Red Lines and Morality

As I write this post, the situation in Syria is in the news.

If you read this a few days after it was written, there may be a U.S. involvement in that civil war by then. I hope not.

Since an attack hasn't happened yet, as of today, I have the luxury of sitting back and analyzing why the U.S. should or should not get involved. In my view, there are better reasons not to get involved than to go ahead and get involved. Here are the points that are running through my mind right now:

1. The Obama administration (and others) believe there was a chemical weapons attack on the rebel forces in Syria. They believe this attack was done by the Syrian government forces.

2.  The Obama administration (and others) seem to believe that this chemical attack requires a response by the U.S. military.

Why?

Apparently Obama feels outraged that some sort of moral line has been crossed. Hundreds of dead children were wrapped up and placed in long lines in a warehouse for the cameras. As Bush the elder might have said, "This will not stand." Ok. And I'm thinking that if hundreds of dead children had been killed instead by machine gun fire, and wrapped in white linen and placed in long lines in a warehouse for the TV cameras, then a moral line would not have been crossed? - a moral line that hadn't been crossed by the killing of 100,000 people before the gas attack? And I'm thinking, Obama cares for these children. His heart breaks. He must put a stop to it. Well then, why the hell doesn't this child-mourning morally outraged man stop the killing of thousands of AMERICAN babies every year? Is it ok to hold Syrian tyrants accountable with military action, but not ok to hold teenagers accountable for not getting pregnant?

I know, I know - I am the only one who thinks these kinds of crazy thoughts.

Obama feels that chemical weapons are a step too far, and some action must be taken to let the tyrants know we won't stand for the killing of people in THIS way. Do you think Obama's limited missile-only three or four day "lesson" (guaranteed not to kill any people, btw) is going to make these dictators quake in their boots, learn their lesson to never try that chemical crap again? Do you? I'm thinking Assad and his boys are not exactly fouling their trousers at the thought.

And I'm also thinking, do we have any of those "bunker buster" bombs left over from Iraq and Afghanistan? Because, if we do, maybe we could use them to set Iran's nuclear weapons program back a couple of decades. I think I could get behind something like that because I can clearly see a benefit to America by doing so. A few melons on the mullahs, eh? Then watch the "Syrian situation" quickly take care of itself. A miracle.

Tell me what the benefit to America will be by wasting some very expensive missiles on Assad? Such a little tantrum will change nothing. And don't say it is the moral thing to do because a line has been crossed and, by god, we just can't let 'em cross them red lines. Because American society has been so corrupted over the years that it finds NOTHING immoral anymore. It is outrageous to hear the war-boy politicians crying MORALITY! MORALITY! while they go about their daily business of taking bribes and screwing the American public.

Two-faced septic-tank bottom feeders.

Give me the Pharisees any day.

Rights and Misconceptions

"You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to talk with a lawyer..."

Or a reasonable variation thereof.

Is there anyone now living in the U.S. who doesn't know what their constitutional rights are if arrested? It would be hard to believe, since the "Miranda Ruling" was handed down back in 1966, which means the majority of Americans have heard it on TV and elsewhere ten thousand times since they were born. And yet it is still mandatory to be given to all arrestees by the police here. I'm guessing it probably isn't necessary, in point of actual "need" anymore - though still necessary from a legal standpoint.

In 1963, an emotionally disturbed young man confessed to police that he had committed an armed robbery and a rape. He did so after hours of police questioning. In 1966, he was set free even though he did the crimes. This was because he honestly didn't know what his constitutional rights were. On appeal, the Supremes ruled that the police have an obligation to ensure the suspect DOES understand that he has certain rights under the U.S. Constitution. The rest is history.

The point I want to make here is that a person accused of a crime in the U.S. has the 5th Amendment right not to self-incriminate, and the 6th Amendment right to defense counsel. Since at least 1787, Americans or other people arrested within the U.S. have had these rights. It's hard to find someone who isn't aware of that today, but in 1963, people hadn't heard it on TV on cop shows over and over again. Ernesto Miranda was one of those constitutionally challenged individuals who had apparently slept through the Bill of Rights lesson in 8th grade. In a landmark court decision, he went free.
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As I write this, another young man, gravely wounded, lies in a Boston hospital, assumed to be a terrorist. He has not been "miranda-ized." He will be questioned without having his rights read to him, under some sort of exception the president can apparently approve if it is in the national interest. As I write this, the ACLU is threatening to sue to get the authorities to read him his rights, and the Massachusetts public defender's office is offering to defend him, even though President Obama has authorized the Miranda exception.

