Mountain Views News          Saturday, December 13, 2014

B4

OPINION 

 Mountain Views-News Saturday, December 13, 2014 


OUT TO PASTOR 

A Weekly Religion Column by Rev. James Snyder

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Rev. James Snyder

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THE GREAT WALL OF SILENCE 

AFTER THANKSGIVING

In our home the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage and I have a wonderful 
tradition.

 Really, when you think about it, what is a home without traditions? Many 
people pretend that they do not have traditions which in and of itself has 
become a tradition.

 Our tradition is that on what is normally called “Black Friday” we do not leave our house except to go 
out and get the mail. Years ago we did, but those ensuing years have created a sense of wisdom that has 
brought us to banning any out of the house experience on “Black Friday.”

 When we were younger, we had more energy and could run. Now, running is a very fond memory.

 I am not that fond of shopping malls in the first place, and in the second place, I do not like to be run 
over by a mob trying to out buy me.

 Thus, our tradition on “Black Friday” is to stay home and appreciate one another’s companionship. It 
is always good to relish Thanksgiving dinner leftovers, sit back and just enjoy ourselves. I think we also 
watched a little bit of television.

 As we were watching television, a terrible thought wrestled my mind to the mat. I guess my mind is 
not as strong as it used to be.

 The thought was simply this; there is a special holiday that follows Thanksgiving. I did not give it any 
thought until at this point. That special holiday is Christmas. And Christmas means buying a Christmas 
present for my wife.

 This is always a stressful time for me. After all, what do you get somebody who has everything? She has 
me! What more could she need. (Don’t tell her I said that.)

 Now my mind was racing a thousand miles an hour trying to figure out what I should get her as a 
Christmas present this year.

 I thought maybe if I could remember what I got her last year it might give me some ideas for this year. 
The harder I thought, the less thoughts came. I could not for the life of me figure out what I had given her 
last year for Christmas.

 I knew at this point I was in serious trouble. I decided I would try to get my wife to tell me what I could 
get her this year for Christmas.

 We were chatting back and forth; she was telling me one story after another. I think there were several 
stories but it all sounded the same to me. Although I have two ears, they do not seem to be connected. 
So, in the midst of our chatting I said, “You know Christmas is only a few weeks away.”

 I thought that would get some conversation going and in a subtle way I could direct it to what she 
wanted for Christmas. Boy, was I wrong.

 As soon as I said that, all silence broke loose in our living room. I cannot remember the last time it was 
this quiet when both of us were in the room.

 I am not quite sure she has figured me out yet, she probably has. Anybody who has ever attempted to 
manipulate their wife into disclosing information knows that I was up against the Great Wall of Silence.

I tried to think of another strategy. Then I came up with one.

 “How did you like the Christmas present I got you last year?” Thinking I could get her to talk about 
something that would refresh my memory and lead me in a direction of something for this year.

 “Fine, how did you like yours?” she said and went behind the Great Wall of Silence.

 Now I was backed into a corner. I could not remember what she gave me for Christmas last year. I tried 
to crank up the old think-machine, but it seemed to be out of gas. If only I could remember what she got 
me it might spark me to remember what I got her.

 For the next few moments silence reigned queen for the day as I tried to think of how I could get her to 
tell me something that I could get her for Christmas.

 I had another semi-brilliant idea.

 “What did we get your mother last year for Christmas?” I thought this might spur some conversation 
that would lead me to the information I was seeking.

 She looked at me and then said, “What did we get her for Christmas last year? I can’t really remember.”

 Now, I knew very well she knew what we got her for Christmas last year. If anybody knows how to 
stonewall their husband, it is the Gracious Mistress of the Parsonage.

 “What do you think we ought to get her this year?” I asked searchingly. This I thought would spur 
some conversation.

 “I am not quite sure. What do you think she would like?”

 At this point, I think my cover is blown. If I am going to get any information out of my wife about what 
to get her for Christmas, it will not be during my lifetime.

 In the quietness, I began to reflect upon some scriptural admonitions. I especially like what David 
said, “Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth” 
(Psalms 46:10).

 It is in the quietness that the reality of God shines the brightest in my heart.

 

Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He lives 
with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.
net or website www.jamessnyderministries.com.


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LEFT TURN/RIGHT TURN

HOWARD Hays As I See It

GREG Welborn


TORTURED TRUTHS

“John Boehner is now second-guessing the jury verdict in the Eric Garner 
case. He says he might want to hold congressional hearings over the issue. Is 
this the same John Boehner that showed zero enthusiasm about the Benghazi 
hearings?”

- Sean Hannity

Two weeks ago, the St. Louis County grand jury failed to indict Ferguson 
Police Officer Darren Wilson for shooting to death Michael Brown last 
August. A week later, the Staten Island grand jury failed to indict NYPD 
Staten Island Officer Daniel Pantaleo for choking to death Eric Garner last 
July.

