More Great India Photos

This set of photos was taken by Blaine Davis, another NYU student on Sam's trip.

Ike Skelton - Poster Child for What is Wrong in Politics

Ike Skelton is an old-time, southern Missouri Democrat. In today's Kansas City Star, he voiced the heart of political darkness - the primal source of corruption and the triumph of scandal over idealism.

“The first job of a statesman is to get elected,” said the Fourth District Democrat . . . “The second job is to get re-elected.”

No, you corrupt vacuum of decency! Your first job is to serve the United States of America. Your second job is to serve your constituents.

I suspect that Ike Skelton has only voiced what most of our elected public servants really feel. But I promise to support any credible candidate, republican, democrat or third party, who challenges Ike Skelton. He has stated quite clearly that he is out for himself first, and second. Missourians deserve better than third place in the hearts and heads of their representatives in Congress.

Hamas and Democracy

Democracy is a stupid way of making decisions, but it seems to be the best that mankind can come up with. 9 times out of 10, the voters wind up choosing the path that at least appears best in hindsight. In Palestine, the voters may have made a poor choice, though only time will tell. Given the incompetent war criminal we elected to roll back our own Constitution, though, we're not in a position to question their judgment.

Nixon vs. Blunt? What's Behind Door Number 3?

Jay Nixon has tossed his hat in the ring for the 2008 governor's race. Yes, that's 2 and half years away, and he's already running a campaign website.

I don't like Jay Nixon. Back during the desegregation litigation, he sought out opportunities to damage the educational opportunities of Kansas City's public school students, my own children included. It wasn't just that he was representing the state - that's his job, but the little weasel would stage bogus press events to make the KCMSD look bad to the press and public, driving down public support and confidence in the district. And, folks, if you needed to cheat and posture to make the KCMSD leadership look bad back then, there was something seriously wrong with you. And if you deliberately and unfairly undermine the educational prospects of innocent school children so that you can look tough on black kids for the outstate voters, you are as soulless and corrupt as . . . well, a republican. I hate to get that nasty about a democrat, but there it is.

I've met Jay several times, and he comes across as a self-admiring ass. The only thing Nixon likes to look at more than a mirror is a camera.

His website shows that his candidacy for governor will be as substanceless as the man himself. The front page includes a soundbite that raised my hopes for just a second:

Broader Prosperity for All Missourians

If you are working, you should not be poor and you should not be without health care...those who work hard and play by the rules should have the opportunity to prosper...

Follow the link, though, and you will find absolutely no proposals of any meaning. Most disappointingly, though, he's failing to take the opportunity to join with his fellow Missouri Democrats in supporting an increase in Missouri's minimum wage, which has remained frozen at $5.15 for more than a decade. Instead, he unloads a bunch of nonspecific crap about education and rising tides. I read all of his "positions", and they are bland, meaningless tripe that don't even rise to the level of worthwhile soundbites.

Please, Missouri Democrats, come up with a better candidate than Jay Nixon. We need and deserve it.

Running for Public Office

I recently had a beer with a friend who's pondering a run for federal office. A lifelong moderate Democrat, he has recently become a republican, because, he told me, "the Democrats are too liberal on social issues." We have the sort of friendship that prevented me from smacking him upside the head, or voicing my suspicion that his conversion has much more to do with the demographics of his district than a profound shift in social philosophy (I could be wrong on this, but I'm pretty confident I'm not).

This conversation has been eating away at the back of my mind since Monday afternoon. I want to write about ambition, and rationalization, and moral clarity. But I can't, really.

From what I've seen, almost all politicians at all levels and of all party affiliations start their careers with a blend of idealism and ego. They want to make a difference, and they're convinced they will make a better difference than anyone else. In their hearts, they tend to believe they are destined for some kind of greatness and probably have had that feeling since they were in kindergarten. In his or her own mind, the person running for dog-catcher views the contest as essentially the same as a presidential campaign.

But the deal-making starts early. The toughest deal-making is internal - trying to reconcile who you are with who you need to be.

My friend is a good man, and, if he runs, he will have my support. And you may receive an invitation from me to a fundraiser for a republican. And I'll be making my own steps in the elaborate dance of political rationalization.

If that makes you a little queasy, welcome to the club.

