Some months ago Bill Moyers did a show exploring Impeachment on PBS. On of the two Panelists was Bruce Fein. He argued that it is necessary to Impeach President Bush in order to prevent his abuses of power from becoming settled precedent and law for future administrations. I agree with him.

President Bush is , I believe, a well meaning man, but he is a cowboy, incapable of understanding the harm he has done to the Republic. Impeach him America must or the character of the Republic will be altered into a paranoid authoritarianism. But impeachment need not mean a lack of generosity; this president has acted in what he believes are the best interests of the nation. Congress could allow him the presidential perks and pension he would be entitled to if he leaves office normally in January 2009.

As to the granting of amnesty to Telecoms caught up in the misdeeds of this administration, this makes sense in return for a fine, admission of guilt, and cooperation with Congress in investigating the high crimes and misdemeanours of the Culprit in Chief. Moveon.org was petty in its treatment of General Petraeus. The attack should properly have been made against President Betrayus.

P W. Singer posted a remarkable article yesterday in Salon along these lines. The U.S. has created a parallel, contracted out mercenary army in Iraq to deal in part with the limited number of U.S. troops. The alleged abuses he documents are sickening.

This development is part of the political strategy of the Beltway to isolate the nation from the true consequences of their bellicose policies. By using an all volunteer army and contract mercenaries to fight in their military adventures abroad they are able to silence what otherwise would be a massive citizen outcry about their deeds.

I am reminded of the late Roman Empire when the legions increasingly were composed of members of barbarian tribes seeking entry to the Empire and Roman citizenship in return for long periods of military service. In Rome,too, it was easier to hire soldiers than to persuade the citizenry to fight in endless imperial wars on distant fronts.

Perhaps America could recruit legions of Mexicans and other hispanic young men to provide military service for the United States in return for citizenship and the right to bring their families to America as immigrants. After all, George W. Bush could issue orders as Commander in Chief in Spanish.

It is really too bad that any Right wing bloggers and politicians carry unsettling personal memories like being banished from the park. It is worse that this can cause bellicose policy decisions advocated to bolster their flaging manhood. But help is available! These are the days of Viagra and Cialis, surely useful in treating symptoms of masculinity dysfunction. Sure, these little pills cost $10 a pop, but it would be a worthwhile initiative to fund the cost as a public health initiative using some of the savings from roads of military adventurism less travelled.

Glenn's discussion of these issues is coherent and well reasoned, but it fails to deal with one central reality. Nazism and Hitler were only the most horrific examples of a larger authoritarian trend in Western society, and of a formerly commonplace antisemitism. They are not such great departures from the common experience of mankind as to be totally exceptional, much as we might wish they were.

The concentration camp was the invention of the British during the Boer war. There was an absolutely deplorable prison camp/hospital in the South during the civil war, Andersonville was its name, if I recall correctly. And genocide is not unknown to human history- the Germans merely brought their much vaunted efficiency to it.

It is understandable that there is a desire by various groups to resist trivializing the Nazi era and the Holocaust. Glenn also seems to be correct that the Right is diminishing this resistance without suffering the usual protests. But it is also true that calling things like Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib Nazi like behaviour is quite legitimate as a well recognized shorthand for deplorable authoritarian excess in conduct by political officials. It is not a pleasant reality, but totalitarian excess is not restricted entirely to the past.

As to the use of the Nazi epithet to describe Moveon.org or the liberal blogosphere, this is patently ridiculous. Most of the commentary and criticism directed at the political Right is legitimate, well reasoned, and well deserved. The Right is the current center of the Stab in the Back mythology so useful in Germany in Hitler's rise to power in Germany.

Glenn, Glenn, Glenn:

Of course members of the Executive branch and the Telecoms should get a law granting immunity for violations of FISA and other laws that may have been violated in the " National Security" interest of the United States.

And, of course, Gays should get immunity from enforcement of the Texas Sodomy laws, even if enacted pursuant to a Constitutional amendment permitting their revival.

Diane Feinstein could lead the charge on both initiatives.

But really, Glenn, what do you expect? NeoCon respect for gay rights is the same as their respect for freedom, the rule of law, and the Constitution.