The Front Page Cover
"I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened"
Featuring:
America Needs A Shrink
Burt Prelutsky
"Rise up together as one voice"
"Be careful where you stand"
~~~lll~~~
CLINTON CLAIM: NO WORK EMAILS FROM THE DAY OF FAMOUS BLACKBERRY PHOTO
The Hill: “Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-S.C.), the chairman of the House select committee investigating Benghazi, said that there is a period of missing Hilly Clinton emails from her time as secretary of State spanning several months. ‘There are gaps of months, and months and months,’ Gowdy said Sunday on CBS’s ‘Face the Nation.’ ‘If you think to that iconic picture of her on a C-17 flying to Libya – she has sunglasses on and she has her handheld device in her hand – we have no emails from that day. In fact, we have no emails from that trip,’ Gowdy said…”
On your own, Hill - "If they screwed up on the emails, if we find out they skipped over her emails . . . then that will be a problem for them, it’ll be a scandal. But it’s not one that we’ll own." – “a senior administration official” speaking to the WSJ. -Fox News
On your own, Hill - "If they screwed up on the emails, if we find out they skipped over her emails . . . then that will be a problem for them, it’ll be a scandal. But it’s not one that we’ll own." – “a senior administration official” speaking to the WSJ. -Fox News
JEB NEEDS CONSERVATIVE CRACKUP; KASICH RISING; CARSON FADES
His first Iowa foray behind him, Jeb Bush has further solidified his position as the party’s establishment choice and the frontrunner for 2016. Jeb’s tougher push and the biggest threat to his overall nomination remains winning over the social conservative and libertarian wing of the party. A point that stretches beyond Iowa’s corn fields and is underlined in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which found a divide among conservative GOP primary voters with “48% saying that could see themselves backing Mr. Bush and 45% saying they couldn’t.” But the biggest concern for Bush remains the durability (so far) of conservative support for Gov. Scott Walker. To win, Bush needs conservatives divided in their loyalties and for his potential top rivals to keep pulling each other down the ladder.
[Des Moines Register: “Bush did six events plus several one-on-one meetings in two markets — Des Moines and Cedar Rapids — in 24 hours. He turned some heads on Friday and Saturday, describing himself as the most successful conservative governor in Florida history and saying his record of accomplishment ‘is what's necessary right now for our country to get back on track’”] -Fox News
His first Iowa foray behind him, Jeb Bush has further solidified his position as the party’s establishment choice and the frontrunner for 2016. Jeb’s tougher push and the biggest threat to his overall nomination remains winning over the social conservative and libertarian wing of the party. A point that stretches beyond Iowa’s corn fields and is underlined in the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll, which found a divide among conservative GOP primary voters with “48% saying that could see themselves backing Mr. Bush and 45% saying they couldn’t.” But the biggest concern for Bush remains the durability (so far) of conservative support for Gov. Scott Walker. To win, Bush needs conservatives divided in their loyalties and for his potential top rivals to keep pulling each other down the ladder.
[Des Moines Register: “Bush did six events plus several one-on-one meetings in two markets — Des Moines and Cedar Rapids — in 24 hours. He turned some heads on Friday and Saturday, describing himself as the most successful conservative governor in Florida history and saying his record of accomplishment ‘is what's necessary right now for our country to get back on track’”] -Fox News
Cruz and Perry resist pandering on corporate welfare - [Fort Worth] Star-Telegram: “Texas Sen. [Ted Cruz’s] and former Gov. [Rick Perry’s]… messages at the Iowa Ag Summit were occasionally at odds with what some members of the audience wanted to hear… Cruz, a Republican, was the most blunt when [Iowa ethanol mogul Bruce Rastetter] asked him about the Renewable Fuel Standard, which sets a minimum amount of biofuels that must be blended into the gasoline supply. ‘The answer you’d like to me to give is I’m for the RFS,’ Cruz told Rastetter. ‘That’d be a pretty easy thing to do.’ But Cruz, who has called for phasing out the RFS program over five years, said Americans are fed up with ‘career politicians’ who pander to voters, especially in places like Iowa, with its outsized role in the presidential nominating process. Perry was equally unapologetic for his opposition to the RFS, saying he has no regrets about unsuccessfully seeking a federal waiver from the mandate as governor during a corn-sapping drought a few years ago in Texas.” -Fox News
