Hey Mr. President...

One year ago today President Obama promised to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay. This promise has yet to be fulfilled. And now:

A Justice Department-led task force recently released its recommendation to continue holding nearly 50 Guantanamo detainees indefinitely! These actions are in direct violation of civil liberties, human rights, and a Supreme Court ruling in 2008 that confirmed Guantanamo detainees' rights to habeas corpus.

(via Amnesty International)

This is utterly unacceptable behavior. Even those detainees that might be guilty of committing terrorist acts against the United States should be tried properly. When we disregard the rule of law we essentially give others the justification to do the same. Take some time to write the president and your congress person in order to help restore the rule of law.

He Thinks like a Philosopher, but Governs like a King!

Yesterday I got a new friend...

His name is Rousseau and he is totally one of the coolest fish ever!

He will follow my finger up and down the tank and then try to attack it. He is a feisty bugger!

I wish he could have known his older brother, Copernicus...

 

Rest in peace little guy...

Those Dirty Rotten...Imperialists?

This is a tidbit I wrote on the 7th of December, that day that will live in infamy. It's a little past due I realize but still interesting to think about.

World War II was the result of uncontrolled imperialism. Britain (and The United States) had been systematically expanding their own empires for decades. Intervention usually leads to settlements and exploitation. China is the perfect example with the Opium War and subsequent "Open Door" policy. Other nations felt that this was an appropriate way to show their superiority. Imperialism was a way of life for nations in the 1800s and into the 1900s. Expansionist ideology in both Germany and Japan came to a head in the 1930s with Germany's invasion of the Sudetenland and Japan's invasion of Manchuria. So in essence, we created the very monsters we were fighting. Japan was simply trying to prove to the world they were a powerful force and the only way they could do that was by invasion.

This is a pretty interesting article about Japanese reasons for attacking Pearl Harbor. It is full of other interesting historical tidbits as well.

Something Rotten in Denmark....

Climate change is an issue that we must start taking seriously. This issue of developing vs. developed nations is what is causing the most contention and it is time that we finally sat down and solved this problem. If I had to pick one thing that a preliminary agreement should focus on it is this issue. In 1997 the United States Senate didn’t want to ratify Kyoto because of the discrepancy between developing nations, like China and India, and the United States. We must find ways to help these nations continue their economic growth and increase our own economic growth. An investment in clean energy will help everyone and the most economically and environmentally beneficial would be solar power.

This is an journal article explaining the benefits of solar energy for sustainable development:

The New American Civil War?

Help! I'm being overwhelmed by the crazy!!

1 Timothy 2:1-2

The Two Futures Project (2FP) is a movement of American Christians for the abolition of all nuclear weapons. We believe that we face two futures and one choice: a world without nuclear weapons or a world ruined by them. We support the multilateral, global, irreversible, and verifiable elimination of nuclear weapons, as a biblically-grounded mandate and as a contemporary security imperative.

Our change strategy is based around the creation of a nonpartisan, conscience-driven, enduring majority of Americans who are committed to a nuclear weapons-free world. By joining together with one voice of Christian conscience, we seek to encourage and enable our national leaders to make the complete elimination of nuclear weapons the organizing principle of American nuclear weapons policy. We join in this work to the glory of God.

via About 2FP >> Two Futures Project

Non-proliferation is not, and should not be, a solely Christian goal for the world. This coalition categorizes disarmament in a Christian world-view when it should be all-inclusive. All religions and all people must work together toward non-proliferation and disarmament. This is a goal that can be achieved.

I’ve said this before; I am an idealist so all the cynics out there will probably scoff at my conclusion. There is no way we are safer with weapons than with without them. The world was made inherently more dangerous when the first nuclear weapons were built and tested. Game theory would suggest that if only one nation (or very small group of nations) held all the nuclear weapons in the world that group would be more protected against attacks but as more and more nations gain access to weapons the world becomes exponentially more dangerous. So according to game theory what would be the most beneficial outcome for everyone? To not have any nuclear weapons!

Disarmament and non-proliferation is not going to be easy but it will be worth it. We cannot surrender to the idea that a nuclear world is inevitable. Those who claim nuclear weapons are key to continued US competiveness and key to keeping the peace have a very cynical and short sighted very of human nature.

This is a report sent by the Carnegie Foundation outlining ways the United States can be a leader in abolishing nuclear weapons.

noun: a difficult, precarious, or entrapping position

The situation in Afghanistan is getting more complicated everyday. This is a nation basically ran by regional warlords and their heroin factories. The only "legitimate" government in the country is quickly becoming not so legitimate with the recent fraudulent re-election of President Hamid Karzai. We are trying to fight and win a war in a country that no international force has EVER been able to conquer. (I mean no one ever has been able to conquer this place...Alexander the Great tried, Genghis Khan tried, the USSR tried...)

I recently stumbled on this article from The Onion:

U.S. Continues Quagmire-Building Effort in Afghanistan

"We've spent a lot of time and money fostering the turmoil and despair necessary to make this a sustaining quagmire, and we're not going to stop now," President Barack Obama said in a national address Monday night. "It won't be easy, but with enough tactical errors on the ground, shortsighted political strategies, and continued ignorance of our vast cultural differences, we could have a horrific, full-fledged quagmire by 2012."

...

With more than 80 percent of the country currently under Taliban control, Defense Secretary Robert Gates argued that U.S. nation-dismantling efforts are actually proceeding ahead of schedule.

"We've made a complete mess of local institutions, and moving forward this substantial lack of infrastructure will be the cornerstone of our strategy to ensure long-term chaos in the Afghanistan-Pakistan region," said Gates, gesturing to a complex, 6-foot-tall wall map of what were either newly established al-Qaeda bases in Waziristan, tribal trade routes over the Hindu Kush, or perhaps U.S. military outposts of some kind. "I couldn't be happier with our progress.

(This is The Onion so there is a little bit of language...just a warning. Also click on the map of Afghanistan. It's pretty funny :) )

I know it is supposed to be satire but the scary thing is, is that it isn't to far from the truth.

The best thing the US can do know is band together with other nations in order to support the rebuilding of this country. We need to support education, economic growth, and find a way to make opium less profitable. We need to focus on humanitarian and diplomatic efforts rather than military. Finding Taliban leaders and punishing them for there crimes is very important but the best way to do that is with small forces not a huge occupying force. The Taliban is a guerrilla force and we should be using guerrilla tactics to fight them. This means Special Forces and Secret Ops. This is also a matter of international cooperation and creating sustainable long-term stability in Middle eastern countries. We need true allies not ones that are scared (or defensive) about perceived American Imperialism.