Thoughts On The Release of Bowe Bergdahl

Semi-famous POW Bowe Bergdahl was finally released after 5 years in Afghan captivity.  A cause for happiness, one would think.  But some conservatives are most unhappy about it, and of course, it's all Obama's fault.  (They will not give the man credit for any-damn-thing.)

What's their beef?

1.  We negotiated with "terrorists," and we just don't do that.
2.  We traded 5 Gitmo bad guys for one soldier, which sets a bad precedent and encourages more hostage-taking.
3.  This prisoner exchange was "illegal."  Congress was supposed to be notified 30 days in advance.
4.  Bergdahl was a deserter and a traitor.

My responses to these complaints, in order:

1.  Oh please!  Every nation "negotiates" in these cases, even if they say they don't.  Prisoner exchanges are routine diplomacy.  The Israelis have been known to trade 100 for one.  The French just write checks to spring their captive citizens.  Reagan sent 1500 missiles to Iran to free 7 hostages held in Lebanon.

2.  Would trading just 3 or 4 bad guys have been better?  There are plenty of assholes in this world who need absolutely no "encouragement" to take an American hostage, and they're not influenced in the slightest by this supposed "precedent".

3.  Hey, sorry about that, Congress.  Did we hurt your feelings?  What were you going to do -- say no?  Debate it for the next two years?  Have another Darrell Issa circus?  If there was ever a Congress that deserved the end-run, it's this one.  So fuckin' sue me!

4.  Where has all this "Bowe's a bum" stuff been for the past 5 years?  Why is it coming out now?  It's all just too Swift Boat-ish for me -- another pre-fab "scandal" pulled from the far-right trick bag.  Maybe Bergdahl walked off, maybe he didn't.  Maybe he was disillusioned with the Afghan "war" (and what a reasonable thing to be disillusioned about), maybe he wasn't.  Given that he was imprisoned, starved, mistreated, and possibly tortured for 5 years, maybe it doesn't really matter now.  And if he did desert, were we supposed to just leave him there forever?  The one person we haven't heard from is Bergdahl himself.

We will bring our man home, which is what we're supposed to do.  If he was my son, I'd want him home, no matter what.

Chill on all the wild-eyed speculation.  We'll go from here, and time will tell.

Nuts To You, Speaker Bonehead!

Yesterday, EPA Secretary Gina McCarthy announced a proposed initiative to reduce power plant carbon emissions by 30% by 2030.  This would be the first-ever federal limitation imposed on carbon pollution produced by existing power plants, which are the single largest source of carbon-based pollution.  Most electricity in the U.S. comes from coal-burning power plants.

Weeper of the House John Boehner was predictably singing from the Big Coal/Big Energy hymnal when he said, "The president's plan is nuts."  I've found that if the Orange Boner is vehemently opposed to something, then it's probably a good idea.  So I'm convinced that Boehner's determination to preserve the  status quo is what's actually nuts.  Continued blind-faith reliance on fossil fuels is what's actually nuts.  Erecting barriers to alternative energy sources is what's actually nuts.  (Here in Ohio, SB 310 is what's actually nuts.)

There's no such thing as "clean coal."  That's kind of like a "safe cigarette" -- just marketing bullshit.  Coal-burning power plants are on their way out, and the sooner the better.  In the short-run, there will probably be more natural gas-burning power plants (friggin' frackers, rejoice!).  Gas is cleaner than coal, but it still emits carbon, it still adds to global warming, and it's still a non-renewable fossil fuel.  It's preferable to coal in the same way getting smacked in the face once is preferable to getting smacked in the face twice.

The energy future is wind and solar.  Boehner and the righties want to scare us into postponing that future.  The transition away from coal will, they say (and stop me if you've heard this one before), raise prices and cost jobs.  Pretty scary, right?  So let's be safe and do absolutely nothing.

Jobs lost in the non-renewable, carbon-emitting energy industry will be more than offset by job growth in the New Energy future.  It costs less to generate electricity with wind and solar than with coal/gas-burning installations.  To deny these facts is to live in a dream world and delay the inevitable.  The EPA's proposal is a good start.  Let's get on with it.

