Reflections From a Murky Pond

How could President Obama make sure that he and his administration achieve their agenda for the American automotive industry’s restructuring? While his government now “owns” major interests in GM and Chrysler, they’re both still technically private companies that can set their own policies.

The easy answer is for Obama and his government is to use American tax dollars to start a new automobile manufacturer and buy out the remaining healthy assets of GM and/or Chrysler. Apparently that is what he is planning on doing!

Driving America To The Edge…And Beyond

Many Americans feared that the Automobile Bail-Out would lead to nationalization of the Americans auto industry. In response to those fears, the Liberals heaped scorn upon the concerned. Sadly for America, it looks like we were right to be afraid. Welcome to Obama Motors.

NEW YORK, May 19 (Reuters) – General Motors Corp’s (GM.N) plan for a bankruptcy filing involves a quick sale of the company’s healthy assets to a new company initially owned by the U.S. government, a source familiar with the situation said on Tuesday.

Supposedly it’s GM’s plan, but it’s Obama and his Liberals who have the money – our money – that GM needs to survive – so who’s deciding what going happen? The government under Obama, that’s who. America has already heard about how Obama and his team are controlling the Chrysler pseudo-bankruptcy.

Of course this new company – Obama Motors? Government Motors? USSA Auto? – won’t be wholly owned by the US government. They’ll be splitting it with the UAW, but the government will likely hold the majority of control.

The government’s plans include giving stakes in the new company to GM’s union and bondholders, although the ownership structure of the company is still being negotiated, said the source who is familiar with the company’s plans.

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The board of the new company would be established with the tacit approval of the government. Fritz Henderson, who took the helm of GM earlier this year after the government pushed out Rick Wagoner, would likely head the new company, the source said.

There’s not that much else to say on this topic other than this is a very bad thing for America and it is very likely to come to pass.

One has to admit that President Obama has a certain “coolness” and definitely has sense of humor that he is not ashamed to share with the American public. Of course what President Obama gets a chuckle out of doesn’t necessarily equally amuse large swaths of the American population.

Glenn McCoy – Obama Is Laughing Because…

The again, Daniel Ortega running down America, Wanda Sykes joking about 9/11, and various Americans dying of organ failure are the sorts of thing that another large swath of the residents of America – Liberals and some minorities – do find hilarious, or at least worth a chuckle over a snifter of Cognac or Armagnac during the course of a well-heeled dinner party.

Also, anyone – myself included – would be laughing if they had President Obama’s power combined with his lack of accountability. The combination of probably not “being allowed” to be seen as a failure combined with a convenient scapegoat is a heady mix sure to bring a smile or chuckle to anyone in that enviable position.

In America we’ve all heard the older generation say how it was so much harder growing up in their day. Our children may well not be subject to such diatribes.

Jeff Stahler – When I was your age I had it much easier.

There’s a whole lot that can and should be said – shouted in rage unto the heavens even – against President Obama’s economic policies which are beggaring America, but one good legacy that might be achieved by his efforts is that our children and our children’s children will never have to hear how much worse it was our day. 😉

So there actually is Change We Can Believe In…

In the ongoing struggle of the Liberals against the now past administration of President George W. Bush the argument over the interrogation of the terrorists held at the Guantanamo Bay Detention Facility (Gitmo) continues to rage. The Liberals are determined to see President Bush, Vice-President Cheney, and a host of other Americans tried for the crime of torture.

Conservatives are similarly determined that, if these people are tried on the charges of torture, then Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and a number of other Democrats who knew of the techniques being used and failed to dissent despite having oversight of the proceedings are tried as well.

