The problem is that we become so inured to the steady stream of bullshit threats that when a real one comes along that needs attention other than government media hype we’ll get Katrina all over again and voters will just yawnnnnnnn…...
Posted by ppatt on Jun 8, 2007 at 8:42 AM
Based on the bush anit-terror efforts to date one would assume poor, easily misled Black men from Carribean nations are the biggest threat to national security and crooks looking to cut deals are our best intelligence sources. The conspiracy theorist in me says the US is laying the groundwork to justify lableing Carribean nations “terrorist states” so they can be invaded, as in Haiti minus Aristede. Sure, the US can bully little islands but gets its ass kicked everywhere else.
Posted by theloneous on Jun 8, 2007 at 12:02 PM
This administration has shown that it will say and do anything to make the public think it is “protecting” America.
Using jailhouse informant’s can be risky. And it can pay off.
That is the trouble with an administration like what we are burdened with now; we never know when they might be telling the truth.
With the Shrub, it is somewhat easier; if’n his lips is moving, he’s likely lying.
Just like the days before the ‘04 “election”, the terror alert kept inching upward. After the “election”, the terror alert all but disappeared.
The Homeland Security Department has proven itself to be a joke almost.
A boat load of refugee’s washes ashore in Southern FL and the first the Coast Guard knew of it was the TV reports of folks jumping out of a boat.
A man has his passport flagged to be held, and the Custom’s agent decides it’s all a mistake.
Meanwhile, the Shrub goes to bed each night at 9pm and sleeps soundly, knowing that he is still “protecting” America, and getting richer by the minute.
Posted by farmer on Jun 12, 2007 at 4:52 AM
OK, ITT, let
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 13, 2007 at 5:22 PM
wth
Again, I have to agree with you that nothing can nor should be overlooked.
If anyone had told me, on 9/10/01, that they had heard that some Muslims were going to hijack multiple airliner’s and fly them into various buildings, I would have been looking for the guys in white coats, so I could tell, here is the nut.
The main problem is that this current administration has lied about so many things when it was to their advantage. It is just real hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Shortly after 9/11 some businessmen from India, I believe, were in Canton, attending our First Monday Tades Days. They were asking questions about how big a crowd was drawn to these monthly events among other questions. Naturally the Sheriff was called and investigated the men. And found that they were legitimate businessmen, thinking of opening a shop and were just doing some market research.
They took no offense and admitted to the Sheriff that, had they thought it all through, they should have had some form of introduction with them, to allay people’s fears.
We do have to be alert. And we can only hope that someone in Government is alert as well.
But when a boatload of immigrants can wash ashore in Southern Florida with the Coast Guard being unaware, well, it just doesn’t make me feel all that secure.
Now, all we have to do is get the politician’s to stop playing word games and address the real problems that face our country. Sadly, the chances that will happen are much less than my chance at hitting the Mega Millions jackpot.
Posted by farmer on Jun 13, 2007 at 7:11 PM
Farmer,
I recently read
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 15, 2007 at 6:22 AM
whattheheck
Rummy was on target with the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns; think that was the only thing he got right.
There is no sure fire way to protect this country from a determined and well financed terrorist, foreign or domestic.
I think that a global coalition of nations will be required. If there is no safe haven for terrorist’s to plan, train, recruit and operate from, the dangers that they pose would be limited.
Such a coalition would be all but impossible to achieve in todays world. Maybe as more countries suffer attacks from terrorist’s, that will change. But how many innocent’s must die or be maimed first?
The trouble with politicians is that they will make a lot of promises, and say the things that we want to hear. Then,after the election, they either forget what they promised or discover that they can’t get the backing to take the actions that need to be taken.
We, the voting public, need a way to remove an ineffective politician, without waiting for the other politician’s to act. We elect people to represent us and they start courting the lobbyist’s to get more money, forgetting about us in the process.
TR was right; Speak softly and carry a big stick. Our big stick has proven to be ineffective in dealing with terrorist’s or guerrillas. Special Forces seems to be our best bet in dealing with such outlaws.
Shock and Awe is impressive, but it doesn’t accomplish the mission. Yet the average senior officer doesn’t seem to want Special Forces, because they don’t follow all the regular Army rules all the time.
Hopefully, dialog such as is happening like this all over the country will cause things to change for the better.
Our country faces too many complex problems for us to get mired down in “my party is better than your party” type thinking. After all, we are all American’s first and foremost.