Here's the Report and Photos from India

From Sam, my son, on his trip to India. It's an odd experience to read this as his father - a mixture of admiration of his own special voice I've seen develop over the years, a pride in his compassion and openness in seeing exotic poverty, a trace of concern about his desire to dive back into such a foreign experience, and even a bit of sadness at seeing him grow so far beyond his cozy home in Kansas City. And anger, of course, at his false suggestion that we failed to expose him to Canada years ago!

hi.

if you're getting this, you've either expressed interest in hearing about india and seeing some of my photos, or i simply decided that you were one of the people who i needed to tell. in either event, i'm going to give you a brief(ish) little narrative before linking you to my gallery of some of my favorite shots (spoiler: skip to the end if you just want the gallery).

from january 4 to january 15, i went to india with the tisch university scholars program. having never left the country before (my parents insist on some nonsense about me visiting canada at some point in my life, but i don't believe them. in any case, this trip required me to get a passport for the first time, so take that as you will), going to india had been a scary, exciting thought ever since i found out about it in the middle of the summer.

nothing in my life to this point could ever have prepared me for india. i have always prided myself on being rational above all, on trying to understand situations to the best of my ability and trying to know as much as i could. i thought that if i simply read enough and tried hard enough, i could understand something - be it new york, or myself, or any of the shocking and often-awful news stories i wrap myself up in. in india, there was no possibility that i could ever understand anything. we were a group of 20 students and 4 chaperones, and i doubt any of us were adequately prepared for what we would find.

india has a 10 and a half hour time difference from new york. this means that the difference in time zones from new york to kansas city is eleven and a half hours - making it the furthest possible distance i could be from my hometown. chief among things i didn't and don't understand - jet lag. a truly evil being that has made the last week of my life sometimes sleepless, often braindead, and generally lost and confused.

this is how the trip began: after a long series of delays, we took a flight out of new york's JFK airport late on january 4th. this, of course, was the day of the USC-Texas rose bowl game, a contest which we saw the first half of in "samuel adams salutes new york" (notable for promoting "fish and chips" and delivering "fish sticks") and were disappointed to find that the sports bar inside the gate had shut down, so we found out the results of the game mere minutes before getting on the plane, in the form of a live play-by-play over the telephone which had some members of our group and a couple of indians returning home jumping up and down, screeching and hugging each other. hook 'em horns.

the flight was punctuated by random meals of, amusingly enough, indian airplane food, as notably awful and odd as its american counterpart. half-cooked b-grade meat entreés (i opted on the flight home for the vegetarian versions, which were little better) and desserts which tasted like half-remembered recipes of the wonderful indian desserts we had on the trip, cooked by a sleep-deprived chef in a half-stocked kitchen. while sugar syrup may be the cure-all of indian desserts, it turns out that it cannot save what was never there. (a picture of my first entrée - yum?)

our flight landed in london's heathrow airport, which made london the first international soil my feet have ever touched. it was gray. i took a picture of the gate we waited at - i was tired, and for some reason it seemed like the most beautiful thing in the world to me. judge as you will.

when we landed in india, we had to wait for about an hour for our bags to get off the plane. while we sat at the baggage carousel - many of us still half-asleep, giddy to be on the ground but unsure of exactly what we were in for, we noticed that the airport was full of mosquitos. those of the group who were on malaria medication were immediately much happier about their decisions - those of us who weren't immediately went to borrow pills from those who had extras.

when we walked out of the airport, we saw this. gorgeous to walk out into - it was warm, slightly moist, and very hazy, in a way that we first assumed was fog. unfortunately, it turned out to be smog - in some of my later pictures, you can see how out-of-sight the skyline was due to the massive amounts of pollution. india is undoubtedly the most polluted place i've ever been - in delhi, the only city we went to that had taken any steps towards curbing pollution, we were told that the air quality was still the equivalent of smoking two packs of cigarettes a day, and i don't doubt it for a second. while in the more rural places, i developed an awful case of allergies, and the smell of burning cow dung (cow dung is smashed flat, baked in the sun, and used as a heating source and fuel throughout india) was always hanging overhead.

our trip from that point gets a lot harder to describe.

within the first day in mumbai, we saw shocking levels of poverty and shocking amounts of beauty. i spent the entire day, from getting off the airplane to getting home from a club that night, barely sitting down. we were immediately introduced to the beggars and hawkers we would experience throughout the trip - people selling everything from giant balloons (one man: "you like bubbles? you like bubbles? strong!") to braided flowers, which were affixed to just about everything - taxis, rickshaws, cows, buildings, people. there were also a huge number of beggars, most of whom would simply approach us with a hand out and then raise it to their mouths, with wide eyes and a unplaceable _expression.

