THE NEED FOR COMMON SENSE

THE NEED FOR COMMON SENSE
by Timothy Rollins, Editor and Publisher

November 21, 2002

With the terrorist warnings being issued by the State Department in Washington (seal, right) and now the External Affairs Office in Ottawa, especially in light of the well-deserved execution in Virginia last Thursday of Pakistani national Aimal Khan Kasi for the assassination of two Central Intelligence Agency employees outside the Main Gate in 1993, we now have reached the saturation point that most Americans anyway, are beginning to see the government as crying 'wolf'.

In addition, our intelligence agencies - still recovering from the handicapping given it by eight years of the treasonous Clinton administration, were not only unable to accurately head off the attacks of 9-11 as Clinton was too busy getting himself serviced by Monica to take Usama bin Laden when the Sudanese offered him to us, they were also hamstrung by the lack of assets in place to gather hard data that cannot be easily gathered or confirmed by satellites, especially when weather or atmospheric conditions are able to hamper their ability to perform as designed.

To make matters worse, the CIA has learned that Usama - everybody's favorite bogeyman, is still alive, and is going after additional countries on the grounds that they're sympathetic or supportive of the United States. Canada was specifically named as one of them, and Prime Minister Jean Chretien went on record saying they stand by the U.S.

As an American who has lived in Canada for nearly ten years now, I can say with absolutely certainty that Canada doesn't seem to be anywhere near ready simply on the grounds their combat readiness is near zero if not at the sub-zero range. Many weapons they have aren't capable of performing and ships aren't seaworthy. As for aircraft, some are nearly 40 years old, and half of them are parked and cannibalized to keep the other half flying.

The fact that the World Trade Center towers in New York and the Pentagon in Washington could be hit only demonstrates the ease with which the CN Tower, the SkyDome, the Toronto-Dominion Tower Office Building in Toronto or the Pickering or Darlington Nuclear Generating Stations can be hit by kamikaze commercial airliners. With as many targets in a 200-mile radius of Toronto, the potential damage that can be done to the Canadian economy and the national psyche is absolutely devastating.

The more disturbing fact is that there seems to be no active program in place to prevent such an occurrence - not even an occasional patrol of military aircraft from Canadian Forces Base (CFB) in Trenton 100 miles away. The fact that they shut down the CFB Base in Downsview - a section of Toronto, only goes to show just how short-sighted politicians of all stripes can be, whether in Ottawa, Washington or anywhere in the world. Governments may differ, they even may change, but the rank stupidity of politicians remains a constant throughout the world - go figure.

What's needed at this point is for common sense to be returned in the area of military defense and for Canada to beefen up its defense capabilities. Canada needs - and most of its people want a strong and viable military with modern and reliable equipment, uniforms newer than 1960's vintage, and for their personnel to be paid well enough so as not to leave in droves and to live in better conditions than they are now, to include not be going to food banks because MPs (Members of Parliament) in Ottawa are more interested in fattening their own wallets and lifestyles at the expense of the grunts and sailors on the front lines who are out there every day ensuring that the freedoms so many enjoy is not put perilously at risk by those who would seek to impose their will if for no reason other than they simply want to.

Such behavior is called tyranny, and such will always be met with the fiercest resistance possible as it has been throughout history. The Virginia State Motto is "Sic Semper Tyrannus", which translated is "Thus Always To Tyrants". May it always be so with each one of us - that we may recognize tyranny in all its forms both large and small in order that it may be rooted out and destroyed and thus be prevented from ever taking hold.

These are among the principles that made our two nations great and it is these same principles that will in turn save them from destruction - provided we remain on guard and ever vigilant.

May we keep that in mind as we head into Thanksgiving. ***

Photo of Timothy Rollins courtesy of staff files
Image of the Great Seal of the United States of America courtesy of the Department of State
Logo of the Government of Canada courtesy of their Official Web Site