The Unimaginable Life

Jesse Ventura, a former Navy SEAL who was waterboarded as part of his training, says unequivocally that waterboarding is torture. He also makes an offer to Dick Cheney:

This photo essay is a retrospective look at my time on the campaign trail as a blogger during Barack Obama’s campaign for president. I am suspending operation of my blog, Brilliant Politics, with an eye toward reviving it during the 2012 presidential campaign. I was happy to have my great friend, collaborator, and photographer, Martin Saunders, with me on some of those trips. His political photography of our two trips to Iowa can be seen here and here.

Brilliant Politics was always a part-time and intermittent blog, given my time limitations. But I have to say that our timing was perfect. I was one of the first persons to publicly suggest that Barack Obama should run for president, on October 10, 2006, in this commentary on public radio, “My Daughter the First Black President,” although I did so with a heavy dose of irony. About seven months later, I wrote this justification for starting Brilliant Politics:

It might seem oxymoronic to some to seek brilliance in contemporary politics. We will, nevertheless, undertake this daunting task because the United States, now suffering through a bipartisan endarkenment in the early years of the 21st century, so badly needs the light of brilliant ideas and the radiance of brilliant leaders.

Well, I think that I hit the bullseye, and I believe that we all are very fortunate because we elected a brilliant president. Some of us worked harder than others to ensure that outcome. Now let’s make sure that he follows through on those brilliant ideas.

-CDP

The Telegraph reports:

The images from the European Space Agency (ESA) revealed that an estimated 700 square kilometres of the Wilkins Ice Shelf have been lost, with satellite data last week showing the first icebergs had started to calve off its northern front.

The indications that the ice shelf has become unstable follow the collapse three weeks ago of the ice bridge between the Antarctic mainland and Charcot Island, with the loss of around 330 square kilometres of ice.

The following video has nothing to do with ice loss, but it does give a sense of the astounding beauty of the place:

Antarctica from Darek Sepiolo on Vimeo.

It seems to me that many Republicans, at least those in Washington and in the media, are becoming hysterical. In other words, they have been overcome with emotion, irrationality, and, in the worst cases, paranoia. At a time when Barack Obama has the highest presidential approval ratings in 20 years, Republicans accuse him of socialism, fascism, and one-party rule. Is it any wonder then that people are leaving the Republican Party?

Robert Gates , our current Secretary of Defense, held the same job under George W. Bush.  Why did Obama keep him on? Read Gates’ article, “A Balanced Strategy: Reprogramming the Pentagon for a New Age” in a recent issue of Foreign Affairs and you will understand the reason.  Here is the key passage:

What is dubbed the war on terror is, in grim reality, a prolonged, worldwide irregular campaign — a struggle between the forces of violent extremism and those of moderation. Direct military force will continue to play a role in the long-term effort against terrorists and other extremists. But over the long term, the United States cannot kill or capture its way to victory. Where possible, what the military calls kinetic operations should be subordinated to measures aimed at promoting better governance, economic programs that spur development, and efforts to address the grievances among the discontented, from whom the terrorists recruit. It will take the patient accumulation of quiet successes over a long time to discredit and defeat extremist movements and their ideologies.