What happened to the US? How did we so quickly shift from being a beacon of freedom, liberty, and democracy (in the public's eyes, anyway) to the Evil Empire? Yes, we can all attack Dubya, Dick, Rumsfeld, and Condi, but that's too simple. They're easy targets. Fact is, even after Abu Graib, more than 3 million voted these people back in office, even if you factor in voter fraud. More than 30% still back the President today.

I mean, we have a vice-president who is openly pushing for torture, and nobody's calling for impeachment? This is the US?! The same nation who used to consider denying most favored nation status for China because of its human rights abuses.

Then we have the game of semantics, where Bush openly declares, "We do not torture." The administration's definition of torture, however, does not include such techniques as waterboarding, in which a person is strapped to a board and submerged under water until he believes he is drowning. This same stuff was done during the Inquisition. There have been several documented cases of people dying while under interrogation. We're talking about autopsies revealing broken ribs and the like. This is not torture? How much more severe can it get?

Today we've got Condi in Europe trying to bully other nations into being quiet about "alleged" secret CIA prisons in nations where torture is permitted. How is this going to help us? The leaders of Europe are surely not so stupid as to go along with Bush's definition of torture. If anything, her visit will only fuel the anti-americanism currently rampant throughout the world. A sentiment largely for which she and her bosses are responsible.

I'm not strictly a pacifist. For instance, if someone had a child buried in an underground box with limited oxygen. If torturing that person would guarantee information to save that child, I'd be the first to advocate that course of action. Torture, it has been proven, does not produce reliable results, as far as eliciting specific information. What it does do, quite effectively, is to intimidate the populace. I guess that's what really concerns me about all this. Either our leaders are so stupid as to believe in the effectiveness of torture, or they're out to intimidate. I find neither prospect palatable.

If we don't start hearing about impeachment of Cheney, along with an international investigation of possible war crimes, I foresee a Dark Age, complete with modern-day racks and thumbscrews, here in what used to be America. The media, which shows signs of growing some balls in recent weeks, might be the savior we so desperately need. Our nation is very rapidly approaching the point of no return, and I fear that apathy and ignorance among the sheeple are the mighty gash in the side of the Titanic. We're all about to feel the chill of the icy waters of the North Atlantic as she goes down.