we saw what was at the time the worst slum i had ever seen - although it was quickly replaced the more i explored. the thing about the slums in india are that they are perhaps the most comfortable places we could go there. as tourists in a large group in the most touristy destinations, we were always an attraction. we were approached by salesmen and beggars everywhere, sometimes to the point of force - little girls tying jasmine-flower necklaces to our wrists, women nearly pushing their babies onto us - or we were a near-celebrity presence, sending lines of schoolchildren into choruses of "helloooooooo!" and asking for our autographs (i gave a couple in the museum we visited, in exchange for this picture.)

the slums, though, were places where we were much more unnoticed, or at least uncommented upon. people approached us to ask for pictures - we walked through a goat market in bandra, where one man blew a tin whistle at us until we took his picture (and yes, his friend behind him is wearing a shirt that says "coffee, chocolate, men - some things are just better rich"). but beyond that, we could go about just looking around, and people would approach us in a more friendly capacity or just go on with their lives.

in the same trip to bandra, we were walking along when we noticed a group of kids playing cricket in an alley. it was amazing - there are few things in the world cooler looking than a well-executed cricket pitch, and the high-flying acrobatics were a nice little breather for us after going through a crowded goat market. after sitting there for a while watching the game, one of the kids offered one of the us the bat. a couple of us took turns at bat, not really understanding what we were supposed to do (a quick conference between us led to the advice "protect the wicket"), but having an overall good time. eventually, the bat made its way to me, and i reluctantly accepted. i lined up in front of the wicket, and readied the bat as the pitch came. just as i was about to make my turn towards cricket greatness, though, the pitch took a surprising bounce and struck me square in the crotch. luckily (ha) we had people around to take pictures (immediately after the hit - notice my pained _expression, and the ball bouncing at a high velocity AWAY from my genitals, and a close-up of my combination of pain and amusement a few moments later).

despite any testicular trauma (although, in all reality i think barring "war injury" there are no wedding-night caveats better than "cricket incident"), it was moments like these which were the best on the trip. for so much of our time in india, we were faced with people whose reaction to our presence we were never really sure about. many people would buddy up to us for a while, talk to us about the places we were seeing and our homes, and then when we thought we were in the midst of an honest conversation ask for money or start a sales pitch. still more would smile at us on the street, look us in the eye and when we thought we were okay, they would approach us with a hand out for a few rupees.

we saw beautiful sights in india, but for a huge majority of the trip we were in a very strange point of interaction with everyone we encountered. our trust had been challenged again and again, and in our later destinations we were told straightforwardly by our tour guide that we wouldn't be safe outside of our hotels. if not for a couple of transcendent moments, like playing cricket in bandra, playing catch with kids at night on chowpatty beach, having a young man at banganga offer me a turn flying his kite, singing songs with a group of indian students on the ferry to elephanta island, or making faces with a young girl at the crawford market, the trip would have been the most isolating experience of my life.

instead, for all the great things we saw, india is for the most part still a complete mystery. we visited four cities - mumbai, jaipur, agra, and delhi, and saw wonderful things - the taj mahal, the red fort, beautiful urban life, and many things which i can't even describe, some beautiful and some sad.

we were never truly immersed in india, and that is what saddens me the most about the trip and most gives me the desire to go back. mark twain said india was "the cradle of the human race, the birthplace of human speech, the mother of history, the grandmother of legend, and the great grand mother of tradition. our most valuable and most instructive materials in the history of man are treasured up in india only" (quote stolen from anna carlsen, whose blog following her current semester abroad in india is required reading). at our best moments, we felt like we could understand a place like india, like our presence could mean something for the kids and students we encountered, like we could be a positive force and that we could really learn something about ourselves.

when i left for india, i thought the trip would be a lot of fun. in the end, it was anything but that - i had a good time, but it was one of the most confusing, often difficult experiences i've ever had. coming back to the US and getting back into normal life - watching "24" and "lost", going to class, checking email - has been stranger than i ever would have expected.

i'm grateful to india for challenging my perceptions and for challenging the way i live my life. i can't wait to go back at some point in the future and i hope that all of you also find ways to challenge yourselves so greatly. i'm thankful that i had this opportunity now, when i still can take off and leave "normal life" for a while without sacrificing my job or my future. instead, i think it's the most important thing i can do.

i realize this message is disjointed and hardly touches upon a lot of my experiences, but think of this as an opening of dialogue. feel free to ask questions, mock my naivete, ask what exactly is going on in some of the pictures, or offer me free airline tickets back to india.

here's the gallery where i have 150 of my favorite photos up. i have about 500 more in addition (let me just say that i'm absolutely in love with my swank new camera), so feel free to come by and ask to see the rest if you're around.

thanks, and i hope you're doing well.

sam

Ooops! Sprint Barks up the Wrong Tree

I want Sprint to be successful. It would be good for Kansas City, and good for my many friends that work there. Some of the nicest people I know work at Sprint (that's a shout-out to Julie, and Charlie and Jim - oops, Jim got laid off). Anyhow, count me as one of Sprint's biggest fans who currently uses T-Mobile.

