Thursday, April 23, 2009

Harsh Interrogation vs Tortue

I am really having a hard time wrapping my head around this whole debate. I have read the memo that was released by the White House that gave details to the types of "harsh interrogation" that were used on high value prisoners like Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. My first reaction was, "Is that it?" This is the "torture" that the left was screaming about? But what I really don't get is why would the Obama Administration do this other than to appease the left wing of his party? But what is worse is that now Obama has opened the door for the justice department to prosecute Officials in the Bush Administration who wrote opinions and recommendations as to what interrogation techniques were acceptable.

Above all however, I feel that these actions and new policies enacted by the Obama Adminstration do absolutely nothing to strengthen our defense against potential terrorist attacks, and in actuallity rolls back our handling terror threats to a pre-9/11 mentality.

Forget the fact that using interrogation techniques such as waterboarding, helped to thwart terroist attacks on US cities. Does Obama really think that by telling our enemies that we will no longer use these techniques, which inflicted no bodily harm on these terror suspects, will somehow endear us to the terrorists all over the world. Does he think by doing this that the next time an American journalist (not even a solider or operative) is taken captive by these evil people, that they will show mercy and not decapitate their prisoners head.

But a bigger question must be asked? Hypothetically speaking lets postulate that in the future the CIA or NSA picks up chatter, backed up by intel that another terrorist attack err "man caused disaster" is imminent. Around this time they capture a terrorist who they know was involved in the planning and possible participation of this or a similar imminent attack, or they are fairly certain that he has information about an upcoming attack. Does the current administration really think that just by asking nicely or even harshly, that this person will give up the information. Is this despicable man's dignity or civil rights more important than the lives of thousands of Americans that might be killed if an attack is not stopped?

If you think I am exaggerating about something like this, look into what happened to Khalid Sheikh Mohamed. He had been captured. The US knew he was the mastermind of the 9/11 attacks, and when interrogators were questioning him, he told them of another attack coming by saying "you will find out" but was otherwise defiant and uncooperative. The interrogators used waterboarding and he gave up information which helped to break up a terror cell in Asia that was planning an attack, like 9/11 on a bulding in Los Angeles. "Enhanced interrogation" on this dispicable exuse for a human being saved thousands of lives.

The Obama adminstration, with its policy changes and actions is signaling to the terrorists of the world that it is more important to spare the diginity of a terrorist or detainee than to save the lives of thousands of Americans. I suspect Bin Laden and the other leaders of Al Qaeda are laughing. We won't be laughing if we are hit again by these animals.

Thursday, April 16, 2009

The Phoenix Arizona Tea Party Protest

I took the opportunity to go to my first (but probably not last) protest in my life. It was a fun experience. I took my 5 year old, Jessica with me, conning her into going with the promise of a train ride (light rail). We drove to the light rail station in Mesa and then took the train downtown and then walked about a mile to the State Capital building, where the protest was. Jessica was a trooper and had no trouble with the walk until the last 500 yards or so when she got tired. There were several people on the train doing the same thing. Taking the train was a good idea as we did not have to fight any traffic or have to search for parking.

The protest was probably one of the calmest protests that I have ever seen(of course the only ones I have seen until yesterday were on TV). People from all walks of life, and all ethnic groups were there holding up signs and chanting as the speakers (most of which were from KFYI) revved up the crowd. I estimated there had to be between 4 to 7 thousand people at this protest, and the Arizona Republic said that there was about 5 thousand people there.
The only complaint that I had was that I was not really able to hear what was being said. The PA system set up was not that great nor did it do much good if you were very far from where the speakers were. Critics of the tea party protests said that these protests were not spontaneous grass-roots organizations, but were GOP organized protests. If it was the GOP that organized them, then they did a very poor job with logistics. But it was not. I did not really care to hear what was said since i consider myself pretty well informed and new that since this was a grass roots protest that at least at this point there would not have been a whole lot said that would have been truly profound.

What I hope is that this is the beginning of something, that the silent majority has been stirred from a deep slumber. The move away from a constitutional republic really began long ago (FDR's New Deal was the beginning), and so many of us have for so long sat by while our freedoms have been slowly eroded and our free market system has been attacked and damaged from people within our own government. We can no longer sit by and say we are too busy to do anything about what is happening to our government. Not only do we need to wake up, but we need to wake up our friends and neighbors.

Often I think people look at me and wonder why I am so politically minded and passionate about these things. I am passionate about these things because the political system is the mechanism by which our rights and freedoms are maintained. It is the Constitution and that protects all of us and allows us to worship God according to the dictates of our conscience.
But the Constitution is under assault. There are those at the head of our government now, who believe that the Constitution is a flawed document and that because of that our country is hoplessly flawed and is in need of radical change. They are using the cover of an economic crisis to enact these changes to remake America. The changes that are being proposed will limit freedom in the name of fairness. Instead of liberty, we will have a soft tyranny.
I am passionate because I grew up loving this country. The American dream was available to all. I have people in my very family who have made their fortune because they took a risk and were rewarded for their hard work, timing and work ethic. I am passionate because I fear that what I see coming from those in power will disable the engines of prosperity that have made this country the greatest on Earth.

All of us need to be passionate about this country or we will be lulled to sleep; And when we wake up, the America we once loved will be no more.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Happy Tax Day!

It is interesting to hear all of these liberals bad mouth the Tax Day tea parties that are going on all over the country. They are calling those who are attending a bunch of red necked backwards thinking hay seed hicks. But what they fail to do is to consider the real reasons and ideas behind these tea parties.

