As I was reading the news I came across an article about a case which is going to the Supreme Court. They will be taking up a case that started when a student named Joseph Frederick and some of his friends held up a banner which stated, “Bong hits for Jesus,” across the street after they were excused from class so they could watch the Olympic torch passing by. The school believes that the high school principal was acting in accordance with the school’s anti-drug policy when she suspended the student. After reading about this I couldn’t help but think about all of my struggles in the past with school officials regarding free speech and drug use. We began supporting the legalization of marijuana back in 1968 when I first started smoking pot. I was only thirteen which was very young for someone back then. Being that it was in Texas it was even rarer for someone my age. . I couldn’t help but noticed that the person taking up the case for free representing the schools side was no other than Kenneth Starr. The same special prosecutor that spent so much time and money going after Bill Clinton. So now he seems to think that this is something that he must be involved with.
I can remember well one time back in 1969 when I and some other guy were having an argument about legalizing pot. I had made a bet with this person that pot would be legalized within a year because I thought that the drug so harmless that it would have to be legalized. Wow, did I ever loss that bet. I also remember that this same person that hated hippies and drugs, turned into a hippie drug user the next year. So maybe you can see why when I read about Kenneth Star getting so upset about this harmless expression of free speech that I have to wonder what’s the real problem here. I’ve seen this kind of reaction too many times over something so harmless. So why is it that we can not even mention something like a bong hit without getting these squares all upset? To me, putting Jesus and pot together makes perfect since because pot makes people so peace loving. It’s like putting pot and Bob Marley together. I believe that not allowing people with medical conditions to have access to pot is a crime. Just think about that for a minute. Just try and imagine if you were in great pain or if you had a hard time eating because of being on chemo therapy as millions of others do for real. So why is it such a great crime to wish for some relief? Just what makes a healthy person want to deny these people this medicine that so many of us know can help them greatly? To me it seems like some kind of devil that wishes to cause harm in a very real way. What else could it be? If someone next to you has there hair on fire and you refuse too give them the bucket of water that you have in your hands, what other reason could it be other than evil. I’ve had a lot of years to think about this and I can see no other reason. Just imagine if pot were legalized for everyone. Crime would fall in great numbers almost overnight. Many people wouldn’t feel the need to have to take dangerous drugs like crake or alcohol because they could afford something better that made them feel so much better. I know someone that’s against pot being legal. I sometimes will bring this person a copy of many articles that talk about the good this drug can do. When I show this person the article and ask them to read it, they will become very upset and refuse to even read it. This is, I’m sure the same kind of reaction that Kenneth Star must have had when he see’s something that may support legalization of pot. I’m sure that’s why he had to get involved with this case. If the same student had held a sign saying, “Jello shots for Jesus” I believe he would not care about this case. It’s just that mention of a bong hit that makes him so upset and willing to work for free. Just try and imagine how many life’s were ruined because of people like him that see pot as being so bad and feeling the need to place these people in jail. To me, it’s like putting people in jail for being Christians. I understand that it’s because people become so peaceful after smoking pot that it’s hard to get people upset enough to change this law. If you studied history than you can see how violent people became when they made alcohol illegal. It didn’t take too long before they made legal again. That can’t happen with pot because pot smokers are too peace loving. I know that pot is not for everybody. Many have tried it and are happy not to smoke it. That’s normal. So why is it that our government seems to believe that a majority of people need to be smokers before they will legalize it? Why can’t there just be a large minority of smokers and still have it legalized? Why after so many years proving how harmless this drug is, is it still compared to much more harmful drugs? I think many of the older people like myself can still remember those silly school movies were they showed people doing insane things after smoking a joint. So what makes someone take the most harmless drug and then treat it like it’s the most harmful drug? Many still today cling to this outdated belief. Like believing the world is flat and nothing can change there mind. If you try and show the many ways of proving that the world is round and having these people refuse to listen to anything that may prove them wrong. The only difference is that pot can help people with there suffering. I think that it would be better to have someone believe in a flat world than believe that pot was bad. If someone would deny someone a drug that could help them then they should not be surprised if they are denied relief in the next life. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. If you cause someone pain than expect pain in your next life. Is that so hard to understand? Does it give these people some kind of pleasure in bring more suffering to these poor people? Maybe you should ask Kenneth Star.
