Republican immorality

Homeless man, called “ungrateful bastard,”
as he throws gift cheeseburger back
at benefactor and demands money instead.

The latest Republican suggestion that torture may be okay to use because it “works” indicates to me a lack of morality so profound as to make me wonder where these people came from. Cheney, in particular, seems to imply that if further memos were released proving that their “enhanced interrogation techniques” “worked” that would somehow justify their use. They are apparently incapable of understanding that IT DOESN’T MATTER WHETHER THEY WORKED OR NOT (and I seriously doubt they can show that it did), they still constitute a war crime, a crime both against U.S. law and International law. I gather that according to this view if something “works” it is therefore acceptable. So if I wish to rob a bank because I need money, and I successfully do it, it’s okay. Or if I were to rape someone and succeed it would be okay. This is an idea so absurd I cannot believe anyone would even suggest it. But it is perfectly consistent with Nixon and Bush claiming that “if the President does it, it’s not illegal.”

And it is precisely this kind of immorality the Republicans have been employing since they tried to bring down the Clinton Presidency. For them anything was okay as long as it might “work” to get rid of Clinton. You will recall they spent years and hundreds of millions to try to “get Clinton.” They accused the Clintons, especially Bill, of just about every crime possible, including even murder. When all of their false claims failed they brought in the sleaziest, most biased lawyer (Starr) they could find who ultimately stooped so low as to bring out a pornographic account of a private sex act between consenting adults that had nothing whatsoever to do with how well the Clinton administration was doing, and, in fact, greatly hindered it from doing much of anything. This was completely unprecedented and quite likely would have easily brought down previous administrations. One does not have to admire or defend Clinton’s sexual behavior to understand this sordid episode ushered in a new political climate that changed the Republican Party from a legitimate political entity into what has become under Bush/Cheney little more than a criminal conspiracy (what I have previously referred to as the Brafia – the Bush/Republican/Mafia). This criminal enterprise, employing slogans from the Reagan era, managed to change laws and manipulate Congress into a system of deregulation designed to effectively siphon away taxpayer money into the hands of equally immoral corporations and obscenely rich individuals. They stopped at nothing, an unnecessary and criminal “war,” war profiteering, no-bid contracts, outright theft, endless lying, the killing of innocent civilians, the use of illegal weapons, and yes, even torture. We can see now where this criminal activity led us.

But according to this new Republican idea of morality, it was all okay because it worked, they got away with it, at least up until now. Now that their criminal behavior is about to catch up with them, they are squealing like a bunch of stuck hogs, “Everything we did was for the good of the country,” “We kept the country save for eight years,” “What we did worked.” The Bush/Cheney years constituted the greatest criminal heist in the history of the world, a criminal conspiracy so vile and immoral as to be almost beyond comprehension. Billions upon billions of dollars, either borrowed or stolen from taxpayers, simply vanished into the coffers of the military/industrial/political complex, or, in some cases, just vanished completely. Millions of people killed and injured, millions more dislocated and thrown into misery, many tortured, and some even “disappeared.” And for what? What have we as a country gained from this? Nothing but collective misery, unless you belong to the relatively small insider elite that now possesses more wealth than all the rest of us combined. During their nightmare years of terror and crime they spat on the Constitution (“Just a goddamn piece of paper”), ignored our laws, illegally spied on us, did away with habeas corpus, ignored the Democratic opposition and refused them even space for meetings, and tried to establish a dictatorship of the Executive Branch. Now we are supposed to thank them for keeping us safe after 9/11, which, in fact, they haven’t even done? They believe they shouldn’t be held accountable for their behavior as it would be “divisive,” and after the fact, and etc. They expect bipartisanship, a concept they seemed totally unfamiliar with until now. If all this were not so unbelievable and awesomely terrible one might well think it was merely an episode of “Clowns at Play in the Fields of Fantasyland.” There are some I guess who still believe that the Attorney General might not take action against them. I cannot see how that is possible, given that the Attorney General is sworn to uphold the law, and the laws against torture and murder are pretty clear. As far as I am concerned no punishment would be too great for these immoral ghouls that have destroyed the lives of so many millions. Granted what they have done falls far short of the achievements of Hitler or Stalin, their goals were more modest. But who knows what might have happened if they had actually achieved the dictatorship they were striving for. The entire world knows what they did and waits expectantly to see what we will do. Thus it behooves us to act honorably and show the world that we do not condone war crimes and are, indeed, a beacon on the hill as we once were.

LKBIQ:
There is no den in the wide world to hide a rogue. Commit a crime and the earth is made of glass. Commit a crime, and it seems as if a coat of snow fell on the ground, such as reveals in the woods the track of every partridge, and fox, and squirrel.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

TILT:
Pigs do not have functional sweat glands, so they use water or mud during hot periods.