If I might interject a thought about the extremes of where PC was taken under the Clintoninskies (that is Bill with a little Monica on the side), I agree that this nation was taken far down the pure path toward a pure communist state. But, as with any social ill or experiment, the pendulum can be halted from swinging too far in one direction if there are enough sane minds that can take a stand against it.
On the reverse side of that potential swing in the opposite direction, I would caution against too much freedom being excercised in the limitation of the individual's personal rights. History, if it is anything, is cyclical in nature. Swinging one way, and then the other, but always in a set rhythem with a certain predictability over a long enough period of time.
I would recommend all concerned individuals to obtain a copy of a book written by Melanie Wiggins called: TORPEDOES IN THE GULF, Galveston And The U-boats, 1942 - 1943. Texas A&M University Press, ISBN 0-89096-648-6. Ms. Wiggins writes a compelling story of how this nation was not at all prepared for the terrorism that descended on it when the German U-boats started sinking almost an oil-tanker a day, and more of other types of shipping also in the same time period.
The reasons that I recommend this particular book to averyone in America to read is based on the fact that the current anxiousness and dred that this nation currently finds itself is an almost complete rewrite of what people of that day were talking about and also feared.
This nation is stronger than the one or two per cent of nay-sayers that seem to be so vocal, and short of all the ICBMs in the world being launched in the next fifteen minutes, will be fine through this current and very definite real crisis.
What makes this current situation slightly different than what is so compellingly told in the above mentioned book is that we as individual American can control our current situation, they could not.
As the terrorism of indiscriminate submarine warfare, which I might add we also did during WW-II, so shocked the average American of those days, the U-boats were eventually hunted down and completely defeated. So too will the modern terrorists.
There may be further individual or collective acts of terrorism against this nation or some other in the world. The point that I would encourage every American to do is to go to their front door and look outside. Life goes on for most of America, even for those of us who may have lost friends or loved ones during the WTC attacks.
For any terrorism to succeed, the victims of that terror must not learn the lessons of the attacker, not adapt to those lessons, and not be committed to hunt those responsible for such terrorism down and put them six fathoms under either dirt or water.
The average citizen of the world of 1914 could not comprehend the horror of submarine warfare, or of how to defeat the threat. The same things were said about the machine-gun, tank, mines, aircraft, missiles, and atomic weapons. A perfect world would not have such weapons, but we in the human race adapt, learn, and overcome. So too shall we adapt to this latest form of warfare.
We should all take heart in the fact that G_d allowed this nation and the world to enjoy and benefit from the leadership that George W. Bush is giving this nation. The alternative to the outcome of the Florida elections would have meant a world beyond description.
I am sure that Albert Gore in a perfectly likeable person in real life. The only problem that Gore seems to have is the fact that he himself never quite knew who he was, or should be. George W. Bush never had that same character flaw, and this nation and the world is able to see what we here in Texas knew through his almost two terms as governor of this great State, he is a man to be trusted to say what he means and says what he means.
Now, if the Taleban are any smarter than a deer caught in the headlights of a car going sixty miles an hour down a Texas country road, they will get off that same road and into safety. The toilet-paper heads that seem to be making the decisions for the Talebans do not seem to be as smart as a common white-tail deer, so they will end up getting smacked over the hood of an irresistable force called George W.
As they say here in Texas, "If you mess with the bull, you are going to get the horns." ALSO, are we all not glad that we were not GORED to death in the last presidential election?
Old Patriot