Please Release The Interview

I just want to say to Sony that I very much want a copy of  The Interview .  I would prefer a legal one, but I hope there is at least a black market version of the whole movie.  Air-drop millions of copies on North Korea.  Broadcast it, put it on the internet. 







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Difficulties of Writing Content

One of the things I do to try to earn a few bucks is to write for hire what is called content writing.  Today I wrote a short article about a very self-centered young fellow who is an investment banking analyst. He has on the internet a bunch of self-aggrandizing articles and articles about how to write a resume without saying anything about your character (or lack of it), and advice about the importance of knowing how to tie a neck-tie.and having a firm handshake.  I suspect that if he were to watch A Thousand Clowns he would see the final scene as one of triumph. He is currently back in school working on an MBA at a prestigious business school  There is an article on the Internet from a rape-victim at that school about him and how the school covered up his rape of her.  After all, he is a successful investment banker.  He will probably find out about the receiving end of the experience if he stays in his business.

I am not posting names or enough information to lead to the people involved.  I hope I was able to sneak a few jabs past the person paying for this article (It is probably him.) Even if the article is rejected I will feel good about my attempt. (the article was accepted)

CIA Interrogations Learned From NAZIs

I am part of the post-WWII baby boom and grew up hearing about Nazi torture techniques. I heard about North Korean torture, and had friends who experienced North Vietnamese and Viet Cong terror. Today we are awaiting a Congressional report about our own government using techniques derived from some of the most popular torture/interrogation techniques of these infamous enemies of our Nation and the effect on principles at the very core of our American ideals.

As we await the release of this report the debate seems to center on whether or not the CIA  lied to Congress under oath while testifying about the use of torture techniques by the CIA. We need to remember that the mentality of agencies such as the CIA centers on the belief that the actions of the agency, almost always shrouded in secrecy, are for the purpose of protecting our nation and its principles. The members of the CIA are used to living a lie on a daily basis in order to achieve their goals. This does not justify lying to Congress, it explains it.

Many details of the program will probably never be known. There are probably secret operations from the Revolutionary war that will never be known, and many secret operations from the War Between the States will likely never be revealed. The number of secrets from WWII is probably beyond count, and there are certainly ongoing secrets from Vietnam and more recent operations. But the use of torture techniques by our agencies should not be part of those secrets.

I originally wrote this article for a client who decided that it did did not fit what he wanted .  Since I originally wrote it, the report has been released and Senator John McCain has commented on torture, a subject he is particularly qualified to comment on. He and I agree on one thing: when we stooped to this level, we handed
a victory to the Islamisist terrorists hell-bent on destroying the American way of life. The fact that the NAZIs were right wingers and many Republicans thought that Hitler wasn't such a bad guy until they saw the insides of camps such as Auswitz-Birkenau explains how this took place on the watch of Bush and Cheney. I want to mention that Senator McCain is a Republican, and some other Republicans also have criticized the use of these techniques.  The CIA has had past indiscretions, particularly during the Nixon and Regan administrations.

Royal Worshipping

Apparently  many Americans seem to have forgotten that we fought two wars (the American Revolution and the War of 1812) to be free of the British Monarchy.  They seem to forget that the Constitution forbids monarchic titles and that the very core of Americanism is the essential equality of all people.

Two popular members of the British Monarchy, William and Kate (in England known as the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge), are visiting the U.S. on a trip which seems to be part tourist and part official.  To his credit, William Mountbatten-Windsor has made an attempt to establish his-self as a normal person burdened with being born to a symbolic position representing, at great expense, the nation of England.

A number of Americans have made fools of their selves by celebrity worship of these young people. Kate, who was not born to a "royal" bloodline, has distinguished herself by the way she has managed to fit into the role of wife to William. She has attempted to fill the role-model created by William's late mother, Diana, and appears to have begun to succeed. One major difference comes from the fact that their marriage seems to be based on romance instead of being arranged.

During the Twentieth Century European monarchies, and a few other monarchies, made an attempt to rehabilitate their images. Throughout history there have been other monarchs who attempted or even succeeded at being benign or even positive rulers.  However, the historical record has generally been filled with the logical result of devaluing the lives of the vast majority of people. The very concept of royalty should be repugnant to moral people, since it implies that one person should be valued more than others because some distant relative was able to gain power over the lives of other people, frequently by being a powerful criminal.

One highlight of their visit appears to have been the meeting of the royal couple with Lebron James, who treated them as fellow humans.  They were given a "photo op" with the NBA star, who posed with his arm around Kate's shoulders and joked with William about their relative shoe sizes,