Monday, March 19, 2007
Friday, March 16, 2007
Way back in 10/2/2003 I had sent in a letter to a news agency which didn’t get printed. This was just after hearing about the Valerie Plame’s outing. As you may know the wheels of justice move very slowly here in the states, so perhaps this letter may be of more interest today now that we are beginning to see the truth of what really happened in this case. I thought that I may share this letter with you, so here it is. “As most of us know by now, gathering intelligences is the best tool for fighting this new kind of war we find ourselves in today. How could anyone in the Whitehouse believe that outing such an important undercover agent could help us in this fight? I believe that if I were an agent in the field that I would be worried that my name could be leak also. Why should anyone want to be an under cover agent after this? I truly hope that there's a better reason for this outing other than just playing politics. I understand that both parties play the leaking game, but this time they are playing with peoples life’s in a very real way. I believe we should support our agents in the field as we would support our troops. Russell Berwick, “ As I recall, I had to tone down my letter because I was pretty upset at the time. Now that four years have passed, I have clamed down some, but I would still like to have my question answered, none the less. As I was reading the report about Valerie Plame speaking to congress today I noticed that she also had some of my same concerns as well. To quote her, she said; “If our government cannot even protect my identity, foreign agents who might consider working with the Central Intelligence Agency and providing needed intelligence would think twice.” Let’s think about this for a second. When we wonder why our intelligence was so wrong concerning the WMD’s and Iraq we have to come to the conclusion that we need better intelligence. This should be our number one concern. We need people in the field that have reliable information and the only way we can get that is to have more and better agents in the field. We need more agents that can penetrate our enemies and be able to understand the language. Surly anyone can understand that? So why in the world would people in the White House do something that would prevent this from happening just when we needed it the most? Why in the world would any foreigner risk there life and there families life’s in bring us some important information now? Would you? So it’s not hard to see how this may harm us the next time we need to prevent another 911 from happening. To me this is just more proof of what I call rapid devo that seems to be happening today. Like rapid evolution only in reverse. It’s almost as if our enemies were working in the white house to hurt us. I know that may seem a bit far fetch, but I wish someone could tell me were I’m wrong. I know I’m not the smartest person in the world, but I can’t help but wonder if there are any intelligent people in that white house after hearing about this. Just when we need someone to throw us a lifesaver we have the Capitan of the ship throw us the anchor. Like I said in my letter, we should support our agents as we would support or troops. The agents are like the eyes and hears of our troops. I truly hope that there is some good explanation for this that I am not seeing. I’m not one of those Democrats that believe President Bush is the cause of every problem that you can think of. I have given him much of my support because I support the troops. It is for this reason of supporting our troops, that I find myself getting angry over this. Even after four years I have claimed down some but still have strong feeling about this. If it turns out to be, as I feared in my letter, some case of playing politics then some heads need to roll. We need to make it very clear that this can not be tolerated. If you had read one of my earlier posts, I had talked about when I was a young man in Texas. I talked about how we were threatened with life in prison for having only one joint in our pocket. Today I was reading about how Governor Richards of New Mexico was poised to sign a bill to make New Mexico the 12th state to legalize medical marijuana. I think that this is a very wonderful thing which is very long over due but maybe you can see how I find it hard to understand how outing one of our agents should be a lesser crime than having a joint in your pocket. How can I grow up with the threat of life in jail for a joint and believe that outing one of our agents should be not a big deal? We need to get our priorities straight. Before it’s too late.
