Why Do Governments Refuse To Protect Their Citizens?

If you walk into my bedroom, your eyes will most likely gravitate immediately to the vertically hung 6-foot-by-4-foot 48-star American flag that serves as the headboard to my bed. There are only 48 stars to honor the sacrifices Americans made during World War II. The flag also nicely complements the two litho prints that frame it, one of a World War II Corsair about to land on an aircraft carrier in the Pacific, and one of a Corsair flying over some 1940s kids on their bikes in Newport Beach.

If you are a flag buff or served in any official capacity with the flag, especially in the military, you will immediately notice that it is hung incorrectly with the field of stars on your right and not on your left. The reason this flag hangs in this manner is because if you were looking down on a flag-draped coffin from the foot of the coffin, this is how the flag would appear to you. This is to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice to provide me with the freedoms that I enjoy each and every day in this country, including the freedom to live free of oppression and the freedom to speak my mind as I tend to do in these blog posts.

I am writing about this incorrectly hung flag because on the very same morning last week during which I published a blog post calling for the people and governments of the world to unite against those who want to deny us the right to these freedoms and our right to even exist, I also read an article about a French man named Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and French woman named Jessica Schneider.

I never met Jean-Baptiste Salvaing or Jessica Schneider, but I have a feeling we most likely shared at least a few common traits, interests, or beliefs. And while we might not have agreed on everything, we probably would have, at the very least, recognized each other’s right to exist. But sadly, out of the three of us, I am now the only one that does – exist that is.

One evening just last week Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider were doing what billions of us across the world do many nights – they were sitting in their home, living their lives, and I am sure like most of us, enjoying life. Then, out of nowhere, their house was broken into and they were savagely murdered. They were not murdered in a robbery, in a crime of passion, or due to some personal vendetta harbored by their murderer.

Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jessica Schneider were murdered solely because they were not practicing the beliefs that have been decreed for the entire world to follow by the Islamic State. A man who I will not name because I believe the names of murders should be kept out of the press chose the couple at random. He felt he had been ordered by ISIS to kill and that is what he went out and did.

And while ISIS is most definitely to blame, and the person who committed this horrible act is to blame, I would like to say unequivocally that the French government is also to blame. The murderer was convicted and jailed in 2013 for recruiting jihadists to fight in Syria, and while he was being monitored, the authorities overseeing his case had not seen anything to feel he was a threat. Wow, that sure sounds familiar doesn’t it? Seems like that is the reoccurring theme with the people that commit these acts, isn’t it? They were questioned or served their time and didn’t seem like a threat according to the people in charge.

It was nice that France’s president, who, unlike ours would have done in this situation, immediately recognized this as an act of terror. France’s president then also ordered that the flags across the nation be flown at half-staff to mourn the couple that had been murdered.

And this is why I started out by telling you about my flag that is hung incorrectly according to official standards. See, when I was reading this article about Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jennifer Schneider, I made a decision. I decided that if I were to be killed in a terror attack here in America and either our current inept president or a future inept president called for flags across the nation to be flown at half-staff, I would officially like to request, here and now, that his or her order not be carried out. I do not want to see the American flag flown at half-staff to mourn my death from a terror attack on American soil. I want each and every one of you in America to run Old Glory straight up to the top of that flagpole, but first, I want you to hang her upside down. Honor me, friends, by flying America’s flag improperly, just like the one I sleep under. And just like the one I sleep under, I want your improperly hung flags to symbolize something.

I want those upside down flags to symbolize the fact that I am dead because America is in distress and was unable to protect my life from a radical extremist that was hell-bent on my and America’s destruction. I want those upside down flags to symbolize how preventable my death was, but that it was not prevented due to our nation’s inability to properly wage war, her inability to not let political correctness stand in the way of the loss of life of its citizens and her inability to do the right thing when I was counting on her.

It is time for the nations of the world to stop treating jihadists like criminals and treat them like combatants – like soldiers on the field of battle who are murdering unarmed civilians. It is time to treat them like war criminals, not like stupid kids that robbed a liquor store. The man who killed Jean-Baptiste Salvaing and Jennifer Schneider should never have been on the streets of France after having been duly convicted of recruiting jihadists, and every single person in France should be mad as hell that he was, just like every person here in America should be mad as hell when someone who was obviously on the radar of the FBI or CIA commits an act of terror because they were not treated accordingly and kept from committing that act of terror.

The time has come for us to hold the governments of the world, especially our own, accountable for the inaction that is leading to the deaths of their citizens.

Photo via Pixabay

How Long Are We Going To Allow These Terror Shootings To Occur?