MCCON-NELL VOWS NO SHUTDOWN AS DEBT LIMIT FIGHT NEARS
Fox News: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon-nell said Sunday that the Republican-controlled Congress won’t allow the government to default as the Treasury Department quickly approaches its so-called ‘debt ceiling.’ ‘I made it clear after November that we won’t shut down the government or default on debt,” the Kentucky Republican told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ McCon-nell’s promise came two days after Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Capitol Hill that the government loses its authority after March 15 to borrow money to cover approved congressional spending and that his agency would have to resort to ‘extraordinary measures’ as a short-term solution.” -Fox News
Fox News: “Senate Majority Leader Mitch McCon-nell said Sunday that the Republican-controlled Congress won’t allow the government to default as the Treasury Department quickly approaches its so-called ‘debt ceiling.’ ‘I made it clear after November that we won’t shut down the government or default on debt,” the Kentucky Republican told CBS’ ‘Face the Nation.’ McCon-nell’s promise came two days after Treasury Secretary Jack Lew told Capitol Hill that the government loses its authority after March 15 to borrow money to cover approved congressional spending and that his agency would have to resort to ‘extraordinary measures’ as a short-term solution.” -Fox News
WITH YOUR SECOND CUP OF COFFEE…
Call it Daedalus’ revenge. Early this morning, Solar Impulse lifted off from Abu Dhabi, attempting to become the first plane to trek around the globe without using fuel. AP: “The lightweight Solar Impulse 2, a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew five years ago, is made of carbon fiber and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing that supply the plane with renewable energy. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries. The company says the plane has a 72-meter (236-foot) wingspan, larger than that of the Boeing 747, but weighs about as much as a car at around [5,070 pounds]… The round-the-world trip is expected to end in late July or even August.” You can follow Solar Impulse on its journey and watch live video from the cockpit here. -Fox News
Call it Daedalus’ revenge. Early this morning, Solar Impulse lifted off from Abu Dhabi, attempting to become the first plane to trek around the globe without using fuel. AP: “The lightweight Solar Impulse 2, a larger version of a single-seat prototype that first flew five years ago, is made of carbon fiber and has 17,248 solar cells built into the wing that supply the plane with renewable energy. The solar cells recharge four lithium polymer batteries. The company says the plane has a 72-meter (236-foot) wingspan, larger than that of the Boeing 747, but weighs about as much as a car at around [5,070 pounds]… The round-the-world trip is expected to end in late July or even August.” You can follow Solar Impulse on its journey and watch live video from the cockpit here. -Fox News
1.
U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen
Amnesty judge gets tough with defiant nObama
(Bob Unruh) - The federal judge who ordered a halt to President nObama’s amnesty-for-millions plan now is telling federal attorneys to come to his courtroom in Brownsville, Texas, and explain why someone issued three-year deportation exemptions and work authorizations to 100,000 people before the program was scheduled to begin...U.S. District Judge Andrew S. Hanen issued an order Monday for the lawyers to be at a hearing in his courtroom March 19, the Herald newspaper in Brownsville reported. Hanen’s preliminary injunction stopped nObama’s executive actions on amnesty before the government was to begin accepting applications from qualified illegal aliens Feb. 18. http://www.wnd.com/2015/03/amnesty-judge-gets-tough-with-defiant-obama/?AID=7236
2.
Hilly’s Emailgate Explained
(Bethany Stotts) - Clinton’s 2016 presidential chances undoubtedly have been harmed by the revelation that she exclusively used a private email address while serving as Secretary of State...But while the media remain mired in calculations about whether Mrs. Clinton can survive this latest crisis, and who the villains are in this unfolding story, additional questions call out for answers. Mrs. Clinton made many claims at her press conference on Tuesday. The media shouldn’t simply regurgitate them wholesale, as the AP has done, but rather they should approach them with due skepticism. http://www.aim.org/aim-column/hillarys-emailgate-explained/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email031115&utm_medium=email
3.
Why was Sid Blumenthal advising Hilly Clinton on Libya?
