On Water Boarding

The subject of torture is an important one, especially for a democratic nation that desires to protect itself from those who seek to destroy it. Let us make no mistake, there are many in the world who seek the outright destruction of the United States its allies Great Britain, Canada, Australia, Spain, Italy, and others in the West who love liberty and individualism. Those enemies who seek our destruction reside not only in caves fighting under the name Al Qaeda, but there are those in China, Russia, North Korea, Iran and elsewhere who desire to see liberty and democracy defeated for the benefit of their own self interest and to further a society based on collectivism and central planning.

Democracies cannot take the issue of torture lightly, nor do they. The memos President Obama released, wrongly in my opinion, show that a great deal of discussion and deliberation went into the decision to use harsh interrogation methods against those who had killed almost 3,000 in New York and Pennsylvania. So before we even entertain a discussion of whether torturing terrorists is right or wrong, we should begin by defining what torture is and is not.

Meriam Webster defines torture as “something that causes agony or pain”, or “the infliction of intense pain (as from burning, crushing, or wounding) to punish, coerce, or afford sadistic pleasure”. Oxford defines it as “the infliction of severe pain as a punishment or a forcible means of persuasion” or “great suffering or anxiety”. And, Dictionary.com specifies torture as “the act of inflicting excruciating pain, as punishment or revenge, as a means of getting a confession or information, or for sheer cruelty.” While water boarding is undoubtedly unpleasant, it should not be described as “severe pain” or an act that causes “agony”. It seems clear that water boarding induces fear, discomfort, and irritation; however, to be subjected to CSPAN, PBS, NPR, or for the left, Fox News, might also cause similar agony and discomfort. But I digress.

The media has presented the issue of water boarding as though it is a decided truth that water boarding is, in fact, torture. However, authors like Christopher Hitchens and others have voluntarily subjected themselves to this interrogation method. I would submit that no sane person would ever volunteer to undergo true torture of any sort. I certainly wouldn’t subject myself to torture at the hands of the Communist Chinese, a KGB member, the sadistic controllers of North Korea, or Fidel Castro’s henchman, not in a million years and certainly not for the sake of journalism or a column.

While it is regrettable that our traditionally peaceful civilization has had to contemplate and carry out this form of interrogation, it has been done only in an effort of self preservation and survival that we have done so. In that course, we should also be somewhat grateful that this form of interrogation even exists. Let me explain, water boarding causes no permanent physical damage, no scarring, no bleeding, no burning, and there is no evidence of permanent psychological damage either. There is no actual sense of pain or anguish. Water boarding did bring two horrible terrorists to confess and talk, two men who were willing to martyr themselves for Allah only moments earlier. If I was tortured, I suspect I would hate my torturers, but the journalists who subjected themselves to water boarding expressed no such feelings whatsoever towards their “torturers”.

The present opponents in government of these methods voiced no objection at the time they were being carried out, when the threat of another attack appeared imminent. Pelosi, Reid, Biden, McCain and others seemed willing to do whatever it took to stop Al Qaeda from hitting us again, so what changed? Has the threat become less imminent or are we merely better prepared and informed. Quite possibly, we have only become better informed because of the information gleaned from getting Khalid Sheik Mohammed and others to talk via these “enhanced” methods.

Does their desire of Pelosi, Reid, Obama, and others to protect their nation only exist when it is politically popular? Would they not be willing to engage in using stronger methods to protect their constituents and the citizens of their nation otherwise? These are essential questions every voter should ask before casting their vote. It seems absurd that those who oppose water boarding are so completely willing to drop bombs on suspected hideouts of Al Qaida members in Pakistan. It is illogical that they’re willing to kill them, but not pour water down their nose? They’re willing to enforce a court order against Terri Schaivo to starve her to death over a period of two weeks but not subject KSM to the sensation and fear of drowning? How can such positions be rationally justified?

No rational person wants to subject anyone to water boarding or other harsh interrogation methods, but I, personally speaking, have no hesitation to subject the likes of Al Qaeda members to such procedures to save the lives of my fellow citizens. I only wish the current administration felt the same way.


This article is also available at Family Security Matters.

Steele Sums Up Specter

Less than a month ago Senator Specter says: "Specter: I'm a Republican and I'm going to run in the Republican primary and on the Republican ticket." What a man of his word, so honorable.