Did you stand united with the people of France a little while back? Great! Do you stand united against whatever the cause of the Orlando shooting turns out to be? Great! Do you stand united against extremists who carry out terror attacks? Great! That’s all well and good, but what are we going to do to stop these attacks? It’s heartwarming to see the outpouring of sentiment and unity that always occurs immediately following them. If you can say one thing about humans, it’s that they really know how to come together during and immediately after a crisis. But, sadly, there is also another thing you can say about humans, and it’s that they tend to forget all about a crisis just as quickly as it came on.

Everyone is always all in an uproar when these travesties occur, and I think that is definitely the right reaction, but as with every pervious crisis, the uproar fades to the back of everyone’s minds within a few months, if not sooner. We see it with school shootings - the first few days after it happens, it’s non-stop news coverage, politicians calling for change and everyone pining for this one to be the last one. Then, something so very human happens – a week later, there’s no more news coverage, the politicians move on to other topics and ultimately, in the end, nothing changes. Then, it happens again, the whole cycle starts over, and once again, in the end, nothing changes.

With every terror attack there is an outcry across the world, but with every terror attack we also see the eventual fading of its impact. Those personally impacted by the attack are the only ones that feel it’s lingering effects, but the rest of humanity just goes about their business as usual. The military and political stalemates that have plagued America and her allies since long before September 11, 2001, just seem to continue without end, regardless of where and how often these terror attacks occur.

Our government launches air attacks in Syria, and then people die in the streets of France. Our government bombs targets in Iraq and people die in the streets of London. Our government refuses to use the term “radical Islam” while radical Islamists kill people in streets all over the world. Our government overthrows governments in the Middle East and militants slaughter the citizens of those former countries as soon as we leave. Then, we launch more air strikes and the whole thing starts all over again. Our government’s half-assed, hair-brained tactics and strategy don’t change, so naturally, the outcome of this War on Terror doesn’t change.

The endless cycle of the idiotic and ineffective use of the U.S. military by our government’s leadership that does nothing more than yield more attacks on civilians and civilization is going to just continue on forever unless they do something different, and they will only do something different if we, united as Americans, demand something different – something better – of our government and the people that are currently running it.

If after the first Gulf War, we had supported the Kurds in their uprising against Saddam Hussein, how different would the world be today? Instead, we blasted through Kuwait, patted ourselves on the back and then came home. We hung the Kurds out to dry and then were all up in arms, if only for a few weeks or so, when Saddam gassed them, but then, did nothing at all to help. When Syrian rebels rose up against Asad, we did nothing. When the fledgling Iraqi government was trying to establish a new country, our Commander-in-Chief ensured he kept a campaign promise instead of ensuring the Iraqi nation was strong enough to stand on its own, even while his generals told him he was making a huge mistake. When ISIS was coming to power, that same genius dismissed them and did nothing while they swept across land, slaughtered people and easily commandeered a good portion of the military supplies we left in Iraq, making ISIS the best-equipped militant group in the history of mankind. Throw in the oil fields we let them capture and they’re the best funded as well. And now, this group is coordinating, inspiring and helping deliver terror across the globe, just as Al-Qaeda did when we chose to ignore them back in the 1990s.

Today, Islamic extremists will slaughter Christians, Catholics, Jews, atheists or anyone else who doesn’t share their views, yet our government and it’s inept leadership refuses to even acknowledge religious zeal and philosophy, no matter how misguided, are the actual root causes of the slaughter. These people are not out to gain territory, to commandeer wealth and power - they are out to acquire the resources they need to accomplish their goal of wiping any and all non-believers in their faith off the planet, whether those non-believers be in Kurdistan, France or here in America. Are you Muslim? No? Well, they want you dead. Even if you are Muslim, do you support their ultra-idealistic slaughter of non-Muslims? No? Well, then, they want you dead. This is their belief, my friends, and as long as our government refuses to acknowledge religious zeal and fanaticism as the true reason these people want to kill us, it will never take the steps necessary to properly fight this threat.

And, just to be clear, this is a threat we need to fight – a threat we need to eradicate. This is not a threat we can simply contain to a geographic area and hope it never reaches our shores or homes. Philosophies and beliefs cannot be contained like pinning down a fighting force in a ravine until they eventually surrender. Communism does not have a geographic boundary. Fascism does not have a geographic boundary. They are philosophies and people all over the world believe in them. The same is the case with Islamic extremism. Bomb the shit out of Syria, bomb the shit out of wherever, but that alone is not going to stop the Islamic extremist that is laying low while working at Walmart or McDonald’s until the time is right or until he gets the call that it’s time to roll.

