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Excellent article. I don't know what it will take for us to finally 'wake up'. At one point I held out the hope that the disclosure of some major attack on US soil, thwarted at the last moment might actually scare these delusional sceptics -- some of whom are in our own government -- into taking some kind of realistic defensive measures -- perhaps something really drastic, like finally enforcing some of the laws that are already on the books. But, considering our tepid reactions to some of those plots that have just recently been uncovered -- not to mention the apparent lack of any real sense of alarm over these latest threats this weekend, I am, unfortunately, beginning to believe that it will take a major deadly attack against an American city before we start to take this war seriously. And, even then, I am certain there will be those who will oppose any actions that we take to defend ourselves.
I am a natural born optimist who is steadily sinking into pessimism.
Roger, don't sink into pessimism, thankfully these people that do not take these threats seriously are not the ones in charge of taking precautions.
Thank you, Spree. I'm not sunk yet, just getting disgusted with those who, for political reasons, try to minimize the threat and those who cynically believe that this whole War on Terror is some kind of a Republican ruse.
You're right, of course. There are, thank God, plenty of good smart people who are out there doing their best to protect us -- if only they had some help from those misguided, or outright obstructionist liberals.
I agree, Roger. I often feel despair thinking of these people and their rampant BDS--so much so that when the least little thing happens (big or small), it's almost like clockwork and the first thing that goes through my mind ISN'T what are the details but how long before Bush is blamed.
I'm finding I can no longer tolerate these people around me in any form--and I'm generally known as pretty much a live and let live character.
What infuriates me the most is some of the worst offenders are allegedly some of our best thinkers--attorneys (my boss is one), doctors, upper-educated people who SHOULD have learned how to dispassionately research and come to their own conclusions instead of being led by the nose in political double-speak.
Frankly, it disgusts me.
Thank you, Miss Beth for your supportive comments.
At the risk of being redundant I'm going to repeat some comments that I just made on Maggie's Notebook in response to the 8/8/07 article "The Left Antiwar Motive" by Stanford Matthews. I think these comments are worth repeating here, because I feel they are appropriate to this discussion.
I respectfully disagree with [the] assertion that the left truly wants the US to lose the war, although I certainly understand where [these thoughts] are coming from.
In my opinion, most of the antiwar Americans on the left truly believe that they are on the side of the angels. Who, after all, could be opposed to peace? And for those of us on the other side of this issue, it's pretty difficult in today's PC environmnet to be pro-war.
Cicero put the problem perfectly: "I do not reject peace, but I am afraid of war disguised as peace."
To me, the most grievous error that the pacifist liberals are making is in completely misunderstanding -- or purposely ignoring, our enemy's own clearly defined agenda. Which is, of course, nothing less than worldwide hegemony.
They -- and all of those other pacifists throughout history -- honestly believe that somehow through dialogue and understanding -- or if all else fails, through outright appeasement -- they can dissuade the enemy from their murderous mission.
For those who, despite all of the historical evidence to the contrary, still believe in the efficacy of appeasement I would offer the following lesson.
Eight months after the infamous Madrid Atocha Railway Station bombings, which quickly induced the Spanish electorate to toss out their conservative, pro-American government and immediately withdraw their troops from Iraq, a new Muslim plot was discovered and suspects arrested.
Among the seven major targets scheduled to be bombed in this huge attack was -- you guessed it -- the Atocha Railway Station.
This was to be their reward for appeasement.
That's because they're spoon fed the liberal agenda in college, Beth. I was old enough to see it clearly when I went back to school at the age of 30. I can't tell you the number of professors, especially in the field of education, I butted heads with from the first day of their classes until I graduated, with honors, three years later.
One of my professors actually told me that he had mixed emotions about my graduating; he was glad to see me leaving the university, but he wasn't sure that graduation should be the way I should leave. I "politely" asked if the other option was "toes up?" Properly chagrined, he turned and walked off.
Roger, well said. I am going to make dinner but let me welcome you to Wake up America.
This proves one thing. With the Left we cannot win. If we react, they complain. If we didn't react, they complain. I'm in the better safe than sorry camp. DEBKA may be wrong some of the time, but I would rather check it out. They can always get it right some of the time.
yes and it is admitted that they have been right before.That alone is reason enough to take precautions. No one is talking about hiding in bomb shelters, but healthy precautions can hurt nobody.
We, as humans in general, take precautions in our everyday lives--don't walk on red, lock our doors, be aware and alert..why shouldn't we as a nation also take precautions to protect ourselves? It may never come to anything, but I will always prefer to be better safe than sorry.
Do these people honestly believe that when President Bush's term is over that this threat will all just magically go away? Do they believe that these threats never existed before President Bush? I don't agree with all the Presidents policies but to let those disagreements blind me to the very real threat to our nation is just insane.
This threat has been with us for decades, they just finally had all their resources in place on 9/11, along with a complacent nation that thought it could never happen to us.
Do people really believe that a co-ordinated attack such as 9/11 could be planned in a matter of months? What is wrong with these people!
This has, I think, turned into a really important discussion, which goes right to the core of our heated national debate. I have some thoughts on this subject and, even though they are not particularly original, I think they are nonetheless relevant.
This country is split almost equally between two diametrically opposed political ideologies which seem to offer little or no room for compromise. The issue that divides us is essentialy a battle of semantics. The problematic word is 'war'. One half of this country thinks that we are at war, the other half doesn't.