 This past week, the NAACP Legal Defense Fund posted a list to remind that the passion and 
rage behind “Black Lives Matter” go far deeper than anguish over two recent headline-grabbing 
decisions. As the NAACP reminds, in this past year alone:

 On January 16, 26-year-old Jordan Baker was bicycling through a Houston-area strip mall when 
off-duty Houston Police Officer J. Castro, working security at the mall, thought he matched the 
description of previous robbers. (They wore black hoodies.) According to Castro, after a brief chase 
Baker “charged” at him, so Castro shot him dead. Baker was unarmed, and there were no other 
witnesses.

 Jordan Baker was a student at Houston Community College and leaves a 7-year-old son (Jordan 
Jr.). Officer Baker was put on administrative leave.

 When Southfield (outside of Detroit) police officers answered the call from shopping mall 
security guards on January 28, they found 25-year-old McKenzie Cochran handcuffed and not 
breathing. Cochran died on the way to the hospital.

 Earlier, the guards were called by a store owner about an agitated Cochran who refused to leave 
his store. Cochran was pepper-sprayed and thrown to the ground face-down by the guards, one 
with his knee on Cochran’s back. 

 Attorney Gerald Thurswell described a cellphone video of the incident: “When he’s telling them 
that he’s dying, he says, ‘I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe. Call 911, I can’t breathe. I’m dying.’ And they 
just keep that knee on his back, compressing his lungs and chest into the ground . . . “

 The Oakland County (Michigan) Medical Examiner attributed the death to “position 
compression asphyxia”. The Oakland County Prosecutor acknowledged “mistakes” made by the 
guards, but declined to file charges.

 Last March, 22-year-old Victor White III was stopped by New Iberia, Louisiana police officers, 
patted down and found to have marijuana, cocaine and some Cigarillos. He was put in the back seat 
of the police car, hands cuffed behind his back, and taken to the station.

 Despite the frisking, according to the officers, they missed the gun White allegedly had on him 
which, with his hands cuffed behind him in the backseat, they say he somehow managed to use to 
shoot himself (later labeled the “Houdini suicide”).

 The initial police report says White was shot in the back. The coroner’s report says it was in the 
chest, with none of the gunpowder traces typical of a point-blank shot.

The local investigation is pending.

 Tyree Woodson (38) was picked up August 2 by Baltimore police on several open warrants. After 
hours in a holding cell, he was escorted to a restroom, where, upon entering the stall, he allegedly 
shot himself.

 His family wonders how a criminal considered dangerous could be arrested, jailed and 
transported within the facility all while managing to hang onto a high-caliber weapon – not for an 
escape attempt, but to kill himself. An investigation is pending.

 On August 5, John Crawford III, 22, went with his girlfriend to a Wal-Mart in Beavercreek, 
Ohio, to shop for a family barbeque. He got a phone call, and while talking on his cell picked up 
an open BB gun from a store shelf, which he carried with him while talking and walking down the 
aisles with nobody else paying much attention.

 A witness called 911 to say a customer was pointing a gun at people. A month later, the same 
witness said he wasn’t pointing the gun at anybody. Store video shows two officers rushing into the 
store with guns drawn, then shooting their target the second he comes into view at the end of an 
aisle, still on his phone.

 The grand jury issued no indictments. Crawford leaves two sons.

On August 12, two days after the killing of Michael Brown, the LAPD says 25-year-old Ezell Ford 
was killed in South L.A. during a confrontation with them in which “a struggle ensued”. Witnesses 
and family members say he was shot three times while lying on the ground, complying with their 
orders. The LAPD put an “investigative hold” on the autopsy report.

 Cleveland Police got a call November 22 about a man “probably a juvenile” with a gun “probably 
fake” at a local park. According to police, upon arrival an officer got out of his car and told the 
suspect to put his hands up. Instead, they reported, the suspect reached into his waistband and 
pulled out a gun, at which point the officer fired. According to video of the incident, however, the 
police car pulls up at 0:19 and by 0:21, all of two second later, the suspect is falling to the ground, 
mortally wounded.

 Tamir Rice, owner of the BB gun, was 12.

In the Michael Brown case, the focus has been on a struggle in the police car, not on whether Brown 
was later killed while attempting to surrender – or on a prosecutor presenting the case against 
prosecution to a grand jury.

 For Eric Garner, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) suggests that if “politicians” had not made cigarette 
taxes so high, Garner wouldn’t have been selling singles on the street, which got him into trouble in 
the first place.

 This isn’t about isolated incidents, insufficient “respect” shown to police or high taxes, for that 
matter - but about an ongoing pattern of conduct and cover-up throughout the country that the 
“Black Lives Matter” campaign refuses to allow to continue.

And no, Sean Hannity, it has nothing to do with Benghazi.

