Torture, Nancy Pelosi and how the Bush administration squashes dissent

So, there's a wonderful op-ed in the NYT today about torture and the process by which members of congress were informed about the torture (or "enhanced interrogation") back in 2000.  It says that only four members of Congress were informed about the program, in a way that essentially spelled political disaster for any one of the members of Congress were they to come clean about the program.  Of course, in a world where humans are principled people who hold to their principles firmly enough to become martyrs, Nancy Pelosi would have done what the author of the op-ed recommends, and marched down the aisle of Congress denouncing the program.  But Nancy Pelosi isn't so smart or so principled or so brave.  She got to the position she is first by being a mean, crafty politician.  To be the first female speaker of the house, you have to be all of that.  So she kept quiet.

I may not think she acted correctly, but I can see her motivations.  What I want more than anything else is an apology from her - she deserves to give not only her constituents (who, of all constituents in the continental united states would be the most likely to forgive her for speaking her mind) an apology but also all women apologies - when she became speaker I rejoiced to have one more glass ceiling broken, but now that joyous event has been sullied.

A quote:

But four members cannot stop financing and ban activities on their own — that takes the whole Congress. So what might the four have done? They could have demanded that the full committees receive the briefings and that more information be provided. If the White House objected, they could have told their colleagues anyway. The committees then could have put a classified budget provision in the intelligence authorization bill for fiscal year 2003 cutting off money for the program, or delineating how the C.I.A. must treat detainees.

The speech and debate clause of the Constitution shields senators and representatives from civil and criminal liability in the performance of their legislative duties. It would have protected those members if they had decided to march down to the House or Senate floor and denounce the Bush administration for engaging in torture, though that approach not only could have harmed C.I.A. operations, but also surely would have been political suicide.

Phewf.

OK - finally done with the big tests, have about a week and a bit to refresh and get ready for the end.  I'll probably be posting more in the next week, so stay tuned! :D

Civilian Death Scandal - The Daily Beast

If this story is at all true, the US has taken on the moral burden of returning to the time when we firebombed Japan.  White Phosphorus?  The worst and most destructive rumors that the Taliban can take control of are the rumors that have truth at their core.

A human rights organization is investigating claims that the U.S. used white phosphorous in a battle with the Taliban last week in which hundreds of civilians have died. A doctor in a nearby village said that civilians were taken to the hospital after the

Posted using ShareThis

Theater on Theater, cont.

From Arianne Mnouchkine's Mephisto

Juliette: Bollocks, I've seen revolutionary theater before, let me tell you, in the street.  I know exactly what happens.  They bring out a big loudspeaker and someone shouts: "Down with the bourgeoisie.  Long live communism."  And then the police come and arrest everybody.

Faust, Goethe, and how Theater just struggles with the same problems over and over again

So, I was studying for a big final on Tuesday (wish me luck, please) and when re-reading Goethe's Faust came across these passages in the prologue.  They're flowery, of course, but I found them amusing because the same three points of view are still being debated in the world of the theater - movies, even.  So read, enjoy, hopefully laugh.

PRODUCER      And please make sure the plot is filled with action!

                     Spectators, after all, love spectacles.                                                90

                     Give them one thrilling scene after the next,

                      I want to see their jaws drop to the floor—

                      Then the show will be a huge success

                      And word of mouth will spread like wildfire.

                      You must have mass appeal to win the masses,

                       So serve up something nice for everyone.                        

                       If you lay out a generous buffet                                                 100

                            Nobody goes away unsatisfied.

PL PLAYWRIGHT     I cannot believe what I am hearing!

                       A true artist would never stoop so low!

PRODUCER       Just take a look at who you’re writing for!                                    110

                       This person’s bored, that one’s digesting dinner,

                       Or worse, some have been reading newspapers!

                       Why do you poets hover in the cloud

                       When all you really want is a full house?

                        Poor fools, to entertain a crowd like this

                        You hardly need to call upon the muses.

                        If you give them more and more and more

                        Then I guarantee you’ll hit your mark.                                    130

                        People only come here for distraction                                              

                        It’s much harder to give them satisfaction.

                        What would you rather offer—pain or pleasure?

(Later down the page)

COMIC ACTOR    And so we need your special artistry—

                        Think about all this poetic stuff

                        As if it were a love affair.                                                            160

                        You meet by accident, there is a spark,

                        And in a while you both become entangled;

                        Happiness follows, then quarrels, rapture, pain,

                        And before you know it, it’s a novel.

                        That’s the kind of play we should put on!

                        Grab hold of life with both your hands!

                        Everyone lives it, but not everyone knows it,

                        And everywhere you grab, it’s interesting.

                        Colorful scenes that don’t make much sense,                                    170

                        Many mistakes, a little spark of truth—

                        That’s how you make the finest drinks

                        To nourish and refresh the world.

                        Then the most beautiful specimens of youth

                        Will gather for your play to be enlightened.

                        Sucking melancholy from your play

                        These tender souls will be delighted

                             To see the inner workings of their hearts.             180

                             They cannot wait to laugh and cry,

                             They devour the language, drink in the make-believe.

