Liberty MavenQuick Hits: Torture, Twitter, Ron Paul, Rand Paul, and Random Thoughts
May 22nd, 2009 8:00 am | by Marc Gallagher | Published in Activism, Big Government, Blowback, Commentary, Federal Reserve, Foreign Policy, Liberty, Maven Commentary, Ron Paul, andrew napolitano, campaign for liberty, congress, rand paul, terrorism | 6 Responses
I hope to make this a regular occurrence each Friday here at Liberty Maven. If it ends up like some of our other regular occurrences it won’t be regular at all. We’ll try though.
This post will be a hodgepodge of random thoughts I’ve had over the past week (or so) that never made it into an “official” article.
The topic of torture has been in the news and I find it fascinating because there are so many levels of arguments to the debate. No one put it more succinctly than Shepard Smith on a recent episode of Freedom Watch. The main arguments can be highlighted with a series of questions:
- Is enhanced interrogation truly torture?
- Is torture against the law?
- Does torture work?
- Is torture morally wrong?
Here are the answers:
- Yes
- Yes
- Not really, and it doesn’t really matter because…
- Absolutely
I used to think everyone hounding me to “get on Twitter” was torture (wow, poor segue I know). Now that I’ve done so I wouldn’t say that I’m addicted necessarily, but I’ve certainly discovered a new world (in 140 characters or less or course). Most of our articles are automatically “tweeted” right when they are published. So feel free to follow me/us at @LibertyMaven and start using this social media tool to help spread the freedom message.
Speaking of Twitter (damn I’m good at these transitions), Rand Paul is on Twitter sending his followers updates about his potential Senate run. His father Ron is not. In fact it wouldn’t surprise me if someone were to ask Ron Paul if he twitters, he’d answer, “No I exercise daily and am in very good health.”
His organization, The Campaign For Liberty is on Twitter though. Check them out at @C4Liberty.
I hear that Freedom Watch may be on the verge of cracking the Fox News Channel lineup. Judge Andrew Napolitano is on Twitter. Check him out at @judgenap. One of his regular guests, Lew Rockwell, has also been known to tweet from time to time.
Yesterday morning I read the news about 4 people being arrested in a plot to bomb synagogues in New York. The arrested were apparently highly angry about the U.S. action in Afghanistan and wanted to conduct a bit of a jihad on their own. The reason I’m mentioning this is because of the idiotic comments from people like Mayor Bloomberg:
“This latest attempt to attack our freedoms shows that the homeland security threats against New York City are sadly all too real and underscores why we must remain vigilant in our efforts to prevent terrorism”
I’m certainly happy they caught these bastards. Perhaps they wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something earning that moniker if the U.S. actually focused our efforts targeting those who attacked us on 9/11. Instead, we invaded and are now occupying entire countries. No wonder these bastards became bastards. If China or Russia chose to invade and occupy Texas or Florida I’d imagine we’d be quite bastard-like ourselves.
Recently, Congress (lead by Democrats) voted to refuse funding for Obama to close Gitmo. A part of me wonders if this was the plan all along from the Obama administration. This way he doesn’t get fully blamed for not being able to close Gitmo by the end of the year. Or is this too conspiracy theory-ish?
I’ll end with a few of my own random thoughts. I tweeted these during the past couple weeks:
- What is more harmful to our Republic than the 2 party de-facto duopoly increasing State tyranny in the name of bipartisanship?
- Legalize, tax, and regulate prostitution? Sure, let’s turn something fun and exciting into a trip to the DMV. (actually a Mike Miller, @LibertarianMike re-tweet)
- A girl once told me that the term “states rights” is racist hate speech. Little did I know she’d be running the DHS one day.
- If I had a dollar for every year of the 96 years since the Fed was created I’d have an inflation-adjusted $4.57 now!
- Spreading democracy at gunpoint is an absurdity. Such attempts result in socialism, fascism, or elements of both
- Does being anti-Fed mean you are pro-anorexia? (some people didn’t get this, perhaps it’s too off the wall)
That’s all for this week. Enjoy your Memorial day weekend!
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May 23rd, 2009 at 4:22 am (#)
Thank you for this information. Did you know that some make earning thru posting comments or tweeting in your blog post. Well that is what you call blogging. Many people are looking for new job, especially those who had been lay-off or newly graduate. There are many reasons to get a new job, we consider the salary or more interesting/challenging work. (You don't REALLY like writing copy and filling out TPS reports, admit it nobody does. Thinking about it gives me narcolepsy.) Or it could be you are about to lose your job or quit your job, and don't want to get short-term loans to float you. Being an unplaced worker isn't a pleasant place to be in. It beats having to get online payday loans if you have a new job already lined up. Well, always put in mind that nothing comes for free. So better start looking for good jobs and enjoy all benefits that you might have. Submit your resumes and hope that they call you back, and if you make it, that what you called luck.
May 23rd, 2009 at 4:27 am (#)
good article!
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:07 pm (#)
I don't understand why it's morally wrong to cause physical discomfort to a person in an effort to recover information that could save innocent lives, but it's morally acceptable to drop 2000 pound bombs in urban settings where it is absolutely certain that some innocent will get killed.
It's immoral to waterboard a terrorist, but moral to nuke hiroshima, or firebomb Tokyo? I honestly don't understand this reasoning.
May 23rd, 2009 at 5:15 pm (#)
Hell, when I was in basic training, the military deliberately exposed everybody in the training unit to the Gas House. All the recruits were ordered to march around a room full of tear gas. Then when we were really feeling the effects of the gas, the instructors started asking us questions, like "name?", "rank?", etc.
WE WERE BEING TORTURED AND INTERROGATED, OH NOES!!!!
May 24th, 2009 at 6:14 am (#)
Nuking hiroshima etc… was not, in any way, a moral act.
and a troup having a good romp in the tear gas chamber is not in any way the same as being subjected to actual torture. One, your willing, Second, you never fear death, Third, your with your troup buddies and not alone. .. To even draw parallels is just shocking.
May 25th, 2009 at 2:43 pm (#)
Water boarding by itself is a very mild form of torture. The problem with it is that it sets the precedent that torture is acceptable. If the government is allowed to go down this road, it is just a matter of time before federal agents are pulling out fingernails and boiling people in oil. Of course, the government won't go right from water boarding to pulling out fingernails. Its starts with water boarding then goes to tasering perhaps.