Free Republic

Don't know how to vote. I am confident the economy will recover, but GW's incessant call for a larger government police state have absolutely nothing to do with it!

HII, Webster New Collegiate Dictionary, Copyright 1975. Patriot: one who loves his country and zealously supports its authority and interests. Idiot: a feebleminded person having a mental age not exceeding three years and requiring complete custodial care. Since the authority in this country is the Constitution, and ultimately the people, your post demonstrates who the real idiot is. One wonders why you so ardently defend the second amendment when you do not seem too interested in any of the others.

All of the evidence in this case is circumstantial. It doesn't 'prove' his intent. Maybe a military tribunal would convict this guy with this kind of evidence. Or course, that means they would also convict 'domestic terrorists' with the same kind of circumstantial evidence. "So, you admit that you are a member of the same gun club as a member of your state militia? And you admit to having one of those 'assault type weapons'? And you're enrolled in a 'self-defense' class! Didn't the officers searching your home find copies of Shotgun News and National Review, as well as a cookie for FreeRepublic on your computer? Your (military tribunal) honor, while we cannot show any specific intent, clearly the defendant has all of associations and training materials of a terrorist...."

That's egalitarianism, not socialism. Is it common knowledge that our 'standing army' is just over one million soldiers?

Section 102g - Deputize to enforce ANY Federal law?

Of course it is better to fight than to live in fear. I, too, would go if asked. Unfortunately, conscription is not 'asking', it is 'telling'. No arguments, no reasoning, no "look, with my computer security skills I am much more valuable to the war effort if I stay here and work", no nothing. Here is your gun, go fight (I am simplifying). The point is, the Consitution does not give the government the power to force an individual to fight. Raise an army? Yes. How? By paying people to become soldiers. Need to raise taxes to do that? Fine, that is the governments job. Can't find enough soldiers at the price you want to pay? Pay more. Can't find soldiers at any price? Maybe you should consider why you are fighting such an unpopular war. The people of this country are free, and that means being free to opt out of fighting and charity work.

Exactly!

I cannot believe anyone on this list advocates reinstituting conscription! People here rail on Bubba for suggesting that everyone be required to perform community service before college, but they advocate the draft? Both types of 'service' take two (or more) years out of an individuals life, against their will, at the behest of some government official. Both are serious abbrogations of individual rights, and are essentially slavery! You can say that military service is for the common good and is everyones patriotic duty, but that is the same argument the liberals make for community service. You cannot have your cake and eat it too! Be consistent, not hypocrits! Besides, wasn't it proven decisively in Vietnam that volunteer soldiers perform much better, and more willingly, than conscripts? I know you will ask, so, no, I have not ever served in the military (or in the Peace Corps). Flame away.

Please note that the reason it is called a one time pad is that it should only be used once. It is possible to break a one time pad, especially if the pad is created with a simple mapping of letters to codes. It is simple to run a statistical analysis on the morse 'codes' to determine the frequency of occurence of the letters, and deduce the mappings, especially if you know the language the message was written in. PGP encryption is very common and software is available that integrates the encryption/decryption with email (Outlook and Netscape). You literately just click a button before hitting send, choose the key you want to use (usually tied to the recipients email) and type in your pass phrase. The default 2048-bit encryption will encode your message so effectively that it just will not be worth it for anyone to spend the time and money to decrypt it. Another andvantage of the PGP software is that it enables you to encrypt files on your hard drive. Even if your computer is stolen, your files can be secure.

When will everyone realize that the line between dissent and terrorism has been erased? Virtually everyone who has posted about this subject can (and eventually will) be called a terrorist under the new laws. Forums such as this are a necessary part of our society, but will draw much unwanted attention from the 'authorities'. The time to protect ourselves and our communications is now! EVERYONE should have a PGP key and should distribute it to the people they trust now. The 'web of trust' has to be built before communications are hindered. All email attachments should be encrypted. Everyone should make use of anonymized redirection sites (www.anonymizer.com), encrypted email (www.hushmail.com) and anonymous remailers (there are many). Redirection sites will protect you if someone is monitoring FreeRepublic traffic. Some of these services can even encrypt the URL strings before your browser sends them, so even someone 'listening' to your phone line cannot tell what site you are visiting. Logins used to post to boards like this should always be anonymous. Think you are posting anonymously and no one can know who/where you are? You are not using a cable modem are you? Many of them use fixed IP addresses. That means that the cable company, and hence, the gov't, can tie a particular piece of internet traffic to your physical address. All emails should always me anonymous. Just because a message and an attachment are encrypted, does not mean that a log cannot be kept of the number and frequency of your emails to an address that is under suspicion. And you should always assume that the gov't will, some day, request that the operators of sites like this one turn over their logs and patronage information (you do donate anonymously, don't you?) if they want to remain in operation. And if they do not want to remain in operation then they will just take the files anyway. The common argument that there is just too much traffic to monitor it all is true.... for now. My opinion is that any traffic to 'right wing', militia, weapons, freedom, libertarian, privacy or survivalist sites are, or will soon be, monitored. Don't worry about checking out pornography, radical environmentalism, anarchist or socialist/communist sites. They only pose a threat to our freedoms, not our government, and so will not be monitored too thoroughly. I know these precautions sound like a big hassle, but the tools to protect our communications are out there, we have but to avail ourselves of them.