                             A mind that’s formed will never understand,

                             But one that is still open will be grateful.

Nate Silver Delivers

This right here is a really cool graph, via Nate Silver.  He explains how party identification can be graphed pretty exactly based on which president/party was in power when voters turned 18.  Cool, no?  I think it's interesting how almost immediately after Bush took office there's a huge spike towards much higher Democratic identification.  I'd also be interested to know what happened with Independent identification....

Partisan ID Gap, Based on Identity of President When Voter Turned 18

Miracle Laurie and the distortion of the TV screen

So, this post is entirely (but actually only partly) on behalf of a friend, Daniel.  We both watch this Joss Whedon TV show Dollhouse - maybe you've seen it?  if not, please watch it - it gets substantially better over the course of the later episodes. Anyways, so we're talking about characters... (conversation is edited so you can follow the thread of the actual conversation)

Daniel: what do you think of Mellie?

 me: I like the character more as I get to know her

12:51 AM the breathy voice gets less annoying

12:52 AM Daniel: anyway

  I ask this because like every girl I talk to about Mellie says she's too fat

  while every guy I talk to wants to marry her

 me: WHAT - too fat??

  they're crazy

 Daniel: Ned and I went on for a good ten minutes about how attractive she is

12:53 AM me: she's probably like a size 4 or something

  maybe a size 6

  just because the other actresses are stick thin

12:54 AM wooow

  when I have time I'll look at posts about the character

 Daniel: mmmm

 me: maybe write a blog post about the show

 Daniel: go for it

12:55 AM me: its one of the few with a normal sized actress

  think about it

 Daniel: that would be something very link worthy

 me: she's not FAT

 Daniel: a long rant about that

 me: she's curvy

 Daniel: yes she is

  Joss Whedon basically made her my dream girl

 me: haha

 Daniel: because as of late, I haven't dated anyone who's shy around me in their crush

  which I deathly miss

  so exchanges like

12:56 AM m: "I've been meaning to come down here."

  p: "You've been meaning to come down to the federal building?"

  m: "Oh...you know..."

 me: haha

You know what i realize now? That this blog post was actually my idea.  Oh well.  He's the one who pestered me about it.  So, long story short, my take on Miracle Laurie and the only actress I can think of in a popular series who is NORMAL sized on a popular TV show.

Here are a couple pictures of Miracle:

There are two reactions to Miracle Laurie that I've seen so far: 1) OMG SHE'S BEAUTIFUL/GORGEOUS AND I WANT TO MARRY/DO HER ALL NIGHT LONG!!! and 2) The woman's a fatso who needs to lay off the doughnuts and lose 20 pounds (accompanying statement about how the guy commenting likes his girls skinnier).  I'd be interested to know what you guys and girls think.  

Personally, I think she's perfect - she is the only actress on screen who I feel shares my body size.  When I saw her on screen, I thought yes - that is a person who looks like the person I see in the mirror in the morning.  That is someone who looks pretty, who is normal and who might be able to survive in the absolutely brutal world of show business.

I know that this will make certain people feel uncomfortable, but here are some measurements.  According to her resume (http://resumes.actorsaccess.com/miraclelaurie), Miracle is 145lbs, 5'9" tall.  So she's got some height to her.  According to a bmi calculation, she's happily in the "normal" range of weight - a 21.4(ish).  Now here's me - your "average" girl - I'm 5'5 and 140lbs - a 23.3.  ("Normal" is anywhere from 18.5 to 24.9).  So, obviously, I'm on the heftier side of normal.  But to have approximately the same BMI that Miracle has, I have to lose 10 pounds.  That is the 10 pounds that you always hear that the camera adds.  Mellie, on Dollhouse, is supposed to be a girl who looks like me.

So how did I initially react to seeing Mellie (Miracle's character) in Dollhouse?  With dismissal. My first thought was to say "oh - that actress will need to lose a few pounds to fit in with the other actresses."  But that shouldn't be right.  Why was my first reaction to dismiss her rather than Dushku or any of the other women in the show?  Sure, they're pretty, but they look like sticks - just take peek at their collarbones.  (I just looked up Eliza Dushku's measurements - she's 5'5 and 105lbs - for comparison BMI 17.5) Although shows shouldn't be supporting overeating, or unhealthy weight, why should there be a stigma against otherwise "normal" sized actresses?

Also, I blame some of my reaction on Whedon.  One of the first images you get of Mellie is of her proffering a huge tray of lasagna to her next-door neighbor.  For a girl, the automatic reaction: wow - all that girl does is eat!  If you're going to have a larger-than-standard actress on your show, please don't make the automatic reaction towards her from girls be FOOD.  Make it be something else, like oh she's so wonderful and cool.  That would go a long way towards breaking down stereotypes.  Although, to be fair, he's been doing that more with her lately.  So she's become my favorite character bar none.

Another reason to like Miracle: this video.  

THE WOMAN HULA DANCES AND PLAYS UKELELE!!  and she does it in front of people along with her castmates.  So give her a round of applause, and if I thik about something else to say about her, other than that I really like her character, I'll add it in another post.