RNC Chair Michael Steele said in response, "Some in the Republican Party are happy about this. I am not. Let’s be honest-Senator Specter didn’t leave the GOP based on principles of any kind. He left to further his personal political interests because he knew that he was going to lose a Republican primary due to his left-wing voting record. Republicans look forward to beating Sen. Specter in 2010, assuming the Democrats don’t do it first."

Damn straight.

Privatize Liquor Sales in Ontario

What is freedom if it is not choice? Frank Klees' statement that he believes in maintaining the government monopoly on liquor sales should make clear to everyone who considers him or herself a conservative great concern. To use the argument that "safety" is at the core of maintaining this monopoly is absurd. If any organization or entity has proven itself to be irresponsible and unsafe, it is government. Just look how much of your tax dollars are wasted on non-sense each year.

Freedom, as Milton Freidman observed, is about the ability of individuals to make choices. But, in Ontario we are not free to buy wine or beer from private owners, as if individuals are too irresponsible and stupid to sell liquor. Why then can they sell cigarettes? Or guns? Or mouthwash? Or paint?

Government control is useless to prevent underage drinking or drunk driving, just as government control of guns cannot stop their spread or illegal use. Moreover, why should the government profit from this "dangerous" substance, as Klees implies at the expense of others? The government already further burdens individuals by forcing them to pay a liquor tax on top of income, provincial sales, and federal sales tax. I think it would be more than just if government was completely prevented from operating any sort of business that completely monopolized a legal substance at the expense of private business.

Privatization of Petro Canada, CN, and other corporations has unleashed their creative potential and the capacity to generate wealth. Let us recall the truth that government is incapable of producing anything but red tape and paper. Klees, and those who support government monopolies, would do well to remember the words of Mr. Freidman: "Freedom requires individuals to be free to use their own resources in their own way, and modern society requires cooperation among a large number of people. The question is, how can you have cooperation without coercion? If you have a central direction you inevitably have coercion. The only way that has ever been discovered to have a lot of people cooperate together voluntarily is through the free market. And that's why it's so essential to preserving individual freedom."

Freedom doesn't mean total safety, but it does provide safety from despotism.

A Lib Takes Obama to Task

James Kirchick, writing in the LA Times, an assistant editor of the New Republic, takes Obama to task for the shameful manner in which the President has conducted himself abroad glad handing tyrants, bowing to despotic kings, and apologizing to Europeans for American arrogance (gag).

But that was a mild beginning. Obama waited to ramp up the apologetics until his first trip overseas. In Strasbourg, France, he said the United States had "failed to appreciate Europe's leading role in the world" and that "there have been times where America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive." Never mind the questionable basis of these statements (even if Europe played a "leading role in the world," which it hasn't since nearly destroying itself 60 years ago, how have Americans "failed to appreciate" it?). More troubling was the impropriety of Obama's willingness to attack President George W. Bush in an obvious gambit to curry favor with Europeans.

Not content with faulting Americans for their arrogance (in France, no less!), Obama delivered a speech in Prague days later where he offered a not-so-subtle apology for America's use of nuclear weapons in World War II. "As the only nuclear power to have used a nuclear weapon, the United States has a moral responsibility to act" in furtherance of total disarmament, he said.

Yet the use of the atomic bomb in ending the war with Japan saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and America's possession of nuclear weapons prevented the Cold War from becoming bloodier. More unsettling, however, was the implication that the U.S., and not regimes that have illicitly sought such technology, is at fault for nuclear proliferation.

I have hesitated to say that Obama has been dangerous, but it seems increasingly apparent that he is, in fact, dangerous to the interests of his own country. That he would denigrate the US abroad through his actions while weakening the military (budget cuts, Gitmo memos, and signals of weakness on missile defense) is frightening.

Obama's position on American exceptionalism is perhaps most telling, and most disappointing:

President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in "American exceptionalism." This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs.

Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

President Obama was asked by a reporter in France if he believed in "American exceptionalism." This is the notion that our history as the world's oldest democracy, our immigrant founding and our devotion to liberty endow the United States with a unique, providential role in world affairs. Rather than endorse the proposition -- as every president in recent memory has done one way or another -- Obama offered a strange response: "I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism."

I'm relieved to know that there are some liberals still in existence that don't feel a need to apologize for American strength, sacrifice, and exceptionalism. Kudos to Mr. Kirchick.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75 year old rancher, whose hand was caught in the gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Obama as our president. The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Obama is a 'Post Turtle''..

Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a 'post turtle' was.

The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a 'post turtle'. The old rancher saw the puzzled look on the doctor's face so he continued to explain. 'You know he didn't get up there by himself, he doesn't belong up there, and he doesn't know what to do while he's up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put him up there to begin with'.

My Weekend Lesson

Over the weekend I had the opportunity, rather, the privilege of attending a fundraiser for special needs teens and adults. This oft overlooked segment of the population taught me more about myself and our society than any event in recent memory.

Our world is so often distracted by the accumulation of “stuff” that retains little, if any, value over the long term. We, of which I count myself guiltier than most, in society are focused on the current events of today from politics and religion to bank statements and mortgage payments. Our governments are divided upon bitter partisan lines if we are fortunate enough to live in a democratic nation, and we sweat over the continuing stream of bills and debts that appear each month. We watch the TV anxiously over the financial “crisis” and the looming conflicts, wars, and pandemics.

At this fundraiser I felt the concerns of the world melting into irrelevance at the sight of people who showed only love and happiness to everyone around them, including strangers, despite living with challenges I cannot begin to fathom. These individuals with special needs smiled, laughed, danced and performed for us, the so called “normal” folks in the audience. And yet, we the “normal” spend our days worrying about the temporary things and meaningless desires that are fleeting and momentary in value and worth.

How often do I find myself solely focused on being joyful, appreciative, and loving towards my own friends and family, let alone strangers? These “special” people held no burden of racism, discrimination, religious difference, or partisanship. There was no preconceived notion of division, class, or social stature. Rather, their actions and unique character exposed the shortcomings and failures of my own self, indeed of my own heart.

My lack of compassion, my absence of patience, my ingratitude, my deficit of kindness, my greed, my focus on self, my weakness… all became painfully apparent and obvious at the realization that I was not observing people with “special” needs. Rather they were exposing the painful truth that I need to be far more like them in their enthusiasm to show love, to express joy, to be free from anxiety, and to live for something other than the satisfaction of my own wants.

Einstein rightly said, “There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.”

Quotes from the First Earth Day

Glenn Beck is a little crazy for me, but this is an awesome compilation of hysteria from the environmental extremists. Don't buy into the hype! The earth is not fragile.

Obama-ism

Just imagine if George W. Bush had done this... Obama. He's really not that smart.

Before You Trust Al Gore...

Before you trust Al Gore, the Pope of the earth worshipping fanatics, keep this in mind:

In late May (2008), Al Gore collected $1 million for winning a Dan David Foundation award for his environmental work. In his acceptance speech, Gore repeated his long-familiar sentiment, "We do face a planetary emergency."

If there's one thing we do not face, it's a planetary emergency from global warming because it stopped in 2006. Here is an undeniable truth about our planet: the earth is not fragile. The oil spills in Valdez, Alaska, the first Gulf War, the USSR's wreckless environmental destruction, and numerous other man-caused environmental accidents and incidents have proven that the earth is actually quite good at healing itself, not unlike our human bodies.

To think that Mr. Gore and his cadre are not self interested is unfortunate. The evidence proves quite the opposite. And Democrats and the "left" are not the only ones to blame. Bush's Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson is also benefiting enormously from so called green "investments". But Gore is certainly a major beneficiary:

Since leaving public office, Gore has become a one-man conglomerate: He writes books, stars in a movie, commands massive speaking fees, and sits on corporate boards. Gore had under $2 million when he left the vice presidency in 2001 but today his fortune exceeds $100 million and his climate crusade will likely make him even richer.
Gore has cast his net in green technology. He is a partner in venture capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, which this year formed two funds that will invest $ 1.2 billion in environmentally friendly companies. Gore is also co-founder and chairman of London based Generation Investment Management (GIM), which collaborates with Kleiner Perkins to find investments in "sustainability." He's also invested $35 million in a hedge rund, Capricorn Investment Group. Founded by former eBay president Jeff Skoll, Capricorn invests its clients' funds in makers of eco-friendly products.

So before you start sending money to "green" organizations, groups, and causes, do some investigation to find out where your money is really going.

