Name one actual event similar to our 911 incident. All acts of terrorism are "similar" to that event. Like most acts of terorrism, 9/11 was a primarily a dramatic, not strategic hit intended to galvanize the entire nation -- as one -- with anger and fear sufficient to power our invasion of Afghanistan (as already on the table) as well as overcome any opposition to certain "war-time" measures and new federal powers invoked here at home by the sorts of folks who tend to see crisis as an opportunity.
Because it worked so splendidly for all involved (the terrorists, their handlers and those who stand ready always to make lemonade out of lemons), we can be confident they will strike again.
Besides, as the Bolsheviks always maintained, "the revolution does not make sense without terror."
We're just to the stage now that it's Terror what's now going to be making otherwise wholly illogical acts "sensible" for the West.
Unless from the WP or the LAT, please post the entire article. The links posted are temporary. If one were to pull this thread from the archives later, the posts to it would be meaningless because the original article would be unavailable.
If you don't care about the logic, just do it because Jim Robinson wants you to. In his comments on 11/27/1999 are these words:
Our chosen vehicle for dissent is to use the media's own words against them. We post their propaganda pieces and then our readers tear them apart and expose the lies and corruption within. It's also interesting to document how the lying liberal press covers events compared to other, less biased sources and it's even more interesting to see it weeks, months or years later when the truth is finally known.
This is why it is important to post articles in their entirety. Many of the media sites remove their articles within a few days of release and in some cases, even the next day. We've even caught the media changing stories by the hour to make them seem less damaging to the government or to certain protected politicians. The media is part of the enemy and thus cannot be trusted.
Do you get it? Or do you just not give a crap.
You know every time I see one of these "USA is turning into a police state" threads, I always remember that how under the "oppressive" Bush administration, Americans have a government more cognizant of their fundamental human rights than any in the last 20 years. For under Bush, Ashcroft's DOJ has officially taken the position that all people in America have a an individual right to firearms as guaranteed under the 2nd amendment. And that's the one right that assures that there WILL BE NO POLICE STATE IN AMERICA.
www.frontpagemag.com Return to normal view America: A 21st-Century Soviet Union?
FrontPageMagazine.com | February 12, 2002
By: Tanya Metaksa
I TOOK MY 89-YEAR-OLD mother home to New England from California this past week by air. American Airlines was most solicitous and very kind making sure she had wheelchair service at every stop along the way. However, the security people at the Santa Barbara Airport made her not only walk through the security device, they made her take off her shoes while teetering from one foot to the other.
I was again randomly chosen by the computer to have all my baggage gone through by ticket agents and security personnel, my body wanded and my shoes searched, while the security person did his best to pat me down with his hands. Watching security search me thoroughly, my mother, whose first husband had escaped from the Soviet Union, said, "It’s just like Soviet Russia, isn’t it?"
What is happening to our way of life, our freedom? Over-reaching laws implemented at the whim of a computer, which is, of course, politically neutral, constrain our freedom of movement. The computer selects those to be searched, while allowing others to be exempt. It cannot be chastised for its selection of those that may be terrorists, because it has no judgment. It cannot be accused of racial, religious, or gender profiling, because the selection criteria are generated through the use of random numbers. A robotic computer now implements political correctness.
Those that choose to fly, of course, cannot express their displeasure to the human beings manning the ticket counter because they aren’t in charge; "the computer did it."
I have thought about my mother’s comment for several days. The more changes I see taking place in this country, the more I know she’s right. Our response to those despicable attacks of September 11 has been to turn America into a police state where fear has replaced freedom.
Sadly that’s our response to a lot of smaller "crises" too. Indeed airline security isn’t the only thing to have succumbed recently to Soviet-style thinking. Our political system is falling prey as well, as evidenced by the battle over campaign finance reform. Next week the US House of Representatives will take up the Shays-Meehan bill that had been put on hold last summer. This is the bill that takes away everyone’s First Amendment rights to publish their opinion about any candidate in the last 60 days of an election. The only groups that benefit are the media and the big labor unions.
Does anyone think this bill is truly about Enron giving money to politicians and political parties? No, this bill stops political action committees (PACs) – except unions – from spending dollars on political advertising during the crucial final 60 days of any campaign. Buy an ad – pay a $250,000 fine.
And who is supporting such a travesty on the Bill of Rights? Politicians from both sides of the aisle support Shays-Meehan because they want to control the information flow to the average voter. They fear that if the average voter hears from different constituencies, he or she won’t make the right decision.
The supporters of this legislation are hypocrites. A year ago, February 11, 2001, the New York Times printed a story with a headline that read "Race Is Underway for Campaign Cash Before New Limits." That story pointed out how supporters of campaign finance reform from both political parties were rushing around in a frenzy of fundraising to beat the clock before they voted to change the rules.
Democrats support the legislation because they know that it will give them an advantage. It is called the union/media advantage. They will be able to speak while all other independent voices will be silenced before an election.
Although the Enron debacle is the new catalyst to planting fear in the minds of the citizenry, it is obvious that campaign finance reform and the collapse of Enron are not related. If the bill had been enacted years ago, Enron executives would still be facing criminal charges and its employees would still be jobless and without their 401(k) assets. Again politicians are using fear to promote less freedom and more government control. Now the government is acting to keep Americans safe from corruption by denying their First Amendment rights.
Supporters of the Bill of Rights should be horrified by what’s happening in America. Our government’s reaction to criminal behavior has been to turn America into a police state. It really doesn’t matter who the criminals are – Militant Islamic terrorists, greedy Enron, Global Crossing, Arthur Andersen executives or possibly Democratic Party Chairman Terry McAuliffe. Unfortunately, Mom, you’re right. Sadly, we are well on our way to becoming a twenty-first century Soviet Union.
Tanya K. Metaksa is the former executive director of the National Rifle Association's Institute for Legislative Action. She is the author of Safe, Not Sorry a self-protection manual, published in 1997. She has appeared on numerous talk and interview shows such as "Crossfire," the "Today" show, "Nightline," "This Week with David Brinkley" and the "McNeil-Lehrer Hour," among others.
It's not like the U.S.S.R. It's like Nazi Germany, just before the start of WWII.