Monday, March 12, 2007
Maybe you saw or read about the visit of King Abdullah recently to the United States. I have a great deal of respect for this leader of Jordan because he is truly a good example of the kind of leadership that is needed in the Middle East today. I see him as being like myself in that he is a centrist which is what is needed if we are to ever have peace in the Middle East. He talked about bringing the Israeli – Palestinian conflict to come to some kind of agreement in order establish a two state solution. He also stated that he believed this was our last chance. I couldn’t help but feel a kind of hopelessness because we have been through this before too many times. If you are aware of the other times we tried this, then maybe you are like me in feeling this way. The first thing that comes to mind is why waste our time and money in going through this yet another time. It seems that these groups have so much hate and distrust that nothing will ever change. So what, if anything can be done? It seems like we have talked and talked about this for so long that we are at a dead end. From what I can tell the only way forward is if the enemies of Israel come to recognize there right to exist. So what can be done in order to make this happen before it’s too late. When the king of Jordan talks about it being our last chance he is talking about not only the Israeli and Palestinian problem, but the whole Middle East falling into a true nightmare of unimaginable turmoil. He pointed to the problem in Darfur as an example of the type of extremism that is spreading and needs to be stopped. I couldn’t agree more and have spoken up for years hoping to change things, like so many have already. I know only too well how so many have worked so hard for peace only to see it shattered every time. You work and work to build something only to have it destroyed so quickly. So of course we have to ask ourselves, what’s the point of building yet once again. The king stated that America needs to be involved in the talks if they are to be successful. I believe that before we start any new talks that we need to have the Palestinians recognize Israel’s right to exist. Without that recognition there can never be a true peace. If they refuse to do that then they need to state just what it is that they would have them do. Would they have them pack up there bags and leave? Is this the only way they would avoid a war? If so, we need to know. If this is the only way then I’m sure that Israel would rather fight and die than lose there homeland. I can’t speak for anybody but myself but this is what I believe they would do rather than face another WWII situation. If it’s a two state solution that will prevent a war then they need to say so. Even President Bush has said that he believes in the two state solution. This is also what I believe to be the answer. Surely there must be some kind of answer to prevent war. Like the bumper stickers I see that say,” war is never the answer.” If not war, then what? I wish one of these people who always have all the answers could tell us just what it is that needs to be done before it’s too late. We would surely love to know the answer. Of course things are seldom as simple as the mindset of a bumper sticker person believes them to be. I guess it’s just some words to make them feel better about themselves. It sure is easier than to have to actually have to come up with a true answer. I think that I would feel better if we had a Democrat running things here. One of the first things that I noticed about President Bush is that he’s no President Clinton when it comes to bring the world together. In a way I can’t blame him for not wanting to go through this dance again. Even if we were able to have an agreement, who really believes it would last? We’ve had our hopes up too many times in the past just to see them destroyed. It makes it very hard to even get something started when you feel that you’re doomed before you’ve even begun. Still I can’t give up and I hope you won’t give up also. I can’t stop thinking about all of the children that will suffer because there grownups refuse to come to some kind of agreement. Perhaps it’s the children who will finally be the ones to solve this problem sometime in the further. I just hope the King of Jordan can forgive us for feeling so tired of this problem and never give up on us. We surly need more leaders like him and pray for his success.
Friday, March 09, 2007
The Extreme Centrist
Posted on January 9, 2007 at 1:11 PM
Hello everyone, I hope you all had a good holiday and a happy new year. I’m so glad that many of you have voted for democrats and have given us both houses. Thank you very much. I hope it will be a long time before the republicans take control again. I just hope people can remember just how bad the Republican Party were and how they lied so easily to even there own people. I just hope they didn’t screw things up so bad that even the democrats can’t fix it again. What a mess. I’m sure by the time we do fix things that people will forget and the republicans will have another chance to screw things up. It seems like voters have such short memories. Of course I can’t blame everything on the republicans. Like the war on terror. It started long before W. Bush came into office. If you were to listen to some people, you would think W. Bush started it himself by going into Iraq. Yes I believed Colin Powell when he spoke to the U.N. as did most people. Many things went wrong which lead to our being there today. Many mistakes were made after our taking over that country. No matter how many mistakes were made it’s important to remember that we are at war which was started before W. Bush came into office. I can remember well after the first Gulf War how so many people criticized Bush 41 for letting Saddam escape back to Bagdad and claim victory for not being killed. I remember that I was one of the few people who supported Bush 41 for not going into Bagdad at that time. My reason for supporting not going into Bagdad was because we told the world that our mission was to chase Saddam out of Kuwait. We didn’t say anything about going into Bagdad. If we had gone in I’m sure all the people who said that we should have gone in would be the very same people who would be the ones saying that we should not have gone in after hearing the worlds reaction to our invasion. I remember well how we could have killed most of Saddam’s army while they retreated. Can you imagine what the world would have said if we did kill his retreating army? I can remember well how Saddam agreed to let the U. N. inspectors in if we showed mercy. Well be broke his promise and in my opinion this was the main reason for us being there now. Today we have some 3000 plus Americans dead because we showed mercy in the first Gulf War. Perhaps W. Bush wouldn’t have invaded if Saddam had not tried to kill his father, as I’ve heard many say. I’m sure Saddam thought that all