What will stop this? A lot of folks out there want you to believe that nothing can be done and that we just have to sit back and take this, or worse yet, ignore it and hope it goes away. Some say bring back every American soldier back to American soil and abandon all our bases around the world – simply pull out of the Middle East and the extremists will be placated and leave us alone. But, how do we sit back and watch as groups like ISIS commit atrocities around the world, then do nothing? Simply coming back home won’t work, either, though I can see why some people think it might. The problem with this theory, though, is that when your enemy needs your very existence to recruit and rally troops, needs you to provide them with a common evil to bring their misguided followers together and to get them to do their bidding, completely leaving that enemy alone will do nothing because they will ensure no matter what you do, you still remain the focus of their efforts and their ire.

The bottom line is doing nothing or simply retreating back home will not stop these attacks. I do believe, however, that a number of our former service members have the answer, but before I get to that, let’s explore a concept.

Let’s pause here for just a second to drive home a point. It is a difficult point to understand, especially with the lives we lead here in America, but it is a point that we all should really be coming to a realization about. There are people who wake up everyday and make it their mission to kill as many Americans or other westerners or non-believers as they can. They might not get the chance to do that very often, but they work towards that goal nonetheless, and on occasion, some actually do get the opportunity to fulfill their mission. On November 13, 2015, there were some people in France who woke up that morning and said, “Today, I am going to go out and kill as many people as I can.” And unfortunately, there were 129 people who became their victims. If you had been in that concert hall, at that stadium, sitting outside those restaurants, it could have been you. They wish it had been you. There are whole masses of people out there in the world who wish it had been you. I know that is such a hard concept to comprehend because they don’t name us by name and aren’t people we know, but make no mistake about it, they want to kill you – they want to end your life, end your children’s’ lives, end the lives of people you know and care about – all because your beliefs are different from their beliefs. I’d be remiss not to point out that those who will actually carry out these attacks and fulfill this mission are a very small segment of the world’s human population, but they do exist, so their threat should not be ignored. Read this paragraph again and let that sink in and I guarantee you still won’t fully comprehend this concept.

What we have to realize together as those who simply want to live our lives in peace the way that we see fit, and see everyone else in the world experience that same type of life, is that we are not fighting a nation state, we are not fighting an oppressive government, we are not fighting a militia or terrorists - we are fighting a belief system that doesn’t simply run counter to our own, but is a belief system that calls for the immediate death of any living human on the planet that disagrees with that belief system. It is time for us to band together as a civilization to bring this bullshit to an end, just as the world did against fascism, National Socialism and the communist regimes that murdered millions of people. We need to put politics aside, we need to put our differences aside, and we need to demand that the free governments of the world finally pull their heads out of their asses and actually do something to stop this threat before it kills more of us.

So, what’s the solution? Well, it’s not to put 300,000 American troops on the ground in Syria or Iraq and it’s definitely not to continue doing what we are doing, which is only flying over the area and dropping bombs. The solution is actually somewhere in between - work with the governments and Muslim fighters in the region who support the principles of civilization and justice and help them destroy this plague that exists within their lands, culture, and religion. The solution is to stop this bullshit political correctness in Western nations and see things for what they are – see the enemy of civilization for what it is and its fighters, combatants, soldiers, jihadists, freedom fighters, or whatever the hell you want to call them for what they are – humans hell-bent on killing those that are different from them – humans that have usurped a legitimate religion as justification for their actions and will stop and nothing to carry out those actions. This is not the first time humanity has seen this, but it is definitely real, and definitely something that all of humanity should be working together to eradicate.

We don’t need to spend $5 billion bombing carloads of high-value targets and ammunition dumps on a unilateral basis while continuing to ignore the intelligence on the ground, ignoring the advice of our own military experts and not working closely with the local militias who are willing to fight the extremists that have taken over their homelands. We need to spend our money working with the local boots on the ground that stand for the same things we do – freedom of religion, freedom to exist and freedom to live free from tyranny. We need to prop these forces up and do all we can to help them fight the battles they need to fight – to help them win the battles they need to win. We need to use our superior air power and military might to organize and support the true freedom fighters that are willing to fight against Islamic extremist militants and other oppressive regimes. If we are going to continue to thrust ourselves on to the world stage and claim jurisdiction as the police of the entire planet, then it is time for us to do the job the right way – work with allies and local fighters, providing military support while spreading good will through aid and education.

Watch the military correspondents on television and they seem to know how to combat this plague. Look to the White House and it seems like no one knows what the hell to do. Where is the disconnect? Why isn’t government listening to the experts? You want the support of the Muslim world and want them to like us? Then help them fight their fight for justice and for freedom. Don’t spend your day making sure you don’t say the words “radical Islam”, spend your day making sure you are leading the civilized world in eradicating radical Islam for the benefit of everyone alive in the world today. Spend your day helping the people around the world who are fighting oppressive regimes in order to provide a better life for their families.