All that said, Bob Harris lays a powerful, and apparently deserved, smack down on Sprint, sparked by their attempt to score some positive buzz by sending him a free phone.

Frozen Raccoons? Journalism Left on the Docks

From this morning's Kansas City Star comes an illustration of stenography journalism, devoid of the all-important follow-up question.

Restaurant raided

Kansas City police found several thousand dollars’ worth of stolen equipment, along with frozen raccoons, in a local fish restaurant Thursday afternoon.

A warrant was issued around 12:30 p.m. at Louisiana Fresh Fish Dock, 4520 Blue Parkway.

An earlier arrest led police to the restaurant. They later searched the restaurant owner’s Raymore home and recovered more stolen property. Officers took the owner into custody.

In all, police filled four cargo vans with the items.

They discovered 28 tractor tires worth $500 each, 10 new items from Sears, construction tools and other goods.

Police have not determined the exact worth of the stolen goods.

What kind of reporter manages to find out the value of tractor tires, but fails to include follow-up on the frozen raccoons?? Inquiring minds need to know this stuff. How many raccoons? Any apparent cause of death? Did the menu at the Louisianna Fresh Fish Dock include any mysterious or surprising items, like "Mystery Meat" or "Masked Fish"?

Marsalis on Hope and New Orleans

While the unfortunate words of Mayor Nagin have been capturing the headlines, my daughter IMed me from New Orleans two nights ago, thrilled by the words of Wynton Marsalis before his concert on Martin Luther King Day. She said it was the best speech she's ever heard. It appeared on the Tulane website yesterday - here are a few excerpts, but you should invest a few minutes in reading its inspirational entirety, or watching the video:

Dr. King worked in the shadow of slavery and discrimination. We are in the shadow of the worst natural disaster to ever befall America.

What better way to celebrate him than by rising to a challenge?
. . .
Most of you have returned at a time when many would have stayed away. And now that you are here, you have the opportunity to set a new tone, not only for New Orleans, but for our country. Remember, many a revolution started with the actions of a few. For example, only 56 men signed the Declaration of Independence of which Ben Franklin said, “We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.” A few hanging together can lead a nation to change.

You know, we love to patronize young people with slogans like “the young will lead the way” – when actually, the young very seldom lead anything in our country today. It’s been quite some time since a younger generation pushed an older one to a higher standard.
. . .
Don’t be disheartened by the destruction of the hurricane or by political ineptitude or even by the apathy of others. Remember, we are all home. That is why I urge you not to let this moment pass without sending a clear message to your peers and elders around the world, “New Orleans will be rebuilt, and it will be rebuilt with an intensity, with an intelligence, with an impatience and with a freshness that only serious young people can bring.” One of the great lessons of the Civil Rights Movement – when the minds and hearts of enough citizens are focused on change – America changes very quickly.
. . .
Look around the room…and I want you all to understand that there are forces all around you who wish to exploit division, rob you of your freedom, and tell you what to think. They are afraid of change…some of these forces are even within you. But I’m here to tell you, when young folks are motivated to action, when they act with insight, soul and fire, they can rekindle the weary spirit of a slumbering nation. It’s time somebody woke us up.

People asked whether I was nervous to have my daughter return to New Orleans. I'm not. What better place for someone as strong, compassionate, smart, determined and wise as she?

A Place of Melancholy Taken Down

In the early 90s, I visited Los Angeles regularly on business, and stayed on Wilshire Boulevard near the old Ambassador Hotel. In the evening, sometimes, I would walk past the boarded up hotel where Bobby Kennedy's assassination changed the course of world history. The place was creepy - a weirdly charismatic and silent beacon of lost opportunity and hope.

I was 8 years old when Sirhan Sirhan shot Bobby Kennedy and cut short the first joyful, hopeful political campaign I ever noticed. Years later, when I shook the hand of Rosie Greer, the man who captured and rescued the assassin, I was overwhelmed, and unable to speak.

They've torn it down.

What will have this resonance for the coming generation? New Orleans? Abu Ghraib? Ground Zero?

