THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE

THE MONSTER OF FLORENCE by Douglas Preston and Mario Spezi is a book about a serial killer in Italy (the prototype for Hannibal the Cannibal)--or rather the true story of conspiracy theories about the Monster and how they ruined many lives. Innocent people went to prison. It's a vividly written book, and near the end the two journalists get accused of related crimes and wrapped into the conspiracy theories by certain balmy police and prosecuters. In Italy people get convicted and sentenced to long terms in prison on the bases of conspiracy theories (and no evidence). That is what happened recently to a young American woman, Amanda Knox, and her boyfriend.

Of course that sort of thing can occur in America, too. The McMartin preschool witch hunt, part of the Satanic-ritual/recovered memory hysteria in our own recent past, lasted for six years before the accused were finally exonerated and released. Let's hope that Amanda Knox gets that lucky.

Meanwhile I read on the net that President Obama is responsible for the internal unrest in Iran. I am getting used to nutty conspiracy theories about Obama from the Right, but this one comes from the Left, from people who claim that Obama is "worse than Bush" and call the President a "scumbag." This sort of thing is not harmless. Conspiracy theories--whether about FDR or Bush or Obama--harm everyone, harm their victims and harm the causes of the delusional people who promote them.

Gary Goss

Joe Woods

This time of year I like to spend some time thinking about kith or kin who are gone.

Joe Woods came from a family of interest. His father, also Joseph Woods, was a former FBI agent who served as the Sheriff of Cook County from 1966 to 1970, during which time he jailed the Chicago Seven (or Eight) and made them cut their hair. The Sheriff's sister was Rose Mary Woods, Nixon's secretary, the one who erased a crucial tape. Sheriff Woods was known for, among other things, wearing President Nixon's discarded suits around town.

My friend Joe Woods reacted to this--and to his education in German at a Jesuit boarding school--by becoming a Marxist (in theory) and buying an Uzi, which he sometimes fired into the ground on the Fourth of July. Like me, Joe raised wolves for the joy of it. But to get at what Joe was like, well, he as a good-looking Irish American of steelly intelligence, great warmth and integrity, and totally a family man. He made a living by writing about cars, but his focus was on his wife and daughters. ABD in philosophy from the University of Chicago, Joe loved discussion and argument. He didn't watch television. Joe was always interesting, always right there. Right there. He was strong as a bull. He did everything too hard, I guess, and one day he went out and ran too hard, maybe, and now I miss him.

American Exceptionalism

Is America the best country in the world? It is for me, because it's my country, and I'm at home here. But is America--objectively--the best country in the world? What do the French, Germans and Japanese think?

One thing I learned from philosophy is that if a question or statement is hard to respond to, it might not be meaningful. We hear from conservative and liberal politicians that America is exceptional, the best country in the world, better than all the other countries, which is like saying, "My father can beat up your father." There are no accepted criteria to be used in establishing which of the roughly 200 countries is best. There is, in fact, no such thing as an objectively best or worst country.

When I hear a President claim that America is the best country, I'm troubled by the vacant thinking behind the assertion. Is that what voters want to hear? Childish nonsense?

OBAMA'S HOUSE

When Obama moved into his new house, he had to take it "as is." The prior occupant had left dried vomit in every room, and in several rooms the walls were stained with blood. Obama was faced with a laborious cleanup. The puke was a major problem, but the blood-stained walls--in rooms already suffering from dry rot--have been far worse. Obama had a choice. He could spend several years scrubbing down the rotten and stained walls, or he could paint the rooms, close them off and get on with things. Obama has chosen to scrub the walls.

So much for the extended metaphor.

I think that Obama, someone I root for, has made a mistake in not leaving Afghanistan immediately. He could have said that in our current situation, we need every penny to help get our economy moving and so he intends to adjust the national budget. We cannot afford a war. I believe he could have sold that concept.

There is one positive aspect to all this. The conversation about Iraq and Afghanistan has changed markedly under Obama. The United States has a long history of invading countries and building permanent bases and staying. Our military are still in Germany, Japan, Korea, etc. Bush planned to stay in Iraq. Today the arguments about Iraq and Afghanistan are about how soon we can leave, immediately or in two years. Obama has not commited to nation building or democracy building in Afghanistan. He's set a low bar: control of some major areas and then a turnover to the locals in 18 months.

Speaking as a former enlisted man, I would not want to be the last American killed in Afghanistan. Propping up Afghanistan in order to prop up the nuclear-armed Pakistan strikes me as too indirect to be good strategy. But at least we and the people of Afghanistan have a time line, and it is significant to note that the American military now support eventual withdrawal, in part because our military needs to be rebuilt.