Sunday, June 30, 2013

Gitmo Prisoners are pampered and spoiled, not abused

When in the past, prisoners had gotten so plump on an "Islamically correct menu" that they were given a gym, they refused - because the equipment wasn't made by Muslims.
The only thing that the prisoners at Gitmo need is treatment on par with that received by prisoners of Al-Qaeda.

On Civil Disobedience

If your government is doing something wrong, then there is nothing wrong with engaging in public civil disobedience in protest, as long as the civil disobedience is nonviolent, does not betray a trust, and the individual accepts the consequences that goes with the violation (if you're going to violate a law, you need to be willing to take the punishment - if you're boycotting a company you need to be willing to do without any product by that company, including products and services already purchased). Note that when a person's actions endanger the lives of others they cannot be considered nonviolent. Violent protest on the other hand is immoral, because it endangers the lives of others.
There is are a few exceptions to the rule:

Monday, June 24, 2013

Ending Rape in War

Angelina Jolie wants someone (namely the UN) to end rape in war. It would be wonderful if that could happen, but in order for someone to do that they would need two things. The military might and the ability to project it, to force warring groups to exercise tighter discipline over their troops, and the political will to use it. Economic sanctions and stern admonitions will just go ignored - there must be a credible threat backing up the request to enforce anti-rape laws.

The UN doesn't have either of those. There isn't anyone out there who could do it without ending up in a thousand little and not so little wars with half of the world, so there probably isn't anyone capable of doing the job, and there definitely isn't anyone willing to do the job. All that has been accomplished by the actress is to bring up an issue that isn't getting solved short of someone conquering the world - and probably not even then.

If someone comes up with a workable plan for ending rape in warzones where the laws of war are usually ignored, I will happily eat my words.

Thursday, June 6, 2013

Oh look, a Five Year Plan!

The President has announced a five year plan to ensure that 99% of schools have high speed internet by 2018. Ignoring that I really doubt the need for high speed internet in schools, a five year plan? If this new plan works as well as some of the USSR's or PRC's plans we can expect the majority of schools to be without internet of any sort within five years.


Old shit is still shit

Just because the Patriot Act was ratified years ago (well before I became a voter), and the records of cell phone companies have been being seized ever since, does not mean that the whole steaming pile of shit isn't shit - it just means that no one has bothered to check back and take care of the problem, be that problem a law that arguably violates the fourth amendment, or your dog's shit in your living room.

I understand that the whole idea behind the Patriot Act is to keep us safe. I don't really care. Our Government should be concerned with our freedom first, our safety second, and our prosperity third.
To paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, sacrificing freedom for safety will ensure that we don't have either of them.