- It simply amazes me to watch our military in action as
they cut through Iraqi defenses like a hot razor through melted butter.
Liberate the Iraqi people is the mantra and everyone joining in the chant
seems driven to free these poor down trodden 3rd world troglodytes.
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- Certainly we agree that Saddam is a murderer, tyrant,
a sociopath. Saddam is a psychotic mad man who really does need to be exterminated.
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- Let's look a bit deeper into the Iraqi culture and make
a few comparisons.
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- The Iraqis don't pay any direct taxes, have minimum restrictions
on starting businesses, free medical care from cradle to grave, no property
taxes, no sales taxes, minimal zoning and planning laws, free college education
with daily meals provided in the campus cafeteria. Iraqi's are encouraged
to own guns, have virtually no crime, no homeless, (The Bedouin choose
their nomadic lifestyle) Iraqis are free to travel, write, create, make
art and worship their God.
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- The state funds it all with natural resource development.
I could go on but I think the picture is clear. So where's the tyranny?
-
- The one area where there is no freedom is in the political
arena where absolute faith and loyalty to Saddam's regime is required or
else. The brutality is well recorded, the torture, murders, rapes and violent
resolutions. No jury of peers, No objective judge, sheer punishment without
regard for justice.
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- Bottom line, the Iraqi people are controlled by fear.
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- Last Thursday and incident in my offices caused me to
make some mental comparisons. Bernice, wife of Monte one of our sales staff
came rushing into the office in a panic. It was clear that she was terrified,
pale face, clammy skin, shaking and clearly frustrated. She looked as though
she had been chased by Saddam's muggers and narrowly escaped. Bernice is
in her early 60's, a gentle and kindly woman, 5'9" tall, 115 pounds,
she's committed to the Lord and though her life has met with difficult
challenges over the past several years, she never shows it. An all American
girl, born on a ranch in Montana, well traveled, a working woman who helped
her husband run a popular downtown upscale shoe store for many years, raised
two children who are successful and looks forward to being a grandma.
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- Yet here she was, wringing with fear, shaking and distraught.
I asked her "What's wrong"? "You look like you just saw
a ghost" I said. She responded"The taxes! I have to get these
forms out and I can't be late and I need to get Monte to sign them so I
can mail them tonight" Trembling, out of breath clearly frightened.
(she had mistakenly thought April first was the deadline).
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- At that moment all of the things that irritate me as
an American and a businessman began racing through my mind. The horrendous
tax burden I carry, the way taxes are collected, the fear we all share
every April 15.
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- I began thinking about Ruby Ridge, Waco, Donald Scott,
long retired stories of government tyranny. I got mad, really mad.
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- Zoning, planning and building laws and restrictions,
parental authority being undermined by the state, anonymous phone calls
bringing out the state child snatchers, people being jailed for not paying
taxes, smoking pot, loss of property rights, the regulations and hurdles
put in front of start up businesses, the idiotic bureaucrats wielding their
authority like a slave masters whip. I got mad, really mad.
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- Our hired help has run amuck.
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- America has more laws and restrictions on the books than
any country on earth. More people are incarcerated in America then red
China and Russia combined. More stupidity flows from our supposed free
and democratic system than ever envisioned by any civilization in world
history.
-
- Even the toilet in your bathroom is regulated now and
they can put contractors or property owners in jail or fine them substantially
if they put a real toilet in. This is freedom they tell me.
-
- Seat belts, kiddy car seats, motorcycle helmets, laws
for child rearing and discipline, firearms regulations, sign codes, licenses,
permits and government permission is required for virtually everything
we do. Permission needed to peaceably assemble?, Permission to speak and
time restrictions on public testimony at open meetings? Warrant-less searches,
civil forfeitures, hocus pocus - phony baloney.
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- It's illegal to be out in public without your "papers".
Identification laws prohibit our right to anonymity. If a policeman asks
who you are he/she can throw you in jail for simply refusing to cough up
your papers and cooperate whether you are breaking the law or just casually
resting on your front porch. You will submit to the hired help or face
the consequences. As for your drivers license or I.D. card ? Don't leave
home without it!
