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Undertoad · 08-02-2003, 08:40 PM

Oblivious to today's loss of civil rights: feh, I'd say they have a sense of proportion. What we have happening now is damn near nothing compared to what it could be. Roving wiretaps? Visa overstays treated harshly? T'is but a scratch; there are millions in jail just for using plants, too many corrupt cops, etc. which are worse problems that have been with us before, and still...

I dunno if Lieberman would not take up censorship. You never know because the R opposition might find it a bad tactic to have Lieberman get the credit for their issues. In 1995 the Rs gave Clinton welfare reform because it was just too big of an issue for them to claim disinterest and possibly too much in the country's interest to pass up. My guess is that a lot of them like to use censorship as an issue to stir up their fundraising base, but really would like to pass stuff that looks like something big but turns out to be totally meaningless.

Remember the "V-chip"? It had both sides screaming bloody murder, but here we are about 10 years later and absolutely nothing has actually changed. As long as the people do not want censorship in their lives, they will not have it. My worry is for when they WANT it, because then they WILL GET it... in droves.

Is the War on Terror well run: that answer has to be "incomplete", because we won't know for a long time whether what has happened so far will be effective in the long run. And there's a lot we can't see, because half the war is fought in intelligence work.

But by accounts, and with my own bias, I feel the Offense gets an A- so far and the Defense gets a D. But I guess the only relevant question is, was there another major attack on our shores or interests? and so far the answer is no. Ridge alleged in one press conference that Homeland Security has actually prevented further attacks, but without the details we can't have yet, we just don't know.

08-02-2003, 08:40 PM	#1
Undertoad Radical Centrist Join Date: Jan 2001 Location: Cottage of Prussia Posts: 31,423	Oblivious to today's loss of civil rights: feh, I'd say they have a sense of proportion. What we have happening now is damn near nothing compared to what it could be. Roving wiretaps? Visa overstays treated harshly? T'is but a scratch; there are millions in jail just for using plants, too many corrupt cops, etc. which are worse problems that have been with us before, and still... I dunno if Lieberman would not take up censorship. You never know because the R opposition might find it a bad tactic to have Lieberman get the credit for their issues. In 1995 the Rs gave Clinton welfare reform because it was just too big of an issue for them to claim disinterest and possibly too much in the country's interest to pass up. My guess is that a lot of them like to use censorship as an issue to stir up their fundraising base, but really would like to pass stuff that looks like something big but turns out to be totally meaningless. Remember the "V-chip"? It had both sides screaming bloody murder, but here we are about 10 years later and absolutely nothing has actually changed. As long as the people do not want censorship in their lives, they will not have it. My worry is for when they WANT it, because then they WILL GET it... in droves. Is the War on Terror well run: that answer has to be "incomplete", because we won't know for a long time whether what has happened so far will be effective in the long run. And there's a lot we can't see, because half the war is fought in intelligence work. But by accounts, and with my own bias, I feel the Offense gets an A- so far and the Defense gets a D. But I guess the only relevant question is, was there another major attack on our shores or interests? and so far the answer is no. Ridge alleged in one press conference that Homeland Security has actually prevented further attacks, but without the details we can't have yet, we just don't know.