A Squalid, Ugly Country
How did it ever come about that we have to wake up in the morning to read things like this in the newspaper:
This is the country that Bush and Cheney, the Republicans and too often their Democratic fellow travellers, the neocons, the teabaggers, the corrupt corporate sellouts in Congress, have bequeathed to us- a country that needs to reassure people that we won't torture someone.
Now, we're right down there with Robert Mugabe or the rulers of the Sudan, telling the world that, oh no, of course not, we wouldn't torture that person; they have no need for political asylum. Just send them home and we will be so good to them. We won't torture them like all those other people we tortured (and still pretend we didn't.) I mean, this is AMERICA, where the people throw tantrums when confronted with the horrible prospect of being given health insurance, and threaten armed rebellion if their taxes aren't cut- surely they would rise in revolt if they thought that our government had given into barbarism and decided that it had the right to torture people.
But, no. As long as it's someone else, preferably someone with brown skin, it's just fine. Our wonderful absolutely not racist American people have spoken- as long as it happens to someone else, it's not torture. So come on home, Edward Snowden. What could you possibly have to fear?
"Snowden won't face torture or execution, Holder tells Russia...
NSA leaker Edward Snowden won't face abuse or the death penalty if he returns to the U.S. as he claimed in his request for political asylum, the attorney general tells Russian authorities."
This is the country that Bush and Cheney, the Republicans and too often their Democratic fellow travellers, the neocons, the teabaggers, the corrupt corporate sellouts in Congress, have bequeathed to us- a country that needs to reassure people that we won't torture someone.
Now, we're right down there with Robert Mugabe or the rulers of the Sudan, telling the world that, oh no, of course not, we wouldn't torture that person; they have no need for political asylum. Just send them home and we will be so good to them. We won't torture them like all those other people we tortured (and still pretend we didn't.) I mean, this is AMERICA, where the people throw tantrums when confronted with the horrible prospect of being given health insurance, and threaten armed rebellion if their taxes aren't cut- surely they would rise in revolt if they thought that our government had given into barbarism and decided that it had the right to torture people.
But, no. As long as it's someone else, preferably someone with brown skin, it's just fine. Our wonderful absolutely not racist American people have spoken- as long as it happens to someone else, it's not torture. So come on home, Edward Snowden. What could you possibly have to fear?
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Ruminate on how this sounds to all those of us who aren't...
Assange doesn't fear for nothing, does he?