Time marches on. The Ambassador is being replaced by a school. I think that's a good thing.

Keep Me Alive till March

On Saturday, I went to the Tivoli and saw a trailer for Neil Young's upcoming concert film, Heart of Gold. Just in case something awful happens to me between now and the arrival of this movie in Kansas City, please don't disconnect the life support until I have a chance to see this movie.

Neil Young's shaky voice is real as the day is long, and makes this world a better, more compassionate place. If you are one of the unfortunate souls who hasn't been able to really listen to Neil, I understand. It's fingernails on a chalk board. But you'll be richer for getting past your initial reaction. Kind of like relaxing your chest when you're out in the cold, you can relax past the assault, and breathe easier.

Alito Must Be Stopped!

I admit that I don't like Alito, and I don't want him sitting on the Supreme Court. All that was before this, though. I don't see how anyone can support him now.

(Go read the link. Trust me on this one. You'll appreciate it.)

President Bush or President Logan?

Both are weak, stupid, and surrounded by smarter people who manipulate them at will. I think I prefer President Bush. At least we know that his top men are corrupt. Logan hasn't figured that out yet.

Star Comics - Tiny Pleasure

The Sunday Star yesterday shrank its comics page from 6 to 4 pages, without dumping any strips (at least not any that I read). Why is it that when I was younger, the comics were full-size and music came with full-sized album art, and now that I'm into bifocal age, comics are micro and lyrics in CD pamphlets are illegible?

I know, I know, I'm not aging gracefully . . .

Maryland, Wal-Mart and Medicine - Hate the Game, not the Playa

Usually, I enjoy a good round of Wal-Mart bashing. They're big, they're arrogant, they screw everyone they can, and they get rich by doing so. They're like an insurance company with a smiley face. I don't shop there if I can possibly avoid it.

All that said, I have sympathy for the devil right now. Maryland has passed a law over the governor's veto requiring all companies with over 10,000 Maryland employees (hint, Wal-Mart is the only one) to spend at least 8 percent of their payroll on health benefits -- or put an equivalent amount of money directly into the state's health program for the poor.

Why single Wal-Mart out for our health care system woes? In an era where automakers are building plants outside of the US because paying for health care adds $1500 to the cost of a car, why point to Wal-Mart? In an era where the US spends 16 percent of its economic output on health care (the highest percentage ever in our history and way above what any other country pays), why point to Wal-Mart?

Our health care system is neither the best in the world, nor the most efficient. Smart people need to work hard to come up with real solutions. Politicians need to find the courage to promote those solutions in the face of fear, ignorance and vested interests.

Blaming Wal-Mart won't help.

Malkin - Wrongly Arguing for More Dead Soldiers

Michelle Malkin is one of the pundits who most annoys me. She has attempted to stand out by following along in the Ann Coulter shock-and-shrill notice-me mold. From supporting internment camps to piling lies on Michael Schiavo, she is usually best ignored, or simply laughed at.

Today, let's laugh at her.

In her most recent column, she chooses Hillary Clinton to attack. This may seem kind of like shooting fish in a barrel for her, since the sort of people who read her column love to hate "Hildabeast". In reality, though, choosing Senator Clinton as a target is more challenging than one would expect, because that horse has been flayed to a skeleton in the fevered mind of the right-wing zealot. Going after Hillary (they prefer to stick with her first name - it makes her a little less scary) is big-game hunting, and, to borrow an old joke about Elizabeth Taylor's husband, the challenge isn't in doing the job, it is in making it interesting.

For whatever reason, though, Malkin (or her husband) decided to attack the motives of Senator Clinton in calling for hearings into the failure of the Pentagon to order side panels in soldiers' armor. She begins her attack with a bit of self-loathing sexism and misogyny:

Move over, Joan Rivers. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton is vying for the title of undisputed queen of the cosmetic makeover. Having undergone a cultural warrior collagen injection with her recent crusades against violent video games and flag-burning, Hillary has traded in her ratty black pantsuit for a new politicized accessory to enhance her electoral figure: Body armor.

She then focuses her attention on a couple of soldiers who complain about how heavy armor is, and wraps up her piece with a final bit of sexist crap: "She is too busy playing dress-up to listen to the troops she says she cares so much about now."

All this garbage is made funny because it turns out that Malkin is wrong, and, amid the criticism stirred up by Senator Clinton and others, the Pentagon is shipping 230,000 side-protecting armor inserts to our troops in Iraq. While Malkin was having fun mocking Senator Clinton's femininity, Senator Clinton was at work, saving the lives of our troops.

