On The Third Hand

Sunday, 20 Jan 2002

Damian Penny has a nice commentary on some unintended irony in the British protest of American 'inhumanity' in Gauntanamo Bay. I like catching people when they are being a bit hypocritical!

Nonetheless, there are some serious questions being raised about prisoners not too far south of where I live. Many of them are just plain clueless... disingenuous at best, but many are quite justified.

Fact: freezing winds are very unlikely in Cuba at any time. At this time of year, rain is also very rare. Cuba is tropical. It has a 'rainy season' and a 'dry season'. This is the dry season -- if it rains at this time of year, the rain is normally short and not violent. The prisoners should be easily able to stay dry... or if they do get wet, they will be dry again very shortly. I have lived in tropical climates (similar to Cuba's) and I assure you that an open-air cell is far more humane than a closed cell without air-conditioning. Many of the US military stationed there are sleeping on the same style of mats... and in tents, from what I have read... I'd rather have the prison shelters than a closed tent there.

A great BIG however. Goggles and earmuffs are a bit much during out-of-cell times. I can understand masks, since the detainees will bite. I can also understand goggles make it difficult for them to see who to attack, but that is still way over the top. Likewise earmuffs. Yes, they will try to rebel. Yes, they will try to kill any guard they can get to. The solution is not to deprive them of sight and hearing. The solution is to have heavily armed people around them, and to inform them that they will be shot if they attack (Not the unarmed guards in with the prisoners... they could have their weapons grabbed, but the outside guards can also see the prisoners--and shoot them.)

A note about the POW discussion: I have read the entire text of the Geneva Convention, and the US is correct that the Al Qaida do not qualify as POW. The Taliban are more "iffy", whether or not they signed the GC. As far as I can gather from umpteen different 'op eds', no one has any proof that any of those held at Guantanomo are Taliban. Still, if the US is a civilised country, the US should treat their prisoners in a civilised manner... no matter who the prisoners are. The fact that the US is allowing the Red Cross in is a hopeful sign, but I will wait and see... I don't suppose anyone would be willing to donate me the cost of a trip to Cuba and back? It's not very expensive from here...

Reading the news about Mr. West and the 'Fireman Statue' disagreements has made me think a lot about racism. I was out shopping the other day, and had an instinctive reaction, and it made me think some more... about "perceived racism". I happen to be small and female... and I've spent a bit of time in places where "purse snatching" is a hobby. If anyone over the age of three gets near me, I go into 'grab the purse' mode. I don't care if the 'anyone' is black, white, hispanic, asian, male or female... I grab that purse. I freely admit to being bigoted according to species, I don't grab the purse if a dog or cat comes near. I'm not; however, racist. I am simply paranoid.

I had never really thought about the fact that certain people would perceive my reaction as racist... because it is not. But I have now been 'enlightened'. And I wonder how much 'racism' isn't?

A long time ago, a Great Man made a Great Speech. I agreed with it, and my parents rejoiced at his (later) death. It was those two things that made me reject what I was taught and decide for myself what I did and did not believe. His day (celebrated in the US) is tomorrow. He said: "I have a dream that my four children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." I hope I may live to see that day (in all the world, not just America), but I doubt I will as long as so many of his "brothers" and "sisters" insist that we judge them only on the color of their skin.

My dream: I have a dream that someday everyone will be judged only by the content of their character. I'd like to see a society in which a bitchy potential mother-in-law says "He hasn't kept any job for more than a month!" rather than "He's a damned honky." (hah... you expected something else... didn't you... caught ya...). Get the point?

• Apologies for my lack of blogginess lately, I've been distracted by the need to do some offline work.
• Megan McArdle's put up a very interesting, albeit very long, post on why we should not have a corporate income tax. She has a lot of good points. I am curious as to whether she thinks we should have a different type of tax to make up shortages (despite all those accountants, many firms do end up paying tax) or whether we should reduce government? I agree with most of what she says, but I don't approve of any income taxes, corporate or individual. I consider taxing productivity a Very Bad Idea. (Please pardon those capitals, I was reading Cosmopolitan in the checkout line at the store today... their style is contagious.)
• Carter killed the Soviet Union? I always thought he was too darned nice to be the US President. Perhaps I was wrong.
• 100,000 trapped by Congo volcano disaster I only hope that we can somehow help these people. I'm by no means sure of the 100,000 figure (which seems to be used only in the headline), but there is a real need for aid there. At least 300,000 have fled to Rwanda, who cannot really afford this sort of crisis.
• Too busy looking for smoking gun, media missing real Enron stories Yep.
• More Enron "Take it easy... don't let the sound of your own wheels drive you crazy" (Eagles).
• SECRET PAKISTANI AIRLIFT AIDED TALIBAN, AL QAEDA FIGHTERS Somehow, I think this was blogged to death a while back, with some pretty correct analysis that whatever was going on was permitted by the US. Seems the lift may have had some unintended consequences, according to this article (but do consider the source). I suspect that Hersch's figures are inflated, and that most 'bad guys' that were airlifted out were probably those who were 'cooperating' or who were Pakistani nationals in high places. I just hope Mushy can get them in line some other way.
• Anti-Christ of the green religion. Good headline, the radical environmentalists are reacting as violently as any religious radical does at criticism of their faith. Faith cannot (by definition) be proved or disproved, so the only way they can react is by emotional denunciation. P.S. What global warming? (Read the last two paragraphs.)
• A Terror Network Unraveled in Singapore. More good argument for not profiling simply by race. We need to be far more sophisticated than that. Those who still insist on targeting only Arabs, after the Kabul Kangaroo, Johnny Wanker, the various Brits and French, and this, are in great need of having their heads shrunk.
• There are a lot of pro-American Muslims. Let us encourage them.