And what do we do about the extremists here in our own neighborhoods and those that are on their way? We demand that our leaders shore up our immigration policy and control our borders, whether it be a physical border or simply who we let fly into this country on an aircraft or sail over on a boat. We need to enforce our immigration laws, demand real reform to the broken system we have today and make sure we know unequivocally who is here and why they are here. This is not an unreasonable demand for citizens to make of their government. Make no mistake about it, there are ISIS agents and sympathizers here in America today and they are just as capable of causing mass death as their brothers in arms in Paris. The shootings in San Bernardino and Orlando, whether tied directly to ISIS or not, are prime examples of the influence the group has on people regardless of where they were born, or where they live. And if they were my soldiers to command, I’d be sending extremists into America via it’s broken border and immigration system, especially at a time when Americans are too worried about being politically correct to protect themselves from my agents of death. A powerful enemy exploits your weaknesses and our lax immigration policy is a great one to exploit.

It is truly time for us as the actual targets of the world’s Islamist extremist militants to demand that our governments take the necessary steps to ensure our safety and eradicate this threat from the world. It is time for people to wake up and realize that they are the intended targets. They are the non-Muslims and Muslims alike that these murderers and aspiring murderers want to kill – are training to kill – are praying each day that they will have the opportunity to die while killing, therefore guaranteeing them a passage to paradise – blissful life-everlasting if only they can kill at least one of us before they themselves go on to meet their prophet, their creator and their glorious end.

And lastly, it is time for us to not just put a color transparency over our Facebook profile picture for a couple weeks then forget about this real and violent threat until the next time there is a terror attack. It is time for us to demand real change, to demand effective leadership, effective foreign policy and effective security from the people who demanded that we send them to Washington, D.C. to lead, regardless of their party and regardless of their views on domestic and foreign issues. If there is one thing our government should do, it is protect us from attacks like the one that occurred in France last November, the one that occurred in San Bernardino in December, and the one that occurred in Orlando this past weekend. Sadly, I worry they are not prepared to do so and the fact they are simply paying lip service to the fight against ISIS and other Islamic extremists instead of actually working with fighters around the world to destroy them is the biggest indicator of the real trouble we’re actually facing. ISIS fighters and other extremists are here in our neighborhoods. It’s time for us to wake up and demand our leaders do something about it.

Photo via Pixabay

Why I Oppose The Mosque Near Ground Zero

I must admit that I agree more with the people who do not want the Muslim Community Center and Mosque built near Ground Zero than those who do. I do see Mayor Michael Bloomberg's point about being able to build what you want on the land that you own, and I do see the Master and Commander's view on religious freedom in America and the message it might send, though as I said yesterday, I highly disagree with his invocation of the Founding Fathers to make his point, and more importantly, disagree with his position on the issue.

But, do you know what else I see? I see why if your loved one was killed on 9/11/01, you might not want to have to walk by a Muslim Community Center and Mosque with a questionable background on the way to the "hallowed ground" of the World Trade Center to visit the 9/11 memorial, or just to spend some time in the general area that you know your loved one spent the last few minutes of their life.

Do some research, and you will find that there were, in fact, a number of Muslims that died as victims of the attacks, but even the highest most trustworthy estimates put that number at well under 100 of the almost 3,000 victims that perished that day. A much larger number of the victims were believers in Christ-based faiths and Judaism. While the conspiracy theorists, far-leaning thinkers, and honestly, U.S.-haters, do not want us classifying them as such, the 19 men that caused 9/11 considered themselves to be Muslim. Regardless of the merits and beliefs of Islam and how the religious beliefs of most Muslims (especially those here in the U.S.) greatly differ in belief from what was carried out on 9/11, all the evidence seems to point to the fact that these 19 guys considered themselves to be Muslim and considered themselves to be waging a holy war against America and its Christians and Jews. All that being said, you really can see how the families of the victims and a large number of Americans might not want that Muslim Community Center and Mosque built right there, just a couple blocks from Ground Zero. I tend to find myself agreeing with this point.

What I would like to know more about, however, in light of this debate that I am hearing, is the background and financing trail of this group that wants to build this Muslim Community Center and Mosque right there next to Ground Zero. So, show me that this is a 100% completely upstanding group of Muslims who do not believe in violence, and do not believe that the September 11th attacks were something that we had coming, and maybe you will sway me. It just seems right now, that the jury is still out on that.

Do they have ties to terrorist groups and does their money have ties to terrorist groups? It seems no one is able to give us a straight answer on that, including the people that want to build the mosque. The people who want this mosque most definietly do not seem to be able to prove without a reasonable doubt that absolutely none of their money and support comes from extremist groups with an agenda. I do see that as a huge problem and a major part of this story, and my decision, which as I said, leans more towards the fact that this mosque should not be built there.

