The Highlights

Here are a few of the points that I thought were interesting from this morning’s White House Press Conference. The New York Times has the complete transcript online.


The Reluctant Environmentalist

Bush: The American people expect us to reduce our dependence on foreign oil and increase our use of alternative energy sources. So we must step up our research and investment in hydrogen fuel cells, hybrid plug-in and battery-powered cars…

a. tyrell: If you take a look at the film “Who Killed the Electric Car” you’ll see that not only is the electric car possible, but we already have the technology for it. And I’m not talking about those funny-looking one-seater cars you see on prototype car tests on TV. These are completely regular looking electric cars that regular people owned and used during the early 90s until the auto industry decided that they wanted to take them off the market.


A Bit of an Understatement

Question: Mr. President, less than two months ago, at the end of one of the bloodiest months in the war, you said: Absolutely, we're winning. Yesterday, you said: We're not winning; we're not losing. Why did you drop your confident assertion about winning?

Bush: …My comments yesterday reflected the fact that we're not succeeding nearly as fast as I wanted, when I said it at the time, and that the conditions are tough in Iraq, particularly in Baghdad.

…Victory in Iraq is achievable. It hadn't happened nearly as quickly as I hoped it would have. I know it's -- the fact that there is still, you know, unspeakable sectarian violence in Iraq, I know that's troubling to the American people.


A Remorseful President

Question: Mr. President, Lyndon Johnson famously didn't sleep during the Vietnam War; questioning his own decisions. You have always seemed very confident of your decisions, but I can't help but wonder if this has been a time of painful realization for you, as you yourself have acknowledged that some of the policies you hoped would succeed have not. And I wonder if you can talk to us about that. Has it been a painful time?

Bush: Most painful aspect of my presidency has been knowing that good men and women have died in combat. I -- I read about it every night. I -- my heart breaks for a mother or father or husband and wife or son and daughter. It just does. And so, when you ask about pain, that's pain… But the most painful aspect of the presidency is the fact that I know my decisions have caused young men and women to lose their lives.


Alternative Energy

Bush: nuclear power is going to be an essential source, in my judgment, of future electricity for the United States and places like China and India. Nuclear power is renewable, and nuclear power does not emit one greenhouse gas. And it makes a lot of sense for us to share technologies that will enable people to feel confident that the new nuclear power plants that are being built are safe, as well as technologies that'll eventually come to the fore that will enable us to reduce the wastes, the toxicity of the waste and the amount of the waste. Continue to invest in clean-coal technologies. Abundance of coal here in America. And we need to be able to tell the American people we're going to be able to use that coal to generate electricity in environmentally friendly ways. My only point to you is: We got a comprehensive plan to achieve the objective that most Americans support, which is less dependency upon oil.

a. tyrell: If he’s as concerned with alternative sources of energy and decreasing US dependency on foreign oil as he says he is, what has he been doing in this regard for the last 6 years? I can’t think of a single significant measure proposed by the Bush Administration that was primarily in support of alternative sources of energy. There has been some support for hydrogen fuels and ethanol derived from corn, but given the predicted impracticality and prohibitive expense of hydrogen fuel and the glaring inefficiency of US ethanol production initiatives, I would suspect that support for these technologies has less to do with the environment as it does with covertly protecting agriculture and private industry.


Social Values

Question: …Mary's having a baby. And you have said that you think Mary Cheney will be a loving soul to a child. Are there any changes in the law that you would support that would give same-sex couples greater access to things such as legal rights, hospital visits, insurance, that would make a difference, even though you said it's your preference -- you believe that it's preferable to have one man-one woman...

Bush: No, I've always said that we ought to review law to make sure that people are treated fairly…

a tyrell: What about support for the Constitutional Amendment to ban gay marriage? I wouldn’t view that as a measure that would ensure that all people are treated fairly.


Where’d that surplus go again?

