Editorial

War and the Marquis of Queensberry Rules

David A. Lombardo

Georges Clemenceau wrote, "War is too serious a matter to entrust to military men." While it is a time-honored quote from the early 20th century French prime minister, I beg to differ. I would agree that the decision to go to war is too serious a matter to entrust to military men, but fighting a war should never be controlled by anyone sitting safely in an air conditioned room in Washington. 

Generals are like fighting pit bulls. You keep them locked up, out of view, and feed them red meat until the decision is made to go to war, then you unlock the cage and get the hell out of the way because, as Marcus Tullius Cicero wrote, "Laws are inoperative in war."

The problem with our government is it has devolved into a group of effete, facile, narcissistic Brahmans who have, over half a century, conditioned the body politic to care more about the latest electronic toy and baby seals than the perpetuity of what was once the greatest nation on Earth.

We have, as a culture, been trained in our schools and by our media to think that freedom-loving, self-reliant individuals are the problem and those that put the words "honor killing" and "woman" in the same sentence are misunderstood and have a legitimate grievance against everyone else on Earth. 

Well, here's the truth as I see it. They are scurrilous, self-righteous, loathsome bottom-feeding psychotics that should be exterminated. The world would be a better place for it, and both women and goats could breathe a sigh of relief.

Anything we can do to facilitate the revocation of their birth certificates should be the highest priority of any sane country that has pulled itself out of the dark ages, which brings me to the point: the CIA using enhanced interrogation techniques. 

First of all, the phrase "enhanced interrogation techniques" is politically correct terminology; it's torture, plain and simple. And more power to the CIA in my opinion. Before you start with the email, let me assure you I've heard the arguments: "We're a nation of laws," and "We are morally superior and shouldn't allow them to drag us down to their level." That's a crock of crap most commonly uttered by those who have never actually looked evil in the eye. Armchair philosophy doesn't do much for the parent, child, spouse or sibling you're watching being beheaded on the evening news. 

British Sea Lord John Fisher wrote, "The essence of war is violence. Moderation in war is imbecility." And here's a news flash: I don't care if the CIA got any useful information. What I do care about is that the indigenous population of every other country on the planet thinks Americans are the best friend possible and the worst enemy imaginable. I want people to wet their pants if someone suggests to them they should take an American hostage or, God forbid, illegally enter our country with intent to do harm. I want them to know as a certainty that we will treat them twice as badly as they treat us and with reckless abandon. 

What did Hiroshima, Nagasaki and Dresden all have in common? They demoralized the population and brought a war to an end. The very idea of avoiding collateral damage was ridiculous. On the contrary: make everyone suffer until they lose the will to fight. War is cruelty. There's no use trying to reform it; the crueler it is the sooner it will be over. The difference is America has lost its will to be the most powerful nation on Earth, and our enemy is using our own liberal anti-war mentality against us, assuring them of a win if we don't put an end to this politically correct outlook on how to prosecute a war. 

Waterboarding, sleep deprivation, chaining prisoners up in stress positions and all the other complaints of the liberal left sound like pretty good ideas to me, and excuse me, they pale in comparison to having your head sawn off with a machete. 

I don't find any room there that warrants the ideology of fighting a war by Marquis of Queensberry Rules. Here's the inexorable fact of war: the most depraved, morally-devoid belligerent sets the rules of engagement, not a group of senators in an air conditioned office behind the capitol guard. You either play by their rules or you lose. And here's a news flash: at the moment, we're losing. 

CCRKBA calls for full disclosure of

ASLGVP membership and funding

In response to this week's launch of a new gun control organization consisting of state legislators from all 50 states plus Puerto Rico, the Citizens Committee for the Right to Keep and Bear Arms today called on the American State Legislators for Gun Violence Prevention to immediately publish a roster of their members and disclose their funding sources. "Private lobbying organizations might expect to have some degree of privacy," said CCRKBA Chairman Alan M. Gottlieb, "but when an organization consists of elected public officials, there must be complete transparency. The public deserves to know who belongs to this organization and who is providing financial support." Reuters reported that the ASLGVP had not released information on its preliminary donors, acknowledging only that fundraising efforts are in progress. Another report said that the group had not yet published a list of members, said to number around 200 lawmakers, over concerns about "political backlash." The group was launched by Democratic New York Assemblyman Brian Kavanagh. "If these state lawmakers are worried about political backlash back home," Gottlieb observed, "they must have good reason for that. Reports say Kavanagh founded this group because Congress has not adopted certain gun control measures. This has become the argument of the gun prohibition lobby. They failed to pressure Congress, so now the strategy is to attack gun rights at the state level, where presumably members of this new anti-gun lawmakers' group will push their gun control agenda through the state legislatures."

Beloit's top cop backs off

searching homes for toy guns

Buckling under the pressure of a tidal wave of social media, Beloit, Wisconsin, Police Chief Norm Jacobs has changed his mind about conducting warrantless searches of people's homes searching for guns on the belief that it would turn up firearms residents didn't know they had and guns linked to crimes. "Maybe we'll find a toy gun that's been altered by a youngster in the house-and we know the tragedies that can occur there on occasion," Jacobs said. "Gun violence is like Ebola, and a home inspection is like a vaccine to build up the city's immune system. Gun violence is as serious as the Ebola virus is being represented in the media, and we should fight it using the tools that we've learned from our health providers," he told Wisconsin Public Radio. According to Examiner.com, Beloit City Manager Larry Arft announced the end of Jacobs' program by issuing the following statement: "While the program was strictly voluntary and required a signed release before police could enter a residence, numerous individuals have expressed concerns about the fact that people's homes would be inspected or searched as part of the process." Once again, citizens are standing up to government overreach and winning.