Am I being to harsh or is this the reality?

/David

Dan - it definitely takes an API hit. I’m working on a version that does NOT hit the API.

Relli

I really enjoyed the conversations we had this weekend. The conversations we have in and out of the conferences at those events always makes each others’ stuff evolve in an awesome way.

Hope you can make it to PodCamp Montreal in September.

It’s the people who pay for tickets but never go to minor league baseball games that keep the stadiums and teams afloat, it’s the people who pay the monthly fee but don’t put podcasts up that helps LibSyn cover costs, it’s the people who accidentally hold on to DVDs from Netflix that allows them to be profitable and it’s your late fees at the library that help keep the libraries afloat (and your tax dollars, let’s be serious about that).

You could argue that the library already provides this service and it’s free provided you are in your county’s libraries.

I blame the extreme accusatory rhetoric on the lowest form of marketing: Creating a Disease so you can Sell the Cure.

Just how horrible the current economic situation, diplomatic situation, security situation, etc. etc. is our modern day HALITOSIS. Electing the OTHER GUY is the Listerine. It happens every election cycle….

In truth, things aren’t so bad… and things won’t be that different no matter who is elected president.

However, from a legal point of view, the administration is not guilty of a war crime. These charges are predicated on the notion that iraqi insurgents, al qaeda operatives, and everyone else affected by the administration are protected by the Third Geneva Convention. GCIII classifies combatants as “lawful” and protected if they fulfill all of these conditions:

* that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates
* that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance
* that of carrying arms openly
* that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war

I would bet that most contemporary insurgents or al qaeda operatives violate one or more of those conditions. In a historic sense, they are similar to saboteurs and spies. This classification has been called “unlawful combatant”; many critics of the Bush administration question if such a category CAN exist. If you argue that it doesn’t, than you equate anyone that doesn’t fulfill those criteria to the civilians and “protected persons” covered by the Fourth Geneva Convention. Spy = Saboteur = Innocent Civilian. That’s rather absurd.

Once you accept the category, the next question is how to treat the “unlawful combatants”. Under the GCIII, they can be prosecuted as normal criminals, instead of “protected persons”.

Recap: when a legal combatant kills a person in war, it’s not murder, it’s war. If a terrorist, spy, etc. kills, then it is murder and a common crime.

How the American legal systems deals with Enemy Prisoners of War (EPW) that have committed a common crime is too long a topic to discuss here. There is hundreds of years of precedent and it is still evolving. Some parties want to treat such EPW’s in the exact same procedural way as US citizens. Other parties think this unprecedented protection is unnecessary. The bottom line: the national law is murky, even if the international law is clear that normal legal code applies. There may be a violation of the law here, but not a WAR CRIME.

The Bush Administration interpreted these issues without building consensus. Politically, this has proven to be very damaging. I fault the administration for not anticipating these complexities and sharing the decision making in order to build consensus. That is a political mistake, it’s not a WAR CRIME.

After some initial legal and political difficulties by the administration, Congress passed the Military Commissions Act of 2006. If the administration doesn’t adhere to the law, then they are guilty of violating national law, not international law.

Finally, I fault the US government and the international community for not calling a Fifth Geneva Convention to address the complexities of combat between nations and international non-state actors such as Al Qaeda. Some argue this is unnecessary; however, I think building an international consensus would defuse the situational politically and diplomatically.

Thanks, also, for the great group photo. That’s one of my great takeaways each year - that family feeling.

Couldn’t the federal government have at least taken the moral road of Afghanistan, Chad, Zimbabwe, and other nations that have not expressed an opinion on ratification? Why flat out refuse to sign? Even Kazakhstan signed it.

You make some good points - for Saddam, I’d rather he be processed as Dr. Thomas Barnett recommended in his TED talk - a public, transparent process for eliminating politically bankrupt states, whether it’s Saddam, Kim Il Jong, Robert Mugabe, etc. Let’s establish a process like the IMF where we can restructure governments that are openly hostile to the rest of the world. By doing so, we can reduce the need to whip ourselves into a frenzy AND still achieve the ends that American policy deems important.

Check out Dr. Barnett’s talk:

http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/33

Black Maltese: While I agree with some of your sentiment and I too am fed up with the America bashing that seems so rampant today, I agree with Matt that your presentation of your argument leaves something to be desired and can detract from your message.

Matt: You need to get over the “stolen election” thing. Seriously…move on.
And, to imply that we deserved what we got on 9/11…that goes WAY too far. Do you really believe that if we help people like Osama, everything would just work out? That’s like Obama saying he’ll talk to/negotiate with anyone. It will only provide an opening for them.

