RE: http://www.military.com/opinion/0,15202,167693,00.html

This guy's right on the money. People like John Yoo, who assert virtually limitless executive power, are a bigger danger to our way of life than a bunch of raggedy utopians in some mountain cave thousands of miles away. Checks and balances. This country has always been about the checks and balances, and when you take those away you've got a dictatorship.

Revealing op-ed! The USA is on the slippery slope toward fascism, particularly with bits of legislation like the Orwellian Patriot Act and the Unitary Executive Initiative. I do believe however that Lincoln - not Truman - was the first imperial president, as evidenced when he suspended the writ of habeas corpus, his jailing of political dissidents who were held indefinitely without knowing what charges (if any) were brought against them, and numerous other extra-legal acts committed by Lincoln that probably brings smiles of approval from George Bush.

In fairness to Lincoln he was faced with a rebellion, which is set forth in the Constitution as one of the grounds for suspension of habeas corpus, and really grieved over a decision which he considered necessary in order to prevent the presence of a rebel force on his back in the form of Baltimore's government. I'm not sure what other extra-legal acts you're talking about. Can you be more specific?

If anyone from the past eight years should be on the hot seat in regards to "war crimes", it's Jon Yoo. With every memo that comes to light it seems his name is somehow connected to it.

Funny that he's a professor at a notoriously left leaning University.

Truth Commission, anyone?

A super-majority in the Senate isn't out of reach for the Democrats. (Fortunately for the Republic, a veto-proof Congress is unattainable.) But 60 votes in the Senate, plus a Democrat in the White House, would be enough to force some truth-telling from the members of the Bush Administration.

I'm not sure that such an exercise did much to heal or help the people of South Africa, post-apartheid; but there is a better chance for such a truth-digging commission to come about than there would be for a war crimes tribunal to happen (even though that would be more appropriate, in my opinion).

Just a quick note before I go to work.
Though I would love to think that one President or politician would be better than the next, I know deep inside that there's no real difference between one and another.
Republicans and Democrats seem to be merging into one big pile of mush.
It seems that we now vote for the least of two evils.

-Mac

Whoopee, Crud- So one political fruitcake believes the Prsident should be all powerful- we have had nuts like this throughout the ages- that why we have a system of checks and balances- and why the Supreme Court decides if laws are indeed constitutional. And they have slapped down Presidents who went too far. All this too right or too left by politicans is bull\\\\! Politicans are like used car salesmen- full of lies and not to be trusted.

quote:

Originally posted by FourString:
If anyone from the past eight years should be on the hot seat in regards to "war crimes", it's Jon Yoo. With every memo that comes to light it seems his name is somehow connected to it.

Funny that he's a professor at a notoriously left leaning University.

Yoo's just a tool of this administration. He was also following the instructions of his boss, Jay S. Bybee, who is now an appellate judge on the allegedly left-leaning 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. I'd like to see both of them lose their jobs, as they have no love nor understanding of the Constitution and Bill of Rights, but that's not going to happen. If I were a student at Berkley I'd refuse to be taught by Yoo.

1) A good interview with John Yoo.
2) Yoo's employment at Berkeley is ironic but consistent with a purist view of academic freedom. A few years ago I saw on C-Span, I think, a discussion group and they had to quell the crowd each time Yoo spoke. So he's not universally "appreciated" there.
3) Yoo is definitely bright and can form a convincing argument, but careful reading and listening reveal biases on Yoo's part toward the very things Eland describes. Yoo is building on a lot of "what-if's" and assumptions about what fanatic militarists with or without countries might do or not do. Yoo is skilled, not just at finding loopholes, but at making them... IMHO.

quote:

Yoo is skilled, not just at finding loopholes, but at making them... IMHO. Wink

About as succinct and accurate a comment as one can find about this little fascist twerp.

quote:

Originally posted by MarineAuntie:
In fairness to Lincoln he was faced with a rebellion, which is set forth in the Constitution as one of the grounds for suspension of habeas corpus, and really grieved over a decision which he considered necessary in order to prevent the presence of a rebel force on his back in the form of Baltimore's government. I'm not sure what other extra-legal acts you're talking about. Can you be more specific?

The arrest and sentencing of Ohio Congressman Clement Vallandigham for his opposition to Lincoln and his war. Although carried out by Gen Burnside, Vallandigham's arrest was condoned by Lincoln who later banished Vallandigham to the South for the duration of the war.

The suppression and shutting down of more than 20 Northern and border states newspapers which spoke out vociferously against Lincoln and his war of aggression. Included the NY Daily News, the Chicago Tribune and the Newark Evening Journal.

The suspension of habeas corpus to include the whole of the North due to opposition to the draft. Section 9 of the US Constitution specifically prohibits the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus.

The arrests and imprisonment of 100s of dissidents in the North without publicly charging them of crimes. Prominent citizens, including Ohio Congressman Dr. Edson Olds and Dubuque Herald editor Dennis Mahoney were among the victims of Lincoln's tyrannical rule.

The sanctioning of atrocities against Condeferate soldiers and the murder, rape and robbery of innocent Southern civilians, and the seizure of private property, both during the war and "Reconstruction".

The war of aggression conducted by the North against the South was illegal and vindictive. The CSA was comprized of 11 sovereign states (13 if you count KY and MO), each of which had Constitutionally withdrawn from the USA.

Today, Lincoln is lauded both in the North and unfortunately in many parts of the South as a hero, emancipator, and the man who single handedly preserved the Union. He was in reality a tyrant, a dictator and a war criminal who was justifiably reviled as much in the North as in the South.

147 years after the fact and the situation of the times is so clear. You have a clear grasp of Lincoln's crimes Misanthrope. What is the pity it is that the victor writes the accepted history and that the true history has to be really dug for from many, many sources.

I have often wondered what would have happened if John Wilkes Booth had gotten to him right after Gettysburg, or if Lincoln had not Immancipated the slaves in the south. People to day see him as a hero for the Immancipation Proclamation, which in sad truth was only a political move on his part in order to keep Britain out of the war as an ally to the Confederacy.

In truth he had planned to ship the former slaves to Liberia, in the long run we are fortunate that he did not live to do that. In truth, and as unChristian it is to say, it is a pity he lived to become President, for all the deaths, heartache an pain and the continuing echos of the Civil War that continue to this day are all on his shoulders.

Slavery was only a minor cause among many causes that led to the Civil War. Did you know that the Legislature of the Commonwealth of Virginia was one (1) vote from abolishing slavery in 1861 and that it was thought that they would have the votes needed to abolish it in 1862 - however we all know what happened in 1861.

WMDs now like slavery then is just a minor cause of the War in Iraq, it may take 147 years for the truth to come out or it might happen tomorrow. I wonder how those in the current adminstration will be viewed in 147 years?

As heroes or as war criminals.

Frisco

Completely on point. It is not clear what law school Mr. Yoo went to but the ABA should clearly check its certification!!