There is an Old Testament principle in Exodus 21:24 termed the law of retaliation that allows you to exact an injury like for like. Although I have very personal feelings about the bible and its teachings, this phrase is most appropriate to our current situation today in Syria.

Mahatma Gandhi said that “An eye for as eye will make the whole world blind.” He was addressing a group of Muslim and Hindu protesters who wanted to continue fighting to exact the price for wrongs done by the other. They insisted on their price for these wrongs.
Shakespeare use the same principle in “The Merchant of Venice” when a debt was owed and unpaid the allowed holder of the note to take a pound of flesh from the borrower to settle the debt.

Where are we today? We’re looking to take an eye for an eye in Syria? Someone killed innocent people in a civil war, now we want to strike them to take that eye? When will this end? At this rate it will end when the world is blind?

Arizona Senator McCain is rallying support for a massive strike against Syria in retribution for these alleged chemical attacks. No one so far has confirmed that chemicals were used or who used them. We are reasonably certain that it was the government that used the chemicals. Remember the Weapons of Mass Destruction that were all over Iran? We were positive they existed, too. When pressed about the validity of this claim, everyone responds… we know they did it…

When will we start minding our own business? Who made us the guardian of the world? When did we become the world police? Why are we so concerned with this mess in the Middle East? Don’t we have problems at home? Wouldn’t using these war funds to fix America first be more productive? Are profits from oil more important than the lives of our military personnel? We armed the Mujaheddin in Afghanistan and look how well that worked out. We created Al-Qaeda and their world-wide terrorist organization. What a great idea that turned out to be. Now we plan to arm Syrian forces… they too will join the “freedom fighters” and turn against us in the end. Doesn’t anyone read history anymore? Are we so short sighted that a few years past is ancient history? It no longer holds true because that was then and this is now… Things have changed! No they haven’t! Nothing has changed except that we seem more stupid and more bend on self destruction than before.

Just because these young people volunteered to support our country in time of need doesn’t mean that their lives are cheap. There are no less valuable in uniform, in fact I think they should be considered more valuable: Priceless in fact. Are we so willing to trade these lives for oil? It is oil isn’t it? That is what all this is about. We rationalize our need for oil and hide behind our feigned outrage for the senseless murder of a few thousand people.

Has anyone noticed that when the government wants to really drive home their point, they always say something about ‘children’? What a cheap way to solicit support. Do any of them really care about these kids? Please! If there was real concern, our government would be beating down the door diplomatically. They would have an army of councilors and negotiators working in these countries trying to save them. Instead our interests turn to the profits from fossil fuels and not the people.

I am pleased that our President on Vacation (PoV) took the time to fake outrage and attempt to raise the alarm. He sees the potential for continued incursions in the Middle East. His war monger buddies will rack up billions of dollars in additional profits. We will reduce the standing army by a few thousand making way for fresh meat for the grinder. Oil will continue to flow from the Arabian oil fields, and all will be well in the Military Industrial Complex.

Right now our PoV is pressing Congress to take action on the Syrian Refugee issue. Why? Is this our problem, too? Whatever happened to the United Nations? Is this not their responsibility? As an organization united for all nations aren’t they supposed to police the globe, feed the hungry, stop despots and dictators; instead they are the last best alternative to nonintervention and a bastion of bureaucratic bullshit. They are ineffective at best divided along partisan lines by ideology and national politics blocking the best ideas of other nations. The next thing you know we’ll be transporting hundreds of thousands of Syrian refugees to Detroit for safe keeping… Hey.. More Democratic voters… Great plan! More voters on Welfare, Food Stamps, No insurance, and in schools that will teach Syrian because they don’t speak English…

Our best policy is a military withdrawal from the Middle East. We should maintain diplomatic relationships as a courtesy and to help those crazy enough to travel there, but no more. We should immediately stop all foreign aid. Our track record of purchasing friends should speak volumes. This money should be put to work in America fixing our antique infrastructure thus creating jobs. It should be invested in education. Our public education systems are raising the most under-educated crop of morons in history. If the goal is a two class educational system where one is infinitely prepared for minimum wage work and the other much more elite group is trained for science and leadership; we are there.

Our attentions should be turned toward home. Our leadership style must be by example, not by directive and force. We talk a great game and practice the opposite. I’m not sure when this started, it doesn’t really matter. What is important is a return to reason rather than force. We need a policy of peace as the first and best option. It must be diplomacy rather than the “Big Stick” we presently swing. We must concentrate on American shores and not those of questionable foreign governments. How can we expect the world to follow our example when that example is deceit and greed. Is this want we want to teach the world?

Christ, we have people wanting to start racial wars of extermination. We have leaders on both sides jockeying for position using convenient truths and blatant lies as fodder. We have our Government demanding that the rich pay a larger share to support those that refuse to work. We have a working lower class that doesn’t even make ends meet on minimum wage. Things are broken at home and we’re looking across the pond for another war…

Rome fell for this very reason. They could no longer afford to support the people and the wars that fed them. They could not afford the graft and corruption in government nor the cost of keeping everyone fed and entertained.

We’re next…