Here are some items I thought you would want to know about.
Blessings,
Barrett
Mexico Surrenders Ground in the War on Drugs
With Mexico’s decision to decriminalize the possession of small amounts of marijuana, cocaine, and heroin, the war on drugs in the United States has been dealt a serious setback. We now have an entire country on our southern border that is a haven for drug abuse. Our southwestern states will suffer first from this tragic surrender as more drug-addicted people come across the border. Then the rest of the country will feel it as they move inland. Inspections at the border will become more difficult as well as more people attempt to cross into the country with their “legal” drug amounts. You can be sure that U.S. relations with Mexico are going to be more strained as a result of this decision.
Investor’s Business Daily, http://www.ibdeditorials.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=335748953038743, has a superb editorial on why this surrender will not help Mexico defeat drug traffickers. They make five irrefutable arguments:
1.Consumption will increase.
2.Addiction will increase.
3.Treatment costs for addicts will increase.
4.Drug traffickers will profit.
5.The law-abiding population will be demoralized.
You can also expect Mexico’s decision to lead to increased calls for decriminalization of drugs in the U.S. This week, Denver's marijuana policy review panel agreed to send a letter to the presiding judge of Denver County Court urging a $1 fine as penalty for possession of less than an ounce of marijuana, http://www.denverpost.com/headlines/ci_13212872. Such actions will be more common as our cities feel the added weight of Mexico’s drug problem spilling over the border. Earlier this year, I wrote an opinion piece on my opposition to decriminalization of marijuana. You can read it here, http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/apr/26/solutionsduke-should-us-decriminalize-marijuana/.
Liberals Seek to Dismantle the CIA
As you know, the CIA is coming under increased attack from liberals. A crippling blow was struck last week when a group formed by President Obama recommended that future interrogation efforts be run out of the Justice Department rather than the CIA. The Special Task Force on Interrogations and Transfer Policies has recommended the formation of “a specialized interrogation group to bring together officials from law enforcement, the U.S. Intelligence Community and the Department of Defense to conduct interrogations in a manner that will strengthen national security consistent with the rule of law” (http://www.usdoj.gov/opa/pr/2009/August/09-ag-835.html). This group will be administered by the FBI rather than the CIA.
Of course, this is just the next step in the liberals’ decades-long goal to destroy the CIA. In order to help bring down the CIA for good, the President has green-lighted the effort by Attorney General Holder to prosecute CIA agents for performing their duty and keeping us safe by interrogating some of the most vile terrorists in the world. You can be sure that this witch hunt is intended to weaken one of our most important lines of defense against a murderous, demented death cult that is determined to subjugate all of us under their medieval vision of Islam.
Some people are understandably troubled by a number of the CIA’s methods, especially waterboarding, but there is no evidence that the agency ever sought to hide from Congress what they were doing. They had legal opinion that told them they were clear to engage in their tactics, and no one they reported to in Congress raised any objections. To prosecute these people now for their extraordinary efforts to keep us safe is a cowardly act that will certainly weaken the CIA and put everyone in this nation at risk.
Make no mistake, the CIA was effective in its efforts to protect us from these lawless murderers. The Wall Street Journal, http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203706604574375012840827276-lMyQjAxMDA5MDIwNzEyNDcyWj.html, has an opinion piece about the CIA’s interrogation program. In it, they reference a report by former CIA Inspector General John Helgerson. The Journal article includes this very significant summary from Helgerson’s report:
“The most revealing portion of the IG report
documents the program's results. The CIA's
‘detention and interrogation of terrorists has
provided intelligence that has enabled the
identification and apprehension of other
terrorists and warned of terrorist plots planned
for the United States and around the world.’
That included the identification of Jose Padilla
and Binyam Muhammed, who planned to
detonate a dirty bomb, and the arrest of previously
unknown members of an al Qaeda cell in Karachi,
Pakistan, designated to pilot an aircraft attack in the
U.S. The information also made the CIA aware of
plots to attack the U.S. consulate in Karachi, hijack
aircraft to fly into Heathrow, loosen track spikes to
derail a U.S. train, blow up U.S. gas stations, fly an
airplane into a California building, and cut the lines
of suspension bridges in New York.”
The CIA’s own director, Leon Panetta, has made a mess of things and greatly aided the liberal agenda to declaw the CIA. Perhaps you remember when he ran to Congress to expose a secret CIA terrorist-assassination plan. It turns out that Mr. Panetta was more worried about protecting himself than he was about getting all the facts right. This story, http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2009-08-18/spy-agency-fiasco/, by Joseph Finder is well worth the read. Finder concludes the following:
•The secret assassination ‘program’ wasn’t much more than a PowerPoint presentation, a task force and a collection of schemes—it never got off the ground.
•Panetta’s three immediate predecessors—George Tenet, Porter Goss, and Michael Hayden—have spoken to him, and that he now sees that no laws were broken.
•Panetta has frantically tried to rectify his gaffe, but now faces increased Congressional oversight.
Now, rumor has it, Panetta will likely be resigning his position in the wake of AG Holder’s successful bid to take over part of the agency’s portfolio and to seek the prosecution of CIA agents. From Ms. Pelosi’s false claim that she was never briefed on the CIA’s enhanced interrogation tactics to Leon Panetta’s chicken little moment, the stage has been set for Eric Holder to crush the life from the CIA.
Opposition to Government-Run Health Care Increases
A number of very prominent Catholic bishops are becoming more vocal in their opposition to the Dems’ health care reform proposals. David Kirkpatrick has a very important article in the New York Times about their growing opposition, http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/28/health/policy/28catholics.html?emc=eta1. The main points of contention are concerns about abortion mandates and rationing. He includes this paragraph:
“As recently as July, the bishops’ conference
had largely embraced the president’s goals,
although with the caveat that any health care
overhaul avoid new federal financing of
abortions. But in the last two weeks some
leaders of the conference, like Cardinal Justin
Rigali, have concluded that Democrats’ efforts
to carve out abortion coverage are so inadequate
that lawmakers should block the entire effort.”
Cardinal Rigali’s opposition is a significant development. He is the Chairman of the Committee for Pro-Life Activities for the US Conference of Catholic Bishops. The liberal health care reformers in Congress and the White House can say what they want to, but now a growing body of very influential Catholic Bishops is opposing their plans because they know that abortion will be provided through the bills liberals are trying to advance.
And on the rationing front, the role of Ezekiel Emanuel is getting more scrutiny. Ezekiel Emanuel, the brother of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, is a health care advisor to President Obama. He has been involved for many years in calling for a health care rationing regime. His plan for prioritizing who should be favored in a rationing scheme is very disturbing. According to Emanuel people on the ends of the age spectrum should not get the same level of care as people in the middle. Emanuel’s reasoning: People between ages 15 and 40 have had the most invested in them by society and have the most to give back to society. The further removed one is from that ideal age range, the less valuable he or she is! Here is a very helpful story in the Wall Street Journal by Betsy McCaughey, http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424052970203706604574374463280098676-lMyQjAxMDA5MDIwNzEyNDcyWj.html, about Ezekiel Emanuel’s philosophy on health care rationing. Richard Land Live!, http://richardlandlive.com/, has posted a link to his journal article. You can read it here, http://www.ncpa.org/pdfs/PIIS0140673609601379.pdf. It’s frightening to think that this man is advising the President on health care.
No comments:
Post a Comment