|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
timmy
|
 |
Has no life at all |
Location: UK, in Devon
Registered: February 2003
Messages: 13796
|
|
|
The USA has almost never been attacked on its home territory, certaoinly the mailand. The most recent attacks were during WW2, with some jetstream borne ballon bombs launched in japan.
This means that a place US Citizens viewed as an impregnable castle has been violated. And such violations take ages to work through.
They have no history of terrorist bombings (UK, France, Spain etc); no history of invasion (Europe, Period!); they are thus still in a heightened alert state. After the terrorist incident they wee exteremely vigilant, and I am sure many false alarms equally absurd happened. Good citizens doing what is right.
Even in the EEC with huge criminal laws on Data Privacy the details of the shop would have been followed up by law enforcement agencies. How? I am sure she left some sort of contact detail, or bought someothing else by credit card.
These laws also get odd. Lenny may well have heard of Bodil Lindqvist (http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22bodil+Lindqvist%22) who was prosecuted all the way to the European Court for her website in her local Swedish church.
Author of Queer Me! Halfway Between Flying and Crying - the true story of life for a gay boy in the Swinging Sixties in a British all male Public School
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sorry about that. However, it's an interesting subject, so I'm just gonna go ahead and do it anyway. 
Sure, the US was sort of caught with its pants down, and it's understandable they're shaken up about it. Especially considering the sheer scope, few terrorist attacks have ever come close, probably only the sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway comes close, and there much fewer people died and no (revered, admired, imposing, symbolic, phallic, etc) infrastructure was damaged.
However...
The new security measures that are increasingly brought into play are definitely starting to sound really creepy. It's not the little things like people having to take off their shoes at airports to have them scanned, or that planes will soon have to carry armed guards aboard the planes (if that's a 'little thing', considering handguns and pressure cabins don't exactly match).
No, it's things like they're treating literally all visitors that comes into the country via planes - and I believe, ships - like would-be criminals, photographing and fingerprinting them upon arrival. They're making airlines share sensitive passenger information about foreign travellers without said passengers' knowledge or explicit permission, information which can be used for god knows what purpose and by whom; the Department of Homeland Security has no formal security policy which states what they can and can't do with this information, who else they may share it with or to which level it is being kept confidential, or indeed, for how long it is being saved. I haven't even been able to find out exactly what is being given out to the US, and I've actually read a couple articles on the subject.
There's more stuff in that vein too, but this is amongst the most recent ideas.
Then there's the scaremongering as well, like what's found at the ready.gov website. "Make a kit, make a plan, be prepared", it's "duck and cover!" all over again! I'm like, hey buddy! If a terrorist attacks, you're basically gonna be toast no matter what if you're within the affected radius; kit or no kit.
I have lost count of the number of times officials have spoken out and said the 'situation is the most serious since sept. 11th' regarding terrorist threat. They have their colored alert status scale, and recently Jay Leno cracked jokes about the security level being 'lowered to elevated'. Of course nothing's happened despite all this, well, not in the US anyway. Does this confirm the system works? 'Them goshdarned terrorists were discouraged by our heightened state of alertness!', or is it just worrying ordinary people needlessly, keeping them on their toes for no reason whilst giving an impression the government is hard at work?
The shoe bomber - who must be said to be the closest thing we've had to a real, ACTUAL terrorist attack since then - was caught by his own ineptness (would-be suicide bombers reading this board take note; bring a Zippo with you to light the fuse, not matches!  ), it wasn't by draconian security measures. Freedoms ARE being infringed upon, and it's done under the pretext of being for the people's own good, and the people should be very, very concerned about that, remaining national trauma or not...
Ok, now I'm done ranting.
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
I agree with Timmy's point about the shock-wave from 9/11 that's still reverberating around the US, and understand it's reasons, of course.
I also agree with Lenny when he notes that the US has now well and truly entered reactionary territory, and is becoming more and more conservative. They want to be able to trace and track emails and Internet activity now...they are finger-printing foreign nationals overseas who want visas...etc...etc...and it goes on and on. But God forbid anybody suggest gun control laws inside the US, stuff like that lol...
There is a feeling over-seas that other countries should require American citizens to do every single thing that the US requires in order to visit their countries...and that the new draconian US regulations wouldn't last long then!
