Letter to Senator Durbin

Senator Durbin,

The Geneva Convention states that members of irregular militias qualify for prisoner-of-war status if their military organization satisfies four criteria:

(a) that of being commanded by a person responsible for his subordinates
(b) that of having a fixed distinctive sign recognizable at a distance
(c) that of carrying arms openly
(d) that of conducting their operations in accordance with the laws and customs of war

If you think the Al Qaeda, Taliban, or even Iraqi “insurgents” meet the criteria above, then you are seriously deluded. The administration sees these evil men in the proper sense of the Geneva Conventions – Unlawful Combatants. I support that designation because it is true. Not only are your statements that President Bush has ignored the Geneva Conventions false, you sir, are the one ignorant of the laws.

Our nation is well within our rights to not only inter unlawful combatants but to execute them.

Your contention that terrorists held by U.S. forces should be afforded prisoner of war status serves to legitimize their illegal methods and tactics, not only against our troops who do fight by the rules of war, but to innocent civilians who are most often the targets of these terrorists. If you seek any credibility on this issue, you should acknowledge terrorists as the unlawful combatants they are.

Dave Calder

Envy

Powerline’s recent post “Reflections On How Things Keep Getting Better” coincided with similar thoughts I’ve had on the destructive nature of envy. I recalled taking my kids home from Sunday School years ago where two had popcorn balls and one didn’t; the unfortunate one had braces and had to turn the treat down. Naturally this was disappointing. We had an interesting conversation revealing an all too common feature of envy:

“Its not fair”, she said, “they get popcorn balls but I can’t have any!”

“I know you are disappointed, but there are many foods you can’t eat right now” I replied

“Well it’s still not fair and they shouldn’t be able to have them either!”

To make things right for this young girl would require her brother and sister not to get popcorn balls as long as she didn’t have one, never mind the fact that it wouldn’t change her situation. No thought of “how fortunate it is my brother and sister have popcorn balls to enjoy.”

The politics’ of envy embraces this childishness. “The income gap is getting wider” and “the rich get richer and the poor get poorer”. If this is true, then does it follow that as far as living in the United States is concerned it was better to be poor in times past then to be poor now? I doubt it.

On the whole, our country has the highest standard of living but envy prevent many from seeing.