(Kenneth R. Timmerman) - Until Rep. Trey Gowdy (R-SC) revealed last week that his Benghazi Select Committee was investigating Hilly Clinton’s use of a private email server for her official State Department communications...no one had a good explanation for why none of the Congressional committees that had previously investigated Benghazi had ever cited a single Hilly Clinton email in their reports. Congressional Democrats had been pooh-poohing Gowdy’s investigation, claiming that all the important questions about Benghazi had been “asked and answered” by previous committees. Now the best that Gowdy’s counterpart, Rep. Elijah Cummings (D-MD), can do is object to subpoenas (especially when they are issued to Hilly Clinton in person, through Counsel), and to huff and puff about the investigation becoming a “surrogate” for the “Republican National Committee.” http://www.aim.org/aim-column/why-was-sid-blumenthal-advising-hillary-clinton-on-libya/?utm_source=AIM+-+Daily+Email&utm_campaign=email031115&utm_medium=email
4.
Clinton: Delete? Hard Drive Destroyed?
(AMY CHOZICK and MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT) - Mrs. Clinton said that the server that housed her email address had been set up on property guarded by the Secret Service, and that there had been no security breaches...She said she had never emailed classified material to anyone. It is unclear if the emails were deleted irretrievably, and a spokesman for Mrs. Clinton declined to elaborate on how she had erased the correspondence. “If the emails were on a server in her house and she deleted them, there’s a chance the emails could still be on the server’s hard drive if you forensically examine it,” said Chester Wisniewski, a senior security adviser at the computer security firm Sophos. “To make sure the emails are really destroyed, you would have to physically destroy the hard drive, which many companies and places like the Defense Department often do.” Mr. Wisniewski said that if the emails were kept on a third-party provider, they were less likely to be recoverable. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/03/11/us/hillary-clinton-email.html?_r=1
5.
Factions Pick Over Syria's Bones
(Jonathan Spyer) - In the latest blow to supporters of the "moderate" elements among the Syrian rebels, the Harakat Hazm "Movement of Determination" last week announced that it was disbanding...Hazm was never a large group. It never possessed more than around 5,000 fighters and was active only in northwest Syria. But for a period of time, it was held up by those who supported arming the Sunni Arab rebels as the kind of militia that the U.S. and the west could get behind. It had ties neither to the Salafi jihadists nor to the Muslim Brotherhood. Nor was it given to the kind of open and florid corruption favored by some of the other "secular" groupings in Syria's north. http://www.meforum.org/5097/four-rival-factions-pick-over-syria-bones
6.
Al-Aqsa Mosque Address: May the Muslims Wage War on America
(pamelageller.com) - These are the people nObama is pressing the Israelis to make concessions with in order to establish “peace.” nObama knows what he is about. Six years into his presidency, there is no doubt about that...Speaking at the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Palestinian Arab researcher calls on Muslims to pray that Allah will enable them to wage war on America. The researcher, Ahmad Al-Khatwani, also known as “Abu Hamza”, declared that Muslims should pray that Allah will enable them to wage war on America and vanquish it. Abu Hamza also expressed his desire that the Muslims “raid America on its own land.” The address was given on February 18, 2015, and was translated by the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI). https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=38Ng732IYuU
7.
Defiant Hilly - NOT letting anyone near her private server
(pamelageller.com) - No laws for liberals. It’s astonishing. She should be facing charges like Petraeus; instead, she is the left’s leading candidate. It shouldn’t be up to her — her server should be seized, but under nObama’s autocracy, laws mean nothing...A defiant Hilly Clinton on Tuesday finally addressed the simmering controversy surrounding her use of a private email account and private server while she served as secretary of state.But she said a whole lot of nothing. Then she gave one of the worst explanations possible for using a private server. http://pamelageller.com/2015/03/defiant-hillary-at-news-conference-says-shes-not-letting-anyone-near-her-private-server.html/
8.
House Dems Send Letter to U.S. Adversary Opposition to the Pres
(Erick Erickson) - Coming on the heels of the revelation that 47 Republican Senators sent a letter to Iran undermining President nObama’s ambitions in the country...I can now report to you that a number of Democrats, including the former Speaker, have engaged in the same behavior. They sent a letter to one of our clear adversaries and declared their opposition to the President’s foreign policy in the country and their opposition to American military action. Further, the Democrats sought assurances from the regime separate from the assurances and demands of the President’s Administration. I an utterly dumbfounded the media has refused to report on this. It might be because history did not begin until the Obama Administration for most reporters these days and this was actually from March 20, 1984. That is the day the Democratic Leader of the House and soon to be Speaker, Jim Wright, and a number of his congressional colleagues, sent a letter to communist leader “Commandante” Daniel Ortega. The press then too gave the “Dear Commandante” letter writers a pass in a way they refuse to give Republicans a pass. It is worth pointing out that the Speaker at the time of this letter was Tip O’Neil whose chief of staff was Chris Matthews. Matthews is now calling on the 47 Republicans to be prosecuted under the Logan Act. Neither he nor his boss objected to the “Dear Commandante” letter. http://www.redstate.com/2015/03/11/breaking-house-democrats-send-letter-to-u-s-adversary-pledging-opposition-to-the-president/
9.
