"Canadian court lifts ban on ‘swingers’ clubs"

Is the Western civilization choking on the Aristippulian consciousness? Has the the Western civilization, as represented by Canada and many European societies, gone mad or inching very close to it? At this rate, it will eventually collapse under the weight of its own excesses. Societies that become morally bankrupt will inevitably become essentially bankrupt. In their quest for what is clearly the phantom of pleasure, a state of mind that would make even Aristippus turn away in shame, they are indeed chasing after the wind. As everyone knows, it will not stop here. Someday, it will be sex with children, sex with mothers and fathers, sex with siblings, sex with corpses, sex with animals, and sex with who knows what the crazed and insatiable pleasure seekers will come up with next. As Dylan said, "sons becoming husbands to their mothers, old men turning their own daughters into whores."

It is a proven maxim that too much of anything is bad, be it food, drug, alcohol, or sex. There is a consequence to every excessive indulgence, as alcoholics, drug addicts, gambling addicts, pornography addicts, and bulimics know. The Western civilization in its collective addiction may very well meet the same fate, if people in western societies don't "wake up and strengthen the things that remain". Benjamin Franklin once said, "Nothing brings more pain than too much pleasure; nothing brings more bondage than too much liberty". A philosopher of our time said, "The unqualified pursuit of freedom leads to unexpected outcomes". Samuel Adams said, "A general dissolution of principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy". Yes, the issue in question is with regards to Canada; nevertheless, Adam’s statement is still ominous.

History is sounding the alarm, but those who are committed to an irrational end are like mad people, they will heed no warning. Even Physics sounds the alarm: for every action there is an equal an opposite reaction (Newton's Third Law). Freedom without responsibility is akin to implicit gradual suicide and freedom without fidelity to truth is akin to theft and self subversion.

Transfer of U.S. ports to Dubai firm: To be or not to be? ... Certainly not!

There is a very old maxim that says "all that glitter is not gold". In the face of the persistent and imminent danger of Islamic terrorism facing America, and the sheer lethality of one terrorist act in a free society, globalization may hold more peril than profit for America in a circumstance such as this.

Clearly, the issue is not so much with Dubai as a nation as it is with the fact that two of the 9/11 terrorists came from Dubai and the money to finance the operation was laundered through Dubai. Moreover, one cannot ignore the fact that Dubai is an Islamic nation, and one of only three countries that recognized the oppressive Taliban regime in Afganistan, where the 9/11 terrorists and others alike were trained and equiped for their dastardly deeds against America. In spite of its corporation in the war against terrorism, Dubai is a country where Islamists that seek to harm or destroy America, and those that support them abound.

One cannot be too careful in the face of a certain danger posed by a certain enemy, especially an enemy within - America or Dubai. Think of the difficulties the coalition forces are facing in Iraq, where terrorists infiltrate the police force and the military to gain information to aid them in terrorist plots and to carryout those plots. Everyone knows how destructive that has been to Iraq, in the number of lives that have been destroyed and how it has virtually crippled the reconstruction process.

America is already struggling with securing her ports and everyone knows the enormous challenges involved with adequately securing those ports. There are inherent and persistent risk factors associated with these ports, those risk factors will undoubtedly increase if this deal is allowed to go through. For one thing, Americans will feel less secure, even if it is only perceptively. And worry has its costs.

It is unwise to walk into a dangerous situation, just because your friend says it is OK. In the least, our leaders will do well to hearken to Ben Franklin's admonition, “Love your neighbor; yet don’t pull down your hedge."