Letters to the Editor
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War Crimes
These are the stories that truly enrage me. Every generation has to do its part to keep this experiment in freedom and justice called America alive. I won't rest until all the members of this criminal administration who have anything whatsoever to do with these atrocities are brought to trial for their war crimes. It will happen.
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Future of American Health Care, Maybe
We have our Byzantine health care system. Most of us are not fancy, important people. Maybe soon, most of us will get this same lack of treatment, because we are not important enough. Perhaps only rich famous people will get care and treatment.
Right now, this week, I get okay care from a good eye doctor. I have pretty good health insurance, a relic of what all American automotive workers used to get. My good doctor probably never would have met me without my insurance. I just would stay home with a hot washcloth over my eye, as many Americans do.
Shame on W. Bush and shame on everybody who still likes him. This is a terrible story about the failure of American compassion. You are next, you W. Bush people. Most of you are not important enough or rich enough. Tough luck! May you die young in a glorious Neocon war, rather than getting old in the USA.
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I'm kinda confused
About a month ago on the Guantanamo blog you (Gorman) reported that Al-Ghizzawi had been infected with HIV while in Guantanamo... did that turn out to be false? What is he really dying of? I don't get it. Seems like parts of the story are missing.
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Sickening Indeed
Just when you think maybe we're starting to turn a corner with respect to the many crimes against humanity our very own almost-representative-government makes us all complicit in, another shocker comes down the pike. Who ARE these people committing such atrocities in our name and just how did their parents raise and/or neglect them? I always wondered how people in the totalitarian/authoritarian states of the early-to-mid-20th century could allow them to come about in the first place, and then allow them to continue. I fear we're answering that question by living through it ourselves and that only the good work of people like this article's author, H. Candace Gorman, can prevent a repeat of such tragic history on an even broader level for which Guantanamo is but a microcosm.
All of which is a long way of saying that it would be nice if Salon could include some sort of postscript to the article to let us know how the better angels of our nature can contribute to help defray Ms. Gorman's expenses in her defense of all that we have held dear as a nation since our Constitution was written and personally since we were old enough to know right from wrong.
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"IMPEACH THE WAR CRIMINALS - THROW THEM IN JAIL!"
I share Armagednoutahere's rage at and utter disgust for the GW Bush criminal administration - this rage and disgust is shared by a huge number of people around the world. I truly applaud his/her decision not to rest until all the members of GW Bush and Gang who have anything to do with the atrocities are brought to trial for their war crimes.
In order to "really make it happen", there has to be something considerably more that that - those are very good intentions, but they are nothing more at the moment than good intentions. What you need is a practical means to design and implement effective Action Planning towards such a worthy Mission as: "To bring GW Bush and members of his war criminal administration to book for their crimes".
The issue is: How to translate worthy intentions shared by a number of people into an effective Action Plan to accomplish a difficult and ambitious Mission?
I suggest that all those who feel as does Armagednoutahere should learn how to put their best ideas together effectively in pursuit of an ambitious and difficult Mission such as the above. I suggest that what is crucially needed is a small addition to our conventional prose (what we are now using at this forum). The difficulty with pure prose is that it is 'relentlessly linear' - while real life, the systems and ideas we deal with in real life are very complexly related in a multilinear fashion. What happens in thought and discussions using pure prose is that one person is discussing one branch of a complex structure, while another person is focussing on another - and there is often no meeting ground between the two, even though they may be in agreement on fundamental issues. What happens in pure prose discussions is that, too often, people just go "'round and 'round the mulberry bush", so to speak (each reiterating ad infinitum his/her own arguments that are generally irrelevant to others involved - because they are thinking on different 'branches of the issue'). There is immense frustration visited on all involved and hindrance of all progress on any identified Mission.
I suggest that something I call 'prose + structural graphics' (p+sg) can help us overcome the problems associated with thought and discussion on complex issues in the prose mode. The 'structural graphics' can serve to clarify to all involved the linkages between the many factors in the systems under discussion. 'Prose + structural graphics' is based on the seminal contributions of Professor John N. Warfield to systems science - more information about Warfield's work is available at http://www.jnwarfield.com and at the "Warfield Collection" held at the library of George Mason University, Fairfax, VA (http://www.gmu.edu/library/specialcollections/warfield.htm).
Based on Warfield's work, I have developed a uniquely powerful aid to problem solving and decision making that, in its 'management avatar', I call the 'One Page Management System' (OPMS). The OPMS enables anyone to identify a challenging Mission (e.g. "Impeach GW Bush and his Gang of War Criminals!") - and then, to integrate available good ideas supporting that Mission into effective Action Planning to accomplish it. What is remarkable is that because the linkages between issues is made clear to all, a great deal of the useless and irritating rehashing of previously made arguments (which is seen in most prose discussions) can be done away with, and real and visible progress can be made towards an agreed Mission. (There is a small amount of learning required to use these tools effectively on real-world issues - and a fair bit of 'unlearning').
I'd be happy to make available more information about OPMS to anyone who writes me at gs_chandy (at) yahoo (dot) com. If that initial exposure interests or intrigues you, I shall be happy to make freely available (for a worthy Mission like "Impeaching the War Criminals!") copies of the prototype OPMS software for download and installation. I shall also be happy to provide (limited) guidance on how to use the software along with suggestions of how to interpret the models created and "what to do next" at each stage. [I'll not ask for any fees or consultancy charges for this laudable issue!].
I have found that, while this Salon Forum is most useful in providing exposure to a great many worthy and useful ideas on issues, it very rarely (if ever) enables people to get together effectively on issues such as "Impeaching the War Criminals!"). Perhaps the powers-that-be at Salon might like to investigate just how this kind of forum might be made more practically useful for such laudable goals?
--- GSC