Charlie Self said:

snipped previous thread content to conserve bandwidth ;-)

I contend that the terrorists have won, because they have managed
(quite easily) to force major and costly changes in our lifestyles,
supposedly to keep them out. At the same time, this is of great benefit
to an adminstration devoted to jerking knots in the list of rights the
common man has access to, without really doing anything constructive to
either suppress terrorism, or keep down the entry of terrorists to the
U.S.

Absolutely - down to the use of a color coded Terror Alert to yank the
leash when favor wanes.

The aim is to keep the public fearful so that government actions to
"protect" us are gobbled up as necessities, though, in fact, none have
been very effective at all...at the moment, both major borders are
sieves, leaking illegal aliens to the south at an unprecedented rate,
with many of those who are caught being released within hours--no place
to hold 'em.

Agreed.
Poking around the border between Texas and Mexico in 1999 elicited an
unnerving confrontation with border agents questioning my activities.
(No, I was _not_ picking up a shipment of terrorist weapons.) But at
night, all h%ll breaks lose. Look at Botswana for an indication of
how easily you can close a border. Motivation is the key factor.
http://www.gov.bw/home.html

I don't know what the answers are, but it seems to me neither does the
government, while it also seems that the various governmental minions
are doing their damndest to make sure no one even knows what the
questions are.

And emotional red herring issues to distract.
Hey Folks, watch the magicians _other_hand...

One thing for su this week definitely demonstrates that George Bush
retains his worldwide level of appreciation from those in other
countries.

Ride-em cowboy...
(No offense to_real_cowboys...)

The bromide claims that genius always skips a generation, but as
asseveration we see the father, in contrast, as paragon of wisdom.

I scowl at the shadow he casts upon me with heightening distain.

JMHO,

Greg G.