In the coming months, we will not hear about the troops who survived an attack because of the inserts. Those victories will be both silent and meaningful. I only wish Malkin would choose to be one or the other.

(Update: To make matters worse, she committed plagiarism!)

Crappy Day So Far

On the road at 5:15 to drop my daughter off at the airport and officially become empty-nesters. Happy for her, sad for the parents. We'll miss her.

On the way back, a suicidal, elephant-sized deer jumped in front of the car on the ramp between I-29 and 9 (or whatever that roadway is that takes you down to the Broadway Bridge. I almost swerved around it, but wound up just clipping it on the hind leg. Everything wound up okay, but still . . .

Decided nothing would rally the spirits quite like a breakfast burrito from Pancho's. But Pancho's was out of burritos this morning.

Then, back home, Deffenbaugh came by before 7:30, and also before I got the trash out.

Just goes to show you ought to sleep until 9 every chance you get.

Time to Start Saving

Sorry, kids, time to come home from your expensive colleges and get a job. Sorry, charities, I can't spare the change. I have to start saving for this:
Word is, this should be available in the 2009 model year.

Dean Embarrasses Blitzer on Republican Talking Point

Even though a lot of conservative analysts are admitting that the Abramoff scandal is owned by the Republican party, CNN's Wolf Blitzer tried to spin it as a bipartisan black eye. Unfortunately for him, Howard Dean was prepared and loaded for bear:

BLITZER: Should Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff, who's now pleaded guilty to bribery charges among other charges, a Republican lobbyist in Washington — should the Democrats who took money from him give that money to charity or give it back?

DEAN: There are no Democrats who took money from Jack Abramoff. Not one. Not one single Democrat. Every person named in this scandal is a Republican, every person under investigation is a Republican, every person indicted is a Republican. This is a Republican finance scandal. There is no evidence that Jack Abramoff ever gave any Democrat any money, and we've looked through all those FEC reports to make sure that's true.

BLITZER: [Stammering] But through various Abramoff-related organizations, and outfits, a bunch of Democrats did take money that presumably originated with Jack Abramoff.

DEAN: That's not true either. There's no evidence for that either, there's no evidence...

BLITZER: What about Senator, what about, what about, what about Senator Byron Dorgan?

DEAN: Senator Byron Dorgan and some others took money from Indian tribes. They're not agents of Jack Abramoff. There's no evidence that I've seen that Jack Abramoff directed any contributions to Democrats. I know the Republican National Committee would like to get the Democrats involved in this. They're scared. They should be scared. They haven't told the truth, and they have misled the American people, and now it appears they're stealing from Indian tribes. The Democrats are not involved in this.

BLITZER: [Long pause, apparently getting direction in his earpiece] [Sigh] Unfortunately, we, uh, Mr. Chairman, we've got to leave it right there.

Thanks to Past Peak for the transcript.

Why Should I, a Law-Abiding Citizen, Care Whether the NSA Spies on Terrorists?

The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.

The Fourth Amendment holds an uneasy place in the American understanding. It is the Fourth Amendment that gives rise to many of the "technicalities" that free 'undeserving" criminal defendants on occasion. For a law-abiding citizen, the Fourth Amendment serves as a visible irritant and an invisible protector. Unsurprisingly, the visible tends to capture the attention.

One of the most appealing and dangerous arguments surrounding the right to privacy is the thought that good, law-abiding citizens don't need it - if you don't have anything to hide, why should you fear a little snooping?

This argument's appeal is heightened in a climate of fear. It makes sense that if the government spies on everyone, bad guys with secrets to hide will get caught, while the good people won't be harmed. It makes a lot of sense to many people to loosen up the restrictions on the government, whether it be the local police or the NSA, if it can prevent crime.

This "common sense" gives rise to the great false hope of the Republicans in the current furor surrounding the NSA's domestic spying program. They hope that Americans will accept that if the Bush administration feels it must engage in secret, warrantless spying on Americans to keep us safe, then it should do so. Indeed, Joe Klein makes a constitutional and political fool of himself in Time magazine this week, opining that (and I'm not making this quotation up) "until the Democrats make clear that they will err on the side of aggressiveness in the war against al-Qaeda, they will probably not regain the majority in Congress or the country." By this view, unless the Democrats show that they will aggressively violate the Fourth Amendment with the same reckless disregard as the Republicans, Americans will view them as weak in the war on terror.

I have far more faith in my fellow Americans than Joe Klein and the Republicans do.

