More on Mukasey and Torture

Here's a short article from Harper's which further dampens any enthusiasm you might have had for this man called Mukasey and that goes double if he did what this article says he did: give assurances to several high mucky-muck Federalist Society Republicans that he will not appoint a special prosecutor and that he will toe

"...the Administration’s line on “the Program,” that he would continue to protect those who authored the program with the cloak of an Attorney General opinion keeping them safe from prosecution....."

What a rascal. But aren't these guys just fooling themselves if they think they are going to avoid prosecution forever? Won't the next administration, as demanded by the People, appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the shenanigans of these (to use a Bush Senior phrase) yahoos? I sure hope so. Remember, truth will out, to quote John Dean and Bill Shakespeare.

Wednesday's This and That - Not Golf Related

Recently I had a visitor to this blog, a good man, who sent me an email and suggested that I can the comments on the politicians and to leave political matters to politicians. He goes on to say:

Some of us get tired of you constantly downing our president or submitting articles that do. Sure he has made mistakes, but who hasn't. The thing that is going to hurt our country is people like you who continually criticize our government.

Hmmmm. Me bad. My apologies to all those who come to this blog and expect (or want) to see only items about golf or the golf course. For the moment, I'm not going to do that as the whole intent of this blog was to invite those who want to to come on in and see what's going on in my head not only in the golfing arena but also in several other areas of my life. Books, movies, family, politics, sports are some of those areas and I often react to something and share that reaction. As for politics, and especially presidential politics, that is of particular interest and especially these last several years when our current administration, those people whom we have hired to steer this ship of state of ours, have made such a mess of governing. Be quiet?! Egads! too many of us have been way too quiet; too many of us stood along the side of the road and pretended that that new suit of clothes was dazzling, was oh so beautiful. And now we pay the price, in blood and treasury, in denial of constitutional rights, in the degradation of government agencies and departments. Being quiet, for me, is not an option. I am sorry, rather, that it has taken me so long to speak up and out. Me bad, or mea culpa for the latin lovers out there.

With that said, I very much appreciate the email that this good man sent to me (and yes I do know him and golf with him and he really is a good man and a gentle man). He in his own way is speaking up, speaking out, expressing his view on something that he did not agree with nor appreciate. And that of course is part of what we consider our birthright, the freedom to speak, the freedom of speech.

With all that said, a warning: the following is not only a non golfing item but one having to do with politics at least in the sense that there is an organization out there interested in checking the truthiness of what politicians are saying.

With presidential politics starting to heat up, the WAPO has started it's own fact checker. The first of four in today's item has to do with a statement made by Fred Thompson that America has shed more blood for other people's liberty than any other country or combination of countries ever. WAPO's fact checker says no way and gives Fred a four Pinocchio award. The things we say... Hey, WAPO invites us to be part of the process (good for them):

Contact the Fact Checker

We rely on our readers to send us suggestions on topics to fact check and tips on erroneous claims by political candidates, interest groups and the media. If you have facts or documents that shed more light on a subject under discussion, or if you think we have made a mistake, let us know.

I know that there is lots of other stuff out there worth finding out about and commenting on, but for now that's it. I'm heading back to the golf course. Let the world turn as it may.

Strong Condemnation of Efforts Since 9/11

From Firedoglake and Scarecrow: (yes it's worth reading and there is no need for me to comment, just weep.)

What Should Have Followed 9/11

By: Scarecrow

Keith Olbermann’s coverage (video here) of the commemoration of 9/11 reminded us of what might have been, had we had genuine leaders that fateful day.

On September 11, 2007, the nation should have been able to congratulate itself that the people who planned and organized the mass murders of US citizens six years earlier had been brought to justice. Instead, we saw videos of al Qaeda’s leaders taunting us and threatening to attack again.

