There Ought To Be A Law
Sometimes the bills that get introduced in Congress make me laugh because they are so inane and silly. Sometimes the bills that get introduced into Congress send my blood pressure to unhealthy heights because their intent is to carve away rights promised by the Constitution. And sometimes the bills that get introduced take my breath away because it never occurred to me that we might actually have to legislate on the issue.
A prime example of the last type of bill was noted in a Star Tribune editorial this morning.
GOP Senators and ex-military men push for a bill that would prohibit cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of people being detained by the US government.
The Senators in question are John Warner, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham, none of whom even remotely qualify as liberal crybabies anxious to offer therapy to terrorists.
The editorial then goes on to list ten reasons why such a bill should be passed, all of them cogent and rational. I urge you to go to the editorial and read it in full because it makes a whole lot of sense, and for me to duplicate it in full here would probably be a violation of the 'fair use' doctrine in citing copyrighted material.
But here's the part that I don't get. How did we get to the point in our history that this nation has to pass a law to ensure that the government behaves decently and in accordance with international human rights treaties that we are signatory to? Surely 9/11 didn't change our standards of decency and morality, did it? I mean, I have been paying pretty close attention, and I didn't get any memo to that effect.
Even more startling is the punch line to this story: President Bush has promised to veto any such bill.
Outrageous.
A prime example of the last type of bill was noted in a Star Tribune editorial this morning.
GOP Senators and ex-military men push for a bill that would prohibit cruel, inhumane, or degrading treatment of people being detained by the US government.
The Senators in question are John Warner, John McCain, and Lindsay Graham, none of whom even remotely qualify as liberal crybabies anxious to offer therapy to terrorists.
The editorial then goes on to list ten reasons why such a bill should be passed, all of them cogent and rational. I urge you to go to the editorial and read it in full because it makes a whole lot of sense, and for me to duplicate it in full here would probably be a violation of the 'fair use' doctrine in citing copyrighted material.
But here's the part that I don't get. How did we get to the point in our history that this nation has to pass a law to ensure that the government behaves decently and in accordance with international human rights treaties that we are signatory to? Surely 9/11 didn't change our standards of decency and morality, did it? I mean, I have been paying pretty close attention, and I didn't get any memo to that effect.
Even more startling is the punch line to this story: President Bush has promised to veto any such bill.
Outrageous.
posted by Diane at 4:17 PM
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