4th of July

William James (1962, 95) urges teachers to “See to it now, I beg you, that you make freemen of your pupils by habituating them to act, wherever possible, under the notion of a good. Get them habitually to tell the truth, not so much through showing them the wickedness of lying as by arousing their enthusiasm for honor and veracity. Wean them from their native cruelty by imparting to them some of your own positive sympathy with an animal’s inner springs of joy.”
The prison sentence of I. Lewis Libby, Jr. has been commuted by George W. Bush, Jr. Paris Hilton’s prison term was cut short for little apparent reason. Except that she was well heeled and well off. And like I. Lewis Libby, Jr., she had friends in high places.
And then all of those teachers are urged to go right into their classrooms and ‘get them habitually to tell the truth,” and to “wean them from their native cruelty.” Ha! On the front pages of every newspaper is the affront to justice practiced by the highest executives in the United States. Their behavior is repulsive, and they cast in the mud the very documents they will celebrate this Fourth of July. They are hypocrites all, and they are worthy of only our real contempt. In the Washington Post today: President Bush warned Wednesday that the Iraq war "will require more patience, more courage and more sacrifice," as he appealed to a war-weary public for time and sought to link today's conflict to the storied battles that gave birth to the nation.” Disgusting.