wonderful wisdom from rabbi aryeh spero of caucus for america
www.caucusforamerica.com/opinion.art.php?pID=362
This is an outstanding piece of writing! My favorite part, I think is the following:
A moral society does not stand by, doing nothing, while an innocent person is about to be killed. It is our moral duty to stop those intent on killing innocent people, or those complicit and knowing of others who wish to kill, before the murder takes place. The “dignity” of the would-be murderer, his treatment, must be inconsequential to those in position to stop him. Indeed, by stopping the terrorist, through coercion, before he murders, we are saving the would-be murderer himself from the sin of murder.
Normal people understand their obligation to first protect and be concerned about the lives and safety of those for whom they are responsible: first, your family, then your community and nation. Long ago, it became evident that the transnationalists at the New York Times and the ACLU are psychologically abnormal and thus do not root for the lives of their countrymen over the lives or even the sensibilities of our enemies. After all, to them, many conservative Americans are the enemy, and those abroad wishing to punish us are kindred spirits.
Alas, what is so striking, now, about these left-wing groups is their amorality, their comfort with it. Human Rights Watch and Center for Constitutional Rights have become misnomers for groups preoccupied with the sensibilities of jihadist terrorists hell-bent on killing innocent Americans yet completely unmoved about the horrific torture of American servicemen and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. They’ve spent the last two weeks using contributions from naïve donors to mourn the hanging of Saddam Hussein. How safe we must all feel knowing they are watching out for the human rights of terrorists and making sure Islamists are provided more constitutional protections than they are willing to grant our President, the Commander in chief.
Brilliant! We should pray that all of our political leaders would be blessed with such moral clarity!
This is an outstanding piece of writing! My favorite part, I think is the following:
A moral society does not stand by, doing nothing, while an innocent person is about to be killed. It is our moral duty to stop those intent on killing innocent people, or those complicit and knowing of others who wish to kill, before the murder takes place. The “dignity” of the would-be murderer, his treatment, must be inconsequential to those in position to stop him. Indeed, by stopping the terrorist, through coercion, before he murders, we are saving the would-be murderer himself from the sin of murder.
Normal people understand their obligation to first protect and be concerned about the lives and safety of those for whom they are responsible: first, your family, then your community and nation. Long ago, it became evident that the transnationalists at the New York Times and the ACLU are psychologically abnormal and thus do not root for the lives of their countrymen over the lives or even the sensibilities of our enemies. After all, to them, many conservative Americans are the enemy, and those abroad wishing to punish us are kindred spirits.
Alas, what is so striking, now, about these left-wing groups is their amorality, their comfort with it. Human Rights Watch and Center for Constitutional Rights have become misnomers for groups preoccupied with the sensibilities of jihadist terrorists hell-bent on killing innocent Americans yet completely unmoved about the horrific torture of American servicemen and kidnapped Israeli soldiers. They’ve spent the last two weeks using contributions from naïve donors to mourn the hanging of Saddam Hussein. How safe we must all feel knowing they are watching out for the human rights of terrorists and making sure Islamists are provided more constitutional protections than they are willing to grant our President, the Commander in chief.
Brilliant! We should pray that all of our political leaders would be blessed with such moral clarity!
posted by hondo at 10:02 PM
4 Comments:
What a fantastic philosophy of looking out for others first. I would love to have you as my seat mate on a failing jet. I'd have my mask on while you help other people and suffocate.
So human rights groups are now equated to Freddie Krueger? Statements like this are why the radical right, including your brand of Christian Conservativism, has completely lost all credibility with the American mainstream. Human Rights Watch and ACLU are not trying to “derail our attempts at defending ourselves.” Saying so is just ignorantly inflammatory; but then that’s what you guys do best. You are ignorant and you are full of hate. That’s not a “liberal lie.” That’s your track record.
So now employing Geneva convention and the Law of Armed Conflict are “impossibly high and foolish standards”? Those laws are in place to protect American war-fighters too. If we violate those laws, as we have done, then we create an even a greater risk to ourselves.
So which group said that “the only place in the world where torture is taking place is at Gitmo” and “the only victims today of cruelty are Islamic terrorists” and “crowds in the Arab street” are “peace-loving”? Oh, that would be no one; except right wing propagandist spreading hate because American voters have finally woken up and told the far right to go fuck themselves. And who said “those abroad wishing to punish us are kindred spirits”? This is typical of the propaganda and lies that the lunatic right resort to when they run out of logical argument.