We should have been able to point with pride to an exemplary system of justice set up to bring the 9/11 perpetrators to justice. Instead, we have been shamed by policies that authorized torture, kidnapping, and rendition; shamed by Abu Ghraib, by Guantanamo, and by the Military Commissions Act; and shamed by the fact that not one of the Administration lawyers who approved these shameful practices was ever fired, disciplined or disbarred — though all should have been.

The nation should have been able to focus its mourning exclusively on the 3,000 Americans people who were murdered that day, but instead we now mourn another 3770 3776 (and still counting) additional dead Americans plus nearly 28,000 wounded, plus tens/hundreds of thousands of Iraqi casualties — men, women and children killed, wounded or brutalized in an unnecessary war because our dishonest President and his crazed Vice President chose to fabricate a linkage between the leaders of Iraq and the perpetrators of 9/11 while hyping the dangers of WMD that never existed. Not one person has been held accountable for these massive deceptions or the unspeakable suffering they caused.

Americans should have been assured that we had, through our courageous and principled response to 9/11, earned the decent respect for the opinions of mankind. We should have set the model for an enlightened approach that focused as much on discouraging the rise of religious extremism and its causes as on stopping those already committed to violence. Instead we find ourselves despised for our post-9/11 policies and blamed for the resurgence of al Qaeda and violent extremism that now confronts a dozen allies.

We should have been able to come together, united as a country and proud of having survived 9/11 with renewed honor and respect for each other, for the rule of law, for the freedoms that have attracted so many generations to our land. But instead we are deeply divided, our constitutional government under siege, our privacy rights routinely violated, and the rule of law disregarded by our Executive.

We were still in mourning on September 11, 2007, because we have an Administration that has wasted much of the last six years making things worse instead of redeeming our future. We still grieve, but the Bush/Cheney regime has managed to push the original 9/11 tragedy out of the top spot of the losses for which our nation grieves.

More Midweek Stuff

Congratulations to the Graber Brothers, Marvin and Norman, for winning the Team Tournament recently completed in the Tuesday Men's League. At the start of the tournament, they were at the bottom of the Team standings. Nice reversal of fortune.

Finished with the setting of the grounding rod for the new antenna. Took a false start, a step ladder and a half hour with a sledge hammer (with plenty of rests) to slam the fool thing into this hard ground around this house on the hill. Now we're ready for that lightning strike (and no I am not going to say "bring it on...").

Diane's in the living room watching The Last Waltz.

(from Netflix: On Thanksgiving Day 1976, more than 5,000 cheering fans gathered for the historic farewell concert of The Band, a Canadian country-soul-R&B group formed in 1960. Director Martin Scorsese was present at the big event and later edited the concert footage to create this documentary, interspersing band interviews with performances by legends such as Eric Clapton, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Bob Dylan and Emmylou Harris.)

Listening is a more apt term. I'm enjoying from the dining area.

Jane Hamsher at Firedoglake writes a moving description of what it means to be partisan in the very positive sense of the word and takes to the woodshed the likes of Lieberman and Barack Obama for their blanket condemnations of the supposed 'partisanship' of the Democrats. The moving part is her description of going to the Holocaust Museum with the child of Holocaust survivors. Go read it; you'll be moved.

Tomorrow morning we have the Seniors out for match play. And (I was reminded by Tyler Walton) I'll post the results of the recent Community League Individual Handicapped Tournament completed with play this last Sunday.

More Freedom

On Freedom:

FDR's four freedoms that he talked about in an address to Congress on January 6, 1941(I was an infant in Brooklyn, NY):

:... In the future days, which we seek to make secure, we look forward to a world founded upon four essential human freedoms.

The first is freedom of speech and expression -- everywhere in the world.

The second is freedom of every person to worship God in his own way -- everywhere in the world.

The third is freedom from want -- which, translated into world terms, means economic understandings which will secure to every nation a healthy peacetime life for its inhabitants -- everywhere in the world.

The fourth is freedom from fear -- which, translated into world terms, means a world-wide reduction of armaments to such a point and in such a thorough fashion that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor-- anywhere in the world..."

