[PrudenceYuris]

That is a curious argument.

The point of this petition, and everything else done to remove Ortiz, Heymann, and Garland is that it is a repeatable process.

Making a spectacular example of Ortiz et. al. is a first step, but it's a fine first step.

Or put it this way, would we have as many lawyers willing to shield torture had John Yoo ended up delivering pizza for a living?

[ceol]

I'm not seeing much to remove Heymann or Garland. There's another petition for Heymann, but that's not getting near as much traction as the Ortiz one, even when I've seen numerous commenters claim he was the one behind the case.

What's going on with these petitions is exactly the tactic politicians use to calm the populace down when they're screaming for something to be done after a scandal or catastrophe. Removing Ortiz would give everyone the vengeance they desire but it wouldn't do a damn thing because the people qualified to replace her are all just like her.

[PrudenceYuris]

That's a good point regarding the petition, which is why direct action against these people should not be limited to signing the petition.

Indeed, they should be harried out of their professional and private lives as thoroughly and relentlessly as they drove Swartz to suicide. Their lives should be made not worth living.