Brigitte Gabriel on Booktv

I watched the rerun of Brigitte Gabriel's talk to The Heritage Foundation on book.tv this Sunday. In this presentation she reminds us that saving our way of life in America requires the action of its citizens and constant diligence.

This talk is a must for all people who want to save modern civilization. She makes some telling points. (As you read this list of her points, please be aware that I heard her words and responded so emotionally that instead of limiting my list to what she said, I could be also adding my own words to hers.)

1. The Jihad is a real war and will end only when the world is completely converted to the Jihadists version of Islam.
2. The Jihadists are converting members in the United States as actively as they are in other nations.
3. The moderate Muslims of the American mosques must speak out to stop the movement and stop protecting the movement or the Jihadists will take over.
4. The texts fostering the Jihadist movement in American mosques are from Saudi Arabia.
5. Threats made by the leader(s) of Iran should be believed.
6. The Jihadists do not respect modern values or modern civilization--in fact they abhor them.
7. By being politically correct, we Americans are preventing ourselves from stating the truth about radical beliefs and goals.
8. Stopping terrorism on American soil requires some invasions of privacy by intelligence gatherers.
9. Moderate Muslims must speak out against the Jihadists.
10. All Americans must contact their congressmen to let them know that this threat is real and that we must fight it.

Ms. Gabriel is not against the Muslim religion of Islam. She does not believe that all Muslims are fanatics. She calls on all moderate Muslims to stop the fanatics in their mosques by speaking out and notifying the proper authorities of terrorist tendencies and activities.

I often asked myself how a parent would not know that his/her child was an alcoholic or drug abuser. How could a parent turn a blind eye to the child's self-destruction? It happens. All the time. Parents make money available to their children so their children can destroy themsleves. Americans give their children hours of unsupervised time so their children are not protected from the evils of the world. We American must be great enablers or so many children would not be destroying their own lives.

By the same token, the moderate Muslims are enabling the growth of Jihad on American soil.

To preserve freedom of religion, the religions must police their own. To preserve America, all of us must realize that we are at war with an idea that will destroy us if we do conquer it. Ms. Gabriel is right about the danger of allowing a movement as dangerous today as Hitler was to Europe in the mid-1900's. Our way of life will be no more if the Jihadists win.

Make no mistake. This is not a battle against a religion. This is a battle for the future of civilization. Islam has a place in the future of the world, just as other religions do. The Jihad is not a religious war. It is a war of a dictatorial group hoping to control the lives of all persons on earth. What these fanatics do is for their own glory and power, not any god's. A god of destruction such as they protray would destroy the entire human race in very little time.

I for one do not want any religious group dictating how I must act and what decisions I must make. That is unAmerican and undemocratic. I definitely do not want a religion that is not of my choosing to dictate my life. I want my grandchildren to be free to choose.

The mp3 presentation of this talk is available from The Heritage Foundation. The streaming video is available from youtube.com.

Her book, Because they Hate, is available from Amazon or at her website, americancongressfortruth.org

When I was googling urls for this post, I came across this blog, From the Beltway, that talks about the issues of the Lebanese- Americans and the Lebanese people. It links to dozens more.

Tags: Jihad, American, preserving America, civilization, religious freedom, Brigitte Gabriel, terrorism, Islam

Images of Global Warming

greenhouse effect © James Steidl

Memes are so cool, especially the visual kind. I just went searching through Fotolia for images on global warming for my website. Smokestacks and melting glaciers abounded. So did globes drawn amid flames. But this one is my favorite. Says it all, don't you think. I can't wait to place it within a lesson.

Tags: global warming graphic, globalwarming, global warming, greenhouseeffect, greenhouse effect, James Steidl, image by James Steidl, image of global warming, memes, meme of global warming, royalty-free image

A New Democracy under Bush

Imagine what could happen when a high Al Qaeda official gets arrested under the The Military Commissions Act of 2006, and the evidence against him is strong. He sues the government. The Supreme Court rules the law unconstitutonal, and the terrorist is freed with apologies for trampling on his rights. Will Americans even have to pay punitive damages to the man? Will we have to cover the expense for sending him back home to fight another day?

Passing a law that will assuredly be overturned by the Supreme Court-- if, that is the Supreme Court can legally review this "law"-- is endangering our security. The Military Commissions Act of 2006 meets all the criteria of vagueness and trampling of rights that the Supreme Court has invalidated in the past.

