Extensive research has found that people rarely are capable of total and perfect recall of events. In high stress situations, such as officer-involved shootings, memory and recall become even more tenuous.



Independent studies conducted by Alexis Artwohl and others found that

52% of officers involved in shootings reported memory loss for part of the event and 46% reported memory loss for some of their own behavior. 39% reported disassociation or a sense of detachment or… Continue

Having been a teacher and administrator, I was disappointed but not surprised by yesterday’s arrest of a Colombia, South Carolina high school senior who had collected enough supplies to carry out a bomb attack on his school. It seems that every week another name is added to the growing list of high school and college students intent on killing classmates, teachers and themselves.



In contrast to what we see on television and read in the newspapers and magazines, a recent five-year… Continue

Given his appalling historical record regarding sexual abuse in the Catholic Church, I find it nothing short of ironic that Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United States just days after 400 children were taken into legal custody amid charges of sexual abuse after a raid on a cult compound in Eldorado, Texas.



By the U.S. bishops' count, more than 5,000 priests have been credibly accused of abusing about 12,000 children in the United States since 1950. The church has spent $2 billion… Continue

In my April 4th blog entitled War Crimes, I wrote about a recently declassified White House memo, which argued that the Geneva Accords didn’t apply to the President’s actions in wartime. The memo attempted to give the President and other senior White House officials cover for acts of torture they authorized in direct violation of international and constitutional laws.



Yesterday, ABC News reported that President Bush’s most senior advisers met in dozens of top-secret talks and… Continue

My wife and I recently rented a movie entitled Rendition. It told the fictional story of an Egyptian born American citizen who was unjustly accused of being a terrorist and shipped off to a prison overseas where he was subsequently subjected to various means of torture including waterboarding, electric shock and beatings.



Last Sunday night, in a case of life imitating art, 60 Minutes told the story of Murat Kurnaz, a German citizen, who was picked up on a bus in Pakistan three months… Continue