and the Russians.

Back to a serious response (WHICH thread is this? Oh yeah, "do you feel safer?"). I feel that America is LESS safe from terrorist attack, given George Jr.'s bungling and fiasco's like the one discussed above. I bet Bin Laden is sitting on silk pillows in a palace in Saudi Arabia somewhere, plotting his next move and chuckling the whole time. He blows up the WTC and the first thing the US does is spirit out of the country all the members of his family who might have given away important imformation that could have led to his capture. Then the US goes and stirs things up briefly in Afganistan, recruiting more members to Bin Laden's cause. After that we have the debacle of Iraq which makes EVERYONE else in the world, not just the Arabs, feel pretty upset with America. In the middle of all this George Jr. is videotaped saying that Bin Laden is not really a concern to him, and he (Bush) hasn't heard anything from him lately. Tisk, tisk, Osami, your letter writing skills need polishing.

His terrorist skills still get an A+, however. Bin Laden has managed to get the US to throw away billions of dollars and over a thousand American lives (we won't even talk about Iraqi civilian lives, because they don't count) on a pointless exercise in the Middle East. The very freedoms this country stands for have been eroded by the patriot act, and the average American citizen is running like a cowed dog back to the master who beats him in the form of the voters who want to give Junior a second round of screwing things up royally. I cannot imagine the gratification Bin Laden must feel to see the results of his efforts, and he is as free as a bird to follow up his first performance with some resounding encore act. I think the US is in even more danger than it was before 9/11.

It's their way of paying mankind back for reducing the numbers of natural predators and limiting hunting season ...

Mari--you underestimate the average American voter. Don't do that. We're all pretty much as intelligent and informed as you and Catwoman are.

PS--I KNOW Catwoman is a Brit--but you'd never know that from her BuffaloStance.

Just think - every time you hit a deer with your car, you're evolving road-avoiding deer. Unless they survive - then you're evolving crash-proof deer.

Wolf! You and I are in COMPLETE agreement! (I know this news must be as unsettling for you as it is for me, but I imagine we will both recover in due time). I have distributed fliers on the West slope of Colorado with the headline, "BRING BACK THE COUGAR!" I ask people when was the last time they had to step on the brakes and skid out of control thanks to a group of cougars in the middle of the road? When did anyone ever have an accident where a cougar came flying through their windshield? NEVER! Cougars are useful animals which rid of the world of nuisances like deer on the road, yappy poodles and small children whose parents didn't want them, otherwise they'd never have told the kid to go play alone on a deserted mesa at twilight (prime cougar hunting time!). I was delighted to read an official notice from the the Forest Service which appeared some months after I'd papered the area with my fliers that a temporary ban on the hunting of cougars was being put into effect on the nearby Uncomphaghre Plateau. The FS is considering making the ban on cougar hunting permanent and wished for public response. They got a copy of one of my fliers by return mail! I adore wild predators (not human ones). We need more of them! Bring back the cougar! Bring back the wolf! Yes!

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Aroooooo, baby! :thumbsup:

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:beer: I have this beyond cool recording of wolf howls. Think I'll go play it in honor of wolves (and cougars) everywhere - in the cyber world, as well as the real!

Reasons I don't feel safe:

1) Iraq is a mess. Dictatorships are wrong, but what we have now is a huge border open to terrorist movement, anarchaic sectors of the country where terrorists can gather and plot, and an entire country that is pissed off at us enough that it is willing to die if it can take a few of us down with it. It's worth noting that not only were none of the 9/11 hijackers Iraqi, but that every single one of them had lost a loved one to an American attack, or an Israeli (and, hence, American-funded) attack. With every mother we blow up, all of her sons become new potential terrorists.

2) Our borders are appallingly insecure. The vast majority of all shipborne freight still goes uninspected, and significant chunks of our coastline are still either unmanned or severely undermanned. If we really wanted to tighten up, instead of establishing "free-speech zones", we'd be patrolling our goddamned coastline. Which brings me to my next point...

3) Our government is turning against us. If the government doesn't like you or what you're saying or doing, they can take you away. They can hold you as long as they want, outside the country, without charge, due process, legal aid, or even letting you contact your loved ones to let them know why you disappeared. They can listen in on your communications without a court order, and if they don't like what they hear, then you're gone. Winston Smith never existed...

4) The biggest reason, and the t-shirt I'll be wearing to the polls, consists of two words: Where's Osama.

WTF? I'm outta here...must be something involving the moon.

Well, fine...but you have to look at the other side of that argument. When was the last time anyone was attacked and eaten by a hungry deer? :p

Well, there was that deer that ran through the window of a supermarket in St. Louis several years ago...

We had a deer crash through a window at my high school in Richmond VA a while ago.

Most preditors are environmentally responsible. They kill only for food. Deer (much like rats) kill just for the dumb of it. They even leave their kill to rot.

This is very true. I truely love animals and I cried when Bambi's mother got shot just like everyone else. Unfortunately, we have an ecosystem that's so out of whack in Western Colorado that the deer population has soared out of control without natural predators to keep it in check. What happens to many of these animals is that they starve during the winter. A death by starvation is far more cruel and drawn out than death by a hunter's gun or a predator's claw. The deer are attracted to the roadsides as a last resort because everything else has been grazed down to nothing. My encounter with a deer on the road last year was not my first. 15 years ago I was driving down the highway one evening outside of Durango, Colorado when a deer suddenly jumped in front of my car. I swerved to avoid it, hit a ditch running alongside the road and was in intensive care for 4 weeks afterwards. Many peope have had similar experiences and some have died as a result of them.