Happy One Month Birthday Jack

A really crappy month, but we made it. Hugs to you too.

Afghani Brown is Bringing Me Down

While the Administrations imperialist war in Iraq grinds on with nary an end in sight, the former bright star in our militaristic firmament, Afghanistan, is sliding into chaos. A newly resurgent Taliban, assisted by fresh Al Qaeda operatives from Pakistan, have been slowly retaking large parts of the countryside. Where has the mainstream media been while this has been going on? Focused on the disposition of the mortal remains of Anna Nicole Smith, naturally.

Salon has an article today which examines exactly how screwed up things are in the Hindu Kush. I quote, “Last November, a CIA analysis of the Karzai government found it was losing control, and American ambassador to Afghanistan Ronald Neumann warned then that the U.S. would "fail" if the plan for action didn't include "multiple years and multiple billions." Our gains, once held firmly, have been lost and the coming year may portend Afghanistan's future, with ominous rumors about a spring offensive by insurgents floating down from the mountains.” Yet the administration continues to pour resources, military and civilian, into Iraq and the acceptable range of opinion expressed in the mainstream media has been again limited to the against the war/against the troops bullshit that has been force-fed to the country by the fascist Republicans since day one.

What explains the administrations reluctance to engage in battle some actual terrorists in the never-ending “war on terror”? While Al Qaeda had no presence in Iraq prior to the United States invasion in 2003, Afghanistan is a thicket of nasty types who have been utilizing America’s folly in Baghdad to increase their strength and numbers. It seems our priorities are completely reversed from where they should be. I suppose a never ending war on terror supports all sort of economies and businesses. Actually winning it would eliminate the justification for surveillance of American citizens and the abolition of the rule of law and cost Cheney and his cronies a few billion in lost wealth.

On the left, the netroots profess to be shocked, (shocked!) that the Democrats who were elected in November have spent most of their time arguing about who gets to stand where in the circular firing squad they’ve been forming since the day after the ballots were counted. Regular readers of this blog know full well my opinion of the Democrats ability to take their heads out of the corporate trough long enough to resist anything this administration has cooked up in its extrajudicial pajama parties.

Things over there are bad but they could get much, much worse. If Congress has even a shred of decency left in its corrupt and decaying body it should cut of the money to Iraq and hold impeachment hearings.

Risk

Being in the insurance business I have occasion to meditate on the essence of risk. Insurance companies after all are little more than glorified bookies and actuaries are akin to Vegas odds makers. These companies take a look at statistics of say, scuba diving accidents and run them through an algorithm to see exactly how risky it is and how much to charge to insure the risk. This helps explain why scuba diving insurance costs less than $100 per year; it simply isn't that dangerous. Many things we do every day are far riskier than scuba diving. Driving a car, crossing the street, all pose a risk of serious injury or death far exceeding the risk posed by strapping on a tank and regulator and heading for the briny deep. When people die diving, their deaths are often sensational in some odd way, i.e. they're eaten by a shark or left to flounder in the sea when the boat takes off, that sort of thing. This attracts the media like a bull shark to a floundering swimmer and everyone gets the wrong idea.

I’ve decided I’m going to keep diving. This is no small decision now that I am a single parent and thereby have sole responsibility for my son. Nevertheless, the arguable risks inherent in the sport are manageable if one possesses the right training and the right equipment and I believe that I have both. I will admit that there is a part of me that is afraid to leave the house lest something unfortunate happen to me and my son be rendered an orphan, but clearly I can’t live my life hiding from my own mortality. Who knows what the future holds? I retired my crystal ball at the end of last month. Perhaps, as a concession to the odds, I’ll steer clear of cave diving and 240 foot technical wreck diving, but regular trips to deep destinations remain on the agenda.

