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This blog is the work of an educated civilian, not of an expert in the fields discussed.

Thursday, December 15, 2005

More On That "Honor" Piece



The value of the "honor" post referenced in yesterday's entry goes further than the philosophical discussion of honorable service in war time supplied but also applies to the materials linked. The LAT article on the ethical expert/colonel that assumingly committed suicide because he could not handle an unethical war ... at least one more unethical than he could handle. The British editorial chiding the U.S. for not clearly and forthrightly being against torture -- the delay, oh the timing of year (!), of the administration's support of the McCain Amendment (which with the habeas stripping bill is of questionable effect) is simply disgusting.

The excellent law review article on why torture is inherently a violation of our system of law (such a basic denial of the humanity and self-ownership of individuals) that was cited by the House of Lords' opinion against use of evidence obtained by torture. And, the opinion itself, which references time old common law principles that predate the Constitution -- foreign law that even Justice Scalia in some fashion respects when determining the meaning of "due process" and so forth. I skimmed the law review article -- usefully, the author points out key points and summarizes his main points in the intro -- it has striking stuff with application to basic questions of liberty (including questions of medical treatment). As to the British opinion, I only glanced at it -- but, it clearly spells out a "conservative" (as in time-old) opposition to torture.

But, conservativism -- true conservativism -- is not always so bad. After all, look at the piece cited by Prof. Hamilton (who believe me, I disagree with repeatedly) in the last post as well -- a conservative law professor (who supported Bush v. Gore and was Justice O'Connor's law clerk) that believes (a bit too much, imho -- yeah, who would have thought it?) in the separation of church and state. As an aside, I was once told -- by another person who also does not quite share her general views -- that Hamilton was in her view an eminently fair and very good teacher. But, given some members of my family, general respect* for people I do not agree with is not too striking. It just is that in the current atmosphere that those in power just make it seem impossible to imagine. Such is their dishonor.

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* Though I do not alway manage it, no god I, I do try to be respectful with those with whom I disagree. It often seems proper -- given how things are done -- to be disrespectful in certain media, such as message boards. Still, though some sorts seem to invite it, I find this a bit distasteful. And, believe me, no one side does it -- though, at times, you do get the idea that conservatives have a fundamentalist chip on their shoulders, and clearly KNOW the rest of the world are morons.

No need to help them out in their fantasy by being overly dismissive of them -- after all, they sometimes actually are right. After all, I do not like it when it is done to me, and who knows how often I am right, right? Anyway, a bit of fun can be had without being mean.