Torture is just fine with these signatories to laws against it

http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/war_crimes_is_obama_looking_for_a_bailout_20140813
War Crimes: Is Obama Looking for a Bailout?

We hanged Nazis for supposedly torturing people. It's different with us, though, because whatever we do becomes right as soon as we do it (just as whatever a gliberal says becomes true the instant she says it, regardless of obvious facts and logic).

We hanged Nazis for "just following orders" as any soldier or sailor in any army anywhere is commanded to do and powerless to resist. Yet our troops are committing war crimes so monstrous that they come home from battle with ruined souls.

We've invaded and tortured whole countries on the excuse that our own demons are hiding there -- clearly not only illegal, but psychopathic, paranoid and Orwellian.

Washington's excuse for its post-9/11 crimes against humanity is "Gee we were caught off guard. We didn't know who was out there planning to what to us. You must understand, we were thrown into an extremely difficult situation and had to DO something!" In other words, THEY FAILED at doing the most BASIC jobs they're elected and appointed to do for us. They're magnificent at spying on and criminalizing us, blithering idiots at monitoring putatively real terrorists even as they're putatively running around the country plotting to blow up gigantic buildings and going to school to learn how to fly planes but not (ha, ha) land them.

If what they tell us is true, they don't in fact know a thing about defending us from anybody. Yet their response to to every crisis is to multiply the bureaucracy to incomprehensible new levels, rewarding themselves with vastly expensive new agencies and gleaming state-if-the-art facilities, despite their obvious artlessness. How many ameriKans ever even look askance at the existence of the laughably-misnamed Department of Homeland Security? Probably about the same number who give any thought to the ridiculous requirement that all new construction include the digging out of a mosquito pit on the pretext of stopping erosion.

We hated the Soviets for 69 years because of their free and capricious invasion of other countries (notably Afghanistan) and recreational brutalization of civilian populations. But when we do it it's fine because of a notion sickeningly dubbed "American exceptionalism".

This means we get to do whatever we want, simply because we can. For post-lawful ameriKa, might makes right, and the hell with you if you don't like it. We're "exceptional" meaning all countries have to obey the basic rules of human life "except" us.

We are despicable for doing it. I'm despicable for even existing in a country where the citizenry lets it pass year after year, day after day, blithely going about its business reassuring itself that politics can conveniently be left in the hands of politicians. You don't need to take your alarm clock apart to make sure it's doing it's job right, and for most people, that's the attitude to their party's iconic politicians as well.

We are monsters. Every single one of us that's not doing what Alex Jones is doing shares part of the blame for this situation -- and even they in their daily lives are making ample use of the raw materials we in effect steal from countries far less powerful than ourselves via war or industry.

It's inevitable if you live in a wealthy country. It's the American way of life!

I'm still seeing shameless pseudo-patriotic "Power of Pride" bumper stickers on vehicles 13 years into the "war" on Afghanistan. Pride goeth before a fall..... THIS JUST IN from another of Washington's celebrated "war" fronts:

http://www.brasschecktv.com/videos/the-bogus-drug-war-1/no-charges-no-nothing-for-passenger-lists.html
No charges, no nothing For Passenger Lists: Amtrak employee took $854,460 in bribes from DEA for providing customer lists

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