The Fruits of Negligence - The Clinton Administration's Security Legacy

What happened to your right to fly?

It just recently was revoked. I used to be able to take off from TIX [Titusville, FL, on the East Coast by the Kennedy Space Center] and fly over to Orlando, or Lakeland, for breakfast. Or to show the passengers Disney World and Epcot Center. Or just to go out to the "practice area" between TIX and ORL and hone my flying skills.

All that is now forbidden - not by law, but by bureaucratic fiat. It's the same all over the country. VFR Pilots within thirty miles of large cities have been totally grounded - probably forever. And for what reason? Because we could "harm" someone? If that line of logic is allowed to stand, guns will certainly be the next item to be forbidden. Folks should re-read Pastor Niemoller [sp?] if they think the New Gestapo will stop with pilots.

In summary, I have spent a whole bunch of money and fifteen years of my life building an airplane that I am now forbidden to use. I want my money back!

Or what other particular right have you lost?

I have lost the right to be compensated when the government takes my property (see above).
I have lost the right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures, now that all searches are considered "reasonable", and every American is a suspect.
But worst of all, I have lost the right to a representative form of government that my ancestors gave their lives to protect, now that the executive branch makes up "the law" as it goes along.

We FReepers laughed at Paul Begala when he said "stroke of the pen, law of the land - pretty cool!", but cheer, beat the drum, and wave the flag when Bush creates the New American Gestapo [Homeland Defense] the same way.

Bush doesn't have the constitutional authority to create a cabinet post by himself - let alone one with unspecified and probably unlimited powers. Under Article II, section 2, only congress can do that. But apparently nobody here is concerned with little technicalities like that. We're at war with evil, you see, so anything goes.

The U.S. Constitution - the document that our forefathers pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor to protect - has just been used for toilet paper by G.W. Bush. But apparently that's OK because he's on "our side".

what would you have done in Bush's place?

For a start, On September 12th I would have nuked Kabul and Bagdhad as a warning to any other nations that were possibly thinking about killing any more Americans.

While the dust was settling, I would rescind all environmental regulations prohibiting drilling for oil and building refineries within the U.S. I would put the middle east on notice that we wouldn't be needing their oil any more in about a year or two.

I would call up the militias of the various states (as First_Salute has suggested) and train them in emergency response, first aid, marksmanship, and chemical/biological/radiological response. They would be the modern equivalent of the Civil Defense Department of the 50's. I would make gas masks, potassium iodide pills, and antibiotics which are effective against Anthrax available to anybody which wanted them.

I would stop all immigration for a period of five years.

I would cut off foreign aid to every nation except Israel, and use the balance to arm Israel.

I would rescind the absurd federal rules which disarm honest citizens in public places, especially on the airlines.

In short, I would perform my prime function as the head of a constitutional republic by defending our borders from attack, and then make it possible for the people and the states to protect themselves.

Re: #25. Well said, John.

If I might vent, just a little, on your 'I would cut off foreign aid to every nation except Israel, and use the balance to arm Israel' ....

There are some Middle East experts, and political pundits, who are espousing (albeit gingerly, for now) the theory that our longstanding alliance with Israel played a large part in the targeting of America on 9/11. To them, America's support for what is seen by some as Israel's occupation of what should be Palestinian territory apparently was at least a partial catalyst for the holocaust of 9/11. It would appear that, in order to curry favor with the increasingly agitated Arab world, and, co-incidentally, in order to protect ourselves from (Arab, and other) madmen, America had better (and the quicker the better) divest herself from any further interest in defending Israel, or her interest in preserving her very existence.

It's called extortion. And it stinks. Always has; always will.

The media, and the current administration, are pushing the viewpoint that the demands that the Arab world is making of Israel are reasonable, and that it's about time the US stopped cow-towing to the Israelis and started playing fair in the Middle East. They would have us believe that it's time to pressure Israel to make peace with the Arab world (translated into Arabic: capitulate completely; sign one's own death warrant) so that we, in turn, can pressure the more moderate members of the Arab world to come over to our side in our battle against the terrorists.

It's called compromise. And it stinks. Always has; always will.

The Arab world's quarrel with Israel has little to do with settlements on the West Bank, or anything else geographic or territorial. The Arab world's quarrel with Israel is over the fact that Israel chooses to continue to exist. And so long as America holds fast to her belief that Israel has a right to exist, she will be viewed as a co-conspirator.

The Arab states are, simply put, tyrannical. They believe in employing suppression, fear, brutality, and corruption to achieve an end. And they do not want an Israel in their midst. It simply cramps their radical, no-holds-barred style.

Our alliance with Israel no doubt creates a schism between America and the Arab world. But deserting Israel is not the solution to Arab aggression. Nor is the American/Israeli alliance the cause of the madmen's hatred of America. It simply fans an already existing flame. Bin Laden and his ilk are consumed with the desire to mold the world to their specifications, and freedom/capitalism/civility stand in their way. That the Israeli state exists, and that America intends to see to it that she continues to do so, is simply one of many of the extremists' agonies.

And capitulating to extortion will only make their agony list grow shorter by one.

clinton CYA-ing BUMP

Because the frequency and intensity of pathetic CYA maneuvers by clinton and his gang are increasing in direct proportion to the increasing frequency and intensity of editorial comment blaming clinton for 9-11, I suspect clinton CYA-ing will soon reach critical mass. At that historic moment, Sandy Berger (along with his smarmy revisionism) will implode by virtue of his pressure-deflating "uhs", taking his inept, corrupt, cowardly, self-serving leader down with him.

As Martha Stewart might say, this is a good thing; clinton CYA-ing is compromising Bush's anti-terror campaign.

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