This isn’t our first era of ugliness. Hell, with the exception of a very few eras, American history is filled with murder, mayhem and, in some cases, crimes against humanity.

I guess the first and one of the largest crimes, was the mass extermination of the people who inhabited this land before we came along. We call them Indians, but their self-chosen names are far more meaningful.

Then there was slavery that lasted for a few hundred years, and the remnants of which we still live with today. It is perhaps the most egregious, shameful, despicable criminal act committed in the history of this country. And what’s worse is that there are still far too many Americans today who, not only won’t condemn it, but would probably welcome its return.

WWII was our finest moment. “The Greatest Generation” really did save the world from fascism. But I guess some of us Americans will always disagree on the morality of dropping nuclear weapons on Hiroshima and Nagasaki – not to mention the tens of thousands of civilians killed when we fire bombed Tokyo and Dresden.

And that V-shaped black granite wall on the Washington Mall attests to one of our country’s most recent crimes and the 58,000 plus Americans who gave their lives for a lie.

So what about today? Our hands are now bloodied with countless deaths, the unspeakable crime of torture, and the recent revelations that we subcontracted murder. At the moment, our president is focused on health care. But we know that this is a man who can walk, chew gum, and flawlessly recite all the lines of “King Lear” at the same time. Obama is more than capable of addressing health care and crimes against humanity simultaneously. Someone needs to explain to me why he’s not doing it.

After eight years of a criminal administration, how come we still find ourselves in yet another really ugly American moment? Why are those we put into office doing nothing about the crimes against humanity committed during the past eight years? Is this an omen of what the rest of this century will look like? Why are Cheney/Bush & Co. walking around free? Why are they getting a free ride – the free ride that we refused to grant to German war criminals at Nuremberg?

So let's hear from you. Do you think I'm looking for a perfect world? Of just a relatively sane one?