he had to do was to survive until Bush 41 left office. I hope that all tyrants who believe this have learned an important lesson about our system of government. In my opinion when we found out how Saddam tried to have Bush 41 killed that that should have been reason enough to have gone to war. When did trying to kill one of our presidents become no big deal? Or when did trying to shot down our planes almost daily become no big deal? What do you think would have happened if Saddam had shot down one of our planes before the second Gulf War or managed to have killed Bush 41? Just because we are the super power of the world doesn’t mean that we are to do nothing when attacked. The only reason the Islamo fascist are at war with us is because they believe we are weak and can be beaten. Who can blame them when we do nothing when attacked? It is for these reasons and many more that I can not blame W. Bush for making his decision to invade. Being a democrat, it would be much easier to blame everything on the Bushes to make my side look better. After all that’s how we play the game. Always blame the other side. The only problem is, is that this is not a game. We may win this war on terror some 100 years from now, but nobody really wins. If we fight back, we are war mongers and if we do nothing we are morons. After 9-11, I remember writing to my wife who lived in China at the time. I had told her that we would first take Afghanistan and then Iraq. Everything has happened as I told her now. I remember well how I felt after 9-11 when people wondered who did this to us and how I felt upset because they didn’t understand that this wasn’t the work of just one person. To me all of the people that would bring harm to my people were guilty. I think that this is how W. Bush must have felt also. Another reason that I felt we should invade Iraq was that after the first Gulf War Saddam would rattle his saber and we would have to drop everything and run back to Iraq whenever he felt like it. Saddam was playing games with us because he saw our weakness and would exploit it when ever possible. Because of this I knew after 9-11 that Saddam had to go. We had to show the world that we weren’t as weak as they thought we were. If we were to have another attack like 9-11 I’m sure many people would say that it’s all Bush’s fault for making people hate us. I’m sure most Americans can’t understand why anyone should hate us before 9-11. We do so much good around the world. How could anyone hate us? I didn’t understand it myself. Now after listen to some of the reasons by some of our enemies I see that it’s because we are richer then most countries. Many of them have a love/ hate kind of feeling that has taken me a while to see. Like some of the poor people who hate the rich but would love to be rich. When they see the rich being knocked down they feel happy because they feel like they deserved it somehow. This is why Saddam can kill millions and it’s no big deal, but when he is hanged people cry out and say how could you do this. It’s a kind of mass madness that we need to deal with. I have read many people saying that things would have been better if we just left him in power. In other words, millions die no big deal. When I hear this kind of talk I wish that I could find one of Saddam’s many mass graves and then rub there nose in it. I wish that they could witness all of the unthinkable things that he did to people and then see how much they love him. I guess that this is part of the the weakness that they see in us. This kind of weakness reminds me of something I heard in a speech once. The speaker said that the opposite of love was not hate but indifference. People can hate Saddam and after seeing him hanged can have strong feelings about it. Then these same people can look at some of the photos of the people that Saddam has killed and have almost no feelings about these poor people. To be honest, I believe that W. Bush did rush to war. I also believe that he wanted to believe the bad intelligence that was given to him to justify going to war. Not so much as wanted but would believe all the bad stuff and over look anything that may have favored Saddam. As with me, he must have felt that Saddam had to go and he let himself believe that he was the dangerous person that most of us though back then. After all, a man that could gas his own people should have no problem gassing his enemies. Like a man holding an empty gun and pointing it at the police. Holding a gun and saying that it’s not loaded while standing on a pile of dead bodies. Not only that but we ask the man if the U.N. person could look to make sure that there are no bullets and him refusing to let them check. After refusing we can only believe that he must be lying. Only a fool could think otherwise. Even though I believe that he did rush to war, I cannot say that I would have done anything different to a mass murder that tried to kill my father. As with myself, I believe that W. Bush felt strongly that he could no longer tolerate his refusal to cooperate with the U.N. and had to show the world that we are serious about what we say. Libya is a good example of what I’m talking about. Another thing that most people may not think about is that things are much different today then the past. The world is much smaller and smarter then in the past. Today atomic weapons can be made in the size of a suitcase. I may be different than others when they wonder if the U.S. could be hit with an atomic weapon. I believe that it’s not ‘if’, but when and how many times. I do not wish to wait around until we are hit before getting serious about this problem. That’s why I believe it’s very important to let the U.N. inspectors do there job. After all, the U.N. represents the world, not just the U.S. I’m sure you must have heard many times people ask, “What makes the U.S. think it’s the world police?” I believe the answer to this question is that after two world wars that we didn’t want to be a part of, we found that we had to enter. Being that we are the only superpower of the world, it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to do the right thing. Too many people gave there lives for us to forget the lessons we’ve learned. This isn’t just about the 3000 plus lives that we’ve already lost in Iraq, but also about all the lives we’ve lost after World War One. Just because we have cameras that show us the horror of war in seconds doesn’t mean that we should forget about all of the other Americas who gave there lives so we can be where we are today. If you were listening to the reports about the recent hanging of Saddam you may remember the first filming without sound. At that time it seemed like everything with well. Not long after that we started seeing the camera phone pictures where you could hear the voices of the witnesses which got so many people upset. Just think if that second film was never made. I don’t think there would be so many people upset in the Middle