This image by Susan Tibbles accompanied Jennifer Block's Op-Ed about midwives.

The Times' editorial board minces no words today in a retrospective about the Bush administration's indifference toward the niceties of domestic and international statutes, flatly declaring that "many of the administration's policies can fairly be described as lawless." But the board also says it's wary of the calls for prosecuting administration officials or establishing a South Africa-like "truth and reconciliation commission":

Besides, the scandal of the Bush administration wasn't a matter of individual, politically motivated violations of law. Rather, it was a systemic failure to take seriously the spirit as well as the letter of this country's commitment to the humane treatment of prisoners or the privacy rights of Americans secured by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA.

Check out the comments on this piece. Who knew we could make so many people so unhappy, from both sides of the political spectrum? (Don't say it....) On a less controversial note, the board also urged state lawmakers to restore immunity to good Samaritans who provide emergency aid.

On the Op-Ed page, Gannon Gillespie and Ellen Agler, leaders of two international charities, urge belt-tightening Americans to continue helping impoverished people around the globe "who depend on our generosity for their very survival." Astrophysicist Charles L. Harper Jr. makes the case for "green and clean" nuclear energy on the 70th anniversary of the discovery of nuclear fission. And author Jennifer Block advocates midwives and "out of hospital" childbirth as important elements of health-care reform:

We spend more than double per capita on childbirth than other industrialized countries, yet our rates of pre-term birth, newborn death and maternal death rank us dismally in comparison.... In short, we are overspending and under-serving women and families. If the United States is serious about health reform, we need to begin, well, at the beginning.

Finally, in today's letters to the editor, our correspondents debate Hilda Solis, Jerry Brown's stance on Proposition 8, the toll road through San Onofre State Park, Bernie Madoff and the prospect of a Screen Actors Guild strike. And with that, I'm outta here. Merry Christmas and Happy Hannukah!