Quick Facts and Insights

Oh where to begin?

First, I do not have complete disdain for the UN. A forum that the countries of the world can debate and dialogue is much more preferable to a world of isolation. The problem lies in the fact that the UN as a body has NO authority to enforce its charter and its members on the Security Council can pass any resolution they want, but those resolutions can be ignored by any nation. To pretend that this body has a lot of clout you must be suffering from delusions of grandeur. A prime example is the recent resolution that passed on the 27th of September re-resoluting a prior resolution for sanctions against Iran for continuing to pursue its nuclear program. The definition of insanity is to do the same thing over and over and expect a different result. Iran gave us the finger after the UN imposed sanctions on them for the third time and the 'new' resolution, which is just an affirmation of the 3rd and last resolution, will result in Iran suddenly dropping its nuclear program? Gimme a break. Russia and China did not want tougher sanctions placed on Iran since they do extensive business with them. China is Iran's biggest importer of oil. They wouldn't want to rock the boat and potentially damage any business or future business with the Islamic Republic.

Second, withholding payments is not for the UN refusing to bow to U.S. demands, but a protest because of the UN's Human Rights Council, which was founded in 2006, because it singled out Israel and no other country for human rights violations. At the same time the council removed independent investigators from Belarus and Cuba, which are not bastions for human rights. Indeed, the council has Cuba as one of its members, which is hilarious given the councils purpose.

Third, Ian concedes that diplomacy has failed with regards to Iran, North Korea and Darfur. Since this is the case I ask Ian, what should we do about these continued threats? I am all ears. My point in the last post was that we can see changes in Afghanistan and Iraq. It is not perfect but we have two democracies established and hopefully two future allies.

Forth, with regards to Europe, I was merely commenting on the fact that the US shoulders the lion’s share of the burden for NATO. This being the case the European countries use money they used to appropriate for defense for social programs since the U.S.A subsidizes their protection. Thank God for the new French President Sarkozy for promising to step up to the plate and take more responsibility in NATO and Europe's defense.

Fifth, with regards to Ian's side note on taxes and spending priorities, healthcare may be universal under European socialism, but it is universally subpar to American healthcare on so many levels that the wealthy people of Europe and Canada come to the U.S for their healthcare. As a matter of fact, many Canadians buy American insurance! Also, along with the higher taxes, longer vacations, etc., Europe also has higher unemployment, especially for young people. France has such stringent laws on hiring and firing that an employer needs to jump through so many hoops to get rid of an employee that isn't useful to the company. This results in an employer who is scared to hire because he can't get rid of the employee if he turns out to be a bad investment and also poorer job performance since the employee has such ridiculous protections from the government.

Sixth, I can't believe Ian called the regimes of Mao Zedong and Fedel Castro "somewhat more humanitarian towards their own people." Ian you know your history! They were all bad. Why do thousands of Cubans flee to the shores of Florida? Mao Zedong was responsible for the death of millions of people. Indeed, communism killed many many millions more than fascism ever did. Karl Marx's ideals led to gulags, forced starvations, the killing of intellectuals and walls that were made to keep their populations from escaping to freedom. Indeed, North Korea has minutemen on their borders too. Contrary to our minutemen, they have orders to shot to kill. The minutemen on the Korean border aren't there to stop the influx of South Koreans trying to embrace communist utopia, they are there to kill North Koreans who want to chose their own destinies. Imagine if America shot at Mexicans trying to come in! Oh, the outrage! Imagine all the angry letters the UN would send us! Communism, "somewhat more humanitarian," bah. The 'somewhat' was put in because Ian knew that he was on shaky ground with that statement. At least he added that.

Seventh, Iran and the hostage crisis took place under the Carter administration, which couldn't save the hostages, despite all that diplomacy. However, as soon as President Reagan took office, they were free that very day. Hmm, maybe they knew that a Republican with some balls to stand up to such an act with force might actually put his money where his mouth was.


Think about that when you go to VOTE!

Oh, and while we aren't perfect, this is the greatest place on Earth to be! Why else would people flock to our shores from all over the world to live here, including my father?