Bush: My message to the Iranian people is: You can do better than to have somebody try to rewrite history [referring to Iranian President Ahmadinejad]. You can do better than somebody who hasn't strengthened your economy…

a tyrell: So I’m still unclear on how President Bush has strengthened our economy. Was it through tax cuts to the rich that led to huge corporate profits, but virtually no growth in wages and very little job growth until fairly recently? Or was it by spending $300 Billion in Iraq over the last 3 years while we continue to fund our deficits by borrowing from China and other nations?

So if the Iranians deserve better, does that hold true for us too?

J'aime New York

I live in Harlem... and I love it. There are so many really cool things to do in this city. For example, I just got back from a weekly live jazz set a few blocks from my place. Every Sunday night on 132nd street (between 7th and 8th) there's live jazz music on the bottom floor of a very unassuming brownstone. In addition to the great music, there are also cheap drinks and soul food. While I didn't get a chance to sample the food, it did look and smell very good.

This is the first time I've been and I don't know if this was a typical Sunday night, but a few interesting events transpired during the 2 hours or so that I was there. After finishing his set leading the band on the organ, the "Preacher", as he was called, brought to the front an older woman who was there celebrating her birthday with her grandson and his girlfriend. After coercing the crowd to stand and give the 82-year old woman a round of applause, he pulled out a crisp new $100 bill and forced it upon her despite her reservations. I was standing just next to where the woman was seated and as the night progressed, many people came up to her to wish her well. Over time, I began to wonder whether in fact it actually was her birthday. I think that the Preacher had simply misunderstood her and it would have been too awkward for her to say anything to the contrary (let alone give the money back).

Taking over the reigns at the organ, the next band leader invited a young Japanese woman to perform who "scatted" along with the band. She was pretty good and really got into it. I assume she had planned to perform that night, but it look like she was just another member of the audience. Upon completion of the song, the band leader offered her a warm "Arigato Gozaimas" with slight bow of the head as she returned to her seat.

Only in New York.

So all in all, it was really good music, no cover, a cool crowd, cheap drinks (by NY standards), and -- what looked to be -- good soul food. They do this every Sunday. I definitely plan on stopping by again sometime soon.

Rummy on Trial

Maybe everyone already knows about this, but I just read this morning on Al Jazeera's English news site that the ACLU has initiated a trial against Donald Rumsfeld implicating him in the claims of torture in Guantanamo resulting from President Bush's War Against Terror. I just recently started reading Al Jazeera online and I like it so far, but this article doesn't clearly state that it's just a civil trial and not a criminal one, which I think is a very important distinction. I think the Associated Press does a better job of covering the story, but I would have never searched for the AP article in the first place had I not first read the prominently displayed link to their story on Al Jazeera's website.

Anyway, in deciding whether to let the trial proceed, the judge acknowledges that torture is clearly illegal, but he is worried about what precedent this trial would set if we, in effect, extend the rights of the Constitution to all people everywhere and begin allowing the courts to second-guess any decision the military makes at home and abroad. That's an interesting point. On the one hand, the US military should be held accountable not only if they violate international law, but also if they act in ways that are contrary to American moral standards. But on the other hand, the Constitution is an American document for Americans. Afgani, Iraqi, and other citizens clearly do not fall under the protection of the US Constitution. Referring to Judge Thomas Holden, who is hearing the case, the AP writes,

"Foreigners outside the United States are not normally afforded the same protections as U.S. citizens, Hogan said, and he was wary about extending the Constitution across the globe. Doing so, he said, might subject government officials to all sorts of political suits. Osama bin Laden could sue, Hogan said, claiming two American presidents threatened to have him murdered." (Matt Apuzzo, Houstan Chronicle, 12/8/2006)

An Unlikely Alternative

Iraq is a mess. I think we’ve finally reached the point where everyone concedes that things really aren’t going well. I’ve been thinking a lot about any possible solution out of this problem for the US and the only thing that I could come up with is a solution that no American President would support (and I don’t know if I would even do it myself if I were President), but it’s the only thing I can think of to make a horrible solution at least a little less so.