Goldman Sachs, a major donor to the Democrats and to a lesser extent Republicans like Paulson, is heavily invested in Gore's scheme:

Along with Gore, the co-founder of GIM is Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson. Last September, Goldman Sachs bought 10% of CCX shares for $23 million. CCX owns half the ECX, so Goldman Sachs has a stake there as well.GIM’s “founding partners” are studded with officials from Goldman Sachs. They include David Blood, former CEO of Goldman Sachs Asset Management (GSAM); Mark Ferguson, former co-head of GSAM pan-European research; and Peter Harris, who headed GSAM international operations. Another founding partner is Peter Knight, who is the designated president of GIM. He was Sen. Al Gore’s chief of staff from 1977-1989 and the campaign manager of the 1996 Clinton-Gore re-election campaign.Like CCX, the ECX has about 80 member companies, including Barclays, BP, Calyon, Endesa, Fortis, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley and Shell, and ECX has contracted with the European Union to further develop a futures market in carbon trading. What’s in it for the companies? They will benefit either by investing in carbon credits or by receiving subsidies for doing so.

Gore has, and continues, to make major cash from his fear mongering: "A report last March showing that Gore made a $35 million investment with Capricorn Investment Group opened some eyes to the former vice president's growing wealth." I have no problem with Al Gore becoming rich, but I do have a problem with him perpetrating a lie that global warming is solely being cause by humans and that we need to destroy capitalism to stop it. "Gore, with his long history of climate alarmism appears to be a true believer, but no one can deny that his advocacy hasn't contributed to his growing fortune. He has a financial stake in what Congress decides about regulating greenhouse gases and is every bit as self-interested as an Exxon Mobil lobbyist."

I'm proud to be a skeptic of global warming and Mr. Gore. Without critical thinking, we wouldn't have a democracy worth fighting for and capitalism would have long ago been destroyed by central planners like Gore, Soros, Pelosi, Gorbachev, and Obama. So consider that you can't run an electricity grid from wind and solar power, there are no viable alternatives to oil and fossil fuels at all yet, and if we all drove electric cars we'd shut down the electric grid. Sorry, just facts.

The Gas Plants Need to Live is a Pollutant, Got It?

The EPA's (Environmental Protection Agency) has, in its boundless wisdom, classified carbon dioxide (CO2) as a pollutant. Yes, the same gas that is essential to life on earth = pollutant. So are tree huggers now starving trees of the air they need to live?

Even if you don't believe that there is evidence that carbon dioxide actually increases after temperature increases, and not the other way around as Al Gore would have us believe, an open minded person should entertain the possibility that if the former is true, CO2 isn't the culprit.

But for the Earth Worshippers in the church environmentalism, the Pope Al Gore I cannot be wrong, he's infallible. He invented the Internet after all.

So those bubbles in your beer? Pollutant. That trace gas that makes up a total of 0.03% of the total atmosphere... it's a pollutant. So much for settled science.

Anderson Cooper Would Know

If any CNN anchor would know, it would be Anderson Cooper. Well maybe this guy would know too...

I hope for Anderson's sake he doesn't get caught in the park like Mr. Quest.

But don't think that MSNBC is above the fray, they're equally classless as David "the shill" Shuster demonstrates. So much for being reporters, they've joined the ranks of Obama's water-carriers.

At least at the Atlantic, they're still doing some honest journalism. For liberals, it's fine that George Soros funds Moveon.org, but Fox News better not cover the T.E.A. Parties or it's "astroturf" activism.

Meanwhile, Fox destroys CNN and MSNBC in the ratings:
FOXNEWS 3,390,000
MSNBC 1,210,000
CNN 1,070,000
CNN HEADLINE 909,000

FOXNEWS O'REILLY 3,980,000
FOXNEWS HANNITY 3,239,000
FOXNEWS GRETA 2,947,000
FOXNEWS BECK 2,740,000
FOXNEWS BAIER 2,401,000
FOXNEWS SHEP 2,185,000
COMEDY DAILY SHOW 1,777,000
MSNBC OLBERMANN 1,499,000
COMEDY COLBERT 1,446,000
CNNHN GRACE 1,336,000
CNN KING 1,292,000
MSNBC MADDOW 1,149,000
CNN COOPER 1,021,000 (i.e., tea-bagger in chief)

How long until CNN, MSNBC, and the NY Times ask for a bailout?

