Doug Huffman
Banned
imported post
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/chris_satullo/20080701_Chris_Satullo__A_not-so-glorious_Fourth.html
Put the fireworks in storage.
Cancel the parade.
Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.
This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.
For we have sinned.
We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.
The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.
The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.
The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.
Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.
Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.
We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.
Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers.
It's not enough that we had good reason to be scared.
The men huddled long ago in Philadelphia had better reason. A British fleet floated off the Jersey coast, full of hands eager to hang them from the nearest lampposts.
Yet they pledged their lives and sacred honor - no idle vow - to defend the "inalienable rights" of men. Inalienable - what does that signify? It means rights that belong to each person, simply by virtue of being human. Rights that can never be taken away, no matter what evil a person might do or might intend.
Surely one of those is the right not to be tortured. Surely that is a piece of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
This is the creed of July 4: No matter what it costs us, no matter how it scares us, no matter how foolish it seems to a cynical world, America should stand up for human rights.
No, not even the brave men who picked up a quill, dipped it in ink and signed the parchment that summer day in Philadelphia lived up perfectly to the creed. But they did something extraordinary, founding a new nation upon a vow to oppose all the evil habits of tyranny.
That is why history still honors them.
But what will history think of us, of how we responded to our great challenge? Sept. 11 was a hideous evil, a grievous wound. Yet, truth told, it has not summoned our better angels as often as our worst.
We have betrayed the July 4 creed. We trample the vows we make, hand to heart.
Don't imagine that only the torturer's hand bears the guilt. The guilt reaches deep inside our Capitol, and beyond that - to us.
Our silence is complicit. In our name, innocents were jailed, humans tortured, our Constitution mangled. And we said so little.
We can't claim not to have known. The best among us raised the alarm. Heroes in uniform, judges in robes, they opposed the perverse logic of an administration drenched in fear, drunk on power.
But did we heed them? Hardly. Barely . . .
We were so busy. Soccer practice at 6. A credit card balance to fret. The final vote on Idol.
We left it to those in power to keep our precious selves from harm. Whatever it took.
We took the coward's way.
The world sees this, even if we are too dim to grasp it. We've lost respect. We've shamed the memory of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin.
And all for a scam. The waterboarding, the snarling dogs, the theft of sleep - all the diabolical tricks haven't made us safer. They may have averted this plot or that. But they've spawned new enemies by the thousands, made the jihadist rants ring true to so many ears.
So put out no flags.
Sing no patriotic hymns.
We deserve no Fourth this year.
Let us atone, in quiet and humility. Let us spend the day truly studying the example of our Founders. May we earn a new birth of courage before our nation's birthday next rolls around.
[line]To comment, e-mail csatullo@phillynews.com.
Note: In a few weeks, Center Square will move to the A-section of The Sunday Inquirer, while continuing to appear in the Saturday Local News section.
08:19 AM, 07/01/2008 is it o.k. for the enemy to chop off someones head, then show it on t.v.? a lot of bad things happen in war. thats why it is called war.
Posted by mwhisted 08:42 AM, 07/01/2008 Mr. Satullo needs to study his history; War is hell, both sides in the late 1770’s executed nonuniformed combatants. The British were fond of bayoneting wounded rebels . Like Cindy McCain says I have always been proud of my country!
Posted by Rauol Duke 09:43 AM, 07/01/2008 No matter what happens in life, only you have control of your own actions. This is how God will judge you.
Posted by FrankMar 10:26 AM, 07/01/2008 Are you kidding me? The absolute worst that America could do is still head and shoulders above the best that our enemies do. Think we made more enemies? I don’t. I believe that the goal of Islam is world domination. Seen any beheading videos lately? So we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. When you blame America you blame all its people …. the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m curious; do you include yourself in the blame? Or are you just another self-righteous blame America leftist who feels he’s above the rest of the uninformed, uncaring masses? Think about what you’re saying and how it might sound to the enemies you say we’ve spawned. They would never speak of themselves that way no matter what heinous acts they commit in the name of their god. You make us sound weak, confused, and unsure of ourselves. Well sir, speak for yourself. Please don’t include me in your libelous commentary. document.
