Bin Laden and Garcia Law Firm

Two recent executions are certainly cause to ponder the meaning of justice. Two men, Osama Bin Laden and Humberto Leal Garcia, recently met their just ends. Though they never met, they have become intertwined. It cuts to the heart of the whole issue of exactly what justice means.

We certainly know the history of Bin Laden, who was called the most evil man on earth. Most everyone cheered loudly when the Navy Seals hastened Osama’s meeting his Maker. Presidents Bush and Obama had sworn to get this man, and America was behind them. Despite no legal sentence having been passed down on Bin Laden, his death was a cause for national celebration.

Yet these same two presidents also attempted to use their political sway to prevent a justly convicted man from being executed in Texas. Their reasoning? The integrity of an international ruling on reviewing the convictions of all Mexican national death row inmates was at stake. There was no doubt as to his guilt; Garcia brutalized and murdered a sixteen year old girl-- a guilt he never denied. Appeal upon appeal was processed through our courts until nothing stood between Garcia and his execution date.

The protest from Bush and Obama was that Garcia should have received legal counseling from the Mexican consulate before his legal remedies could be considered to be fully exhausted. The problem here was that Garcia had in been in the U.S. since age two, and that neither Obama nor Bush was able to get this ruling passed through Congress was compounding the issue. Where is the concern for the victim and her family?

Neither the U.S. Supreme Court nor Texas Governor Rick Perry was standing for any of this nonsense and Garcia was executed on schedule. Here is the puzzler: Bin Laden is killed with no trial and his death is cheered while Garcia is justly convicted and his death is cause for insane pleas of clemency based on an illegitimate legal basis. This makes about as much sense as North Korea taking the chairmanship of the U.N. Nuclear Disarmament Panel conference-- the same North Korea that is a rogue nation thumbing its nose at the continuing international outcry about its lawless nuclear policy.

When Congress won’t pass this boondoggle legislation, why should U.S. courts even hear the illegitimate pleas of Obama and Bush? Yet this inane manner of thinking has precedent. The Kyoto Treaty, a “forward” thinking way to control global warming, was passed at an international conference and submitted for approval to the U.S. Senate by the Clinton Administration. Internationally, it would place the greatest burden (meaning we pay money) on the United States to get their carbon-controlling act together. In a nail biter vote of 95-0, the treaty was rejected. When will we learn?

That Which We Would Not

A small article buried in page six of June 20th Herald-Palladium caught my eye as a pharmacy in Medford, New York was robbed of prescription medication and four persons were killed. They likely followed their store policies right to their death. Now cut to Benton Harbor, MI on May 28th of this year where pharmacist Jeremy Hoven, carrying a registered concealed weapon, fired after almost being fired upon by a robber. In hindsight, did he do the right thing? Not according to Walgreens, who fired him. Mr. Hoven had a choice: follow store policy by waiting for the gunman to clear his jammed gun and then be shot or do all he can save not only his life but those under his stead. In times of great stress, we do not what we wish to but that which we need to do.

Many times a situation comes down to facing the devil and our nation is under great stress right now. Our proverbial financial pants are busting at the waist due to the weight of our national debt and we have two choices: get bigger pants (higher taxes to spend more), or cut (also called fiscal sanity) our spending to solve the problem. The answer seems obvious, but there are those who would rather get the bigger pants (a.k.a. soak the rich) and go on as if traveling to Oz. There is not enough tax revenue to satiate their lust.

What we fail to understand is that it all comes back to us in the end. I mean, we sure got BP to pay for all the expenses of the oil spill in the Gulf last year, right? No. They wrote off billions on their taxes, and coupled with higher gas prices, who pays the bill? More taxes means more spending which means more borrowing because Congress never has enough which means higher costs on products which means you pay more.

Benton Harbor has gone through a great deal of pain because things just haven't been right. City managers were fired when they tried to do anything of substance to fix the problem. Now, under the guidance of Mr. Harris, Benton Harbor has endured the tough love and is the better for it financially. It’s never easy to take the hard road but, like Mr. Hoven, sometimes we have to do that which we would rather not. God bless America.

What The...?

What the...