“We Americans do not torture for sheer barbaric enjoyment”? Now that’s not wholly true is it? Some do, and when they are caught we put them in jail, like the American torturers at Abu Ghraib. Want to see some examples? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Abu_Ghraib_53.jpg and http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:AG-8.jpg
One thing is true, “In the Muslim world, victims are left with permanent defacing of the human body such as cut off fingers, ears, noses, gouged out eyes, and scars and incinerations from fire that remain with the victim for life.” That is true in religious-states like our allies Saudi Arabia. That’s why our founding fathers wisely added the concept a wall of separation between church and state; to protect us American citizens from those of you arrogantly wanting to impose your fairy-tale religious superstitions on the rest of us through whatever means you can, including the law. Because you don’t get it!
Human rights groups are acting so that we do “treat prisoners as human beings.” That’s what separates us, an enlightened society, from barbaric religious-states. They don’t have effective human rights groups to ensure fairness. That is American. And Spero’s implication that the left is anti-American is just plain wrong; much like your blog Hondo.
And who “spent the last two weeks using contributions from naïve donors to mourn the hanging of Saddam Hussein”? Who the hell has mourned Hussein’s hanging? That was your accusation to readers of truthdig.com Hondo. That’s why you got the appropriate (and sometimes inappropriate) reactions of disgust with you Hondo. It’s the radical right that has “chosen the side of evil” Hondo. It’s the radical right whose “opinions shouldn’t matter.” And increasingly they don’t.
Rightwing rhetoric continually makes you guys look as if you don’t believe in human-rights. Except for some sick-ass fixation with owning your guns…not for the purpose of maintaining a well-regulated militia…but out of some macho John Wayne wannabe fantasy to counter low self esteem and doubts about manliness, and often at the expense of young children who find your guns and inadvertently kill their friends and themselves. That’s price you on the right are willing to accept to keep your guns…loss of children’s lives. And don’t try to insult me with your “sissy” name calling. I have picked up a gun, left my wife and kids, and gone off to the fight while you armchair politics-warriors sit at home and “sacrifice” your “peace of mind.” I train with firearms. I cannot see that I will ever choose to own a personal firearm. And most of those I know who do own personal guns do so because they are to scared to fight by hand. They are motivated by fear, like much of rightwing policy. And the product of the radical right, and the fraudulent-christian-inspired political movement, are homegrown non-muslim American terrorist like Timothy McVeigh and Eric Rudolph and Army of God and James Kopp and Christian Identity and Posse Comitatus. But wait Hondo, you said “all terrorist ARE muslim.” Remember? That was a fundamental tenant to your view that Americans should be concerned about Congressman Ellison because his religion is Islam.
Speaking of John Wayne, didn’t he play a character named Hondo? I think I might be on to something… I think you should check out this link: http://lovegodsway.org/GayBands Ooops, sorry, wrong link. That was my link to bands that make you gay as compiled by christians (just in case I decide to change my hetero ways). But what a great example of radical right christian lunacy! I meant to check out this link (but you have to pay for it): http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/abs/10.1111/j.0022-3840.2005.00146.x
Anyway, I’m through with your blog Hondo. I might continue to post as opposition to you spreading your conservative lies, but I doubt it. I don’t think anyone reads your blog except you, me, and ARMED Henry. And even he has pleaded with you to be more tolerant…stop your hating. Maybe you should go shit-stir on truthdig again to get some hits. Or about crooksandliars.com?
Anonymous,
If this is your first visit to Hondo's blog, welcome inside the zoo of christian consevratives (a true oxymoron as demonstrated by most of those calling themselves "christian conservatives"). Here you will get a fasinatng insight into the workings of the bizarre fact-fighting rightwing mind.
To Hondo's credit, he is a pretty resourceful guy who can articulate the conservative viewpoint in a thought provoking way when he's not busy stereotyping his guest visitors and throwing around insults. Or when he is not just misrepresenting facts.
For example, Hondo calls the separation of church and state a myth, but when backed into an intellectual corner, he povides a link to the Library of Congress's article of the letter that Thomas Jefferson wrote when he himself coined the phrase, and then Hondo changes the course of his argument. In other words, Hondo would rather initially deny that the concept of church-state separation exist, even though he knows it does, than actually discuss what the concept means.
Also, Hondo bought to light, and I genuinly thank Hondo for this, the act that Planned Parenthood have been selling a T-shirt that celebrates the act of aborting a fetus. Now I support womens' right to choose, but even I think that is in very poor taste by Planned Parenthood. Here is their own statement about the boastful, in-your-face- "I had an abortion" T-shirt: http://www.plannedparenthood.org/news-articles-press/politics-policy-issues/abortion-shirts-11253.htm On the other hand, Hondo has been silent on the coservative " I bomb Iran" T-shirt, celebrating violence: http://www.casualconservative.com/ibombiran.html
Just beware that if you comment in any depth in a serious way, Hondo has a tendancy to take what you say and mis-state it in a future post while crediting it back to you. He has done it to me twice now.