Posted by wek 10:31 AM, 07/01/2008 Gee same, don’t we tell the world that we’re supposed to be better than our enemies? Satullo once wrote a “column” which was supposed to be a “Cliff Notes” synopsis of the presidential candidates (the field was once a lot more crowded than now) that absolutely infuriated me. It was lazy, jingoistic and stupid. I cannot believe that the same person just wrote these words. He’s absolutely right, and this was said beautifully.
Posted by porterk 10:41 AM, 07/01/2008 There are many of us "out here" who have tried urgently, often desperately, to bring this whole issue to the forefront of attention of the American people. Here in Chester County, for example, some of us have attended conferences about the torture issue, then returned and worked hard to heighten people's awareness - often not only to the "who-cares?" response but also to downright hostility for even raising the issue, even in our religious organization (many of which are in total denial). Common, ordinary Americans will suffer the effects of not only their malfeasance, but their nonfeasance with regard to this issue. Someone at one of the anti-torture conferences warned us that eliminating torture as our now-national policy will take generations - just like abolition of slavery. And torture is an issue on that level - the same level of perfidy as slavery. And, from what some of us have experienced, that statement was absolutely right. The Bush administration has embedded torture into our legal system, as Americans put their heads into the sand. It will take years to abolish torture. And history will not judge us kindly.--Karen Porter, The Chester County Peace Movement, ccpeacemovement@aol.com document.
Posted by Jack Klompus 10:44 AM, 07/01/2008 Oh holier-than-thou Chris. Do you practice being a self-righteous, melodramatic jerk in the mirror or does it just come naturally to you?
Posted by Gibba Mang 10:48 AM, 07/01/2008 I rue the day when George W Bush and Dick Cheney are forced to testify, underoath, their knowledge and support for these heinus crimes.
Posted by Rauol Duke 11:10 AM, 07/01/2008 Jack Klompus, Why do you hate America? Why do you want the terrorist to win?
Posted by Jack Klompus 11:19 AM, 07/01/2008 Raoul - as a racist, warmongering, right wing, neocon, Bushitler, McSame kinda guy I think you need some "hope" with a side order of "change." Or maybe I can be taught "awareness" by porterk - he went to conferences, you know. Haha right out of "Stuff White People Like."
Posted by Jack Klompus 11:20 AM, 07/01/2008 I'm sorry. I'll let the "peace movement" try to improve my "awareness."
Posted by George Tomezsko 11:21 AM, 07/01/2008 "Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers." More anti-American drivel from the America-is-always-the-bad-guy left. This column is also about forty years too late. It's premise harks clear back to the Sixties, when it was much more campy and in vogue to make those kinds of arguments. And speaking of prison camps, what about Treblinka? The Soviet Gulag? KGB secret prisons? I daresay the atrocities and torture that took place in these institutions made the places Satullo cited look like picnic grounds.
Posted by wek 11:44 AM, 07/01/2008 Uh...any particular reason why my comment was rejected?
Posted by Nick4102 12:44 PM, 07/01/2008 For those of you who agree with this drivil of an artical, I have a very simple solution. LEAVE, GOOD-BYE, SEE YA we won't miss you. Go to that mystical country that is better than the U.S. Oh yeh that's right there is none. This artical is written because the the same people it puts down died defending it. So Chris you PUTZ, shame on you, July 4th is to not just celebrate but to pay respect to all those brave people.
Posted by Gibba Mang 12:59 PM, 07/01/2008 Hey Nick...why don't YOU leave the US instead since you support tactics used by dictators. Just imagine how much better our country, and our lives would be, without those mentally challanged neocons who worship at the feet of Bush/Cheney. Keeping America, and Americans, safe doesn't mean throwing out the Constituion or Genevia Convention.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/columnists/chris_satullo/20080701_Chris_Satullo__A_not-so-glorious_Fourth.html
Put the fireworks in storage.
Cancel the parade.
Tuck the soaring speeches in a drawer for another time.
This year, America doesn't deserve to celebrate its birthday. This Fourth of July should be a day of quiet and atonement.
For we have sinned.
We have failed to pay attention. We've settled for lame excuses. We've spit on the memory of those who did that brave, brave thing in Philadelphia 232 years ago.
