UN says US must prosecute for torture

Ed Brayton's got this covered. I urge you to read his post, which isn't long. I loved the following words, which were included in the UN report:

No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat or war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

There's really no way out of this dilemma. The US violated international treaties. Needless to say, I would love to see Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld in prison for the rest of their lives. It would give new oomph to the phrase, "Oh, joy!"

But I doubt it'll happen. The US will just sink (rise?) further into its new role as "the country that is above the law". Note that the UN is asking the US to prosecute those responsible for torture. Uh-huh. That's like when the police investigate the police; it doesn't work. I'd rather the UN insisted that an international court prosecute the US for torture. But hey, it ain't gonna happen either way.

Bush ruined the United States. It's as simple as that. We'll never be an honorable country again because we are so invested in hiding the crimes of the Bush administration -- which have segued into the crimes of the Obama administration.

And now we hear that Jeb is waiting in the wings. That's quite a family they've got there.

The beat goes on

When I read this, I wasn't surprised.

KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) — Calls for Bishop Robert Finn's resignation intensified a day after he became the highest-ranking U.S. church official to be convicted of a crime related to the child sexual abuse scandal. 

(snip)

Through the decades-long abuse scandal, only one U.S. bishop has stepped down over his failures to stop abusive clergy: Cardinal Bernard Law, who in 2002 resigned as head of the Archdiocese of Boston [and was sent to prison for decades and was promoted to a cushy job at the Vatican for his efforts].

So, was Bishop Finn sent to the hoosegow for his transgressions? Of course not.

Jackson County Judge John M. Torrence sentenced Finn to two years of supervised probation. If the bishop abides by a set of stipulations from the judge, the conviction will be wiped from his record in 2014. 

They never suffer real repercussions -- and the beat goes on.

(Much better version of this story at the Times this morning.)