More frightening is the assertion in the "law" that no court can consider its legality. Bush and the Republicans are trying to redefine The Constitution of the United States.

In my last post I generously did not say that Bush would trample on the rights of others. I fear that I must have been overly generous in not naming him a potential abuser of human rights. His response in having the lawyer Lt. Commander Charles Swift forced into retirement, after his having any press member that criticizes him fired as he did to the coherts of Dan Rather, after his denunciation of anyone who dares criticize him as anti-American, I now believe the man to be a severely dangerous threat to American Democracy and to The Constitution of the United States. The Separation of Powers in our Constitution and the Freedom of Speech Americans once enjoyed are key factors in preserving Democracy. Bush tramples both. I do hope for the sake of all bloggers and editorialists that the The Military Commissions Act of 2006 doesn't become Bush's weapon to stop the criticism that he so abhors. He is potentially more scary than McCarthy ever was.

Tags: Bush, Freedom of Speech, Military Commissions Act of 2006, Separation of Powers, Constitution, democracy, Supreme Court, terrorists, Republicans, habeas corpus, Swift, Dan Rather, McCarthy, enemy, enemy combatant, criticism

Horrors of Current Politics is Torture to Me, and Should be to Bush and all of Congress

We signed the Geneva Convention to protect our own soldiers from torture and to state to the world that Americans are not monstrous; that we believe in human rights.

Now we are fighting an enemy that does not agree with the rules of the Geneva Convention or with the tenents of human rights. What to do? What to do?

We do not abrogate the human and constitutional rights of our nation and its people just to fight this enemy. We do not place the powers of all three branches of our government in the hands of one president for all time. Did we learn nothing from the McCarthy Era? Did the lessons of Hitler's Gestapo and its tactics teach us nothing? Maybe Bushcan be trusted with such power, but no believer in strictly good/evil or God/Godless morality can be. Such power is an instrument for forcing one opinion onto the will and behavior of all others.

War itself is as monstrous as any torture. So war makes monsters of us anyway. There are no human rights in our treatment of an enemy on the battlefield--until they become prisoners. So let's get real. Sticking to the Geneva Convention while fighting against an enemy not tied into the pact does not protect our soldiers. I say, rewrite the Geneva Convention. When fighting an enemy that agrees with this pact, respect the rules of the Geneva Convention so that such an enemy will treat our soldiers--its prisoners of war--humanely.

When the other side of the conflict doesn't uphold the tenets of the Geneva Convention, then the rules are forfeited. After all, the enemy is already treating its prisoners--our brethren and soldiers--with torture and inhumanely. What better way to show them punishment than to fight back equally? What better way to convince them to enter into the same pact agreement as the Geneva Convention than to convince them that it would be to their benefit to do so?

Face facts. War is inhumane. Soldiers are monstrous in battle. Sugar-coating the issue with platitudes does not change the ugliness of war.

What must be protected is the nature of our monstrous selves. We do not rape and pillage. We do not treat the civilians and non-combatants with anthing but the respect and dignity of their human rights. We weep over collateral damage and try to prevent it as much as humanly possible.

But against the enemy we go as far towards evil as they do themselves. If they torture, so do we. If they maime, so do we. Otherwise, we will lose the war.

However, before torture, one must have evidence that the prisoner is actually a member of the enemy forces. A military tribunal is ok for judging the membership of the individual. A clear investigation into how and why the person is believed to be the enemy is necessary before the torture begins--not necessarily identification of an individual, but clear evidence of being one of the enemy. Circumstantial evidence is not enough for torture, only for detainment--temporarily--say duration the war itself or 2 years, whichever is feasible and shortest; or until evidence is presented that the person is not an enemy with the proviso that any such evidence must be immediately reviewed by a military panel which will simultaneously review the circumstantial evidence against the person, also. ANYONE deemed guiltless BY THE EVIDENCE will be released to the regional location of his choice.

Then torture for information of (1) the location of other enemy, (2) future attack plans, (3) information about how attacks can be stopped or prevented, and (4) locations of weapons caches. What other information would we need to know from anyone? Beyond that--confessions, etc., are not important. He is ENEMY. Nothing else matters. When the war is over, he will be repatriated. Once we discover what he knows about the necessary points, let him be (in his prison, with humane care). After all, we need not become total barbarians. We do not decapitate our prisoners just because the enemy does.

And what is so bad about using drugs in interrogation? Seems to me that whatever chemicals work as truth serum these days would be much more humane than torture. We have a duty to protect our people and those peoples under our protective wing. Let us use our modern arsenal of weapons--both psychological and physical.

