Almost a winner

A Saturday night full of bingo, corned beef & cabbage and a little too much dessert & soda made for a wonderful diversion, even if I was just one number away from a large diamond BINGO.

I've been as attentive as usual to all the goings-on in the news this week. Rather than look at politics and other news in a glass half-empty, cynical and jaded point of view, I'm going to approach what I've read/seen by giving thanks.

I'm thankful Jared Polis is in Congress and that Constance McMillen is standing for what she knows is right.

I'm thankful Eric Massa spoke the truth instead of hiding and denying it. I've been on the receiving end of that sort of harassment at work and feel blessed it was not as severe and humiliating as it must have been for his staff member.

I'm thankful that Roy Ashburn also spoke his truth when his secret was found out. It could have turned out to be more cringe-worthy than it was and, while Massa's drama continues to play out, most people have nearly forgotten about Ashburn's incident because he dealt with it quickly and concisely.

I'm thankful for Hilary Clinton for tapping even a small hole into what seemed before a solid, flawless fort of support for Israel. I won't pretend to understand the complexities of the relationship between Israel and Palestinians, but to swear a blind allegiance to one side of any conflict without a full appreciation for why the other side does what it does will let one fall for anything their ally does. I don't expect her or anyone in U.S. politics to find a solution that works for all parties. That she flew in the face of convention tells me she's not nearly as predictable as others have been in the past.

Finally, as odd as it sounds, I'm thankful Keith Olbermann took the time to talk about his father's illness and the fact his family was able to talk about how his father wanted to be cared for when he was too ill to speak for himself. While his father is done fighting, I hope for others this starts a discussion that ends with a Living Will. I've had one for 15 years and it's something I have never worried about since.

We can choose to let the news weigh down and exasperate us or celebrate those in the news who help us to appreciate what we have and challenge us to do something outside of our comfort zone.

Follow up on "Disappeared . . ."

Nothing on any of the government's websites, but I'm not surprised and I just don't have the focus to hunt around for hours on end.

I did find, off of the ACLU biography of Mohamed Farag Bashmilah, a "reply brief" regarding the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit filed by the plantiffs (ACLU attorneys, etc.) to ask the court to overturn a previous decision in the case.  The document was signed on 9/25/08.  I'm not an attorney myself, but from what I could make out, they did a great job convincing me to overturn the decision, if I was that Court, of course.

What I was most curious about was the timing of today's post on Huffington Post.  Best I could figure was that the timing had to do with a press release issued by the ACLU on 2/9/09 and another one released yesterday.  My guess is we'll hear soon about what action is coming soon.

It's one thing to hear in abstract about renditions and the role our government and the corporate world may have played.  When I read first hand accounts from a survivor of rendition and one of the soldiers at Gitmo, it makes it so much more difficult to keep treating this as just another news story.  

I'm wondering who else might be feeling the same as I am and if they're in a better position to do something about it.

"Court sides with ACLU"

No, you're not over-medicated or hallucinating or reading a Canadian blog.

The suffocating and strangling fog that has fallen over the U.S is slowly starting to lift and burn off.  A little ashamed to say I had to read the article about the federal appeals court ruling yesterday out loud in order to understand the reason for the lawsuit which led to yesterday's ruling and why this appeals court decision was so important.

In a nutshell, if the FBI issued a National Security Letter looking for information, the entity receiving the letter could not say a word about the request to anyone.  This, of course, lead to heaven-only-knows how many constitutional abuses being done where no one could see, hear or read about it.

No word on how long it will take before abuses under this portion of the Patriot Act will be revealed.  I will wait patiently . . no . . I freakin' cannot WAIT to see what kind of absurdity comes out because of yesterday's ruling. I'll do my best to not be surprised, but I have a lousy track record of that when it comes to things like these over the last 7-8 years.