(Larry H. is picking on FDR in his paper this week though I haven't seen the article yet. Maybe this will serve as a counterpoint.)

From Martin Luther King's I have a dream speech of August 28, 1963 (I was somewhere in the Far East):

"..."Let freedom ring. And when this happens, and when we allow freedom ring—when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children—black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics—will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual: "Free at last! Free at last! Thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"..."

(I am sure that the Rev. King would include Muslims, and maybe Hindus and others as well, if writing his speech in these times.)

My own very current and very topical desired freedoms:

Freedom from arrogance.
Freedom from incompetence.
Freedom from preemptive wars or any war for that matter.
Freedom from corruption.

(We have seen more than enough of the above during the last six years to last each of us a lifetime or two.)


I particularly enjoy these freedoms:

Freedom to speak up and out.
Freedom to move about.
Freedom from disease.
Freedom from want.

It's raining now so add freedom from rain for the rest of the daylight hours. We have had a nice little shower; now lets get back to the serious business of play. Oops... Here comes the sun.

On the Saturday Scramble of June 30:

I keep hearing more and more of the Wininger scramble win last Saturday, like that Dave could hardly move with a sore back, that Curt ran in three putts of 15+ feet, that Dave ran in a long one from off the green on #7, that Greg also ran a long one in on #9, that their score could have easily been -2 rather than the -7. Rascals. The golf goddess was not only walking around with them, she was dispensing with the regular rules of life and golf and giving them supernatural powers. But you know what they say: what goes around comes around. Look for change this Saturday. Is Dave even going to be in town? I know he's out of town right now.

On laptops:

I did open mine up and looked around, cleaned it out, put it all back together;. and yes it did work but in the same old way - overheating and not wanting to start back up without a spell in the refrigerator. Have ordered a new fan and heat sink and I'm hopeful. Should get it in a day or two.

So it goes - at least for the time being.

Independence Day

Picture: Sunflower Rising

Let freedom ring throughout the land. I think it was in David McCullough's book, 1776, that much is made of the courage of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Each of them knew that if the English put down the rebellion then it was the gallows for them. They did sign it and the United States has had a pretty good run these last 200 and some years. Lets see if we can continue to move the freedom ball down the road a piece, that would be freedom for all. (Lots of freedoms out there, not only freedom to do but also freedom from those things that keep us from being all that we can be. Worth thinking about.)

I hie myself to the golf course. Come on out and play around - you may run into a hole-in-one for yourself.

Felon's Time Commuted

Pox on their house.

Senator Lugar says enough is enough

In case you missed it, Senator Lugar is telling Bush to stop the bloodshed, get out of Iraq, end the mess. Bless the Republican senator from Indiana.

The Trashing of our Country

On Politics

This one, Manners and Trashing the Place, under the rage, makes me weep. It's about how this administration has trashed the interior of our country, the national parks and forests. Give it a read and pass it on. Maybe somewhere along the line the rage will result in some constructive action.

Making noise in the progressive blogosphere are the Chaney articles in WAPO.

I think that is enough of politics for the moment. What's being uncovered is full of stench and yuk. The good thing is that the light of day will advance the cleansing process.

Mad as Hell

Bully for Keith Olbermann for calling a spade a spade and saying to both the president and the democrats: shame on you. (thanks to dKos for the heads up.) From the link:

The entire government has failed us on Iraq

For the president, and the majority leaders and candidates and rank-and-file Congressmen and Senators of either party—there is only blame for this shameful, and bi-partisan, betrayal

Life off the golf course

Movietime:

At the birdhouse theatre last night, The Game with Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. A thriller in the end; a little slow at the beginning but definitely worth the wait. Five star entertainment. Tonight one of those with subtitles and yes I am looking forward to it. From Netflix, the movie is "...an escapade that involves seduction, conflict and the harsh realities of poverty...."

