Thomas Paine Blog » Thomas Paine Rights of Man http://www.thomaspaineblog.org The First American Blogger l His Words in Today's Context Tue, 14 Dec 2010 01:01:40 +0000 en hourly 1 admin admin The First American Blogger l His Words in Today's Context No No On Released Memos Justifying Torture http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/18/on-released-memos-justifying-torture/ http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/2009/04/18/on-released-memos-justifying-torture/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 01:33:42 +0000 Thomas Schueneman http://www.thomaspaineblog.org/?p=142 “An avidity to punish is always dangerous to liberty. It leads men to stretch, to misinterpret, and to misapply even the best of laws. He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his enemy from oppression; for if he violates his duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself.”
-Thomas Paine, Rights of Man

Lost in a sea of semantics, twisted interpretations of law, and descriptions of medieval-sounding methods of punishment revealed in recently released Bush-era memos justifying torture is, in truth, a betrayal of the very principles that founded a nation.

Let the terrorist deal in terror. America stands or falls on how it abides by a higher standard.

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