Abu Ghraib fraternity hazing

I will leave that comment by JustaDog on my July 25 post, since it is a real comment by a person who read my blog.

What I can't get over is how many Christians I meet who are willing to justify our illegal and inhuman treatment of prisoners by citing their atrocities. Of course I care about "executions performed by terrorists." I care about the children who die in war, theirs and ours, and about the families torn apart, some of them forever. I do not believe insurgents are righteous or that any torture is acceptable. And I do not understand how when we torture prisoners it "resembles fraternity hazing."

I will point out that when Sadam or insurgents commit atrocities they do not do so with my tax money while wearing the uniform and standing under the flag that I grew up saluting.

So you're talking about virtues

So there on the Daily Show was Rick Santorum with his new book, It Takes a Family talking about virtues. It is a little-known fact that the word "virtues" has specific meaning beyond "what Rick Santorum thinks we all would naturally have if we all had been raised by a mother and a father married and living together." You can go to deadlysins.com (of course) and get a real rundown of what virtues are. It is not a simple matter, which probably puts it a bit beyond Rick Santorum.

The virtues, like the deadly sins, are traditionally seven. There are four cardinal virtues: prudence, temperance, courage, and justice; and three theological virtues: love, hope, and faith.

Another formulation of the virtues is the "contrary virtues," so called because each of them protects us agains falling into one of the seven deadly sins, i.e., humility against pride, kindness against envy, abstinence against gluttony, chastity against lust, patience against anger, liberality against greed, and diligence against sloth.

Medieval Christian catechisms also included a list of seven good works: feed the hungry, give drink to the thirsty, shelter strangers, clothe the naked, visit the sick, minister to prisoners, and bury the dead.

Looking at this list, it is not exactly clear to me how gay marriage is ruining the culture and keeping our children from learning the virtues. Maybe there is a Neo-Con formulation of the virtues where corporate greed is a good thing, government officials are above the law, and you can torture prisoners if you think they might be terrorists.

Abu Ghraib again

From Editor & Publisher, a journal covering newspapers:

Government Halts Release of More Photos and Videos of Abu Ghraib on July 25, 2005:

At the eleventh hour, lawyers for the Pentagon refused to cooperate with a federal judge's order to release dozens of unseen photographs and videos from Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Instead, the lawyers said they would file a brief explaining why they would not turn over the photos as ordered in a Freedom of Information lawsuit brought by the ACLU.

Since the papers were sealed, Sean Lane, the government's lawyer, said he could not discuss the contents. He did explain "that releasing pictures would violate Geneva Convention rules on prisoner treatment by subjecting detainees to additional humiliation or embarrassment."

So the Pentagon, which has been okay so far with the administration's claim that the Geneva Convention did not apply, is now using the Geneva Convention to counter a lawsuit under Freedom of Information by the ACLU.

I never bet the farm or my lunch money, but I'll bet (one of those free bets where only my credibility will be at risk) that some of those photos, or all of them together, would further strain the administration's stance that the abuse at Abu Ghraib was the work of "a few bad apples."

July Elbertas

Well, the peaches are getting ripe and summer is coming to a close. We have had enough water and enough heat this summer, as the peach tree proves.

My work is August through May with June and July off. Maybe when I get back in the swing of work, about the first of September, I can figure out something to do with this blog!

British Train Bombing

Democracy Now posted an article (London Subway and Bus Explosions Kill 37, Injure 700, dated Thursday, July 7th, 2005) including interviews with some of the passengers from the London trains that were bombed. One passenger, Angelo Power, said:

ANGELO POWER: The others I saw, physical injuries, some had marks to the face. The carriage windows had punctured their skin. Others were physically lying on the floor, because they basically suffered smoke inhalation. Others in the main carriage, as I understand, are severely injured, if not dead. So, but at the end of the day, I honestly thought I was going to die. I’m just grateful to be alive.

REPORTER: It is looking increasingly as though this was a concerted terror attack. What do you think about the people behind this, having lived through this nightmare yourself today?

ANGELO POWER: Well, as a barrister, all I can say is, you know, I wait for the evidence before I can make any or jump to any conclusions as to who it may be. But all I can say is, you know, whoever’s responsible for it, I take pity on them.

REPORTER: Pity?

ANGELO POWER: Yeah, pity, because whoever has perpetrated such a wicked act, you know, needs pity, right?

Thank you, Mr. Power, for an expression of what the political rhetoric of the "War on Terror" is missing. In pity for the person who did a "wicked act," there is the thread we have lost, the sense of our common humanity.

We will never have enough money or enough people to guard everything all the time, so we can never create a society in which 1) people are free to make choices about their own lives and 2) such acts as the London bombing are impossible.

And we can't get rid of dissidents by shooting them.

If we lined all the terrorists up and shot them this afternoon, tomorrow their friends, families, and students -- those who knew them and shared their world view -- would all be terrorists.

If we shot everyone who was not a Christian today, the Christians would have a war among themselves tomorrow.

If we shot everyone who was not a Muslim, -- oh, wait. Muslims are already fighting themselves. And most of the world is helping one side or the other or both.

If we can dredge up some sense of our common humanity that doesn't require everyone to be exactly like us, maybe there is a hope of creating a world in which bombs don't explode on trains because nobody feels it is acceptable to blow up trains full of people.

We could start by trying to get hold of what Angelo Power knows -- people who commit such acts disserve pity. They are people driven by the political and religious delusions of a war that will not end until all of the infidels are buried. Could we work on our delusions a little here and quit exchanging bombs for a few days?

Grapes

Watching the grapevine this year is more interesting than politics. Things keep moving along there, and it is beginning to look like there will be a return on investment.

Politics is getting really frustrating. It seems that by now voters would have hit upon the idea that if we want better intelligence, then we ought to elect some. Who knows, with some better intelligence in the right place, we might be able to get government off their theocratic high horse and back to the business of taking care of people and the environment -- medical care, building roads, creating jobs, worker safety, disaster relief -- things like that. Maybe we could even find a way out of the Iraq mess this administration has made, where we are involved in a civil war abroad where nobody is on our side, our people and theirs are dying every day, and we can't even explain what we are doing.

On the Social Security thing, if you are young enough, bright enough, and have enough income, start yourself a stock market account that you can manage yourself. That way you won't be giving your money to the Neo Cons to give to their cronies. The money we pay in taxes and in Social Security contributions should do something for the common welfare of people. That is the proper function of government -- domestic tranquility and the common good of people.

Now I have to go and see if there are any bugs eating the grapevine...

Peach_Tree

Of course I don't get tired of watching my plants grow through the seasons and taking photos of them!

The peach tree has a fair number of peaches this year. The white planter has three grapefruit tree seedlings that are about two or three years old. It was on the bannister above. A thunderstorm last night with some strong wind knocked the planter off, and I found it this morning, upright and unharmed, sitting under the peach tree.