Take It As Red

Well, we knew that it would happen; how could it not, while the Republican's hold Congress' gonads in a vise - but it doesn't make it any easier to accept or bear. That that corrupt, second-rate, sycophantic bought and paid-for shyster lawyer and torturer manque, Alberto Gonzales, is now Attorney General of the USA, and charged with protecting the legal rights and freedoms of all US citizens, absolutely beggars belief.

Many Americans, including the editors of the New York Times ( not noted for standing up to the Rethugs) are wondering what this will do to the US's standing in the rest of the world:

"The confirmation of Alberto Gonzales as attorney general yesterday was depressing. The president deserves a great deal of leeway in choosing his own cabinet. But beyond his other failings, Mr. Gonzales has come to represent the administration's role in paving the way for the abuse and torture of prisoners by American soldiers and intelligence agents. Giving him the nation's top legal post is a terrible signal to send the rest of the world, and to American citizens concerned with human rights.

The 60-to-36 vote for confirmation was also preceded by a depressing debate. There was the usual comic opera of these Senate votes, with the president's party piously denouncing all opposition as outrageous politicking and the opposition piously denying it. But this debate had a sinister overtone as well: in a ham-handed way, the Republicans tried to portray a vote against Mr. Gonzales as an act of bigotry."

[...]

" Mr. Gonzales testified that he agreed with the substance of the original torture memo, and he still takes the view that the president can declare himself to be above the law. In written responses to senators' questions, Mr. Gonzales argued that intelligence agents could "abuse" prisoners as long as they did it to foreigners outside the United States. Republican senators argued that it was unfair to say Mr. Gonzales was personally responsible for the specific acts of torture and degradation at Abu Ghraib. That would be a fair defense if anyone were doing that. The Democrats simply said, rightly, that Mr. Gonzales was one of the central architects of the administration's policy of evading legal restrictions on the treatment of prisoners. He should not have been rewarded with one of the most important jobs in the cabinet."

Speaking as a fully paid up member of the reality based-community that passes for the rest of the world, I can tell you my immediate reaction and it's not nice. "Fucking dumb-assed Americans" pretty much sums it up. Because if not stupid, then you must agree with Gonzales and his approval of torture of anyone who disagrees with his Chimperors plans, and even some who don't but just got in the way. Your Republican senators apparently do agree, and you voted for them, didn't you? For fuck's sake, you have all the information to know that the new head of the whole of the US justice department approves torture, HE SAID IT UNDER OATH. Take a look - it's right there in the transcript.

To pontificate, as Bush did in his State of The Union address (and as Condosleeza is doing now on her visit to Tony Blair) on freedom, liberty, democracy and the American way, just makes the rest of the world go "WTF? Surely the US public can't be taken in by this rubbish when its so demonstrably untrue?" But the American public is taken in, every single time. Either that or they do know and they just don't give a damn. Personally I think the latter is more likely.

In say, 25 years, when the climate is totally fucked, hordes of refugees roam the world looking for a safe place to live, when tsunamis, hurricanes and crop failures are regular occurrences, when the insurance companies go bankrupt, when the oil runs out, when there's no safety net of welfare for anyone; when a repressive, torturing, theocratic government has run the nation trillions and trillions of dollars into debt - remember then the scum who voted for Gonzales:

Alexander (R-TN)Allard (R-CO)Allen (R-VA)Bennett (R-UT)Bond (R-MO)Brownback (R-KS)Bunning (R-KY)Burr (R-NC)Chafee (R-RI)Chambliss (R-GA)Coburn (R-OK)Cochran (R-MS)Coleman (R-MN)Collins (R-ME)Cornyn (R-TX)Craig (R-ID)Crapo (R-ID)DeMint (R-SC)DeWine (R-OH)Dole (R-NC) Domenici (R-NM)Ensign (R-NV)Enzi (R-WY)Frist (R-TN)Graham (R-SC)Grassley (R-IA)Gregg (R-NH)Hagel (R-NE)Hatch (R-UT)Hutchison (R-TX)Inhofe (R-OK)Isakson (R-GA)Kyl (R-AZ)Landrieu (D-LA)Lieberman (D-CT)Lott (R-MS)Lugar (R-IN)Martinez (R-FL)McCain (R-AZ)McConnell (R-KY) Murkowski (R-AK)Nelson (D-FL)Nelson (D-NE)Pryor (D-AR)Roberts (R-KS)Salazar (D-CO)Santorum (R-PA)Sessions (R-AL)Shelby (R-AL)Smith (R-OR)Snowe (R-ME)Specter (R-PA)Stevens (R-AK)Sununu (R-NH)Talent (R-MO)Thomas (R-WY)Thune (R-SD)Vitter (R-LA)Voinovich (R-OH)Warner (R-VA)

(Thanks to PZ Myers at pharyngula for the list)

Remember them especially when you try to complain about the government fucking up the country and get thrown in jail, or worse, for your presumption. Remember also that you voted for those who voted for him. Yes, it is your own damned fault.

The rest of the world will also have to pay for the laziness, brutality, venality and sheer stupidity of the majority of US voter's mistakes, (and if history is any guide, it will be a payment disproportionately higher than any an American voter will suffer). We lesser beings, we non-americans, don't get a choice for good or ill; the USA does what it does and well, we just mostly have to take it. But we will remember who it was put us in that position.

|