East because with the second film you can hear the people shouting insults. Just think about that. This man named the Butcher of Bagdad can get so many people upset because he was hanged in a very human way. This so called person who would do so many unthinkable things to so many people should have these people cry and protest because a few people shouted some insults. How dare these people think that they are so much better than the rest of the world. These people that shout with joy after 9-11. These people that cut off our peoples heads, beat, drag and hang there dead bodies with so much joy. These people that use rape as just another part of government. How in hell could anybody believe that these people have anything to do with God? Theses sick perverts of religion. I for one will not keep silent because I believe that if there is a God, he would want me and everyone else to speak up for him. These people that believe that if you don’t join there religion that you should have your head cut off. How many of there people would be with another religion if they didn’t have this threat. Before you go to meet your maker you had better recognize this difference, I believe. Either God is a kind merciful God or he is a hateful merciless God. I believe that if someone turns in to a Muslim because he doesn’t want his head cut off, that this is truly not a real conversion. If a person cannot use there free will to decide such an important decision then it can not be considered real. So if someone tells you that you can join there religion or have your head cut off, then go ahead and say that you will join because the true God would never consider this legitimate. These people are obviously using God to legitimize there sick violence. Sure we have sick people here that use God also but not anything like these people. I know that most Muslims worship God in the proper way and I’m sure that these people have nothing to fear from God. I have a great respect for anyone who worships God in the proper way. After all, we all have the same God no matter what religion you may be with. I believe we have so many religions because we are not meant to know the true God. I don’t think anybody has a monopoly on religion. To me religion is set of laws that are formed after many years of civility. Take just one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not kill. Was it ok to kill someone before having this rule. Maybe it was but in time people understood that this was not something that God would want. In time of war we also know that it’s alright to kill so we can survive. Also we punish people for murder. Is this not the same as killing during a war? So this rule can not be taken literally. We should know the difference. After all if we were to take it literally we would most likely starve to death. The only thing we could eat would be fruit and some vegetables; as long as it didn’t kill the plant. Even Jesus is said to have feed his group with fish which I’m sure were living at one time. Lets face it, we live in a eat or be eaten world. Just imagine if we didn’t kill unwanted cats and dogs. We would see poor suffering animals all around us. I love animals and that’s why I support the humane society and the dirty job that they must do. Perhaps you feel differently. Perhaps you would prefer to live in a world full of starving animals so that you could feel better about yourself. If you’ve ever seen a poor starving dog like I have then I’m sure you would change your mind. I’ll never be able to get that sad scene out of my mind as long as I live because I love animals so much. So why should I have so much love for a dog that I saw and not for the poor people killed by Saddam? Just because I didn’t see one of these poor people with my own eyes doesn’t mean that I can’t love them also. Nobody ever had to tell dolphins that they should be kind to humans. A dolphin just knows because there born that way much the same way as humans understands that thou shall not kill is something we should all understand in our hearts. If that same dolphin saw a human trying to kill there mate, then I’m sure that they would have no problem in defending there mate and try and kill that human. Humans, I believe are the same way. When I see someone like Saddam killing my fellow humans then I attack like my dolphin friend, if at all possible. If I could go back in time, then I would have no problem in putting a bullet through Hitler’s head because I understand when it’s alright to kill. How many of you could say the same thing? If you could not then that’s understandable. Not everyone could kill another human. What I can’t understand is the person that would try and stop me from killing this monster. That’s the difference between me and someone with a holier than thou attitude like so many of us have. If you were to be able to go back in time and find yourself with a loaded gun and looking at a young Hitler perhaps you would not kill him because you believe that it is wrong to kill and you may go to hell. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you didn’t want to loose your life. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you hate the Jews or you just didn’t care about them. Maybe you just don’t care about all of the allies and civilians that will be killed. Which category would you fall under? I believe that most American would fall under the ‘just don’t care or indifference category. As with Iraq, I believe most people would think that these are not Americans, so why should I care. I think that most people only care about themselves or there own people. The problem is that we are fighting people who strap bombs to themselves believing that this is what God would want them to do. Much like the W.W.II Japanese kamikaze pilots only these people target civilians. Just what do these people want? What will it take to make them stop? Do they really think that we are just going to run and hide and wait to be attacked? Do they really think that we are all going to become Muslims in order to stop there attacks? Perhaps they would stop if we were to stop helping Israel so they could drive them into the sea. Even if they were able to drive Israel into the sea do you really think that they would stop there? They would just see America as the new Israel. The only thing that will stop these people is to be able to start World War III and the only way to stop that is to give them a taste of just how bad war really is. I understand that what we do today will not be appreciated for many years to come. Just look how much the French love us after liberating them in WWII. Were still waiting. It’s one thing to give lip service and another to put your life on the line for the freedom of others. It’s not hard to understand why so many Americans would prefer to just slap an ‘American for peace’ bumper sticker on there car and blame Bush for 9-11. It’s sure is easier to blame Bush than having to try to understand the truth.
