There'll Be Heck To Pay. HECK, I Tell Ya!!

The International Committee of the Red Cross is "concerned" about the rescuers of the hostages held by the FARC in Colombia displaying the Red Cross symbol. According to the Red Cross, the use of its symbol is regulated by "international humanitarian law," whatever that is, and its misuse is prohibited.

This raises a few questions:

If the rescuers had actually been FARC operatives simply transferring the captives to another prison camp, would the Red Cross still object to the use of their symbol?

Is the Red Cross more interested in the technicalities of the use of their symbol, or the rescue of hostages from terrorists?

What punishment should the rescuers be made to suffer?

Also, it just seems a little strange that none of the terrorists on the ground who handed over the hostages to the rescue team seemed too concerned that "Red Cross personnel" were involved in what they thought was just another one of their prisoner transfers. Does this mean that the Red Cross is routinely involved in FARC activities?

War On Drugs

Here is another example of what the "war on drugs" has come to. A Maryland mayor's house raided by police, his dogs shot, and his family traumatized.

If this report is accurate, it just goes to show what can happen to anyone. It could have been worse. Many people, myself included, take the security of their homes seriously and will shoot first and ask questions later if someone comes busting through the front door.

No one wants to harm a law enforcement officer who is just doing his job, but when the door crashes open, the homeowner doesn't know who is breaking in. With the number of home invasion incidents reported in the news, the potential victim can't afford to take a chance on it being just an overzealous bunch of cops.

With $30 billion spent annually on the "war on drugs," you'd think it would have been won by now. So what do we have to show for all the money and effort expended to rid our country of dangerous drugs? Well, more drugs and a lot of people in jail. It's a lot like the time they decided to make alcohol illegal in America. The result was .... more alcohol and a lot of people in jail. Oh, yeah, and the birth of organized crime.

Maybe it's time to rethink this perpetual problem. We already know that the traditional methods of dealing with this type of situation do no good and, in fact, make the problem even worse.

Illegal drugs aren't going away as long as people want them, and no one wants America to continue down the road to becoming a police state.

I know, we're pretty far down that road already.

Made In China

On ABC News' Primetime tonight, Bob Woodruff gave a special report on China. The Chinese government's propaganda office must have assisted in writing it, because the program avoided any hint of criticism of the communist country.

One quote in particular was especially infuriating: "Americans can't seem to get enough of what China produces." Aaarrgghhh!!!!

We can't seem to get enough? Time for a reality check, Bob. We get much more than enough.

Truth is, Americans can't find anything to buy that isn't made in China.

American capitalists are digging their own graves (and ours, too) by having more and more of their products made in Chinese factories rather than in the U.S. As we lose our domestic manufacturing capacity and become more dependent on other countries to provide the products we need, our vulnerability to foreign economic intimidation increases (like it has with oil).

Lower prices today will turn into economic slavery in the not too distant future. Mark my words.