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Post Memorial Day post

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I received several emails over the weekend, from both the left and the right, suggesting (or goading) that I write a Memorial Day tribute of my own. And I would have… that is, if I had anything particularly relevant to say on the subject.

I’ve never served in the military, nor have any of my closest friends, nor anybody in my immediate family. Not my siblings nor my parents nor my grandparents nor my first or second cousins. I had a great uncle who served as an MP during World War II, guarding German prisoners of war, I believe stateside, but to my knowledge that’s about as close to combat as anyone on either side of my family has ever come. In fact, it seems clear that some of my ancestors emigrated to the U.S. specifically to avoid service in the Czar’s army.

As a child of the sixties, growing up watching the Vietnam War on TV, I vowed never to enlist, even if drafted. I would not give my life to fight what I believed to be an immoral war… and besides, I always thought I’d make such a crappy soldier that my risk of court martial for insubordination would far outweigh any chance that I’d ever do time for draft evasion. I was never a pacifist per se, but I’ve never believed in such a thing as a “just” war. Necessary perhaps, but never just.

Over the course of my 45 years I have come to know people who have served, some who even served in combat, but I’ve never known anybody who has sacrificed his life in service to our nation, nor am I aware of any close friend or relative to have lost a close friend or relative as such. The tragedy of war — Iraq, Vietnam or any other — has never directly touched my life.

I have both empathy and sympathy for those who have not been so fortunate, but my personal experience of Iraq is little different than that of Vietnam: it is something I watch on TV.

So who am I to memorialize our war dead when I know nothing of what they or their families endured? How can I adequately memorialize something for which I have no personal memory?

I am not a soldier. I do not come from a military family, nor from a cultural milieu were military service is common or even encouraged. Like President Bush and Vice-President Cheney and so many of the other hawks who foolishly led us into Iraq, I would have done almost anything to avoid military service. (The difference is, I admit it.) In this context, what words of commemoration could I have given, however heartfelt, that wouldn’t have come off as hollow?

Some of the fallen we honor each Memorial Day gave their lives willingly, others not. Some died defending freedom, others fell defending the folly or pride of their leaders. Some causes are more noble, some deaths more honorable… that is the nature of war, a nature reflected in the historical roots of Memorial Day itself, which arose after the Civil War to honor the dead of both those who defended the Union, and those who fought to preserve a Southern economy based on slavery.

While I may not know war firsthand, I know my history. I know that for every Yorktown there is a Gallipoli… for every Afghanistan there is an Iraq. The same armies that risked their lives to liberate the Nazi death camps, incinerated the city of Dresden and tens of thousands of innocent civilians—women, children, babies—with it.

I’m not a politician, and so I do not have to pin a flag to my lapel, place my hand over my heart and pretend that patriotism always trumps history or common sense. And so on Memorial Day I honored our war dead in the best way that I knew how: by keeping silent. It is simply not in me to ignore my own internal dissonance, but it would have been disrespectful to voice it on a day that means so much to families who have sacrificed so much for our nation, whatever the cause… and so much more than I myself have ever been asked to give.

Top-two sucks poo

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Oops…

Although state officials had predicted single-party contests would be rare under the new system, there could be a half-dozen legislative races this year with candidates from the same party running against each other in November.

Couldn’t see that one coming, could you?  In fact, I’m surprised it’s only a half-dozen legislative races.

Supporters of the top-two primary, like Sec. of State Sam Reed, keep arguing that it offers voters more choice.  Well, in the 36th LD, the district highlighted in the article, voters will be given the choice this November between a progressive Democrat and a liberal Democrat.

How’s that working out for you, Sam?

Barr’s Big Conversion

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Bob Barr captured the nomination of the Libertarian Party this weekend in Denver. Most people remember Barr as the very non-libertarian conservative who served Georgia’s 7th District starting in 1994, but the story of how he was defeated and how that led to him becoming a Libertarian is not as well known. Gary Storck writes about how Barr was ousted from Congress in part by the Libertarian Party running ads against him after he was forced by the Georgia legislature (which was controlled by Democrats) to face another incumbent Republican in a re-districting.

Barr’s conversion to his current political outlook is pretty drastic. He has gone from being a staunch supporter of both the Patriot Act and the drug war to working with both the ACLU and the Marijuana Policy Project in opposition. He has renounced his former support for the Defense of Marriage Act and wants us out of Iraq. It’s hard to tell what kind of support he will actually be able to get this year, but if there’s anyone who understands how the Libertarian Party can exercise some influence, it’s Bob Barr.

