"What me worry?"

Whether what we have now is the result of the natural development of all mature representative democracies, or the natural evolution of capitalism or other, it strikes me that we are well on our way to losing our national identity by the unrestrained encouragement of "self interest." Though, there must be a sacrifice "by everyone," there seems to be no acceptance of nor value acknowledged for the unity that is to be saved by such sacrifice. The efforts of the majority of civilian citizens during WW II, the unity following 9/11, the combined strengths of the people during the depression and even "our" team beating the Russian's in hockey, as examples, seemed to speak to a national identity that has now seriously deteriorated. The unity of 9/11 was lost in the vehemence of politic rhetoric and failures of national leadership. Significantly, free market globalization, including the movement of the labor force, is removing any continuing connection to the country of origin. Entitlements are not only expected, they have come, because of that expectation, to be necessary for "basic" quality of life. In some measure, the low regard for our "government" is the result of the government placing itself in a position subject to blame even if not responsible for events prompting the blame. And in sports as in many parts of our culture we celebrate the individual celebrity and accomplishment over a national identity or a collective success. (For DC residents: How often do the Caps succeed as against how often Ovechkin overpowers the opponent?) Finally, if national leaders cannot sacrifice through compromise for the good of the United States how can we expect the citizens to do so. As long as the national leadership speaks and acts not in the name of the United States but speaks and acts in terms of one Party or the other as only worthy or unworthy of support, the people will not sacrifice for a political party.

Without leadership willing and able to effectively articulate to and convince the citizens that their self interest is best served by sacrifice toward solving the national debt, national health or whatever and that the United States of America is capable of and worth saving we just might end this experiment in the manner of the Soviet Union. The world may yet have two countries named Georgia at future Olympics.

A Shifting Independent

A year ago I was comfortable as a life-long Independent with a mix of leftist tendencies and conservative beliefs. The strident and often baseless attacks on a sitting President from the conservative right have stimulated me in his defense and moved me further to the left in substance and, assuredly, in appearance in my writings. As I sit here now, and unless I see some major shift in the rhetoric and adjustments in the asserted policies of the Republican Party, I feel compelled to do everything that I can to see that no Republican is elected to any office in my state or our country. Since I have no clout in or out of politics in Virginia this too, regrettably, is a baseless though strongly felt assertion.

Now, when every relatively minor political or economic event is spun, magnified and mixed with baseless assertions attacking every effort of the President, the result is destructive to the fabric of our democracy. Those looking for real threats from within our country needn't conjure up false labels for the President. They need merely to listen to the devaluation by the conservative right of our national and international strength.

A Wrongly Titled Article

I take issue with the use of the title "Obama's War" by the Washington Post in a continuing series of articles. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/afghanistan-pakistan/index.html The conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq are, like it or not, our country's war. The disassociation of the country from these conflicts by such labeling disserves our country's fighting forces. They are dying for our country not for Obama, Bush, Congress or capitalism. The Washington Post's political labeling is inaccurate and offensive.

The Diaper Bomber Comes Clean

On January 5th in an on-line discussion forum I said: "From my experience, the FBI (and CIA) and experienced federal prosecutors are more than capable of gaining full cooperation from defendants who have lawyers within the criminal justice system."

The major news outlets are now reporting: "Christmas Day bombing suspect Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab has been providing FBI interrogators with useful intelligence about his training and contacts since last week, a law enforcement source said Tuesday."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/02/AR2010020202995.html?hpid=topnews

There remains legitimate concern that intelligence of imminent threats within the U.S. was lost following the initial interviews (he actually stopped talking before Miranda rights were read to him) and prior to this later cooperation. However, there have been no successful attacks against us since the crimorist's (combining "criminal" with "terrorist" to avoid the label argument) arrest. Apparently the FBI took time to develop cooperating family members to assist in the "conversion" process. This effort coupled with the inherent threats to him as a very young man within the criminal justice process: life sentence, max-security isolation, etc. appear to have opened him up. A defense attorney must look to what course of action would result in the most favorable outcome for the client. In most cases with solid evidence of guilt (the "smoking diaper") cooperation is the best course. However, it remains with the defendant just how much to reveal or cooperate. One of my approaches was to point to a statuette of the scales of justice and tell the defendant that I had his balls on one of the scales and just how much he placed on the other scale by his cooperation determined the ultimate balance of justice. Whether one is attempting to obtain cooperation of a criminal defendant or to recruit someone to spy, the more one can develop (or manufacture) deep psychological connections leading to trust in a cooperative rather than confrontational effort, the greater the probability of truthful, full and continuing disclosure and assistance. The youth and apparent conservative family background of this guy should have been a solid foundation from which to reverse his extremist connection.

The central issue I present is that this cooperation developed within the criminal justice system. How valuable will be his cooperation? We may never know. I do know that the CIA, FBI, Spec. Ops and others below the political line are patriots who will work with all source intelligence silently in the shadows to protect us. The only need to know the successes or failures is with the elected politicians who can provide assistance to their efforts. There are even a few patriots among those elected. The public has never had and does not need a valid scorecard.