Tea Parties Show Opposition to Obama's Statism

Americans are not accepting Obama's tax and spend policies lying down. They've taken to the streets in 2500 different locations in all 50 states in an amazing feat of grassroots activism by common citizens. Although dismissed by the water carriers Paul Begala and the like, CNN and other MSM outlets were basically forced to cover the Tea Parties because of their scope and strength.

The panty-waist lefties like Begala see paying taxes as "patriotic". Biden echoed this sentiment not long ago. The reason is the lefties equate the nation with government. However, the framers of the Constitution saw the nation being composed of the "people" who happen to have established a government. As Reagan agreed when he stated that America is a nation with a government and not the other way around.

Begala whines, "So why are a bunch of Fox News clowns and right-wing cranks hosting "tea parties" all over the country? The Boston Tea Party, in case the clods at Fox didn't know it, protested "taxation without representation." Note the second word: without. The goofballs tossing tea bags today have representation. They voted in the election; they lost."

Well Paul, the "clowns" who are destroying you in the ratings and the cranks that left you in the dust in viewership apparently believe that the government can be persuaded to act differently when people speak out. Call it "speaking truth to power" to use liberal lingo, or "a teachable moment".

What scares people is that the "representatives" are passing legislation to spend more money than ever before without having read the legislation to enact the measures. In a democracy, that is inherently dangerous.

Begala goes on: "That a bunch of overpaid media millionaires would lead a faux-populist revolt is comical. They somehow held their populist instincts in check as George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes on the idle rich and put the screws to the working stiffs."

Somewhat like Hollywood telling us to curb our lifestyle to stop global warming, or to voice outrage at Bush for the wars he started, or maybe to help cure AIDS while promoting lifestyles that encourage the spread of disease?

Bush's tax policies gave EVERY tax payer a tax cut (see this LINK for proof), not the top 1% as liberals enjoy lying about. The fact is, government continues to fail in every program and policy it takes over. Eleven trillion has been spent on welfare since LBJ's great society, and to what end? Have food stamps ended hunger? Has affirmative action ended discrimination or inflamed it?

When individuals are left to pursue their own interests free from government intervention, wealth is created, ingenuity flourishes, and prosperity booms. The same can occur again with less government, more individual rights, and a government that knows its place.

Tax Day Tea Parties

I encourage my American readers who still believe in the values enshrined in the Constitution by the Framers to search for a local "Tea Party" and attend on tax day (April 15th) to protest the out of control spending and government growth that has occurred since President Obama was inaugurated.

The Tea Parties are taking place all over the United States, you can find one close to you HERE.

The map shows the incredible opposition to the massive expanse of government that has taken place in the last few months, and the resistance to the socialist plans of the Congress and the White House.

Obama has used the fear of crisis to push through a radical agenda that could push America dangerously to the left and leave a legacy of high taxes, bigger government, mountains of debt, and a European-style government managed economy that would be the beginning of the end of capitalism.

Resist. Attend. Make a difference.

Happy Easter

He is risen.

Good Friday

The most significant event in history occurred on this day almost 2,000 years ago. Astonishingly, the prophet Isaiah described the death of Jesus of Nazareth in the 8th century BC:
"He was despised and rejected by men;a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.
Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray;we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors."

Good Friday is good because we can now be at peace with God, reconciled to our Creator because of the sacrifice of God's perfect Son.

Obama Demeans the Office

Obama's world wide rock concert-like tour may have been praised by the left wing media, but it's been a disaster strategically and has weakened America. Like President Carter, Obama is on a course of dangerous idealism clouded by naivete and a lack of historical knowledge.

Obama bowed before the King of Saudi Arabia, the same king who has been a slave owning, woman oppressing, Wahabist terrorist enabler.

Obama also shocked the Islamists of Turkey with eagerness to appease them at the expense of secular government and human rights.

Now, President Obama is paving the way for a further weakened America by slashing defence programs, including missile defence even as Iran approaches obtaining the bomb and North Korea tests long range ICBMs. Not only that, Russia has sold Iran one of the most sophisticated air defence systems in the world, further protecting Iran's nuclear program from a convention strike by Israel or the West. My prediction that Obama would be Carter's second term is coming to pass, and it is frightening to think about.

Obama should take note of the brave sailors who took back their ship from Somali pirates in that peace is maintained through strength. Weakness only stimulates the aggressiveness of the enemies of democracy and freedom, and to think that they can be trusted, bargained with, or appeased is the sure path to war.