Keeping America Safe My Butt
So George Bush authorized eavesdropping on Americans to keep us safe. 9-11,9-11, 9-11. Terrorists, terrorists, terrorists.
If any terrorist group wanted to strike against the United States, it wouldn't be that tough--unless they wanted to use airliners as bombs, which has been done before. But since the Bush administration has made an obsession of terrorism for over four years now, there is simply no need to run the risks of revealing methods or wasting resources. The terrorists know they're winning. They see that Bush and the minions of his administration--and realistically, a goodly number of legislators, too--are willing to trample on the rights of American citizens. They see that they have emboldened Christian fanatics to make the winter holiday season divisive. That may not be as satisfying as seeing Muslim fanatics running the show, but hey, Falwell and Robertson, in reality, agreed with Bin Laden that the 9-11 attacks were part of God's judgment against the United States. The war on terrorism (particularly if we recognize the war against Iraq as part of that war) is a huge drain on the U.S. economy; children being born today will pay higher taxes for fewer government services because they must repay the debts from this phony war. Why should the terrorists lift a finger? They've already got us.
If they chose to lift a finger, there's little that could be done to stop them. The possibility of death doesn't exactly distress a terrorist who expects to die. The possibility of incarceration might be a deterrent, but one who resists arrest strongly enough stands a good chance of being martyred. And the federal sky marshals who killed a man suffering from bipolar disorder--even though his carry-on had been checked and passed minutes before--or any other federal law enforcement types would be all to happy to enhance their hero status by blowing away a terrorist.
I never thought I'd see the day when any occupant of the White House would claim that he had the authority to violate the constitutional rights of his fellow citizens in order to protect them. I always thought that an American president would believe that Americans would give up life before they would give up their rights. So now, while people who seem very much like those I see in my classrooms are fighting and dying in Iraq "to protect our liberty,"their commander in chief chips away at liberty. It's a sorry picture.
If any terrorist group wanted to strike against the United States, it wouldn't be that tough--unless they wanted to use airliners as bombs, which has been done before. But since the Bush administration has made an obsession of terrorism for over four years now, there is simply no need to run the risks of revealing methods or wasting resources. The terrorists know they're winning. They see that Bush and the minions of his administration--and realistically, a goodly number of legislators, too--are willing to trample on the rights of American citizens. They see that they have emboldened Christian fanatics to make the winter holiday season divisive. That may not be as satisfying as seeing Muslim fanatics running the show, but hey, Falwell and Robertson, in reality, agreed with Bin Laden that the 9-11 attacks were part of God's judgment against the United States. The war on terrorism (particularly if we recognize the war against Iraq as part of that war) is a huge drain on the U.S. economy; children being born today will pay higher taxes for fewer government services because they must repay the debts from this phony war. Why should the terrorists lift a finger? They've already got us.
If they chose to lift a finger, there's little that could be done to stop them. The possibility of death doesn't exactly distress a terrorist who expects to die. The possibility of incarceration might be a deterrent, but one who resists arrest strongly enough stands a good chance of being martyred. And the federal sky marshals who killed a man suffering from bipolar disorder--even though his carry-on had been checked and passed minutes before--or any other federal law enforcement types would be all to happy to enhance their hero status by blowing away a terrorist.
I never thought I'd see the day when any occupant of the White House would claim that he had the authority to violate the constitutional rights of his fellow citizens in order to protect them. I always thought that an American president would believe that Americans would give up life before they would give up their rights. So now, while people who seem very much like those I see in my classrooms are fighting and dying in Iraq "to protect our liberty,"their commander in chief chips away at liberty. It's a sorry picture.
posted by amsterdr at 11:21 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home