Canadian Admits He Was Teen al-Qaida Militant

Omar Khdar, twenty four, pleaded guilty to charges including the murder of a US soldier during a raid on an al-Qaida compound in Afghanistan in 2002.  Khdar was only 15 at the time of his imprisonment.  He was being held at Guantanamo Bay.  Some say Khdar should not be put on trial because he was only 15 at the time and was subject to harsh treatment in custody.  Khdar's father apparently sent him and his brother to training camps to become a child soldier.  Opponents say that he didn't have a choice.   They also say that killing a soldier in a firefight does not amount to war crimes.  He is also the only person charged with killing a US soldier in Afghanistan.

I can see both sides of Khdar's story.  He was put in a bad position by his father, however his father didn't make him pull the trigger or throw the grenade that killed the US soldier.  He knew what he was doing and that it was wrong.  He was 15, not 5, so he knew very well what the consequences of his actions would be.  As far as the allegations regarding his treatment at Guantanamo go, all of his statements and confessions were received prior to him being there.  They were not forced out through torture or other harsh means.  They are legitimate statements and should be considered by the courts in my opinion.  He should not be treated any different that any other murder suspect.  He should receive the same punishments, no more severe, no more lenient.

Man Stabbs Little Boy at Area Restaurant

Friday night in Garden City, NY, 23 year old Evan Sachs reportedly stabbed 8 year old boy five times in the back.  Sachs had been under physiological treatment according to his parents.  Police found a note in his pocket upon his arrest describing his plan to stab the boy.  They believe he had been planning this for several weeks.  He had been scoping out the perfect spot and victim according to Nassau police Lt. Ray Cote.  The young boy was playing a video game at the restaurant when he was stabbed.  Sachs reportedly waited until the boys parents, only a few feet from him, became distracted before he took out the hunting knife and stabbed the child in the back.  The boy suffered a punctured lung but is expected to recover.  Sachs is currently in jail awaiting his next court date.
The thing that amazes me about this whole incident is how nobody noticed Sachs before he stabbed the boy.  He must have been watching the boy and when he approached him and took out a knife nobody saw?  I guess the good side is that there were plenty of witnesses.  That was stupid on Sachs part but good for everyone else.  I mean seriously, of all the places to commit a crime he chose a restaurant full of people to witness it.  How stupid is that.  If you ask me it is pretty sick that he chose an eight year old boy as his victim.  If he was supposedly mentally unstable shouldn't his family members have been watching him closer.  I guess nobody really expects their child to commit such a crime but wouldn't you want to keep a close eye on them to make sure they didn't endanger them selves or anyone else.  The up side is that he was caught and he will have to suffer the consequences of his actions and go through out justice system.  He will get what he deserves. 

Social Insecurity

The national debt is a number all Americans fear.  It keeps growing with no foreseeable end in sight.  Every year when the president and legislators set out to make the Federal Budget they seem to under estimate out spending and we wind up with a deficit.  Part of the yearly budget goes towards entitlements like Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.  Social security is the largest and most expensive federal program.  It was established in 1935 to fight poverty and has morphed into a type of retirement fund.  The main problem with Social Security is that the number of Americans approaching retirement is growing faster than the number of Americans  replacing them in the workforce.  At the rate it is going the government is going to be spending more on Social Security than it is bringing in from income taxes.  In order for the program to stay on its feet the government would have to repay the money it borrowed form the Social Security program.  President Bush suggested allowing Americans to put their Social Security contributions into their own private investment accounts but the idea was widely rejected by legislators and citizens. 

I think that the government needs to pay back the money it borrowed form the Social Security program to ensure that it doesn't run out.  I don't think it is right that we spend our lives paying into a program that we won't get anything out of when it would come time for us to retire and start drawing Social Security.  If I am going to contribute I want to know for sure that when I get to be retirement age there will be a younger generation below me helping me out, just like I am doing with the elder generation now.  Rush Limbaugh also shares this point of view.  He is for privatising social security.  He also wants the reassurance that when we can no longer work we will have a fund set aside to help us out. 
War Dollars
Spending What We Can Afford

Natalee Holloway's mother sneaks into jail, confronts suspect

On Wednesday, Beth Holloway-Twitty, mother of Natalee Holloway snuck into Peruvian prison and confronted the man who admittedly took part in her daughters disappearance, Jordan Van der Sloot.  Reports say that she spoke to Van der Sloot for several minutes before she was removed from the jail.  Van der Sloot is being held on charges that he killed Stephany Flores on May 30 of this year.  With Holloway-Twitty was a Dutch journalist.  When they were told that she couldn't speak to Van der Sloot with out a lawyer present the Dutch journalist handed her Van der Sloot's lawyers card.  Holloway-Twitty managed to talk to Van der Sloot for a few minutes before she was discovered and escorted out of the jail.

In my opinion, Beth was a little out of line.  I understand where she was coming from and why she wanted answers.  However, I feel that there were better ways for her to get them than invading the Peruvian prison where Van der Sloot was being held.  She could have gotten in a lot more trouble for her actions than she did.  It also makes me question the security of the prison when all she had to do was hand the guard a business card and she was able to talk to Van der Sloot without any questions being asked.  It also amazes me what lengths journalists, like the Dutch reporter, will go to just to get a story.  He had no idea what was going to happen if they got in the prison but he didn't seem to care.  They are willing to deceive people in some astonishing ways just for that headline.  Personally, I think Beth could have handled the situation better but I do praise her for her courage.  Confronting Van der Sloot must have been incredibly difficult.  I am amazed at her bravery.  It just shows how strong the love is between a mother and her child.  She did an incredible thing to try and get some answers so her daughter could rest in peace.