Y Tu Mama Tambien

Books:

Still reading the TR biography. His brother Elliott has recently returned from an extended visit to India where they treated him like a king or a Raj. This was back in the 1880's, thirty some years after the 'first war of independence' in which the locals were squashed by the Brits and sixty some years before true independence came after WWII. Reading of this reminded me of a book that I read a few years back that got me started on a year long binge of Indian reading. The book, Dalrymple's White Mughals, gives one a fairly full and intriguing glimpse of life in India around 1800, at least the life of the colonialists and the Indian upper crust. I found it fascinating and mentioned to Diane that maybe that is where I led one of my previous lives. No doubt had a great time, at least till the natives decided they wanted a little more control of their lives and their land.

Politics:

"Liar, liar, pants on fire!" Our esteemed AG being caught in his tangled web. No bets on who's out the door first, Gonzales or Wolfowitz. Both have their hands on the door knob though. Wolfowitz trying to make the best deal before handing over the keys to the World Bank. Gonzales seemingly in hot water up to his eyeballs. Oh well.

Wednesday Stuff

Frontline was on PBS when I got home from the 'office' last night. From all the good stuff happening out here at the golf course, all those happy gladiators returning successfully from their battles with the defenders of the greensward, I was hurtled into a sad story of children in jail for life. Holy Cow. What a jolt back to a reality filled with anger and grief and stupidity. Over 2000 now in jail in the US for life. Felony murder - you get convicted of that and you're toast. Gone. In jail for life, no parole. Our criminal justice system has its glaring insufficiences, and this is one more of them. In the stories related I saw very little justice and no mercy. Appalling. A real bummer to watch; a real tradegy for those living with the consequences of their actions and a certain alignment of the stars. Mandated sentencing is stupid. Our criminal justice system not so just. (BTW, Habeas Corpus still has not been restored; maybe in a month or six or twenty-four.)

And then there is this story of two 16 year old girls in Perth, Australia, who strangled a 15 year old girl just to see if they would feel remorse. Given a life sentence but eligible for parole after 15 years. Jeeeesh...

On a lighter note, our Attorney General, Mr. Gonzales, goes back before Congress tomorrow; somebody should remind him, again, that truth will out. (If you're interested, dKos has much more on the sins of our AG.) And it looks like Mr. Wolfowitz is heading for early retirement - some European countries, and a host of Democratic Senators, want him to take a hike from his job as World Bank leader. Sanity on the rebound.

And more on the DC Madam service, uh, story. A high end fantasy business. I like that. I also like it that this female David is telling the DOJ Goliath to stick it and to talk with her customers if they don't believe her about her workers not selling sex. You know for sure the men folk were not buying. Yup, I like this spunky lady...

On an even lighter note: Movie time at our place tonight. I forget the options. You're invited but bring popcorn and beer and be prepared for subtitles (smile).

Sunday Funnies

Brady Quinn finally gets picked. And is happy that he's going to the Browns, his team from his youth. Brings to my mind Lou Groza and Otto Graham, stars of the original Browns. Looks like he is going to a much better team than JaMarcus.

Luke Donald leads at the Byron Nelson and Lorena Ochoa, after a "monster" Saturday round, is tied for the lead down in Mexico.

Meanwhile, in our Nation's Capital, sex and politics are again converging. A former Eli Lilly chairman now working for the Bush Administration, excuse me, just recently working for the Bush Administration, has admitted to ABC that yes he did use a certain service to provide him with young ladies who gave him a massage. No sex, he insists. He has since resigned, I guess worried that the knowledge of his use of a 'legitimate' local service would get in the way of his continued benefit to the Bush Administration and its 'abstinance is the best safeguard' policy aginst AIDS and other dastardly STD's. He should have endorsed the 'don't ask don't tell' policy of the Pentagon in dealing with people with same sex sexual orientation when confronted by ABC. Oh well, one never knows what's going to pop up next. Apparently thousands of telephone numbers are in the little black book. You think that the phone company is going to get a lot of requests for change in number?