Christopher: I think you are sharp as a tack when it comes to marketing…politics I depart from you quickly. You say that, ” The war crimes the United States is accused of are crimes against lawful combatants - Iraqi military and militants…”

Many of them were actually from Afghanistan, and the first sentence of the article reads, “Former terrorist suspects detained by the United States…”

In addition, I struggle with your railing against practices by the US that are deemed terrible but then act as if Saddam Hussein was a sweet, uncle type figure. If you wanted to see human rights violations, you need only to look to Iraq while he was in power. That tends to get glossed over though. It bothers me that the same people who scream about human rights violations in places like Darfur and Tibet criticize the war in Iraq. Were the Iraqis less important than the people in those other places?

Do I think that the way the prisoners were treated was right? No. I also don’t think it appropriate to imply that George Bush was ordering torture as so many people imply. I don’t think you should get to make decisions about who should be held accountable for something when you are INCREDIBLY biased against the person you are accusing. Am I against all forms of torture in the situation of gaining information from a suspected terrorist that my protect the American people? Absolutely not. Plus, to say that Saddam Hussein had no interest in terrorism is a little naive.

Now, this point I only bring up because of other political statements you have made here and on Twitter before. I don’t understand how you can be so appalled by how someone is treated when they are suspected of terrorism but not bat an eye to the practice of killing them before they have a chance to make that decision….or any decision for that matter.

It’s a little frustrating to see politics so regularly mixed with marketing in many blogs. I understand that this is a personal medium and people are allowed to make their personal beliefs known. But, when someone is viewed as “internet famous” and seen as a reliable source of information and then makes political posts with half-truths and biased agendas, it does little to serve the rest of us.

it’s not easy to get on TV for what you’re doing

In the meantime, at least my blog is free.

You’re right to say that terrorists do not play by the rules. Terrorists do not owe allegiance to any nation. And they do need to be treated differently, at least in the sense of jurisdiction.

However…

The war crimes the United States is accused of are crimes against lawful combatants - Iraqi military and militants - in an unlawful invasion of a sovereign nation with no ties to terror. Saddam Hussein had no interest in terrorism, and our various pretexts for invasion had nothing to do with truth or justice.

The abuses that occurred were at Guantanemo Bay and Abu Ghraib. Of those abused, none were convicted of terrorism. Zero. Further, Abu Ghraib was a military prison in a sovereign nation that we invaded during a regular military action, and thus would be wholly subject to the Geneva Convention. For what it’s worth, Iraq ratified the Geneva Convention in 1956, one year after the United States, and therefore both countries were required by treaty to obey it.

If Osama Bin Laden were sitting in my office with knowledge of a bomb he’d planted, damn right I’d get out the pliers, razors, and tabasco. But he’s not, and the people we captured in our invasion were not terrorists.

The most disturbing comment you made though, was this - we need to get as mean as them.

No, we don’t. What separates us as potentially good guys, what separated us in the past from those who perpetrated evil acts on the world, was precisely the refusal to do anything in the name of the crisis of the day.

Should we have an effective military? Absolutely. We should have a Leviathan military that shoots with deadly precision. Should we use force to protect ourselves? Absolutely. To not be willing to wage war would greatly endanger our security.

Should we violate our principles, morals, and ethics for political expediency?

That depends on whether you believe in an American way or not. The America I grew up in, the America that Superman defended, the America that the world respected and loved - that America would not.

We need to get as mean as them.
If you have a terrorist in custody and they know where an explosive is and when it will detonate and there is 100 percent chance that 400 children will die in the explosion….
Do you torture him to get the answer to the location?
Or do you ask him politely of cake and coffee if he would be kind enough to tell you?

Please…the soft belly Americans better wake up….

This is not a game with rules…

one thing. the article stated that prisoners were threatened with action against their families. that makes the prisoners also hostages.

6 out of a possible 7.

Third Reich Lite.

But nothing can replace a face-to-face meeting in real life. Nothing.

As an example: I have met hundreds of publishers online over the last few years. I’ve done business with many of them. Online communication has been good to me. But, not nearly as good as going to GTS (GAMA Trade Show) in Vegas this past April. The number and quality of the business contacts I made there made the $1,400 flight from Bulgaria to Nevada worth every penny.

Great post, CP.

Choices around money highlight priorities and values. Many times we see divorces because one person wants to save money and pay bills and the other wants to take vacations and spoil the kids. These differences in values can divide the couple. And with the growing mortgage issues, these values around spending and money smack married couples in the face.

I don’t know enough about PHP and BBEdit yet to be able to implement this on Windows.

