This morning’s Sacramento Bee carried two stories on the front page that appeared to be unrelated but I find there is a relationship that is important and representative of the times.
The first story was about President Bush reversing himself and now agreeing with Senator McCain that the United States should reaffirm that torture by US personnel anywhere in the world is illegal and that includes actions that are “cruel, inhuman, or degrading”. I think that before the Iraq prison scandals and the photographs so conveniently made available by our soldiers there, most Americans thought that was our policy. And I think most Americans will wonder why we had to take this step so publicly. I’m sure Dick Cheney is still shaking his head because he seems to like the idea of torture under the right circumstances. Never mind that studies have shown torture to be counterproductive and inefficient. People lie under torture as much or more as without it. Just look at the medieval witch trials.
The second story was the breaking news from the New York Times that President Bush ordered illegal domestic spying following the 9/11 attacks and that domestic spying has been going on ever since. This is a flagrant violation of Americans’ civil liberties but of course was done for the best of purposes – national security. Even the so-called Patriot Act wasn’t carte blanch enough for Bush. As Benjamin Franklin famously said, “A people who would sacrifice liberty for security will lose both, and deserve neither.”
But the connection I make is that it really doesn’t matter what laws we have on the books regarding torture or cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of detainees. The president can at any time issue an executive order nullifying such a law in the name of national security, his administration would certainly back him, and the nation would know about it 3 years later if we’re lucky. I thought we believed in the rule of law and that no person is above the law, not even the President of the United States.
‘TWAS THE MONTH BEFORE CHRISTMAS
ReplyDeleteSanta Claus picked up his mail at the North Pole Post Office. He took it back to his workshop to read it. “I wonder what the children want this year?” said Santa as he opened the first letter. The writing was so bad he couldn’t make out a single word. The second letter wasn’t signed. Santa had no idea who it was from. The third letter had no return address.
Santa was getting a stress-related migraine. Just then, one of the elves ran in and said, “There’s no more coal for the furnace. Where can we get some fore fuel?” Guess what Santa did with all the mail? That’s right!
The moral of the story is…if you are going to write Santa, be sure to print carefully, sign your name, and put your return address on the envelope. Also, keep the requests down to a minimum of six toys, don’t bug Santa for batteries, and try to keep the total tab under fifty bucks, Santa has a short fuse.