Posted on January 9, 2007 at 1:11 PM
Hello everyone, I hope you all had a good holiday and a happy new year. I’m so glad that many of you have voted for democrats and have given us both houses. Thank you very much. I hope it will be a long time before the republicans take control again. I just hope people can remember just how bad the Republican Party were and how they lied so easily to even there own people. I just hope they didn’t screw things up so bad that even the democrats can’t fix it again. What a mess. I’m sure by the time we do fix things that people will forget and the republicans will have another chance to screw things up. It seems like voters have such short memories. Of course I can’t blame everything on the republicans. Like the war on terror. It started long before W. Bush came into office. If you were to listen to some people, you would think W. Bush started it himself by going into Iraq. Yes I believed Colin Powell when he spoke to the U.N. as did most people. Many things went wrong which lead to our being there today. Many mistakes were made after our taking over that country. No matter how many mistakes were made it’s important to remember that we are at war which was started before W. Bush came into office. I can remember well after the first Gulf War how so many people criticized Bush 41 for letting Saddam escape back to Bagdad and claim victory for not being killed. I remember that I was one of the few people who supported Bush 41 for not going into Bagdad at that time. My reason for supporting not going into Bagdad was because we told the world that our mission was to chase Saddam out of Kuwait. We didn’t say anything about going into Bagdad. If we had gone in I’m sure all the people who said that we should have gone in would be the very same people who would be the ones saying that we should not have gone in after hearing the worlds reaction to our invasion. I remember well how we could have killed most of Saddam’s army while they retreated. Can you imagine what the world would have said if we did kill his retreating army? I can remember well how Saddam agreed to let the U. N. inspectors in if we showed mercy. Well be broke his promise and in my opinion this was the main reason for us being there now. Today we have some 3000 plus Americans dead because we showed mercy in the first Gulf War. Perhaps W. Bush wouldn’t have invaded if Saddam had not tried to kill his father, as I’ve heard many say. I’m sure Saddam thought that all he had to do was to survive until Bush 41 left office. I hope that all tyrants who believe this have learned an important lesson about our system of government. In my opinion when we found out how Saddam tried to have Bush 41 killed that that should have been reason enough to have gone to war. When did trying to kill one of our presidents become no big deal? Or when did trying to shot down our planes almost daily become no big deal? What do you think would have happened if Saddam had shot down one of our planes before the second Gulf War or managed to have killed Bush 41? Just because we are the super power of the world doesn’t mean that we are to do nothing when attacked. The only reason the Islamo fascist are at war with us is because they believe we are weak and can be beaten. Who can blame them when we do nothing when attacked? It is for these reasons and many more that I can not blame W. Bush for making his decision to invade. Being a democrat, it would be much easier to blame everything on the Bushes to make my side look better. After all that’s how we play the game. Always blame the other side. The only problem is, is that this is not a game. We may win this war on terror some 100 years from now, but nobody really wins. If we fight back, we are war mongers and if we do nothing we are morons. After 9-11, I remember writing to my wife who lived in China at the time. I had told her that we would first take Afghanistan and then Iraq. Everything has happened as I told her now. I remember well how I felt after 9-11 when people wondered who did this to us and how I felt upset because they didn’t understand that this wasn’t the work of just one person. To me all of the people that would bring harm to my people were guilty. I think that this is how W. Bush must have felt also. Another reason that I felt we should invade Iraq was that after the first Gulf War Saddam would rattle his saber and we would have to drop everything and run back to Iraq whenever he felt like it. Saddam was playing games with us because he saw our weakness and would exploit it when ever possible. Because of this I knew after 9-11 that Saddam had to go. We had to show the world that we weren’t as weak as they thought we were. If we were to have another attack like 9-11 I’m sure many people would say that it’s all Bush’s fault for making people hate us. I’m sure most Americans can’t understand why anyone should hate us before 9-11. We do so much good around the world. How could anyone hate us? I didn’t understand it myself. Now after listen to some of the reasons by some of our enemies I see that it’s because we are richer then most countries. Many of them have a love/ hate kind of feeling that has taken me a while to see. Like some of the poor people who hate the rich but would love to be rich. When they see the rich being knocked down they feel happy because they feel like they deserved it somehow. This is why Saddam can kill millions and it’s no big deal, but when he is hanged people cry