Proud to be American

Some days your country does something that makes you want to throw open your window, stick your head our and shout " I'm an American and damn proud of it ! You're seeing the America I know and love ! The America that stands as a beacon of hope and a landmark of human freedom and dignity. "

This was not one of those days. These stories aren't secrets, not likely to be overlooked, but I am faced with the choice of speak or vomit. I want there to be some record, somewhere I can point to when my grandson says, "Grandpa, what were you doing while this was going on ?"

Remember a thousand western movies where the bad guy grabs the girl to use as a shield or to force the hero into, or out of, action ? Remember the instinctive revulsion you felt for this cowardly and despicable act, how you longed for the moment when justice would triumph ? Well, today we learned that gutless punk is alive and well and wearing the uniform of the United States Army.

Oh, I'm sorry. What the Associated Press reports we're doing in Iraq is actually worse. We kidnap the wives of "suspected insurgents". We're not even sure we have the right guy when we snatch his wife, in one case a nursing mother. Not, given the quality of our intelligence, that we could be sure.

I see you look a little pale, but I'm afraid I'm not done. At our military facility at Guantanamo Bay some of the detainees (the count is "down to 22" according to us) are starving themselves to death despite being force fed by our troops.

The strikes have actually been going on since 2002, but have grown more serious as years pass and their demands, such as fair trials, freedom from religious abuses, an end to physical and psychological abuses, adequate shelter and food, and access to clean water, are not met. The Center for Constitutional Rights has more on this than you can bear to read.

Of course, we needn't worry too much about this because we are assured that the Guantanamo detainees represent a threat to our security. Every one of them. Well, almost every one. Except the 242 of the original 752 we have already released. No, really, once we cleaned up that initial 32 % error rate, which took until last July in some cases, we are really certain we have the bad guys.

So if they starve to death claiming their innocence, or that their rights are being violated, you can be sure, no really, I mean sure, that they are only doing it for propaganda purposes.

There could be more, but I have to go check into emigrating to New Zealand.

Please, stay focussed, stay the course and

Stay Naked