Profiles in Courage

Profiles in Courage

According to dictionary.com courage is the state or quality of mind or spirit that enables one to face danger, fear, or vicissitudes with self-possession, confidence, and resolution; bravery

I saw Caroline Kennedy on the Daily Show the other night, and she was promoting the 50th anniversary of her fathers book Profiles in Courage. She said it was written by then Senator Kennedy, to show Senators of the past who were willing to step up and take stances, that might not have been popular or against the conventional wisdom of the day. They were willing to risk their career for what they believed and probably had to drag the rest of the Senate, and in turn the rest of the country along with them.

She also is now presenting a Profile in Courage annual award as a way to remember what President Kennedy stood for when he was alive. This year’s recipient was Rep. John Murtha, (D-PA), the outspoken hawkish lawmaker, who came out against the war in Iraq last November, demanding an immediate with drawl of American troops. However, it was something that John Stewart said which got me thinking about this post. He said something like, is it difficult to find courageous people out there worthy of this honor?

How scary and true!!! Needless to say, I picked up the book today, and planning on seeing what was considered to be courageous in 1956.

Speaking of courage, I want to know how things that used to be fundamentally assumed to be protected rights, are now being usurped by the Bush administration. First, as a general rule, the United States of America, and all of its citizens were fundamentally against torture or prolonged imprisonment without due process. It is one of the reasons we ultimately seceded from Great Britain and King George III tyranny. It is also why the 6th amendment was added to the constitution. I realize that the detainees at Gitmo, are not American citizens, but we should apply some standards to how long they can or should be detained without a trial. Currently it is 4+ years for these individuals with no end in sight. All this does is encourage further hatred of America, which is counter-productive to the alleged democracy building we are attempting in the Muslim dominated Middle East. Imagine being ripped from your life, moved to Madagascar, kept in confinement, with no contact with the outside world, no contact with your wife, children, or parents until at least 2010, without any indication of how or what will ever get you released. I can assume that 5-10% of the detainees are truly high level Al-Queda operatives, the rest are just foot soldiers, who deserve better treatment for essentially doing their jobs. Is this how we want our captured soldiers treated in Iraq and Afghanistan?

Second, Attorney General Alberto Gonzales is beginning proceedings to indict the New York Times for publishing the details of the confidential NSA domestic spying ring. I realize the government needs to keeps secrets in times of war, and in times of peace. But in a democratic free society, where the people are supposed to hold their elected officials responsible, it is essential that the press is able to investigate and publish its findings so the public can decide what is right and wrong. Again this seems to be the very basis for the 1st amendment, the first thing the founding fathers put into the bill of rights!!

Somewhere along the line, in order to “protect” the individual or maybe to defend the homeland against foreign unseen and unknown adversaries, it has become alright for the government to trample the rights of the individual for the good of the people. This sounds more communistic or socialist, that democratic, but again 50% of the country does not have a problem with the NSA spying on their telephone calls, reading the emails, and generally checking up on individuals. Growing up, this is something that I never expected to be an issue, but it is now an issue and if we are not careful, we will be living in a police state. Frightening, maybe George Orwell’s 1984 was only 30-40 years too early.

Finally, what the fuck is the Department of Homeland Security thinking by reducing funding to New York City and Washington DC (plus the state of Connecticut), and re-allocating it to such hot beds of terror alert of Wichita, Omaha and Wyoming. It seems that Homeland Security and the entire concept of merging our intelligence into a single unit and being able to coordinate efforts during the next emergency or disaster, has gone the way of the do-do bird, and has become nothing more than pork and reward for those states that voted for President Bush in 2004. Very sad.

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Ithaca College Weekend Recap

This past weekend I attended The Ithaca College Alumni Weekend, since this my 15th year reunion. Here are some of the gory details.

There was a happy hour on campus Friday night in the student union. Pretty good time seemed to be had by all. I ran into a few Class of '91 folks. It is funny, since people I knew in college did not look to be 36/37, while people I met form my class who I did not know in school seemed to be a bit older. I saw Kimmi Kurtz, Doug Simon, Elise Kurland, Sandra Biasillo, and Ezra Patentreger (plus his lovely wife Jennifer).