There are three reasons that Americans ultimately support the Fourth Amendment. First, we know the government will ultimately abuse the power we grant it. Second, the police, FBI, NSA and other security agents are too stupid to get it right. Third, and most important, we don't want anybody messing with us. America has a deep-seated, defiant sense of independence from its government, and will not long suffer being treated like subjects of a superior power.

History shows us that the government will inevitably abuse its power to torment its political and social enemies, and the very secrecy surrounding the NSA provides the perfect environment for corruption to overtake even the best-intentioned plans. Already, speculation has arisen that the plan was used to spy on journalists and political enemies. Even if this specific allegation is not true, anyone with a passing familiarity with Kissinger, or J. Edgar Hoover, or even the allegations against the Clintons should realize that perversion will overcome legitimacy. Even in the wildly improbably case that the Bush Administration really is only using this secret program to spy on people with real terrorist connections, is any among us so trusting as to believe that it will not be turned to gather information on political enemies as the Bush administration seeks to hand its legacy off to another, as yet unnamed Republican administration in 2008? What on earth could justify such naive faith in a power-hungry presidency?

Another reason we cannot consent to government spying so easily is because the government will screw it up. Innocent people with bland names like Ted Kennedy and James Moore are on the no-fly list. Extraordinary rendition has been used to torture innocent people. If secret warrantless spying continues, how long before some uniformed jerk comes knocking on your door because your wife asked you to pick up some coke on the way home? The Bush administration has demonstrated incompetence at every turn, at every important task it has undertaken, and only a complete buffoon would believe that it could undertake a program of this magnitude without screw-ups that would make even Brownie find a sense of shame and blush.

Finally, and most importantly, Americans hold to the Fourth Amendment because we don't like people messing with our business. The same person that says s/he has nothing to hide from the NSA will won't tell his or her own mother how much s/he makes. In October, some miscreant burglarized our house, and we, like every other burglary target, were more angry about the sense of violation than about any item that was taken from us. "Don't tread on me" appeared on the Gadsden Flag in the American Revolution, and that defiant spirit lives on. A typical santimonious, law-abiding Republican might be frightened enough by Islam to say that s/he is willing to surrender privacy, but when s/he finds out that the government is reading their bank statements or tracking their car, you can count on yelps of protest. Even the law-abiding among us (and few of us are truly law-abiding all the time) have secrets that we don't want to share with goverment agents.

The right wing is overestimating the level of fear it has engendered in the American public, or it has underestimated the courage of the American public in holding to its right to privacy. America is not going to accept secret warrantless spying on Americans, and the Fourth Amendment will survive the Bush administration and the climate of fear it has fanned.

What Are You Afraid Of?

I'm not really afraid of Islamic terrorists. Are you?

I believe that they will strike in America again. They will come up with some dastardly deed that will shock and horrify us, and kill some of us. It will probably be happen somehow that the average person isn't really thinking of. Poisoned water. Explosives on a bridge. Electric grid shutdown.

It'll be bad, and bodies will be buried. I hope our government does what it can within the law to prevent it, and I support their efforts. But I don't believe they can succeed forever. Something bad will happen.

But I'm not all that afraid of it. Even with a son living in New York - as likely a target as any - the fear doesn't haunt my waking or slumbering hours.

Maybe my lack of panic came from traveling in England and Ireland during the heyday of the IRA. There's nothing you can do about it if someone sitting next to you at a pub or a bus station is going to ignite his backpack. So, be alert, but, in the words of Julius Caesar, "Cowards die many times before their deaths; The valiant never taste of death but once." Don't sweat what you can't control.

My lack of panic causes me to reach different policy positions than those who live in dread of what they call "Islamofascists". Media Lies, for instance, is fairly typical of right wing bloggers in that he has no problem with the president doing whatever he deems necessary to protect us. He warned me, "The terrorists who murder and maim are only the visible surface of a vast iceberg. Underneath is a vast organization that seeks to implement Muslim shariah law throughout the world." Yeah, that's probably right, but we're out there trying to spread our views throughout the world, too, and we've got some crazy people workign for us, too.

Relax, breathe steadily, think about the fact that people the world over are pretty much like you, and we can find a way throught this challenge without wetting ourselves. We have Pat Roberts believing in assassination, and they have lunatics who believe in beheadings. If the good and decent elements of our respective countries keep their heads about them, we can find a way to coexist.