Yes, Mr. Bloomberg, they own the land and should be able to build what they want to on it by the letter of the law, and yes, Mr. Master and Commander, in that perfect little world that seems to only exist in your mind, we should live by the letter of the law in regards to religious freedom and what that means in America today, however, there are times when you need to look at things subjectively, regardless of what the laws say on paper. Isn't that what you believe about illegal immigration, Senor Obamos?

So, for now, I oppose the building of this mosque that close to Ground Zero. I understand the New York City Mayor's position, but disagree with it. I understand the President of The United States of America's position, but disagree with it, and will go as far as to say that I think he is speaking prematurely and has made a mistake that will cost him and his party some support from the American middle.

I understand what the separation is between the average everyday Muslim and these fanatical extremists, but let's not delude ourselves into thinking that there are not extremist Muslims with agendas still living and working in this country. And let's not forget what a small group of dedicated, like-minded people out to kill as many Americans as they can are capable of doing.

"The writ of our founders must endure"

When speaking recently on the proposed Muslim Community Center and Mosque to be built near Ground Zero, The Master and Commander commented that "The writ of our founders must endure", referring, of course to, as he said, "our commitment to religious freedom must be unshakable".

First off, know that I don't want to go back in time and change anything - I am not saying that this country was founded incorrectly, that we need to fix it (though it would be nice to go back in time and have an America that was always free of slavery), but I do want us to think about something when we think of the Founding Fathers, and most definitely when we invoke their intentions with our fine nation during its initial creation in the context of furthering our political views today (I'm talking to you, Master and Commander).

Think along the lines of me not wanting to go back and change too many things because we will not end up with the same nation that we have today. Sure, there is room for improvement over history, but who knows what you'll end up with if you got back and start tampering with things.

That being said, however, can we all please remember that this nation was founded by a group of white, Christ-based faith believing, mostly slave-owning, straight (definitely in the closet if not) men, who, while progressive for their time in terms of their thinking on government, established a nation that did not allow women the right to vote or own land and allowed for a person to be enslaved in permanent bondage and servitude.

I personally am sick and tired of hearing how it was the intention of this group of men that all men and women of all races (literally every human being on the planet) should be equal in all regards, and should all have equal rights including a civil right to water, food, shelter and public services. I am not saying that I don't believe in this, and I am not saying that I do not want this nation to have those principles today, but what I am saying is let's not go back and revise history in our minds to think that the Founding Fathers, the guys who were at the Continental Congress, fought in the Revolution, and established the framework for the United States of America, believed in these same principles, because quite clearly, they did not.

If you go back and read what most of the founders of the United States of America were writing at the time, you will most definitely see that it was not their intention for non-Christ-based faiths, women voters, women land owners, and people of color to have an equal place in the country as them. White, Christ-fearing land owner, you're in and here's your ballot - all others, some other, lesser role of servitude, and don't bother coming to the polls on election day.

Again, let's stick to our values and what we know to be right, but can we all please stop portraying the Founding Fathers as saints, because quite frankly, they were far from it.

Some Thoughts On U.S. Relief Efforts Around The World

As you read this, U.S. war ships are on the move again, but they're not doing what is typically laid upon the Great Satan as the only action that America takes in the world...war. The U.S. military machine has been mobolized to take the lead in providing disaster relief in Haiti. Quite literally, millions of Americans have also been mobilized in making donations, providing relief supplies, and even getting on planes to go down there and do what they can to help save lives and stave off the coming famine and civil unrest.

I am very proud of, and fully support the efforts of both or government and our citizens in the endeavor. Throughout Haiti's entire history, which began in 1804, relations between our two nations have been strained, and I hope that we can show our true colors in the face of this tragedy and change the course of our relations with our neighbor to the south (If you have some spare time at some point, read a bit about the history between the U.S. and Haiti and you'll see that we actually started the relationship off on a very bad foot).

I spend a good deal of time writing and speaking out about what is wrong with America, but, in my opinion, what we are seeing right now is one of the things that is right with America. Despite our strained relations with Haiti, we still have sent over $3 billion in aid to the country over the past two decades. This is a perfect exampe of how the U.S. government can object to the policies and practices of another country's government, yet still wield our power and industry to help the very people that are being mistreated by that government. While I will be one of the first to argue that at times we have no choice but to enact policy through force, I also think that we need to continue to positively affect the lives of people around the world.

There are, however, two exceptions to this rule. One, is that I whole-heartedly believe that we should take care of those who are in need here at home before we look to the rest of the world, and we should do more to ensure that our aid dollars are actually going into the hands of the people and not into the corrupt governments that we are trying to help the people survive under. A good example of this would be the fact that Saddam Hussein was able to pocket billions in U.N.-funneled U.S. aid dollars that were meant to provide food and aid to the Iraqi people.