The Cotton letter and Iran
(Danielle Pletka) - Let’s step back a moment and ask ourselves why 47 US Senators would send a letter to the Supreme Leader about a possible deal between the United States and Iran...Could it be because they do not know the contents of that deal? Possibly, are they not being briefed about the terms? Is it at all conceivable they are not being updated on the nature of the negotiations? Does anyone think the Department of State has shared its legal opinion as to how sanctions can be relieved without congressional action? Has the administration made concessions that allow Iran to have a nuclear capability despite violating its safeguards agreements? Is it the administration’s position that so-called possible military dimensions (PMDs) of Iran’s program are the business of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), not the United States? Are the administration’s negotiations consistent with the spirit and intent of US law vis-a-vis the Iranian nuclear program? Are the negotiations consistent with the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty? If Barack nObama is so concerned about making a workable deal with his Tehran counterparts, he might first have directed his staff to keep members of Congress updated fully about the nature, progress and goals of his deal-making with Tehran. http://www.aei.org/publication/the-cotton-letter-and-iran/?utm_source=today&utm_medium=paramount&utm_campaign=AEIToday031115
10.
Why Hilly’s Talking Points Don’t Add Up
(Joseph Klein) - Using the United Nations as a backdrop to theatrically remind people of her foreign policy gravitas, Hilly Clinton held what the UN referred to as a press “encounter” outside of the UN Security Council chamber on March 10th...First of all, there were archive regulations in effect in 2009, which required federal employees — including Hilly while she was Secretary of State — to preserve her work-related e-mails. The “every-one did it” defense holds no water because Hilly’s use of her own private server, set up in her New York residence, was reportedly unprecedented. Hilly rejected the suggestion that an independent third party examine her server including its hard drive, which raises the inevitable question of whether she is trying to hide something. Her privacy rationale is bogus, considering her decision to blend personal and work-related e-mails on the same personal account hosted by the same home-installed server in the first place. All Hilly could say was that the server “will remain private.” Hilly’s defense that it is up to each federal employee to decide individually which of his or her e-mails are personal and which are work-related does not mean that such decision cannot be examined by the government and remedied if necessary. In Hilly’s case, that is impossible due to her refusal to turn over the server sitting in her residence to an independent examiner. We have to take her word that she turned over all e-mails that were even “possibly” work-related which, given her track record, is not very reliable.
America Needs A Shrink
Burt Prelutsky
(burtprelutsky.com) - BARACK nOBAMA insists we can’t identify the enemy because if we utter the word “Islamic,” even if we modify it with “extremists,” “jihadists” or “fundamentalists,” every Muslim will assume we’re at war with them. Not only is that absurd and condescending, but it doesn’t come close to passing the smell test.
There are factions of Muslims who are constantly at war with one another, so why would Muslims assume that if we attack, say, ISIL or Boko Haram, but not Jordan or Egypt, we can’t distinguish between our friends and our enemies? Instead, it’s nObama, with his constant attacks on Bibi Netanyahu, who seems unable to make that particular distinction.
Besides, nObama never tires of telling us that the barbarians who are slitting throats and bar-be-cuing Christians, Jews and their fellow Muslims, have nothing whatever to do with Islam, so why his reluctance to wage war on them?
♦ In related news, the ISIL beheader has been identified as Mohammad Emwazi of London. It seems he is from a well-to-do family and has graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. So I guess he didn’t become a throat-slitting jihadist, as nObama and Marie Harf recently suggested, because he couldn’t get a job flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
♦ Meanwhile, in Denver -- formerly known as the Mile High City, but now, thanks to the legalization of marijuana, more of a Ten Mile High City – a black thug called a black police officer a nigger. In response, rather than bounce a billy club off the punk’s noggin, he said, “I am not a nigger.” As a result, the loons running Denver have reprimanded the cop for saying the n-word,” ignoring the context, thus ruining his future chances for promotion.
