Tens of millions, perhaps hundreds of Muslims around the world want us dead and our civilization destroyed. Let us just pretend it is not that way and go on living like it is Sept. 10. If you do, however, be prepared to kiss you *ss goodbye.
Um, no, that's not what he said at all. If I see something as suspicious as that, I will report it whether or not TIPS is in place. But when the government is actively recruiting people to spy on their fellow citizens, that is dangerously close to a police state. Arguably, that *is* a police state.
If they are taking flying lessons but not learning to land, it is none of our business.
And that *was* reported before 9/11, and it was ignored. The problem is not a lack of information; it is a failure to analyze the information we do have. TIPS is going to generate millions of very questionable data points ("I saw a Bible and an NRA poster in John Doe's house") and is more likely to divert resources from following real leads than to actually preventing future terrorist acts.
This is not to say that a postal worker suspicious of activity should not call in, of course, but to organize a spy network in this manner can lead to Nazi Germany in a heart beat in the wrong administrations hands.
When it begins to come down to that deer head sitting on your wall being an indication that you are a hunter and therefore must have a weapon in the house, and that goes into a data base, you might change your mind about an organized spy network.