opinion

This letter is in response to a published letter from Paul Smith (Executive Director, LNRMC) calling for the closing of Presbyterian Hospital in Huntersville.

Paul Smith, the executive director of Lake Norman Regional Medical Center, calls for the state to shut down Presbyterian Hospital North in Huntersville (Letters, July 1, 2005, Huntersville Herald) because PHN doesn't have a valid "Certificate of Need."

Certificate of Need? By what right does Mr. Smith or the State demand such a thing? The only legitimate "authority" a business need answer to is the market, i.e., you, me and all the individuals that comprise the buying public. We citizens are what determines whether a business is needed or not, by voting with our dollars. If PHN is "needed" it will prosper. If it's not, it won't. We certainly don't need the state or Mr. Smith to tell us what we need.

The state has neither the means to determine our needs, nor the moral authority to impose their bureaucratic determinations on us. The state exists only to serve us by protecting our liberty; it is not our master and it does not have the moral authority to deny the freedom of individuals and corporations to transact peaceful business. Any such interference is constitutes a violation of the rights of the business concerned and the rights of us individuals who would be customers.

Arrogant and totalitarian measures such as these have more in common with dictatorships and the Mafia than with business in America. Unfortunately such regulations and their exploitation by the likes of Mr. Smith are becoming all too common, consider the slew of recent anti-trust and eminent domain abuses. This degeneration of America into statism is the consequence of replacing individualism with collectivism, the individual rights of consumers, business owners, and corporations with bureacratic decrees in the name of "the public good."

The fact that immoral laws exist is a reason to oppose them, not an excuse to cynically exploit them and summon the coercive power of the state to shut down a competitor. Shame on Mr. Smith and LNRMC. And shame on us for allowing such laws and regulations to be passed.

Nigel Duckworth
July 11, 2005

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Is it any wonder the so-called "War on Terror" has not cowed the enemy when Bush puts out the welcome mat for Mamoud Abbas, leader of Fatah, a terrorist organization?

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LNG wishes all our visitors a happy and prosperous 2005!

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Bush has consistently sacrificed US interests to "world opinion" and his liberal critics, initially making strong statements about how we would respond to terrorist attacks (such as in Fallujah) with overwhelming force, and then proceeded to respond with overwhelming compromise. We announced a ceasefire on Fallujah, let in an Iranian terrorist sympathizer to negotiate with the terrorists and then left the city to the terrorists. This is happening on a wider scale than just Fallujah, it is the basic modus operandi of the Bush Administration.

The only result of such a suicidal policy can be to make the U.S. look feeble and pathetic, all hot air and no action. This can only encourage our enemies to launch more attacks, behead more hostages and recruit more terrorists.

Thus it is no surprise then that General Kimmit said of the Fallujah situation and our failure to bring the barbarians who butchered American contractors to justice:

"We are not satisfied we are making active progress in the latter," Kimmitt said. "We are not satisfied that there has been progress on any of those objectives, with the exception of having Iraqi presence back inside the city."

And according to Associated Press: Hard-line Islamic leaders have reasserted their power in Fallujah, 30 miles west of Baghdad. Some were active in defending the city against the Marines and have profited by a perception — both here and elsewhere in Iraq (news - web sites) — that the Fallujah fighters defeated a superpower." [source: Yahoo News]

There is no doubt that we have the military power to crush the rebellion. The problem is we lack the moral certainty of our cause and the moral courage to unleash that power against our enemies. There is also no doubt they are not so restrained and will unleash against us the most powerful weapons they can lay their hands on. Unless we wage a proper war now where the only goal is total defeat of the enemy, we will pay dearly, just as we're are paying now for our failure to respond to the attacks on us since the attack on the US Embassy in Iran in 1979.

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Bush promised us a "War on Terrorism" yet the US Marines are being turned into the Salvation Army and we're practically handing Islamic fundamentalists Afghanistan and Iraq on a platter. Furthermore, just like in Israel, the more we compromise and negotiate with the terrorists, the more they hate us and attack us. This is not a new phenomenon.

Islamic fundamentalists have been waging war against the US for at least 20 years, though their intentions have been clear since 1979 when Iran slid into a theocratic dictatorship and seized our embassy and hostages and began to fund and export terrorism across the globe.

A sampling:

1983 US Marine barracks in Beirut [243 slaughtered]
1988 Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland [244]
1993 World Trade Center [6]
1996 Khobar Towers Dhahran, Saudia Arabia [19]
1998 US Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania [224]
2000 USS Cole in Yemen [17]
2001 World Trade Center, Pentagon, UA Flight 93, AA Flight 11, AA Flight 77 [2998]

This is by no means an exhaustive list as it doesn't include the many other attacks and threats against Americans, in the US (Rushdies publishers and bookstores), in Israel, at sea (Achille Lauro), and of course currently in Afghanistan and Iraq. And it shows no signs of abating:

Wanted terrorist, Abu Hajer, via al-Qaeda’s online mouthpiece, “The Center for Islamic Studies and Research,” (April 27, 2004):

“Let America know that those who forced it out of Somalia, struck it in Kenya and Tanzania, drowned its battleship in Eden, and made an example to the world out of it in Manhattan, those are thankfully still strong and are getting stronger in their determination and Jihad for the way of God and victory. Let America know that those who are fighting it in Afghanistan and are rubbing its nose in the mud in Iraq, will not accept the occupation of the Al Haramain territory."

In light of this dire threat, why do we continue to fret over the death of "innocents" and bend over backwards to avoid damaging holy sites used as armories and fortresses? These fundamentalists specialize in murdering innocents, they blow up school buses and use people as bombs. They are waging an uncompromising, dirty and barbaric war, going so far as to parade mutilated remains of Americans as trophies. We need to end this conflict with an overwhelming and decisive response. We should proclaim that this war is not a war to liberate Iraqis but a war to exterminate the threat against us, and that the same fate will meet any group that threatens the United States.

Yes, war is brutal, but it's also necessary, it's our only recourse against those who have proven they will use any weapon to destroy us. It's them or us.

Recommended Reading:

America's Compassion in Iraq is Self-Destructive

End States Who Sponsor Terrorism

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On Monday March 22nd 2004 Israel, in a long overdue response, killed Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, founder of the Palestinian terror group Hamas. This is the only possible way to eliminate the threat of terrorism, annihilate its leaders and supporters. You can't negotiate or compromise with a fanatic who WANTS to die and take you with him. Nor should you. Israel should be praised for waging a real war on terror.

But the reaction from Europe was depressingly predictable.

British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw called it, "unacceptable and unjust". Blair's official spokesman said, "It goes without saying that the PM condemns today's killings."

This said about a mastermind of terrorism and a man who advocated a global jihad.

If that's not enough, today the EU slaps a $613 million dollar fine on Microsoft; orders it to unbundle its media player software from Windows; and share proprietary information with its competitors! The EU sides with Microsoft's envious competitors and has the gall to tell Microsoft how to run its business. Sadly Microsoft has long been appeasing it's critics in the US and abroad; thus it's not surprising the EU thinks it's safe to unleash it's envy against the company.

Apologize for terrorists and punish the most successful businesses. That's justice European style.

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What a game! What a season! The Panthers did us proud.

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