Excuse me, but I find this whole debate laughable. Why?

Just because you don't read someone his rights doesn't mean he doesn't still HAVE those rights. His rights to silence and an attorney derive from the U.S. constitution, not from the reading of a summary from a piece of paper. In other words, if he doesn't want to talk, he doesn't have to, and if he asks for an attorney, one must be provided to him - else the police are themselves breaking the law -- the highest law of our land.

Somehow or other, all these TV experts, including high-level FBI people, and even the Justice Department on up to president Obama, are deluding themselves into thinking if they don't read the young man his rights, and if it is legal not to read him his rights, then, by gosh, he's GOT to talk and he doesn't get to have an attorney. Balderdash.

What are they going to do if he doesn't talk? Beat him? No. They're going to interview him for three days straight, using repetition and psychological abuse, with no sleep. But they would have done that anyway, had they read him his rights. If he doesn't talk, you can still keep questioning him, with or without Miranda. It's just that, normally, without Miranda, you're wasting your time because any confession will be thrown out at trial. They're going to get into trouble, though, if they don't produce an attorney for him if he knows his rights and asks for one.

Are we living in a strange, misinformed, deluded world, or what? "Don't read him his rights. That way he'll HAVE to talk." Oh, really?

Jesus.

Of course, if he DOES talk, then his confession can't be thrown out just because he wasn't Miranda-ized. There's that. But the whole purpose of Miranda, or one of the main purposes, is so confessions can't be coerced through abuse or sleeplessness.

They have enough evidence in this case, probably, so that a confession isn't necessary to convict. It is obvious they are not after a confession but want to gain knowledge of a possible larger terrorist organization, as well as more details about the Boston bombing. But what good is it if you coerce the information? How reliable? It's the same thing they are, or were, doing in Guantanamo. I'm a pretty conservative (I mean "traditional") guy, but this is not making sense to me. Maybe by the time this is published, we'll all have the answers.

Soooo... do we bash Basher, or what?

There's more news today of the "unrest" in Syria.

More massacres of civilians by the Syrian dictator. U.N. investigators thwarted.

What should we do? What should we do?

Choices available:

1. Take military action to overthrow the present cruel regime and thereby secure the blessings of sweet liberty to the oppressed Syrian people, just as we did in Iraq.

2. Let the U.N. "handle" the situation. (Translation: let thousands of people continue to die while the U.N. bumbles and stumbles along with years of fact-finding missions, carefully worded condemnations, and, of course, scores of "resolutions.") Meanwhile, be very vocal in our condemnation of the terrible tyrant dictator, but from a distance. Try to make political points against Russia and China by framing them as uncaring supporters of ruthless dictators.

3. If an organized resistance happens to evolve, support it with limited military aid and advice.

4. Do nothing. Mind our own business. Work on our own troubles at home. Use money borrowed from China to feed our own hungry rather than giving the borrowed money to Syrian Freedom Fighters.

Oh, my. It is a poser. It is a real pickle.

The last one seems tempting, but still fraught with many pitfalls.

Are there any other options that come to mind?
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Some main points to keep in mind:

It's about drugs, stupid!

What are the options of a country that is being invaded by drug cartels who have the latest military weapons and military vehicles? What if they are targeting your Border Patrol and the state police, and killing them? What if their own country can't or won't control them? What if they control border towns of their own country, and even large cities?

Another Arizona deputy sheriff was killed in Pinal county recently. It never seems to stop.

Well, ONE solution would be for the president of the besieged country to send military troops to guard the integrity of it's border and protect its citizens and its sovereignty.

Our previous president, Bush, and several before him did nothing but hide their heads in the sand.

Our current President, one Barack Obama, has decided the best way to combat the invasion of the drug cartels is to put up signs in the desert such as the one shown above, warning American citizens not to travel in their own country.

Well, that's more than Bush or Reagan did, at least.

Actually, Mr. Obama has a two-pronged defense strategy. In addition to putting up warning signs in the desert, he also has a program of suing individual states who, in desperation, try to protect themselves.

The drug cartels and the American progressives are beaming with pride.

So you think it is all about the persecution of some poor "illegal immigrants" who are just looking for a better life? It may interest you to know that the charge for being smuggled into the country across our southern border is no longer paid in money, but in agreeing to carry drugs.

Not that you care.