Posted by farmer on Jun 15, 2007 at 7:22 AM
Farmer,
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 15, 2007 at 9:39 AM
whattheheck
It is a given that the Shrub has alienated far too many leader’s in other countries. The old USSR spent 40 years and no telling how much money in trying to marginalize US influence around the world. Shrub has achieved that in a tenth the time, though with about the same cash outlay.
Granted that other countries and UN leader’s had a vested interest in Iraq, making it impossible to form a unified coalition. But there was no real reason to put our troops into that country, other than his ego. That was the biggest mistake. once we were there, the radical Islamist’s realized that they had a golden opportunity to kick sand in Uncle Sams’ face.
I remember reading of Rummy complaining that there were no sexy target’s in Afghanistan; ya drop a 1000 pound bomb and do $20,000 worth of improvements.
Suddenly, Iraq became a target. Forget that other countries had more connections to 9/11 than Iraq. Forget that other countries would like to damage the US more than Iraq did.
Now, as you say, it is up to the voter’s to find a candidate that can deal with all the problems that this administration has created and not dealt with. Not gonna be easy, for us nor the candidate.
Posted by farmer on Jun 15, 2007 at 2:32 PM
<blockquote>To be sure, the Bush administration
Posted by scorp on Jun 17, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Scorp
You neglected one point. Iraq.
Iran, or rather the leader’s of Iran, have always been a worrisome threat to the US. So the Shrub attacks Iraq. What the hell, he got the first three letters right. Which, for someone as dumb about the real world as he is, was pretty impressive.
Our troops had no business invading Iraq, other than a clueless President said it was necessary. There is the failure of the Shrubs’ foreign policy. To compound his error, he appointed a great businessman to be in charge of the military.
While there are some similarities between a big business and the Army, none hold true when it comes to fighting a war. But Rummy “re-invented how all wars would be fought in the future”.
I liked the old way, you know, where we fought to win.
To compound that mistake, even after it became apparent to Rummy that his plan was a failure, nothing was done to change the plan. Until the eve of the ‘06 elections when it became apparent that the R’s would lose a lot of votes. Then some window dressing was added. And Rummy was given a send-off that looked like an Italian opera setting.
Yes, we should have gone after bin Ladin and his follower’s. But they weren’t in Iraq. They were in Afghanistan and it was too hard to find them, so the Shrub decides to go after Iraq.
This is what you call leadership?
Oh, and don’t forget, Clinton wanted to go after bin Ladin, but the R’s cried foul; he was trying to divert attention from Monica and the R’s had to get all the details of that. Did she deep throat? Did she swallow? You know, the important stuff that really affected America’s security.
Posted by farmer on Jun 17, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Scorp, Farmer,
After having read so many articles here which displayed more sympathy and concern for the terrorists than for the US.
From their first editorial
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 18, 2007 at 6:25 AM
whattheheck
Iran, or rather the leadership of Iran, has been a constant problem for American interests since the Shah was deposed.
At that, Islam seems to be divided into two main sects, Sunni and Shiite, with the Shiite being more against America than the Sunni’s are.
My limited knowledge of Islam notwithstanding, I’ve read that the Koran exempts “believer’s of the book” from attacks by Islam. That is, if your religion is ‘codified’ into a Bible, Islam has no problem with that religion.
The trouble arises from the fact that too many Muslims cannot read and have learned the Koran, or selected parts, by rote. This assumes that the teacher was teaching, or reading, what was actually written, and not what they would like to see written.
So, it stands to reason, the US should cultivate ties with the traditional Islamic’s to counter the arguments put forth by the radical’s.
It is in the best interests of the Saudi government to limit/stop the spread of the radical elements.
But they refuse to do so openly, as that would put Muslim against Muslim. So they covertly support our efforts by funding some operations.
But they refuse to put any manpower into the battle.
American politician’s have a hard time realizing that the rest of the world doesn’t always have the same views as American’s. Usually, the President tries to find people who understand the various outlooks of foreign peoples to help him formulate policy and responses. The current one only wants sycophants, not thinkers.
Hopefully,once we get back to having a real President, one that does the job as it was meant to be done, we can start to fix some of the messes that this one will leave behind.
And that includes dealing with the threats posed by radical Islamic’s, among many, many others.
Posted by farmer on Jun 18, 2007 at 6:55 AM
Reader Comments
The problem is that we become so inured to the steady stream of bullshit threats that when a real one comes along that needs attention other than government media hype we’ll get Katrina all over again and voters will just yawnnnnnnn…...
