<div>Hi Ralph et. al.</div>
<div> </div>
<div>I was referring to the discussion about Christianity between you and Schou, which I may have misunderstood, that appeared to be about the blame Christianity may or may not deserve for its abuses in history. I was merely suggesting that the current climate of endorsement of torture in the US is a more urgent focus... And pointed out the complicity of the legal profession throughout history in sophisticated verbal and logical apologetics for horrendous and heartless conduct, i. e. torture, which the W. Bush administration promoted. </div>
<div> </div>
<div>Given that I just posted info on Jane Mayer's book, "The Dark Side: The Inside Story of How the War on Terror Turned Into a War on American Ideals," before I just opened your post below, I was rather surprised to open your post and find a reference to the same author!</div>
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<div>Thanks, Ralph!</div>
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<div>Ted Moffett<br><br> </div>
<div><span class="gmail_quote">On 7/15/08, <b class="gmail_sendername">Ralph Nielsen</b> <<a href="mailto:nielsen@uidaho.edu">nielsen@uidaho.edu</a>> wrote:</span>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid">You misunderstand me. I was saying that waterboaading was called torture by the Inquisition, so how can any decent person call it anything else today?<br>
<br>As Jane Mayer has just pointed out in her interview on Fresh Air, at least a third of the Gitmo prisoners are probably innocent of any crime at all. But if higher powers want a confession, they will be given a confession. Plus ça change, plus c'est la meme chose.<br>
<br>Ralph<br><br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="PADDING-LEFT: 1ex; MARGIN: 0px 0px 0px 0.8ex; BORDER-LEFT: #ccc 1px solid"><span class="q">Date: Mon, 14 Jul 2008 00:27:10 -0700<br>From: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:starbliss@gmail.com" target="_blank">starbliss@gmail.com</a><br>
To: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:nielsen@uidaho.edu" target="_blank">nielsen@uidaho.edu</a>; <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:ophite@gmail.com" target="_blank">ophite@gmail.com</a><br>
CC: <a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="mailto:vision2020@moscow.com" target="_blank">vision2020@moscow.com</a><br>Subject: [Vision2020] One Lawyer With A Spine...<br><br><br></span>Nielsen and Schou, don't you have a common foe upon which to focus your intellectual talents, rather than wasting energy over minutiae?<span class="q"><br>
<br>Christianity has its share of blood on its hands, along with numerous Utopian ideologies (read John Grey's "Apocalyptic Religion and The Death of Utopia"), from Egypt to Rome to the Incas, the British Empire to Stalin's Communism, Hitler's National Socialism, Mao's China, to the manifest destiny of the religion of modern multinational capitalism, perhaps best expressed in the invasion of Iraq by W. Bush... But the most shocking example of absolute and pure evil incarnate is surely (tongue-in-cheek alert) to be found in the legal profession, throughout history acting as endowed and pampered sophisticated verbal and logical apologist for the most heartless and horrendous crimes in history. At least the lawyer referenced below in the US has the guts to call it as it is, publicly, with risk to life and livelihood, redeeming the elitist conformist ersatz gold gilded self serving self righteous pomposity of many in this profession (Sunil excepted, of course) :<br>
<br><a onclick="return top.js.OpenExtLink(window,event,this)" href="http://www.amazon.com/Prosecution-George-W-Bush-Murder/dp/159315481X" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Prosecution-George-W-Bush-Murder/dp/159315481X</a><br>
<br>The Prosecution of George W. Bush for Murder (Hardcover)<br>by Vincent Bugliosi (Author)<br><br></span></blockquote></blockquote></div><br>