Justice Has Been Done: Why Am I Crying?

The headlines screamed: "ROT IN HELL!", "WE GOT THE BASTARD!", and "Vengeance at Last".  Osama bin Laden had been killed by US special forces... and there was much rejoicing.

It's been almost 10 years since my then 6-year-old daughter called me on the phone crying and said, "Daddy! The Tower Twins fell!"  She felt the pain a little more than most Americans because she had been to the "Tower Twins" in person, and had friends that lived in New York.  Of course her pain was nothing like that of the children who had lost their parents in that horrible attack, but still there were many tough questions and conversations in the following years that were prompted by that singular event.

Why did they do that?  Why are they happy that people died?  What is "right?"  What is "wrong?"  Why are some people mean?  Why do some people hate?

I was grateful that I was with my daughter when we walked into a convenience store and saw the headlines of Osama's demise.  Those headlines, which glorified and legitimized killing, were going to require us to retread the same ground we had years ago; but this time the questions and answers would be much more complicated.  Why are the newspapers mean?  Why are Americans celebrating killing?  Why do my friends hate?

It's one thing to address those issues when speaking in generalities, or about people who live far away and that you do not know personally.  But when it comes to people who you know and trust and love, the answers become remarkably elusive - and downright painful.

Osama was a monster, of that there is no doubt.  But should we have killed him?  A reasonable argument could be made that killing him WAS justified.  I personally disagree because I believe that killing is wrong except in self defense, and I don't believe this was self defense, especially since bin Laden was unarmed and there were 79 commandos.  There are some that use a broader definition of self defense, saying that we are safer with Osama dead.  It's the same definition of self defense that is used to justify the death penalty, which I don't buy; and I find it hypocritical that some who oppose government execution for domestic criminals, are OK with government execution in this case.   

For argument's sake, I'll accept (for a couple of minutes) that killing him was justified and that we are safer.  There are many other questions that are begging for answers.  Does our government have the authority to invade a country we have not declared war on?  Does our government have the authority to assassinate?  If we are justified in killing Osama, who else are we justified in killing?  Muammar Gaddafi?  Syrian President Bashar Assad?  Yemen's Ali Abdullah Saleh?  Kim Jong-il?  Julian Assange?  These are, after all, enemies of the state.  Is it such a stretch? 

Barely making a peep on the news this week was the fact that on Saturday, NATO made its second assassination attempt in as many months on Libya's Muammar Gadaffi, this time using US Predator Drones.  Gadaffi escaped, but his son and three grandchildren (all under 12) were killed.  Is this justified?  Is this just "collateral damage?"  Personally, I find it sickening, and it goes to the heart of the most pervasive question that I will be addressing with my daughter for years to come.  Has America lost its sense of decency?  I don't pretend to have an answer.

As disturbing as it is that our government is killing innocent children, it's just as disturbing to see people rejoicing in the streets at the killing of Osama bin Laden, no matter how evil the bastard is.  Even worse are those that gloat over some perceived political victory, because it was Barack Obama that "got him" and not George Bush.  I expect this from polititians, but some of the very people who I consider to be the most compassionate, the most peace-loving, and the most humane, are the ones who are rejoicing and gloating the most.  It's pathetic and it's shameful. 

I don't know how to begin to explain this to my daughter.  We will need to figure it out together, and it won't be easy.

Tomorrow President Obama will visit Ground Zero to take his victory lap, which I honestly don't begrudge him.  He will do it with his usual grace, while war profiteers count their cash, and mother and fathers count their casualties.

Collective Bargaining: Let's Pop Our Collective Heads Out of Our Collective Asses

A brief reality check: Peope have an inalienable right to associate freely. In the United States we also have the legal right to associate freely. Collective bargaining is a natural outgrowth of this right, and it is a natural outgrowth of liberty and freedom.

Another outgrowth of liberty and freedom is that employers have the right to either accept or reject a demand that is the result of collective bargaining. This is called negotiating.

Now to the reality check part: With the hubbub in Wisconsin bringing the issue of collective bargaining into our collective living rooms, one assertion that we've heard over and over is that collective bargaining has nothing to do with balancing a budget. I have yet to see anyone challenge this patently illogical assertion. I would like to loudly and clearly call bullshit, since nobody else is doing it.

One of the main objectives of collective bargaining is to get higher wages for the workers. Another is to get better benefits. Now here's the tricky part... more money spent on wages and benefits means less money in the budget for other things. In mathematical terms:


If: B=budget, W=wages, and b=benefits


Then: B-(W+b)<B


So the next time you hear the assertion that collective bargaining has nothing to do with budgets, you too can call bullshit, and have the math to prove it. And the next time you see a talking head, or even an opponent of collective bargaining, fail to challenge that assertion, you can conclude that our collective capacity for critical cogitation is critically crippled. In other words, our collective heads are in our collective asses. Waddaya say we pop that cork?


Then, and only then, can we begin an intelligent dialogue.

The Hope Bubble: The Effect of US Foreign Policy on Egyptian Discontent

Just as stock and housing markets have bubbles, so can human emotions. We are seeing the effects of one in Egypt today.

The Mubarak autocracy is seen by many in Egypt as a puppet of the United States, a police state that receives more US aid than any other country save Israel. While anti-Americanism is not the driving force behind Egyptian unrest, it can not be discounted. Egyptian approval of the US is among the lowest in the world, and the last couple of years it's been on a roller coaster ride.

The end of the Bush Presidency saw Egyptian approval of US leadership at a dismal 6% according to a 2008 Gallup poll¹. After the election of Obama and his 2009 Cairo address², that approval number surged to 37%. Just 6 months later, the approval rating had plummeted to 19%.

The Obama 'hope bubble' burst in Egypt just as it did in the United States. When it comes to promises, the negative consequences of failure are directly related to the scale of those promises. The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Of course the causes of Egyptian discontent are complex and go much deeper than the hollow hope provided by an American President, even the hope provided by America's first black President to an African country. Lack of political choices, lack of jobs, and lack of food certainly played a more direct role. One could make a reasonable argument that this uprising would not have occurred if not for the current economic crisis, but the bursting of the hope bubble created by Obama didn't help.

Admittedly, anti-American sentiment in Egypt is more subtle than it is in other Arab countries, but Egyptians do pay attention to what America says and, more importantly, to what it does and doesn't do.

Just what, exactly, were Egyptians hoping for? In 2008, a Gallup Poll asked Egyptians what actions would improve their view of the United States. The percentage of Egyptians who rated potential American actions as “very significant” were: Pulling out of Iraq at 64%, Removing military bases from Saudi Arabia at 60%, Closing Guantanamo Bay at 50%. Despite the promises of a new American President, the US has failed on all counts.

This is not new. For decades the United States has been preaching peace, democracy, and human rights out one side of its mouth, and spitting bombs out the other. As any empire in its death throws, economic and military coercion increase in an attempt retain power.

While the significance of the bursting of the Obama hope bubble is certainly open to debate, consider which country has the lowest US approval rating of any country in the world – Tunisia³. Hmmm...

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¹http://www.gallup.com/poll/137759/arab-countries-turn-leadership-2010.aspx

²http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/NewBeginning/

³http://www.gallup.com/poll/142631/Worldwide-Leadership-Approval.aspx