Habeas Corpus, Round Two

Well this week has kept the Patriot very busy, what with Anna Nicole’s will, Britney’s hair shaving escapades and the idea of tire-sized calamari rings from a giant squid found off the coast of Australia, not to mention the second round of American Idol. While America distracts itself with this meaningless blather, the Bush administration won a major victory in Federal Court when a U.S. appeals court Tuesday threw out the legal claims brought on behalf of the hundreds of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay and ruled that they do not have a right to plead their innocence in an American court. In a particularly disingenuous 2-1 decision, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal District held that the Constitution does not extend the right of habeas corpus to noncitizens who are held outside the sovereign territory of this country. "Cuba -- not the United States -- has sovereignty over Guantanamo Bay," wrote Judge Raymond Randolph. I’m sure this will be news to the Cuban government; I wonder if they’re measuring for drapes and picking out furniture? Shayana Kadidal, an attorney for the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York noted quite accurately that, "This decision empowers the president to do whatever he wishes to prisoners without any legal limitation, so long as he does it offshore. (It) encourages such notorious practices as extraordinary rendition and contempt for international human rights law." Not that the Bush administration was ever troubled by contempt for international law. However, now that the elections are behind them, several Democratic senators have said they will amend the Military Commissions Act to restore the traditional right to habeas corpus for all. Their efforts would face an almost certain veto by the President Bush and it is doubtful that 2/3rds of the senate can be marshaled to override it.

Control, or Lack Thereof

One interesting side-effect, if you will, about going through the grieving process and interacting with others who have been through something similar is how absolutely tragic most people’s lives are. I mean, there are thousands of people who have experienced such fucked up bad luck that its amazing that they haven’t jumped off a bridge. I mean, if anyone is a candidate for that it’s me, but I don’t hold a candle to some of these people; entire families killed in car accidents except for one parent, that sort of thing. What is even more amazing is how everyone else thinks they’re somehow immune from it. We run around thinking how we control our lives and really any sense of control we have is completely illusory. We can perhaps control the little things, what sort of toothpaste we buy or what flavor of muffin we choose in the morning, but the big shit, the really big shit, is so beyond our ability to influence that to cede the point is almost incomprehensible. We expect to be able to mange our world; it’s our legacy as Americans for heaven's sake. It’s our birthright as New Yorkers. Despite my apparent laid back hippie persona (ahem), I actually have a bit of the control freak in me and the fact that this was something I couldn’t predict, manage or fix is making me a little crazy. The last time I felt this way was on 9/11 when I was running away from Tower 2. Remember my friends, life is not something we can put into little boxes and the Gods laugh at our plans.

Jack

Here's a recent photo of the best looking young fellow I know:

Perversion of Justice

If you had any doubt that prosecutors in this country have too much power and use it indiscriminately, you should check out this article in today’s Times. Briefly, a substitute teacher in Norwich Connecticut is facing 40, (yes 40) years in prison after she was convicted of inadvertently exposing her students to pornographic pop-ups when she couldn’t figure out how to turn off the classroom computer which was apparently infested with spyware. Is Connecticut truly such a backward place that a jury of 12 citizens is willing to send this teacher to prison for the rest of her natural life for being a Luddite? And what of the district attorney’s office who took this case to trial? They offered her a plea which carried no jail time, which she rightly refused. A clearer abuse of prosecutorial discretion is hard to find. Unfortunately her lawyer seemed not too bright either insofar as he failed to disclose his expert witness’s testimony prior to trial; an oversight which led to the judge suppressing most of his testimony. I sincerely hope that this poor woman’s appeal is successful. The violence emanating from Iraq every night, viewed on network television, is in my opinion far more damaging to “the children” than any porno pop-up.

Again, Anew

It is difficult for me to focus on the affairs of the world when the affairs of my personal life have been completely upended. Nevertheless, when I ask myself the eternal question, “What would Becky do?” the answer comes quickly. Fight on. Battling the power of the corrupt state was her raison d’etre, although at times we both were ready to toss in the towel and go live in the woods. Jack and I might get there yet, who knows. It is difficult to raise a child with values in a society that elevates the importance of money and power over people and community. The journey will be long and hard. Thankfully there are still good people who haven’t been swallowed up by our consumerist culture and burdened under the yoke of the corporate oligarchy. They are few in number but strong in spirit. Many of them have come to our aid in recent weeks and we appreciate everything they have done for us. I speak specifically of Becky’s colleagues at Legal Aid but in a larger sense the entire activist legal community in New York who’s outpouring of support, both financial and moral has made this time a little easier. Jack and I thank you all from the bottom of our hearts. So, onward.