out and say how could you do this. It’s a kind of mass madness that we need to deal with. I have read many people saying that things would have been better if we just left him in power. In other words, millions die no big deal. When I hear this kind of talk I wish that I could find one of Saddam’s many mass graves and then rub there nose in it. I wish that they could witness all of the unthinkable things that he did to people and then see how much they love him. I guess that this is part of the the weakness that they see in us. This kind of weakness reminds me of something I heard in a speech once. The speaker said that the opposite of love was not hate but indifference. People can hate Saddam and after seeing him hanged can have strong feelings about it. Then these same people can look at some of the photos of the people that Saddam has killed and have almost no feelings about these poor people. To be honest, I believe that W. Bush did rush to war. I also believe that he wanted to believe the bad intelligence that was given to him to justify going to war. Not so much as wanted but would believe all the bad stuff and over look anything that may have favored Saddam. As with me, he must have felt that Saddam had to go and he let himself believe that he was the dangerous person that most of us though back then. After all, a man that could gas his own people should have no problem gassing his enemies. Like a man holding an empty gun and pointing it at the police. Holding a gun and saying that it’s not loaded while standing on a pile of dead bodies. Not only that but we ask the man if the U.N. person could look to make sure that there are no bullets and him refusing to let them check. After refusing we can only believe that he must be lying. Only a fool could think otherwise. Even though I believe that he did rush to war, I cannot say that I would have done anything different to a mass murder that tried to kill my father. As with myself, I believe that W. Bush felt strongly that he could no longer tolerate his refusal to cooperate with the U.N. and had to show the world that we are serious about what we say. Libya is a good example of what I’m talking about. Another thing that most people may not think about is that things are much different today then the past. The world is much smaller and smarter then in the past. Today atomic weapons can be made in the size of a suitcase. I may be different than others when they wonder if the U.S. could be hit with an atomic weapon. I believe that it’s not ‘if’, but when and how many times. I do not wish to wait around until we are hit before getting serious about this problem. That’s why I believe it’s very important to let the U.N. inspectors do there job. After all, the U.N. represents the world, not just the U.S. I’m sure you must have heard many times people ask, “What makes the U.S. think it’s the world police?” I believe the answer to this question is that after two world wars that we didn’t want to be a part of, we found that we had to enter. Being that we are the only superpower of the world, it is our responsibility to do whatever we can to do the right thing. Too many people gave there lives for us to forget the lessons we’ve learned. This isn’t just about the 3000 plus lives that we’ve already lost in Iraq, but also about all the lives we’ve lost after World War One. Just because we have cameras that show us the horror of war in seconds doesn’t mean that we should forget about all of the other Americas who gave there lives so we can be where we are today. If you were listening to the reports about the recent hanging of Saddam you may remember the first filming without sound. At that time it seemed like everything with well. Not long after that we started seeing the camera phone pictures where you could hear the voices of the witnesses which got so many people upset. Just think if that second film was never made. I don’t think there would be so many people upset in the Middle East because with the second film you can hear the people shouting insults. Just think about that. This man named the Butcher of Bagdad can get so many people upset because he was hanged in a very human way. This so called person who would do so many unthinkable things to so many people should have these people cry and protest because a few people shouted some insults. How dare these people think that they are so much better than the rest of the world. These people that shout with joy after 9-11. These people that cut off our peoples heads, beat, drag and hang there dead bodies with so much joy. These people that use rape as just another part of government. How in hell could anybody believe that these people have anything to do with God? Theses sick perverts of religion. I for one will not keep silent because I believe that if there is a God, he would want me and everyone else to speak up for him. These people that believe that if you don’t join there religion that you should have your head cut off. How many of there people would be with another religion if they didn’t have this threat. Before you go to meet your maker you had better recognize this difference, I believe. Either God is a kind merciful God or he is a hateful merciless God. I believe that if someone turns in to a Muslim because he doesn’t want his head cut off, that this is truly not a real conversion. If a person cannot use there free will to decide such an important decision then it can not be considered real. So if someone tells