But I am afraid. I'm afraid of our government, and how it is doing its best to keep us in a state of unthinking fear. Over the long term, I fear our government far more than I fear the terrrosists. Our government running amock stands a far better chance of messing with my life than some misguided youth with a bomb strapped to his chest. George W. Bush arrogating powers to himself and his corrupt administration will damage our country more than any terrorist act imaginable.

McCaskill v. Talent - The Y Factor is Out

Traditional wisdom says that men do better than women in outstate Missouri, where rural voters are more comfortable with male authority figures than with women in charge. I'm expecting that wisdom to get set on its ear this year, because the gender roles are reversed in the McCaskill v. Talent race.

Ultimately, it's not about Y-chromosomes, though, it's about who voters think has more vigor, more ease with themselves, more of a "kick-ass" attitude. Missourians don't want to be represented in the Senate by some milk-toast school marm. They want a "regular guy" - someone who, when push comes to shove, is able to shove back. In 1992, Kit Bond had no problem with Geri Rothman-Serot, because she didn't have that quality. In 1982, Harriett Woods failed to project an image of strength against the straightforward John Danforth. And Talent gained his Senate seat only by defeating a motherly sweet widow, Jeanne Carnahan.

Look at these pictures:
Vs.
If you're playing pool at Booche's, and a fight breaks out, which one do you want taking your back? The smooth-complected, puffy-lipped mama's boy, or the fiery former prosecutor?

I'm not saying that Missouri politics comes down to who would win in a cage match, but I'm not denying that, for a certain percentage of voters, that's an unstated factor. And I'm also saying that when voters see McCaskill and Talent side-by-side, those voters are going to see that tomboy McCaskill has a lot more grit than sissy Talent. And it looks like the polls are already showing that I'm right.

Off to India

I took Sam to the airport today, and he just called from LaGuardia. He'll spend the night in NYC, and tomorrow he'll fly off to Mumbai for an amazing 12 day, all-expense-paid/no-expense-spared tour of India, part of his honors program at NYU.

It's an odd feeling - we're going to miss him horribly. He is tremendous fun to have around, whip-smart and full of funny cultural references and real intellectual curiosity. He leaves a hole in our house when he's not here.

And now he's on his way to India. India - a subcontinent I know little of, but know he will enjoy immensely. My sorrow at having him leave is at odds with my joy that the tender, curious little boy who I played "Where in the World is Carmen San Diego" with is going to spend the night in a hotel overlooking the Taj Mahal. He will see, hear, smell, touch and taste things I cannot imagine.

I'm glad he's going. I want him home. Such is the mindset of the father of a little boy who's now a big boy with colossal ambitions.

Travel safely, Sam, and I know you'll make the most of your mind-boggling opportunities. We couldn't ask for more, and we won't ask you to do less. We love you, and we're proud of you.

Blunt, Bond and Talent Fund Project for Republican Donor, Placing Carthage, MO in Awful Stench - Stinking Corporate Republican Turkeys

The residents of Cathage, Mo, are paying the price for the cronyism of their Congressional delegation. Roy Blunt, acknowledged to be one of the most corrupt members of Congress, Senator Bond, and Senator Talent teamed up to funnel $5 million in pork money from the Consolidated Appropriations Act for Fiscal Year 2004 to Brian Appel, a wealthy Republican donor from New York. With that money, Appel formed a joint venture with ConAgra, a huge supporter of Bond, Talent and Blunt, and built a plant to convert turkey waste into oil.

While this technology was touted as something new, in fact, a plant accomplishing much the same goal has existed in Duluth, MN. But, if you're a big Republican donor, and you have the ear of a corrupt hick from Missouri, $5 million dollars in tax funds is no big deal.

The plant has been a dismal failure. They claimed our tax investment would produce oil at $15/barrel (though the profit would all stay with Mr. Appel and ConAgra), but it has only produced a trickle of wildly expensive oil.

What it has produced, though, is stink. Massive, vomit-inducing, permeating waves of stink, sickening the town. This is not the metaphorical stench of corruption that surrounds this whole deal (did I mention that Kit Bond is mentioned on the parent company's website as a supporter? Or that former CIA Director James Woolsey is involved with the company?).

This is good old-fashioned stink, so bad that even Baby Blunt had to finally shut it down. Only after his daddy helped reward the polluter with another $12 million in tax money to pay for scrubbers to unsuccessfully tone down the emissions from the plant.

Let me sum this up: Republicans gave tax dollars to a major republican donor who used it to get more tax dollars while covering a small Missouri town in stench, in a failed attempt to get rich off of turkey waste.

If you live in Missouri, and you vote for Bond, Talent or Blunt, this is what you support.