Another piece in the puzzle - blind allegiance to the great leader - that demonstrates many dangerous elements of cryptofascist thought on a rampage in Washington under Cheney/Bush/New American Century.

Isn't there any grounds for recalling or impeaching a government official who so fundamentally misunderstands the core premise and requirement of the position?

Yes, but guess who holds the keys? The very criminals who've enabled all of this to take place.

And the circle-jerk goes on and on...

"Bush isn't a President; he's the Sun King"

-- paddy_boy

John Lennon must be rolling in his grave.

I'm not really sure what are the current requirements regarding teaching government at the High School level in the US.

Like I said, my personal experience (from 12 years of catholic school) was that it was seen as more of an annoyance, similar to having to take gym class. It was an elective class, I believe. At public schools, it's probably required; I can't imagine the instruction being any better at public school, than private school. Although I suppose the catholic basis of my school meant more that "public" concepts such as government and civics were not emphasized as much. We were a college prep school and the emphasis was on language, science, literature, etc.

Any constitutional knowledge I picked up prior to law school generally came from history classes, and like I said, was taught from the same perspective: a static bunch of vocabulary words that people fought over in the past, but no longer affected us. The general vibe I got was that "We were America, the greatest country in the world," and had nothing to worry about anymore. Our gov't was firmly established as "Good" and therefore, there was no reason to scrutinize it.

Nixon, if given the attorneys general that Bush had, never would have been impeached. Nixon, with the Congress we currently have, never would have been investigated. How can our Republic have disintegrated this far in a single generation?

Thanks for the reply.

p.s. (and o/t ) to JKP1000 - One suspects John Lennon has been rolling over since a certain American Idol was permitted to butcher "Imagine" by singing only the last verse (thereby preventing anyone from imagining no god or heaven). In the context of everything else going on, I feel badly calling it a "travesty", but that's what it is.

But it's always better to have the prosecutors in your back pocket, if you're guilty and want to avoid trial...

If only the Mafia had it so good. But the Mafia had honor and dignity. Something sorely lacking in this crime cartel...

What we are seeing is what could have happened if Nixon was run by smarter people…

Ms. Taylor's sad testimony echoes the pleas of various Wehrmacht officers who explained that it was all Adolf Hitler's fault & none of their own for whatever war crimes they had committed since the furhrer had the forsight to make them swear a personal oath of allegience to him.

Therefore, if they got an order to kill all non-combatents in a particular town, well orders are orders...

Of course, those Wehrmacht officers really did swear a personal oath, Ms. Taylor only fervently wishes she could.

I went to HS in the early eighties THere was no special "Civics" class. Whatever review of our government there was was cursory, and incorporated into history class. Honestly, I don't know if we ever even read the constitution.

Mostly, it was about how we have three branches, and there are "Checks and balances", although I don't believe we really learned a lot about what those checks and balances actually are. I think I learned more from Schoolhouse Rock (..."I'm just a Bill...")

In college, I picked up a secondhand copy of those government issued, red-covered booklets that has both the Declaration of Independance and the Constitution.

Maybe that should be standard issue, at birth.

My husband and I were watching this, and when I heard that comment, I started yelling at the TV, something I rarely do. I was wondering if anyone else was going to pick up on that, and was disappointed that Abrams didn't say anything.

Thank you!

One suspects John Lennon has been rolling over since a certain American Idol was permitted to butcher "Imagine" by singing only the last verse (thereby preventing anyone from imagining no god or heaven).

Still OT: Not the first time that song has been butchered by removing the "no god" reference; this was less jarring than some versions. In fact I think this kind of thing is pretty much standard. In the US, one cannot have an inspirational song that denies the christian god; just not allowed.

It is simply the Unitary Executive idea in action. They've been telling us that's is what they wanted to do. Shouldn't we believe them?

It would be an understatement to say that Mukasey has completed the politicization of the Justice Department.

In fact he has now erased 'justice' from the functioning of the american political system.

All the other issues facing us will pale in comparison to this one. If the White House is immune from criminal prosecution, and by extension any friends of the WH (like say Karl Rove), then the rule of Law is finished in this country. The passing of laws relating to the executives activities such as for example spying legislation is utterly irrelevent if those laws cannot be enforced. There is thus now a two-tiered system of laws in our country, the laws for those without connections to the white house and the laws for those with connections to the White House. This latter is an empty set.

The idea of Congress 'forcing' the Justice Dept. to do anything is simply silly. They may have the authority, but the lack an organization of enforcement personnel. The Police report to Mukasey. Is there something about this sentence that is confusing? The police report to Mukasey.

Game/Set/Match: the Republican party with the Democrats playing 'me too' has presided over the destruction the American system of government. The congress is now impotent, and the Supreme Court has very carefully avoided taking any of the real cases that would put them in conflict with the executive. The Democrats could hasten such a conflict, by getting serious about subpoenas and contempt of congress citations. Should they move quickly in this area there may be some chance of reversing what has happened.

Look for them to stall.