Sadness

Many, if not most of you are aware that my beautiful wife made the crossing to a better place on January 29, 2007 due to the presence of a previously undiscovered malformed blood vessel in her brain stem which ruptured after she went into labor. There was no warning and her pregnancy was by all accounts completely normal. Our son, Jack Becket Rutkowski was born by c-section and is a healthy and vibrant fellow. My intense grief at losing my life-partner is tempered by the realization that I have this beautiful gift that Becky left me and he is truly the center of my life now. The following is the printed version of the eulogy delivered by Kristin Bremmer at her funeral mass. I personal tribute by me will follow when I think I can write it. Thank you all for your support during this trying time.

****
I can’t possibly put into words the searing pain that I feel now. Becky was my best friend for the last 20 years and the loss that we all feel is a measure of the depth of the impact her life had on all of our lives. It is truly a tremendous honor that Becky’s family has asked me to speak here today.

Out of everyone we knew, Becky always had it together. She was the smartest, the prettiest and the kindest; but, she was also the most unassuming. She was the most beautiful person on the inside and the out. She was the quiet rock in the midst of a bunch of loud mouths. We would laugh that she was our front man because she made us all look better.

Becky was a true friend.

Her kind gentle soul was always there for us. She was there for the highest highs and the lowest lows. She took care of us. Becky understood friendship and we were fortunate that she was in our lives. To me – Becky was a true friend, a confidante, and a sister. With Becky as a friend, I never felt alone – she was a comfort, an ear to listen, and a soft voice of compassion. Becky’s friendship changed me – I learned to trust in my friends and I learned how deeply friends care.

Becky loved her family.

In my years with Becky, I learned of her deep love for her family despite long distances. Mr. and Mrs. Z. recently traveled to my hometown to investigate moving closer to Mark and Becky. The love they have for their daughter and the excitement of a new grandchild was evident. I selfishly hoped they would move to Pennsylvania so I could see Mark and Beck more frequently. Becky spoke often of her sibling’s expanding families – to her – family was an essential part of who she was. Her relationship with her sisters, Chris and Ann, and her brother, Adam, always seemed so much more -- they were her friends. And, she delighted in their children.

Becky was a great lawyer.

What characterized Becky were her principles. She put her beliefs into practice. She was an activist. She protested against those things that conflicted with her principles. During conversations with her she always directed you toward the most ethical view without being judgmental. Her gentle presence made her arguments all the more convincing because you knew they were coming from the right place.

Becky viewed her career as a public defender as a calling. She represented the poor, the troubled, those that society had thrown away. She was all about compassion, mercy, and justice. She believed that all people had dignity – that all people, no matter what they had done – had worth and deserved a voice, an advocate. She went into law, and, specifically, into criminal defense, to serve the poor, to serve the outcasts, to insure fairness and dignity and justice. She saw the good in all people and her gentle kindness, keen intelligence touch the lives of the hundreds of people she represented.

Becky was a great wife.

Mark and Becky have always been one word – one person. Their marriage was truly the merging of two people. They set the example of commitment. They made it through good times and bad and their love always came out on top. She viewed marriage as a union greater than herself. Everyone would agree that Mark is truly the luckiest man alive to have had Becky by his side.

In the last nine months Becky has literally been beaming with joy. I’ve never seen Becky happier than she was last Saturday. She was laughing with her friends, talking about her family, and discussing baby names. It was clear how much she loved her baby. I know she is smiling down upon Jack from Heaven. She is not to worry because he is the most loved child ever. Jack is truly a miracle and is blessed to have Becky for a mother because her beauty, intelligence and loving presence is passed down to him.

Mark, I know your loss is profound. You are not alone. Everyone here shares that loss with you. We love Becky and we love you. You are surrounded by a large circle of family and friends.

Devi

Well we went to Devi last night and I must admit the food lived up to the hype. Devi is the Sanskrit word for Goddess. She is synonymous with Shakti, the female aspect of divinity, and is conceptualized in the Shakta tradition as the driving force without which the male aspect, which represents consciousness or discrimination, is impotent.

