http://www.newsweek.com/id/225492/page/1
The Power of Two:
http://www.newsweek.com/id/225098
Photo gallery of the kids, etc.  The Intro picture is particularly stunning.

This has been in the works since spring.  Newsweek came in with a Pulitzer-award winning photographer who was fresh from covering the White House and Obama and Bush to do the shots.  The interviews mostly were around Duckcon.

There are errors.  They goofed on the date Meredith Grace was found (a year earlier), and a few little things.  (For instance, a photo that was supposed to be of our house in the Chicago suburbs is really of the other family’s home in suburban Birmingham.  Our house is not nearly as new, etc.)

But it’s written beautifully, and we are very happy with it.   That’s it for twin stories in the news until they’re grown up and can talk on their own…if that ever happens!  Enjoy the article and the photos!

…from Think Progress.   Give it a look for a summary of why it’s major bad news, if you didn’t know that already…unless you think you’re Jack Bauer or something.

As Jesse Ventura said on The View:

“If waterboarding is OK, why don’t we let our police do it to suspects so they can learn what they know?” he asked. “If waterboarding is OK, why didn’t we waterboard [Timothy] McVeigh and Nichols, the Oklahoma City bombers, to find out if there were more people involved? … We only seem to waterboard Muslims… Have we waterboarded anyone else? Name me someone else who has been waterboarded.”

And no, I don’t care if half the Democratic leadership knew something about the bad stuff pulled off by Bush; they should have had the guts to stand up at the time and say - NO - but they apparently didn’t.  Them being gutless wonders is not a reason to excuse anyone else from prosecution.  The more in the dock or politically dealt with and squished on this, no problem.

My focus is on justice, the law, and good government.  Torture and other arbitrary government crap has caused an awful pile of hurt to most all of us in some form from the past; just ask a Japanese-American whose family was in internment camps during WW2, or blacks who had to deal with government-backed racism in the South (or North, and I’m talking the Bull Connor sort of thing), or those of us out there who have family who were destroyed in the Holocaust or disappeared in the Gulags behind the Iron Curtain.

Daniel Larison, the thinking man’s conservative pundit:

So, ironically, some of the defenders of the torture regime are making the best argument for the prosecution of past administration officials by their own invocations of past government illegalities. They are unwittingly reminding us that crimes unpunished today can easily become tomorrow’s conventionally accepted “correct” decisions. Every usurpation or instance of lawbreaking that is not challenged and reversed creates a precedent for the next round of usurpation and lawbreaking, and the fact that there is a non-trivial number of people in America who think that the illegal acts of Lincoln, FDR, Truman or others should have some mitigating effect on how we treat illegal acts under a more recent administration is one of the best reasons why crimes committed during the last administration must be investigated and lawbreakers must be prosecuted. Had many past administrations been scrutinized and their crimes investigated and punished, it is less likely that we would have to cope with an executive branch that acts as if it is above the law and which seems to be able to to break the law with impunity. If we fail to hold past administration officials accountable, we not only make a joke out of the rule of law, but we ensure that no legal or institutional constraints will prevent a future administration from committing similar wrongdoing in a time of crisis.

Another note on torture issues.   This post seems to put it all together that the prime people who got good, reliable information in World War 2 were people who followed the same gold standard we followed before George W Bush changed things around; that torture is only good for causing people to suffer and say whatever you tell them to say.   To get them to lie, to get them to scream (and doesn’t it sound lovely?) while you get off thinking you’re Jack freaking Bauer.

There’s been a tag on this journal for a while - sep_reality - and almost all of the tag instances are for situations where people were living in fantasyland, where they could make their own rules and create their own world where you are little people and they are the Big Bad Boss.    Where they could  trick themselves and others into believing that they knew their butt from a hole in the ground, and were running the show with endless ease.   The best trick, of course, was getting you to not understand what they were doing, and think it was awesomely awesome.

Somehow, through mindless showings of 24, or Kyriakou’s ‘torture made them sing’ stuff, now proven to be false, people got the very wrong idea that brave torturers got the goods on the bad guys and made ‘em fess up, saving us all.    And then the secret memos from the insiders started coming out of the Department of Justice and other areas, basically saying that people using the gold standard of persuasion got everything out of the Al Qaeda dudes, and then People With Orders came in and tortured the terrorists many dozens of times in a month’s time, demanding more information.  Information they didn’t have.

My guess is that as more things come out, the specific questions they wanted answered will come out.  And my strong bet is that the entire point of that torture was to get a link between Al Qaeda and Saddam, something they could then present as a ‘Saddam did this, let’s get him’ excuse to invade Iraq.

I don’t know this, and I certainly have no love lost for Al Qaeda or Saddam.  But I don’t like it when people lie to me to get me to support them in something they wanna do because I’d never support it otherwise.  As an American, I would hope that we’re better than that.

And frankly, the people who gainsay ooh-go-torture forget the long history of this country towards the protection of the rights of the individual.  Watch this clip from A MAN FROM ALL SEASONS, about the need for the law, and you see, perhaps, that once you allow the law to fall, you may be the next one up when you end up on the wrong side of people who have more power than you do.   Manzanar can be rebuilt for new tenants anytime, and with less reason.