America is owed the truth from its political leaders, and the 
importance of that entitlement is directly related to the significance 
of the issue in question. Sadly, we’ve all grown accustomed, maybe 
even accepting, of politicians lying, evading, denying and covering 
up. To the extent this is true, we deserve what we get. But on the “big” 
issues, most Americans still expect that our leaders will rise to the 
occasion and do what’s right – level with the people. Sadly, the Senate 
Intelligence Committee’s report on CIA interrogations is anything but a truthful analysis; its 
sole purpose seems to be the furthering of some incomprehensible political agenda.

 There is no mistaking the intent of this report. The Democratic members of the Senate 
committee released a report which attempts to hold members of the CIA accountable to 
accusations of “torture” in the aftermath of 9/11. In doing so, they very conveniently ignore 
the history of those days, weeks and months.

 9/11 was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil, in the wake of which President Bush 
signed a congressional authorization for the use of military force. It was a bipartisan 
authorization which specifically granted the President the authority to “use all necessary 
and appropriate force against [those] he determines [were involved in] the terrorist attacks”. 
The point of the authorization was very specific: “to prevent any future acts of international 
terrorism against the United States”.

 In a similarly bipartisan method, the CIA’s rendition, detention and interrogation program 
was designed with the participation of the Congress and the President. Full disclosure of 
this program, which included the use of enhanced interrogation techniques, was made to the 
chairmen and ranking members of both the Senate and House intelligence committees. 

 The Democratic report released this week attempts to paint a much different picture. 
Among its central claims are the assertions that the programs were developed without 
oversight and without the knowledge and approval of the Congress. That is just a lie! It’s not 
even a good lie since the report doesn’t offer any evidence to suggest that any member of the 
intelligence committees were unaware of, or even later shocked by, the programs. In fact, the 
reactions at the time of the congressional briefings ranged from no objection to approval to 
some calling for a more aggressive approach.

 Further incriminating of the lie in this Democratic report is the fact that President Obama’s 
Justice Department investigated the CIA program and in 2012 found no basis whatsoever for 
criminal prosecution. They found – albeit reluctantly – that the CIA had lawfully carried out 
the lawful instructions of the President and the Congress. 

 With hindsight, we should have known such a shameful political attack was coming. The 
Senate committee didn’t bother to interview President Bush, Vice President Cheney, their 
advisors, the heads of the CIA or any of those involved in the programs. Doing your research 
and interviewing all the witnesses is something I trust they teach early in law school, although 
I’m sure it’s viewed as just a nuisance in our universities’ political science departments. Why 
strive for the truth when a more convenient political narrative can simply be invented?

 Part of that convenient Democratic political narrative is the assertion by the Democratic 
report that the enhanced interrogation techniques were actually “torture”. Simply calling 
something torture doesn’t make it so. Americans are by and large good people, possessing a 
more-than-ample quotient of common sense. Torture is inflicting significant physical pain; 
a slap in the face is not significant. Nor is creating a sensation of drowning where there is no 
drowning. Waterboarding tricks the human system into thinking it is drowning. There’s 
no real physical harm. American service men and women are exposed to it during training, 
because with training you can teach yourself to ignore the sensation. The human mind can be 
taught to recognize that the “feeling” of drowning is not really drowning. Real torture can’t 
simply be ignored. 

 This, and a host of other psychological techniques, have been wonderfully successful in 
convincing terrorists (without real damage to themselves) to give up valuable information 
which has saved lives. But this fact is also denied by the Democratic report. In their narrative, 
not only did the U.S. torture people, but it did so just knowing that no “actionable intelligence” 
would be obtained. That narrative couldn’t be further from the truth. As several CIA heads 
and military leaders make clear in the 12/10/14 Wall Street Journal, the interrogations exposed 
and prevented a second wave of attacks which were being planned by Al Qaeda. The truth is 
that real lives were saved while no real harm was done to terrorists.

 As for the political calculation behind this piece of partisan fiction masquerading as 
serious investigation, I can’t begin to imagine what benefits could outweigh the serious 
damage that this Democratic report will cause. At the very least, Al Qaeda, ISIS and others 
will use this to recruit and to justify their truly torturous treatment of prisoners. Who could 
object to beheading a few Americans when Americans themselves torture? America needs 
our friends to trust us and our enemies to fear us. Exercises in self immolation, like this 
report, embolden enemies and drive away friends. 

 It is my firm belief there is a special place in hell for those terrorists who torture, maim and 
kill with abandon. I’m beginning to believe – or at least hope – there is a place also reserved 
for those who would make such false and damaging accusations against those who put their 
lives on the line to protect our country. 

 

About the author: Gregory J. Welborn is a freelance writer and has spoken to several civic and 
religious organizations on cultural and moral issues. He lives in the Los Angeles area with his 
wife and 3 children and is active in the community. He can be reached mailto:gregwelborn2@
gma/5l.com

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