In our steep and endless path to becoming a mature society, where elemental human rights are respected, we have had times of progress and regress. Today, it seems we are going rolling back downhill in a car with dead breaks.

Even though torture is prohibited and punished by international law, Amnesty International estimates 70 percent of countries practice it.

While it is true we have made progress, making torture something repudiated by the vast majority, our passive complicity makes us accept anything from our leaders.

Some of the stuff we have been fed includes ambiguous answers by the Attorney General regarding torture, populist votes our presidential candidates made in favor of a war in Iraq that has nothing to do with terrorism, and an insulting “oops!” from the CIA when they admitted having practiced waterboarding, before declaring they lost the evidence tapes.

The name might sound like a watersport you would want to practice during the summer, protected by sunblock and sunglasses, while lean bodies tan on the sand and Baywatch-like lifeguards look attentively from the shore. But waterboarding actually is one of the many methods from the macabre repertoire of various people who have broken down a torture victim by simulating asphyxiation.

It was used since the Middle Ages as an interrogative technique, but was also disregarded since then as an effective one because a victim will say anything the interrogator wants to hear to end the session, providing unreliable information.

If various studies about torture victims concluded that any stimulus-physical or psychological-produces in the end the same effect, posttraumatic stress, why is it so hard for som e people, such as Vice President Dick Cheney or Attorney General Michael Mukasey, to recognize waterboarding as torture? Curiously, Mukasey only accepted to consider waterboarding as torture if it was done to him. His moral standards should ideally fit those he is supposed to represent and protect, but by his ridiculous and egocentric on-the-spot comment it seems like he is arbitrarily putting more value on certain lives; clearly his is more important or valuable than someone else who might “deserve” to be waterboarded.

It’s just another example in a long list of mistakes and lies that have brought us where we are today, but nobody cares.

The inconsistencies in the official investigations and conclusions after 9/11 are scandalous. But not as much as the passivity shown by the people who don’t demand the demission of those who orchestrated and commanded the witch hunt to capture Bin Laden. That action took the country to a war with a dictator with no ties no al-Qaeda. Along the way, we justify any abuse and disregard for the law to appease a country that wanted vengeance, and make a group of inept leaders look efficient.

Many years have gone by and it’s time we wake up from our lethargic state. It’s time we see what happens when government officials lies about vital information. It’s time to witness the mass media play along and misinform the general public delivering the clownish infotainment, and the people who receive the message accept it without questions, either because they don’t care or because you are anti-American if you dissent.

Unfortunately, the recipe didn’t work, leaving the country with a war that was a mistake, a huge deficit and regression in matters such as human rights or civil liberties.

Even if George W. Bush says that history is the one who will judge his decisions, which sounded more like the “History will absolve me” defense speech Fidel Castro gave in court after the Moncada Barracks attack and the beginning of the Cuban revolution,.It’s evident after two terms with the current protagonists in the political arena that there isn’t less terrorism and we aren’t safer.

Consequently, the methods used by the administration, torture among them, have been inefficient. Maybe George and Fidel should go on a waterboarding vacation at the exclusive beach of Guantanamo and ponder about their decisions.

Hopefully we will wake up soon and return to old values, such as those that made many countries sign the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, after the atrocities committed during World War II. If we continue with the same mythomaniacs as leaders, we will end up with WWIII and another “oops!” after the catastrophe.

The fact that these suits always have an empty and friendly soundbite ready for a reporter doesn’t mean they are infallible or trustworthy people. In fact, they have demonstrated their ineptitude numerous times with reactions typical of a sixth grader. And we still clap and follow the circus every time they visit us.

We also need to recognize our responsibility. We, the common people, are the brakes. Damn dead breaks! We wouldn’t be going through this situation if we had cared to pay attention to the warning flags. But it’s easier to be a patriot, like Bush asked on Sept. 20 in his first lengthy national address after the attacks, and go out to consume without worrying about our leaders’ decisions. Easy, convenient conformism.

Fortunately, elections are coming up and it’s imperative to elect someone who respects international law and the most basic human rights, promises a change of direction and an end to the war. But is there a candidate that talks about that?

A third option? The fauna must be more diverse than just elephants and jackasses. Just deface your voting ballot with your most creative insult and let the suits know we won’t play along anymore with their ongoing games . There’s nothing more patriotic than dissent.