Global.....

WarNing, or WarMing?
That is the question. Is "it" real? I'm astonished by those who think it's okay to keep pumping bazillions of tons of carbon and other pollutants into the atmosphere, seas, and rivers, knowing that once it's in there, it stays almost for ever. How feeble of the morons in the US car industry bleating about making cars more economical on fuel. Why, the rest of the world are just liars then when they drive their (smaller admittedly) cars that get 40 or more miles to the gallon, er, oops, sorry, those cars are made by GM, Ford etc, and it's a puzzle that in Europe the air and fuel is obviously different, causing them to get better mileage, and they won't work in the USA. Einstein would be proud of them. What plonkers. Whether you believe it's just a climate blip, or pollution, it's common sense to keep the planet in good condition to leave a better place for our children, rather than a chemical soup, scorched, and parched. About time the US car industry got off it's fat arse and caught up with the foreign car makers, and made economical smaller engined cars, hybrid, or even diesel (the modern ones are much more clean burning). It's time someone locked sensible people in a room with the car industry leaders and gave the sensibles baseball bats and give them free reign to knock some sense into the dunderheads. I'd start with the Chrysler guy that, a few months ago, said Europeans were too concerned about pollution. Sadly, he probably just said, accidentally, what many US companies believe. Who gives a crap about the rest of the world? It's common knowledge here that pollution doesn't affect the USA. They can always invent something to counteract it. Global warming? Turn the air conditioner higher. Gasoline shortage? Just invade somewhere and get some. Too little electricity generation? Build more coal burning stations. Cut down emissions? No way, that would cost jobs. We're the biggest kid on the block aren't we? we can go it alone can't we? Can't we?

Stiff upper lip

Fraulein's obviously speechless, I am almost. As a Brit, I am ashamed to be British seeing the shenanigans of the captured sailors and marines by Iran recently. There they were, admitting they were in the wrong place on the sea, smiling and joking, playing ping-pong, receiving gifts from that cretin of a president, thanking the Iranians for capturing them, stealing all their weapons and personal belongings, and the Navy's boat, worth I'm told over $300,000. What a great advert for the British Royal Navy and Royal Marines.........NOT!!!!!!
I know I wasn't there, but would the Iranians have done if the Brits had told them to go and do one, then, turned their boat towards their mother ship? I suggest nothing. Would they have really slaughtered the British servicemen? I don't think so. If they had, their nuclear facility, and oil terminals would be smoldering pieces of twisted metal. Which is, of course, what they will soon be like when the Israeli Air Force has finished with them. But wait, the Israeli Army didn't do well against Hezbollah rag head army last time, did it? Does anyone have the guts to stand up to Iran? What's wrong with western governments? The truth is probably more disturbing than we can contemplate. The British armed forces have been so run down and weakened by spineless politicians that they can't even fight one war, never mind two. The US armed forces are vastly superior in numbers and equipment, but they can only fight one war at a time since good ol' Bill Clinton decimated them. So, practically, there's not much anyone can, or will do, against Iran, even though they and Syria probably sponsor more terrorist groups than the rest of the world put together.
How sad it is that the school playground bully gets his own way, when all it needs is for the rest of the kids, or the strongest, or bravest,to stand up to him and they could beat the crap out of his pathetic skin.
One last thought, were the Brits under orders to cave in the the Iranians and just do what they said? If not, whatever happened to "'Name rank and number' only, I'm a British officer, and I don't care how much you threaten me, I won't tell lies and grovel to you snotbags just get home sooner." Perhaps these servicemen and woman should talk to some WWII veterans, especially those who survived being captured in Burma by the soulless Japanese.
God help us if our nations in the West are threatened by Iran or any other of the pothead dictators out there. Are there any brave young men and women in the UK? If there are, and I am sure there are many, they have been done a great disservice by these grovelers. At least those fighting on the ground in Iraq and Afghanistan are showing showing themselves to be mostly brave and courageous, and are doing their stuff, whether they are completely sold on the cause or not.

Back from the Caribbean

Well, made it back from Antigua, even saw Eric Clapton's house, and the famous Crossroads Center where Brittany Spears checked in and lasted 24 hours before bailing out. Sounds like her marriage, as our catamaran captain remarked. Now I'm lobster red and serpent like in my skin peeling, I must say I'm feeling very refreshed. If it takes what my wife and I did, i.e. lounge around and be waited on hand and foot for seven days and nights to be refreshed, so be it. It was a special treat for our tenth anniversary. I was thinking a lot while away about liberties and the like and was thinking......do we trust the Jack Bauers to dispense justice for us on their terms, or do we go by the letter of the law? But wait a minute; laws are made by people who do what they think is best for the nation. Is the only difference "checks and balances", or are they the same? Perhaps accountability is the answer. Who are the Jack Bauers accountable to? Well, no-one, it seems. Of course in real life, those of us who have worked in law enforcement (like I did for 22+ years) know that doing the arrest, or operation is the easy part, and the paperwork, lawyers meetings, evidence gathering, witness interviews, consultations and reviews with senior officers and more can take literally several months. This is of course why 24 jumps a year or two between episodes. In that time Jack and his buddies have been writing reports, statements and have been at court hearings. The reason why Jack Bauer doesn't exist in most of real life is that accountability brings with it the need to explain and justify every action. This is why terrorists are so successful. They just meet together, hatch up some nefarious plot over a snack and a hookah and then get some money from a sympathizer. They then just do their mission and don't care how many of them die, or others die, in the process. In Burma in World War II, the British Army suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of the Japanese in the early part of the war. The British commanding officers got together. How did they lose? Well, the Japanese soldiers were ruthless and fearless, and showed total contempt for human life, their own, and their enemies. The British decided to train their troops to be even more ruthless than the Japanese, and that's how they defeated them. Whatever the Japanese soldiers did, the British did back to the Japanese, with steroids. The Japanese eventually wilted. Is there a lesson for us there with modern day terrorists? I personally think there is.

The Rabbi

In defense of civil liberties

Here's the problem with the Jack Bauer approach to public safety: the average citizen has to rely in the good faith of their government officials to protect their individual interests in safety. History has taught us that this faith is often misplaced. The only way to protect safety and freedom is to ensure equal protection to individuals. Any time you put unreserved power into the hands of government it has the potential to be misused against innocent parties.
The other issue with allowing the government to invade the privacy of individuals is that often times these invasions are not equally distributed throughout the population. Instead, racial or religious profiling is used to determine who's rights are worthy of protection and whose are not. This is in itself unjust and breeds racial tension and anger toward the government and society that allows this to happen.
I question whether or not the government really needs to invade our privacy to protect us. There are tons of other things that can be done to improve national security that require no government invasions: a tightening of the border, efficient and consistent airport security, a change in foreign policy, for examples--Why don't we start there instead of jumping to the conclusion that the only way to ensure greater safety is to violate our fundamental values.

The Fraulein

Debating is Fun

Even though we don't agree with each other, we respect each other. Fraulein is much smarter than me and well versed in law and justice. I must say though my passion is justice for all, and I am fervently against injustice. However, I feel conflicted in situations where the balance seems wrong. Are civil liberties more important than the nation's safety? If it was a choice between protecting an individual's rights and saving the nation, what would you do? Are we members of the Jack Bauer school, or perhaps the "kill them all let God sort them out" mentality, or the "even if it harms us as a whole we'll protect each individual's civil liberty?"
I am ashamed to say that sometimes I drift between the three. Which is the proper course. What would my Rabbi do? I'm supposed to be like him, and imitate him. I've been following him for 23 years now. Have I learned anything?