This has got to be the best 90 bucks I have ever spent.

And no, it's not something that adorns this swiftly bloating body of mine.

This weekend, I signed up for a conference commemorating the 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials. Today was the first day and I've just gotten home, my mind awash with so many different thoughts and emotions I'm going to need a while to arrange them in some semblance of coherence.

Basically, this is a 3 day conference that examines the international crimes of 1. Genocide, 2. Crimes against humanity and 3. War crimes. Key note speakers include, the ORIGINAL prosecutors at the Nuremberg trial, which means that they are over 90 years old but still amazingly lucid, the President of the International Criminal Court and various other dignitaries in the field.

I can't write or elucidate anything right now because I'm going to need to review my notes before being able to say anything vaguely intelligible but suffice to say, I am blown away. This is living history. This is what higher level education is all about.

I am inspired and awed and dumbstruck and more than a little frightened.

Some of the issues we talked about today:
1. the parallels between medical trials conducted during Nazi germany and some methods of interrogation and force feeding conducted at Guantanamoa Bay.
2. The passing of the detainee bill barring judicial review of detainees and the ceding of authority to the president to interpret international laws and most damning of all, the prohibition of citing international laws, whether based on treaties or custom in US courts.
3. Just vs Unjust wars.

I cannot wait for tomorrow.