The America those men founded should never torture a prisoner.
The America they founded should never imprison people for years without charge or hearing.
The America they founded should never ship prisoners to foreign lands, knowing their new jailers might torture them.
Such abuses once were committed by the arrogant crowns of Europe, spawning rebellion.
Today, our nation does such things in the name of our safety. Petrified, unwilling to take the risks that love of liberty demands, we close our eyes.
We have done such things, on orders from the Oval Office. We have done them, without general outrage or shame.
Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers.
It's not enough that we had good reason to be scared.
The men huddled long ago in Philadelphia had better reason. A British fleet floated off the Jersey coast, full of hands eager to hang them from the nearest lampposts.
Yet they pledged their lives and sacred honor - no idle vow - to defend the "inalienable rights" of men. Inalienable - what does that signify? It means rights that belong to each person, simply by virtue of being human. Rights that can never be taken away, no matter what evil a person might do or might intend.
Surely one of those is the right not to be tortured. Surely that is a piece of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
This is the creed of July 4: No matter what it costs us, no matter how it scares us, no matter how foolish it seems to a cynical world, America should stand up for human rights.
No, not even the brave men who picked up a quill, dipped it in ink and signed the parchment that summer day in Philadelphia lived up perfectly to the creed. But they did something extraordinary, founding a new nation upon a vow to oppose all the evil habits of tyranny.
That is why history still honors them.
But what will history think of us, of how we responded to our great challenge? Sept. 11 was a hideous evil, a grievous wound. Yet, truth told, it has not summoned our better angels as often as our worst.
We have betrayed the July 4 creed. We trample the vows we make, hand to heart.
Don't imagine that only the torturer's hand bears the guilt. The guilt reaches deep inside our Capitol, and beyond that - to us.
Our silence is complicit. In our name, innocents were jailed, humans tortured, our Constitution mangled. And we said so little.
We can't claim not to have known. The best among us raised the alarm. Heroes in uniform, judges in robes, they opposed the perverse logic of an administration drenched in fear, drunk on power.
But did we heed them? Hardly. Barely . . .
We were so busy. Soccer practice at 6. A credit card balance to fret. The final vote on Idol.
We left it to those in power to keep our precious selves from harm. Whatever it took.
We took the coward's way.
The world sees this, even if we are too dim to grasp it. We've lost respect. We've shamed the memory of Jefferson, Adams and Franklin.
And all for a scam. The waterboarding, the snarling dogs, the theft of sleep - all the diabolical tricks haven't made us safer. They may have averted this plot or that. But they've spawned new enemies by the thousands, made the jihadist rants ring true to so many ears.
So put out no flags.
Sing no patriotic hymns.
We deserve no Fourth this year.
Let us atone, in quiet and humility. Let us spend the day truly studying the example of our Founders. May we earn a new birth of courage before our nation's birthday next rolls around.
[line]To comment, e-mail csatullo@phillynews.com.
Note: In a few weeks, Center Square will move to the A-section of The Sunday Inquirer, while continuing to appear in the Saturday Local News section.
08:19 AM, 07/01/2008 is it o.k. for the enemy to chop off someones head, then show it on t.v.? a lot of bad things happen in war. thats why it is called war.
Posted by mwhisted 08:42 AM, 07/01/2008 Mr. Satullo needs to study his history; War is hell, both sides in the late 1770’s executed nonuniformed combatants. The British were fond of bayoneting wounded rebels . Like Cindy McCain says I have always been proud of my country!
Posted by Rauol Duke 09:43 AM, 07/01/2008 No matter what happens in life, only you have control of your own actions. This is how God will judge you.
Posted by FrankMar 10:26 AM, 07/01/2008 Are you kidding me? The absolute worst that America could do is still head and shoulders above the best that our enemies do. Think we made more enemies? I don’t. I believe that the goal of Islam is world domination. Seen any beheading videos lately? So we’re damned if we do and damned if we don’t. When you blame America you blame all its people …. the good, the bad, and the ugly. I’m curious; do you include yourself in the blame? Or are you just another self-righteous blame America leftist who feels he’s above the rest of the uninformed, uncaring masses? Think about what you’re saying and how it might sound to the enemies you say we’ve spawned. They would never speak of themselves that way no matter what heinous acts they commit in the name of their god. You make us sound weak, confused, and unsure of ourselves. Well sir, speak for yourself. Please don’t include me in your libelous commentary. document.