Devi (the restaurant) was tastefully decorated in earth and wood tones with subdued lighting emanating from colorful globes hanging from the ceiling at different heights. The walls in the upstairs dining area were upholstered in rich fabrics and the space had a generally homey and warm feeling. From the web-site: “Architect Larry Bogdanow integrates elements of home and temple using richly colored Indian textiles and beautifully carved wooden architectural elements to create a sumptuous setting.” The décor is about as far removed from dangling jalapeno lights which festoon many of the6th Street Indian joints as one can imagine. During the course of our hour-long meal the two level restaurant slowly filled up with beautiful people, although the noise level remained subdued.

The restaurant week offerings generally came from the regular menu, although there were a couple of exceptions, and the portions were more than adequate although I would recommend ordering one other item and maybe a bread to round out the meal. We started with a complementary amuse bouche; a spicy potato croquette in a Tamarind sauce. For my appetizer I had the Lamb-Stuffed Tandoori Chicken which was tender dark meat chicken stuffed with ground lamb, spinach and goat cheese and served with a tasty tomato chutney. Presentation was artful and the sauce was a perfect complement to the spicing on the chicken. Mrs. Patriot had some kind of potato based croquette, the name eludes me. It was tasty enough but was too close in flavor to the amuse and not too distinctive from something you could find elsewhere in the City. Main courses were Tandoor-Grilled Lamb Chops with pear chutney and curry leaf potatoes, also reportedly excellent (Mrs. P wouldn’t let me get a fork anywhere near them) and a Farm-Raised Andhra Chicken Curry, moist and flavorful but not at all fiery, served with a timbale of gently spiced rice. What curry sauce remained on my plate was greedily sopped up by a side order of Onion-Parmigiano Kulcha ($5), an idea which came off quite nicely although the cheese is perhaps a bit too piquant an ingredient for inclusion in a bread who’s principal role at the meal is to act as a vehicle for orphan sauces. Not that it wasn’t delicious though.

Our other foray into the regular menu was a well executed Kararee Bhindi, a crispy tangy okra salad, with tomatoes and red onions. The tomato and red onions were raw and they served as a perfect foil to the salty/spicy/crunchiness of the thinly sliced deep-fried okra. The texture of the salad almost reminded me of the Vietnamese dish Mee-Grob Lard-Na and the flavor was spicy and addictive.

For desert we both had the The Emperor’s Morsel, a crispy saffron bread pudding topped with cardamom cream and candied almonds. This was probably the best Indian dessert I have ever had. The pancake/cream combination was reminiscent of a Belgian waffle and made for a most satisfying conclusion to the meal.

The total for two ordering from the Restaurant Week Menu and adding on for the bread, Okra salad and one unmemorable glass of Pinot Noir came to a reasonable (for Manhattan) $106 before tip. Service was attentive, if perfunctory, and the pace of the meal a bit brisk, but during this week its not really fair to hold the waiters to the same standards as the rest of the year. Highly recommended.

What Would Gandhi Do?

Tonight is my first foray into NYC’s Restaurant Week 2007, a magical time when many of the City’s higher-end eating establishments throw open their doors to the unwashed masses by offering “reasonably priced” $35 prix fix dinner menus. Like most everything else in New York that initially seems like a good bargain, participants in the yearly event usually ends up feeling conned. Diners expecting to be served the same haute cuisine as their better heeled brethren who eat in such places the remaining 51 weeks of the year are in for a disappointment, as numerous testimonials to mediocre food and surly service abound.

Nevertheless there are some notable bright spots in the City’s firmament during this dark week, one of which is the upscale Indian joint Devi. Legions of happy Restaurant Week veterans rave about the quality of the food and superiority of the service. I’ll let you know how it goes. I have a deep aversion to eating anywhere where dinner costs more than what I could make an hour as a contract attorney. I’ve always felt that one of the things I like about New York, one of the things that make the rest of this urban cesspool worth living in is the fact that two people can eat delicious meals from every ethnic cuisine in the world for less than the cost of an alternate side of the street parking ticket. I find no need to suffer through the theatrical sighs of snotty waiters and the hype and incessant marketing of celebrity chefs when one of the best lunches you can find in New York can be purchased from a lady selling chicken tamales out of a cooler on Atlantic Avenue. However, I’ll stow my rabble-rousing because tonight is Mrs. Patriot’s birthday and she likes to put on the fancy every now and then. And I do like Indian food, even Indian food that costs more than the annual salary of most Indians...

