Who's out of bounds depends on who's marking the field
Thomas Keister
July 30, 2006
You just have to love how this stuff works. The United States, despite playing the standard "can't confirm or dent" card (of which, I'm sure, is a stockpile bigger than the strategic oil reserve), was informed Friday by the United Nations that they need to shut down any secret U.S. detention centers. That is, if they wouldn't mind horribly.
The demand results from a report by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, compiled during a two-day review of U.S. compliance with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Determination of the panel is that U.S. practices violate the rights of detainees and their families. Remember a day when news of that caliber was call for both surprise and anger? Nope, not in this day and age, where details of a highway sniper suspect includes what he had on his MySpace page. I found this particular bit of current affairs on page A8 of the Courier-Journal, a four-paragraph wire dispatch sharing the bottom of the page with an ad for smokeless tobacco. Just another international law violation, probably should just post it in the traffic ticket listings, at the rate we are going.
While the United States was still the topic, the U.N. also called for a moratorium on capital punishment and improved treatment of poor and black citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This is where the fun starts.
Washington responded by calling the U.N. "out of bounds" for poking 'round the trash like a tabloid intern. Actually, it was for looking into U.S. practices abroad, but wouldn't the first version sound brilliant on CNN? There was something in there about considering the recommendations, but I think we've all seen what that means form this administration.
I will admit to a little bit of confusion on this. The United States is miffed because the United Nations has a dim view of what the United States is doing outside its borders? Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that kind of sort of what the U.N. is supposed to do? After all, it's rather self-evident there is no one in charge in America who's going to keep a thumb on it, so why shouldn't the U.N. call us out on it?
As for the committee's other points of discussion, the criticism regarding post-Katrina has been played out. Everything to be said about it has already been said and dissected, even the stuff Kayne West didn't say. The poor will continue to get poorer, despite what could loosely be called every best effort by our legislature. Not that tacking out another tax break for the wealthy in the middle of a bill to raise the minimum wage is taking our best interests into consideration, those of us in the appropriate tax brackets, but what's worse is the proposed $7.25 an hour the minimum wage would increase to...in three years. Anyone who can tell me $7.25 an hour in 2009 won't be an even bigger joke than the $5.15 we got in 2006 with a straight face much be getting the really good stuff from their doctor.
Capital punishment, huh? There's nothing wrong with our system as it stands now. You have a much better chance of dying of natural causes than form anything else on the green mile, unless you live in Texas, in which case may I recommend the porterhouse, medium rare. Trust me, it'll be well done before you know it. The ponderous grind of our backlogged justice system has almost created the moratorium the U.N. is calling for.
In the end, our lawmakers can complain about the scrutiny of their practices all day long, but they really should figure out where they are on the field before they start throwing flags for offsides. They should be thankful there's no review booth on Capitol Hill.
The demand results from a report by the U.N. Human Rights Committee, compiled during a two-day review of U.S. compliance with the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The Determination of the panel is that U.S. practices violate the rights of detainees and their families. Remember a day when news of that caliber was call for both surprise and anger? Nope, not in this day and age, where details of a highway sniper suspect includes what he had on his MySpace page. I found this particular bit of current affairs on page A8 of the Courier-Journal, a four-paragraph wire dispatch sharing the bottom of the page with an ad for smokeless tobacco. Just another international law violation, probably should just post it in the traffic ticket listings, at the rate we are going.
While the United States was still the topic, the U.N. also called for a moratorium on capital punishment and improved treatment of poor and black citizens in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. This is where the fun starts.
Washington responded by calling the U.N. "out of bounds" for poking 'round the trash like a tabloid intern. Actually, it was for looking into U.S. practices abroad, but wouldn't the first version sound brilliant on CNN? There was something in there about considering the recommendations, but I think we've all seen what that means form this administration.
I will admit to a little bit of confusion on this. The United States is miffed because the United Nations has a dim view of what the United States is doing outside its borders? Correct me if I'm wrong here, but isn't that kind of sort of what the U.N. is supposed to do? After all, it's rather self-evident there is no one in charge in America who's going to keep a thumb on it, so why shouldn't the U.N. call us out on it?
As for the committee's other points of discussion, the criticism regarding post-Katrina has been played out. Everything to be said about it has already been said and dissected, even the stuff Kayne West didn't say. The poor will continue to get poorer, despite what could loosely be called every best effort by our legislature. Not that tacking out another tax break for the wealthy in the middle of a bill to raise the minimum wage is taking our best interests into consideration, those of us in the appropriate tax brackets, but what's worse is the proposed $7.25 an hour the minimum wage would increase to...in three years. Anyone who can tell me $7.25 an hour in 2009 won't be an even bigger joke than the $5.15 we got in 2006 with a straight face much be getting the really good stuff from their doctor.
Capital punishment, huh? There's nothing wrong with our system as it stands now. You have a much better chance of dying of natural causes than form anything else on the green mile, unless you live in Texas, in which case may I recommend the porterhouse, medium rare. Trust me, it'll be well done before you know it. The ponderous grind of our backlogged justice system has almost created the moratorium the U.N. is calling for.
In the end, our lawmakers can complain about the scrutiny of their practices all day long, but they really should figure out where they are on the field before they start throwing flags for offsides. They should be thankful there's no review booth on Capitol Hill.
Print
Email