If we are not at war, then all of those legal measures which our government has proposed or adopted in order to protect us are either unnecessary or unconstituional. If we are not at war, then we should not allow our government to usurp even the slighest of our civil rights. Furthermore, if we are not at war, we should immediately pull all of our troops back home from Iraq and Afghanistan and allow our local authorities to continue protecting us from those criminal elements who would seek to harm us here at home.
If we are at war, then we should immediately institute a draft, shut down all of the mosques and all those Islamic and Middle Eastern organizations, and monitor, imprison or deport all Middle Eastern or Muslim men between the ages of 18 and 65. We should immediately shut down our borders and expel or imprison all illegal aliens. We should closely monitor all communications and immediately shut down any form of enemy propaganda. We should only allow the media to produce news stories, articles, movies, TV and radio programs that unquestionably support our war effort.
As bizarre as all of this might sound, these are precisely the measures which we (quite rightly)imposed at the outset of WWII.
Obviously -- even though more people were killed on 9/11 than at Pearl Harbor -- we are nowhere near this state of national emergency.
But where, then, are we?
We are in that murky middleground of indecision. We're not really sure. We're not really sure that we're in a real war, and we're not really sure who the enemy really is. We're not even really sure that we're right and they're wrong.
They do, the liberal pacifists pointedly remind us, have some valid points about our Imperialist ambitions and our materialistic, self-indulgent culture. I mean, just look at the harm we've inflicted on this world. Not to mention our avaricious consumption of energy and the devastation of our environment and the resultant global warming.
It's December 8, 1941 and I'm thinking -- maybe the Japanese really do have a legitimate point of view, after all. You know what I mean?
The problem is we have become so PC, our security comes last to "appearances".
Not good for our National Security.
We were attacked, on 9/11 and before, on multiple occasions, therefore we did not start this war, but if we do not win it, we will be attacked on a greater scale the next time.
Those that deny we are at war do so by ignoring the attacks before 9/11 and acting like if we ignored what happened on 9/11, we wouldn't be attacked again.
Very naive.
Right on, Spree.
OOHHHH - those bad terrorists are coming to get us, ooohhhh. Funny how whenever bush's ratings start sinking (again), the terrorist strawman is resurrected. I'm not suggesting there is no threat but I am saying we've been under that threat for decades. It's just that they knew how incompetent bush is and know they have more of a chance now than ever before. No, it won't go away when the criminal leaves office. But it WILL be dealt with more effectively.
(Personal insult directed at Beth, DELETED, by spree.
Raoul, follow the rules, they are simple, no personal attacks. PERIOD.)
You won't be warned here again.
Edited By Siteowner
If you spent more time reading the news and looking at the polls and less time trying to harrass Beth, Snooper, Pstor Ed and the gang, you MIGHT have known that Bush's numbers are rising while Congressional numbers are still dropping.
Your ignorance astounds me.
One last thing, personally attack Beth or anyone here, you will be banned?
Is that clear enough for you?
I repeat - Right on Spree!
Thanks Roger. I do not mind disagreements, but Raoul here has been harassing many blogs and blog owners, specifically targeting Beth and a few others.
This will not be tolerated here, either debate the issues in a civil manner, or he can go play elsewhere.
I allowed the other comments becaue they dealt with the issues...the persoanl attack on Beth has just been removed by ME, Spree.
Your warnings are over.---spree
Edited By Siteowner
Sue,
Please don't warn me and leave others out, okay? She lied on her blog about me and included YOU in the lie. What are your comments about that?
(Spree here- Just because you were busted, doesn't mean it is a lie, just means you got caught with your proverbial hand in the cookie jar)
Edited By Siteowner
Bush's numbers are up? Up to what? A whopping 30%. When are you gonna get it - he is the worse president in the history of the republic. And that included Hoover.
You people always forget Carter when you say that...
Amazing then that he holds 3 TIMES the popularity as the Democratically controlled Congress, isn't it?
LOLOL
Actually it was YOUR words used jihadist...maybe you should think twice the next time you start typing your drivel, then contradicting yourself in the next breath.
Makes you look like the flip flopping child you speak like.
Hello again, Spree.
Earlier I wrote some comments about this country being almost evenly split between those who believe that we're actually in a war and those who don't. After giving it some more thought, I think maybe I was wrong about those proportions.
I am now beginning to think that our poor beleaguered country is actually split three ways.
There are those on the Left.
There are those on the Right.
Then there are those who inhabit that strange shadowy world of surrealistic lunacies like our good friends "Raoul" and "Jihadist" -- or are they the same hostile persona?
These are the same people who swear that they saw Bush running away from the World Trade Center on 9/11 with dynamite spilling out of his pockets.
These are the same good people who loudly profess to love America, and proudly assert their freedom of speech, while gleefully calling their beloved country a nation of bullies and liars and murderers.
These are the loony 'patriots' who honestly believe that we went to war, not to fight back against the crazy jihadists, but so that Dick Cheney could make some more money.
Finally, these are the angry delusional nutcakes who firmly believe that the ACLU is doing a great service to this country by protecting the American public from being totaly subsumed into some conservative Republican fascist state. That, somehow, Bush,et al, by wanting to listen in to two jihadi's talking to one another in Pakistan, that what they are really after is to deprive us of yet more of our threatened civil rights.
These are the really big issues of the day: Civil Rights and Gay Marriage.
Forget about the prospects of being attacked by a nuclear weapon tomorrow -- this is just another example of that sly political manouvering on the part of the Republicans.
If this sort of conspiracy-theory insanity wasn't so eagerly embraced by the Destroy-Bush-At-Any-Price crowd, it would just be comical.
As I said before -- right on, Spree.
Giv'em hell.
Best wishes, Roger
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