Letting Fear Win....

[Manedew]

The point is it's not needed.... we'll never be 100% safe .. your dreaming if you think so ..... "Tower's" will keep falling as long as we are human.  Osma this, Osma that... anyone remember Tim McVehey (however ya spell it).

On this basis and much more I say ... stop being cowards!....  Be 'men', Be brave ... we don't need to spy on our neihbors to be safe.  

John9001 meantions a foiled attempt?  In NYC?..... Where is the money this administration promised NYC and many other cities after 9/11.  Where!?  Last I heard they hadn't seen dime 1 they were promised of for local terrorist protection(though my reading has been down in last month, I must admit; maybe they've got the money by now )

My point is, where do you want to live in some Brave New World where everything is 'safe'?  Or, are we willing to take the risk, a risk inherient to the universe.  Everything around us is within 'imeadeaite'  danger at all moments in exsistance.  How do we know a singularity(black hole) might not 'float' by in 10 days... and suck our whole solar system in?  We really don't ..... or a volcano could pop up underneath you.   Or you could be mailing a letter and get blowen up by some wanna-be una-bomber; His shabbely made bomb you just blew up as you droped the letter in the box.  Or you get Carjacked and shot.  The point is realtive safety is all you can ask for ... and that is what we have.  We don't need them spying on our libraries....our finances, etc etc .... When did 'innocent until proven gultiy', and 'probable cause'- turn to mean pre-emptive searches of citizens.  

Look at the Congo right now, we don't have it bad... something like 3 million killed in last 5 years.  Why don't we care about them ... why didn't we care about Rwanda.  Anyway off topic ,
we are safe already ... we don't need stupid Laws like the Patriot Act.

[Syzygyone]

You are correct.  We could all get killed by lightening.  But, does that mean we should not seek shelter during a lightening storm?  If there is another successful terrorist attack and if it is discovered that the government, which has an obligation to protect the common good, did not do everything possible to discover and prevent it, then who are you going to blame?  It's the old adage, once burned, twice shy, or fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me.

Oh and, as opposed to just being rediciulously brave about lightening and random acts of murder, hoping the odds don't catch up to us, do you have any concrete suggestions about how we might fight terrorism, at least make it harder for them to attack us.  Or, since it will be hard to do that while at the same time, protecting the very civil liberties that make this country what it is, should we just be brave and let them attack all they want.  Tell that to the over 3,000 families.

You say we don't need the Patriot Act.  You say all we need to do is to enforce exisitng immigration laws.  That is totally incorrect.  In fact, several terrorists might have been kept out. but in fact, if you study the information available, most of the dead 19 were here legally.  So, obviously, something needed to change.

BTW, please tell us the language in the Patriot Act that allows what you suggest are preemptive searches. And also, tell us how much do you really know about terrorist activity patterns.  Do you know that they can be differentiated from normal innocent  activity patterns.  Do you know anything about pre-event indicators or warning signs, or I & W?  Do you know that the activity patterns discovered of the Unabomber, and McVeigh and Nichols are discernible and have been used to ferret out others who would commit terrorist acts.  

It isn't innocent acitivity that is being watched.  It is suspect activity that is being uncovered.

I envy you your bravery, sir.  But, I for one, will not feel very good at all when your brand of bravery gets my family murdered when it could have been prevented.

I've said it before, and it is still true.  The only people that have to worry about the Patriot Act are terrorists.

Have a nice day!:D