I’m reminded that Marco Rubio observed: “Every day loose lips Joe Biden says something that would end my career if I said it."
♦ I heard someone on the radio the other day claim that one of the worst things George W. Bush ever did was come up with the term “compassionate conservative,” and to an extent I agree. The term, after all, distinguishes between those compassionate ones and all the rest of us, as if conservatism is as nasty and diabolical as liberals insist it is.
But inasmuch as Bush also approved of amnesty without building a fence at the border; promoted No Child Left Behind, a precursor to Common Core; and banned incandescent light bulbs, I would say that the schmuck was about as conservative as his kid brother.
♦ For some years now, one public official after another has lied about his military service. It probably started with Hanoi John Kerry, who came back from Vietnam and managed to forge a political career out of slandering his fellow soldiers as sadists and baby-killers, and lying about his alleged injuries in order to cop a couple of Purple Hearts.
The latest offender is, not too surprisingly, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Bob McDonald, who claimed to have been a member of Special Forces. With such despicable creeps at the top, is it any wonder that wounded warriors continue to die while under the so-called care of the V.A.?
♦ It seems that in 2014, there were 16,900 federal employees who were paid over $200,000. Keep in mind that was only counting base salary, and didn’t take into account overtime and bonuses. Most of them were working at – you guessed it! – the V.A. For the record, more than 1,600 federal employees made in excess of $300,000.
Lest you think those bonuses were the kind – say a week’s salary -- you might get if your company did really well, Lois Lerner, late of the IRS, collected $110,000 in bonuses during her last three years on the job. As you see, her efforts to target Tea Party groups between 2010 and 2012 were greatly appreciated.
♦ As you may or may not have noticed, as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch, Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, carried through on their promise to confirm Loretta Lynch as the next Attorney General. That is akin to re-confirming Eric Holder to another two years on the job. If the voters in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina, don’t at least attempt to recall these three idiots, they should be denied the right to complain about Ms. Lynch in the future.
♦ I often listen to Dennis Prager when I’m in the car, which is the only time I listen to the radio. He is another of my fellow Jewish conservatives and I often agree with his take on topics. However, he has one belief that he brings up on a regular basis, with the intention of setting straight those who deign to disagree with him.
There are factions of Muslims who are constantly at war with one another, so why would Muslims assume that if we attack, say, ISIL or Boko Haram, but not Jordan or Egypt, we can’t distinguish between our friends and our enemies? Instead, it’s nObama, with his constant attacks on Bibi Netanyahu, who seems unable to make that particular distinction.
Besides, nObama never tires of telling us that the barbarians who are slitting throats and bar-be-cuing Christians, Jews and their fellow Muslims, have nothing whatever to do with Islam, so why his reluctance to wage war on them?
♦ In related news, the ISIL beheader has been identified as Mohammad Emwazi of London. It seems he is from a well-to-do family and has graduated from college with a degree in computer programming. So I guess he didn’t become a throat-slitting jihadist, as nObama and Marie Harf recently suggested, because he couldn’t get a job flipping burgers at McDonald’s.
♦ Meanwhile, in Denver -- formerly known as the Mile High City, but now, thanks to the legalization of marijuana, more of a Ten Mile High City – a black thug called a black police officer a nigger. In response, rather than bounce a billy club off the punk’s noggin, he said, “I am not a nigger.” As a result, the loons running Denver have reprimanded the cop for saying the n-word,” ignoring the context, thus ruining his future chances for promotion.
I’m reminded that Marco Rubio observed: “Every day loose lips Joe Biden says something that would end my career if I said it."
♦ I heard someone on the radio the other day claim that one of the worst things George W. Bush ever did was come up with the term “compassionate conservative,” and to an extent I agree. The term, after all, distinguishes between those compassionate ones and all the rest of us, as if conservatism is as nasty and diabolical as liberals insist it is.
But inasmuch as Bush also approved of amnesty without building a fence at the border; promoted No Child Left Behind, a precursor to Common Core; and banned incandescent light bulbs, I would say that the schmuck was about as conservative as his kid brother.
♦ For some years now, one public official after another has lied about his military service. It probably started with Hanoi John Kerry, who came back from Vietnam and managed to forge a political career out of slandering his fellow soldiers as sadists and baby-killers, and lying about his alleged injuries in order to cop a couple of Purple Hearts.
