AGOOEYMESS

what would you think of a country that held people without a trial or being charged and held them for an undisclosed amount of time?  what would you say about a country that went into peoples houses and did searches without authorization?  or listened in on conversations?

we are doing that.  we are being herded into the butcher shop without ever even knowing that we are being herded.  we have given up our freedoms and our privacy.  

we used to be respected in the world and admired.  the greatest country on earth.  but now through fear (which is a sin remember) we have created a nation that is looked down upon and looked at like a bully.  we have let the patriot act go through which gives our government the right to search houses without a warrant, they can do wire tapping without authorization.  we are storing people without ever charging them for crimes and we're holding them for an indefinite amount of time.  we couldnt even do it on our own country because then they would be called prisoners of war.  so we set aside a place outside of our country and are calling them detainees so we can get around international treaties.

what the heck?! i friend of mine at work argues with me.  he tells me that since he's not doing anything wrong that its ok for people to listen in to his phone conversations and search his house... because he's not doing anything wrong.  it's an invasion of privacy.  where exactly is it that our freedoms come in to play here?  or to what limit are we willing to give up our freedoms to be safe from a buzz word??

in the 60s 70s and 80s it was communism.  today it's terrorism.  i dont know what it will be in 20 years.  but people get in such a frenzy that they are willing to give up our rights over a fear tactic!

i'm sure you know that we now have a preemptive strike policy right?  let me ask you a question, when you were in school and there was a fight, what was the first question asked?  who started it... whoever started it was to blame right?  now you could say 1 kid started it by calling another kid names.  but that instigation was by no means worthy of having teeth punched out.  if we're going to be the best country on earth we need to act like a mature country.  

i know there were attacks on our national soil.  it was a terrible thing and i hope it never happens again.  but we can not tour the world bombing other countries at our own free will.  taking people from their homes and holding them without a trial.  the only thing this will do is create a much larger national security risk.  

the founding ideals of our justice system is that a man is entitled to his day in court.  to defend himself from what he is being accused of.  hes not called a defendant for no reason. its the same as a fight... you fight to defend yourself.  if you take away a mans ability to defend himself, then he can be accused of anything at all!  

now i know most people in this country have a very limited view of other countries.  somehow they are dehumanized.  we dont care about the atrocities in other regions, as long as they are not happening here.  thats why we let our corporations go overseas and take advantage of sub standard employment.  if we were working 8 year old kids 80 hours a week for $5 the news would be all over it.  but overseas... no.  as long as we get cheap things we will overlook whats happening.

but they are people! they are just as worthy of all the things that you are.  our moral standards should not change because we hit an imaginary border line for a country.  what is right and true crosses all lines.  

and for those people out there that say the ignorant statement of lets nuke them or bomb them, you should think again.  you have no right to somehow elevate yourself over someone because they are in another country... why do you think we are looked down on?  part just for that attitude!

 

most people in other countries are just like you and me.  they get up in the morning put their clothes on, go to work, and try to provide for their families.  if you think that every person in a country is just ready to fight fight fight i'm sorry you're sadly mistaken and your alarm needs to go off so you'll wake up.  as a country we are full of so many uninformed voters its not even funny.  think you're smart?  name every position holding person in your state and local government.  i bet you cant.  guess what?  they are the same way.  they have enough to do with just surviving and getting by.  but if you still think its ok to nuke them all... you need to be put in a looney bin.  to kill innocent blood is wrong!

2 more topics i'd like to touch on and i'm out

1... our goal of "de-arming the enemy line"  or however its put.  the basic idea is to dehumanize war.  to take the human element out of our hands.  bad F***ing idea!  look, it is wonderful we have our vets.  they come back with stories of the horrors of war.  they lived it.  they will tell you it was awful! now if we didnt have people experiencing that.  if we didnt have people seeing guys get their heads blown off or having to deal with the fact that they shot a child we wouldnt have to suffer the horror of war.  if war from our side is played on a video game, then there is nothing to stop us, no trigger that says enough, we can wipe out an entire town.  we must not dehumanize war!  the human factor must be there to keep it in check.

and the second one here relates hand in hand.  i was discussing this with a friend of mine about Guantanamo bay.  he said we can not let them go because they would just go back and kill more of our soldiers.  now my first thought is what are we going to do?  keep them all of forever?  or just kill them?   sigh... but my point to him was this.  we have to let those people go.  if they go back to fight us, then fine let our forces take them down on a battlefield or in combat.  he said... well what if we let them go and they kill one of our guys....

now heres the point people and please understand.  let me say a few things so that you will know me better... i am an independent.  i voted mccain for the abortion issue and basic tax issues.  i am not for war.  but i do love our soldiers.  anyone that is willing to be in the service is doing good as far as i'm concerned.  but the flat out fact of the matter is that in war there is death!  there must be.  on both sides.  it is how we know what we are fighting for and whether or not it is worth it.  think about it.  if we could go to war and not have a single casualty, what would happen?  we would be willing to go to war for anything.  it wouldnt be hard.  there would be no heavy price to pay.  and therefore we would be more and more apt to go to war.

there are people on both sides of the fence in the war on iraq.  we've lost something like 1 or 2 thousand soldiers.  that is terrible as it is.  but let me ask you this.  in ww2 we lost 406,000 soldiers and 600,000 were wounded.  would you be willing to lose the same amount for the war on iraq?  would the war in iraq be worth it to lose that many american lives?  i'm guessing a lot of you are answering no.  there would be outrage, people would be flooding congress saying stop!  now what if we went to iraq and lost no lives?  would anyones head perk up?  would anyone say stop?  whats the big deal if we arent losing people?

war is hell as they say.  and it has to remain that way.  it is what it is.  dehumanizing it would make it so far more worse and cruel then we could ever think about.  we were made with hearts  for a reason and we need to use them.