[ExI] Feel Safer Now?

[Gary Miller]

Amara said << 

I have the impression you don't read or watch the news. Or else the news you
do read/watch is highly filtered. It's not a good idea to be at the extreme
end of naivety.

Reading your words, I'm reminded of this poem:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/First_they_came


EFF (www.eff.org) and Declan McCullagh (http://www.politechbot.com/) are
sources that can keep you up to date about what your government is doing to
you.

For example:
--------------------------------------------
http://w2.eff.org/effector/20/40.php

* EFF Comments on Terror Watch List

Since 2003, the government has been building, testing and stitching together
several disparate terrorist watch lists from various agencies into one vast,
centralized database of suspicious individuals.
Information in this database can be used to decide whether individuals will
be allowed to enter the country, get on an airplane, or become citizens, or
if they will be detained at routine traffic stops. It's a central factor in
other programs, like Secure Flight, the Transportation Security
Administration's proposed plan to "screen" millions of travelers.

Last week, EFF filed comments on some proposed changes to the Terrorist
Screening Records System (TSRS), which includes the watch list as well as
other records. EFF urged the FBI to reconsider its 2005 decision to exempt
the TSRS from crucial Privacy Act requirements, which makes it impossible
for citizens to use the courts to access or challenge false or inaccurate
data that may have found its way into the system.

EFF's full Comments on the Terror Watch List:
http://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2007/10/eff-comments-terror-watch-list
--------------------------------------------

My previous post was much more about the government money spent for
anti-terrorist activities. Your tax money spent, that is, instead of, say
research to fight cancer. Your tax money spent to make lists like the
Terrorist Watch List and to put you and me and everyone we know on it, so
that the next time one wants to take a flight to see Cousin Henry, they will
be pulled off of the plane. Or maybe put in prison.
You know, for thinking independently.

You might be comfortable with such a situation, but I have a real problem
with it.

>>

I went to your links and read the articles on each site Amara to find out
what I have been missing.  And since I had already read those articles
elsewhere or similar versions of those articles and found no significant
details which were missing from the versions I read I am satisfied that the
news sources I read regularly are varied enough and are not filtered such
that I am not receiving a propagandist view.

I agree with the House vetoing immunity for the telecomm companies and think
Bush's administration has exceeded it's authority by not forcing judicial
approval to insure the each tap for listening is warranted but I most
certainly do not feel sorry for an MIT student stupid enough to wear
something that looks like a bomb into an airport.

If I am in an airport and someone next to me had something that looks like a
bomb strapped to the chest I would hope the police take the head shot and
find out if the bomb was real afterward before the person has a chance to
detonate it.

In America everybody wants their 15 seconds of fame.  And people stupid
enough pull such stunts which have the potential to cause panic and cause
people to be killed deserve full prosecution to discourage other idiots from
trying to get their names in the paper or thinking they can write a book
about it afterwards and get rich from it.

I likewise have no sympathy for people who talk about bombs or make
terroristic comments on airplanes designed to scare people just because they
are mean spirited and then try to hide behind free speech.   You are not
allowed to yell fire in a hospital or movie theatre.  That is just common
sense.

I think we need to be ever vigilant to prevent any minority group from being
singled out and having their rights and property taken away as we did to the
Japanese citizens during World War II.  That was a dark chapter in our
history.  And if we were rounding up Muslims and putting them in
concentration camps I would be out on the street protesting.  But our
government has reminded us numerous times that is just a small percentage of
fanatical Muslims who believe in Jihad against other religions and that we
must not direct our rage against all believer in Islam or people from
countries where fundamentalists are the most vocal.

I also believe that some people may be unfairly being kept out of the United
States due to erroneous information.  It is impossible to run a program that
large and not make any mistakes.  If a person had a close family member who
was a terrorist or roomed with or was a known best friend to a terrorist, I
would prefer that that individual not be given the privilege to visit the
United States.  I realize that this person may be completely innocent but
entering our country is a privilege just as when I visit any other country
and each country has the right to look at the criminal background, any
health risks that a visitor may have been exposed to, or any close
associations that that may heighten their risk assessment of that
individual.  Protecting it's citizens is one of the highest responsibilities
that a government is charged with.  And when our citizens are being
kidnapped, bombed, and beheaded, it is our best interests that the
government step up that level of protection within reason.