For Solarbird: Torture States Love To Hold Hands With Other Torture States

About three weeks ago, Brigadier General Thomas Hartmann, the Defense Department's chief legal advisor on Guantanamo Bay, testified before Congress that he was unwilling to say, clearly and loudly, that if a U.S. soldier were captured by enemy forces and subjected to waterboarding then that would be torture.

Apparently, if he says that their doing it to us is torture, then our doing it to them is also torture.

There has been considerable tit-for-tat between Hartmann and a colleague of his, the former chief prosecutor from the Office of Military Commissions, Morris D. Davis, over the issue. Davis had resigned his commission over the issue back in October.

Well, now that Hartmann has opened his mouth, another soldier has left the battlefield. Lt. Cmdr. Andrew Williams resigned his commission two weeks after Hartmann's testimony.

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And for a serious giggle, check out U.S. Christian not prepared for coming persecution, in which some minister claims that American Christians are "very naive" in believing that persecution isn't coming their way.

Yeah, right. These people make up 88% of the population (but 92% of the prison population, hmm...), 96% of Congress and goddess only knows how many in lower state and municipal boards (but I'm willing to bet it's at least 88%). How the hell do these people survive the cognitive dissonance of being the overwhelming majority and yet cringing every time someone says, "Have a happy holiday?"

Zombie to-do list: "[ ] Rot"

A friend of mine (who shall remain nameless because the post was friends-locked) echoed a very common sentiment in a New Year's Resolution: "I resolve to end this year with a shorter to-do list than when I entered it." It's a noble sentiment-- "I shall get things done!"-- but it's also a misguided sentiment that, I believe, leads to ennui and spiritual malaise.

I mean, imagine what this resolution meant, if you kept it year after year: eventually you'd reach an empty to-do list. I can't imagine that: I can't imagine having nothing to do. In fact, I'll go one step further:

Only the dead have nothing to do.

I would love to get everything done on my current to-do list. But that doesn't mean that there won't be more to do. Gods know I'll find more things in which to be a dilettante.

And if your to-do list is getting shorter, review your incompletion trigger list and make sure you haven't missed anything.

I resolve that every item on my current to-do list will be Specific, Measurable, Acheivable, Realistic, and Time-constrained (SMART). And then I resolve to schedule each one, making sure that I know how much time it will take to finish each, and then schedule accordingly. By the end of the year, as many of those as I can fit in a year will be done.

I also resolve to find a random number of things I would enjoy doing such that, by the end of the year, my to-do list will be longer. And more fun.

Walk with a wide stance!

If you're like me and have watched a lot of old movies or re-runs of such great American Sunday afternoon fare as The Lone Ranger or Tarzan (or heck, even the Three Stooges), you might have seen depictions of old men with their bow legs trying to walk with a strange, hip-swinging gait. I used to wonder what they were trying to say with that.

It turns out that that's just how old guys walk. At least, old guys like me who have a tight, constrained walk and let their gluteus medius deteriorate completely. That's the gait you adopt to avoid moving the kneecap and hurting the joint, and it's about the best you can acheive.

I discovered this unpleasant fact last night when I did my usual nightly workout, upped the weight by half a pound and upped the time to thirty second holds on the front kick. I wore out my medius so much that's how I walked for the next half hour or so.

Went to the gym today. Did heavy bagwork to warm up, then did legs and abs. Upped my reps as I don't seem to be able to up the weights the way I wanted to; hopefully, a few weeks of this will see some improvement. Not too many newbies (yet), and they're easy to spot.