I suppose that sums it all up briefly but after the
last 4 day run I really needed to unload that. I hope
that we continue to restore the rights we've lost and
I thank you guys much for running this list I
appreciate the news very much and do pass it on to the
others in my platoon and try to get more people
interested on the subject.
--- Howie Goodell <howie...._at_gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hello --
>
> It does make me proud to be an American. Separation
> of powers has a
> lot to do with the robust survival of freedom in
> this country
> throughout our history.
>
> I do think traffic analysis is a huge camel to let
> under the tent; as
> an Information Visualization guy I appreciate the
> potential of finding
> patterns in vast databases. There would have been
> no Deep Throat if
> Nixon's staff knew who Woodward and Bernstein had
> communicated with in
> years past.
>
> My other suggestion is that we take a step back and
> consider what the
> real issues are. Treating this as freedom versus
> security in the
> abstract is naive at best; we need to think about
> the motivations of
> the actors. IMHO the Bush administration admitted to
> TSA not because
> they hate freedom, but as a political ploy, a cheap
> way to set up the
> following scene:
>
> White hat: We are being strong for our family,
> defending America no
> matter what anyone says.
> Black (pink?) hat: We don't want to defend America
> from terrorists;
> we care about some namby-pamby constitutional rights
> instead.
>
> This political theater has been quite successful at
> obscuring the
> reality: that the Bushies have shown neither
> commitment nor competence
> in the War on Terror. In case this isn't obvious to
> all, consider the
> following.
>
> Commitment: financially the War on Terror is #3 at
> best, behind
> their pre-9/11 priorities of tax cuts for rich
> supporters and a war in
> Iraq.
>
> Competence: Early successes in Afghanistan
> (largely squandered
> since) are almost the lone plus. Iraq is a huge,
> festering,
> self-inflicted wound. The real target of our enemies
> is the minds of a
> generation of Arabs/Muslims: if they grow up
> believing the West is out
> to get them and radical Islam is the answer, our
> grandchildren may
> still be fighting this war. Here the other side is
> running circles
> around the Bushies, and they hardly seem to notice.
> Nuclear proliferation: remember Bush ignored Kim
> when he was ready to
> deal and Iranian democrats who had mullahs on the
> defensive -- now he
> seems sure to leave 1-2 brand-new potential sources
> for an al Qaeda
> nuke. International relations: incompetent where not
> catastrophically
> bungled. We have enormously less available military
> power, respect,
> and leverage on foes and friends alike than when
> these losers came
> into office. Homeland security: little or nothing
> done on so many
> important areas. On communications and surveillance
> specifically, I
> liked Richard Clarke's suggestion in _Against All
> Enemies_: if the
> goal is effective and sustainable surveillance in a
> free society, the
> security defenders and freedom defenders need to sit
> down and
> negotiate. Yet again, these jokers chose short-term
> political gain
> over the security of our country.
>
> Now if the Democrats would just get a clue....
>
> Take care!
> Howie Goodell
>
>
> On 8/17/06, James M. Atkinson <jm..._at_tscm.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > What a country!!!
> >
> > Only in the United States could a small number of
> citizens use the legal
> > system to shutdown a multi-billion dollar illegal
> program such as this.
> >
> > -jma
> >
> >
> >
> >
>
http://www.mied.uscourts.gov/eGov/taylorpdf/06%2010204.pdf
> >
> ....
>
>
> --
> Dr. Howard Goodell howie...._at_gmail.com
> http://goodL.org
> Info Vis, Bioinformatics UMass Lowell Computer
> Science
> --
> I would rather be exposed to the Inconveniences
> attending too much
> liberty than to those attending too small a degree
> of it. --- Thomas
> Jefferson
>
>
>
>
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Received on Sat Mar 02 2024 - 00:57:16 CST