How did we get here?

First thing in the morning, as the coffee brews merrily away in the kitchen, I fire up my Mac and head on over to the home page of The New York Times. Sometimes, I think that coffee isn't strong enough to make the ritual palatable.

Today, for instance, the headlines read "American Diplomat Is Killed in Bombing at Karachi Embassy", "Taliban Rebels Still Menacing Afghan South", "U.S. Is Reducing Safety Penalties for Mine Flaws", "Prisons Often Shackle Pregnant Inmates in Labor", "Nearly a Dozen Killed in Latest Violence in Iraq", "Justices Express Concern Over Aspects of Some Texas Redistricting", "Unaware as Levees Fell, Officials Expressed Relief", "Alito's Note to Evangelist Is Called Just Thanks", "U.S. Stockpiles Antiviral Drugs, but Democrats Critical of Pace", "Regulators Approve Patch to Treat Depression", "New Budget Delays or Cancels Much-Promoted NASA Missions", "Berlin File Says Germany's Spies Aided U.S. in Iraq".

Just a snapshot of a typical day in the Bush era, failure piled on arrogance, topped off with mendacity and incompetence, garnished with cruelty and extremism.

What kind of country are we that we shackle a woman giving birth, or reduce mine safety a few weeks after miners in West Virginia suffocated underground? What kind of country would tolerate the Taliban operating in Afghanistan, or treat the killing of Americans overseas as a cause to 'stay the course'? What kind of country would tolerate a Supreme Court Justice writing a cordial note of thanks to a religious extremist? What kind of country would not string up from a lamp-post the people who let New Orleans drown?

What have we become over the last few years? How can we even look into a mirror without disgust at ourselves?