Here are the topics for this blog: more torture?; small venues; the latter day Eugene V. Debs; the less well-to-do; public discourse; Skokie revisited.

Our sordid torture story. In discussing the US's use of torture following 9/11, Michael Tomasky says,

"There exist four mechanisms in our democracy by which the state can be compelled to live up to what we call, rather farcically ..., 'our ideals.' There is the will of the people; the resolve of the political class; the courage of the media; and the authority of the courts. With regard to our torture regime, all four failed, and failed completely....Cheney is a figure of horror and ridicule these days (although by no means to everyone...But can we honestly say that back in 2002, 2003, 2004, he wasn’t carrying out the people’s will? We get the government we deserve, de Tocqueville said. And in the Bush-Cheney regime, we got exactly that."

On the List (OTL).  Check out this site, scroll to the bottom and see if there is a OTL in your's  or a near-by town. My wife stumbled across this and we have enjoyed these small venue shows. For a year's subscription, you can attend various performances in your area; you can subscribe for 2 or 4 tickets. Then you check the site to see what's available for the coming week, send an email request, get confirmation, show up at the door, and check in -- all in/all done. (Tuesday seems a good day for checking here in Denver).  Since joining we have thoroughly enjoyed quite a few small venue performances, more than enough to redeem our subscription price.
     Our last foray was a play (April 30th) at Aurora's Vintage Theater, a nicely performed two-actor play, "Six dance lessons in 6 nights." Innovation is a key element for small venue production and this past performance was no exception. Without a curtain what do you do between scene changes? In "Six dance.......," the actors were shown short vignettes of the dance of the night on the back wall. Our attention was focused on their dance, not much bothered by the minimal moving of stage props.

Senator Bernie Sanders (I, VT) You have got to show at least a little love for the iconic US senator who resembles a wispy, unkempt Einstein  -- who just last Thursday declared his candidacy for president! Within 24 hours, the Sanders campaign reportedly raised $1.5M, with a very modest average donation of $43.54. True, this was more than the late George Wallace's long ago claim to a $5 average, but politics has become more expensive.
     Senator Sanders is the first Democrat to challenge Hillary Clinton for the party's 2016 nomination. He promises to be controversial, unorthodox, and slightly contrarian, a self-declared Democratic-Socialist. His candidacy calls to mind Frank Sferra (a dear, deceased colleague). He and I agreed that had the late senator Barbara Jordan (D, TX) been able to run for the presidency, we would have taken a year's leave to work for her campaign. Frank would have loved Bernie and, who knows, I'm now retired. (Senator Jordan's health kept her out of the race.)

Sunday morning at Goodwill. After breakfasting at a favorite local eatery, we strolled across the street to my wife's "favorite" store in downtown Denver, the Goodwill store on (just barely) South Broadway. It is easy to see that the crowd is most definitely not "up-scale," just shoppers in search of a bargain, be it a good looking, near-new item of clothing or an appealing decorative nicknack for the wall or coffee table. There are always searchers in the medium-sized book and record/cd section. No one looks hurried or crazed, just people browsing for that something that catches their eye.

Thous shalt not...... Jeff Jacoby's opinion piece in the Boston Globe points out, as have others, that an increasing amount of social discourse is being rendered "off limits," so "politically incorrect" that discussion of many problems is effectively  strangled. The African American mayor of Baltimore was soundly castigated in multiple media outlets for referring to rioters in her city as "thugs." One critic, certainly not a linguist, immediately declared "thug" to be the new N-word. The mayor, of course, quickly backtracked with profuse apologies to all.
     What you do, not just say, can blow up in your face, too. In NYC, two well known hoteliers, long time supporters of gay rights, invited guests to a dinner and foreign policy discussion with Senator Ted Cruz, known to prefer traditional marriage. Result: they were roundly pilloried by the media, their hotels boycotted, and both ended up offering abject apologies for their collective poor judgment.
     He noted, "The ruthless determination not just to silence opposing points of view, but to humiliate and crush even allies willing to hear an opposing point of view, violates every liberal principle of tolerance, reason, and dialogue in the public sphere...Speech codes and 'trigger warnings' are deployed to enforce a spurious — but expanding — right not to be offended or disturbed." [emphasis added]
     Imagine what derision might have befallen the Founding Fathers as they first began to speak out against British policies! Good Lord, the king a tyrant? 

The Skoie Test. For those reading about the recent dust-up in Garland, TX, and the proliferating calls for "political correctness," it may be well to remember the past. In 1977, the National Socialist Party wanted to organize a pro-Nazi march in Skokie, IL, home to a large number of holocaust-survivors. The town passed ordinances effectively prohibiting the march. In the end, the Supreme Court overruled lower court injunctions prohibiting the march. There was no march: some 20 Nazi-marchers milled about, shouted down by hundreds of Skokie residents and friends. Free speech prevailed, but no one was listening to the hate speech of the local Nazi-followers.
     Ms. Geller's provocative anti-Islamic meeting in Garland would have amounted to little more than "preaching to the choir." It succeeded in provoking two misguided radical Islamists. They are now dead and she can move on. It should be noted that the Dutch far-right party suspended (expelled) its former leader and avid anti-Islamist, who was to be a featured speaker at the TX meeting.

Thanks for reading! Enjoy the week ahead.