So where are we now on the scandal front? Way too numerous to count? My oh my, how the mighty have fallen. Or will fall. Again. What a mess we are all in. Best stick to football stories and golf tales and weather stuff. (Somewhere I heard that it is best to stay away from discussion of politics, sex and religion if you want to keep the peace. Kind of reminds me of my Mom at our dinner table back in the mid '80's - Diane was there, along with my Dad and Eric and Danielle, both teenagers, maybe a junior and senior in high school. Something came up in our far ranging conversation and the word 'sex' was all of a sudden out there on the table, to which my dear Mom immediately said "shush! children present." Hmmm, okay. Kind of like the Republicans not ever wanting to admit that they have or even like sex. Hey, maybe they don't. Never thought of that possibility but there are asexual people in the world, or even worse, anti sexual zealots. Best stop there just 'cause I need to get back to the golf course.)

Sunny and warm and the goldfinches are feeding and looking very handsome in their fancy yellow outfits. Need I tell you to go golf? It's good for you.

On Walls and Movies

Good fences make good neighbors. That's one of those country sayings I heard more than once, and have come to believe, when we moved to the country back in 1975. But that little saying has more to do with farmers and livestock than it does with city folk. And now we get an affirmation of that, and a little sign of independence, from Iraq's Prime Minister, Mr. Maliki, who has just told Mr. Bush to stop building a wall that would separate his people. Reminds me of the proposed wall along our border with Mexico, which is kinda like the fanciful star wars project of bygone years. Also brings to mind Mr. Reagan's request to the Soviet leader: "...Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!..." And lastly, it brings to mind the Great Wall of China which now is considered one of the wonders of the world. (Do you know how long it is? Care to guess?)

Meanwhile, the search for some kind of explanation for the Blacksburg killing spree begins. An that leads to an examination of culture which includes books and movies. And lo and behold a movie under consideration as a link, or at least an example,of the brutality that might inspire the insanity is Oldboy, the violent movie which Diane walked out of a few weeks back. The linked article does say that "...the Asian countries that produce gory and graphic movies, cartoons and comic books tend to have very low rates of actual violence...". Crazy people do crazy things because they're crazy, not because they watch certain movies or read certain books or eat chocolate chip cookies. It's bad stuff, not good stuff.

Nice at the golf course though winds whipping around and making the game a little more interesting.

The Sunday Funnies

Picture: In the pines at Lakeview's #5 green.

Abortion is back on page one with the recent Supreme Court decision. Too bad. Back in the late '50s and early 60's it was birth control that was the topic that got people's motors running. Nowadays not much discussion about the right or wrong of birth control; lots of tried and true ways to have effective birth control, and lord knows we really should limit the human population as much as we can. Maybe in another 50 years the abortion issue will be mostly settled, or not an issue. Certainly today we have the technology (the morning after pill) to easily prevent unwanted pregnancies which would remove the majority of abortions. How come we don't make that pill as cheap and as available as a headache pill? Makes too much sense, I guess.

Our highest ranking ensurer of the rule of law is grilled and burnt, roasted and toasted. Not a pretty thing to watch or have to live through, especially if you're a Gonzales. Continuing the lancing of the boil...

Finished Vonnegut's Jailbird. Light, casual reading full of irony and incidentals and coincidences. I like the way he throws in stuff from all over the place and all over time. Am sure there is a larger truth that the author is getting at. You remember that in the end he agreed with Twain - life is a crock. Made me laugh. Now on to Hocus Pocus.

And in golf: The big boys are playing down in New Orleans and a guy by the name of Watney has the lead by two with 18 holes to play.

Lovely day - you need to go golf. Treat yourself to a two hour break.

More on Prosecuting Attorneys' Fealty

Commentary by a current U.S. attorney on the importance of prosecutors' loyalty to the Public (that's us), and not a Bushie or a Clintonista or any other political flavor of the day.

