Sunday 8 June 2008

America goes down the rabbit hole once more

It is never easy to decide if the United States of America has absolutely no grasp of the ironic or it simply knows the way to Alice's wonderland.

With the US having little credibility left concerning its own human rights record, yesterday News.com.au
reported:

THE US has decided to limit further its involvement with the UN Human Rights Council due to its "pathetic" record.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice "has taken the decision that we will engage the Human Rights Council really only when we believe that there are matters of deep national interest before the council, and we feel compelled", said State Department spokesman Sean McCormack.
"Our scepticism regarding the function of the council on human rights in terms of fulfilling its mandate and its mission is well-known. It has a rather pathetic record in that regard,'' he said.

At the same time Human Rights Watch
comments on America's 2.3 million people behind bars:

"The new incarceration figures confirm the United States as the world's leading jailer,'' said David Fahti, HRW's US program director.
"Americans should ask why the US locks up so many more people than do Canada, Britain, and other democracies,'' he said.
The new figures show a sharp racial imbalance in the US prison population, with blacks outnumbering whites by six to one.
Nearly 11 per cent of black men aged 30-34 were in prison, according to Justice Department figures.
HRW said blacks in the US were12 times more likely to be sent to jail for drug-related crimes than whites, even though drug use among the two races was about the same.

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