We don't have time to worry about such things. We have to fire a coach and run a talented point guard out of town first.
Fear is a great tool for this administration. It keeps the people submissive, and open to whatever the administration wants. Get ready to surrender more of your civil rights and liberties.
So, what if they decided that taking everyone's guns away was a good way to avert another 9/11? You'd sign right up?
I'm for taking 4chuckie's civil liberties away. By the way, if my flatus seems deadly, will Ashcroft and Ridge lock me away for biochemical terrorism? I'm having a rough morning here.
I was open to the suggestion of manipulation also. I heard a CNN reporter essentially call this claim ridiculous. Even ignoring the fact that many reports say that corroborating information is coming in from many sources, they also said that elevating the risk assessment is too substantial to be done for political reasons. That doesn't provide 'proof' against your theory, but I will trust the Government when a lot of reporters familiar w/ the way Washington works agree with it, over pure 100%, unadulterated speculation. Unless I see evidence otherwise, I will file this under 'conspiracy theories'. Maybe it will make a good movie someday...
I'll bet anybody on this BBS $20 that the Terror Alert level gets raised to Red on or near October 19th, 2004...about two weeks before the next Presidential election.
So you are all for assisting in the destruction of what the Colonists were willing to give-up their lives to achieve? This may be a case of taking something most precious for granted. We are not America without those liberties and rights.
That's why I try and never bet straight up against my teams, my bet with gr8-1 re: Kyle Field next year, an exception (even though I'm not betting on UT to lose).
Yes I am willing to give up some liberties. I don't pi$$ and cry because it takes longer to ge ton a plane or because I have to open my jacket before walking into an arena to watch a sporting event. I don't mind walking thru metal detectors or having extra security around to ask more questions and look mor epeople over. So the rest of you think life should go back to pre-9/11? Well here's to you. Take all your liberties, let another group of men onto planes with knives (or tools that can be used as knives) and let them ram into whatever you want. Let's not have sky marshalls on the planes to protect the people, stopping 1 out of 4 people once they had controls of the planes was pretty good odds. I don't mind being inconvenience and/or searched if it may save my life and others.
For all this talk about my civil liberties being taken away, I haven't seen it yet. I live the same life I lived before 9-11, except I have to wait 30 minutes longer at the airport and my wife has her purse checked when we go into the Compaq Center. Boo Hoo. And don't give me "what's next if you let people look into your wife's purse" argument. I don't think I'll all of a sudden lose the right to work and own a house and be happy because some security guard looks at my baggage. It seems like you should only be worried about these rules if you have something to hide. Civil Liberties are there for you to live your life free and happy WITHIN the law. If they enact procedures that only hurt people breaking the law, or that bring down terrorists before they kill me, then I'm all for it. Seems more often than not, the arguments that we're losing are civil liberties are arguments against small inconveniences in your life that would only REALLY trouble law breakers and terrorists.
<blockquote><hr>Even so, Ridge urged Americans "in the days ahead, take some time to prepare for emergencies." As an example, he suggested that families devise plans for contacting one another if separated by an emergency.<hr></blockquote> Oh great. Now my mother law just asked if she could move in, since she doesn't like cell phones. There goes my civil liberties; thanks alot Bush.
The "soft targets" referrence is what scares the hell out of me. When I think about how easy it is to walk in to a shopping mall, or get on a subway etc, I worry. Crazy ****!
"We are not recommending that events be canceled," nor should individuals change their travel, work or recreational plans, Ashcroft said. This is so damn r****ded. The terror alert is elevated meaning the risk for a terrorist attack is high, but don't change anything... thank you very much! lol
The terror alerts are fine. I'm all for being informed. But, what exactly am I supposed to do now that the alert is higher? If the purpose is to warn us something may be coming, frankly, I'm not sure I WANT to know. Unless they can pinpoint the date, time and location, I'm not going to sit around worried about whether I might get killed or injured in a terrorist attack. And, for that matter, what is "be alert"? Shouldn't we ALWAYS be alert? Isn't that sort of the point of having 5 senses in the first place? I dunno. Just seems like a whole lot of titilation with no payoff - like soft core p*rn on Cinimax.
Generally, I lean to the right, but I have to agree that general terror alerts don't serve much of a purpose beyond making people more "aware" for a few days. And though I don't necessarily agree with RocketManTex on this, I don't think you have to be that cynical to think along his lines....especially if you're diametrically opposed to a Republican administration. Which he obviously is. Mostly, I think these terror alerts are just CYA.
Agree 100%. My take on death is this: I've always felt that when you are going to die is determined when you are born. When you're time comes up, there isn't anything that will stop it...not a gun, a miracle cure, or a terror alert. I just wish I knew my date, so I could party like hell in the months leading up to it!