What the heck happened on the way to Afghanistan? To hear Obama speak in the 2008 election it was the right war and was dubbed the Obama War. Today, it has not taken shape as it should have and we are already speaking of exiting the country with the outcome far from certain. Things don’t seem to be getting much better and what gains we do have are fragile at best.

 

One would think with advancements in the war, we would have a greater net of security and less casualties as Afghan forces begin to take over, as in Iraq. No such luck. The loss of American service men is happening at a rate five times the rate when Bush was in office. Without even putting his full attention on Afghanistan, Bush was doing a better job than Obama is today in a war called the “right war” or the war we should be fighting.

 

The half hearted surge was done with less troops than Obama’s advisors called for in a painstaking 80 wait for the obvious answer everyone knew was coming. It did not have the full effect a surge should have and was retarded by the slow decision to make the move to increase force levels. For being the right war we sure have been making all the wrong moves.

 

We have not even been able to get ourselves out of other wars we are fighting and we are heading into Libya under the guise of the UN- a force that we are providing 75% of the firepower and is no more than a smokescreen to try and keep Obama from having to admit we are in a third war. Qadaffi does not seem to be capitulating any time soon and the air war is not going to win a war and never has in the history of war.

 

It is hard to figure out just what our foreign policy is anywhere and we can imagine all the horrible atrocities that “might occur” as in Libya to justify war but we are left with nothing less than a mess to clean up. When we break Libya we may have to fix it with money that we do not have. This is the real puzzler: how to pay for a war we don’t call a war and how to get out of a war we aren’t in.

 

This seems to be the norm for Obama as he practices his version of what a real foreign policy should be and is nothing but a hodge-podge of this and that and really leaves you wondering, what the...?

 

To put our troops in harm’s way should be done with a serious thought and committing our resources makes any president accountable and one can only imagine the outcry if Bush was conducting himself as Obama is. The Code Pink would see red; Cindy Sheehan would have another son so that she could decry the injustices done to him. But we get nothing; why no outcry? It’s all political, it’s all a sham and it is all pathetic. What the...?

I'm Glad I'm Not an Oscar Mayer Weiner

Wouldn’t it be nice to create your own reality? You commit regrettable actions and then just wish them away through denials as if you don’t have a clue what people are accusing you of. As Rod Serling would say, “Exhibit A, Mr. Anthony Weiner, portrait of a troubled man caught in the spider web of his own making”. In this day and age of instant communication, to think that one is hidden away is to pretend we don’t have a problem with Medicare and Social Security-hey, wait a minute that is what Anthony Weiner does in interview after interview!

His trail downward has sadly been previously trod by other sad sacks including President Clinton when faced with his tawdry affairs while the Commander in Chief. Pres. Clinton tried to deny and when cornered his aides spun it as “it’s all about sex”. Really? What about undermining witnesses, abusing power to keep all hidden, messing with the White House sign in sheet for all visitors, lying under oath (yes that is perjury), etc.

The sad fact is that demoniacs like Clinton and Weiner are devoid of all ethics and are morally bankrupt while trying to set an example for all of America. Without a higher power in their lives, they are left to their own devices spurred on by the feeling of power that comes with their respective offices. Nearly all Republicans resign when faced with such a situation as fellow Republicans shun them and are excommunicated. Not so with the high and mighty Democrats, they spin, they explain, they rationalize, they lie and do anything to keep their office because that is all they have.

Valuable time was spent on these corrupt activities and some still don’t see that the problem is: like with abortion and such. The activity cannot be judged as they too are morally bankrupt. This moral bankruptcy is how Weiner can be interviewed saying that Social Security is running a surplus because of the bogus T-Bills in the “lock box” which may soon be worth more as wallpaper product than convertible currency.

The majority of the nation does an abhorring to what he has done yet still he wishes to remain in office cloaked in his own filth. This is survival of the dumbwittist. My personal belief is that he will have to resign but knowing his wife is working for Hillary Clinton, anything is possible. Time will tell but what has been told so far is pretty telling about Mr. Weiner. They say there is no difference between Republicans and Democrats but say you have George W. Bush and John McCain in one room and Clinton and Weiner in the other: who would you let your 18 year old daughter have dinner with in a room locked for two hours? That is what I thought.