Carte Blanche for Terrorists and Hackers

Sony's cancellation of The Interview is understandable from an economic and liability point of view but sets a terrible precedent . What happens when a group decides to hack and threaten a documentary intended to bring our attention to a serious threat to the planet or democracy or even just to individual people? From everything I have heard the movie is terrible and deserved to die a quiet death as soon as the public began to talk about it. Then the furor over the hacking seemed to make the movie destined to be a "must see movie" between those who would go to strike a blow for intellectual freedom and those who just wanted to see what everyone was talking about. Now it will not be seen at all and the terrorists and hackers have won. There may have been a middle ground here but no one was seeking it out and we will come to regret this as we have given carte blanche to future attacks.

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Shawn Jasper's Moment is at Hand

Jasper's Moment is at Hand . . .

Shawn Jasper has some decisions to make. He made a decision to build a coalition that made him Speaker of the House in New Hampshire. Then he promptly abandoned that coalition when he decided that it was going to be business as usual with no appointments based on merit only on party. He's in big trouble now and may very well pick up his flag to charge and realize when he looks behind him that there is no one there. Its not too late but he's going to need to summon every bit of political and personal courage he can in order to save his Speakership.

First, he needs to apologize to his coalition. He needs to bring them all together and explain that he lost his way and he is ready to move forward with conviction and with steel in his spine. He can take heart in the fact that he is on the side of the angels if he does not lose sight of his goals. In a public fight the man who stands up for civility and cooperation will win the public debate. The other side can only defend the status quo and all of those things that have made the public believe that our system is broken. He can lose ONLY if he chooses not to engage.

The second thing he needs to do is to let the people of New Hampshire know that he is going to make some changes to provide the opportunity for power sharing and cooperation between the Republicans and the Democrats. He needs to develop a strategy with the leadership of his coalition for moving forward to unify the House. That strategy should involve making BOTH Republicans and Democrats Chairs and Vice Chairs of committees. This may mean that some of his supporters who had expected to chair committees will need to demonstrate their commitment by stepping down. Or it may mean that committees have Co-Chairs. Nothing prevents a speaker from having Co-Chairs of committees or creating a different system where Chairs and Vice Chairs are appointed and switch roles at some point during the year.

If there is one chairman in the bunch with some courage, he or she will step forward and ask that all Chairs resign as a show of support for the Speaker. Allowing him to reform the committee structure and personnel.

Here's the good news Shawn. No matter what happens, you can fight the good fight. A fight for a future where our political party is second to our citizenship and our love for New Hampshire. A fight where you are truly working in the best interests of the people of New Hampshire. That is a fight you can only lose if you fail to show up.


~ Wayne King is a receiving politician, writer, artist and Social Entrepreneur. He lives with his wife, Alice, in Rumney.

Would a Pardon for Bush/Cheney et al Serve History and Justice?

Circum-navigating The International Court

No matter where you come down on the recent Torture Report one general shared concern seems to be whether it will precipitate criminal charges from the International Court. There are lots of reasons why people of all persuasions would not want to see this happen.

For this reason I put forward the following suggestion based on these facts:

We were all a little crazy following the attacks of 9-11. Call it what you will: anger, sadness, vengence, temporary insanity, the fact is that almost all of us were looking to even the score in some way and we were not in our right minds with respect to the ideals that we hold dear in America and our place of moral leadership in the world.  

The CIA and others, most of whom acted heroically in the weeks and months that followed; and in the midst of a national tsunami of fear and anger and confusion, stepped up to protect the homeland. They were responding to both the attacks and the blowback from most of the political leadership in the country.

The President and Vice President as well as the Attorney General and Sec of Defense all clearly sanctioned the use of “enhanced interrogation” after 9-11. 

Every serious-minded expert as well as every convention adopted in the last fifty years clearly indicates that the same “enhanced” techniques were torture.

The only member of the United States Senate who has himself been subjected to torture, Senator John McCain,  clearly indicated that we were crossing the line with these “enhanced” methods.

Torture is not a reliable means for procuring reliable information. According to the report, despite claims to the contrary and the loud and loutish protestations of the former Vice President, NOT ONE instance where torture was employed yielded reliable information, While as a practical matter this information is instructive and bolsters the case against torture, the moral imperative should not be overruled by  individual instances and introducing it into the debate empowers those who would use it as a smokescreen to justify the employment of torture.

What all these things add up to is this: For the country that lays claim to the moral leader of the planet, torture is not an option because torture is wrong.  President Obama should pardon former President George W. Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, former Attorney General Gonzalez and former Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld. 

As Harry Truman said of the Presidency “The Buck Stops Here”. We could spend years parsing and assessing the blame for the use of torture at lower levels but the fact is that all of these people acted on the orders of the President and Vice President as well as the AG, the country’s top law enforcement official, and the Secretary of Defense. It was a dark moment and a dark decision in the aftermath. 

But there were also moments of light in the wake of 9-11. 