The problem, as I see it, is that we’re losing the war in Iraq and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get any better no matter how many troops or money we throw at it. Some argue that we should just pull out of the region altogether. Since we’re not helping things anyway, maybe we should just cut our losses and head home. We would be leaving a mess behind, but at least there wouldn’t be anymore US lives and taxpayers’ money lost. The problem with that argument, as I see it, is that while things are really bad now, the US pulling out immediately could make things a lot worse. Not only would al Qaeda set up shop, but Iran and Syria would begin to move in leaving a very unstable region even more so. Where does that leave us? Staying the course is a waste of time, money, and, most importantly, human life, but leaving would likely set in motion a course of events that would necessitate renewed US involvement in the region at some point in the future.

Let’s face it: going to Iraq was a really bad idea. In the interest of full disclosure (and at the risk of sounding like John Kerry), I actually half-supported the war during a period well before the US actually went into Iraq. In the summer of 2002 when Colin Powell had convinced the US to plead the case before the United Nations, I thought that they may be doing the right thing. However, when the UN refused its support, I was completely against the invasion. I supported the idea of a US-led UN operation in Iraq (something akin to the Korean War), but a unilateral preemptive strike sounded like a terrible idea to me. Even if the war had been won as easily as President Bush had thought, I felt that unilateral action by the US would set a bad precedent in the international system. Just because we have the military, financial and political power to do something, it doesn’t necessarily mean that we should actually do it. And if we go around toppling regimes that we don’t like, what’s stopping China or Russia or Iran from doing the same?

So my advice is based on the premise that going to war was a huge mistake in the first place. I think that President Bush should go on national television (which, in effect, means going on international television) and tell the world that he was wrong and that the rest of the world was right and the US should have never gone into Iraq. And at the same time, he should remind the world that although the greatly increased instability in the region is our fault, it’s now become the world’s problem, and in order to overcome this problem, we need to work together to try to find a solution. Stability in the Middle East is in everyone’s interests and the only way of bringing any real stability to the region would be to form a truly international coalition (the US, the UK, Latvia and Estonia don’t count) that could provide the military, financial and logistical support that is needed. This is potentially too large and important a problem to just hand the reigns over to the Iraqis in a year’s time. Nothing against the Iraqi security forces, but clearly they’re no match for al Qaeda, Iran and Syria combined. I obviously don’t know the military steps that would need to be taken to secure the country, but I do feel pretty confident that the plans that are on the table at the moment aren’t going to do the trick. If we were able to involve the EU, China, Russia, the Saudis, Brazil and other large and small states around the world, maybe we could devise a plan and accumulate the military and financial support that would be necessary to actually turn Iraq into a stable country.

I know, it’s never going to happen. No US President would ever admit that the US ever did anything ill-conceived, but honestly, I can’t think of any way around it. I think that if we begin to treat other nations as partners and equals, instead of small children, not only could we solve the problem in Iraq, but we could also prevent US international hegemonic decline, which, in my opinion, is very imminent. (I hope to get the time to write an entry on that point shortly.)

Game Theory

OK, I know I'm a little late and it's been out for quite some time, but I just listened to The Roots's lastest album -- Game Theory -- and it's hot! It usually takes me a little time to warm up to a CD, but I was a big fan of this one from the very first time I listened to it. While I'll have to take some time before I'm ready to commit to the following statement, this may very well be their best album -- dare I say -- even better than Things Fall Apart and Illadelph Halflife.

I don't know if y'all caught it, but I'm loving the sample of Radiohead's Amnesiac album in the Atonement track.

Quality.

Still No Cure

World AIDS Day 2006

Please take a moment to reflect on our fallen brothers and sisters, both at home and abroad, and the children of the world that they have left behind.