Edgewise

Flat Daddies

Warning: This NYT article may flatten your heart.

update: of course, I realize now that not everyone has a NYT account, and with no account, no article. So here’s an excerpt just to get the gist across:

HERMON, Me. — It was the first day of school, and distance not withstanding, 9-year-old Baylee Smith wanted to take a picture with her father, Mark, who is stationed with a National Guard unit in Afghanistan. Real daddy was not available, but Sergeant Smith’s doppelganger was.

Jennifer Smith taking a photo of Derek, left, Baylee, and Alec with a cutout of their father, Master Sgt. Mark Smith, on duty in Afghanistan.

“Where’s Flat Daddy?” an excited Baylee asked as her stepmother, Jennifer Smith, pulled a large cardboard picture of Sergeant Smith, in his uniform, out of her Chevy Blazer and propped him on the bumper. The two, along with Ms. Smith’s young sons, Alec and Derek, posed for a picture with their Flat Daddy, who promptly fell down.

“Stop it Dad, that’s not funny. It’s not a joke,” Baylee said with a laugh.

The Maine National Guard is giving life-size from-the-waist-up pictures of soldiers to the families of deployed guard members. Guard officials and families say the cutouts, known as Flat Daddies or Flat Soldiers, connect families with a relative who is thousands of miles away. The Flat Daddies are toted everywhere from soccer practice to coffee shops to weddings.

What did Bush do about Al Qaeda in his first 8 months?

After the back and forth ‘tween Bill Clinton and Condi Rice this past week re who did what to stop Al Qaeda pre-9/11, Countdown took an interesting look at how the Bush Administration’s spent its first 8 months. The transcript is posted online, as well as a video that’s well worth watching. Note: The meat of the matter kicks off about 4 minutes into the video stream.

Getting tough, within reason.

“Don’t even think about it!

“Uh, well, of course, you can think about it. I mean, you couldn’t resolve not to do it, if you couldn’t think about it.

“But, don’t even contemplate enacting it!”

Then, Why Not Torture?

“[Sen. Allen] said the United States needs to interrogate terrorism suspects effectively. ‘I don’t want to stop these interrogations,’ he said. ‘I’m not for torture … but some of these techniques have been very helpful to us.’” Article,” Washington Post.

DKo: Then why not torture? Wouldn’t those interrogations be even more effective? Wouldn’t those techniques be even more helpful?

These folks think the Geneva Conventions were naive. You have to make them talk, but you can’t even humiliate them? Absurd! Then how do you make them talk?

You don’t. The conventions didn’t naively miss the point; that is the point. For soldiers, it is “name, rank, and serial number.” For others, there is not even rank and serial number. That’s it.

Newsweek says: “The question is whether waterboarding, however effective, is torture…” No, that is not the question! You don’t get to make them talk.

Here’s a personal note to the national security people. You know, if you stop imprisoning and abusing thousands of innocents and functionaries and chauffeurs and Taliban government soldiers in Guantanamo, Kandahar, and elsewhere in the world, and if that legendary and so far entirely mythical case should arise where you beat someone up because a literal time-bomb is literally ticking, you might get some understanding. You might even get a pardon. Hell, Richard Nixon got a pardon! But please don’t pretend it’s legal.

Regarding torture, the advocates of “tough” interrogation have an ethical/political problem when they try to draw the line at torture. The Right to Life people are in a similar position when they allow for abortion in cases of rape and incest. Why draw that line? If abortion is murder, how can you murder this fetus, regardless of how it was conceived?

Senator Allen, like President Bush, says, “I’m not for torture.” But I suspect they are.

They signed it, didn't they? The letter stays in the show!

Military Lawyers Caught in Middle on Tribunals, NYT, 9/15/06

On Wednesday evening, the night before a crucial Senate vote…the Pentagon general counsel, William J. Haynes II, summoned the senior uniformed lawyers [judge advocates general] from each military service to a meeting.

…Mr. Haynes sought to enlist the lawyers on the administration’s side by asking whether any would object to signing a letter….The lawyers agreed, but only after hours of negotiating over specific words, so that they would not appear to be wholly endorsing the plan.

Early Thursday morning, White House allies distributed the letter…as evidence that the group, known as Jags, now supported the administration plan.

That prompted loud protests from Republican senators opposed to the plan. They dismissed the letter on grounds that the lawyers would have signed it only under pressure.

DKo: Pressure? Is that fair? “Humiliating and degrading treatment” of one’s subordinates, perhaps. An “outrage upon the personal dignity” of the military’s most senior legal officers, maybe. Is that pressure?

Hell, maybe it was the only way to make them sign.

Focus on Disney is playing their game

I agree with k / o completely:

My impression of the pulse of the netroots is that all-Disney all-the-time has actually been a net negative. I’m sure GOP strategists are happy that netroots diarists are talking about Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright today and not vulnerable GOP incumbents. I wrote a piece yesterday on dKos called outrage and infrastructure. In retrospect, it was too gentle and considered.

If you measure this weekend simply by the yardstick of whether the netroots pushed the name recognition of vulnerable GOP incumbents: this weekend is a huge loss. Most of the GOP incumbents we are trying to defeat this fall…incumbents like Anne Northup, Jon Porter, Deborah Pryce, Thelma Drake, Cathy McMorris, Mike Ferguson, Nancy Johnson…are hardly known quantities in the national blogosphere. I would add that while each of these GOP incumbents have ample reasons we should oppose them: not a single one of those reasons has much of anything to do with the ABC/Disney movie.

