Digressions from Morningwood: It had to Start Somewhere.

anwar al-awlaki, deader than Sonny Corleone

Like most people, I am delighted we took out awlaki, but it was wrong. My "delight" is based on what I have read or heard about him through the media. Media reports are largely based on information fed to journalists by the government. So once again, we must trust THE MAN. al-awlaki has posted and written some fairly nasty things about the United States and our (most of us anyway) way of life. There are lots of nuts posting bizarre videos or written material (no offense to myself), but it would be unkind to assassinate any of them without their permission.

We are only a few steps away from an overzealous political appointee ordering a hit on one of his master’s political enemies. Perhaps the official “perceives” it to be the unspoken will of his dear leader, or that it is for the greater good of the state. Obama has made this easier to contemplate, merely because he ordered the death of someone HE deemed to be the enemy of the state. Take out the bad guys. Our cause is just. The need is great. Because I say so.

I hope I’m never considered a “bad guy”.

Under the Nazis, euthanasia, and later extermination, began when a lower level administrator wrote Hitler about the problem of mentally ill patients at his facility. In his response, Hitler implied it might be better if some had never been born, and they'd be better off if they were dead. From that, the administrator presumed permission from on high to relieve society of the burden of these unfortunates, and so it began. Someone decided certain life wasn't so "precious". It had to start somewhere.

Every day in the United States, there are approximately 3,700 abortions. 1.37 million per year. More than 50 million since Roe v. Wade was decided in 1973. Sorry to say we’re up there with Stalin now. We passed Hitler years ago. Before Roe, those statistics would have been unthinkable. Unfathomable. To reach those epic numbers, we had to start somewhere.

It is the same with the national debt. In 1980, Ronald Reagan spoke of the $1 trillion national debt that our children would have to pay. Well, someone’s children now owe close to $15 trillion. I’m old, fat, and give out, so this is someone else’s mess. To get to this point, we had to start somewhere.

If in the future the government routinely removes “enemies of the state,” bad guys, or anyone else without Due Process of Law, we will look back on the assassinations of osama bin laden and anwar al-awlaki and remember – that’s where it started.

After Ruby Ridge and Waco, I came to believe at least some individuals, elements or agencies of the government are capable of almost anything. At Ruby Ridge, Idaho, government agents shot and killed the young son of Randy Weaver. Shot him in the back. What's more, they killed his little dog. That ain't right. These same agents also shot and killed Weaver's wife. Coincidentally, she was holding their newborn baby. It is unclear whether the mother or the infant was the targeted enemy of the state. Weaver hadn't killed, robbed, raped or hurt anybody. Nope, the government got involved in that deal because the ATF alleged he had illegal weapons.

It took the Oklahoma City bombing to wake us up to the dangers of a rogue agency like the ATF. McVeigh perpetrated that crime to punish the government for the actions of the ATF at Ruby Ridge and Waco. Nothing could ever justify McVeigh's actions, but government excess often brings out the inner nut in some people.

Based on some of the antics of our own polyester Gestapo, the TSA, it won’t surprise me if that experiment doesn’t end well. I rarely fly any more, but I dread to think some of those people are armed. Many leave all common sense at the door. Even 20 years ago, could we have imagined we'd stand by and let some thug with the TSA manhandle a toddler or a great grandmother? Of course not, but we put up with it now because of political correctness. If we doth protest too much, we will end up in jail. Meanwhile, mooselums from enemy countries pass right on through like fanny pack toting tourists in a quaint Bolivian village. #FFS.

As "Alan," everyone's favorite character from "The Hangover" said, "thanks a lot, bin laden."

I’m glad we took out both bin laden and al-awlaki. They were unattractive, and neither dressed well. Plus, they were mean, and they didn’t play well with others.

But there is something unsettling about the assassination of an American citizen without Due Process of Law, and that just happened.