Bulletin: U.S. Exempts Itself From Torture Law

First Published in DelawareLiberal on December 13, 2014 by ProgressivePopulist

 
With the release of the long awaited report on the use of torture during the Bush/Cheney reign of terror following 9-11, public statements by current elected federal officials and many serving with Bush/Cheney, the United States of America appears to have exempted itself from all domestic and international law prohibiting torture.

The U.S. code 2340, together with numerous international conventions to which the U.S. is a signatory, including those signed in 1948, 1977, 1990 and 1992, specifically prohibits the use of carefully  defined abuses to fellow humans which clearly correspond to the abuses to prisoners held during the Iraq/Af/Pak armed conflicts.

Some of these conventions define the abuses described as War Crimes, when practiced during the Iraq/Af/Pak armed conflicts.

But it appears that our self-description as possessing "Exceptionalism" compared to the other practitioners of torture we have prosecuted over the decades exempts us from these same laws and conventions.  Though apparently American history of such events in which we participated such as the Nuremberg Trials are no longer taught in many of our schools speak volumes about how the nation felt about human rights abuses, many who remember these trials will find the current exemption troubling.

Future generations likely will not see this contradiction or major change in what we once believed differentiated us from many other less moral or ethical societies, as we saw them.  In a way, I guess it is more egalitarian to see ourselves as no more committed to human rights than any other peoples.   Some may see the absence of an American  superiority complex as progress.

We likely will  have to deal with the example our government now sets for us ordinary citizens, some of whom practice physical abuse, terror and violence against fellow citizens.  We've tried, convicted and incarcerated hundreds of thousands of such abusers to remove them from society.

What remedies might we seek in the future to protect ourselves from such people?  Especially since our  exempted former leaders now are given prominent  media platforms to explain the rationale for their practice of torture.

These exempted torturers explain their actions this way:  "You have to understand the tone and tenor of our society after suffering the horror of the 9-11 attacks".  "We were in crisis and the nation was looking to us to find and  stop the perpetrators from attacking us again".

The perpetrators of human abuse and violence in America can now explain that they were in a crisis situation caused by someone who posed a threat to them and their well being and had no choice but to shoot, stab or maim them.

They will explain that they deserve a break and understanding of their dire situation just as our Bush/Cheney leaders deserve exemption from the rules governing abuse of others.
Given that we consider ourselves a forgiving people, seems reasonable to me.

Illicit Drugs: Half of America Belongs in Prison

First Published in DelawareLiberal on 12/6/2014 by ProgressivePopulist
 



According to research by The Drug Policy Alliance, half of Americans have been in possession of illegal drugs at least once in their lifetime.

Of those approximately 150 million, l percent, or 1.6% are sent to prison, state or federal, for drug offenses.  Five million of our fellow citizens, or nearly 4% , are under criminal justice supervision for drug convictions.

Half of these are for marijuana possession, according to the ACLU. America, over 45% of of us are just damned lucky not to have been caught.  Yes, our government declared war on the majority of us in the 80's.  Thanks Ronald Reagan.  Oh, and he was supported by many cringing liberals who didn't want to speak out intelligently about America's huge drug problem.  Licit and illicit.
Yes, this is a cultural problem.  And it is a corporate problem too.  The majority of our medical treatments entail prescribing drugs, starting when we are little kids.  Most of these drugs mask the medical problem or relieve pain from it, not cure the disorder.

Our psychotropic medications are largely based on science that doesn't understand how or why they work; they just do, so they get prescribed.  That's millions of us with mental health disorders.
The pharmaceutical industry is huge and is allowed to heavily promote their drugs to consumers who can't directly order them.  But they can and do plead with the doctor for their use.  We can thank the broadcast, print media and internet providers as well as the advertising industry for their  complicity in our cultural drug problem.

We all see drugs as a way to blunt pain or discomfort, whether they are for medical or recreational use,  legal or illegal.  Why do our legislators, medical, law enforcement professionals not see the obvious?  Looks to me like the pharma lobby and industry that pays them (lobbyists and legislators alike) can bear most of the responsibility.

Our drug culture even drives our foreign policy, at least as it relates to Afghanistan where we've invested 13 years of homeland treasure and lives and limbs.   Our nation building appears to have turned them into a narco state producing 90 % of  the world's heroin supply.  Way to go.  Create the drugs, then launch a war against them. Business calls this vertical integration.

But we Americans do not rise up, do not demand a more intelligent solution to get to the root of both drug dependency and medical research to cure and repair.  Masking is just easier and for many, completely comfortable.  And when we are comfortable, we don't act.

Sure, I'd rather be comfortable than in pain, psychic or physical.  But Isn't it time, after over 30 years of defeat in our War On Drugs that we stop, question and fix the huge damage it has done to our society ?

With All Eyes On Ferguson, Oil Gushes In The Caliph

First Published in DelawareLiberal on December 1, 2014 by ProgresssivePopulist
 

Reports from such sources as Pepe Escobar, Asian Times, tell us that the new Caliph is raking in $2million a day from their stolen refineries in Syria and Iraq.  The bucks are being generated still on an oil black market run mostly from our ally Turkey.

The Saud"s concocted price decline, apparently sanctioned by the State Department, was designed to negatively impact Russia and Iran and bolster Administration esteem at the U.S. oil pump.  What apparently they didn't calculate is that black market oil and their pricing is off the world oil reservation, so little impact on the Caliph.

The main bombing targets in Syria from the "coalition" are pipelines, not refineries which are really hard to rebuild.  But the pipelines are empty because the Caliph is diverting the oil.
All this strategy just doesn't look too brilliant to me, but then, I'm just a guy sitting here in my bathrobe writing about what appears to be.

Why then are we over there?  What good is this coalition that won't pony up ground troops?  Iraq seems to be slipping away, further and further with little turnaround though we're sending more and more of our youthful treasure.  What is the point?