Gov. Gregoire honors veterans on HuffPo

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With posts to first Daily Kos and now The Huffington Post, Gov. Chris Gregoire is beginning to get into this blogging thing:

As Memorial Day approaches, I encourage all of you to take the time to honor our fallen veterans. Sadly more than 100 Washington men and women have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mike and I have tried to attend every funeral service for Washington’s fallen soldiers, and we will continue our commitment to honoring these brave individuals by showing their families that we acknowledge their tragic loss.

And unlike the Bush administration, Gov. Gregoire provides both talk and action when it comes to supporting our troops, signing 47 pieces of legislation regarding veterans and their families during her first term, more than any other governor in state history.

Read the whole thing.

Driving Towards Disaster

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James Howard Kunstler writes about the problems he sees us heading towards when it comes to our energy needs:

As the world passes the all-time oil production high and watches as the price of a barrel of oil busts another record, as it did last week, these systems will run into trouble. Instability in one sector will bleed into another. Shocks to the oil markets will hurt trucking, which will slow commerce and food distribution, manufacturing and the tourist industry in a chain of cascading effects. Problems in finance will squeeze any enterprise that requires capital, including oil exploration and production, as well as government spending. These systems are all interrelated. They all face a crisis. What’s more, the stress induced by the failure of these systems will only increase the wishful thinking across our nation.

And that’s the worst part of our quandary: the American public’s narrow focus on keeping all our cars running at any cost. Even the environmental community is hung up on this. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been pushing for the development of a “Hypercar” for years — inadvertently promoting the idea that we really don’t need to change.

I wanted to post about this because it’s now the top story at reddit. The idea that people need to change their lifestyle in the face of a crisis is a difficult message for any politician or pundit to put out there. If the predictions turn out to be overly alarmist, all it does is make people complacent towards the real dangers that exist. This is a common problem with the environmental issues we face, and why I often compare them to the foreign policy issues we face. When either side of the ideological spectrum exaggerates the dangers (whether it’s Kunstler on the environment, or Joe Lieberman on Iran), it only works against those who are intent on fixing the problems.

I tend to believe that Kunstler is underestimating what the demand for technical innovation will produce. When people are faced with the prospect of giving up their lifestyle, their financial calculus changes. When this happens across the globe, I believe we’ll see some radical changes, but we’re not returning to a time where everyone is cut off from the rest of the world again. The innovations of the 20th century (commercial air travel, computers, the internet, space travel, and television) were largely inconceivable to someone in 1900, and the major advancements of the 21st century are largely inconceivable to us now. It’s not a bad idea for people to change their lifestyles, and with the price of oil what it is, many people are going to anyway. But what we need to do most of all is place more emphasis on science in our educational systems. And we need to return to a time when our government valued and respected science so that the innovations that build the 21st century come from America, just as they did in the 20th.

Unarmed and dangerous

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The Seattle Times has the story of 41-year-old Pauline Goldmeier, who chased down a group of teens stealing her $500.00 mountain bike, eventually leading to the arrest and detainment of three of the five suspects.

When Pauline Goldmeier pulled up to her Seward Park home last week and saw a group of teens making off with her $500 mountain bike, something snapped.

She’d been the victim of a carjacking, a kidnapping and uncounted incidents of vandalism, but that day she’d had enough.

“They had no idea whose bike they were stealing,” said the 41-year-old legal secretary and mother of two. “I’ve had a lot of things happen to me, and I’m tired of it.”

Good for Goldmeier.  But imagine how differently this incident might have ended had Goldmeier, as so many on the right advocate, been armed at the time “something snapped” …?

I’m just sayin’.

Sometimes it’s better not to speak your mind

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Oy…

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly apologized Friday after citing the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as a reason to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination despite increasingly long odds.

“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,” the former first lady said.

The episode occurred as Clinton campaigned in advance of the June 3 South Dakota primary.

Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she said: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race

Yes, it was offensive, and yes, it was an awfully dumb thing to say. And while yes, she was quick to apologize, yes, she should have worded her apology more directly.

But honestly… it’s true. Who doesn’t fear for Obama’s safety above that of the typical candidate, and why wouldn’t that thought enter into Clinton’s calculation? I’ve always assumed that one of her reasons for sticking with this so doggedly—however small—is the desire to lay undisputed claim to the nomination should anything, scandalous or tragic, happen to Obama.

You don’t come out and say it—that was a fuck up—but you can’t blame her for thinking it.