Why does the netroots go for these distractions every time? Well, the internet is an “eyeball environment.” No diarist at dKos likes to watch a diary sink like a stone. Every blogger likes to feel like they’ve got a hot scoop. The GOP Congress is a stale story. While no reader likes to have the name of some vulnerable GOP incumbent shoved in their face, here’s a companion truth: a hell of a lot of people spent a hell of a lot of energy talking and learning about Disney and ABC this weekend. Could some of that time have been better spent talking about J.D. Hayworth (GOP, AZ-05) and Charlie Bass (GOP, NH-02)? In my view, yes.

Let’s focus on what’s really important and free ourselves from the Republican frames of reference they keep successfully managing to impose on each election cycle.

Had enough?

Enjoy this customized version of Have You Had Enough with Rickie Lee Jones and the Squirrel Nut Zippers (I think).

Day of Action to defeat Richard Pombo

Just wanted to pass this along to Bay Area readers:

DAY OF ACTION TO DEFEAT RICHARD POMBO
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 10am

Help defeat "One of the 13 Most Corrupt Members of Congress," U.S. Rep. Richard Pombo (R-Tracy) this November by coming out Saturday, September 16 for a Day of Action to canvass and phone bank swing voters and Republicans in California's 11th Congressional District.

Tri-Valley
Civic Park, 100 Main Street, Pleasanton, CA 94566

San Joaquin Valley
Victory Park, 1001 Pershing Avenue, Stockton, CA 95203

Enjoy free food, drinks and travel hassle-free with five bus pick-ups and a shuttle service from the Dublin/Pleasanton BART station.

Reserve your spot by calling (925) 413-9521. And don't forget your friends!

Can't make it September 16? Don't worry! We have Days of Action coming up on October 7 and the 28th. You can still help out by spreading the word!

Pick-Up Locations and Times
(please arrive promptly to make it on the buses)

San Francisco
Civic Center
99 Grove Street @ 8:30am
Drop-Off @ 4:45-5pm

Oakland
MacArthur BART Station
555 40th Street @ 9:00am
Drop-Off @ 4:30-4:45pm

San Jose
95 N. Third Street @ 9:00am
Drop-Off @ 4:30-4:45pm

Berkeley
Ashby BART Station
3100 Adeline Street @ 9:00am
Drop-Off @ 4:30-4:45pm

Morgan Hill
Cal Train Station
17300 Depot Street @ 8:30am
Drop-Off @ 4:45-5pm

Can you carpool to the event? Let us know!

Please RSVP as soon as possible so that we may accommodate you (and your group, if necessary).

Taking back Congress from the grips of corruption starts in California's 11th Congressional District.

Say "NO" to corruption. Say "NO" to Pombo.

Organized by the Defenders of Wildlife Action Fund (Pombo In Their Pocket).

Precinct walking for Jerry McNerney

Hi, This is a quick diary to relate the experience xian and I had today walking a San Ramon, CA precinct for Jerry McNerney.

Short version: great experience, highly recommended. Lesson learned: even if (like me) you live in a deep blue district, there may well be a red(dish) district a short drive away. And if there is, now’s a great time to go help give that campaign a little momentum.

Longer version: After doing my first door-to-door for Kerry in ‘04 up in Medford, I was hoping to find a nearby race that (a) matters and (b) is something less than 7 hours away. McNerney seemed like the best fit, plus he’s a pretty-easy-to-like candidate. (more info on that score over at http://www.jerrymcnerney.com/)

The Dublin McNerney HQ is a 30-minute drive from where I live near Oakland. (Specifically, it’s at 6250 Village Parkway, right off 580.)

The folks there were friendly and well organized. They were also flexible — I showed up long after the start time listed on their site and it didn’t really matter. I was there with a pal, but they told me for future reference that had I shown up solo, they would have paired me up with someone.

They gave us a list of about 380 Democracts and unaffiliated voters in San Ramon (the vast majority were Ds). The instructions and maps were straightforward — I’m pretty inexperienced in this and they kept it simple enough for a newbie like me to handle.

San Ramon is about 5 minutes from the Dublin office. It was beautiful there today — nicer than back in Oakland. Sunny with a light breeze and a real treat to walk in.

We covered about 200 of the voters on our list. Almost everyone had flags outside. Almost everyone had a dog. Not everyone was pro-McNerney, but just about everyone who was home was friendly.

Most folks were either neutral or anti-Pombo. Many were strongly anti-Pombo (we heard “that crook” pretty frequently). A lot of folks who were happy enough to vote against Pombo hadn’t heard of McNerney, so it felt like we were actually doing some good just by getting his name out there.

Back at the Dublin HQ at the end of the day, the field director happened to be there — nice guy. The candidate’s wife was there as well. We had a great chat with them for about 10 minutes. She was genuinely appreciative, and the whole thing made the experience feel 100% human.

So that’s it. I’m planning to go back. They’ll be sending people out every weekend. They’ve also got phone banking going on during the week in Oakland.

All this is to say: if, like me, you live in a blue district, call your local Dem party and find a competive race you can drive to. Impact the polls today and you’ll help build up momentum going into October.

And specifically, if you’re a Bay Area type, consider giving Jerry a few hours one of these September Saturdays. As Kid Oakland said, we all live in Pombo’s district. (Btw, the candidate’s wife quoted that to me, which was a treat in itself.) This is our chance to contribute to an important race. Think of it selfishly. Me, I don’t just want McNerney to win — I want to be watching him win on election night and feel like I did something to help make it happen.

-Cecil