Syria and Sarin: Let the Punishment Fit the Crime

April 26th, 2013

I am watching MSNBC, and Chris Hayes suggested that after the break he would tell us what we should do next about Syria.  Okay, that might be interesting, but let me see if I can answer the question first.

It seems quite possible–though by no means certain–that Syria’s leader Assad has used Sarin gas. President Obama has warned of fearsome things we will do if Assad were to commit this crime…so now what?

I say: Let the punishment fit the crime. Or, maybe I should say: punish the crime.

The problem over these many months is that intervening in Syria is not a simple thing, or else we would have done it already. Libya wasn’t simple, but it sure was simple in comparison. Syria is a hard problem.

To re-ask one of Chris’ questions to his panel: Is there something we could do to make things better?

No. Not with any certainty. Most ideas would make matters worse.

Assad is doing nasty stuff, and, though there is plenty we could do, it isn’t clear that any of these things will make matters better.

So what in hell do we do about this red-line we talked up? If Assad has gone from being extremely nasty in nearly every way he can imagine, to being extremely nasty, plus using some Sarin, what do we do?

Arrgh. Just just because some red-line might have been crossed doesn’t change that Syria isn’t something we can’t obviously fix.

So what do we do?

Allow me to interrupt for a moment: Chris Hayes’ program just ended and it seems that they didn’t hit on an answer, so it is up to me. Oh, the responsibility! Good thing no one reads these things I write.

Let the punishment fit the crime. Punish the crime.

What has changed is that Assad (possibly) has committed a new crime. So the answer is to punish Assad–or whomever might have done it if we can figure it out (this is complicated!).

We should not try to fix this war, because we can’t. Even with Sarin on the ground, we still can’t. Sarin doesn’t make anything easier. So we should punish Assad–or whomever might have recently used Sarin, if anyone did.

Okay, maybe we start flying deadly drones over Damascus, or Tartus, and if we get a shot at someone responsible, then yes, we take it. We are causing lots of people to hate us for using drones around the world, I think we might improve our reputation with a drone or two over Tartus.

The crime was (possibly) using Sarin, in which case we should punish those who (possibly) did it.

The news out of Syria for the last two years makes me sick. It is horrible. Tens of thousands have been killed, raped, tortured, imprisoned. If you like “culture” more than humans: centuries old cultural heritage sites have been destroyed. It is horrible no matter how you look at it.

I would like that there would be something that we could do to make Syria better. And…if our punishment for this crime were to kill senior figures in Assad’s government and army…maybe it would make things better. I can’t see how it would make things much worse.

Let the punishment fit the crime. Take out those who (might have) done this.

-kb, the Kent who in fact does like The Mikado, and who wonders “Why do you ask?”

© 2013 by Kent Borg

P.S. “The struggle continues. Love, Daddy.”

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Associated Press and Passwords

April 23rd, 2013

Dear AP,

Today you tweeted that there were two explosions in the White House and Obama was injured. It seems you didn’t intend to do so. Someone else broke into your Twitter account. In other words, someone else had your password.

Jeeze, it isn’t that complicated:

  1. Make up a password, with some random stuff in it, so it can’t be guessed.
  2. Don’t tell your password to anyone…

Except:

  1. Tell Twitter.
  2. Tell those who will be tweeting on your behalf.

Not that complicated.

Do not reuse your password on other systems, don’t e-mail it, don’t let spyware run on your crappy Windows box and see you type it. (Tell those who tweet for you to also not tell anyone.)

It is a piece of information that needs to be managed. If it were a hundred dollar bill you could keep track of it, right? Okay, pretend it is worth at least that much. Use a little care.  (Dear CBS: Didn’t you lose your Twitter password recently, too? Same lecture. Shape up.)

-kb, the Kent who is getting tired of such sloppiness.

© 2013 by Kent Borg

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Guns: But WHO Loves Them?

April 4th, 2013

There is nothing more red-blooded-American than being a gun nut, right?  Patriotic, tyrant opposing, freedom loving, fundamentalist, God fearing, American!