The First Amendment

There’s an interesting article in Salon today about Ted Kaczynski, the so-called Unibomber and his fight to retain control over his manifesto and various other writings. One would think that under the First Amendment Ted would be able to maintain possession of his intellectual property, but convicted criminals rights are truncated by the government on a piecemeal basis, often reflecting whatever best suits the whim of the government in a particular case.

The legal issue presented is bigger than the Unabomber case but is hidden and minimized by the emotional reaction by the victims to the idea of Kaczynski maintaining control over his written work. The real question is whether the government gets the copyright when it seizes a prisoner's personal writings after a criminal conviction. Should the current litigation surrounding this issue answer the question in the affirmative, be on the look out for future government use of the precedent as a tool to bury the ideas of those it manages to convict under the various anti-terrorism statutes passed in recent years.

A Little Noticed Provision in the Patriot Act

Here’s a story to watch. I’ll let Senator Feinstein explain how the Bush brownshirts are trying another end-run around the Constitution:

“It has come to our attention that the Bush Administration is pushing out U.S. Attorneys from across the country under the cloak of secrecy and then appointing indefinite replacements without Senate confirmation. We know that this is not an isolated occurrence, but we don’t know how many U.S. Attorneys have been asked to resign – it could be two, it could be ten, it could be more. No one knows,” Senator Feinstein said.

“And, we have no idea why this is happening. The Attorney General could have legitimate reasons for asking for specific resignations, or this could be motivated by political concerns or worse, derailing on-going investigations. Again, we just don’t know.

“We believe that this use of expanded executive authority to appoint interim replacements indefinitely undermines essential constitutional checks and balances. It creates unnecessary instability in these offices and has dramatic implications for important cases currently underway. Given all that is going on with this country and the message from the American people this past election, I am surprised that the Administration would pursue a strategy to circumvent the Senate confirmation process and unsettle these important positions.

“U.S. Attorneys around the country are working on public corruption cases, terrorism cases, narcotics and drug trafficking, fighting gangs and violent crime. Which of these cases are impacted by the Attorney General’s actions has yet to be determined,” Senator Feinstein continued.

“The bottom line is this: U.S. Attorneys are handling major cases that need continuity and leadership. The bill we are introducing today would restore temporary appointment authority to the District Court in which a vacancy arises until a new nominee can be sent to the Senate for confirmation.”

And from Senator Leahy, a former prosecutor. “Political gerrymandering of these important posts is wrong and an affront to our criminal justice system. It is vital that those holding these critical positions be free from any inappropriate influence and subject to the check and balance of the confirmation process.”

In a little noticed provision included in the Patriot Act (man, am I starting to HATE that expression), the Administration’s authority to appoint interim U.S. Attorneys was greatly expanded. The law was changed so that if a vacancy arises the Attorney General may appoint a replacement for an indefinite period of time – thus completely bystepping the Senate confirmation process.

Perhaps most significant, Senators Feinstein and Leahy, have learned that the Department of Justice has asked several U.S. Attorneys from around the country to resign their positions prior to the end of their terms *without cause*. The number of U.S. Attorneys, currently or historically, who have been asked to resign their positions without cause is still unknown.

My guess is that Rove and the rest of the right wing Nazis are plotting to steal the 2008 election and are getting their people in place early on. An added bonus to the fascists is the ability to control local federal prosecutors when the administration and the army start rounding up disloyal Americans and herding them off to the torture chambers. Look for a complete repeal of the Posse Comitatus Act of 1878, although the act has been dying a slow death for several years.

On Being and Miracles

The Patriot has been a very lazy poster lately. There has been so much to do in anticipation of the little one arriving. Suffice it to say that in lieu of apologizing at the time between posts every week I would ask you to accept the reality that the posts will be appearing at longer intervals over the next 18 years than they have over the last 18 months. Nevertheless, the beat goes on, does it not?