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- People are routinely denied due process, jury trials,
and competent legal council. Tossed in jail on trumped up charges and held
on a lie. In court the police are always right even if their testimony
is in direct conflict with their written reports. They aren't allowed in
court as evidence. Luckily most police are honest, but many aren't and
there isn't anything you can do about itnothing. The hired help, those
thankless bureaucrats, have the power and use it with a vengeance everyday
against unwitting Americans for no other reason than the hired help wanting
to send their message of fear to the rest of the "village".
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- How often have you been casually driving along and spotted
a police car in your mirror, grabbed for you seat belt, worried if you
had your license, registration, proof of insurance, "your Papers"
in order. Is that really freedom? I wonder how many car wrecks causing
death and injury result from that tyranny? Will the bureaucrats fund that
study?
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- In many places smoking is now virtually a crime, don't
drink in public because police are frequenting bars looking for intoxicated
folks, dragging them outside and field testing then citing or arresting
them in the parking lot for being drunk in public.
-
- In Bellville Illinois the police are wandering around
with code enforcement officers walking into private homes un-announced
and without warrants to check "occupancy levels"? Those who ask
questions or interfere are being dragged off to jail or fined for interfering
with a code enforcement officer in the midst of his/her duties?
-
- Criminal gangs run free throughout America holding millions
of people hostage in their own homes after dark and little is being done
to stop it. Keeps the critters controlled I suppose. Narcotics flow from
Mexico through tunnels unabated into the bodies of our children and there
is no real effort to stop them. Blame the demand they say, not the suppliers?
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- The American tax collection system sucks. It's driven
by the same kind of fear Saddam uses to control Iraq. I am ashamed to be
a willing participant in the tax out of fear game. I am not opposed to
paying my fair share, I am really satisfied that my tax dollars have clearly
been well spent on the awesome military we now know is undeniably the best
in the world. I am happy to have made my meager contribution. But, I don't
like the collection tactics. They must be changed.
-
- Why is it that backwater nations like Kuwait and Iraq
are able to use their natural resources to the advantage of the people
and in our supposed free country the resources are locked up by whacko
environmentalists for all eternity, blocked from usage by laws, court orders
and Green Nazi propaganda? Can't we exploit some of our bountiful resources
to finance government and lessen the chains of tax tyranny here in America?
Can't we find a way to collect taxes without scaring the hell out of little
old ladies? Can't we?
-
- Moral relativism has replaced old-fashioned truth and
right and wrong depend on your personal twisted code of situational ethics.
Good is bad, bad is good. Book that criticizes Federal Reserve is banned,
while smut shops are allowed under freedom of speech.
-
- Nafta, Gatt, the WTO, Free trade was going to solve all
of our problems. Anyone looked at the economy lately? Notice how the phony
free trade issue never comes up?
-
- We were promised that the abandonment of our industrial
base and redistribution of labor jobs overseas would be offset by growth
in information technology jobs (IT). But the tax incentives and labor costs
have major companies including Ross Perot's EDS hiring out those IT jobs
in places like India? Jobs by the millions given to other countries.
-
- So much for promises!
-
- We have nearly a one half trillion dollar trade deficit?
We are told deficits are good? Try that one on your bank the next time
you bounce a check! Let's get real here folks!
-
- Banks are demanding fingerprints to cash their own checks?
Even our local animal hospital demands your thumbprint now if you write
a check.
-
- I asked myself as Bernice left the office the other day
just how many people die from heart attacks, strokes, panic attacks and
suicide every year due to government intervention. I don't suppose the
bureaucrats have funded that research project yet?
-
- I used to laugh at the Libertarians. Liberty I thought
came with due diligence and a strong adherence to common principles and
historically established community standards. I think I am right, but the
Libertarian message is looking better to me all the time.
-
- I just want my freedom back. I don't want to overthrow
the government, start a civil war, protest in the streets or terrorize
my fellow Americans. I just want my freedom back!
-
- I am proud of our President and his efforts to free the
Iraqi people. I pray we succeed and open the door for democratic forms
of government to spread to the rest of the world, especially the Middle
East and Northern Africa.
-
- I am haunted however by that age-old adage "be careful
what you ask foryou might just get it".
-
- I am praying for our success, Our President, the troops
and their families, the Iraqi innocents and for the leaders of this war
effort.
-
- But, I would ask you to consider what freedom is, and
what it isn't. Let your congressman/woman and President Bush hear our call
to liberate America too, liberate America next..
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- Otherwise what's the point?
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