That’s the PR.

Okay, what if brown-skinned men with heavy beards joined in? Show up at rallies. Testify before lawmakers, with thick accents even. Fundamentalists, Muslims fundamentalists! What would that do to gun PR?

Hmmm, it might just get a bunch of brown-skinned men with heavy beards killed. Might also break the spell that guns have over us.

-kb, the Kent who admits he is a troublemaker.

© 2013 by Kent Borg

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Race in America 2013

March 13th, 2013

I am a privileged white man, so I am supposed to tread carefully here, but I am willing to blunder over many topics, so here goes.

When I was a kid, during the era of civil rights protests, people were beaten, humiliated, terrorized, tortured, and killed for working for equality for blacks, or just being black. The foes were both vigilante and official. Racism was both the law in much of the country, and socially acceptable in even more of the country.

Things have changed.

This morning on NPR there was a story on The Race Card Project, capturing this complex subject in 6-word snippets. (I guess a haiku is too long.) The part of the story I really liked was the highlighted example:

Ask who I am, not what.

Genius. So simple, but oh, so subtle. On my way to work I tried to repeat it back to myself and I couldn’t figure out how to squeeze what I heard back into 6-words. Man, what wonderful use of language.

The woman who wrote those words was also eloquent when interviewed. She is of Korean descent and becomes weary of people she meets wanting to pin down that detail and then wanting to talk about kimchi, etc. (I hope I summarized that fairly.) I can see how that could become tiresome.

May I look at the fact that this is a well publicized story on Morning Edition to draw a conclusion about race in the USA? Friendly people being tiresome? My father was a dentist, he heard a lot of dentist jokes every day, it was tiresome. I am a nerd, it is perfectly acceptable to make disparaging remarks about nerds. My last name is Borg and for quite a few years I have had to be patient with tiresome comments about The Borg. My first name is Kent, and when Superman had a larger mindshare in the country, I had to be patient with references to Clark Kent. I am of Swedish descent, so I hear repeatedly about the Swedish Chef from the Muppets. And so on. Trivia.

I am a privileged white guy. If the key point in a big story on race blends easily in my petty list of woes, I draw a conclusion: We have come a long way to the good if it is race news that we have a “first world problem” like having to be patient with others being tiresome. How precious and touchy we are. And what good news it is if precious and touchy is where the action is on race. (Is it??)

Don’t get me wrong: I know there is still some really nasty racism in this country, there are still race crimes committed that are far worse than anything I have ever experienced. But it has gotten better. Much better. So much better that NPR is spending time illustrating that friendly, nice people can be tiresome.

Cool.

-kb

© 2013 by Kent Borg

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Guns are Like Racism, or Porn

December 17th, 2012

Outlawing guns is going to be difficult, we are awash with them. And a lot of fellow countrymen are clinging to them and will not be interested in having them taken away.

We need to change our attitudes.

We haven’t outlawed racism, but we did make it no longer respectable in polite company. It is still out there but it is mostly in the closet where it doesn’t cause quite as much damage, where it is harder to pass on to the next generation.  Similarly, teenage boys will certainly find dirty pictures, but we insist on some discretion in this case, too.

Somethings belong in the closet. Fetishes belong in the closet, including gun fetishes, where they will be a little less involving, where any side effects can cause a little less damage, and where it is harder to proudly pass on to the next generation.

Bumper stickers advertising one’s affection for guns should no longer be considered respectable.

Similarly, the computer games where one shoots and kills others (there is even a technical term for the genre: “first person shooters”) should no longer be considered a respectable activity. Yes, they exist and will continue to exist, but they belong in the closet. How many foes can one kill in an hour of fantasy mayhem with an X-Box? Many. How is that possible?? These targets must be must be astoundingly easy to kill; they must be as easy as shooting first graders.

A little old-fashioned public reproach and shame is called for.

Communities should no more revolve around a love of guns that are specifically designed to kill fellow humans than they should revolve around a love of racism or pornography.

