On Sun, 30 Jan 2005 06:04:36 GMT, the inscrutable Nate Perkins
spake:

"Swingman" wrote in
:

"Nate Perkins" wrote in message

There is also a point when "free" speech provides aid to the enemy.
Couple that fact with today's press, that can be bought by either
side, and you end up in a dangerous haze that forces the path taken
to be based passion and politics, instead of reason.

Nonsense. American ideals are the only thing worth fighting for.

Define "American ideals", please. Those of our forefathers or those
of the current regime, or those of the American public? They're VASTLY
different, and I have no doubt that the former are spinning wildly in
their graves at the moment from the current regime's antics. We're
in a ****LOAD of trouble if you guys don't realize that.


That is a damn provincial attitude to the rest of the world, and a
perfect example of head-in-the-sand when it comes to global terrorism.

No, this idea that somehow we have to give up our freedoms in order to
more effectively fight terrorism is wrong.

True. We can never effectively fight terrorism and any attempt to
do more than we did pre-911 is foolhardy and drains our reserves.
That, sir, is precisely what bin Laden WANTS. We're spending something
like a million dollars to every one he spends against us.


The idea that somehow our
democratic process of free speech, free press, and political opposition
somehow provides aid to the enemy is wrong, too.

Oh, it does. When the "enemy" knows precisely what we're planning and
when, knows precisely how many forces they fight and the makeup of
said forces, he can become more prepared than we are. Current media
broadcasts give far too much real-time, intricate knowledge for the
safety of our troops.


It's entirely possible
to fight a smart war on terrorism and still protect our ideals. We are
not fighting a smart war on terrorism.

A-freakin'-men. We're doing absolutely nothing to address the CAUSE.


There are some people that say we need to permit torture, indefinite
imprisonment of American citizens without charge or legal counsel,
suspension of habeas corpus, supression of free speech, censorship of
news reports from the battlefield -- those people scare me as much as
Bin Laden. Countries that allow this wake up one day and find they live
in a dictatorship.

Too true.


I agree that the press is not doing as good a job as it ought to. It's
not asking the critical questions, it's sloppy, it's partisan. It
accepts dodges and nonanswers from our politicians. It's even being
bribed by our politicians. But for all its many faults, it's still part
of the system of (what used to be and ought to be) essential checks and
balances.

Is that any reason NOT to fix any of the broken systems in the
country? Our justice system is horribly broken, allowing stupid
lawsuits to ruin it in the name of money. Politicians are bribed,
media folks are bribed, prison guards are bribed, murders are let
out early while rec drug users rot in prison. Martha goes to prison
while O.J. stays out?

The Drug War costs billions of dollars. Do you know how many tons
of drugs are on our streets at any given time TODAY? Given the
billions spent, should there be -any- if the system worked?

Let's slow the wound called "The Drug War" and use some of those
funds to pay for to equip and protect our troops while they're in
this assinine war, eh?


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