I just started reading a book with selected writings of St. Augustine. I’ll let you know what I make of it in a while. I got into Augustine not through the Church, but rather through a Zen Teshio, or “Dharma Talk” I was listening to on my I-Pod yesterday. (Yes, even Zen masters have podcasts these days.) Zen master John Daido Loori, the Abbott of Zen Mountain Monastery in Mount Tremper New York has authored a modern day collection of Zen Koans which utilize western myth and religions themes to assist the American Zen student find his way without having to study Japanese or Chinese linguistics to understand the historical context of the Koan.

Loori gives Teisho’s usually on the last day of a seven day Zen intensive known as a Sesshin. Loori created one Zen koan out of the incident in Chapter 6 of Mark where Jesus walks on water and encourages Peter to do the same. Peter falters once he feels the effects of the storm and Christ admonishes him for his lack of faith. The traditional Augustinian interpretation of the incident posits the stormy sea as the world at large and Peter as the Church whose success staying above the waves is dependent on the body’s members faith in the power of the almighty, i.e “Meanwhile the ship which carries the disciples, that is, the Church, is tossed and shaken by the tempests of temptation; and the contrary wind, that is, the devil her adversary, rests not, and strives to hinder her from arriving at rest. But greater is "He who maketh intercession for us." For in this our tossing to and fro in which we toil, He giveth us confidence in coming to us, and strengthening us; only let us not in our trouble throw ourselves out of the ship, and cast ourselves into the sea. For though the ship be in trouble, still it is the ship. She alone carrieth the disciples, and receiveth Christ. There is danger, it is true, in the sea; but without her there is instant perishing.”

Loori, in contrast, uses the biblical story to highlight the problems with using miracles as the basis upon which to build a faith-based religion. Christ had the power not only to walk on water, but to heal and resurrect the dead. The belief that Chist himself rose from the dead is central to the Christian faith. But what of our every-day minds? The minds we use to wipe our asses and do the dishes? If God/Buddha nature is everywhere, isn’t he equally present in our day-to-day lives as he is when he manifests himself to us through signs and miracles? As westerners without a widespread mystical tradition we seem to prefer to find God in the magical world, not in the toilet. Everyday mind, to us, is too mundane. Walking on water? THAT’s miraculous. Raking leaves and doing the dishes? That’s mundane. Of course the obvious problem with focusing on the miracles is that we immediately get too caught up in the magic and completely miss the point. Not to mention once one creates the dichotomy between "magic" and "mundane" one elevates God to the heavens and has immense trouble seeing that God as inside of oneself.

Loori relates the story of a Zen master who, met another pilgrim on the way to a holy site in China. After a while the two travelers, laughing and joking like old friends the whole way, came to a wide river. The master stopped, but the other pilgrim carried on walking on the water to cross to the other side. When he was part way he turned to the master to beckon him across. The master called out, “You deceiver, I thought you were a man of value! If I had known that you would pull a stunt like that I would have cut you off at the ankles.”

Far from encouraging visions, which are so cherished in many religions, (one only has to see the hysteria that surrounds the supposed sightings of the Virgin Mary,) in Zen it is said, “If you meet the Buddha, kill the Buddha.” This is what the sentence, “From the beginning all beings are Buddha,” truly means. Visions of God, miracles, are at best unnecessary and at worst, throw up a roadblock in front of us as we try to travel the path. We are all, each one of us, as Jesus said, “the Light of the World,” But, alas! although we ourselves are the light, we search for ourselves in the shadows of experience and look for signs of God in the miracles of saints.

A Zen Roshi(master) named Albert Low once said, “Many people feel that if they could change their life circumstances they would be happy. If they could have the right job, more money, a different spouse or no spouse, then all would be la vie en rose. Others believe that they should change themselves: become more tolerant, more loving, have better concentration. [The reality is that], everything, as it is, is perfect, but you must stop seeing it as if in a mirror, as if in a dream.” Anything which distracts us from complete union with the universe (God/Buddha/Almighty/Mohammed) should be acknowledged and left behind.

