Just Get It Overwith

It seems that US lawmakers can't get the cojones to roll back the attack on the bill of rights and the constitution and are once again extending the Patriot Act. They ought to just bite the bullet and make the extension permanent or roll it back in its entirety. The ACLU takes a slightly different approach and suggests that the US public should write their congress critters and request that it be repealed.

Really? The US Congress will listen to the people who write? How does that work? I write, some intern read my message and aggregates it into the report for the congress critter. The critter glances at the summary page of the report and then asks his or her main campaign contributors how to vote. Yeah, that works well. Perhaps the net result is that the critter gets to ask for a bigger contribution.

Wired's Treat Level blog has a number of articles discussing the problems with the act, its implementation, and its use.

• Lawmakers Punt Again on Patriot Act Reform
• House Fails to Extend Patriot Act Spy Powers
• Congress Punting on Patriot Act Reform
• House Extends Key Patriot Act Provisions
• Patriot Act Extension Lands on Obama’s Desk
• Senate Extends Patriot Act Spy Bill
• FBI Tried to Cover Patriot Act Abuses
• Lawmakers Punt Patriot Act to Obama

Remember the old "America, Love it or leave it" slogan? My question is "America, how do I leave it?"

Worlds Biggest Bully Strikes Again

You remember the school yard bully – the one that punched you in the face when taunted. The one that hit you with a stick or rocks if you punched back. The one that told you how and what to do and threatened violence if you deviated from the course? The one that didn't follow its own rules without consequences. That bully... remember?

This past week the United States once again showed its true colours; not the red, white and blue representing hardiness & valour, purity and innocence, and vigilance, perseverance & justice respectively¹. But the colours and qualities of a bully.

The States have a positive view of their aggressive behaviour, and they act aggressively toward other countries, they have a big military accounting for 19% of budget expenditures (over $685 billion²), have trouble following international laws (not a signatory to the ICC³), has overthrown or help to overthrow at least 14 countries⁴. How does this compare to the characteristics of the bullies?

Children who bully⁵:

• May witness physical and verbal violence or aggression at home. They have a positive view of this behaviour, and they act aggressively toward other people, including adults.
• May hit or push other children.
• Are often physically strong.
• May or may not be popular with other children around their same age.
• Have trouble following rules.
• Show little concern for the feelings of others.

Sounds the same to me.

Let's take a look at the US's recent “victory” – the murder of Osama Bin Laden. The US sees the start of the issue as the infamous attacks of September 11, 2001 (9-11), though the seeds may be found in that list of 14 countries the US helped to overthrow. The US response to the 9-11 attacks was to declare “war” on terrorism, not a call for justice, not a call for the rule of law, but a call to openly break the rule of law and invoke the laws of war. However, the US Congress did not declare a state of war so the US was in a war that was not a war. In retaliation the US attacked Iraq, a country that did not have anything to do with the attacks⁶, overthrew Afghanistan a country that was was run by the Taliban⁶ a group that may have backed al-Qaeda (the presumptive responsible party), and supported Pakistan a country that may have supported al-Qaeda⁶. Ten years and over one million people killed, the US military receives an illegal “kill or capture” order to clear the way for the assassination of Osama Bin Laden from president Barack Obama⁷. The assassination is carried out in Pakistan and the US celebrates.

What would the non-bully nation have done? I think the answer should be that after the attacks international pressure should be brought to bear to capture those thought to be responsible. Those persons should then have been brought to open court to face and respond to the charges. That is how we do it in civilized societies. That is how civilized countries do it. That is how we close the doors on conspiracies, that is how we find most, if not all, of the responsible parties, and how we find peace.

Someday I hope the United States wakes up to its responsibility in the world and pays more than lip service to truth and justice.

[1] USFlag.org: A website dedicated to the Flag of the United States of America - What do the colors of the Flag mean?, http://www.usflag.org/colors.html
[2] Military budget of the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_budget_of_the_United_States
[3] United States and the International Criminal Court - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_and_the_International_Criminal_Court
[4] Mokhiber, Russell and Robert Weissman, Overthrow, http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0422-24.htm
[5] Bullying-Characteristics of Children Who Bully, http://www.webmd.com/parenting/tc/bullying-characteristics-of-children-who-bully
[6] Responsibility for the September 11 attacks - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Responsibility_for_the_September_11_attacks
[7] Obama: "Capture Or Kill" Bin Laden - CBS Evening News - CBS News, http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/01/14/eveningnews/main4722185.shtml