Obama seeks Congressional approval for action in Syria

It is somewhat alarming to hear cable news pundits questioning the motives of the President in seeking Congressional approval for military actions against the Syrian government. Some of the questions being bounced around the broadcast echo chamber:

"Doesn't this project weakness"

"What will the Syrian rebels think?"

"Is it because David Cameron didn't get support in the UK?"

Firstly, I don't think the US, which possesses the most powerful military in the history of militaries, needs to worry overmuch about appearing weak. We are well known for our capacity and proclivity for force.

I am also not overly concerned with the opinion of the Syrian rebels, who are fighting either for or against Al Qaeda, depending upon the news source. I do not mean to sound callous; I saw the horrific images of the victims, the innumerable small bodies of dead children among them, just as most of you did. Many times that number have been killed through the regime's use of conventional ordinance in actions prior to the recent chemical attacks. Still, the decision to deploy American military power remains in American hands, and must be made with all due consideration.

As for Mr. Cameron, the Prime Minister tried to provide the President with the cover an international coalition, but his parliament did not see things his way. This is at least partly the result of the credibility deficit from which our intelligence proclamations suffer post-Iraq, due to the failure to turn up WMDs. This is the international political equivalent of the parable of the Little Boy who Cried Wolf.

The administration has made it clear, however, that it is quite willing to proceed with unilateral action. Before we do, though, the President has decided to allow our parliament the same opportunity as Mr. Cameron's.

In a former life, the President was a constitutional law professor - how many of the knee-jerk critics can boast as much? I think the administration, not to mention the Constitution, will ultimately benefit from erring on the side of caution - even though the President has made it known that he believes that ordering the strikes does lie firmly within the authorities granted by the War Powers Act.

The act was passed in 1973 by a Congressional override of President Nixon’s veto. The legislative branch was concerned over the prolonged incursions in Korea and Vietnam without a Declaration of War, seeing in these actions an erosion of their authority. It was intended to limit powers available to the Executive branch in cases where it did not seek approval from Congress.

We’ve already allowed our reputation as a coherent democratic state and responsible international actor to be immeasurably damaged through covert drone strikes, black site prisons, indefinite detentions at Gitmo and NSA surveillance of untold scope. There is only so much mud left available for our name to be dragged through.

Random

I still remember the day the nuns told us that we all had someone special inside of us, waiting to emerge like a butterfly from a chrysalis.

"You all can be anything you want, just remember that the most important thing is to be yourself", the young woman in the habit said.

"Except for you, Mark. It's imperative that you try to be anyone else, other than yourself. And if that thing inside you somehow breaks through the barriers into our world, I trust you will do the right thing and end the menace to us all."

"Ok, who's ready for recess?"

Ah...Catholic school.

So I've been compulsively reading the comment sections of articles dealing with race, politics and current events (Zimmerman trial, voting rights act, racial tensions, etc) on various websites. This is a bad idea, I know, since it seems online anonymity provokes the worst elements of glib, hateful and cowardly expression. But I did it and now I'm stuck with the cognitive repercussions of what I saw. I've had enough vodka to realize that I've got to let this out if it's going to go away (the racial anxiety, not the vodka), so I'm about to engage in some pretty heavy-duty generalizing based of a pretty small sample population. Not the most rigorous application of method, but my primary intellectual foes don't believe in science, people. A person gets lazy...

American Blacks and Whites (self identified) have SEVERELY different opinions and assumptions regarding the history, cultural psychology, and economic functions of their country and it's various inhabitants.

Blacks seem to forget that there are narratives playing out in America beyond that of "Black and White", and that there are plenty of places on Earth where minorities have less protection against capricious majorities than they do here. The American Constitution is not perfect, but it's a damned sight better than most nations'.

In order to solicit sympathy, which seems to be a perennial objective of some voices, there most be reciprocity and a willingness to be at least empathic in return. Blacks have a long, hard history with America, but so do many others. Just ask your Native American friends. Oh, you don't have any? Hmm....

Whites seem to be in a bubble where the historical facts and the evidence on the ground are less important than clinging to an unsupportable cultural narrative about hard work and reward, as if engineered social leverage had nothing to do with their advance as a whole. News Flash...the entire structure of American society for most of its existence has been de facto affirmative action for Europeans. Get over yourself and get into history.

In other words, neither group is dealing with history or current affairs in a mature way, opting to wade in shallows of ignorance rather than dive into depths of understanding. I don't know if Mr. Zimmerman is guilty or innocent, or if I am going to have to organize against anti-voting measures as generations before me had to do, or if I am going to be stopped and frisked when I move back to New York (Mayor Bloomberg recently said that too many whites were being stopped). I do know that proclamations of the death of racism are premature, and that those of us with ties across racial boundaries must take it upon ourselves to further substantive and conciliatory dialogue. No one else seems capable.

Twerkin for Syrian Peace

Not to distract America from the ever-present threat of Miley Cyrus' twerking, but it seems like we may be launching missiles into yet another Middle Eastern country. #syria #sarin #teamusaworldpolice