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Show Volume XV Issue II The Ogden Valley news Page January 1, 2008 Guest Commentaries Are We Becoming the Evil We Fight? “Step Up and Fund Transit?” A Weber One of the best stories of moral cour- nition of torture under the new, enhanced taxpayer’s viewpoint for a change age, true leadership, and the defense of interrogation laws. Is the value of life any human rights involves John Adams. On March 5, 1770 Bostonians, angered over taxes, were throwing sticks, brickbats, and snowballs at a squad of British soldiers. The soldiers stood with muskets loaded and bayonets fixed. The mob swelled and a British musket went off, then a volley raked into the future citizens of American. When the smoke cleared five civilians lay dead in the snow. No lawyer, except John Adams, was willing to defend the British soldiers, or lobster backs as they were commonly called, in what history chronicles as the Boston Massacre. Hatred and resentment against John for defending the soldiers was difficult for him to bear. John felt all alone and, truly, he was. Few Americans would even talk to him during the trials. But John knew all men had a right to a fair trial with competent representation. Since that day, tears of gratitude have moistened the shoulders of American defenders of liberty across the globe as oppressed people embraced their liberators. The American government has given billions and billions to assist the people of the world. America is great, and will continue to be great, as long as we assist each other in correcting our mistakes along the way. Our great country was founded on God given unalienable rights. These rights were penned by some of the best men our creator has ever assembled in one location at any given time. Today, leading men in this country fallen into the trap of administrating the debasing practice of torturing prisoners. Most of these American officials are good men taking drastic steps to stop devastating acts caused by hatred and intolerance. Mr. Lee Iacocca in his book Where Have All the Leaders Gone, asked if we can ever be justified in torturing others. On October 24, 2006 Scott Hennen of WDAY radio asked Vice President Dick Cheney “Would you agree a dunk in water is a no-brainer if it can save lives?” Cheney responded, “Well, it’s a no-brainer for me, but for a while there I was criticized as being the Vice President of torture. We don’t torture. That’s not what we’re involved in.” Some Americans called into Scott Hennen’s show and said, let the Vice President know that if it takes dunking a terrorist in water, we’re all for it . . . if it saves American lives. Isn’t making a person think he is about to drown torture? Senator John McCain, himself a torture victim of the water-board technique during the Vietnam War, said it is a “very exquisite torture” that should be outlawed. Some feel that as long as we are saving American lives, it’s okay to torture prisoners of war. We didn’t always feel that way. In January 1968, during the Vietnam War, a U.S. soldier who participated in water torture was court-martialed within one month after photos appeared in the Washington Post. In the case above, American instantly recognized the seriousness of the crime. Now we spend three years arguing the defi- greater in America than in other countries? In 1947 the U.S. charged Japanese officer Yukio Asano with war crimes for carrying out water-boarding on a U.S. civilian. Asano was sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In 60 years, have we slid so far that we now participate in the very acts we formerly detested and prosecuted? If the information terrorists have about future attacks can be found out, we may indeed save lives. But what about when our soldiers have information the “bad” guys want? Is breaking the laws of war still justified? You may say, “But that’s different, he’s an American.” I don’t think the “bad” man’s wife and children think its okay to torture their husband and father just because he’s not an American. You might say, “Terrorists are the epitome of evil. So who cares what their families think?” Are they the epitome of evil? Many a man in other nations has been taught since childhood that Americans are the epitome of evil, and that to die destroying them brings eternal reward. Chinese leader Mao Tse-Tung, U.S. involvement in Asian wars, and the contention over islands off the coast of China has instilled within many the idea of American wickedness to such a degree that 38 million of Mao’s countrymen starved to death rather than contact America for help. This deep hatred dates from only a few decades ago. Several years ago I spoke with a U.S soldier, a veteran of the Vietnam War. He remembered his regiment intercepting a letter from the wife of a Vietnamese soldier. A wise officer, sensing the rising desire to be cruel to any enemy soldiers captured, read the letter to his squadron while their own families were home celebrating Christmas. The letter spoke of three children that missed their father and how they had grown while he was away. His wife spoke of the little things children do that make a parent smile