Patrick, the problem is not whether it is morally reprehensible or not. The problem is that comparing what we're doing to regimes/groups branded evil sidetracks a discussion that should not be side tracked.
To stay on focus, is it better to say: "this reminds me of the Nazis" or "this goes against everhthing we stand for"? Is it better to say "we don't want to do what the Soviets did" or "it is a time-honored US tradition to object to torture"?
Similarities are (obviously) there. So are differences. Unless we want to stand on the deck of the Liberty and go down arguing the finer points of history, we had better use the better part of valor.
And JVP, your comment about what "Jews" do is uninformed by current discourse in Israel, where "like the Nazis" is a common slur. Recently, Joseph Lapid (minister of Justice at the time) cast that at the ultra-orthodox, and said something along the lines of being able to understand why that kind of Jews were targeted for abuse. Not to be outdone, one of the leading Jewish politicians of North African descent was quoted as saying that the people deciding about the disengagement (which involves a population transfer of Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip back into Israel) were "like the Nazis" and could/should be resisted appropriately.
Yes, in Israel, the Nazi comparison is alive and well, and tends to be used by all sides of the (Jewish) political spectrum.
Kate, the biggest thing you can do is be politically involved on all levels: local, county, state, national... ...everywhere... in the political organizations that least cause you to want to throw things at the reps. Voting is just the first step and it doesn't count for enough, with the stuff that's going on around us.
And keep informed - and informing others - of what's going on. It is so easy just not to know. Shed light on things, and keep shedding it.
Oh, and one thing more: for heaven's sake, don't trip on Goodwin's Law - it's bad enough without giving the guyz who think torture is ok ammo against us (us - roughly, those who think torture is not ok).
Graydon, it is no longer the INS at all. The part of the agency formally known as the INS that deals with human traffic was the BCIS for a while (Bureau of Citizenship and Immigration Services) and then became the USCIS (United States replaced the word Bureau, inspiring much chortling about possible equivalence).
As to the legal theory - I didn't see *anything* about that sort of qualification in the constitution. Using the law as you described is being tested by our gov't. I'm not sure to what extent various judges will put up with it.
And, uh, JVP? The security in Israel is supported by a system of mass arrests. They may know how to do it (which has had the general effect of moving the pressure off airplanes and onto buses and schools), but do you REALLY want to live in that sort of an environment?
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