you that you can join there religion or have your head cut off, then go ahead and say that you will join because the true God would never consider this legitimate. These people are obviously using God to legitimize there sick violence. Sure we have sick people here that use God also but not anything like these people. I know that most Muslims worship God in the proper way and I’m sure that these people have nothing to fear from God. I have a great respect for anyone who worships God in the proper way. After all, we all have the same God no matter what religion you may be with. I believe we have so many religions because we are not meant to know the true God. I don’t think anybody has a monopoly on religion. To me religion is set of laws that are formed after many years of civility. Take just one of the Ten Commandments. Thou shall not kill. Was it ok to kill someone before having this rule. Maybe it was but in time people understood that this was not something that God would want. In time of war we also know that it’s alright to kill so we can survive. Also we punish people for murder. Is this not the same as killing during a war? So this rule can not be taken literally. We should know the difference. After all if we were to take it literally we would most likely starve to death. The only thing we could eat would be fruit and some vegetables; as long as it didn’t kill the plant. Even Jesus is said to have feed his group with fish which I’m sure were living at one time. Lets face it, we live in a eat or be eaten world. Just imagine if we didn’t kill unwanted cats and dogs. We would see poor suffering animals all around us. I love animals and that’s why I support the humane society and the dirty job that they must do. Perhaps you feel differently. Perhaps you would prefer to live in a world full of starving animals so that you could feel better about yourself. If you’ve ever seen a poor starving dog like I have then I’m sure you would change your mind. I’ll never be able to get that sad scene out of my mind as long as I live because I love animals so much. So why should I have so much love for a dog that I saw and not for the poor people killed by Saddam? Just because I didn’t see one of these poor people with my own eyes doesn’t mean that I can’t love them also. Nobody ever had to tell dolphins that they should be kind to humans. A dolphin just knows because there born that way much the same way as humans understands that thou shall not kill is something we should all understand in our hearts. If that same dolphin saw a human trying to kill there mate, then I’m sure that they would have no problem in defending there mate and try and kill that human. Humans, I believe are the same way. When I see someone like Saddam killing my fellow humans then I attack like my dolphin friend, if at all possible. If I could go back in time, then I would have no problem in putting a bullet through Hitler’s head because I understand when it’s alright to kill. How many of you could say the same thing? If you could not then that’s understandable. Not everyone could kill another human. What I can’t understand is the person that would try and stop me from killing this monster. That’s the difference between me and someone with a holier than thou attitude like so many of us have. If you were to be able to go back in time and find yourself with a loaded gun and looking at a young Hitler perhaps you would not kill him because you believe that it is wrong to kill and you may go to hell. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you didn’t want to loose your life. Maybe you wouldn’t kill him because you hate the Jews or you just didn’t care about them. Maybe you just don’t care about all of the allies and civilians that will be killed. Which category would you fall under? I believe that most American would fall under the ‘just don’t care or indifference category. As with Iraq, I believe most people would think that these are not Americans, so why should I care. I think that most people only care about themselves or there own people. The problem is that we are fighting people who strap bombs to themselves believing that this is what God would want them to do. Much like the W.W.II Japanese kamikaze pilots only these people target civilians. Just what do these people want? What will it take to make them stop? Do they really think that we are just going to run and hide and wait to be attacked? Do they really think that we are all going to become Muslims in order to stop there attacks? Perhaps they would stop if we were to stop helping Israel so they could drive them into the sea. Even if they were able to drive Israel into the sea do you really think that they would stop there? They would just see America as the new Israel. The only thing that will stop these people is to be able to start World War III and the only way to stop that is to give them a taste of just how bad war really is. I understand that what we do today will not be appreciated for many years to come. Just look how much the French love us after liberating them in WWII. Were still waiting. It’s one thing to give lip service and another to put your life on the line for the freedom of others. It’s not hard to understand why so many Americans would prefer to just slap an ‘American for peace’ bumper sticker on there car and blame Bush for 9-11. It’s sure is easier to blame Bush than having to try to understand the truth.
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