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Bob Maxey wrote: g. gordon liddy reports that when he was in prison a lot of loudmouths would go around saying, "i'm with the mafia--you'd better not mess with me!" the real mafia guys, he reports, said, "there's no such thing as the mafia." in the mid-1980's i was a DC police officer (now retired) and my then-g/f worked at the senate intelligence committee. (i went in there armed, even though you weren't supposed to. it was like 'professional courtesy' from the capitol pOlice.) watching the news one evening, when she'd been drinking, we saw a report a u.s. sub was somewhere doing something. she said' "whaaaaaat?!" as she sprayed-out a mouthful of beer. she immediately clammed-up and refused to answer any questions. it was clear that they had just reported a lie. i also had a relative who worked for the CIA at langley during the 1950's and he had half-stories to tell as well. you CANNOT believe ANYthing from an intelligence agency. (an interesting corrollary to this is that the people who listen to stories on the radio (z.B. NPR) think they know everything about the story and walk/talk like they really know something. i generally feel embarrassed for them and don't engage them in conversation. <> We take away a passenger's rat tailed comb or his tweezers or pliers because as we all know, a pair of pliers is a perfect weapon to use against a trained pilot, a bunch of angry flight attendants, an unidentified federal marshal, and a load of scared passengers probably capable of tearing someone apart if provoked. Ever watch how a crowd behaves when someone yells fire?you can't bring principles and concepts into an argument like this. the people to whom you are making the argument don't seem to apply them very well. <>We are monitored. Have been for decades. I am monitored every time I make a cell call. Or every time I am talking to another Ham on two-meters. The bad guys know who is (supposedly) doing the monitoring and how it is being done, (probably) and they will take steps to avoid being taped. They buy cell phones from the 7-11 and so what if these phones are monitored.we ARE monitored. a friend cashed an out-of-state check at his bank. he points out that he was imaged by two cameras at the bank, a phone conversation was recorded and they took his thumbprint for the check. and that's just the monitoring he knew about. <> When we try, we end up debating how terrible it is to monitor those cretins that should be included on a list of suspects. With cheap phone calls and a "234,666,096 hour Free Trial AOL" disk glued to every magazine or arriving daily in our mailboxes, we have no other choice but to carefully consider email, web sites, and cheap cell phones when we try to get a handle on the problem. To say we should never consider monitoring is to say, I am clueless and I do not care about domestic safety.i think you miss the point entirely. arguing against things bush does is arguing against bush, not about the stated arguments. about six months ago there was a case before the supreme court (it may have been a CA case concerning medical marijuana) and NPR, et al. were arguing FOR state's rights. all well and good. don't mention that roe v. wade is actually about state's rights. then state's rights don't count. make an argument and you'll get six arguments against you (some of them contradicting each other.) GREAT LINE! pasha
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