Oyez, Oyez

I suppose there are things to rant about after all. CNN is reporting that Chief Justice William Rehnquist was hopped up on pain-killers for most of the 1970s while he as an associate Supreme Court Justice. Apparently the FBI had an extensive file on the erstwhile Chief and assisted the Nixon and Reagan administration in ensuring no damaging facts would come out which would sink his candidacy at Senate hearings in 1970 and 1986 when he was promoted to the Chief Justice position.
The documents show that the FBI was aware in 1971 that Rehnquist had owned a home in Phoenix with a deed that allowed him to sell only to whites. The restrictive covenant was not disclosed until his 1986 confirmation hearings, at which Rehnquist said he became aware of the clause only days earlier. Apparently he lied to Congress in the hearings.

“Also detailed in the declassified file was Rehnquist's 1981 hospital stay for treatment of back pain and his dependence on powerful prescription pain-relief medication. The FBI investigated his dependence on Placidyl, which Rehnquist had taken for at least 10 years, according to a summary of a 1970 medical examination. When Rehnquist checked into a hospital in 1981 for a weeklong stay, doctors stopped administering the drug, causing what a hospital spokesman at the time said was a "disturbance in mental clarity."

The FBI file, citing one of his physicians, said Rehnquist experienced withdrawal symptoms that included trying to escape the facility and discerning changes in the patterns on the hospital curtains. The justice also thought he heard voices outside his room discussing various plots against him. The doctor said Placidyl is a highly toxic drug and that she could not understand why anyone would prescribe it, especially for long periods.

In one previously secret memo from 1971, an FBI official wrote, "No persons interviewed during our current or 1969 investigation furnished information bearing adversely on Rehnquist's morals or professional integrity; however ..." The next third of the page is blacked out, under the disclosure law's exception for matters of national security.

"It would be nice to know what is still classified, three decades later," Charns said”

Wow. Mr. War on Drugs was flying high as a kite for a decade while his conservative clerks from Harvard wrote opinions that upheld long jail sentences for drug offenses. Then he lied to Congress about living in a community of racists to get confirmed to the highest judicial office in the land. God knows what other perversities he engaged in which are still classified. I wish I could have been in the hospital room listing to him rant about the psychedelic patterns on the drapes. Hilarious.

Happy New Year

The Patriot has been quiet lately, partly out of post-holiday anomie, partly because things at work have picked up, partly because I’m sick of commenting as the country slides into the toilet and the world into sectarian anarchy. But anyway…

I have tried to keep my personal life out of the discussions here because, as my wife is fond of pointing out, it’s not all about me. Yet as the date of my child’s birth draws closer I find that I am much less interested in playing pundit than I am in meditating on what is truly important in life, the nature of fatherhood, mortality, and which stroller goes with what car seat. B’s due date is February 10, 2007, a scant five weeks from now. I think part of the reason for this has to do with the fact that for several months I have been in a state of denial about the looming reality of parenthood. Me? Have a child? Ridiculous. As a 38 year old New York City male I have allowed myself a quite care-free Generation X lifestyle which eschewed responsibility at every turn. I wasn’t quite capable of taking care of myself, let alone a small being who will have to rely on me for its very existence.

I trotted off to law school at age 29, blissfully unaware of the financial hardships and marital stress such a decision would create, especially since my similarly unaware spouse did the same thing a year ahead of me. Now after five years of abject misery as a litigation attorney, dealing with the most intensely irritating people one could ever imagine, I’ve taken a step back and accepted a more or less non-legal position where I have the relative freedom of an eight hour work day which leaves me some life-room contemplate a next step.

So as I stand at the nexus of a career crisis, if all goes well a small baby will leap into my life on February 10 and change my perception of what is truly important and what is just ordinary bullshit. I don’t have any idea what to expect so I’m approaching it with a somewhat Buddhist lack of expectations. Ranting and raving about the screwed up world will continue. After all, the future of the planet seems more important when there you have a more intimate tie to a future generation. One wishes the jerk-offs running the show could embrace a similar perspective.

