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[Sidd Finch]

Originally Posted by Not Bob

Wonk, since you are the creator of serial responses, I am taking the liberty of using your post to respond to a few others. I hope you don't mind.

1. Thanks to Sebby for the suggestion of the cask strength Makers. A few fingers with one large ice cube makes a conversation with one of my more retrograde clients a mellow one. Instead of arguing about Ferguson, we had a civil discussion about oil shale and came to an agreement on our mutual regard for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence. What's so funny bout peace, love, and understanding, indeed, Declan.

2. I'm with Sidd. We are better than our enemies. I can't believe that this needs to be said. I also believe Not Ironically in American Exceptionalism. I get that our history shows that we have mostly failed to live up to the Enlightenment ideals that our system was founded upon, and I also get that our history shows that torture has been a tool in our arsenal always - from tarring and feathering Tories to scalping Indians to water boarding Filipinos to hooking battery cables to the Vietcong and on and on. But until the War on Terror, it has never been given official approval or public support. You may find this to be a distinction without a difference, but I don't. I'll expand on this point later, maybe.

3. I have no problem applying a different standard between how citizens and non-citizens are treated. This doesn't mean I am ok with mistreatment of anyone. It does mean that I think that our constitutional rights don't apply to non-citizens. However, human rights are universal and God-given and we have a moral (the whole God thing) and legal (per treaties and the UN charter) obligation to see that our government respects them. Simple silly examples to illustrate: no Miranda rights but no rectal feeding.

4. I am sickened, truly, by what I am learning. I am really hoping that this all leads to some fundamental change. I'm hoping that the revulsion to this revelations is widespread enough to channel into a push for change.

5. Hooray to Elizabeth Warren and Nancy Pelosi for calling out the Citigroup Free Money Rider to the Cromnibus. One can reasonably disagree about the merits of the Dodd Frank rollback on swaps (it probably doesn't add as much risk as people are fearing; it certainly allows Citi to make more money on swaps because of how the ratings affect the spread on those deals - take a look at John Carney's recent article in the WSJ for an explanation), but the way that section made it into the bill is telling.

6. Carry on.

I'm sort of in love with you too, but I've already professed my love to BnB today and she has way better tits.