WaPo: Reichert is 2nd most vulnerable House Republican

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The Washington Post’s top political handicapper Chris Cillizza has updated his list of House seats likely to change party hands in November, and look what makes the top twenty:

19. WA-08 (GOP-held): Rep. Dave Reichert (R) is a very strong candidate but the demographics of this Seattle-area district are trending in the wrong direction for the incumbent. Democrat Darcy Burner came within 7,000 votes of beating Reichert in 2006 and is back for a rematch. Reichert could do everything right in the next five months and still lose. (Previous ranking: N/A)

Keep in mind that 13 of the races ahead of WA-08 are for open seats, and that Cillizza ranks Reichert as the second most likely Republican incumbent to lose his seat. And this analysis coming from a guy who thinks Reichert a “very strong candidate.” (Perhaps Cillizza was just referring to Reichert’s biceps?)

Stupid headline of the day

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From the Seattle Times: “Wenatchee cyclist could get shot at Tour de France.”

My advice to 23-year-old Wenatchee cyclist Tyler Farrar is, if you could get shot at the Tour… for God’s sake don’t go! It’s just a bike race, and you’re too young to die!

UPDATE:
The Times has updated the headline in their online edition to read: “Wenatchee cyclist has shot at riding in Tour de France.”

Another victory for bloggers everywhere.

Cast out the moneychangers, Dino

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Niki Sullivan follows up on her blog post revealing Dino Rossi’s illegal funder, this time using her J-school sanctioned grownup voice in the print edition of the TNT: “Did group violate campaign rules at Rossi visit?”

The answer, of course, is yes:

But the prohibition is clear, according to Daniel Borochoff, president of the American Institute of Philanthropy, a Chicago-based nonprofit that acts as a watchdog of other nonprofit organizations.

“They’re not allowed to be involved in partisan political activity, particularly involved in influencing an election. It sounds as if that’s what’s happening,” Borochoff said.

The nonprofit’s intent has no bearing, he said, adding that if a candidate is speaking, that constitutes political involvement.

Borochoff said the Christian group could be at risk of losing its nonprofit status – and the tax exemption it provides.

I suppose as a Christian organization the CBMC feels more obligated to follow the laws of God than the laws of man, but if so, they might want to reread the Ninth Commandment.

[Dwight] Mason, the local CBMC president who gave the prayer, initially told The News Tribune on Thursday that “no funds were solicited.” He also denied seeing any hints of fundraising.

“If there were envelopes there, they weren’t anything I had anything to do with,” he said.

But that was before Sullivan obtained an audio recording of the event in which Mason can be heard leading the group in prayer:

“Father, we are thankful of your care for us and thankful for this opportunity to hear Dino’s story and pray for him and his campaign…”

After the prayer, Mason told the crowd, “OK, at your table, this is not a fundraiser, although Dino did leave with us a couple envelopes there, and I’m sure he’d appreciate that.”

Oops. That’s not just a blatant violation of IRS rules, it’s what I think the Bible refers to as “bearing false witness.”

I don’t think Rossi faces any potential legal sanctions himself for his part in the illegal fundraiser, but as a candidate for governor it is fair to expect him to adhere to a higher standard in terms of respect for the law. 501(c)3 restrictions are Campaign Finance 101—Rossi and his staff must have known that they were treading on dangerous ground by soliciting funds from a religious organization, thus if he wants to live up to the ideals he professes, it is time for him to confess his sins and seek penance.

Cast out the CBMC moneychangers Dino, and return their ill-gotten donations. That is the only path toward redemption.

A reporter with an agenda

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The TNT’s Niki Sullivan is fast becoming my favorite newspaper blogger. After being refused entry into a Christian Businessmen’s Connection (CBMC) event featuring Dino Rossi (obviously, one of the businesses they haven’t connected with yet is PR), Sullivan follows up by reporting that the gathering most likely violated the law, putting the organization’s tax-exempt status at risk.

The problem: CMBC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. And, as far as the Internal Revenue Service is concerned, Rossi could have talked exclusively about his shoe size and the event still would have run afoul of the law.

That tidbit in itself is worth the read, but I just love how Sullivan writes up her exchange with CBMC organizer Dwight Mason:

“I feel like it’s a private party. Our purpose was not fundraising, I can say that,” he said.

I asked if fundraising occurred.

“There was no plea for funds. No funds were solicited.”

I told him I had heard otherwise.

“You know, if there were envelopes there, they weren’t anything that I had anything to do with. When you have a political campaign, I’m sure there’s going to be some envelopes around somewhere.”

Understandable. But whether there was fundraising is irrelevant in the eyes of the law.

“To me this sounds to me like a reporter who has an agenda.”

Correct. My agenda includes something about holding people in power accountable.

Now that’s blogging. You go girl.

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