Todd.Hanz said:
This has gotten waaaaaaaay to political. Sure, maybe the restrictions are a little tight right now, maybe they have over reacted. At least they're doing something, if they did nothing and something happened then what would everyone say, " why didn't they stop that guy"! There would be a bunch of clowns on capitol hill, pretending to care about the citizens, spewing political rhetoric about which party was responsible for the breach of duty!
This country is experiencing something Israel and the middle east have lived with for quite some time, we need time to figure out what is a good balance between our freedoms and restrictions.
First of all,
"Those who would trade liberty for a little temporary security, deserve neither liberty nor security" - Benjamin Franklin.
Second of all, my freedom is not yours to trade away in return for security. Nor is it the federal government's, nor President Bush's. The Bill of Rights is a document that tells the federal government what rights of yours and mine that THEY MAY NOT infringe, not a document that 'gives' us our rights. The US Constitution states that we already HAD our rights, from our Creator, WAAAAY before the USA was invented. So the USA can't take them away. For any reason. Ever. Point and period. Doesn't matter what the terrorists do, neither you nor the government can take away our civil liberties - it is illegal to try.
I realize that to do NOTHING in response to terrorism is not good - we must protect ourselves from the terrorists who hate us. Clamping down on the liberties our Creator gave us in the name of protecting freedom for all is self-defeating. Like having sex in defense of virginity - you can't have it both ways.
President Bush said that the terrorists attacked us because they "hated our freedom." So the solution to that is to take our freedoms away? Show me what planet that twisted logic makes sense upon.
It will never be the same as it was before 911, we can decide to live with it, embrace it, or move!
There is another choice. We can resist all attempts to take away our rights.
Somone else faced that choice once - the choice to live under the tyranny of an oppressive government or reject it. They were called the Founding Fathers, and they did not 'live with it', 'embrace it' nor did they 'move away'.
Do you have any idea what you sound like? If you framed your statement in the history of the US Revolution, you'd sound like a Tory. During the Civil War, your words would be spoken by someone who wanted to maintain the status quo - slavery in the south.
911 is not the worst thing that could happen to us. The worst thing that could happen to us would be to give away our rights and become a nation of protected sheep, scared of our shadows and looking to Big Brother to protect us and tell us what to do.
I would die first, and I mean that literally.
So you can't take a picture of an oil refinery anymore, who cares! They're freakin ugly anyway!
Todd
Remember you said that when 'they' say you can't take a picture outside anymore, only inside your house. And then only with a permit. And then only with a government witness present. And don't pretend that can't happen - we're already having things happen that could 'never happen' in the USA. But hey - close your eyes and pretend that it's all gonna be OK, the government will protect us - all we have to do is sign over our freedom.
Best Regards,
Bill Mattocks
