Am I the only one who finds the president’s newly acquired interest in reducing gun violence hypocritical? Like it or not, the idea that it’s OK to kill people because they did something, or were planning something, or — fill in the blank — is an idea our president validates every time he OKs a drone strike. Neither the trappings of office nor the slick rationalizations supplied by lawyers alter the situation.
With every executive kill order, our president sends several loud and clear messages to several different audiences — the main one being that, under certain circumstances, it’s all right to kill certain people because you are entitled to do so, and because they pose a threat and thus have forfeited all rights — not to mention the rights held by any innocent bystanders.
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Richard, the problem is that drone attacks killing innocent people is not reported by the main stream media. If you go back to bush, he we accused of being a murderer on national TV, daily. Now with a democrat in the white house the media is happy not to report it.
Yes, the media treat the President's drone policy as justified, because it is done by a liberal. If it were Bush, they would be destroying him. Can you imagine the field day Keith Olbermann would have had, were Bush acting as judge, jury and executioner in this fashion?
Did concerned citizens complain back in the 20's and 30'd when government agencies such as the FBI gunned down gangsters like John Dilliger? Was there ever collaterial damage done by the Hoover's FBI? Or was it crime-fighting to protect people from dangerous bad guys?