I am so sick of U.S. national behavior

[jslove]

Speaking as a U.S. citizen and voter, I believe the next administration and senate should sign and ratify the treaties to join the International Criminal Court. No one should be above the law, and especially not us.

Comments

[billroper]

Someone (it may have been Jerry Pournelle) recently pointed out that one of the good ways to get a well-entrenched dictatorship instead of a functioning democracy is to criminalize policy differences so that giving up power means that you go to prison or are killed. It's certainly one of the fine characteristics of third-world dictatorships and single-party states.

[thnidu]

I was tending to agree with the post till I read your comment. Touché.

[jslove]

You know, that's true as far as it goes, but I reject its relevance. You [Bill] always were good at the soft answer that turneth away wrath, but maybe you shouldn't be doing so in this case

[jslove]

Damn comment limit.

I recall that similar arguments to the ones above about Iraq were made in my youth about Viet Nam. I still reject those. It is true that the U.S. perpetrated great evil, along with other actors, but in that case, we got into it via a treaty, and the whole government went along with it, so it was just one of those policy things.

In this case, it seems more like our legislators are too embarrassed about having been taken in by administration lies to react with proper outrage. As politicians, they are probably doing the right thing. In other ways, not so much. Of course, we don't know what really happened, who knew what, when, or whether coercion was involved; I'm sure there is more than enough embarrassment to go around

[merlinpole]

Lyndon Baines Johnson was a champion blackmailer, that was his big weapon pushing legislation through.

The complaints in "When in the course of human events...." apply incredible closely to the situation in -this- country today, more than 225 years after the document's signing....

[teddywolf]

Bill, I might not like certain legal policy differences, but I'll abide by them - we're a society founded on healthy respect for differences. Put another way, I can't stand Bush's tax policy in any of its particulars, but even though I feel it's astoundingly stupid policy I don't think it's an impeachable offense in the slightest. It's basic politics, and basic politics is not inherently illegal.

I have to agree with jslove on this. It's not a matter of deciding whether or not to approve a farm bill, or dealing with an energy crisis, or even a matter of tax policy. We are talking about deliberate breaking of the law by the top law enforcement official of the country. And we're not talking about perjury, which is what Mr. Clinton was impeached for; we're talking about tortures that are illegal under national and international laws, as well as arguably being the first President I can think of who might have actually broken all ten rules of the Bill of Rights.While the 1st Amendment is about Congress, I would say that Executive Orders

[tiferet]

I COMPLETELY AWTC.

[dglenn]

:s/Barring that/Additionally/