…which is the Organization of American States’ irregular meeting of the leadership of the OAS states (34) countries).  Interesting news coming out of it, of course.  Discussions between Obama and the US delegation on the one side, and some people Bush would never deal with on the other…discussions with the Cubans and Venezuelans and so on are very non-Bush.

Do I think that the Cuban embargo has worked?  Not really.  It hasn’t worked in 50 years of trying to bring-down-Castro, obviously.  It’s certainly helped out the Big Sugar producers in the US, some of whom are repulsive jerks, and about the only things you can say for it is that it has made Cuba the expensive problem child for either the Soviets or other lefty dictators with money who want to back him up.

I have no stars in my eyes about brutal dictatorships, and can’t stand the Cuban government and / or Chavez’s efforts to become El Jefe Por Vida in Venezuela, but I will note that what got them there was a great deal of idiocy and looking-the-other-way-while-the-rich-got-richer-and-more-brutal in both countries.    It occurs to me that stupid rich bastards who don’t give a damn about anyone else have caused a mighty amount of pain in the world and created revolutionary conditions again and again, and never realized that pushing people repeatedly to the edge will end up in disaster, eventually.

The key word there is *stupid*, allied with *cheap and greedy*.  As I’ve also noted before, most of the consumer protection things that I’ve sen in my time have rotated around that sort of root, where people cut corners and exposed the public to risks because they wanted to make a cheap, fast buck, and didn’t care about the problems they created for the public at large.  Goes for food safety, pollution, you name it.

You’d think some folks would learn…

I also found it interesting that the only ‘anglo’ in the bunch is now the PM of Canada; and if the Governor-General of Canada was there to represent the nation, there would be a shutout (she’s a Haitian refugee who came to Canada as an 11 year-old.

I don’t take IQ tests.

I’m not worried about people wondering about my intelligence. I also *know* the limits of my intelligence and abilities. To me, endlessly taking fathead online tests drawn up by idiots who really don’t know squat is a total waste of my time, and when it also involves me linking up to some  Facebook application, those guys can eat bung.

Now, if you want to show me a pro test that has some merit in it that would seriously help me understand some specific areas that I’m strong or weak on to better understand myself, sure, I could see that.

Likewise, I’m up to *here* in invitations to join up with some Facebook application or other, which will then spam me to death with related inanities.  I have too little time to do what I have to do; I’ve been dropping out of a bunch of these - I dearly care about my pals, and want to stay in touch, but I am not interested in playing in yet another Facebook hunt-for-the-snipe thing, by and large.   If I hit the ignore button on such things, if because of sheer lack of time and interest in such matters.

I mean, I have a Second Life account, but there’s very little to draw me in there.  I have a few friends that I know that frequent there, and there’s some pretty places in there to see, but very little I need or want to do there.

Daniel Larison:

The way to tell an ideologue from a realist, and the reason realists are not simply ideologues posing as something else, is that the ideologue will persist in a course of action long after it has failed and long after everyone knows it has failed because he thinks that his “values” demand it. Instead of “let justice be done, though the heavens fall,” the ideologue says, “I am right, and the world can go to hell if it doesn’t agree.” The ideologue is terrified of having to make adjustments and adapt to the world as it really is, because these adjustments reveal to the ideologue just how far removed from that reality he has become. The ideologue keeps redefining the justification for the policy, he keeps rewriting history to suit his own purposes, and he never accepts responsibility for the failure of his ideas, because he believes they have never been faithfully followed. For the realist, cutting one’s losses and reassessing the merits of a policy are always supposed to be possibilities, but for the ideologue the former is equivalent to surrender and the latter is inconceivable.

During all of the thrash over the refinancing, it was interesting to revisit the ‘value’ of the house in the market:

The start of the graph was when we bought it, and the present is the end of the graph; the assessed value (according to the lender) is slightly under that point.  Which means that it was ‘worth’ about $100k more at the peak of the market than it is now.   Of course, that’s all total smoke and mirrors; if we HAD sold at the top of the market, then - where do you live then?  Sure, we’d have a big chunk of cash - but again, everything else in the area would have likewise been horrendously overpriced!

I suppose if you knew that this was all coming, you could have sold out, moved to an apartment or a small hut in Tahiti or something - but what if you just wanted a good place to live?

….because I sure have.  Not for a while, though.  Thank goodness - I’ve been out of school for over 25 years.

A poster on Facebook was mentioning about missing their mom; I think I miss her (mine) the most at about 10:30 Central Time at night on my birthday, when I would get a call from her wishing me a happy birthday at the time I was born…(about 11:30 Eastern Time, back in Ohio).

I really missed that tonight.  Thank you all for your birthday notes and wishes; especially the ‘and many more’ parts so I can plague y’all for a while longer.  Appreciated!

On a personal basis, over the last few years due to the Magic Of The Internet, I’ve become re-knowledgeable about the activities of people I hadn’t heard from in a LONG time.  This has very much been a good thing from several standpoints: one gets to hear The Rest Of the Story, so to speak, and to compare notes on things.

