Thom, please stop saying unnecessary wars, say illegal wars. More from Ray McGovern, 27 year CIA analyst:

Under Yoo's theories, "wartime president" Bush could do whatever he wanted, even if that meant ignoring Congress, the United Nations Charter, and the post-World War II Nuremberg Tribunal. Bush simply could brush aside prohibitions against aggressive war as he did by invading Iraq.

At Nuremberg, chief U.S. prosecutor, Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, called a war of aggression "not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole."

Nuremberg prosecutors also didn't let off Nazi lawyers who gave Adolf Hitler "legal advice" on how he could violate international law. The Nazi lawyers, too, were prosecuted at Nuremberg, and many served long prison sentences.

And Justice Jackson could not have been more explicit in insisting that the Nuremberg standard must apply equally to all.

War crimes, he said, are "crimes whether the United States does them or whether Germany does them, and we are not prepared to lay down a rule of criminal conduct against others which we would not be willing to have invoked against us."
more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/16

Yoo Besmirches Legacy of Jefferson
by Ray McGovern

Initially I was shocked at the thought of the University of Virginia welcoming former Justice Department lawyer John Yoo to the "Academical Village" founded by Thomas Jefferson.

There was something very wrong about that picture. Was it not Mr. Jefferson who condemned tyrannical acts-including ones that fell far short of waterboarding-in the Declaration of Independence?

But I have come around to the view that Yoo's visit on Friday could present a rich teaching moment for those of us Virginians who believe passionately in the highest ideals that Mr. Jefferson articulated so eloquently.

Yoo's visit presents a unique opportunity for my own children - four of them UVA alumni - to convey the essence of The University to those of our eight grandchildren who already aspire to study there.

A teaching moment like this does require us to look through the eyes and the spectacles of Mr. Jefferson and our country's other gutsy Founders who pledged to each other "our Lives, our Fortunes, and our sacred Honor" to rid tyranny from America's shores. We tend to forget that the outcome of that brazen battle for liberty was far from assured when that vow was attached as the closing line of the Declaration of Independence in July 1776.
more: http://www.commondreams.org/view/2010/03/16

Hi Thom,
The TV Show you just talked about was almost the same as an experiment that was done, if memory serves, at Wayne State University some decades ago. It differs in that there was no audience and an 'authority figure' came in and asked the giver of the electric shock to continue.
the results of that experiment found that people in the USA were more likley to blindly follow authority and do what the Nazi's had done.

So what was the reason given for shocking these subjects on the show anyway? We're they supposed to be known criminals, low-life scum... Bush Administration officials?

No Thom, I think you had it right the first time, Dan Gainor is Darth Vader. Cheers.

Thom’s complaint that the new Texas curriculum standards leaves out Thomas Jefferson and refers to the country as a “constitutional republic” was just the tip of the Texas-size iceberg. The input and imprint of the “Christian” and “ultra” conservative bloc—inside and outside the Texas State Board of Education deliberations room—was evident everywhere. While some educators have had the gonads to note that the English and science curriculum are now infected with right-wing politics, it was the social studies portion that has created the greatest controversy. The hostile environment was such that Democrats—outnumbered 10-5—simply walked out of those proceedings at one point. It wasn’t just “enlightened” ideas that were nixed, or the “Christian ethic” emphasized, but a wholesale removal of references to non-Caucasians. So-called multicultural figures—a euphemism for minorities—were apparently deemed “un-American.” Efforts to include even one Hispanic of historical note by name were ignored (including Cesar Chavez, despite the pleading of one elderly man during a public hearing), and the expulsion of major civil rights figures was another “victory” for conservative extremists seeking to whitewash history.

One of the few “victories” the Democrats on the board scored was embarrassing enough Republicans to vote against a transparently racist attack against the civil rights movement, declaring that it promoted an "unrealistic expectations for equal outcomes." Nevertheless, students armed with the new texts will no longer be required to discuss the effects of institutional racism in this country. One right-wing board member had complained that the current standards falsely suggested that it was often people from racial, ethnic, and religious groups who promoted the extension of political rights in America. “Only majorities can expand political rights in America’s constitutional society,” he fulminated. In other words, minorities can march against discrimination all they want, but only the white majority has the “right” to recognize their complaints and act on them, if they so choose. We have seen this concept in action in California and Washington, both “blue states” that passed anti-affirmative action referendums.

The new Texas history curriculum also attempts wholesale revisionism to resuscitate the images of formerly discredited right-wing figures like Joe McCarthy, and justifying the indiscriminate use of blacklisting. This is all just a part of the right’s attempt to rewrite and control history. The right has often been portrayed as the part of the ideological spectrum that has promoted race hatred, intolerance and jingoism—and rightly so; now is their chance to “correct” this “imbalance” by polluting young minds with those ideas in the guise of “learning.” It is as if modern day Nazis tried to rewrite history to put themselves back on the “right” side. The right has often and loudly complained that government and ideology has no place in school books; but since the state and not school districts purchase school texts, the curriculum is clearly tailored to appease the right-wing element that has controlled the state for decades. That element includes unapologetic creationists like Texas school board chair Don McElroy and board member Cynthia Dunbar, the latter who stated that “The philosophy of the classroom in one generation will be the philosophy of the government in the next."

Interestingly, the right-wing element supported the inclusion of Margaret Sanger in the text; Sanger is usually hailed as a feminist hero for her “pioneering” work on birth-control. The reason why she was being promoted by the extremists on the board’s right is the same reason why I think she is no “hero”: she is to be included because she “and her followers promoted eugenics,” according to McElroy. It is a fact that Sanger regarded minorities and the poor as “inferior,” and the thrust of her work was to control the population of these “inferior” people.

The curriculum board has thus not only infected the process with extreme politics, but with extreme arrogance—and ignorance. One right-wing board member stated that she was a proud Texan, and thought that Texas was superior to all other states, and Texas A&M professor James Kracht has stated unapologetically, “Texas governs 46 or 47 states.” Thus tens of millions of students will be taught that global warming should not only be questioned, but they will be prodded to inquire into the “implications” of being led astray by scientists. Whatever happens is “God’s will,” and there is no point in doing anything about it—or vote for Republicans so they can do nothing for you. Many people decry the state of education today; the pompous Texas education board has if anything made it worse, by undercutting critical thinking and recognition of vital issues at every turn. Education is supposed to expand the mind, not contract it.

Happy St. Patrick's Day everybody

Moveon.org folded . I think it's just the WH or someone else with the domain name. NOt sure about that, but I remember the letter on the page saying it was folding because it was too time consuming.

Meanwhile, in an alternative universe, Mitt Romney wins in Nov'08 and pursues the exact same policies as Obama, to universal acclaim:

http://daggatt.blogspot.com/2010/03/president-romneys-first-year.html

(Truly a worthwhile read!)

Nels,

No, I didn't mean that progressives shouldn't do just because so-called conservatives do it. I just was observing that they actually were using a variation of that good idea of yours. ;-)

I don't say we didn't evolved from Monkeys, Apes actually, I just say people should stop sticking Darwin with that one

Darwin never said anything about Humans coming from Monkeys, so the Christians can knock that off, thank you.