TORTURE ALERT

(I will post news regarding America's policy of torture, because it makes me ashamed to be an American. It is so important for people to know that Abu Ghraib was not an isolated incident, but Bush policy. Note, too, that these are not terrorists, they have not even been charged with anything, some the military doesn't even know why they're there, many are undoubtedly innocent.)

ADMINISTRATION SUPPORTS TORTURE WITH IMMUNITY

7/28 - Senior military lawyers lodged vigorous and detailed dissents in early 2003 as an administration legal task force concluded that President Bush had authority as commander in chief to order harsh interrogations of prisoners at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, newly disclosed documents show.

Despite the military lawyers' warnings, the task force concluded that military interrogators and their commanders would be immune from prosecution for torture under federal and international law because of the special character of the fight against terrorism.

(This is probably why Bush opposes the international war crimes tribunal -- because he wants a free hand to commit such crimes.)

ABU GHRAIB TECHNIQUES COME FROM GUANTANAMO

7/27 - The commander in charge of Guantanamo Bay prison visited Abu Ghraib in 2003 and recommended the use of military dogs during interrogations, the former warden in Iraq testified Wednesday at a hearing for two Army dog handlers accused of prisoner abuse.

"We understood that he was sent over by the secretary of defense," Maj. David Dinenna testified.

He said teams of trainers were also sent to Abu Ghraib "to take these interrogation techniques, other techniques they learned at Guantanamo Bay, and try to incorporate them in Iraq."

The former warden's testimony follows defense claims that using unmuzzled dogs to terrify Abu Ghraib inmates was sanctioned high up the chain of command and wasn't just a game played by two rogue soldiers, as the government claims.

WHITE HOUSE OPPOSES RESTRICTING TORTURE

7/23 - Vice President Dick Cheney is leading a White House lobbying effort to block legislation offered by Republican senators that would regulate the detention, treatment and trials of detainees held by the American military.

The legislation, still being drafted, includes provisions to bar the military from hiding prisoners from the Red Cross; prohibit cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees; and use only interrogation techniques authorized in a new Army field manual.

Feminism

Speaking of Naomi Wolf, her coming to speak cleared up for me the confusion as to why so many women did not consider themselves feminists. To me, this had sounded like Jews supporting anti-Semitism. But I came to understand that a concerted effort by the opponents of feminism had succeeded in associating it with being unfeminine. For many women, being a feminist means being a man. Images of hair-legged unattractive lesbians come to their mind. To me--and I’d venture to guess, for most feminists--nothing could be farther from the truth. Feminism means treating women (and men, for that matter) as individuals, and not as stereotypes. If most women, of their own choice, prefer to stay barefoot and pregnant, that’s fine. But no one should be pressured into a certain role seen by society as woman-appropriate (or man-appropriate) purely based on their genitals.

The fact is that even this kind of feminism is on the wane. Women today seem to accept that they should play the woman’s role, and be submissive to their man, or be pursued rather than pursuer, or choose ponies over monsters. I don’t just mean that they really like these roles, but that they feel these are more “appropriate” for them because they are women. They see themselves, and other people, first as women, and only second as people. Any man or women who doesn’t act their role is very often suspected of homosexuality.

It is sad that we accept this kind of deep-seated prejudice. No one would dare suggest that a person was not acting race-appropriately, I hope. But with gender, we still live in a caste system. For all our progress, there is yet little room for people to be themselves, to pursue their individuality, to actualize their potential, outside the walls set up by gender roles. It remains a perfectly acceptable explanation to say that you should be this way because “you’re a man” or “you’re a woman.” I hope people will strive to make clear this discrimination is unacceptable, and that our attitudes should change.

The Treehouse

I am reading The Treehouse by Naomi Wolf, known as a leading feminist figure who inspired me when she spoke at Yale. (Incidentally, contrary to my expectations, Yale doesn't provide a better education than other schools, and many of the professors are bad; its excellence comes in having to compete with other talented students, and in draws like the many great speakers who come visit, like Naomi Wolf, the Dalai Lama, Oliver Stone, and so many others.) This book, unlike her previous books, is memoir rather than polemic, recounting the wisdom of her father, a poetry professor who cares little for facts, or numbers, or reality. For him, life is all in perception, in art.

I feel that I, like her, am a poet who has not written in years.

Her father reads this poem by Dylan Thomas:

In my craft or sullen art
Exercised in the still night
When only the moon rages
And the lovers lie abed
With all their griefs in their arms,
I labour by singing light
Not for ambition or bread
Or the strut and trade of charms
On the ivory stages
But for the common wages
Of their most secret heart.

Poetry requires a quiet place, to stop and think, and feel, and be, that few have time for. Do you know anyone who has read a poetry book? Poetry is too hard for our short attention spans and many demands. But the poets labour to sing light of all the griefs in our arms. They create a universe in a grain of sand, and eternity in an hour.

I think we all should not forget to find our poetry, whatever it may be for us. We need to have that quiet place, that treehouse, where for a while, we can hear the inner voice of our most secret heart.

I like Sarah Silverman

I never find any of these famous actors attractive. While other guys drool over Nicole Kidman, Demi Moore, Angelina Jolie, and all the rest, I just look and think, "Whatever". But I finally found her. Though an unexpected choice, for whatever reason, I like Sarah Silverman.

Evanescing

Oh my gosh, was this a stressful week, having to decide my future between two so very very different choices. But, in the end, I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere, ages and ages hence: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I -- I took the road less travelled by...

Adieu, my choice position at a top five law school from which I could be set for life, but maybe miserable. I couldn't turn my back on the animals when they need me. Or on my need to live a life that matters.

It is so very late at night, and so I wax poetic as the swell passes behind me, and the quiet sets in. The million bits of advice from so very many peoplethat have swirled furiously about are now fading away, evanescing.

(Angie was right about me.)

Oopsie

My friend Tsoching, who keeps telling me stories about her bf's friends getting carted off to prison, robbing banks, and a lot of getting drunk and sleeping around, told me about being in one of these friend's (Colin), when another friend started playing with Colin's gun, which accidentally went off and shot the wall. This was in an apartment building. Some people are idiots. But they're all allowed to buy deadly weapons.

Last weekend I went to PETA headquarters. It was so nice, they've renovated. It's like Disneyland, so much exciting stuff going on. Very empowering. They've offered me a job. Should I take it? They had vegan pizza, with vegan cheese, it was really good. Why don't they have that in New York City?

Perdu

Yesterday I met with a friend I’d known a couple of years ago, living in DC, a lawyer who told me that I should become a patent lawyer. Since I’m about to do that, I dropped her a line, and since she just moved back to NYC, we got together. Her advice was, "Don’t become a lawyer for the money, because you don’t make much. I know people who have been lawyers for 10 years and still only make $200,000." Yeah, who could live on that?

Je me sens perdu.