On Saturday, I graduated from Knox College--a small but respected school which really puts the "liberal" in liberal arts.  Thanks to our historical stature (our signature building, Old Main, was the site of the Lincoln-Douglas debate at which Lincoln first denounced slavery as a moral evil) and a certain alumnus and prominent Democrat named John Podesta, we've had a great run of Commencement speakers lately (Barack Obama in 2005, Stephen Colbert in 2006, and Bill Clinton last year), culminating in this year's speaker: former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

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On Tuesday, John Ashcroft came to Knox College to give a speech.  Afterwards, students were given a chance to ask questions.  I asked about the case of a Japanese soldier, Yukio Asano, who was sentenced to 15 years hard labor for waterboarding American soldiers, and then diaried his response as I remembered it on both DKos and MyDD, which led to it being mentioned on Countdown's "Worst Person in the World" segment and being spread all around the progressive netroots.

Now, due popular request, the local newspaper has posted the exchange on YouTube.  Check it out for yourselves:

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(Cross posted at DKos)

Earlier tonight, I attended John Ashcroft's speech on "Leadership in Troubled Times" at Knox College.  So, while it's still fresh in my mind, here's how it went--including the question I asked that made him lose his cool completely.  (I apologize for the lack of pictures--I don't have a digital camera.  As my friends post their pictures of the event online, I'll try to add them into this diary.)

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