One danger in delaying release of photos depicting American torture is that our "mind's eye" then is free to presume horrors probably far worse than anything human beings possibly could do to each other - proving the old saying that fantasy is whatever in reality would be nightmare.
In one of San Francisco's many legendary long-agos - in this case, the early '70s - strumpet/activist Margo St. James created a prostitutes' rights advocacy group called COYOTE, or, Call Off Your Old Tired Ethics. Its annual Hookers Ball offered all the hideous makeup and feather-boa overdo of the age - great fun. As, perhaps, a summation of the times, his appearance with St. James at the festivities cost one SFPD chief his job.
COYOTE's still around today, still agitating, albeit in more somber, sober approaches, as the city's dim post-AIDs, post-Yuppie era grinds on. And I feel like sending them a contribution after learning today that crusading jackass prosecutors and whisper-campaign bluenoses have finally forced Craigslist to dump its erotic services ads.
The Obama adminstration could do a real service to American justice and make a very public (and, yes, cheap) show of dumping the last vestiges of Bush-Era logical fallacies by exonerating, pardoning or otherwise vacating the judgments handed down yesterday against the shoeless-joe / skid row "terror cell" finally, damnably, convicted of trying to blow up the Sears Tower.
This will be a bad time for everyone, except for populists and those who like to demonstrate in the streets.
Well, Mr. Rodrik, the past few years haven't been all that great for anyone earning less than six figures, anyway. As evidenced by this week's Cafe discussion topic, we've seen our wages skimmed off, chipped away, stolen. And these are paychecks that already have stagnated for decades, increasing annually far below the cost of living.
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