Sound Off!: June 2009

Monday, June 29, 2009

It Will Soon Become a Spiritual Battle.

Dear Sir,

It has been some time since you wrote your article about corruption in Congress and I must say, you do say all the right things. Except the part about Pres. Obama. What do you think his real agenda is? Have you seen the Obama Deception? Have you read about his family history and the influences he has carried to Washington with him? America will probably wake up just in time for the round-up of anyone foolish enough to voice a difference of opinion. Can you not see that the real masters working behind the scenes are the fabulously wealthy European and American bankers that control Congress, the news media and the military industrial complex. How else could our president lie to us and be so effective at disinformation as to involve us in a war in Iraq. Maybe it is already too late to preserve liberty. Isn't it amazing how easily educated people can be manipulated when intelect alone becomes the guiding light. It will soon become a spiritual battle.

David C.

Monday, June 22, 2009

On Target in Spain

Subject: On Target with John Whitehead

Dear John,

This is only to briefly tell you how delighted I am with your YouTube talks and the subjects you address to open eyes that might have remained closed otherwise. It's not onlt the USA suffering from decadence (overruling with loss of moral values),
but particularly also Europe, that is said to be 'united' but is more divided than even about matters concerning particular social needs, freedom of speech, religion and respect for other c.q. differing opinions.

I admire your persistence and wish you God's speed!

John
Granada
Spain

Obama and Torture

Subject: When It Comes to Torture, No One Is Above the Law

Mr. Whitehead:

Thanks for your piece "When it comes to torture, no one is above the law." With regard to what you say toward the end about President Obama, I couldn't agree more. I voted enthusiastically for Obama, but I told a Democratic friend of mine the other day that if our president really thinks we should "move on" and do nothing about the torture policy of the Bush/Cheney administration, he should quit wearing the American flag in his lapel.

Robert H.

Thursday, June 18, 2009

A False Premise

Subject: Obama and Transparency: Should He Release the Torture Photos?

I have eagerly anticipated reading each of your articles for years...until this one. Are you really naive enough to believe that torture (real or alleged) is the driving force behind the treatment captured Americans would receive? Any military person can tell you that ideology is the driving force - witness the murder of Dr. Tiller, the Cole attacks, 9/11, embassy bombings, marines in Lebanon, etc., etc. When you start from a false premise, the rest of your argument loses credibility.

Capers B.

Wednesday, June 17, 2009

Constitution Party of West Virginia

Thank you for your work in gaining relief for the Constitution Party of West Virginia from being prohibited by the DNR from circulating petitions for signature. Thank you for your ongoing work. — Gary H.

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Thanks be to God for victory in the CP-WV case, and many thanks for your assistance in defending the unalienable rights of our friends in West Virginia. May the Lord richly bless you all! — Sincerely, Ricardo D., CP of Georgia

Tuesday, June 02, 2009

On Torture, Citizenship and the Rule of Law

Subject: When It Comes to Torture, No One Is Above the Law

Dear John -- I have prayed for you and to what extent possible have supported your work since 1980 when you defended Chuck McIlhenny and the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in San Francisco (and by denominational association, me.) I am often troubled by things you have written, and have found that to be a very good thing.

My voting record would suggest that I've taken my Republican registration seriously. In 2004 I even fought "Vandals-4-Kerry" when my home was attacked because of my Bush lawn sign. It really wasn't much of a fight. The attacker was known, but couldn't be prosecuted in the end. Oh well.

But ever since the Moral Majority, way back when, I've been very troubled by the way my Christian beliefs and values have been manipulated by the Republicans to keep me "in the fold." I keep getting the sense that someone somewhere hasn't been reading the Constitution. The Patriot Act caught my attention for these reasons. And today I'm halfway through Jane Mayer's book "The Dark Side." (I try to listen to what the other side is saying.) And I find myself thinking, "If only 1/2 of what she writes is true, then my worst fears came true years ago while I was sleeping."

So I read your comments about torture with deep interest. I think of the abuses of Richard Nixon, and his "enemies list," and the warnings that if a sitting president is impeached the nation would never recover. But in hindsight it seems that legislation that came out of that era returned some proper checks and balances to our power-balanced government. In the impeachment of Bill Clinton we were warned that if a sitting president were impeached it would bring irreparable harm to the authority and power of the president. George Bush demonstrated that wasn't exactly accurate, apparently. The Mayer book records a complete circumventing of the constitution and its prescribed order of law by the Executive branch as it pursued ever-harsher means of "obtaining intelligence." There have been criminal acts against "detainees" that a reasonable person might consider to be prosecutable.

Now we hear murmuring like, "To prosecute government officials no longer in office for acts done under the authority of legal opinions offered by independent agency lawyers will create an atmosphere of dread and drive away all public-minded citizens from wanting to serve their country...." I discussed this with my business partner. He wondered, "If torture and the like really have been happening, and it's really been bad at the level of criminality, why aren't the newspapers full of the stories? Maybe you should be checking to be sure Mayer is presenting a balanced viewpoint."

He has a point, but the smartest man in history said I should do to others as I would have them do to me. What I've heard has been done to captives so appalls me it's effecting me to my deepest being. The newspapers might be quiet, but I'm crying out more than ever, "How long, O Lord?" Surely somewhere there is justice. But I recognize that really there is justice finally only with the true Judge. And I wait for him.

But his justice often is played out in the courts of men. And you and others like you stand up to give that justice a voice. So thank you for your years of work. Now, should today's administration pursue those of the former administration who promoted (and still promote) torture and unjust imprisonment? Yes, I believe so. To publish the photos of torture without due process will only be one
more means of manipulation on both sides of the political shouting match. They will be only a diversion away from the bigger issues of inhumanity and injustice that they chronicle. As a citizen I am only safe if the rule of law is upheld. And if the president I voted for and suffered for was promoting criminal acts and inhuman practices then I must stand up to say that he and the members of his administration who twisted and broke the law, and flagrantly ignored he constitution, should be prosecuted, and if found guilty, punished. I only wish I'd paid closer attention at the time.

Thank you for standing with Justice. It's getting to be a pretty frantic stand.

All the best,

Kurt O.