The Home of Steven Barnes
Author, Teacher, Screenwriter


Friday, October 27, 2006

Request on torture...

A Gore/Obama ticket sounds to me like the best bet in ’08 for the Democrats.  If it did well, they could then roll Obama into the presidency.  Clinton?  She feels like too much of a lightning rod to the Right.  Man oh man, do they hate the Clintons.  Whichever way things happen, that’s certainly going  to be a fascinating and important election.
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A question on torture…I’ve yet to find an expert (a former torturer, retired military, psychologist, etc.) who says they find torture uniquely effective, let alone will name specific times and places historically when information gleaned thereby saved lives.  If ANYONE can point me to information contrary, please do.  Right now, I’m starting to feel that the only people in favor of torture have no fact-based concept at all of its efficiency, and (I suspect) want to hurt these people—it is a vengeance mindset.  But I’m willing to look at the data.  Understand something—I’m personally against torture on moral grounds (I believe it poisons the spirit, and erodes the very freedoms we are trying to protect) but I was surprised by the unanimity with which its supposed efficiency has been denied.  A little help, here?
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Also glad to hear of the exit polling planned by major news outlets across the country.  Belief in the integrity of the voting process is essential to a Democracy.  Throughout our history, both sides have fixed elections, so this isn’t a finger at the Republicans by any means.  But power breeds corruption, and their power has been fairly unchecked for quite a while now—I would expect serpents to breed in those shadows.
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Sending out shipments of the LIFEWRITING YEAR LONG today (I process those orders about once a week or so) and had a chance to thumb through the workbook.  It contains much of what I’ve gathered about writing over the entire course of my career, and if I’m not ashamed to say I’m impressed.  Know what?  It’s a good feeling to be offering good value.
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Finished the first draft of my new horror script, and turned it over to Tananarive for her run.  I’ll say more about it as soon as it’s registered with the Writer’s Guild.  The concept would be very, very easy to steal…but I think it rocks.
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I also finished the first draft of a short story “Trickster” for a Superhero anthology I was invited to submit to.  It’s actually part of a larger story I want to do one day.  Let’s just say it deals with the aftermath of a major alien invasion, and an aspect of such an invasion I’ve never seen discussed.
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How interesting how things are going with Jason.  If I withdraw even a little time from him, or allow myself to get distracted during that time, it has an immediate impact on his behavior. Curiously, Tananarive’s time with him doesn’t have the same impact at ALL.  I never expected to see the “Alpha Male” effect so clearly, and it reinforces my sense that my poor mother did everything humanly possible to guide me, but I REALLY needed a man around the house.  Sigh.  Well, a guess sometimes Fatherhood skips a generation.

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