Human Trafficking.

There's a disgusting news story in the Washington Post about how KBR is apparently essentially guilty of slavery (referred to in the article as "human trafficking").
Essentially, it is alleged, they hired (through a partner company) 13 men in Nepal ostensibly to work in Jordan, but when they arrived in Jordan their passports were seized and they were instead shipped to Iraq. As they were being driven to Iraq, they were abducted by insurgents, and all but one where executed.

And to me, this adds one more reason why it is important to elect Democrats in this election. I've spoken before of the importance of the pendulum of politics swinging back and forth, thus keeping the country on an essentially centrist path (veering in a sine-wave around the center, but always trending back towards it), but the other reason why it is important is that with our two-party system, both parties are easily subject to becoming corrupt, and every so often each needs to be removed from power, to give them time to reflect on how corruption engendered bad behavior, and for the rank and file to consider whether the people who are currently controlling the party really speak for them.

For this seems to me to be emblematic of many of the current crop of neo-conservatives who have hijacked the Republican Party, willing to ignore even basic human rights if it helps pad the profit margins.

Does that tar all Republicans? Of course not. Nor all conservatives. But it feels fairly typical of the rot at the top of their current food chain, and so a little bit of humility time for the party would be good, if only so the good and decent and moral members of that party can have a moment to reflect on the ways in which their party has gone awry and rededicate themselves to the party they WANT to belong to.
And fortunately, the way things work, they'll be about ready to be the reasonable alternative just about the same time power begins to corrupt the Democrats, and we'll sine wave back the other way.

Liam.