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Steve
|
 |
Really getting into it |
Location: London, England
Registered: November 2006
Messages: 465
|
|
|
I found this on the web too:
I ask my Bar Mitzvah boys, “Do you masturbate?” And first they are a little sheepish about it and then they say, “Yes,” and I say, “You know what? It is a good thing to do on the Sabbath! Take your time, put on some music, and explore your body and what feels good for you, and most important, let God in.” Can you imagine when a youth learns to honor the power and the fire how different their sexual encounters are going to be later on? The language that we have currently to speak about sexuality and to impart it to the next generation needs help because we aren’t able to bring it into holy discourse any more. We badly need a word other than “fuck.” Hear the short vowel in there? It’s all expletive. I would like a “oooooo eeeeeoooooww” in there! The language of sexuality was at one time embedded in the sacred. Take the first sentence of the Songs of Songs of King Solomon, for instance, “Oh, please kiss me with the kisses of your mouth. Your loving is sweeter than wine.”
The author is Rabbi Zalman M. Schachter-Shalomi who (according to the web site where I found this) founded the Spiritual Eldering Institute and is professor emeritus at Temple University. He holds the World Wisdom Chair at the Naropa Institute in Boulder, Colorado, and is the co-author of From Age-ing to Sage-ing, published by Warner, NY. He has studied with Sufi masters, Native American elders, Catholic monks, and Buddhist teachers, including the Dalai Lama.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
You ever read any of James nelson's books? Embodiment (about getting spirituality back into the body, over-coming the old Greek dualism of body is bad//spirit is good). "Between Two Gardens" is also terrific...the 2 gardens in the title refer to the garden of Eden and the garden of Delights in The Song of Solomon). He's got a good one on male sexuality and masculine spirituality called "The Intimate Connection", and a newer one I haven't read yet called "Body Theology". Great stuff!
"Always forgive your enemies...nothing annoys them quite so much." Oscar Wilde
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
It is no secret that John Ashcroft, a man who thinks God has given him a divine right to the white house, is running rough shot over our civil liberties in the name of fighting terrorism. But as the Suskind book published just last week shows, the administration was on this path long before Sept. 11th.
On another tangent, Sunday 24 people were killed in a car bomb attack at the edge of the 'Green Zone' in Bagdad. Bush's man in Iraq Paul Bremmer released a statement on his website that morning railing about the 16 Iraqi deaths from the blast. This just shows that the administration has their head in the sand when it comes to the deaths of Americans in Iraq, or maybe they just don't care.
"Be excellent to each other, and, party on dudes"!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
 |
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
I don't think even the Bushes and Ashcroft are so cold-hearted that they don't care about American deaths in Iraq. It's more likely they don't want people to know Americans are dying over there. That makes for bad publicity and might begin to turn Americans against the war. Can't have that now , can we?
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
|
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
One of the few differences between our Republican Party and our Democratic Party is the area of civil rights. Dubya and his father before him along with Ashcroft are some of the worst enemies of civil rights to gain power in quite some time. His father wanted a national police force. He supported legislation in the 80s that made it easier for police to invade private property and conduct searches without warrants as well as legislation that made it easier for the government to seize private property. These are people who would turn the US into a police state. They NEED terrorists to convince American citizens to willingly give up their rights. The more they can convince Americans that we are in danger, the more of our rights we will be willing to surrender to the government so that the government can "protect" us.
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
...But not fighting the Germans. From what I read, they were doing business with them. From what I seem to remember, the government intervened to put an end to it, and did indeed seize some property or such... Maybe that's what Bush Sr. wanted to get back with those laws of his! ROFL!
Not sure it's all true though, hard as it is to believe, not all web pages are 100% truthful... Weird, huh?!
HUGS, e!
Make a new cooking thread soon, wouldja? Pleeease! *puppy-dog eyes*
More hugs!
-L
"But he that hath the steerage of my course,
direct my sail."
-William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, Act One, Scene IV
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
e
|
|
On fire! |
Location: currently So Cal
Registered: May 2002
Messages: 1179
|
|
|
Yes, I believe it was grandpa Bush who dealt with the Nazis. There was a lot of info on his dealings with them made available when Daddy Bush was VP and running for Prez. If I'm not mistaken, Grandpa Bush urged the US to align with the Nazis back in the 30s.
As you typed you request for another cooking school story, I was typing one. 
{{HUGS}}
Think good thoughts,
e
|
|
|
|
|
Goto Forum:
|
] 
A Place of Safety
Search
Help
Register
Login
Home
That was actually rather amusing, in its patheticness... 
Oh, and here's another... Unrelated to the previous topic. 
??
I realize I'm going off on a tangent here... 
Steve, I have always loved how you think! 
Re: Oh, and here's another... Unrelated to the previous topic. 