To his credit, President Bush, and many other political leaders, stepped forward to make sure that Americans did not let their anger spill over into a broad backlash against our own citizens of the Muslim faith. They spoke out forcefully to remind American’s that this was not about religion and should not cause us to turn against one another in the heat of the moment. It may have been the first time in our history where we did not do so and that alone says volumes about how we have matured as a democracy and as a people. 

As a nation we can’t afford to waste the time and energy that it would take to ferret out and prosecute people who over-reacted in the wake of 9-11, particularly because they did so at the behest of the only people who should have been expected to keep a cool head.  As shameful as the result was, almost everyone can be forgiven if they lost their marbles temporarily in the wake of the attack on 9-11. 

However, some - especially Dick Cheney - never got their marbles back or they never had the conscience to begin with. They continue to insist that we did nothing wrong. 

That can only mean one thing. If we do nothing in response to this report, the day will come again when these people, whether neo-cons or liberals-gone-wild, will be in charge and will sanction torture once again.

By reluctantly pardoning those at the top of the torture pyramid, President Obama can “name and shame” those who should have known better, or worse blithely and cynically used the deaths of our citizens as an excuse to engage in this brutality. He can make a moral choice to call them out without tearing the country apart at a time when we are most vulnerable. Convicting them in effect but not in fact; in the “court” of public reckoning.

Further, he can make the argument to the International community and courts, that his pardon was the final act in a soul searching process of Truth and Reconciliation - which in fact it is.  If necessary, he can use this as the rationale for turning down any attempt to prosecute the former President and the Vice President by the International Criminal Court. 

Most important, it will put future administrations on notice that torture will, at the very least seriously tarnish their legacy and could, in fact, wind them up in an International Criminal Court.

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Wayne King is a recovering politician, businessman, artist and social entrepreneur. He lives with his wife Alice in Rumney, NH.

Jasper Misses his Chance to Shine: So far its Business as Usual

Big disappointment with NH Speaker Jasper who was elected with 75% of his support from Democrats that he did not appoint a single Democrat to Chair a committee. Jasper missed an opportunity to demonstrate real leadership for change and against gridlock. Here's what Jasper needs to keep in mind: The Democrats will stick with him if he is sharing power and creating opportunities for legislators to work together for progress. In other words if his leadership is not simply "Business as Usual" otherwise it would be better for them to have a real adversary in the speaker's seat because it would create a clear distinction between their leadership in the past and the current leadership. Jasper should bear in mind that he already has a large group of Republicans who would like to take his seat away from him. It only takes another vote, where the democrats switch sides to put him out in the cold. If I were the leader of the Democrats I would be reminding him of this and telling him that he had better do something bold to demonstrate that his leadership will be different or there is no reason to continue to support him.

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Jasper Needs to Set an Example

New House Speaker Shawn Jasper should appoint committee chairs from both parties in recognition of the fact that he was elected by a coalition of Democrats and Republicans. If he wants his Speakership to mean something, to set an example in this era of incivility and gridlock, he needs to emphasize merit not politics. If he does't do that - or something equally bi-partisan and courageous his speakership will be just business-as-usual. If he does something bold he will be a national star in the political firmament. An example to be held up to all of the other states. I wouldn't be surprised to see him on national newscasts as an example of how working together can make a difference. His supporters will honor him, his opponents will respect him and the country will celebrate him. It is a risk worth taking for him. A risk that will pay huge dividends for Jasper and for New Hampshire, making us a model of civility at the outset of the 2016 primary race when all eyes will be turned our way.

Reprinted from Facebook to provide an historical overview of the process.After I wrote this the Chair of the NH Democratic Party forwarded the idea to House Democrats and they successfully struck a deal with Representative Shawn Jasper.

After I wrote this the Chair of the NH Democratic Party forwarded the idea to House Democrats and they successfully struck a deal with Representative Shawn Jasper.

Coalition of Democrats and Republicans Denies Speakership to O'Brien

A coalition of Democrats and Republicans has denied William O'Brien the Speaker of the House chair that he confidently expected would be his when the full House met in session.

A coalition of Democrats and Republicans joined together as I suggested a few weeks ago and elected the new Speaker of the House Shawn Jasper. Former Speaker Bill O'Brien and his people already are trying to undermine his authority and Rep Jasper will have to tread carefully but he should be able to shore up his majority fairly quickly by using his committee appointment authority and other powers to bring people together. This is a huge test for both Republicans and Democrats who won their seats speaking the language of cooperation, conciliation and bi-partisanship (and there were a lot of them). Now is the time to show that it was not just talk but that it was real. Both Shawn Jasper and Steve Shurtleff - the Democrat leader - are to be congratulated as well as Gene Chandler who put NH first by accepting a position under Speaker Jasper, despite his own hopes to be the Speaker.

Note: Reprinted from Facebook to provide an historical overview of the process.After I wrote this the Chair of the NH Democratic Party forwarded the idea to House Democrats and they successfully struck a deal with Representative Shawn Jasper.

After I wrote this the Chair of the NH Democratic Party forwarded the idea to House Democrats and they successfully struck a deal with Representative Shawn Jasper.