Another change I would most definitely like to see is a more concerted effort by America to let the rest of the world know how often the U.S. military machine is used to do good in the world. Yes, we use it to wage war, and that is a debate that we should continue to have in America, but perhaps if those who relish in seeing us killed by terrorists had a better understanding of all of the good the Great Satan America does in the world, they'd be a little less apt to want us dead. I know that for some people, we just can't change their mind because of how absolutely dedicated they are to wiping us off the face of the Earth, but I think there are some who would stand against us that we could convince otherwise.

I hope you will join me in supporting the Obama administration's efforts in Haiti, as long as he stays on the straight and narrow, of course, and in thanking the brave Americans who are already in country and those that are in line waiting to go help. They are our best line of defense in the world, winning hearts and minds during people's time of need.

Why Trying Terrorists On U.S. Soil Is Such A Huge Mistake

It has been decided that Khalid Sheikh Mohammad will be tried on U.S. soil in a U.S. court room, just as if he had held up a liquor store or the Try N' Save.

In the wake of 9/11, Bush the Great Satan Junior put a $25 million bounty on Osama Bin Laden’s head, calling on any mercenary in the world to bring us his corpse.

After the decision to treat KSM like a common street thug, I am beginning to wonder if that attack had occurred on 9/11/2009 instead, if the Magician would have put out an All Points Bulletin with strict orders to bring Osama bin Laden in alive so that he could stand trial in a U.S. federal court, afforded the full rights and liberties of a U.S. citizen, much like KSM will be.

I do understand that there is a difference between Osama bin Laden and KSM, but this is as close as you can get to OBL, folks. Is KSM any less a terrorist than OBL? Was Goring less of a Nazi than Hitler?

Unfortunately, the decision has been made and there is nothing that we can do about it. America voted for hopey changey and that is what has been delivered to our doorstep…delivered just as easily as the invitation for every terrorist in the world to be in New York City during these upcoming trials.

Under the Bush administration, they were terrorists, but under the Obama administration, they are federal criminals. That is not just a play on words, folks, but in fact, two very different categories of criminal.

While I absolutely agree 100% that every American citizen should be given a fair trail for committing crimes in America, I do not, however, agree that an act of war committed by a foreign nationals, especially acts committed primarily against U.S. civilians, should not fall under the same category as a U.S. citizen who has committed a federal crime.

Again, this is not just a matter of semantics, but a matter of us creating a dangerous precedence; a matter of changing how the Western world has dealt with terrorism from September 11, 2001 until now.

If you refer back to Section 1 of the 14th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, it reads, "All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws."

This defines what a citizen is in the context of the 14th Amendment, which has been in place since we had to re-define citizenship and the rights afforded to citizens and non-citizens following the Civil War. Under this wording, a foreign national does not have the same rights afforded to a U.S. citizen, including our right to a fair trial, tax-payer provided defense attorneys, etc., until the point at which they are brought to and housed within the jurisdiction of a U.S. state, either voluntarily, or against their will.

That is the reason why Gitmo was at Gitmo and not on U.S. soil. Frankly, the U.S. constitution does not apply to you until you are on U.S. soil as defined by the constitution. Gitmo, and the rest of our military bases around the world, are not governed in relation to foreign nationals as being covered under the U.S. constitution. Whether you agree with Bushie or not, this is why the terrorists, aka enemy combatants, were housed at Gitmo. That is also why you try war criminals and terrorists in a military tribunal and most definitely not on U.S. soil. Why in the world would you want to give the people that are fighting against you…the people that are trying to kill U.S. citizens the very same rights and liberties of a U.S. citizen?

I don’t know, and I wouldn’t think you would, but that is a question we are going to need to ask our President. What The Magician has done by bringing these terrorists to trial in a federal court on U.S. soil is immediately change their classification from a terrorist and enemy combatant to simply a foreign national who has committed a federal crime. He has reduced 9/11 from an act of war and barbarism against the American people to a federal crime committed against the people who were murdered that day. This act by The Magician moves this from a military matter of war to a civil matter of federal crime, providing these terrorists (oh, sorry, criminals) with the same liberties and rights that we all have as U.S. citizens in a federal courtroom. What a fantastic reward for masterminding the death of 4,000 of us! Honorary citizenship!

This President has made these terrorists honorary citizens of the United States, just as we do with any foreign nationals that we catch committing a crime against us within our borders. Access to tax-payer funded courts, judges, lawyers, resources, and jails (yes, some serve out their sentences here because we don’t want them to be mistreated when we send them back home to their own jails). The right to a fair trial for a foreign national who has committed a crime on our soil may make us a better country, Mr. Magician, but these guys aren't students who stayed here too long on an expired student visa and robbed a 7-11 -- these are the fundamentalists who masterminded the 9/11 attacks, and you have just humanized, and yes, even Americanized them in a way that we will be paying for even long after you have left office.

