The War on Terror is over (If you want it)

With all of America's wars, there will always be sore losers who think the wrong side won. Seventy years after World War 2, there are still people who wear swastikas. One and a half centuries after the Civil War, there are still people who support Southern independence. Cecil Rhodes wanted to undo the American Revolution by having the US rejoin the British Empire. We can't win every heart and mind. We can't kill everybody who doesn't like us. Victory involves setting an objective and accomplishing that objective. Usually that objective involves getting someone important on the other side to sign a piece of paper,

I propose that there just isn't anybody important in ISIS, Al Qaeda, the Taliban, or any other group. There will always be someone who says that they are loyal to one of those group. Just because some lunatic shoots some people and says he's part of a bunch of other lunatics isn't sufficient cause to send troops and bombs halfway around the world. Attacking ISIS because of the San Bernadino shooters would be like burning Atlanta to the ground again because some racist punk murdered some people in a black church.

Keep pseudoephedrine over-the-counter

It might seem trivial to compare the inconvenience of a doctor's appointment to the tragedy of meth addiction. But a law that requires a prescription for pseudoephedrine is going to have health consequences for innocent Hoosiers while doing very little or nothing to stop people from using meth.

Even with health insurance, very few people are actually going to go to a doctor to get cold meds. First of all, all Hoosiers live within 70 miles of the state line. So going to another state will be less of a hassle than going to a doctor. Some Hoosiers might stock up on cold meds as well. And some people will choose the worst possible option: going to work or school without controlling the symptoms and placing coworkers and classmates at risk of catching a cold.

If your sole objective is to stop meth, it would make for sense to lobby the federal government to reclassify pseudoephedrine as a Schedule II drug like Adderal or oxycotin. A state law in this case is a pathetic half-measure. On the other, if not even Congress can be persuaded to outlaw a drug, then that should be an indicator of how silly the whole idea is.

Trump proposes banning Muslims from entering the US

Trump is running a campaign that seems like it's more designed to embarrass the GOP than actually win an election. Most of the time he sounds more like Stephen Colbert than a serious statesman.

On the off chance that he is serious about spending 4 to 8 years in a job more difficult and dangerous than any job he has ever had, let's look at his proposal to bar Muslims from entering the US. Would this policy actually prevent a terrorist attack?

Let's start by asking how do you tell if someone if Muslim? In most cases, it is hard to tell just by looking. Islam is not a race or a skin color. There are black Muslims in Kenya and Somalia, there are Asian Muslims in Indonesia and the Phillipines, and there are Muslims with blonde hair and blue eyes in Bosnia.

The best way to know is to simply ask. Most Muslims are pretty open about their beliefs, just as most Christians and Jews are. And I would imagine most of them would begrudgingly comply with an order to stay out of the US. But Muslims who would obey US law aren't the ones you should be worried about. An actual terrorist who wanted to get into this country would likely lie about what his religion is.

So any law barring Muslims from entering this country will do nothing to keep us safer. The only reason anyone supports this idea is because they just don't like Muslims.

Celebrate Liberty Christmas Party Potluck

This Saturday the twelfth of December from 630 - 10 pm we will be having our Celebrate Liberty Christmas Party Potluck at the home of Tom and Jeannette Jaquish, 1423 Louisedale Dr., Fort Wayne, IN 46808.

Bring an open mind and food or drink to share. Bring booze if you want it. Feel free to invite family and friends -- the more the merrier! We will have toys and entertainment for children. The house has two small dogs.

PLEASE RSVP ON OUR EVENT PAGE HERE POSTING DETAILS OF HEAD COUNT (DISH, #ADULTS & CHILDREN).

Questions? Call 260-484-5946 or email jeannettejaquish@yahoo.com.

Gun control and the no-fly list

President Obama is asking Congress to pass a bill that keeps people on the No Fly list from owning guns. Politicians frequently find the need to say or do anything to make it appear to their supporters that they are taking action. But I don't think Obama actually wants this law, and he wouldn't ask for this law if he actually expected Congress to pass it.

 This is how the No Fly List is supposed to work. There are roughly 47,000 names on a secret list, and the only way to find out if you are on the list is to buy a ticket and try to board a plane. The government does not want people to know if they are on the No Fly List.

I can understand the reason for this secrecy, even if I don't agree with it. If the government thinks that someone is a sleeper agent, they don't want that person to know about their suspicions. Maybe they can't locate this person to arrest them, or maybe they want to see who he's talking to before they actually collar him. My own thought is that if the government has probably cause to think that someone plans to kill a bunch of people, they should arrest him if possible or at least let the public know that person poses a threat.

 But as long as the list is secret, terrorists have a strong interest in knowing if they are on the list. So if a terror group is planning a major operation and wants to know which of their assets in the US can actually board a plane, the group's leader could simply order his followers to try and buy guns. Whoever successfully buys a gun is not on the No Fly List, and whoever can't buy a gun would resort to Plan B. If the terror-watch list was available as a publicly searchable database, then terror suspects would have difficulty buying anything that required them to show ID. But if the government wants to keep people from knowing that they are being investigated, then even terror suspects should be allowed to buy guns, as absurd as that sounds.

A less absurd solution would be to issue arrest warrants for people with known terrorist ties. After all, if a person is too dangerous to be allowed to fly, they are too dangerous to be allowed to drive, board a train, visit a museum, or buy chewing gum.