The WSJ has now published the full text (large pdf) of the memo advising the US government on how to circumvent the anti-torture provisions in international law. Reading it requires a certain capacity for accepting mutually-contradictory concepts. IANAL, but to me this reads like someone said to the authors: “We’ve got to torture some people. We really want to do it, but we think its illegal. You find ways to make it okay.” (Via DefenseTech) #
Doc Searls points to a little gem of an article: An Inquiry into Living While Walking the Roads of America, Mexico, and Beyond (pdf), by Jeffrey Sawyer. Its the story of a guy who sold all his possessions, and just walked the back-roads of the US, surviving on the plants he found and the kindness of strangers:
“…money would come, and though at the time I didn?t really need it, turning it down seemed to offend the giver. The money also gave me an opportunity to find out how rarely it brought me a true sense of security. Some days I would give away all the money I had, to see if the absence of it made me miserable. It didn?t. Rather, the giving opened up my mind and heart to an abundance that exists regardless of whether one has money or not.”
Reading this was the best thing that happended to me today. Which is sad, but also true.