I'm sure in no time at all a representative, or two of our crack-pot in house troll patrol will have explained, excused, and completely rationalized this whole call for prosecuting
HIGH CRIMES...
Remember there can be nothing illegal occurring if a republiKKKon president or vp commits the
HIGH CRIME......
Why you ask?
They always get an "excuse note" from their mommies...and have thousands of psychotic apologists laying around to excuse them...
There's also the argument that we are likely required by the Convention Against Torture to appoint an independent prosecutor given the clear and voluminous mountain of evidence already revealed. Cheney and his creature Addington are basically admitted felons, with von Rumsfeld not far behind.
A special torture investigator/prosecutor frankly should be a no-brainer in a responsible democracy. The fact that it most clearly is not, and very likely will never come about, is a clear sign of our endemic moral failure as a nation.
It's a moral problem cut out of the exact same cloth as our general indifference to being lied into invading another country for false "reasons" and our categorical refusal to hold the executive accountable for his admitted violations of FISA, a law directly applicable to him.
Whatever we were in the past, whatever admirable traits we exhibited, is water long under the bridge now. We are now clearly degenerate as a nation and people, with our DC leaders, "elite" and media being especially degenerate.
The "conservative" Repubs (the dominant national party/movement of the past 10 years!) are simply moral monsters on any and every issue put before them---it's quite remarkable. One has a hard time thinking of parallels for them--none exist in American history.
It's great that there are still some spots of solid wood, such as this Gitmo prosecutor, but the rot has gone on for too long and is now too deep. The (self-administered) toxins are overwhelming the system.
We are now reaping the true harvest of 30 years of "conservatism" as the dominant political viewpoint in America---as a movement it has produced material calamity and now irreversible moral degeneration. The historians of the future, who will chronicle our demise, have a lot to work with. "Conservatism" will answer to history, if to no one else.
Posted by euzoius at June 17, 2009 11:02 AMWe are no longer a nation of laws, but of men. The Republic has been corrupted beyond recognition. The Bill of Rights (including property rights...Chrysler preferred shares) has been gutted and is routinely ignored.
It has been said that once a constitutional republic veers from it's constitution, it is corrupted. Any attempt to excise that corruption without returning to constitutional adherence is simply more corruption.
Posted by brisa at June 17, 2009 11:20 AMThe Republic has been corrupted many times in the past and will be many times in the future-it is the nature of humanity. This is one of the dark chapters in our history, but not close to the darkest.
Get mad, hell yes! Write letters, protest, blog, do what you can. But this handwringing "we are no longer a democracy!" every time our government (and our people) fail to live up to our ideals accomplishes nothing and mourns a lost age of American innocence that never existed.
Posted by tdraicer at June 17, 2009 11:58 AMWe keep demanding it, it will happen. Investigate, indict, prosecute and jail the bastards.
So tell me Euz, There are provisions for international action written into the CAT. Why hasn't anyone in the international community made a claim? Provisions that allow for others to take action when the member nation refuses to take action. Where are the indictments? And a nation that doesn't take actions/indictments of offenders of the CAT, can be indicted as complicit. This means President Obama can be indicted for taking no action. Where are the indictments Euz?
It's so nice to have a DLC'er president again????
Posted by peter at June 17, 2009 06:42 PM