President Obama: No more "enhanced interrogation" techniques, no more Guantanamo Bay. Your view?
7:53 AM May 21, 2009
I'm watching President Obama from our news set as he speaks right now from the National Archives Museum. He is talking about why he has ordered the end to so-called "enhanced interrogation techniques" like water-boarding and why he has ordered the closing of the Guantanamo Bay prison camp. Are these long overdue decisions that will ultimately make us safer or politically-motivated decisions that will make us less safe?
President Obama says in his speech that the decisions to allow torture and to open a prison camp that permits America to keep terror suspects behind bars indefinitely without trial were "hasty decisions" "motivated by a sincere desire to protect the American people." But he says they were not consistent with our values as Americans.
On the "enhanced interrogation" techniques, he says: "...they undermine the rule of law. They alienate us in the world. They serve as a recruitment tool for terrorists, and increase the will of our enemies to fight us, while decreasing the will of others to work with America. They risk the lives of our troops by making it less likely that others will surrender to them in battle, and more likely that Americans will be mistreated if they are captured."
What are your thoughts? We'll read some of your comments on our news at 1PM.
Posted by Frank Buckley | Permalink
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GOING TO THE DODGERS GAME TONIGHT. ARE YOU AS DISAPPOINTED AS I AM?
6:02 AM May 8, 2009
I've been looking forward to tonight's Dodgers game against the San Francisco Giants because I'm taking my sons and my dad. Three generations of Buckley Boys hanging out at the ballpark is a special occasion in our family. It was to be the one game this season all of us were going to be together at Chavez Ravine to see the Dodgers play. Part of our excitement was looking forward to seeing Manny Ramirez on the field. Now, of course, we won't. I'm disappointed about that and I'm disappointed for the thousands of fans who once again have been let down by a professional athlete.
We'll still have fun tonight. I'll still feel pride looking at my sons and my dad sitting side by side at the ballpark. But what a shame about Manny. And what a shame for the thousands of families and fans who were looking forward to one of the next 49 Dodger games with hopes of seeing Manny. For many of them, one of those games was to be the one game of the season they would see in-person at Dodger Stadium. They saved and set aside the money to sit in the stands and enjoy a Dodger Dog. It was to be the one game at which they might hear the crack of the bat as Mighty Manny smacked one out.
The early comments from the Dodgers organization suggest they just don't get it--suggesting Manny has taken responsibility for his actions and is somehow to be applauded. Really? Is that the message fans should take away from this situation? Is that the lesson we should teach our kids when we go to the ballpark this summer and we try to explain why Manny is absent?
Seems to me that Manny is blaming his physician for giving him a medication that he didn't know included a banned substance. Do you buy it? Does an athlete at Manny's level really inject or ingest substances without knowing?
Posted by Frank Buckley | Permalink
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