Forget Eavesdropping - Let’s just surrender
After Katrina, one of the blog posts that was making the rounds was tribes. It’s essentially a societal commentary written during the aftermath and political blood-letting that took place.
I remembered this article in the recent debate on the eavesdropping that the government is apparently doing in the course of the War on Terror. Politicians are taking turns pointing fingers, and apparently the New York Times timed the release not for the soonest possible dissemination of the information, but to shill a book that’s coming out and try to sink the Patriot Act. (Yes, they are just that unpatriotic that they can’t even vote for a law called the Patriot Act).
Particularly, that the pink tribes out there still don’t believe there is a war on. They believe that they can still blame 9/11 on us and that all we need to do to win the War on Terror is “understand” our enemies and “raise awareness” (read as surrender).
First things first, who cares if the government is listening to phone calls? There are complaints that warrants haven’t been issued. Let me get this straight, a warrant issued by a star chambers court (FISA court) where only the government gets to present a case, all the proceedings are sealed, and the judge hearing the case is appointed by the administration is safe and protects civil liberties, but a policy reviewed by the Administration every 90 days to make sure it’s actually targeting bad guys is not? Would you trust a closed court that did not allow for the accused to present a defense an adequate way to try criminal offenses? Didn’t think so. The whole process is cloak-and-dagger to being with, how is this news?
I have a cell phone; that means everyone within about 25 miles can hear what I say on it. That’s right, you can listen in to the occasional suggestive comment I make to my wife. I don’t call phone sex lines, I don’t buy drugs, and I’m not trying to score some hookers. You listen to my phone calls and about the most you’ll get out of it is that I love my wife. Scandalous! I figure most people are the same way. Innocence rarely utters shrill shrieks.
That should not be read to mean that I think the man should be in the business of listening to everyone’s phone calls, but that there are some phone calls I’d like the government to listen in on. Particularly the ones that say when and where the next terrorist strike is going to happen.
However, the pink tribes have once again mounted the ramparts against the sheepdogs. It’s not the wolves that are dangerous; it’s the sheepdogs that protect us. Cops don’t protect us from criminals, they intimidate minorities. Soldiers aren’t defenders of freedom; they are indentured baby-killers. In short, the perpetrators are the victims and the defenders are the perpetrators. If we would only disarm, then we can all live in peace, and joy, any light.
For every victory the United States achieves, there are those who would choose to then lay blame. “We must learn from our mistakes!” The Iraqis just voted for their first constitutional government, instead of celebrating this event we are mourning our “failure”.
After 9/11 and in fact during Hurricane Katrina, I tried various ways to get involved. I made several phone calls, was turned down, and moved on. I didn’t feel good about it because I knew I could have done something. I learned more than peeling potatoes in the military and, if nothing else, I have proven that I’m a darn good crisis manager. That’s the difference between the greys and the pinks. I wanted to get involve and helped. The pink wanted to blame FEMA.
The culture war is little more than this: will we do it ourselves, or will we hold out our hands and wait for someone else to do it for us. There is the constant drumbeat from the left, “you can’t do it” (aka affirmative action), “you can’t trust others to do it” (aka the fight against faith-based initiatives), and so on.
The facts are these, no one ever was known for being able to find the best government welfare programs. Stories of success in history are of people who fought, strived, failed, but got up and succeeded. These are the people we celebrate.
Before we give in to pessimism, despair, and finger-pointed, how about we at least figure out if the powers were misused first. Maybe we should wait to kick around the sheepdogs until we figure out if they did wrong. How about, for a change, we not assume every evil motivation simple by the fact that someone somewhere has another opinion? Instead of the raging pink brigade telling us everything that’s wrong, how about they contribute something that helps things get better instead of telling us who is to blame?
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