Since both sides – Liberal and Conservative – of the argument are trying to use the law to attack their enemies, it behooves us to know that law. Under United States law torture is a federal crime and is defined under Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C of the US Code:

§ 2340. Definitions

(1) “torture” means an act committed by a person acting under the color of law specifically intended to inflict severe physical or mental pain or suffering (other than pain or suffering incidental to lawful sanctions) upon another person within his custody or physical control;

(2) “severe mental pain or suffering” means the prolonged mental harm caused by or resulting from—

(A) the intentional infliction or threatened infliction of severe physical pain or suffering;
(B) the administration or application, or threatened administration or application, of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or the personality;
(C) the threat of imminent death; or
(D) the threat that another person will imminently be subjected to death, severe physical pain or suffering, or the administration or application of mind-altering substances or other procedures calculated to disrupt profoundly the senses or personality; and

(3) “United States” means the several States of the United States, the District of Columbia, and the commonwealths, territories, and possessions of the United States.

§ 2340A. Torture

(a) Offense.— Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than 20 years, or both, and if death results to any person from conduct prohibited by this subsection, shall be punished by death or imprisoned for any term of years or for life.

(b) Jurisdiction.— There is jurisdiction over the activity prohibited in subsection (a) if—

(1) the alleged offender is a national of the United States; or
(2) the alleged offender is present in the United States, irrespective of the nationality of the victim or alleged offender.

(c) Conspiracy.— A person who conspires to commit an offense under this section shall be subject to the same penalties (other than the penalty of death) as the penalties prescribed for the offense, the commission of which was the object of the conspiracy.

§ 2340B. Exclusive remedies

Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as precluding the application of State or local laws on the same subject, nor shall anything in this chapter be construed as creating any substantive or procedural right enforceable by law by any party in any civil proceeding.

Read the law as it is written above (please, refer to the source for proof) and either weep, rage, or laugh as it pleases you to do. Anyone’s hope of prosecuting anyone involved in what happened at Gitmo is in vain, dashed to oblivion upon the reality of American law.

Let us start with the legal definition of torture.  The “enhanced interrogation techniques” used at Gitmo do not meet the legal definition of torture under Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C, § 2340 of the US Code. The US Code specifically defines torture as an “an act committed by a person acting under the color of law.”

To the best of my knowledge and the consternation of many Liberals, nothing done at Gitmo was being done under the Color of Law.  Everything done at Gitmo was extra-judicial in nature and therefor nobody was operating under the Color of Law.

Then there’s the specifics of the offense of torture. The “enhanced interrogation techniques” used at Gitmo do not meet the legal definition of torture under Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C, § 2340A of the US Code. The US Code specifically define a person subject to being charged with the offense of torture as, “Whoever outside the United States commits or attempts to commit torture….” This means that the statute only applies to actions that take place outside of America.

The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay is a US possession and therefor qualifies as being within the United States per Title 18, Part I, Chapter 113C, § 2340 of the US Code.  Nobody at Gitmo was outside of the United States for the purposes of the statute and so they cannot be charged under it.

So…we can’t prosecute anyone under US law for “torturing” the illegal combatants and terrorists held at Gitmo. US law is written in such a way as to prevent this from happening.

Do you ever wonder where your life went and/or how you spent your life and upon what? By that I mean do you ever wonder to what your life went and in what portions?

I’m not speaking of some sort of “midlife crisis,” nor am I speaking of the slow, measured pacing from birth to grave that is governed by the implacable cadences of time and entropy. I’m speaking of this in a more Einsteinian relativistic manner based on the perception of time, interest or passion, and effort.

If you spend two hours speaking with a beautiful woman, you feel, at the end of the two hours that you’ve spent only two minutes with her; while if you spend two minutes sitting on hot tin, you feel you’ve spent two days!

— Albert Einstein
Explaining the Theory of Relativity

Throughout our existence we spend our lives, either actively or passively, in various pursuit. Whether we have so profligately or miserly it is the same; we have, through our efforts and attention or inattention, spent the measure of our respective spans on the things we have done, thought of, and cared about.

Do you consider these things and how you’ve spent your time pursuing them? If so, by what measure or by what scales do you measure them to tally them up so as to determine the return on your investment.

Do you ever wonder if the Gods have their own scales and measures and if they in their turn measure our return in their investment of our lives?