Posted by wek 10:31 AM, 07/01/2008 Gee same, don’t we tell the world that we’re supposed to be better than our enemies? Satullo once wrote a “column” which was supposed to be a “Cliff Notes” synopsis of the presidential candidates (the field was once a lot more crowded than now) that absolutely infuriated me. It was lazy, jingoistic and stupid. I cannot believe that the same person just wrote these words. He’s absolutely right, and this was said beautifully.
Posted by porterk 10:41 AM, 07/01/2008 There are many of us "out here" who have tried urgently, often desperately, to bring this whole issue to the forefront of attention of the American people. Here in Chester County, for example, some of us have attended conferences about the torture issue, then returned and worked hard to heighten people's awareness - often not only to the "who-cares?" response but also to downright hostility for even raising the issue, even in our religious organization (many of which are in total denial). Common, ordinary Americans will suffer the effects of not only their malfeasance, but their nonfeasance with regard to this issue. Someone at one of the anti-torture conferences warned us that eliminating torture as our now-national policy will take generations - just like abolition of slavery. And torture is an issue on that level - the same level of perfidy as slavery. And, from what some of us have experienced, that statement was absolutely right. The Bush administration has embedded torture into our legal system, as Americans put their heads into the sand. It will take years to abolish torture. And history will not judge us kindly.--Karen Porter, The Chester County Peace Movement, ccpeacemovement@aol.com document.
Posted by Jack Klompus 10:44 AM, 07/01/2008 Oh holier-than-thou Chris. Do you practice being a self-righteous, melodramatic jerk in the mirror or does it just come naturally to you?
Posted by Gibba Mang 10:48 AM, 07/01/2008 I rue the day when George W Bush and Dick Cheney are forced to testify, underoath, their knowledge and support for these heinus crimes.
Posted by Rauol Duke 11:10 AM, 07/01/2008 Jack Klompus, Why do you hate America? Why do you want the terrorist to win?
Posted by Jack Klompus 11:19 AM, 07/01/2008 Raoul - as a racist, warmongering, right wing, neocon, Bushitler, McSame kinda guy I think you need some "hope" with a side order of "change." Or maybe I can be taught "awareness" by porterk - he went to conferences, you know. Haha right out of "Stuff White People Like."
Posted by Jack Klompus 11:20 AM, 07/01/2008 I'm sorry. I'll let the "peace movement" try to improve my "awareness."
Posted by George Tomezsko 11:21 AM, 07/01/2008 "Abu Ghraib. Guantanamo. CIA secret prisons. "Rendition" of prisoners to foreign torture chambers." More anti-American drivel from the America-is-always-the-bad-guy left. This column is also about forty years too late. It's premise harks clear back to the Sixties, when it was much more campy and in vogue to make those kinds of arguments. And speaking of prison camps, what about Treblinka? The Soviet Gulag? KGB secret prisons? I daresay the atrocities and torture that took place in these institutions made the places Satullo cited look like picnic grounds.
Posted by wek 11:44 AM, 07/01/2008 Uh...any particular reason why my comment was rejected?
Posted by Nick4102 12:44 PM, 07/01/2008 For those of you who agree with this drivil of an artical, I have a very simple solution. LEAVE, GOOD-BYE, SEE YA we won't miss you. Go to that mystical country that is better than the U.S. Oh yeh that's right there is none. This artical is written because the the same people it puts down died defending it. So Chris you PUTZ, shame on you, July 4th is to not just celebrate but to pay respect to all those brave people.
Posted by Gibba Mang 12:59 PM, 07/01/2008 Hey Nick...why don't YOU leave the US instead since you support tactics used by dictators. Just imagine how much better our country, and our lives would be, without those mentally challanged neocons who worship at the feet of Bush/Cheney. Keeping America, and Americans, safe doesn't mean throwing out the Constituion or Genevia Convention.
