This may look like a scene from Brazil, but its really about the torture memo and the law. About what it means to be a just society, when we live in the cooperate culture that looks only at the bottom line of the quarterly report.

Jus in Bello means ‘just war’ (or justice in war). It is a theory whose rules provide guidelines for fighting when war has begun.

Jus in Bello theory provides a moral framework for warfare and rejects the notion that “anything goes” during war. The two main ideas: #1) one must discriminate between civilians and soldiers and #2) your military response should be proportional to your enemy’s actions. Why? because civilian targets are not fair game and you don’t get to drop an H-bomb on your neighbor’s capital city just because you happen to have one.

I like to think of Jus In Bello as harm reduction. Its like giving needles to junkies. Sure its no solution, but at least it helps stop the spread of the disease. In this case, to limit the spread of war and its atrocities.

In a country where everyone’s phone is tapped, they can ‘disappear’ people without due process, and we have become so righteous that torture can be legislated and no one is shocked. Its clear that we are becoming Fascist.

Resist the Neo-con Brownshirts; Escape before it’s too late.