Posted by ppatt on Jun 8, 2007 at 8:42 AM
Based on the bush anit-terror efforts to date one would assume poor, easily misled Black men from Carribean nations are the biggest threat to national security and crooks looking to cut deals are our best intelligence sources. The conspiracy theorist in me says the US is laying the groundwork to justify lableing Carribean nations “terrorist states” so they can be invaded, as in Haiti minus Aristede. Sure, the US can bully little islands but gets its ass kicked everywhere else.
Posted by theloneous on Jun 8, 2007 at 12:02 PM
This administration has shown that it will say and do anything to make the public think it is “protecting” America.
Using jailhouse informant’s can be risky. And it can pay off.
That is the trouble with an administration like what we are burdened with now; we never know when they might be telling the truth.
With the Shrub, it is somewhat easier; if’n his lips is moving, he’s likely lying.
Just like the days before the ‘04 “election”, the terror alert kept inching upward. After the “election”, the terror alert all but disappeared.
The Homeland Security Department has proven itself to be a joke almost.
A boat load of refugee’s washes ashore in Southern FL and the first the Coast Guard knew of it was the TV reports of folks jumping out of a boat.
A man has his passport flagged to be held, and the Custom’s agent decides it’s all a mistake.
Meanwhile, the Shrub goes to bed each night at 9pm and sleeps soundly, knowing that he is still “protecting” America, and getting richer by the minute.
Posted by farmer on Jun 12, 2007 at 4:52 AM
OK, ITT, let
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 13, 2007 at 5:22 PM
wth
Again, I have to agree with you that nothing can nor should be overlooked.
If anyone had told me, on 9/10/01, that they had heard that some Muslims were going to hijack multiple airliner’s and fly them into various buildings, I would have been looking for the guys in white coats, so I could tell, here is the nut.
The main problem is that this current administration has lied about so many things when it was to their advantage. It is just real hard to separate the wheat from the chaff.
Shortly after 9/11 some businessmen from India, I believe, were in Canton, attending our First Monday Tades Days. They were asking questions about how big a crowd was drawn to these monthly events among other questions. Naturally the Sheriff was called and investigated the men. And found that they were legitimate businessmen, thinking of opening a shop and were just doing some market research.
They took no offense and admitted to the Sheriff that, had they thought it all through, they should have had some form of introduction with them, to allay people’s fears.
We do have to be alert. And we can only hope that someone in Government is alert as well.
But when a boatload of immigrants can wash ashore in Southern Florida with the Coast Guard being unaware, well, it just doesn’t make me feel all that secure.
Now, all we have to do is get the politician’s to stop playing word games and address the real problems that face our country. Sadly, the chances that will happen are much less than my chance at hitting the Mega Millions jackpot.
Posted by farmer on Jun 13, 2007 at 7:11 PM
Farmer,
I recently read
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 15, 2007 at 6:22 AM
whattheheck
Rummy was on target with the known unknowns and the unknown unknowns; think that was the only thing he got right.
There is no sure fire way to protect this country from a determined and well financed terrorist, foreign or domestic.
I think that a global coalition of nations will be required. If there is no safe haven for terrorist’s to plan, train, recruit and operate from, the dangers that they pose would be limited.
Such a coalition would be all but impossible to achieve in todays world. Maybe as more countries suffer attacks from terrorist’s, that will change. But how many innocent’s must die or be maimed first?
The trouble with politicians is that they will make a lot of promises, and say the things that we want to hear. Then,after the election, they either forget what they promised or discover that they can’t get the backing to take the actions that need to be taken.
We, the voting public, need a way to remove an ineffective politician, without waiting for the other politician’s to act. We elect people to represent us and they start courting the lobbyist’s to get more money, forgetting about us in the process.
TR was right; Speak softly and carry a big stick. Our big stick has proven to be ineffective in dealing with terrorist’s or guerrillas. Special Forces seems to be our best bet in dealing with such outlaws.
Shock and Awe is impressive, but it doesn’t accomplish the mission. Yet the average senior officer doesn’t seem to want Special Forces, because they don’t follow all the regular Army rules all the time.
Hopefully, dialog such as is happening like this all over the country will cause things to change for the better.
Our country faces too many complex problems for us to get mired down in “my party is better than your party” type thinking. After all, we are all American’s first and foremost.