You’re doing a great job treating your customers as people, Chris. It makes all the difference.

Listen to my story and you might just cry as I almost did.

45 min prior to my departing flight from syracuse I get an automated call telling me my flight has been cancelled.. Nice advance notice there.

I arrive at the desk in Syracuse for my departing flight, and the person is nice enough to put me on another airline to get to my destination. Getting in 2 hours late I finally arrive, sadly this is the best part of my story.

Soo.. After a nice trip in Seattle I go back to the airport with my fiance to check in and get on our flight home. The lady at the desk tells me I have to pay over a grand, and that my reservation was cancelled. Of course I give her a “what are you insane!” look. She tells me apparently there was a problem with my credit card. Funny since I never used a credit card, and they had no problem getting me to my destination.

She insists I have to pay again if I want to get home. Furious I ask to speak to a manager. She informs me that there is no manager there, and she is at the gate. I simply tell her that I could care less where the manager is, I want to speak with her.. Irate at this point the ticketing woman goes absolutely berserk. She literally starts yelling at me, saying I am being rude, and that I need to relax. She also points out that I have officially missed my flight, and will need to get on another flight. Seriously it seemed like something out of a movie.

Finally I get the lunatic woman at the ticket counter to call the revenues department to find out exactly what was going on. Again she tells me that there is a problem with my credit card, to which I of course tell her AGAIN that I did not use a freaking credit card. She then calls another department and they tell her that the company was informed that my payment via paypal was “POSSIBLY” fraudulent, and that they never got paid. I frantically call paypal, and not one but 2 supervisors confirm that the payment was indeed sent to them.

To make a long story short I spent in excess of 24 hours talking on the phone with various people and departments, all yielding me absolutely nothing.. But here is where it gets fun. I get to talk to a woman in the US airways security department named Michelle, she tells me that they were notified of a problem with the payment. I tell her as I had told numerous others, that the payment was fine, and paypal was just performing a routine inquiry as it was a higher dollar amount. She responded by saying US Airways does not take paypal. LOL. Seriously how bad is it when their OWN employees have no idea what payments they actually take? She tells me she will investigate and call me back.

Approximately 2 hours later she calls me back stating that my paypal account had been tagged as “fraudulent”, and that I was using a stolen credit card. Impossible of course since I paid from my paypal balance and dont even have a credit card connected to my account. Of course more BS. She then in my opinion in an effort to perhaps cover her own butt, informs me that she has put me on the US AIRWAYS FRAUD LIST, and that if I attempt to take any flight with US AIRWAYS I will be immediately DEBOARDED. What the hell? Not only did these criminals get paid but they are now threatening me and making claims that are not even remotely true? I paid with MY paypal account, in MY name.

All in all I had to purchase new one way tickets. I am also in the process of contacting an attorney for compensation. Never should an airline strand you in the middle of nowhere like US AIRWAYS did to me. There are ways of handling things, and they quite possibly took the worst possible route. This has caused me nearly 2 grand in expenses, and forced both my fiance and I to miss work.

On a lighter note, I guess it really makes no difference if I am on their list, as I would never fly on US AIRWAYS ever again! No wonder they are on the verge of bankruptcy. With employees that seemed to have barely a highschool education, and no ability to reason it is really no surprise they are in the current predicament that they are in.

More importantly, is yes gas will over $5 bucks if a hurricane threatens the Gulf and maybe over $6.00 if one strikes. But what is funny is that unlike after Katrina there are no valid reasons why gas prices are through the roof now…

Our families and their habits sound very similar too, and with the foresight to add on that unlimited texting plan, I’m actually able to afford the 4-5 thousand texts a month my teen sends and receives!

I’m sticking with my “Twitter-snob approach.” I follow back some of my followers, but not all. I want to stay away from a situation where the signal-to-noise ratio becomes nothing but noise.

I do not disagree that technology is crucial, we are in the technology era. In the industrial revolution there was a radical shift, but people still provided direction. When Gutenberg invented the movable type and put out the first book, there was a radical change in how people got information, but now hundreds of years later Folklore (the passing down of codes and rules for living in an oral tradtion) still exists. No technology will ever replace human interaction.

Having worked for schools and corporations I realize that it is easy to send an electronic thank you, but if you want to be remembered, if you want to differentiate yourself, put pen to paper and send an old fashioned note on real paper. You will see a difference in your results.

Troy is right in the research and findings he shares, there are radical changes going on, but the human touch and face to face will always rule as long as we are human.

I look forward to an era of telepathic conversation and travel, especially with the way gas prices are headed, but that is not today, or tomorrow.