Joe Manchin can piss and moan all he wants, but if he really believes West Virginia is going to dig coal eternally, then he's nuts.  Energy policy is undergoing a natural evolution born of knowledge and necessity.  One analogy might be the states whose economies were once heavily dependent on tobacco farming.  Another older one might be those states whose economies were once utterly reliant on slave labor.  Those economies thrived for awhile, but then, for a whole lot of really good reasons, they didn't.

Those states didn't shrivel and die.  They adapted to new realities and moved on, and were better for it.  To do otherwise would be . . . nuts!

Workin' At The Car Wash

A couple days ago, I went to a nearby car wash.  It's one of those old-school places where, from behind glass, you can watch your car go through the wash line.  The workers vacuum the interior, wipe it all down inside and out, clean the windows, and ArmorAll the tires -- all while you sit there and watch them sweat.  If you opt for the full treatment, it's about a $25 service.  Not cheap, but they do a very good job.

The car which went through just before mine was a late 1980's/early 1990's mid-size GM station wagon, and it was a real beater -- peeled paint, dented fenders, bent hubcaps, broken-taped-up taillights, and nasty rusted-through rear quarter panels.  Not the sort of car you see everyday at a nice car wash.

Anyway, when they finally drive your car outside for the final dry-off, most of the real work is over and it's pretty much for show.  When the guy with the rag signals that he's finished, you're supposed to tip him, for Chrissakes.  And I'm watching the owner of this broken-down wagon tell the rag man that his wipe-down job wasn't good enough -- missed a drip here and there, and how about hand-drying this jagged, rusty metal right here?  And I'm thinking, with this piece of shit car, what does it matter?  Really, why are you here?

The rag man dutifully hit those spots, and Mr. Picky-Ass hopped in his clunker and drove off without a word, and without a tip.

Nothing wrong with an old car.  Drive whatever you like.  Nothing wrong with taking your old car to the car wash.  But not tipping the guy who busted his butt cleaning your vehicle?  Wrong!  

Two Great Lines of Last Week

These days, we can all choose from an ever-larger, damn near infinite smorgasbord of news bits, sound bites, and nuggets of spin/info.  If you can't find something that suits you and matches your worldview, your just not tryin'.

My personal faves from the past week:

"Just because we have the best hammer doesn't mean every problem is a nail." -- President Barack Obama, from a West Point speech, outlining his "don't do stupid shit" foreign policy.  








"There is a difference between unanswered questions and unlistened-to answers." -- Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the Benghazi chapter of her new book Hard Choices.

15 Minutes? His Was Up Years Ago

Not Joe.  Not a plumber.

His name is not really Joe, and he's not really a plumber.  He caused a brief stir as an audience plant way back in the 2008 McCain campaign.  Since then, he's been a failed candidate for public office and a fringe right-wing agitator.

He's Sam Wurzelbacher, a.k.a. Joe the Plumber.  For some unknown reason, he recently crawled out from under his rock to submit an open letter to the grieving families of the Santa Barbara shooter.  He wanted them to know that "their dead kids don't trump my constitutional rights" to possess and carry guns.

Nice choice of words, asshole!  Back under your rock, Sam/Joe/whoever you are.

Politics Is Like Baseball

The Veterans Administration is a huge government agency -- hugely important in the lives of so many, and also with a long history of huge inefficiency.  Some VA offices evidently have been fudging some of their treatment turnaround times, making things look quicker on paper than they actually were.  Not good.

So what are we doing to fix it?  I don't know, but we forced the VA Secretary, Gen. Eric Shinseki, to resign.  He's a decorated soldier and former Chief of Staff of the U.S.Army.  Did he cause these problems, or instruct that the books be cooked?  Hell, no!

Shinseki is just the fall guy.  He's like the manager of a wretched, last-place baseball team -- the pitchers can't pitch, the hitters can't hit, and nobody can catch and throw.  So what do we do?  Fire the manager!

Yeah, that'll make everything better right away.
 

The Confluence Of Misogyny And Guns