Quote of the Day
by Steven D
Tue Mar 11th, 2008 at 08:04:41 AM EST
This is attributed to Lao Tzu (also referred to as Lao Tse) and comes from the Tao Te Ching, Chapter 31:
Weapons are the tools of violence; all decent men detest them.
Weapons are the tools of fear; a decent man will avoid them except in the direst necessity and, if compelled, will use them only with the utmost restraint. Peace is his highest value. If the peace has been shattered, how can he be content? His enemies are not demons, but human beings like himself. He doesn't wish them personal harm. Nor does he rejoice in victory. How could he rejoice in victory and delight in the slaughter of men?
He enters a battle gravely, with sorrow and with great compassion, as if he were attending a funeral.
There has been a lot of discussion recently about the
"Commander-in-Chief threshold" and whether each of the candidates has met that standard yet. It seems that the threshold is based loosely on whether or not a Presidential candidate has the experience and the willingness to send American forces to war. But in my view, the threshold, if we assume there is one,
should not be about anyone's willingness to deploy troops in combat. If it means anything at all, it should mean whether a potential President has the courage and the judgment needed to recognize that war is a "last resort" and is able resist the easy and popular urge to go to war when it is unnecessary. For that is what the Tao Te Ching teaches us -- that
peace is the highest virtue, and that war is not, and never should be, the first solution to any problem we have with another nation.
...........
Senators
McCain and Clinton failed their in their oath to protect the Constitution when they gave Bush the unfettered ability to wage war. They failed their duty to their country when they set in motion the series of events that has led to the catastrophe in Iraq, where thousands have died, thousands more have been wounded or maimed and millions have been made homeless. In short, at the only time it mattered, when their voices should have been raised, and their votes cast, in opposition to the greatest single strategic mistake in the history of our country, they failed to lead. They failed the meet the threshold of what I require from the President of the United States.
Whether out of party loyalty, political expediency or simply the exercise of poor judgment they both failed, and authorized a war that should never have been fought.I do not know what Senator Obama would have done had he been in the Senate in October of 2002. All we know is that he spoke out against the war at the time. However,
we do know that the "experience" of Senators McCain and Clinton was of little benefit to them. They chose to go to war, an aggressive war, a war that was illegal under international law. It is no excuse now to say that everyone was misled by President Bush at the time, for as Senator Byrd's statement in October 2002 makes clear, that was simply not true.
http://authforce.liberatedtext.org/021010/cr10oc02-70_01.htmlNo, if anything, Senators Clinton and McCain have shown us all that their "experience" and their inability to learn from the mistake they both made does not qualify them for the high office they seek. At the very least, in my opinion, it shows that whatever the "Commander in Chief threshold" is, neither of them has met that standard.
more at:
http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2008/3/11/8441/78657
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