Posted by farmer on Jun 15, 2007 at 7:22 AM
Farmer,
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 15, 2007 at 9:39 AM
whattheheck
It is a given that the Shrub has alienated far too many leader’s in other countries. The old USSR spent 40 years and no telling how much money in trying to marginalize US influence around the world. Shrub has achieved that in a tenth the time, though with about the same cash outlay.
Granted that other countries and UN leader’s had a vested interest in Iraq, making it impossible to form a unified coalition. But there was no real reason to put our troops into that country, other than his ego. That was the biggest mistake. once we were there, the radical Islamist’s realized that they had a golden opportunity to kick sand in Uncle Sams’ face.
I remember reading of Rummy complaining that there were no sexy target’s in Afghanistan; ya drop a 1000 pound bomb and do $20,000 worth of improvements.
Suddenly, Iraq became a target. Forget that other countries had more connections to 9/11 than Iraq. Forget that other countries would like to damage the US more than Iraq did.
Now, as you say, it is up to the voter’s to find a candidate that can deal with all the problems that this administration has created and not dealt with. Not gonna be easy, for us nor the candidate.
Posted by farmer on Jun 15, 2007 at 2:32 PM
<blockquote>To be sure, the Bush administration
Posted by scorp on Jun 17, 2007 at 10:14 AM
Scorp
You neglected one point. Iraq.
Iran, or rather the leader’s of Iran, have always been a worrisome threat to the US. So the Shrub attacks Iraq. What the hell, he got the first three letters right. Which, for someone as dumb about the real world as he is, was pretty impressive.
Our troops had no business invading Iraq, other than a clueless President said it was necessary. There is the failure of the Shrubs’ foreign policy. To compound his error, he appointed a great businessman to be in charge of the military.
While there are some similarities between a big business and the Army, none hold true when it comes to fighting a war. But Rummy “re-invented how all wars would be fought in the future”.
I liked the old way, you know, where we fought to win.
To compound that mistake, even after it became apparent to Rummy that his plan was a failure, nothing was done to change the plan. Until the eve of the ‘06 elections when it became apparent that the R’s would lose a lot of votes. Then some window dressing was added. And Rummy was given a send-off that looked like an Italian opera setting.
Yes, we should have gone after bin Ladin and his follower’s. But they weren’t in Iraq. They were in Afghanistan and it was too hard to find them, so the Shrub decides to go after Iraq.
This is what you call leadership?
Oh, and don’t forget, Clinton wanted to go after bin Ladin, but the R’s cried foul; he was trying to divert attention from Monica and the R’s had to get all the details of that. Did she deep throat? Did she swallow? You know, the important stuff that really affected America’s security.
Posted by farmer on Jun 17, 2007 at 12:08 PM
Scorp, Farmer,
After having read so many articles here which displayed more sympathy and concern for the terrorists than for the US.
From their first editorial
Posted by whattheheck on Jun 18, 2007 at 6:25 AM
whattheheck
Iran, or rather the leadership of Iran, has been a constant problem for American interests since the Shah was deposed.
At that, Islam seems to be divided into two main sects, Sunni and Shiite, with the Shiite being more against America than the Sunni’s are.
My limited knowledge of Islam notwithstanding, I’ve read that the Koran exempts “believer’s of the book” from attacks by Islam. That is, if your religion is ‘codified’ into a Bible, Islam has no problem with that religion.
The trouble arises from the fact that too many Muslims cannot read and have learned the Koran, or selected parts, by rote. This assumes that the teacher was teaching, or reading, what was actually written, and not what they would like to see written.
So, it stands to reason, the US should cultivate ties with the traditional Islamic’s to counter the arguments put forth by the radical’s.
It is in the best interests of the Saudi government to limit/stop the spread of the radical elements.
But they refuse to do so openly, as that would put Muslim against Muslim. So they covertly support our efforts by funding some operations.
But they refuse to put any manpower into the battle.
American politician’s have a hard time realizing that the rest of the world doesn’t always have the same views as American’s. Usually, the President tries to find people who understand the various outlooks of foreign peoples to help him formulate policy and responses. The current one only wants sycophants, not thinkers.
Hopefully,once we get back to having a real President, one that does the job as it was meant to be done, we can start to fix some of the messes that this one will leave behind.
And that includes dealing with the threats posed by radical Islamic’s, among many, many others.
Posted by farmer on Jun 18, 2007 at 6:55 AM