Our dear friend Newtie the Gingrich has very enlightened views (at least in the abstract) about prison reform.  I did a quick Google to see if the Eye of Newt had been cast in this progressive direction before and came up with Chapter 19 of his book Real Change entitled "The Need for Fundamental Prison Reform".  A preview of the chapter is available here.

Does this mean I am going to have to bite the bullet and actually read the book?  Naaa, I'm going to remain convinced that Newt has nothing to offer and blindly accept that there are no other relevent points of view than my own.

There is (and Kant backs me up on this) justifiable war. There are things that misguided societies decide for one reason or another are correct that are so far from just and right that it becomes the moral obligation of other societies to push back against the misguided. There are cases where it is in some larger sense moral to do that which in an individual sense is immoral. For example it was in the large sense moral to go to war against the Nazis even though it involved the killing of other humans which in the absence of the greater context is de facto immoral.

Such are the complex times we live in. Such were the complexities of existance in Socrates times as well. Such as it has ever been. Such as it ever will be. It's not that the times we are in that are complex, it's one of the uglier sides of being human. We don't always do the right thing personally or collectively. Sometimes this causes society to justifiably attack the individual (cops shoot a crook to save a hostage) and sometimes societies justifiably attack other societies.

Some wars _are_ just.