Thought For Today

I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the tormented.
- Elie Wiesel

It's a Tie

It appears as though the number of American servicemen and women killed in Iraq has today exceeded the number of New Yorkers who were killed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The White House is distancing itself from any correlation between these two statistics, which is kind of ironic considering that they were the ones who drew the false connection between Iraq and 9/11 in the first place. Further evincing their ignorance, the right wing-nut’s response has been to ask how many Americans would have died had the U.S. not invaded Iraq. From the Lawyers, Guns and Money blog:

“Well, the answer is indeed unknowable, but given that Iraq had no substantial connection to Anti-American terrorism and posed no security threat whatsoever to the United States, the overwhelmingly likely answer is "zero." Whatever Iraq was, it wasn't "fighting back" against the Islamic radicals who actually attacked New York.

Of course, if it was only Republican pundits who don't actually know anything about foreign policy who think that replacing a secular dictatorship with an Islamist quasi state was an effective way of "fighting back" against Islamic terrorism, this would be relatively harmless (although pathetic.) The truly appalling thing is that people actually in charge of American policymaking also didn't demand any logical connection between a given military response and the actual threat facing the country, and as a result nearly three thousand Americans and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis have died for nothing.”

I'm a Ford, Not a Lincoln

Interesting things in the news the last few days, no? The King of Soul made the crossing on Christmas day, followed a few days later by Gerald Ford, who presumably will be joining Nixon’s foursome on the great golf-course in the sky. Ford was a Republican party hack who’s decision to grant a pardon to Richard Nixon just 30 days after taking office denied the nation its badly needed closure and set the stage for the cynical attitude towards politics which permeates the nation to this day. Ford announced his decision September 8, 1974, saying he hoped the pardon would "shut and seal this book" on Watergate. Burying the scandal in such a matter ensured there would be no lengthy prosecution of Nixon which could have created a lasting enmity toward the Republican Party. Ford himself said that the "years of bitter controversy and divisive national debate" over Watergate would make it impossible for Nixon to get a fair trial for months or even years. He went on to state that even though Nixon was a longtime friend, there were more important issues than his fate. "During this long period of delay and potential litigation, ugly passions would again be aroused. And our people would again be polarized in their opinions. And the credibility of our free institutions of government would again be challenged at home and abroad," he said.

We should all be so lucky as to have our good friends assist us in eluding justice when charged with a crime. One wonders how receptive the nation would have been to Reagan’s election in 1980 had the breadth of Nixon’s crimes been aired in a national trial a year or two before. In my opinion Ford was more interested in preserving the institution of the Republican Party than adherence to any lofty ideals of Americanism. If there’s one thing a Republican politician can’t stand its people being “polarized in their opinions”, especially when one of their own has their neck in the noose.

Here is an excerpt from a letter sent to Digby in response to his Ford eulogy which says it more eloquently than I could:

"Though I'm willing to give Ford the benefit of the doubt that it was made for the best of reasons, The Pardon is unpardonable.

The great lesson of Watergate was that the Rule of Law is greater than the political power of men or parties. Ford's decision to short circuit this lesson resulted in the fact that ultimately, politics went on as usual. Money rules, dirty tricks are allowed and there is little consequence for misdeeds. If you liked Iran-Contra, Lee Atwater, Willie Horton, McCain/Bush in SC, Karl Rove, Mellon-Scaife, the Arkansas Project, Florida in 2000 and Swiftboating, well then you probably liked The Pardon. It was our best opportunity squandered to reform the political process.

I cannot forgive Gerald Ford for this.
not the senator | 12.27.06 - 1:44 pm |

At the end of the day, Nixon got a hero’s funeral and Ford will be remembered as the savior of the nation. History is truly written by the winners.

A Christmas Carol

Oh come all ye Grateful Deadheads to the concert.
Oh come Grateful Deadheads and camp in the street.
Bring rolling papers, don't forget your sleeping bags.

Oh come get us some floor seats.
We followed them for four weeks.
Oh come get us some floor seats, to see the Lord.

Come all ye hippies, throwbacks to the '60's.
Paint flowers on your van and don't wash your feet.
Wear your bell-bottoms and your tie-dyed t-shirts.

Oh come let us adore them. We quit our day jobs for them.
Oh come let us adore them. Garcia's the Lord.