No way! Philadelphia Inquirer gives John Yoo monthly column
Can you believe this shit?
Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo
Meh. Ya know. There's a real chance that this schmuck who advocated for our government to torture in our names is not in fact going to be even investigated let alone prosecuted or dare I contemplate convicted of what are obvious-to-everyone-war-crimes. But I do not freaking believe that he is being given the Time Of Day by the court of public opinion, and _this_ paper with the kind of financial hurdles it is currently facing thinks its a good idea to give this not-a-criminal-yet a mouthpiece? Really?
Really?!
As Will Bunch said in the above linked article:
This is exactly the kind of "on one hand, on the other hand" cowardly practice that has become a cancer destroying the moral DNA of America's newsrooms. "On one hand, torture is not only immoral but a violation of international and even U.S. law, but on the other hand, check out our 'provocative' new columnist, John Yoo, who can't travel to Europe because he might be arrested for war crimes!"
I actually wrote an email to the Inquirer. I never write emails to newspapers. But I made an exception for this. Here's what I wrote:
I was absolutely floored today to find out that the Philadelphia Inquirer has chosen to hire noted torture architect John Yoo as a columnist for its paper. I recognize that the man has yet to be proven guilty of crimes against humanity, but really, is it necessary to give _more_ torture cheerleaders an amplifier? Does this paper really want to associate itself with such inhumane, illegal, and illogical reasoning as the sort John Yoo chooses to encourage? Really? Are you sure about that? As another John from the Bush administration wisely pointed out: "History will not judge this kindly." I urge you to reconsider this choice. In the meantime, I will certainly be reconsidering my, thusfar, neutral opinion of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It's awfulness like this that makes me this think that it's just as well that the newspaper industry is dying.
Jeebus.
Inquirer defends the indefensible: A monthly column by torture architect John Yoo
Meh. Ya know. There's a real chance that this schmuck who advocated for our government to torture in our names is not in fact going to be even investigated let alone prosecuted or dare I contemplate convicted of what are obvious-to-everyone-war-crimes. But I do not freaking believe that he is being given the Time Of Day by the court of public opinion, and _this_ paper with the kind of financial hurdles it is currently facing thinks its a good idea to give this not-a-criminal-yet a mouthpiece? Really?
Really?!
As Will Bunch said in the above linked article:
This is exactly the kind of "on one hand, on the other hand" cowardly practice that has become a cancer destroying the moral DNA of America's newsrooms. "On one hand, torture is not only immoral but a violation of international and even U.S. law, but on the other hand, check out our 'provocative' new columnist, John Yoo, who can't travel to Europe because he might be arrested for war crimes!"
I actually wrote an email to the Inquirer. I never write emails to newspapers. But I made an exception for this. Here's what I wrote:
I was absolutely floored today to find out that the Philadelphia Inquirer has chosen to hire noted torture architect John Yoo as a columnist for its paper. I recognize that the man has yet to be proven guilty of crimes against humanity, but really, is it necessary to give _more_ torture cheerleaders an amplifier? Does this paper really want to associate itself with such inhumane, illegal, and illogical reasoning as the sort John Yoo chooses to encourage? Really? Are you sure about that? As another John from the Bush administration wisely pointed out: "History will not judge this kindly." I urge you to reconsider this choice. In the meantime, I will certainly be reconsidering my, thusfar, neutral opinion of the Philadelphia Inquirer. It's awfulness like this that makes me this think that it's just as well that the newspaper industry is dying.
Jeebus.