WHY I WILL NOT FLY ANYWHERE...PERIOD

BE SURE TO READ THE CRAWL, TOO

SYRIA, IF I WERE THE DESPOT IN CHIEF

If I were Despot in Chief, the world would be watching me to see what I would decide about Syria using chemical weapons against its own citizens.

I  would decide to do nothing.

Sure, I know the world decided that countries are supposed to be prevented from using chemical weapons. But did you notice that although international law forbids their use, Syria used them anyway? That's the way it is with criminals. If guns are against the law, criminals get them anyway. If  the use of chemical weapons is against the law, countries use them anyway.

The use of chemical weapons in Syria killed a lot of innocent men, women and children. If we retaliate, a lot of innocent men, women and children will become collateral damage. As much as we would like to pretend that we could control our missiles, some innocent men, women and children would be killed.

Dead people are dead, regardless of what killed them. Heart attacks kill people, cancer kills people and bombs, both conventional and chemical, kill people.

If we "retaliate" (someone might want to look up the meaning of that word...but they probably won't and don't care, anyway), we are going to be accused of killing innocent men, women and children. And we will be guilty.

If Syria continues to use chemical weapons, they will be accused of killing innocent men, women and children, And they will be guilty.

So, is it better for a government to kill its own people, or for those people to be killed by "outsiders?"

Of course, neither is desirable. But outlaws are outlaws and terrorists are terrorists, whether acting as small groups or as a government.

If I were the Despot in Chief, I would do nothing to Syria UNLESS they use chemical weapons on countries other than their own. In that case I would use the resources of the American military to wipe Syria off the map.

"But Joe," I hear you whining. "How can you be so heartless as to kill all of those "innocent" Syrians?"

In the first place, the exceptionalism or America is its commitment to the freedom of its people and their control of their government. That freedom did not come by accident. It was won by the people. If other countries' people do not take steps to control their government and their government commits atrocities, the people bear part of the blame, since they did nothing to cause their government to be controlled by them. They are not as innocent as it might seem.

So, yes, I would make mince meat out of Syria, IF they went international with their use of chemical weapons. As long as they did not go outside their own borders, I would do nothing...no red lines, not huffing and puffing, no intervention of any kind.

That's what I would do. You might disagree. That's OK. This is America. You have the right to be wrong.

OBAMA'S FIRM RED LINE

“We have been very clear to the Assad regime, but also to other players on the ground, that a red line for us is we start seeing a whole bunch of chemical weapons moving around or being utilized. That would change my calculus. That would change my equation … We have communicated in no uncertain terms with every player in the region that that’s a red line for us and that there would be enormous consequences if we start seeing movement on the chemical weapons front or the use of chemical weapons. That would change my calculations significantly.”



"First of all, I didn't set a red line. The world set a red line. The world set a red line when governments representing 98 percent of the world's population said the use of chemical weapons are [inaudble] and passed a treaty forbidding their use, even when countries are engaged in war. Congress set a red line when it ratified that treaty. Congress set a red line when it indicated that in a piece of legislation entitled the Syria Accountability Act that some of the horrendous things happening on the ground there need to be answered for. So, when I said in a press conference that my calculus about what's happening in Syria would be altered by the use of chemical weapons, which the overwhelming consensus of humanity says is wrong, that wasn't something I just kind of made up. I didn't pluck it out of thin air. There's a reason for it."

I GET IT!! BE FLEXIBLE AND LIE!!

“My credibility is not on the line..."

Of course not! Just because you said it is no reason for anyone to have believed it when you said it.

" The international community’s credibility is on the line.  And America’s and Congress’s credibility is on the line.”

Yes! Yes! They're the ones to blame. Not me! Surely not me!

Really?

GOV CONTINUES TO TRY TO LIMIT RELIGIOUS FREEDOM

FOX NEWS – The National Park Service began enforcing a policy recently that required churches to obtain special use permits in order to baptize in public waters. As part of the same permit process, the NPS also mandated that churches give the Park Service 48 hours advance notice of pending baptisms.

But as any Baptist or Pentecostal in good standing knows – that’s a problem.

“If the Holy Spirit is working on Sunday morning, you’re going to baptize Sunday afternoon,” Dennis Purcell told The Salem News. “You may not know ahead of time.”

Many Christians believe that the Bible commands new followers of Christ to be baptized immediately after their conversion. It’s a public expression and celebration of their new-found faith in Christ.

The National Park Service told local churches the permits were needed to “maintain park natural/cultural resources and quality visitor experiences, specific terms and conditions have been established.”

(Of course those maintenance measure have not been needed for centuries.)

The feds also closed vehicle access to a sandbar along a popular creek in the Ozark Mountains, meaning churches could no longer drive their elderly members to the outdoor baptisms. And to make sure the Baptists behaved, they placed large boulders in the area to block car traffic.

(Of course, they do the same for other visitors to the parks, right?)

“Like the Baptists and Pentecostals are going to harm natural resources and adversely affect quality visitor experiences by occasionally baptizing new converts?” asked local resident Lewis Leonard. “I can think of a whole lot more activities along the river ways that are not conducive to maintain the natural resources.”

Rep. Jason Smith fired off a letter to the feds on Aug. 21 demanding answers.

“I am very troubled by any federal rule that requires churches to apply for a permit for the purpose of baptism, especially when these traditional activities have been done in the rivers and streams of this nation since its founding,” the congressman wrote.

He pointed out the National Park Service does not require a 48-hour notification from fisherman or swimmers – so why churches?

(Because churches are made of people and fishermen and swimmers are not people?)

“One would hope that the answer is not ‘because the National Park Service wants to limit the number of baptisms performed on the river.”

(Oh, of course not!)

The Park Service responded within 24 hours. They said the reason they needed two days notice is to “give the park staff adequate time to prepare the permit.”

(Why they needed to require a permit in the first place is the real issue.)

Funny how helpful the government is to its citizens, isn't it?

A WARPED HISTORY OF LABOR DAY

Labor Day is an annual celebration of welfare recipients and their lack of achievements. It originated during one of American labor history’s most dismal chapters. In the late 1800s, at the height of the Industrial Revolution in the United States, the average American worked 12-hour days and seven-day weeks in order to eke out a basic living. People wanting to be on welfare hated the 12 hour days because they didn't like working at all. So they sent their children as young as 5 or 6 to toil in mills, factories and mines across the country, earning a fraction of their adult counterparts’ wages.

On May 11, 1894, employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company in Chicago went on strike to protest wage cuts and the firing of union representatives. On June 26, the American Railroad Union, led by Eugene V. Debs, called for a boycott of all Pullman railway cars, crippling railroad traffic nationwide. To break the strike, the federal government dispatched troops to Chicago, unleashing a wave of riots that resulted in the deaths of more than a dozen workers. In the wake of this massive unrest and in an attempt to repair ties with American sluff-offers, Congress passed an act making Labor Day a legal holiday in the District of Columbia and the territories.

More than a century later, the true founder of Labor Day has yet to be identified. Many credit Peter J. McGuire, cofounder of the American Federation of Goof-Offs, while others have suggested that Matthew Maguire, a secretary of the Central Slackers’ Union, first proposed the holiday.

Labor Day is still celebrated in cities and towns across the United States with parades, picnics, barbecues, fireworks displays and other public gatherings. For many Americans, particularly children and young adults, it represents the end of the summer and the start of the back-to-school season. It is a time to get out of work for no particular reason, unless you work in a restaurant.

I will be working a 12 hour day today. I should stage a revolution, which would be a revolting development.

SUNDAY RESPITE-When the Saints-Sara Groves