What we must do is be certain that what we obtain with these techniques is truth. Duress is not the issue, but falsehood offered under the guise of truth under duress is not good. This factor of torture alone should make interrogators careful about how much harm and humiliation they bring to bear on a prisoner. True information must always be the goal, never punishment.

I believe that we Americans can maintain our beliefs in human rights and still be the monsters that fight wars. I believe that we must limit our monstrosities in times of war. I believe that the enemy has rights, but that the artificial dignities of the Geneva Convention were not set in place to protect the enemy. Rather, the Geneva Convention was put in place to protect our own soldiers who were captured by an enemy who is a member nation. When an enemy does not uphold the pact, then the pact is null and void against such an enemy, leaving only our own souls to protect.

What we are left with is a code of conduct that protects our own soldiers from a slide into barbarism and keeps them sane enough to return home as still civilized men with self-pride. The Geneva Convention was written and agreed upon to protect the men and the souls of the men that a nation sent to war. When such protections are not working, then the convention is not being upheld. The rules change. The combatants are left with only the protection of man's souls.

Today we fight a war in which only one side upholds the memes of the Geneva Convention. Today we must protect the souls, the humanity, of our soldiers. That is the sole value of rules against torture in the war against this enemy. Therefore I say, set rules for torture that we as Americans can live with. Call it what it is: torture. And go about our business.

Will we then be tried for war crimes by the UN? Is that the consequences of not sticking strictly to the Geneva Convention? Does the UN mean to apply the war crimes punishment to the enemy? We need to discuss a new interpretation of rules of war and responses to terrorism with the UN. We need to discuss whether the old rules are outdated. Or does anyone believe that we could convince the enemy nations to join the Geneva Convention? Would the insurgents? Will we accept a body of combatants that are not a nation to be a political entity worthy of joining?

Throwing away a meme is complicated. What would replace it? We must take care, for there will be complications.

Another thought: We do not need new rules for dealing with Americans or with legal aliens abiding in the US. If an American associates with terrorists or donates money to terrorists causes, try him for treason (a crime that can be redefined by lawmakers with punishments that can be redefined, too). If he is guilty, send him to jail. Legal aliens can simply be tried and deported. If the person is not found guilty, then he is simply practicing his rights of free speech and association that is part of our Constitutional Rights. DO NOT MESS WITH THE CONSTITUTION or the BILL OF RIGHTS.

Tags: Geneva Convention, torture, war, ethics, rules of war, Bush, US Constitution, Congress, law, UN, terrorism, human rights

The Beauty of World Music

I woke up early this morning and switched on the TV. Being so early, my choices of what to watch were limited to a few movies, documentaries, news and paid programming. So I stumbled onto the show World Music on LinkTV. Wow! At 6:00 CST I found myself listening to the most beautiful African and Haitian music with expressive music videos as accompaniment.

This particular program offered a set of political songs in the vein of U2. The music was as richly textured and melodious as anything by Enya. The videos with the love songs were sensuous without being embarrassing. Beautiful music, provocative videos.

The political nature of the songs reminded me of the stories about nursery rhymes being used in England to express ideas about the repressive practices of the reigning monarch of the day, the poem of Paul Revere with its “One if by land, two if by sea,” and the Negro spirituals from the days of slavery in the US. The songs reminded me of the “America the Beautiful,” our national anthem, “The Battle of New Orleans” and other songs of the celebration of victory and love of country. The power of music in uniting people and informing culture is so awesome.

The other aspects that struck me were the similarity of the music to modern new age, reggae, and adult rock music in the US, and the sophistication of the music videos. Surely we do live in a small world, a global neighborhood, with cultures mutually enhancing, influencing, and relating to each other.

Link TV, a satellite and cable channel, bills itself as “Television without Borders”. It has a set of internet links, one of which is linktv.org; linktv.com will take you there, too. Songs from the World Music show can be purchased at the Linktv Music Store. Unfortunately, there is no consistent indication on site about which songs go with which broadcast, so keep a notepad and pen or keyboard handy to write down artist, song title, and album title for the songs you want. Singles and albums are available.

A free song is offered for download. Streaming music allows you to listen to sample songs from an album. As with other television network sites, some of their documentaries and political commentary are also available as streaming video and for download.

Tags: music, African music, Haitian music, LinkTV, political commentary, culture