Just read a news report about a new poll from the U. of Maryland. Seems that most Americans are against torturing prisoners.
Yeah, I know. Big freakin’ shock, huh?
But there’s more for your government research grant dollars! They also asked if prisoners should have a hearing to answer charges brought against them, if they should be allowed to contact a family member, and if the people answering the poll were against a variety of physical and sexual tortures. The vast majority of the people who responded agreed with all of the above statements.
So these idiots polled a group of Americans and found…..a group of Americans. With American attitudes.
I’ve gotta get a PhD and start sucking up some of that sweet, sweet grant money. After reading about this poll I’m convinced that the Feds will pass it out to any moron with enough advanced degrees.
The social science Ph.D. biz is small change. For the real action, enroll at Boalt Hall (the law school at Cal/Berkeley) where you can study with John Yoo. He can teach you how to negate habeas corpus and ignore every law and treaty that prohibits torture.
“He can teach you how to negate habeas corpus and ignore every law and treaty that prohibits torture.”
Nice verbal sleight-of-hand. The “and” segues from habeas corpus to an implicit assertion that Yoo advocates torture. Noam Chomsky, call your office.
Some background on what Yoo actually wrote is here.
Jonathan–
I’ve actually read a lot of Yoo’s memo and I’ve seen him discuss it on TV. I never said, nor meant to imply, that Yoo advocates torture. He’s a brilliant legal mind, and his scholarly memo presented a subtle set of readings of the relevant laws and treaties. He’s certainly not responsible for policy. I think he had already returned to Berkeley when he wrote it.
Don’t forget the context of the original post I commented on. Don’t you agree that Yoo’s work is much more sophisticated scholarship than that poll?
Chomsky’s also a brilliant scholar. In linguistics. I’ve never come across a political thought of his I thought was worth a damn.