I noticed this little tidbit in the Seattle P-I yesterday: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/388195_nazi18.html

A federal judge has rejected an attempt by an alleged Nazi war criminal living in Bellevue to quash a Department of Justice lawsuit seeking to strip him of citizenship.

Peter Egner, 86, is accused of working with a Nazi mobile killing unit that murdered thousands of Jews, Gypsies and dissidents during World War II.

Egner, who lived in a Bellevue retirement home when the lawsuit was filed in July, admitted to federal officials that he served in the mobile murder unit called Einsatzgruppe and that he guarded prisoners being transferred to a concentration camp and mass grave site in Serbia from April 1941 to September 1943, according to the government's complaint.

Egner's attorneys moved in September to dismiss the case. Egner denies involvement in "persecution or mistreatment" and asserts that the lawsuit does not say that he "actively participated in any wartime atrocities." Egner also asked that if the court decided not to dismiss the case, that it strike all allegations from the government complaint that he characterizes as "immaterial, impertinent and scandalous."

The material Egner sought to have stricken included assertions that while the Bellevue man served with the Nazi unit, "it participated in the mass murder of more than 17,000 Serbian citizens, most of whom were killed because they were Jews, Gypsies, and/or were considered politically suspect. ..."

U.S. District Judge James Robart denied Egner's motion for dismissal Monday, noting that it is too early in the litigation process to weigh the evidence.

Instead, Robart is required to simply determine "whether the facts as alleged are sufficient" to bring the lawsuit.

Robart also denied Egner's motion to strike general allegations that Egner characterizes as "horrifying historical facts" that are not connected to him.

In denying Egner's motion, Robart wrote that although the court "agrees with his characterizations of the facts as 'horrifying,' it does not agree that the complaint fails to connect these historical facts to Mr. Egner. The complaint alleges that Mr. Egner admitted to being a member of the SPSS (Security Police and Security Service of the Nazi SS), admitted to assisting in interrogations of prisoners and admitted to guarding prisoners as part of his service to the SPSS."

If this is the low bar required to bring suit against war criminals (historical facts plus self admitted involvement to one degree or another) then there is no reason that Cheney, Bush, Rummy, Yoo, Addington, et al could have a well pleaded complaint lodged against them, move to discovery, and proceed with a prosecution if warranted.

Except of course Egner was just a grunt following orders and our guys are American royalty apparently above the law in every meaningful way. Why any career civil servant would fall on their sword for a politician is beyond me. Oh yeah because if you don't they'll just violate the law, make your life a miserable hell, and end whatever career you've worked hard for. America is not a land of laws and moral principles, it is the land of whatever is financially expedient. And we want to export our mendacity and greed to every corner of the globe. How totally and completely awesome. Well that and we have a whole bunch of "Chrisitian evangelicals", the self proclaimed standardbearers of American morality, who are so disconnected from Jesus' message that 50% think torture is justified until you remind them of the Jesus' Golden Rule. Why exactly do they need reminding of one of Jesus' core messages? Could it be that they are both deluded and amoral, or are they simply hypocrits cloaking themselves in the twin banners of false morality and hypernationalistic anti-humanism? Maybe God thinks it's A Ok so long as you are a white American Christian evangelical, but I doubt it.

would be perfect for a little poetry incorporating "stain". I personally like "insane in the membrane, the stain is insane". But I clearly poached that one from (?). I always really liked referring to Bush as "shrub" but I think "stain" is more fitting. I know GG meant the "policy" (see intentional violation of domestic and international law) was a stain on our collective souls, but it's really only a stain on those who were indifferent and/or complicit. Lots of us gnashed our teeth, wrote/write letters, make phone calls, alienate everyone we know trying to convince them to stand with us in opposition to this stain, but to little avail. Nevertheless, Bush et al are a nasty stain on the nation's collective soul, God's creation, the rights of men, the rule of law, the functioning of the military, the political process, the english language, good taste, real cowboys, mountainbiking, beer drinking, the DOJ, the judiciary . . .

You're a common thief who steals a car, three years later some scrap metal, and three years after that a slice of pizza--in many states you are a three strikes candidate subject to a really nasty stint in the pokie. The common politician or banker runs the biggest Ponzi scheme (aka the American 'conomy) in the history of mankind as a day to day career endeavor bringing incalculable harm into the lives of tens of millions and he/she is rewarded with pensions, golden parachutes, trillion dollar redistributions of taxpayer wealth, and ultimately a job as a pundit or lobbyist (oh and I forgot the more important reward of honorable historical mention as Oh So Serious Reasonable Competent Thoughtful and Supercraptacular Patriots). While those of us living in reality and having the temerity to appropriately use the english language to describe fraud, systematic criminality, and extraconstitutional power graps of an epic variety, are labeled unpatriotic pinko commie whacko incindiary leftist lunatic fringe unAmerican whatcha-whosa-macallits. . . (calling E-man and Shooter to help out because I can't keep all my derogatory lefty labels straight).

The irony is that if the MSM would simply do its job they might make money and reearn the trust and respect of the public.