The Things You Will See, My Friend

I am neither the prosecution nor the defense; I just want the law to be respected. Surrealism is alive and well, and it is prospering in the United States. We only have to look at the events of recent days to prove it:

The automatic federal budget cuts that came into effect were the result of a bipartisan agreement in 2011 between the White House and Congress; a young man is facing a life sentence for informing his people of the evils committed by their government in their name. Elsewhere, another deep crisis is lashing the country, in which a cardinal who covered up the worst sins imaginable will nonetheless vote in the next conclave to elect Jesus Christ’s representative on Earth.

The left does not exist in this country, but there are commercial TV stations that lift the lid on wrongdoings. Obviously, there is a wide range of backward and reactionary material that occupies a lot of programming space. But a considerable chunk of the largest media on the planet is subversive. If anybody wants a progressive perspective of the United States, they only have to switch on the TV — there they will find the secret hiding place of the American Left.

Bradley Manning bravely declared that he leaked documents containing official secrets to WikiLeaks because he wanted to provoke public debate about his government’s policies in war and diplomacy. Unfortunately, in the United States there is no greater crime than informing the population of the barbaric acts carried out by the government in its name. Now, Yankee authorities are accusing him of helping the enemy.

For this so-called crime, he was treated in a cruel, inhuman way. According to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, the U.S. government promotes transparency and freedom of expression and believes in the rights of dissidents. It is just that this is in other parts of the world, like Cuba, Venezuela, Ecuador and Arab countries — everywhere, save for among its allies and much less within its own borders. Anyone daring to do so is guilty of treason to the fatherland.

It is also worth mentioning the case of five Cuban anti-terrorists who remain in custody against all legal regulation, and who are being prevented from returning home. The U.S. is turning a deaf ear to the world’s cries for their release.

When announcing the recent budget cuts, Obama shamelessly underlined that all of this was necessary and that nobody had won — much rather, it was a loss for the American people.

I bet that no politicians will lose their job or suffer the cuts’ consequences firsthand. That particular bill will be footed by the thousands of workers who depend on the federal budget for their jobs. The austerity measures prescribed are the same ones that have been placed on the Spanish and the Greeks.

But the Gringo Catholic Church is not being left behind. Talking of institutions in crisis, Cardinal Roger Mahony of Los Angeles traveled to Rome to participate in the conclave that will choose the next pope, despite being guilty of covering up years of sexual abuse of minors by priests in his diocese. The Deacon of the College of Cardinals, Monsignor Angelo Sodano, is no exception: He stands accused of accepting lavish cash gifts from the Legionaries of Christ and of halting an investigation into the behavior of the order’s founder, Reverend Marcial Maciel, according to reports in The New York Times. Jesus forgives all. Well, at least that’s what they think in the Vatican.

They may have flown away to their pope, but this poisonous tree has yet to be uprooted. As long as it remains intact, it will keep on yielding its sickening fruit.