Is There Still a Terrorist Threat?

Foreign Affairs ^ | September/October 2006 | John Mueller

[wittyone]

Too Shay!!

Well, perhaps not shay enough... -grin-

Seriously, though, I believe it's the America-hating Democrats being referenced, not the America-inhibiting bureaucrats...

[Valin]

Remember those young men and womem fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan & around the world are products of our educational system.

[ChildOfThe60s]

I don't know how it could happen, but the only hope I see is for the public system to be eclipsed by other alternatives. We were homeschoolers for example, with excellent results for our daughter.

As long as PS is the primary source of education, I don't see major change without some kind of revolutionary occurrence. IOW, it must be dismantled down to the ground and rebuilt. Piecemeal reforms are BS & will never usher in real improvement. And we are now in the process of creating an entire generation of barely literate people who have not the skills to make intelligent, educated decisions about much of anything.

[wittyone]

I don't know how it could happen

I've heard Rush talk about this as a function of a new generation of Rush babies coming of age... and children of those who came of age as part of the Reagan Revolution (like me).

I guess we'll have to wait and see. There seems to be a lot more students speaking up these days, as well as more and more rebel professors (on our side, in other words).

[texas_mrs]

This idiot lives in his own little elitist delusional world.

[wittyone]

This idiot lives in his own little elitist delusional world.

Unfortunately, it's not just his own. There are far too many out there who share it.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Remember those young men and womem fighting in Iraq, Afghanistan & around the world are products of our educational system.

Yes, they are. Meaning what? In another decade or two, it is going to be even harder to find young people with the educational skills to run our high tech miltary.

[wittyone]

In another decade or two, it is going to be even harder to find young people with the educational skills to run our high tech miltary.

Are you kidding?? With the level of proficiency today's youth demonstrates in video game playing, I have no worries about that whatsoever.

[ChildOfThe60s]

My closeup dealings with the school system were at the HS and below levels. And that was dealing with the administrators and teachers. I really had no empirical knowledge of the student's political and/or social leanings.

By the time my kid went to college she could hold her own with any student or professor.

Rush has good instincts, which gives me hope. I'm in my mid 50s, so it had better happen soon.

[wittyone]

Rush has good instincts, which gives me hope.

Great! I was worried that your despair was complete.

I'm in my mid 50s, so it had better happen soon.

Be patient (and live into your 80's), things will be fine.

[ChildOfThe60s]

Are you kidding?? With the level of proficiency today's youth demonstrates in video game playing, I have no worries about that whatsoever.

I liken that skill to idiot savant. I don't think it is much foundation for electrical engineering. Or much of anything else that requires proficiency in math or the hard sciences. Not everyone in the military plays with joysticks shooting laser guided weaponry or aircraft. Great video game players that can't do long division aren't going to be of great value in keeping the military machine running.

[P-40]

I say the same thing about the 9/11 Commission Report...with the same results. :)

[wittyone]

I liken that skill to idiot savant.

I was half kidding, though our children are, as a rule, considerably more tech-savvy, across the board, than we are - and in most cases, by far.

Nevertheless, I understand your concern... however, my faith is also in the fact that America has always come through when a threat becomes significant (we always seem to wait until it's hitting us in the face). I'm confident that we will succeed in the future, as we always have in the past.

[ChildOfThe60s]

No, it's not complete, but I still find it hard to believe how stupid and biased so many of the people are that operate the schools. And having a brilliant child only made their mediocrity even more glaring. After homeschooling, by age 12, she was capable of graduating from HS, by current standards anyway.

[msnimje]

Thou shalt stop peeing thine pants whenever the word terrorism is spoken.

I am not peeing in my pants but I am not so stupid as to think they do not exist.

[wittyone]

It must really suck to be so deathly afraid all the time.

It must really suck to have such low self-esteem that you feel obliged to choose such an obviously self-aggrandizing names for yourself.

[MHGinTN]

I only clicked on this thread to see what fool had the vacuousness to posit such a thing. Glad you snipped the majority of the fools assertions out.