The latest offender is, not too surprisingly, the Secretary of Veteran Affairs, Bob McDonald, who claimed to have been a member of Special Forces. With such despicable creeps at the top, is it any wonder that wounded warriors continue to die while under the so-called care of the V.A.?
♦ It seems that in 2014, there were 16,900 federal employees who were paid over $200,000. Keep in mind that was only counting base salary, and didn’t take into account overtime and bonuses. Most of them were working at – you guessed it! – the V.A. For the record, more than 1,600 federal employees made in excess of $300,000.
Lest you think those bonuses were the kind – say a week’s salary -- you might get if your company did really well, Lois Lerner, late of the IRS, collected $110,000 in bonuses during her last three years on the job. As you see, her efforts to target Tea Party groups between 2010 and 2012 were greatly appreciated.
♦ As you may or may not have noticed, as members of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Orrin Hatch, Jeff Flake and Lindsey Graham, carried through on their promise to confirm Loretta Lynch as the next Attorney General. That is akin to re-confirming Eric Holder to another two years on the job. If the voters in Utah, Arizona and South Carolina, don’t at least attempt to recall these three idiots, they should be denied the right to complain about Ms. Lynch in the future.
♦ I often listen to Dennis Prager when I’m in the car, which is the only time I listen to the radio. He is another of my fellow Jewish conservatives and I often agree with his take on topics. However, he has one belief that he brings up on a regular basis, with the intention of setting straight those who deign to disagree with him.
The moral question he poses is this: If your pet dog or cat and a stranger are both drowning, and you can only rescue one of them, which would it be?
To Prager, the obvious answer is the stranger. His reason is that only human beings have souls and are created in the image of God. I have heard this from him for a great many years and each time I hear it, steam spews out of my ears.
Now I’m willing to grant that if the stranger is a baby or a child, I would, with a heavy heart, allow my pet to drown.
But, assuming we’re talking about an adult, I am willing to take on Prager and deny him the moral high ground. For one thing, I don’t believe that every human being is created in the image of God. Was Hitler? Was Stalin? Was Pol Pot or Saddam Hussein or Idi Amin? Anyone wish to argue that Mohammad Emwazi, aka "Jihadi John," was created in God’s image or even that he has what most of us regard as a soul?
But even if the person drowning isn’t a notorious villain, we all draw conclusions when we see a fellow human being. If the guy going down for the third time fits my notion of a meth dealer or a tattooed thug, why would I rescue him and allow my dog Angel to die? My wife and I have, after all, accepted responsibility for Angel’s well-being, and we take that responsibility seriously.
♦ Speaking of people of questionable worth, hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear about some idiot trying to outrace a train. In spite of lights, bells and closing gates, some people simply refuse to be warned off. In certain quarters, I believe this phenomenon is commonly referred to as a thinning of the herd.
God forbid I should rescue one of those morons and allow our beloved dog to drown.
To Prager, the obvious answer is the stranger. His reason is that only human beings have souls and are created in the image of God. I have heard this from him for a great many years and each time I hear it, steam spews out of my ears.
Now I’m willing to grant that if the stranger is a baby or a child, I would, with a heavy heart, allow my pet to drown.
But, assuming we’re talking about an adult, I am willing to take on Prager and deny him the moral high ground. For one thing, I don’t believe that every human being is created in the image of God. Was Hitler? Was Stalin? Was Pol Pot or Saddam Hussein or Idi Amin? Anyone wish to argue that Mohammad Emwazi, aka "Jihadi John," was created in God’s image or even that he has what most of us regard as a soul?
But even if the person drowning isn’t a notorious villain, we all draw conclusions when we see a fellow human being. If the guy going down for the third time fits my notion of a meth dealer or a tattooed thug, why would I rescue him and allow my dog Angel to die? My wife and I have, after all, accepted responsibility for Angel’s well-being, and we take that responsibility seriously.
♦ Speaking of people of questionable worth, hardly a day goes by when we don’t hear about some idiot trying to outrace a train. In spite of lights, bells and closing gates, some people simply refuse to be warned off. In certain quarters, I believe this phenomenon is commonly referred to as a thinning of the herd.
God forbid I should rescue one of those morons and allow our beloved dog to drown.
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