04/02/2001

What to do About Americans Held In China

United States diplomats, as well as the Monday morning network news readers, are wringing their hands over the incident with one of our surveillance planes in China. It seems that anyone who has commented thus far thinks we are left with no options but to ask, "Please let us have our men and our technology back, pretty please."

We will eventually get our men and our plane back, but not before the Chinese get what they want. These masters of "reverse engineering" (aka, technology theft) don't need a lot of time to suck out all they need from that plane, then they will return it and spin themselves as being a good international neighbor. When all is said and done, no one will remember that it was the Chinese fighters that forced our plane down to start with.

What can we do to get our men and equipment back? It's really quite simple: Call out our most effective Special Forces team - get our big guns out. More effective than the Navy Seals, the Green Berets, or the Army Rangers, this "task force" could resolve the issue in hours.

I am not referring to some clandestine CIA operatives - our really big guns are Wal-Mart, Toys-R-Us, JC Penny and the like. We need to hit the Chinese where it hurts - in the Renminbi!

All we need do it tell the Chinese that they MUST return our men and aircraft immediately, without boarding the plane, or there will be an irrevocable sanction placed on all trade with China for 12 months. Each day of delay will add 12 months to the sanction and if more than three days go by, the sanctions will be permanent.

Yes, this will hurt American retailers, but they should be put on notice that if they are going to play with red fire, they might get burned. Its time that we all learn to put domestic interests ahead of personal gain anyway.

New Study: Teens Have Access to Guns

The news readers are also wringing their hands over a new study that reports that 47% of high schoolers say they have access to guns.

This really IS bad news! That 47% figure means that 63% of high school age Americans DO NOT have access to guns. Just 30 or 40 years ago I'm sure those figures were reversed.

Back then fathers and sons would grab their shotguns and go afield together with the family bird dog or beagle and the dad would have time to imprint the boy with wholesome values. Or, instead, they might take a target rifle to the range and learn the discipline of precision shooting. They might even simply do a little plinking together and share a little "quality time".

Thirty or forty years ago 47% of the high school boys probably owned their own firearms! And back then, we didn't have school shootings or the host of social problems teens have today.

By: Ron Calzone
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