This is not a respectable hobby.

-kb

© 2012 by Kent Borg

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Susan Rice is Bad Choice for Secretary of State–at the Moment

November 28th, 2012

When I heard what Ambassador Rice had to say about Benghazi, what she said repeatedly on all those Sunday shows that day, I was startled but I withheld judgement, I figured she knew something I didn’t.  Well, it seems she knew less than did an informed member of the general public.

We need a Secretary of State who doesn’t say stupid things in public, over and over again, just because someone tells her to.  The Benghazi talking points didn’t smell right at the time, and she should have known better.

I have liked Susan Rice, but this is embarrassing, I hope the President picks someone else to succeed Secretary Clinton.

That said, if the President does choose Rice, the Senate should let him have his choice.  Their job in confirming appointees is to veto really bad choices.  Susan Rice is not a really bad choice, just a bad choice.  (John McCain is making a fool of himself here.)

Rice should get on with her life, and once she is best known for something other than this episode, then she can again look for ways to move up.

After the 2008 primary campaign, Hillary Clinton was not smelling like a rose either.  Known for being a wife, short-term senator from an adopted state, and a nasty campaigner, she was not a formidable politician, she might have even lost to John McCain had she been in that race.  But she has paid her dues and is now known as a fine stateswoman: disciplined, seasoned, and hard working.  And what does it get her?  The 2016 nomination–if she wants it (and if nothing goes wrong).  I don’t know what is next for Susan Rice, but now is not the time to find out, better to cool it.

-kb, the Kent who knows no one reads this stuff, but who still likes getting his ideas down, so he can later look back and see what a fool he was (or was not).

P.S.  Why was it reasonable for a tarnished Hillary Clinton to get the Secretary of State job but isn’t for a tarnished Susan Rice?  Because even losing the 2008 primary race, Clinton was still a big deal; being Secretary of State and taking orders from her recent opponent, was not a big promotion for her.  For a 48-year-old UN Ambassador, however, running the State Department is big stuff and a different world.  Just ask John Kerry, who, after being his party’s presidential candidate and serving nearly 30-years in the Senate, is probably stuck in Massachusetts, because the Democrats want to keep Scott Brown out of Washington.

© 2012 by Kent Borg

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The Southern Strategy and How the Democrats will Rescue the GOP

November 16th, 2012

I read a story about how it was the gay vote that pushed Obama over the top. No, other stories say it was single white women. No, it was blacks. No, it was Latinos. No, it was east Asians. No, it as unions.

No, it was all of the above. Had Romney shaved off just one hunk of the Obama coalition, he would be working on his transition right now.

But the GOP is in a pickle and can’t grab any of the Democratic coalition. Because at the very core of the current Republican Party is Nixon’s “southern strategy” of appealing to southern racists. This became a theme with them and the GOP is now defined by what they are against. They oppose: anyone who isn’t white, anyone who isn’t straight, Democrats, abortion, atheism, damn foreigners, uppity women, poor people, cities, science, green-anything, etc. And, they are against government.

They are *for* a left over Norman Rockwell image, particularly if we choose a Rockwell that includes business, guns, and a Bible. That demographic has now shrunk below 50%, and is slowly fading.

The problem with defining a party by being against things is that they can’t open the tent for any of these hated threats without chasing out those already in the tent.

This pickle will vex them for years and years. I don’t see how they can fix it.

Instead, the GOP will regain power when the Democrats mess up enough that people vote for the other party without worrying what that party is. Maybe some third party will get the benefit, but probably it will still be the GOP. Let’s hope the GOP reforms itself into something mostly reasonable by then. For the sake of the USA, don’t pray for the GOP to suffer, pray for their quick recovery.

-kb, the Kent who is still trying to wrap his head around the meaning of the 2012 election.

