From the state of our prisons, our health and mental system that rewards economic winners and attacks economic losers, this society loves punishment and torture. Part of our Puritanical roots. Good ol’ predestination. Capitalism is the only virtue that is upheld, the only heroes have black AMEX cards.

The Stanford Prison Experiment and our prison system, (schizophrenic patients strapped down for days naked on steel tables, see Frontlines “The Released”, this week at pbs.org. A large segment of the society loves torture and punishment for anyone but themselves. We have become divorced from what makes us not sociopaths, empathy.

No mental gymnastic makes torture rationale, or ignoring a violation of law and principle OK. Slavery and Segregation, Child Labour this things were all popular. Truth and reconciliation is the best way forward. If Obama’s administration doesn’t investigate this issue, that’s a violation of the International Convention on Torture and Geneva. A ratified treaty is the same as any other law under the Constitution. If we don’t follow our own laws and agreements on agreements how can we be expected to be experienced as a rationale actor on the world stage, we can’t. It’s politically unpopular, so it’s probably intelligent, morale, ethical, and it would underline that we are a nation of laws and not men and not political whimsy. Otherwise we are just as frivolous about the rights and protections you do savour, (your own.)

Most Americans don’t know what they should know, or know to care. It’s a selfish society with shallow values we built. “Want/desire is the source of all human unhappiness”, as they say under the bohdi tree. Wanting to lift a finger to help anyone else is not a cultural value. Humans are social animals. That’s why people are unhappy. You can’t fill that void of non-connection to community with tangible assets.

The good news is that as with all progress, it’s only a matter of time until the people catch up with their rationale, better selves, if we supply a better educational and health infrastructure that is reality based, taking that which works elsewhere, no matter where, and leaving that which doesn’t work aside in the creation and implementation of systems that show we are a nation of solid values.

Can I have my Playstation 3 Now?

My bad. But it’s permanent now, thanx to sucky blog zovtware.

Them fuckers don’t know shytinski, tovarisch. Closest thing to a ‘real news columnist’ I read is TPM: him/them rock.

But Theeds rule and curv3ball drools (think of Alien salivating into Cheney Gonzales’ Rumsfeld’s forehead).

How you Americans say? Word? Is right word?

We see already the horrific effects of an unchecked swineflu pandemic. First it mutates in the doughy pantaloonacies of Jonah Goldberg, then it wipes out entire brain strata of half the so-called cognoscenti.

I think it was Jim Gordon who played drums on that 5th Dimension tune. He went psycho and stabbed his mother to death with a knife.

“As a candidate, Cheney would have doubtless been as disciplined and ideologically consistent as McCain was feckless. In debates with Barack Obama, he would have been as cuttingly effective as he was in his encounters with Joe Lieberman and John Edwards in 2000 and 2004 respectively. And when he went down to a landslide loss, the conservative movement might – might! – have been jolted into the kind of rethinking that’s necessary if it hopes to regain power.”

Putting the details of torture out in the open might very likely make it harder for reactionary blowhards to defend waterboarding in public settings.

And an investigation might at least lead to the disbarment of the Torture 6. Indictment for war crimes is very unlikely, so pearl-clutchers like Cowen should rest easy there.

This very serious argument is supported by the evidence that “24″ is a popular teevee show. QE-to-the-cap-in-your-leg-D.