I then caught up wiht Rob McIver and Lisa Lovisolo (now married) and went to dinner with them and Kimmi at a new place on the commons called madelines. It is across form Simeons on the IC side of the commons, not sure what was there when we were there except maybe dead space Very good meal. I got seared tuna. Then we went onto Mahagony Grill (formerly Plums), and ran into a slew of more IC people. Melissa Reichley sends her regards. The others included Joe Siracuse (actually showed up saturday), Dan Kirkhause, Jeff George, Dave Fleishman, Jon Adelson, Jon Lesser, Heather Bock, Cindy Neal, Denise Dalton, Kelly Benham plus a few more folks I don't immediatley remember. We essentially hung in Plums until well past closing (1:30?), then wondered the streets until 2 or 2:30 and crashing.

I was supposed to play golf with McIver at 8 am, but we met in the hotel lobby around 6:45, and it was pouring so we decided to bag. The extra sleep did me good. I then went to the picnic, which was in Emerson Suites (since it was still raining) and ate some burgers and started to drink some beer. I ran into Mollie Surden, Glenn Schneider, Kori Weaving Schneider, Alyssa Dolman at the lunch. After a leisurely and long lunch, the Class of 91 picture was taken and Lovi and I went to the bookstore to get IC Shit for the kiddies.

Rob then convinced me to play 9 holes fo golf down by where my parents used to keep their boat (newman municipal golf course). It was fun, though I came home soaked and more tired. We then went to the Glenwood Pines for pinesburgers (yummy) and of course more beer. Upon return to Ithaca, from the booming metropolis of Ulyses, NY we returned to Plums to commence drinking other libations. After awhile, we migrated to Petes Tavern, which was conviniently located clsoer to the hotel. However, after closing we went on a quest for pizza, and found a new pizza place (sammy's) that was still open, next to Madelines. We actually went in and ordered 3 pizza's to be delivered to Kimmi's room at the Holiday Inn, room 248. How odd is it that we walked in, ordered a pizza and asked that it be delivered.

Finally around 1:30 we were back at the hotel, and started the after hours, with shitty Coors Light. The pizza arrived and we all welcomed the lovely grease balls to soothe our aching stomachs and heads. Soon after Adam Weis and Dan Snopek, friends of Kimmi's arrived, after having struck out trying to pick up chycks form the class of '01 (2001, not 1901). With them they brought more beer and a bottle of Jagermeister, reminding Rob and I about that July 4th party at my parents many moons ago. I partoook in a shot of the licorice flavored drink. Some how two Dutch guys showed up as well. Very odd. Then we called room service asking for a cork screw. The manager informed us we could not have a cork screw, since the police were on their way up to speak with us.

Apparently some asshole in the next room called 911 to complain about the noise, rather than calling the front desk. It seems that the police did not really want to come up, but since a 911 call was made the captain told them they needed to go to speak to the room owner. So kimmi was made available and provide her information and we were asked to "keep it down". It is amusing since all of are well above drinking age, and no illegal drugs were being consumed, so getting busted by the cops was actually quite amusing to say the least.

Alas, the night had to end around 3 pm, since I needed to be on the road next day, or later that morning, at 8:30 so I could be home to coach Jacob's soccer team. All things considered it was a great time, which taught me a few lessons. One, I cannot drink as much, or as fast as I used to, and was shocked to think about how much I was able to consume when I was 22. Two, staying up late and getting up relatively early makes Jeff a very tired boy. Ultimately I had to go to bed at 8:30 Sunday night. How sad, and I am still tired today. Three, it is good seeing people that you have not seen in a while, and in general the folks who went to Ithaca are really nice and fun people, so even people I just met and did not know 15+ years ago, added to the overall weekend experience.

So I think pretty much sums up my weekend. I hope that is detailed enough for anyone interested

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