Of course Columbia must be punished! How could it dare allow such a vile antisemite as Ahmadinejad a platform ffrom which to speak!

Such is the depth to which political culture in the United States has sunk.

Ahmadinejad was indeed surprised, because despite the extremist and bilious rhetoric of which he is capable, at some level he still retains vestigial memories of America as that shining city on a hill, the hope of freedom for all mankind. He wanted to reach out to Americans and make the case for Iran directly to the American people. Instead he ran into a wall of vituperation. How could it be otherwise in an America which now thoroughly conflates its national interest with a paranoid Israeli fear of Islam.

Israel and the Jewish people have indeed suffered unspeakable atrocities at the hands of antisemites, but the current terrorist problems are the result of a dispute over land. A solution needs to be found to the Palestinian problem to secure a measure of justice and compensation for the palestinian Arabs, yes, but more importantly, to secure the safety and security of Jews in the State of Israel and to stop the descent of those Jews into a permanent state of terrorist induced paranoia. This paranoia threatens a retreat from the wonderful Jewish heritage of morality, ethics and law which is the great gift of their culture to all of mankind.

I can well understand the desire of telecom and internet providers, as well as government officials, to escape liability for their conduct in these matters. And, to some degree, I am sympathetic. Even the largest corporations were operating at a time of extraordinary panic and administration fearmongering. And they are all small fry in these matters in comparison with the big Kahuna offender, George W. Bush, President of the United States.

There is an admirable latin maxim which speaks volumes:

FIAT IUSTITIA,RUAT CAELUM !- Let Justice be done, though the heavens fall. It has a nice rhetorical flourish to it, but it is far from the reality in contemporary America- unless you are an African American in Jena, La. Today it might more realistically be stated as:

Let justice be done, so long as it does not inconvenience the rich and powerful, or embarass even the lowliest bureaucrat. This is the inevitable rot permeating the system of justice as a result of the Courts defering to concepts of National Security in handling litigation before them.

As to Amnesty for these people, I think a compromise ought to be possible on the model of the Truth and Reconciliation commision in South Africa:

(1) There should be an unequivocal admission of wrongdoing and an apology to those affected and to the American peple as a whole.

(2) There should be a full accounting of all activities to a special officer established under the Act- a sort of special prosecutor, who would report his findings to Congress.

(3)There should be payment of a significant fine in exchange for further immunity, such immunity to be conditional on the cooperation of such offenders with such action as Congress and/or the Special Prosecutor may choose to take. This should only apply to offenders with significant ability to affect the decision to comply with administration requests.

(4)There should be no immunity for members of the Cabinet or for the President Of the United States.

(5)There should be hearings as to whether the President Of the United States ought to be Impeached on the basis of this and other abuses of his office in tandem with this partial grant of immunity.

(6) In the case of minor actors in this affair, employees of corporations and civil servants, there should be absolute immunity conditional on their full and fair disclosure of their actions and their cooperation with other Congressional and Special Prosecutor initiatives as above.

I believe that something like this would serve the interests of justice and those of the rule of law in the vibrant democracy that ought to be the American Republic. Unfotunately, the United States of today more closely resembles Vichy France or the Weimar Republic in Germany than the shining city on a hill of Washington, Jefferson, Madison and Lincoln.

Glenn:

Nobody seems to be considering whether the slavish warmongering and fearmongering of the Right is in Israel's best interest either. A predictable outcome of this sort of thing is to compel Israel to pursue ever more truculent and extremist positions in the middle east to curry favour with the Republican base in America- a base that is out of touch with reality, pursuing neocon nightmare shibboleths!

Israel might at some point be compelled to drink the Kool Aid of some disastrously inappropriate policy by its American supporters who will hurl the pejorative epithet of antisemitism at anyone suggesting a rational analysis and approach to the Israeli situation.

Hey Tim:

How could you suggest something like that for Senator Reid? He would need preparation and mentoring to undertake the course of action you suggest. Not just any old foot tapping would do. There probably is a special coda and etiquette in these matters. Sending poor Harry out on a mission like this without approriate training would be like sending a soldier into battle with a bow and arrow. For shame, Tim, for shame!

It is truly admirable for Salon to provide this guide for gay voters with a Republican political orientation.It will help all those poor gays in rural areas and the deep south, those poor banished spiritual children of Falwell,Dobson, Haggard and the Christian Right. Those log cabin closets are no doubt very lonely. So this Salon article is a true work of mercy for the poor souls in gay purgatory.