So anonymous, if you are going to hang around this blog, Hondo does have something to offer, but you just have to get though all the stored-up hate and misrepresentation of facts to find it sometimes.
Hondo-Watch, almost everything you said in your comments is proveably false. Let the lesson begin.
First, you say that my brand of Christian conservatism has lost credibility with the mainstream? False. Christian conservatism believes that we must WIN in Iraq. The majority agrees. Christian conservatives believe that our borders must be secured, illegal immigration stopped, and English made the official language of the United States. The majority agrees. Christian conservatives oppose gay marriage. The majority agrees. Christian conservatives believe in lower taxes and smaller, cheaper government. The majority agrees. I could go on, but you get the point,
Second, you sau that Human Rights Watch and the ACLU are not trying to derail our attempts at defending ourselves. False again. They oppose the Patriot Act, even though our federal law, federal case law, and the writings of our Founding Fathers, and a majority of Americans support it. They oppose coercive interrogation of terrorists, yet say NOTHING about the atrocities committed by Islamofascists. At every turn, these groups have done nothing but undermine the war effort. A radical lefty like yourself is blind to that tragic fact, yet it remains a fact.
You say that the Geneva Convention and the Law of Armed Conflicts protect American soldiers? Good grief, liberal scarecrow, ask the wizard for a brain! Somebody forgot to send that memo to the Islamofascits who continue to maim and torture, regardless of international law, and regardless of what we do. We could do the Murtha Cut-And-Run Boogie, and the terrorists would simply be emboldened to come here to commit their atrocities.
Next, you deceptively and dishonestly alter a quote from the article to make it sound as if the good rabbi was lying. Ain't that just the way with liberals! The exact quote is, "Listening to them, one comes away believing that the only place in the world where torture is taking place is at Gitmo and that the only victims today of cruelty are Islamic terrorists and the 'peace-loving' crowds in the Arab street." The rabbi is alluding to the point I made in the previous paragraph--devotees of The Insane Rights Watch only complain about perceived injustices committed by Americans, and ignore real atrocities committed by Islamic terrorists. That's a true statement that can't be refuted.
You said that the American voter told the far right to go f__ themselves. Wrong again, liberal liar! The Republicans voted out of office were all replaced (with only 2 or 3 exceptions) by Democrats who ran as conservatives. Look it up! You will see that I am right. Also, take a look at the Connecticut senatorial election. That's a classic illustration of what voters in a blue state think of your brand of liberalism. That's the truth!
Next, you talk about "torture" at Abu Graib. While tragic and illegal, what happened there was an aberration, and not nearly as tragic as the atrocities committed by Islamic terrorists. To try to equate the two is the height of ignorance!
Next, you go back to the classic liberal fairy tale of "separation of church and state." I have refuted that myth so many times on this blog that it pains me to have to repeat myself. When Thomas Jefferson coined that phrase, he was saying to the Danbury Baptists that the federal government had no business making Baptists or Methodists or any other denomination the official religion of a state. That was up to the individual state. He most certainly DID NOT mean that public expressions of Christian faith are forbidden. The Library of Congress website shows that, and your intentional distortion of what is on that site won't change the truth.
Rabbi Sper is right when he says that the radical left is Anti-American. Jimmy Carter is a classic example of how you people operate. He travels around the world supporting each and every monstrous, inhuman despot out there that hates America, and he tells them and their people how evil the United States is. Hey, if that's what all of you wacky liberals believe, more power to you. How about all of you pack up and move to Cuba, where everything is so groovy?
Who spent the last two weeks mourning the hanging of Saddam? The radical left! Truthdig.com was a prime example. There wasn't one single article on that site praising the extermination of that monster, only typical socialist rhetoric condemning everyone who had a hand in bringing the monster to justice. That's a fact, and it's beyond dispute!
Next, you engage in personal attacks against those who choose to own firearms. Very interesting! The Second Amendment specifically says we have the right to own guns. It doesn't require you to own one, yet you want to take away a right from me that the Constitution specifically grants to me. Who is anti-freedom? You radical lefty types are dangerous!
That's about all of the teaching I have the energy for right now. I'm not surprised that you won't be visiting here anymore, Hondo-Watch. Many of the liberal crackpots get frustrated with seeing me blow up their liberal lies with conservative truth. By the way, 1696 visitors to my blog since Thanksgiving (see the counter at the bottom) refutes the last lie that you told in your comments. Happy trails, Hondo-Watch! I hope the meds finally kick in!
Post a Comment
<< Home