© 2012 by Kent Borg

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Intentionally “Pulling a Biden”, Mark II, “True Crime”-Edition

October 24th, 2012

Today the Des Moines Register lamented that they had a great phone interview with Obama (seeking their endorsement), that he was lucid and frank and enlightening (I forget the details, I am vamping, but you get the general idea), but that it was off-the-record.  They wrote a blog posting about it, moping over the great stuff they couldn’t publish.  Probably mentioned it in this morning’s printed paper, too.

Then, oh, okay…the White House relented and agreed to let them publish it.

Now everybody in Iowa will read it, with a critical eye, to see why it had been off-the-record.

Genius!

-kb, the Kent who admires cleverness.

© 2012 by Kent Borg

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As the protests spiral out of control across the world, who’s responsible for the lost lives? Filmmakers or those who spread misinformation?

September 15th, 2012

My title is a tweet posted by @Ssirgany.

But I don’t think the answer fits in a tweet, so I have moved here.

Deaths are usually the responsibility of those who kill. There are cases of self-defense, probably a “just war”, and certainly a few other exceptions, but mostly killing is wrong and those who kill are in the wrong. That is a truth that cannot be forgotten when asking who is responsible.

So what of the original question? The filmmakers or those who fan their flames? The filmmaker is clearly trying to cause trouble, but maybe can claim some ignorance of the consequences. But the filmmaker can also just get on with life. There is initiative and effort here: this a damming consideration.

Those on the ground who are fanning the flames are really promoting the film, they can see the result of their actions. But maybe are more following their noses and just doing what they always do, they are following a role they have played before, they are caught up in a larger dynamic.

And that is the larger problem: Only a damaged people can be so easily provoked to act so stupidly. The blame for this is centuries of dictators, corruption, and injustice.

This is sensitive territory, so let me get myself in trouble in my own culture, too: In the United States we have had angry people riot and burn their own neighborhoods. They were wrong to do that, it was against their own interests, and it happened because they were a damaged people. In the case of the US, there were centuries of vicious crimes of slavery and discrimination. Recently we have shown some recovery, but we are still working on it.

Responsibility really comes back to those who are so angry: they need to heal, those who are in countries that are seeing new freedoms need to work to build civil society, education, and a sense of justice that has the patience to stop and consider. Rage is a poor guide.

The satirical publication The Onion posted an image this week about which they claimed no one died. It was a pornographic cartoon that insulted Jews, Christians, Bhuddists, and Hindus. It was eagerly tweeted about in the west, and indeed, no one seems to have died. No one got upset. Possibly some still will get upset, but it seems pretty quiet.

In the west this violence looks tragic, but also silly. “Has the Islamic world been quiet for a few weeks? We just have to shake a new religious cartoon at them and watch them kill each other!” Like taunting a frustrated child, cruel and too easy.

Yes, it is wrong to stir up such trouble, but the Islamic world should seek the wisdom and poise to ignore stupidity. I fear it will take many years.

-kb, the Kent who admits he has a limited western perspective.

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Romney’s Not Stupid

September 14th, 2012

Chattering classes are saying that Romney criticizing of our embassy–criticism released while the embassy in Cairo was under attack–these folks are saying that this was stupid.  Oh, how limited the critic’s vision.

It was wrong for Romney to make such criticism, but was is not stupid.  Not stupid, that is, if his only goal is to get elected.

In this case, it did not work.  Okay.

The downside is that people who already don’t like Romney have further reason to not like Romney.  Big whoop.  Others won’t notice nor care.

The upside: Romney might have landed a good blow in one of Obama’s strong areas: foreign policy.  Things are not going swimmingly in foreign lands, there are some messes out there, to probe at that topic is reasonable.  Sure, this was a wild punch, but if the game keeps going as it is going, Romney is going to lose.  He needs some external event to change the game, and when an external event comes along, he needs to swing at it.  Otherwise, he has nothing left but crossing his fingers and hoping that his minions will manage to steal a key state or five.  Heck, he isn’t even campaigning very hard right now, some days just flying back and forth across the country.  Traditional campaigning isn’t going to do it alone.

-kb, the Kent who tries to figure it out.

© 2012 by Kent Borg

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