In a previous blog on this topic, I strongly suggested good golf as a necessary antidote to any excessive dwelling on things of a political nature. Other suggestions: a walk in the park with a grandchild; get lost in a Stephen King thriller; go for a ride down memory lane with an old friend; smile at strangers and wish them a happy day. What do you do to lesson the burden of life's travails? (As I write that I am seeing in my mind's eye the picture of the little girl looking through a chain link fence at a refugee camp somewhere just outside the borders of Iraq; we have problems?)

Monday's Offerings

Boo Weekley uses chipping magic to win at Hilton Head. You remember a month ago when he missed a three foot putt to fall into a playoff, right? Soloution to putting woes, as everybody knows, is to avoid taking out the short stick by putting the ball in the hole before you even get to the green. Boo did that today on the final two hole to keep Ernie Els off the winner's rolls and earn his own first PGA victory.

Tuesday Men's League: Tim Miller is joining Bryant Trambaugh and the Summers boys, Kirk and Kent, have signed on. Byron Christie is still looking for a partner to play with during the day.

Thursday Senior League: Looks like weather will not be a factor this week so it's a go starting at 9am on Thursday. Bring your A games. Still have room for another team and need a partner for Sharon Brassine.

Community League: Reminder: starts the week of May 14th. Get a partner and sign on to this new league. Would love at least five teams in each of the different categories: Woman/Woman, Man/Man, Woman/Man, Parent-Grandparent/Child-Grandchild, Junior/Junior.

On a decidedly heavier note:

Conservatives are writing letters to the President with a very blunt message: Fire Gonzales. In part, the letter says:

"..."Mr. Gonzales has presided over an unprecedented crippling of the Constitution's time-honored checks and balances," it declares. "He has brought rule of law into disrepute, and debased honesty as the coin of the realm." Alluding to ongoing scandal, it notes: "He has engendered the suspicion that partisan politics trumps evenhanded law enforcement in the Department of Justice."..."

Hmmm. Does anybody believe that our Attorney General has been acting on his own in any capacity whatsoever since he joined on with George W. Bush sometime back in the '90's? Lucky for us, our system does work, as participants in the Watergate mess back in the '70s kept repeating. And, as John Dean and Shakespeare say: the truth will out. Hang on to your seats and your hats, folks; it's gonna be a bumpy and windy ride these next several months. (Dwelling on this stuff is deadly and depressing; be sure and mix with a large dose of good golf.)

Librarians Rock!

Picture: Reading Leah

Would rather be out playing golf but the conditions are almost unbearable: overcast, very windy, cold. All the way up to 33* here at our place on the hill.

Breakfast with Diane down at the Cabin. Neighbors and friends and strangers joined us, or we joined them.

Yesterday, between things, I tried to find a feed of the Masters on our satellite. Got sidelined and distracted by goings-on at C-Span: First, a talk at John Hopkins University by Larry Cox of Amnesty International who "...suggests what can be done to make the United States a credible proponent of human rights". Second, George Christian and Peter Chase were speaking at a university forum in Vermont (can't find the C-Span link - hmmmm, censored?) on their experiences with the Patriot Act, national security letters and gag orders. Go here for a NYT article on their first speaking up from last June, which, in part, says:

"...The librarians, who all have leadership roles at a small consortium called Library Connection in Windsor, Conn., said they opposed allowing the government unchecked power to demand library records and were particularly incensed at having been subject to the open-ended nondisclosure order."

Librarians rock! because they had the courage to stand up and say no to Big Brother and yes to an individual's privacy rights. More, more of the same please. Here's another link, this one to a Mother Jones write-up on one of the librarians in Vermont who has been speaking up against provisions in the Patriot Act. She also was in attendance and a participant yesterday. Request: more sunlight and fresh air for all those roaming the corridors of power.

Almost time for Masters coverage on CBS. Care to guess who will be leading after today's play?