People are angry and scared. They fear for the future of their country. America was founded on the principles of limited government, rugged individualism, and the idea of American exceptionalism. These ideals, coupled with capitalism, is what has made this country the most successful and prosperous country in the world. President Barack Obama's ideas and policies that he wants to impliment are not only destined to fail, but will lead America down a path that it was not meant to go down.

But what the real crime here is that The Obama administration is implementing these policies without a single regard for fiscal responsibility. The fact is...is that America does not have the money for all of these programs and bailouts. The amount of debt being amassed could cause such massive inflation that it will destroy the value of the dollar as a world currency. The debt we are heaping on our children and grandchildren is horribly crippling.

But worst of all, the proposals by this administration could spell the end of capitalism, which is the end of freedom. The American dream is that anyone can come here (legally) and try to make their fortune, and pursue happiness. Is it a perfect system? No! But it is the only one that works and gives people true freedom.

As people consider what this President is doing, trying to take control of the economy, health care and education, I want you to respond to this question.

Name for five things(excluding the military) that the government does well .

Now tell those of us diggin in our heals about this stuff that you really honestly think that that government can do it better(whatever "it" may be)!

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

Obama says the US is not at war with Islam...

...and he is right. We are not at war with the entire Islamic world, but it is Islamo-fascists who have been using all of their resources to fight the Western World for more than 30 years. It certainly wasn't Christian fundamentalists who flew passenger jets into the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. It was not Radical Jews who tried to sink the USS Cole. It was not some faction of Hindus who were the cause of the bloodshed in Somalia. And I don't remember Buhdists being at the center of the fight in Bosnia.

Make no mistake about it. It is RADICAL ISLAM that is at the center this war. It is Osama Bin Laden who has declared Jihad against the United States and other Western Countries. What is Obama going to say when Al Qaida attacks America again. Will Obama condemn what these evil people do. Or will he blame America as he seems to really enjoy doing.

Monday, April 06, 2009

No Company is TOO LARGE TO FAIL!

The argument that companies like AIG and GM are too large to fail, has to be one of the biggest lies ever perpetrated by American Politicians in an attempt to grab control of large parts of the American economy.

As I kept hearing so many of the ruling class continually spew out this rhetoric, I started to think to myself, "Why are these companies too big to fail?" and Why should they be saved in the first place?" It does not make sense. Why should the government bail out these companies when they have been running their own businesses into the ground.

In the case of AIG, did anyone force them to go out on a massive limb and offer the credit default swaps to all of these financial institutions? Why would a company put all of its eggs into a basket that was in reality a ticking time bomb? I'm no business or economics expert, but I have heard many times that one should always diversify. It seems to me that what got a lot of banks and financial institutions into so much was that they had too much of one investment on their balance sheet and did not spread their investments around enough in case that one of these investments went in the tank.

In the case of GM? Who's fault is it that they went with a short term business plan and put all of their eggs into the SUV basket? Why was GM so short sided? Lets face it. Why would anyone buy an American mid sized car, from Ford, GM or Chrystler, when they can get a better car from a Japanese manufacturer for roughly the same price? But the biggest question is, why did these companies sign such ridiculous labor contracts with the UAW? It has been obvious that the Detroit car model has been flawed for years. Many of the so-called Japanese cars are made or assembled in America anyway. The Big 3 has been dying on the vine for years because they have refused to change their business model.

But why then would the government bail out these companies that have made so many bad decisions? Why would the government infuse these companies with piles of money. In both cases the businesses are failing. They are hemorrhaging money. Throwing money at these big companies has done very little. Now these companies keep coming back for more but continue to engage in the same business practices that got them into the mess they were in in the first place.

So why would the government do it? I suspect it has nothing to do with the economy, but rather these amount to massive quid pro quos. In the case of Detroit, it is payback to the union. In the case of AIG....it was a way to help out a bunch of executives that gave money to the right causes or right candidates...and also to funnel money to banks outside of the US. Whatever the real reason, the evidence supports that we should have just allowed these companies to fail (bankruptcy) and let the chips fall where they may. At least we wouldn't have mortaged the future of our country and its economic stability in the name "saving" companies that really did not deserve saving.

The free market corrects itself. This crisis has happened because so many in the industry did not look at the long ter, but rather only paid attention to the short term. The companies that were being prudent would still be around, and other companies would rise up and take place of the failed ones.

Friday, April 03, 2009

What are the benefits of illegal immigration?

I am trying to figure out how anyone can honestly argue in favor of illegal immigration in the United States of America today. I cannot for the life of me figure out any of the arguments.

Government leaders like Nancy Pelosi make some sort of human rights argument in throwing their support at illegal immigration. I suspect that their reasons for supporting illegal immigration are much more sinister. These libs pander to illegal immigrants and their legal relatives who reside in the United States. If they can get these people amnesty and eventually citizenship, formerly illegal immigrants will be much more likely to vote for these democrats who in my opinion really only want these people in the country so that they will be a paid form of slave labor, not to mention a voting block that will blindly vote for liberals and keep them in power.

Call me cold or hard hearted, but I just don't see any positives for Americans when it comes to allowing illegal immigration, when the negatives are so serious and are a prime causes for state budget shortfalls across the nation and especially in border states like Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and California.

No, there is no anti-Israel Bias at the NY Times.

Recently the New York Times published an Op-Ed of a Palestinian who describes the deplorable conditions that he says exist in Israeli prison...