One thing that really struck me is that it also led to me being sad that I missed out on certain things in people’s lives and glad that I missed out on others.

You find out about people who lived for and rolled in psychodrama in the past now living in their own circle of hell with children who perpetuate it back on them.  (Think Alex Keaton-style reversals on drug-addled quarreling bed-hopping hippies and you get the idea, but give Alex the deed to the parent’s home and let him bwahaha evilly as he throws them out on the street.)

You find out about people who were a little bit way out there in whatever direction then are now waaaay out someplace beyond the Owl Nebula and redshifting away at hyperspeed (nakedly communing with nature spirits in British Columbia’s wildest forests at 55 in January gets cold and old).

And then there’s the kids you knew as babies who are now college-age and you would have found them fascinating to watch at close range - if you and their parents were still connected with each other over that period of time.   Alas…

And there’s the pleasant surprises: people who were total dingdongs who got themselves together, and became sharp and successful.   People you fully expected to hear about having been found dead in a gutter who became a serious humanitarian sort and is happily helping others avoid the ditch they got past.    People who were nice then who are seriously warm, wonderful folks in the here and now are always a bonus, too.

I’m just so looking forward to a grownup in the White House.  I think most of us are.

Lord God, I thank you for letting me live in this time, in this place, in these circumstances, among these good people, and within this beautiful and extravagant creation!

- jeff Duntemann

I’m noticing that a lot of my friends-list and others online - and the few I talk to on the phone (man, I am so housebound) - are going to take the holidays easy, cheap and local this year.  Our household will, as usual, trot out to Susan’s aunt Marlyce’s house and do the holiday with them.    Susan will make up her exquisite pumpkin pie and the replacement Oyster Dressing she altered from Paula Deen’s recipe.   Meredith (and by extension, her twin sister Meredith) will have her (their) birthday on the 1st of December, then there’s Sinterklaas making his stop later that week, and then Kurt and John come in for a long weekend and the Julbord at Tre Kronor on the 20th.  And then there’s Christmas: Christmas Eve is the gift exchange for the big stuff, and Connie leaves from Marlyce’s house near Elgin the next morning, and we look through the special Santa loot on Christmas Day.

And then Sissy (Meredith’s twin sister) comes in for a week, starting the 28th, and extending over the annual New Years Eve Weird Food Party.  (The twins are going to make something for that, OMG.)

So it’s all very busy.  But the level and intensity of presents and the cost of same will be less, and I’m trying to think of ways to cover everything.  And there’s a lot of people out there doing a lot less well off than we are.

I’m thankful that Susan and I have solid jobs that aren’t likely to bite the dust.  I’m thankful that Connie is here and kind and generous as always, and helpful.  I’m incredibly thrilled and happy to be Meredith’s Daddy and watch this whirling dervish grow up.

I’m thankful that my health, though not great, has stabilized.  I’m thankful for the love in this home, and that I have people around to help and support me.  I’m thankful that we have a reasonable home, and that we have pretty much all of our needs - that presents are less REALLY NEED to than WANT tos.

That’s only part of my blessings, but I enjoy them every day.  And I thank and bless you all for your thoughts, concern, and care - and even interest in what I have to say.  Take care, and have a good holiday season.

And Bill O’Reilly can aroint himself.

So here’s my ideas, half-baked:

• Make the deal comprehensive, and mostly a take it or leave it scenario.  This sucker has been a political football for decades, and this ends here right now.
• All three companies essentially go into a central, nationalized receivership corporation.
• The equity in these businesses is pretty much gone, in any event.  Say goodbye to what’s left.
• The receivership corporation essentially will rehire management staff at their discretion.  Golden parachutes and stock options and excessive compensation just vanished.  Cap salaries at $250k.  We’ll talk about bonuses when you make things people want to buy.
• Immediately make interest from car loans deductible on taxes, and lean heavily on the nations banks to start making car loans again.  Offer a sizable tax rebate ($4000-5000) scaled towards more fuel-efficient cars made by the ‘corporation’ and its spinoffs.  You want a Hummer or a Corvette?  You’re on your own.
• Eliminate car financing by the manufacturers.
• The UAW and the auto makers were in the process of setting up trusts to handle retiree health costs - in 2010.  Have the government take over the gap of that trust and set it up to be self-maintaining.   This would eliminate the vast legacy costs for health care from the auto makers’ books now.
• Eliminate and standardize.  You don’t need all of the crap brands and submakes out there.  Bust out the better parts and make them their own company.    And eliminate the old dealer/line deals that mandate that you have to keep the obsolete car lines.
• Focus all R&D towards two things - serious materials / fuel efficient cars, and away from oil-based fueling systems towards electric cars / serious hybrids.

The hardest angle on this is about the union workers and where to set up the jobs that will remain, and that’s tough.  Here’s a union perspective on some of this.

I’m actively interested in your poisition on this matter.  Feel free to sound off inside *politely*.

My own struggles on this:

…on the phone, that is.  Site that specializes in how to sort through a computerized answering systems for Some Big Corporation and get through to a real person.