Arkin's Ethical Governor...Teaching Robots Ethics

I will continue to bring you updates on the advancement of the machines until we finally reach the point at which they have taken over and my musings will be forced to short-wave radio from a secret bunker.

As we all know, the U.S. military is continuing to use robots in the global War on Terror, but each of these robots in use today has a human master. As if hell-bent on our eventual demise at the hands of the machines, the innovators in robot technology are wanting to hand over the decision-making on who to kill and who not to kill to the robots themselves

Ronald Arkin, whom I am sure the machines from the future are already protecting, is a professor of computer science at Georgia Tech, and he is currently developing an "ethical governor" which is a package of software and hardware that tells warbots when to shoot and what to shoot at. Arkin believes that robots governed by his governor will be more ethical on the battlefield than humans.

"Ultimately these systems could have more information to make wiser decisions than a human could make," said Arkin. "Some robots are already stronger, faster and smarter than humans. We want to do better than people, to ultimately save more lives."

While in its earliest stages and not expecting deployment any time soon, Arkin's Ethical Governor, as our future machine overlords will one day call it, will first be used in war zones where the public has already been cleared out and all non-U.S. personnel are to be considered hostile. Sucks for anyone who didn't get out in time, or if you can't convince the robot that you are American.

Robots, freed of human masters and capable of lethality "are going to happen," said Arkin. "It's just a question of how much autonomy will be put on them and how fast that happens."

Until then, I will continue to monitor these little tidbits of seemingly worthless robot news until I hit the switch, turning on the short-wave radio so that we can all rise back up against the machines that we were stupid enough to create the first place...

Keep Your Plutonium...

You’ve heard of the police stings where they send notices to people with arrest warrants that say they have won a car or a boat, then when the unsuspecting criminal shows up to claim their prize, they get handcuffed instead...You’ve also heard of programs where law enforcement officials buy back weapons, right?

Well, frighteningly enough, there is enough unaccounted-for nuclear material in Russia that they are combining the sting and the buyback and have offered to buy nuclear material at $8.25 per milligram, then are arresting the people that bring in large quantities of material.

The program has yielded an arrest of a former government enrichment plant worker. The man, Leonid Grigorow, received word from the Russian government that they were closing his plant in 1992, but when Leonid’s requests for disposal of the plant’s weapons-grade plutonium went completely unanswered by the Russian government, he simply put all 400 grams of the plant’s plutonium in a lead case, took it home, and put it in his garage, where it has been since 1992.

Upon hearing about the buyback program, Leonid did the math and realized that 400 grams at $8.25 per milligram would yield him $3.3 million, but when he went to turn in the plutonium, Leonid was arrested.

Let’s all thank the Russian government for teaching everyone that turning in plutonium to the proper officials will result in an arrest, while selling it to terrorists will actually probably get you the $3.3 million.

Remember Where It Started...

As reports are being released and the quality of the intelligence that led us to war in Iraq is coming under fire, it is important for us to remember a few important things.

Most notably, President Bush did not undertake the gathering of intelligence himself, nor did he misinterpret the intelligence. Though we may all be in agreement that the intelligence was bad, it was not the President’s fault that he received bad intelligence.

The President was right to rely on the intelligence provided to him from the CIA, intelligence from the world community, and yes, even intelligence from the UN.

Also, it is important to remember that despite what the media is trying to throw at us everyday, many elements of the intelligence were, in fact, quite true. Also, it is important to remember that the US policy prior to President Bush coming into office was one of containment when it came to Saddam Hussein.

The problem with just holding him at bay was that he was in the midst of beefing up his long-range missile development program and developing long-range missiles with chemical and possibly nuclear warheads. The only thing keeping the Iraqi regime from being nuclear capable was purchasing the material at a time when Pakistan was selling nuclear material left and right.

These were missiles that could have hit Turkey, Israel, Greece, Saudi Arabia and other Mediterranean and Middle Eastern nations. Intelligence on the missile program came from the UN, so this is not a Bush-led conspiracy, folks.

Another key point to remember as people bemoan the quality of intelligence that came from the CIA is that the Clinton administration cut back military and intelligence spending in the years before 9/11.

It was the Clinton administration who continually robbed the CIA of the hands-on intelligence gathering methods of the Cold War that kept us safe. It was the Clinton administration that put us in a position where we were relying on satellite passes instead of boots on the ground.

And lastly, we still cannot ever forget that it was the Clinton administration that sat back in 1993 and in 1997 and in 1998 when U.S. targets at home and abroad were attacked by Al-Qaeda terrorists.

