place, bent on tradition and dogma. Fine. I find the same tradition and dogma at the beach. But marriage, the legal contract it is, has just as much to do with a Church as does a beach. Meaning, it doesn't. A separation of Church and State that's already built into our system.

So why is this an issue to literally rewrite the rules to ban gay marriage, or how the Christian Right says, define it as a binding contract between a man and a woman? Politics. Not Policy.

John Mayer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPOBMzMTP4U

78 Degrees and Sunny

Today was a fartlek day. That means I run fast and then slow and fast and slow, but just keep running. It's a fun workout for me because I can control when and how much I change my pace, while getting the aerobic benefits of a moderately-distanced run as well as the speed of a light interval workout.

It was nice because I wasn't bored, my mind wasn't spinning around in circles as it often does on regular runs, nor was I gasping for breath the whole time. In the end I was gasping, but throughout it was fairly smooth. California cherry blossoms in full bloom and summer on the horizon, my mind flash backed to the neighborhoods in Tampa where I began my running. Similar smells, similar feels.

In the movie, "Happy Gilmore," Adam Sandler is told by his golf coach to go to his "Happy Place." My apologies for sounding so corny, but this was sort of mine. Kind of like singing in the shower, running through quiet neighborhoods on clear afternoons has a unique solitude that I've appreciated since I began doing this thing. It's when you do something so much for a period of time, back off from it, and then go back to it and have the same positive feeling that you know you truly appreciate it.

The conclusion of a run and a day like this is the best. When it is all done with, you've cooled down, maybe done some stretching, grab a huge Gatorade, and then sit or lay or drive slow and play some good music. Sort of zen-like.

Tomorrow, maybe my agitated mind will use tomorrow's run to try to grapple with the AIG mess or Obama's selling of the economic bailout (he's in So Cal doing a town hall today and on Leno tomorrow). For now though, I'll use the ignorance-is-bliss card and go for a drive.

Serenity: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-i_AcTz0UU Jack Johnson, Breakdown

Justin