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving Day is an uniquely American holiday, at least the one at the end of November. American families will gather for a big meal, traditionally of Turkey, as well as thankfulness and fellowship.

The holiday commemorates the first Thanksgiving, begun by the English settlers at Plymouth, Massachusetts, to show thanks for their survival of their first winter of 1620-1621, and their first successful harvest, made possible in large part by the Native Americans. The first Thanksgiving feast, attended by the Native Americans and the Pilgrims, lasted 3 days, history tells us.

The holiday was made official during the Civil War by a proclamation by President Lincoln. The holiday is meant to remind Americans of their many blessings and to remind them also of their obligations to the less fortunate. Many Americans will spend the holiday volunteering in soup kitchens, serving up donated turkey dinners. Many restaurants will open their doors to the poor and feed them without charge. Thanksgiving is a day when no one in America need go hungry, except by his own choice.

Each year, by tradition, a turkey is donated to the President of the United States, and his family. Until President Kennedy, they ate the turkeys. Kennedy let his go. Since President Bush the Elder, the turkeys have received an official presidential pardon, and allowed to live, unlike so many millions of their brethren.

I don't want to get in the habit of posting too many videos. The one below will be the last one for a while. It shows the pardoning ceremony yesterday of a turkey named Courage, by President Obama. I hope you will watch it.

I wish all my fellow Americans a happy Thanksgiving, and blessings to our esteemed non-American readers as well.

A special Happy Thanksgiving to the wonderful South African families who are today celebrating their second Thanksgiving because of my influence. You honor me and my country. God bless each of you. Ndiya kuthanda.

And to a very special friend who is traveling again as I write this - you know who you are - Godspeed, and I hope there is enough cake left to take a picture of for you. There probably won't be, since I have already started eating it.

Government is not necessarily the problem?

I have heard that as much as one-third of health care costs are for administration. Paperwork.

I don't know now where I heard that or if it is even true, but I saw a doctor being interviewed on TV last night (can't remember his name, but he used to be Obama's physician) and he said that he had two full-time employees whose job was just to fill out paperwork for the insurance companies.

Another thing he said, which I found very interesting, was that the time-consuming part was not really the government Medicare stuff, as one might think, but the private insurance forms. He also said the government/medicare pretty much left him alone, and that the harassment and pressuring to lower his standards of patient care were coming from private insurance companies too, and not the government.

Well, if true, that is an eye-opener because I had always assumed that any nightmarish paperwork and regulations would be coming from the government. Not so, this doctor says, and he also says (because of that fact) he has no fears of a national health care program run by the government.

I am still digesting that, and, of course, one of my digestive enzymes is that he was formerly Obama's doctor, so I'm guessing the good doctor was born loving big government. Still, it is food for thought. I may be won over to this national health care thing yet. Still many questions to be answered.

The Obama administration's missile defense system against the North Korean and Iranian nuclear threats.

And while we are still on the subject of playing the saw...

It is a little known fact (which some people still don't believe, or choose not to believe, or blindly deny outright) that Itzhak Perlman got his start playing the saw on weekends in roadhouses along highway 90 on the Gulf Coast and in southern Louisiana during the late 1960s, complete with chicken wire to protect him from thrown beer bottles, and over the years, through dedication and determination, improved and perfected his craft (and suffered through an instrument change) until finally he was invited, along with fellow roadhouse veteran Yo-Yo Ma (originally a washboard and table spoon player by the name of Titan Uppe), to play at Obama's inauguration earlier this year. Believe it or don't.

May god strike Bush down if I am not telling the truth.

Giants among us

As the queen looked helplessly at her bodyguard, a look of obvious fright frozen on her face, the Duke of Edinburgh expresses dismay that they were not told in advance the Obamas were nearly 8 feet tall.

"They certainly didn't look it in any of the things we had previously seen of them on television,"  the duke commented afterward, "and I must say it came as rather a shock when they first strode ponderously into the room."

But no harm done, and Her Majesty seemed openly relieved as she discovered the Obamas are apparently quite tame.

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Incidentally, the Duke of Edinburgh still holds the Guinness Record for the number of medals worn by an individual who in real life was only a lieutenent.

In other news...

Oh, never mind. You have probable heard of the Queen and Michelle's little affair already.

The Chosen One is in Europe for a few days

President Obama is the best man, the right man, for the job. He is going to get us out of this economic mess Bush got us into. I really respect his intelligence and experience.

April fool.

Okay, so McCain wouldn't have been any better.

Where is a fighter like Gordon Brown when you need him?