It is Sunday.  I open my Washington Post, B Section, and on the inside is a piece with a long introduction by Josh White, explaining of his long interest in a man originally known as Detainee #261, who tried to kill himself when his lawyer stepped out of the room, whom the U. S. long asserted was a dangerous terrorist who had tried to recruit others and who was arrested in Afghanistan, where he had ostensibly gone to fight for the Taliban.   And yet, despite having been held  at Gitmo since January 2002 and having been subjected to brutal treatment,

Nevertheless, he was never charged with a crime, never admitted any connection to terrorism and was ultimately released to Saudi Arabia in July 2007.

White has stayed in touch with the man, whose real name is Jumah al Dossari.  And the bulk of the piece are his words, and they are entitled I'm Home, but Still Haunted by Guantanamo.  Remember, he was in the custody of our government, held and mistreated by our personnel.  This was done in our name.  And miraculously, he offers no bitterness in his words.

Last year, 5-month-old Daniel Hadley died three days after his mother forgot he was in the car and left him there for two hours. A month ago, a Utah court found the mother guilty of one count of misdemeanor negligent homicide and sentenced her to 18 months' probation. The Salt Lake Tribune's online community, in response to a letter to the editor entitled "Forgetting baby is murder," was deeply split between those who thought the sentence was appropriate and those who thought it was far too lenient.

I argued for the former in my comments about the letter to the editor; I did not participate in the discussion about the original news article. In the month's time that has elapsed, I have since learned that the mother in question did not call 911, but tried to cool him down herself before "eventually" taking him to the hospital. Had I known this earlier, I am not sure I would have argued so strenuously for leniency.

What do they have in common?

Both of them were powerless without followers.

Think for yourselves.

Be the change you want to see.

No further explanation for the evils of the world is necessary, but apparently the machine thinks differently. That said, allow me to explain. Obama and Bush are two sides of the same coin. This does not mean there isn't a difference, it means that we must as a species recognize the power that we all possess. We live in a world of choice, whether we realize it or not. Every action will be taken deliberately, whether we are conscious of it or not.  All of us arrived at their destinations by your own actions. The job of any concerned citizen is to raise awareness, to enlighten, not to scold or punish. This requires self-determination, and a profound ability to see that ALL of us are capable of both good and evil. Obama is as worthy of praise as Bush is worthy of forgiveness. Poverty for one is poverty for all. If we can accept that Bush is merely a misguided, flawed and manipulated being who is no different from the rest of us, then we can truly begin to treat the wounds that are threatening our very existence as a species. Good night and good morning

I just read DemFromCT's main posting about him and his mother and the journey they took alongside Hillary throughout this campaign campaign. It was amazingly well thought out, amazingly insightful . . . and a bit concerning.

I apologize to DemFromCT in advance; I'm not attacking him personally, but in that post she reflects a double-standard that Hillary supporters (most likely unwittingly) purport. While I fully agree that we should "treat them with respect, not just today but every day", I regret that I cannot give Hillary Clinton the same warm embrace.

I see people calling you a troll, telling you you are not helpful, telling you to shut up.........  

On my way in to work I was listening to Nicole Sandler on the radio, talking about last night.  She crystallized my tears:

This morning the world realizes that the American people are not like George W. Bush.

One of my great political heros is Desmond Tutu, the South African cleric who seemed to be on the right side of every moral issue, starting with apartheid, running through human rights abuses in Zimbabwe and including the Anglican church's views on homosexuality.

But to me his greatest legacy was in being an instrumental part of the South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission, which understood the critical role that asking and receiving forgiveness MUST PLAY in ending any significant conflict.

The commission was empowered to grant amnesty to those who committed abuses during the apartheid era, as long as the crimes were politically motivated, proportionate, and there was full disclosure by the person seeking amnesty.

And here's where I'm going to ask you to make the big leap...

For the past several years I have secretly, quietly, and sometimes obsessively come to the Daily Kos for updates on progressive thinking. As you know, recently there has been great debate over the Clinton-Obama divide, and while I've never written a diary, I'm here to finally tell you that I know you, I feel for you, and I look forward to transforming this party with you. This place isn't made for the status-quo; it's made for you. And there is a reason why much of this site is seemingly pro-Obama; it's because he represents the clear next step in the agenda-changing progressive shift we've been fighting for.

More below the fold...

I'm one of those persons that never bought anything Bush was selling, right from the start. I just "knew" he was a snake oil salesman, interested only in his own agenda, following some radical path that had nothing to do with the good of the country. I didn't buy his domestic policy, couldn't accept his foreign policy, was disgusted by his sneering approach to everything - even his posturing after 9/11 seemed the bravado of a scared little man, nothing like the honor of the office he held. Everything about him seemed to me basically a lie, and him nothing but a fraud.

So what did I do about it?

Before you read or comment, please read  this diary. Then join me below the fold.

