June is Torture Awareness Month. Larry Cox, the executive director of Amnesty International USA, commented that "it is difficult to believe that the United States government, which once considered itself as an exemplar of human rights, has sacrificed its most fundamental principle by abusing prisoners as a matter of policy, by 'disappearing' detainees into a network of secret prisons, and by abducting and sending people for interrogation to countries that practice torture." [New York Times, 24 May 2006]
How could our elected representatives have allowed this to happen? Has there ever been a Congress more incapable of exercising its responsibility to check an executive who arguably has done more damage to this country--to name just one--than any other president in our history? The human and economic cost of his mistakes and mismanagement is incalculable.
We need lawmakers who will not give a pass to a president who has "claimed the authority to disobey more than 750 laws enacted since he took office," according to the Boston Globe. With too few exceptions, this Congress deserves a clean sweep (out) in November. Meanwhile, visit www.AmnestyBucksMont.org to see what you can do to help restore our government to its traditional value of respect for human rights.