deep inside. She expressed her love for her absent husband and longed to know he was safe. After the revision of the USA PATRIOT Act, President Bush signed it into law and then said that the White House would “continue to give (military law enforcement, homeland security and intelligence professionals) the tools to get the job done.” I have been wondering what some of those “tools” are. The PATRIOT Act allows governmental officials to “tap” practically any private information you or those around you, foreign or domestic, have; detain you indefinitely; and to use “enhanced interrogation techniques” if you are suspected of being a threat to national security. America has a double standard and other countries know it. If it continues, the backlash will be catastrophic. Implementing torturing techniques draws us characteristically closer to the owners and operators of the crematories and death camps at Auschwitz and Dachau during World War COMMENTARY cont. on page 17 The voice of the majority; a public mandate is not 1/3 of 1%. That is the margin by which the “Opinion” Question One allegedly passed in Weber County in November. Allegedly, because about 1,400 provisional ballots were cast, thanks to what has been spun as leaving the true “Opinion Question One” tote in doubt forever. But one thing is certain, as many citizens voted against the “Opinion” as those who voted for it. And that public voice is clear. Commissioners, do not raise our taxes any more! The little people struggling to make ends meet have already been abused by UTA. We have already been paying. Weber citizens who drive pay 43 cents a gallon at the pump, $78 minimum per vehicle yearly with registration, safety, emissions, corridor reservation and transit fees. Add to that what our Federal taxes provide for roads and transit—$500 million in grant money to Utah County already pledged, for example; all this for roads and transit. Yet there is never enough. So every county resident is already paying for “mass transit” whether they use public transit or not. We all benefit from reduced congestion and energy conservation they tell us. Since before 2000 we have been paying, and as of 21 July 2007: State Sales & Use Tax Local Sales & Use Tax Mass Transit Tax Additional Mass Transit Tax County Option Sales Tax County Botanical Cultural, Zoo Tax (RAMP) Additional-additional Mass Transit Tax (still hanging in the balance) Downright depressing Weber County Tax Total: 4.75% 1.0 % .25% .25% .25% .10% .25% 6.85% UTA and Commissioners, what we see everyday is Olympic sized new busses which seat about forty people steaming around the County either empty or with a maximum of about eight people sitting in them. What we see is shining gigantic UTA demands, threats of service cutbacks, and obvious fraud waste and abuse. Fraudulent claims of service cutbacks—where little exists in the first place; wasteful and grossly inefficient service routings—using 40 passenger buses brimming with very low rider-ship; and extortionist demands for inappropriate taxpayer funding. If UTA cuts back services because they can not be made whole on yet another 9 million of taxpayer money a year, so what? It is way past time UTA quit sucking the public tit. UTA buy your own milk using the interest money from hundreds of millions we have already been bilked into paying you. If our Commissioners “enact” another “Opinion Question One” Tax, we will be paying well in excess of $26.1 Million a year for “Mass Transit” whether we use it or not. No specifics, no cost benefits analysis, no competitive bids nor even estimates. It would be just a fourth transit tax with no end date on top of many other UTA taxes already being paid forever. None of these “mass transit taxes” have “end dates” attached. We do not think you Commissioners have completely lost your collective minds. Please prove us right. Commissioners, tell UTA they need to get their house in order and manage what they already have efficiently before they come to the sales tax well again. Ask when they will become self sufficient and sustain their own operations. A core function of local and state government is to facilitate, not pay, for public transportation. If it were, we would like our cut of the “Mass Transit tax” in new BMW convertibles with all fuel and maintenance included please. Better yet, considering how many are using it, you can buy the UTA customers each a “Beamer” and still save us taxpayers tens of millions. Something about effective “cost benefit analysis” and whether it was ever done in the past. D-Bell, Huntsville Websites Provide Updates on Latest Draft Property Tax Proposals For the latest updates or information on proposed property tax reform within the state of Utah, a number of websites are recommended as follows: http://ov-gage.blogspot.com/ - Provides details on several Draft Property Tax proposals for the state. http://ov-tax.blogspot.com/ - Provides Ogden Valley Tax Revolt information http://dbelltax.blogspot.com/ - Utah Wingmen For Tax Re-Forum http://www.ogden-valley.blogspot.com/ - Ogden Valley Forum While visiting a Valley blogspot, be sure to signup for email reminders and updates. |