Hillary's Faith

I thought I’d heard someone say that Hillary has no cloths.  And maybe that’s ok as she has allowed us to know her.  Opening up... uncovering parts of who you are.  That is putting faith in action.

And you know what I think of when thinking of Hillary?  I think of my own marriage.  Hey, it’s been a rocky one.  There are some things in my own marriage that I would just like to keep in the closest until after I’m dead. Things I don't believe I need to uncover for anyone.  Just marriage issues that I believe need to be kept my own business.

. . . where do they all come from?  All the lonely people, where do they all belong? - Eleanor Rigby - The Beatles (1966).

I woke up this morning to my son telling me, "Mom, you need to call Pap. One of your cousins died."  I called my Dad to find out that my cousin, "John" (not his real name for family privacy reasons), had passed away on the operating table during open heart surgery in some hospital in the Houston area sometime over the last few days. He said that an unknown man had called "John's" elderly stepmother with this information and that "John" had given his stepmother's name and phone number as contact and next of kin information. This unknown stranger advised "John's" stepmother that some family member needed to contact the hospital as the administrative staff there was planning to have "John's" body laid to rest in Potter's Field somewhere in the Houston area. "John" was one of the lost and forgotten.

Stranger in a Strange Land's wrote this compelling diaryon the subject of forgiveness, and it's had me thinking ever since.  It was spurred by another diarist who'd converted over years from a fervent Bush supporter to a disgusted opponent, and whether other Kossacks were willing to turn the proverbial cheek.  Stranger concluded that forgiveness is warranted when someone is "on our side".  

The peculiar thing is, comments in the thread were more about what posters couldn't forgive, than what they could.  

I can posthumously forgive Lee Atwater as he did repent of his demagoguery on his deathbed. But his mentees, such as Rove, continuing with this stuff?

Anyone who is deliberately destroying the Constitution and the basic fabric of our country is out of the running for me in terms of "peace, love and understanding". I will fight them tooth and nail.

Thing is, that's not forgiveness; it's absolution.  I submit that it's not our role to play either as citizens or human beings.

I'm going to confess a moral failing here. There have been a few diaries lately discussing the concepts of moral crimes, repentance, and forgiveness.
My crime is that I slow down for car wrecks.
I did it a few times today.
This is only one of them.
I'll show you my take-out plate from Joe's Hidden Comment Bar and Grill - with free bonus dishes I never ordered, kinda like a Chinese takeout place - below the fold.

Webster’s Online Dictionary shows the following ‘specialty definition’ of the word forgiveness:

Forgiveness is a quality whereby one ceases to feel resentment against another for a wrong he or she has committed against oneself, or, gives up any claim for a debt owed by another (i.e., one forgives another, or forgives a debt). It may be granted with or without the other asking for forgiveness.

It is recognized in Christianity as a spiritual gift. Spiritual forgiveness does not necessarily have any connection with material or financial forgiveness. One may spiritually forgive another, yet expect that the other should still make material or financial amends...

Forgiveness may be necessary for civilization, since, without it, all wrongs would demand revenge, which may themselves be taken as wrongs requiring revenge, resulting in a spiraling escalation of retaliation, leading ultimately to utter destruction.

This diary is about forgiveness.

What happened to Imus this week was not justice for African Americans. It wasn’t a blow against racism. What it was, was the clear voicing of the racial warfare going on just below the service in our society. It was the absolute hatred of two groups expressing themselves in the worst of ways. What was lost was a very important opportunity to learned from this what exactly was it about what Imus said that brought on so public and so strong a reaction from the African American community. We lost a chance to learn what to do right. What I believe happened is that Don Imus expressed  a point of view, which is unpalatable by the African American community. In the words that he used, I am guessing, that in the ears of African Americans they heard Imus say that young African American people arrive at their circumstances in life because of affirmative action or skills on the basketball court, that they have loose morals and lack the suffistication of other people. I am guessing that the utterance of these few words caused the focus the broad frustration fealt by the African American community for this wrong attitude on himself.

I obviously can't put it all, here, because it's copy-written, however I will provide a link for the full text.  I stumbled across these words as I was browsing over the incidents of antisemitism among the Black community (of which there are surprisingly many).  Specifically at this time, I was curious as to the context of Jackson's "Hymietown" comments...

I read it a few times, and at first was rolling my eyes, thinking, this man knows nothing-- he just doesn't understand.  But I calmed, and realized the hypocrisy in such a thought, and considered the words again, very slowly.  I'm not sure he's entirely right, but I don't think he's wrong, either.  The words Jackson spoke were filled with real hatred, and real racism, but it also made me realize, maybe those moments are passing.  Racism, we are often taught, is a quality, something intrinsic, like having a bad temper.  I wonder if that's not the case at all...

I'm tired of hearing it more than i'm tired of listening to Jesse Jackson's incoherent slurring and Al Sharpton's feigned "immense" out-rage.