Bay Area Dave wrote:

It's not the president's job to poll every Tom, Dick, and
Harry, to decide what's right. Since he was elected, let him
do the job as he sees fit.

There's too much wiggle room in that statement - at least for my
comfort. It doesn't bother me that he has considerable latitude
in the performance of his job; but an important part of that job
is to preserve and protect the Constitution.

I feel obliged to respect the office; but do not feel obliged to
respect the office holder if I become convinced that he does that
job badly - if he participates in or acquiesces to activities or
conduct unworthy of respect.

Too, the President serves at the will of the majority of the
population. In my mind he is accountable to the American people
and can not honestly hold the office and simultaneously flout the
will of the people or deviate from either the letter or the
spirit of the Constitution.

Doug Miller wrote:

In article , Larry Blanchard
wrote:

With this groups propensity for off-topic rantings (yes,
I'm guilty too), how come I've seen no comments about the
memos surfacing that say the president can authorize
torture?

Frankly, I'm appalled, and I wish the President would
promptly and publicly repudiate those memos and dismiss the
people that wrote them.

I'm glad you're appalled - but I'm afraid that even if your
wishes were fulfilled, nothing would change significantly.

Larry Blanchard wrote:

My feeling is that we're in danger of becoming what we're
fighting.

I agree.

I think Larry's comment is insightful; and I think this is always
a danger. Somehow it seems that when people focus their attention
on others (either as individuals or as a group) they tend to
become more like those others. All too often the opressed turn
right around and conduct themselves as did their former opresors.

Note that our military, in general, is opposed to this
because the Geneva convention and other treaties provide
protection for our troops as well.

Perhaps or perhaps not - I lean toward the "not" side because I
think that other issues can too easily lead to GC violations -
and I don't think that these treaties provide much protection for
our troops at all (even though I really like the idea that they
/might/).

--
Morris Dovey
DeSoto, Iowa USA