Michael Moore will point out that the Taliban sent an envoy to the U.S. that was welcomed in Texas, even though they were harboring Osama Bin Laden, but he doesn’t mention that the Clinton administration refused time and time again to capture or kill Bin Laden himself when the CIA had him in their sights.

America Back On The Moon?

It almost seems trivial to be discussing space exploration at this point in American history, but I guess I must agree that we must keep on reaching for the America of tomorrow.

How else are we going to one day unite the world under the People’s Democratic Republic of the United States of the World? How many stars are on that flag?

I’m OK at looking towards space again as long as enough government is still working to keep us safe from terrorism before we are forced to divert those resources into figuring out how to defend ourselves from the subterranean Martians that we are going to piss off one day by landing on their planet.

First and foremost, despite the tragedies of 1986 and 2003, a push back to the moon, then on to Mars will most-likely result in the retiring of our space shuttles. As someone who grew up and aged with them, I will be sad to see the shuttles go, but we all know that they have outlived their mission.

The shuttles represent so much of the America that I grew up in...the America that finally defeated the Soviets and won the Cold War. As we bid farewell to our old work-horses, we will then need to decide if we launch our next round of moon missions direct from Earth or from the International Space Station. Will we see a new shuttle-like craft for transporting people and cargo to the space station? Will we see a new generation of Saturn 5-style rockets, or will we see both?

Either way, the best experts agree that for the sheer sake of technological advancements and the continually falling cost of that technology, man will be back on the moon within 15 years.

They say we will build a moon colony this time around and will have the technology for permanent residence on the moon. Yet another pristine, virtually untouched planet for us to litter with empty potato chip bags!

Once we have established our moon base, it will be time then to look to Mars, which these same experts say man will step foot on in about 25 to 30 years. I truly would love to see man on Mars before the end of my lifetime, but I must admit that I wonder how it will fit into our ever-changing lives here on Earth and which of man’s weaknesses and political and ethical quandaries will follow us up into the stars...who am I kidding? We all know that it will be all of them.

So, here is to empty Doritos bags littering the Martian countryside because, at least, as William Burrows pointed out in the WSJ, we will have spare humans on other worlds so that humans will survive when we finally destroy the Earth.

So, now that we have the pipe dream in place and can rest assured that we will not need to divvy up the surface of the moon with the evil Soviet empire this time around, how in the world are we going to pay for all of this? Well, that’s what they said before we went to the moon the first time and we managed to pay that bill off.

We’ll just have to sit back, keep paying our taxes, and see what happens.

Geographic Diversification In Investing

There are so many things in our everyday lives that we are looking at differently now, after 9/11.

Financial Journalist Andrew Feinberg captured the new way that we must look at portfolio diversity best when he wrote, “In the post-9/11 world, I fear that our painstakingly diversified portfolio is actually dangerously concentrated. I mean, we are overweighted in Manhattan big-time.”

This is something new in investing, but a very valid point in the world we are living in today. Every analyst will preach non-stop about the importance of your portfolio being diversified. In yesterday’s world, diversifying amongst different countries, different sectors, different companies, different sized-companies and different company philosophies was enough, but with terrorism threatening U.S. cities, investors even need to diversify where their investments lie within the U.S.

Business in Manhattan literally ground to a halt on 9/11 and some investors learned that their diversified portfolios were extremely heavily invested in companies that resided in Manhattan. Investors need to check their portfolios to ensure that their U.S. investments are spread out over the geography of the nation as well.

Fred Alger, An American Hero

My thoughts are with all Americans today as we mourn the loss of our collective innocence one year ago today...Let us never forget the tragic and heroic events of that fateful day as we push forward into our future...

Seven years ago, Fred Alger, the founder of Fred Alger Management decided it was time for some rest after taking himself, investors, and his company to the forefront of the investment world.

Fred handed the reigns over to his brother David who had been with him all along and then made his way to retirement split between Switzerland and parts of the U.S. This past September as Fred and his wife were getting ready to leave the house in East Hampton, New York, which they had leased for a month’s vacation, Fred glanced at the television and saw One World Trade Center ablaze.

Fred Alger had chosen the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center for his offices and recalls that it took him quite some time to realize not only that his brother and former colleagues were in harm’s way, but that they had been killed in the attack. Nearly all of the firm’s employees perished.

Fred Alger Management was virtually wiped out on September 11th, but in the typical Fred Alger style, instead of leaving his investors in peril, he immediately cancelled retirement indefinitely and is now working to get the firm back on its feet.

Former employees who had moved on after coming into their own at Fred Alger immediately lined up to help run the now-leaderless funds and pensions. Today, almost a year later, Fred Alger Management is pretty much back on its feet and pushing forward, a symbol of spirit and determination.