US planning to recruit one in 24 Americans as citizen spies

[Victor Galis]

So Bush is the root to all of Americas problems, is what you're saying basically Victor?

-Not all of them, but America would be better off without him.

You act as though theres such thing as a "perfect" president who can please everyone and get a 100% approval rating. It's not going to happen. Ever.

-So, just because I can't justify that another man would have done a better job, I shouldn't complain about the ****ty job this one is doing?

Oh, but president bashing is so fun and easy isn't it? You don't have to actually think about why things are certain ways, you just simple blame Bush! Sounds good to me.

-The man is a criminal and an idiot placed in power by an obsolete archaic system.

[Victor Galis]

Well, cubed, though you're certainly right about both sides not knowing exactly what they're talking about, I'd offer that suspicious most likely means "different".

-Umm... I would say that this immediately labels me as suspicious.

[drake]

Reds, you know how hard it is to find tech jobs in certain markets these days?...after the dotcom boom bellied up, a lot of skilled people lost their jobs and have had to adapt to get new jobs. Thats the way it goes. Things change, and will continue to change, terrorist attacks or not.

Don't blame the 911 event for the plane industry slumping, blame it on the paranoid public.

[drake]

The man is a criminal and an idiot placed in power by an obsolete archaic system.

That obsolete archaic system being democracy? Or are you referring to something else

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by Cloud9
I don't think the government will recruit everyone that signs up for this program. I'm sure that they will carefully screen applicants to ensure that they can be trusted.

[Victor Galis]

Well... would the public have been paranoid if 911 hadn't happened? No. Am I paranoid? No, I flew to California as planned later that year.

[Victor Galis]

That obsolete archaic system being democracy? Or are you referring to something else

-The electoral college.

[chequita guevara]

I just talked to a woman yesterday who had an ex-boss lie to the police about her and claim she was selling crack out of her house using the annoymous tip program.

She let the police in and wander through her house looking for evidence. Apparently they were nice to her and didn't trash the place.

Still, the potential for abuse is there. With American citizens now being declared enemy combatants and shanghai'd off to a military brig without Constitutional protections like habeus corpus, the right to have an attorny present while being questioned, etc. how can you believe for a second this isn't a problem. Especially after we're seeing more and more the government is grasping at event the most tenuous evidence to grab some people (like foreigners). The evidence against Padilla seems especially thin at this point.

[drake]

I diasagree fundamentally with the electoral college as well, though it can certainly not be blamed solely for bushs election. A **** load of people still voted for him and he would have been extremely close in the popular vote.

But thats another thread.

[Victor Galis]

I diasagree fundamentally with the electoral college as well, though it can certainly not be blamed solely for bushs election. A **** load of people still voted for him and he would have been extremely close in the popular vote.

But thats another thread.

-Quite true, but even more people voted for Gore.

[chequita guevara]

Here's the problem. These are all small, incremental steps. Drake is saying, why are you worrying. This is a small thing. .1 on a 10 point scale. And he's right.

But .1 + .1 + .5 +. 1 +.2 = 1, and suddenly we're rather a bit closer to that place we don't want to be. Ad each step of the way, there will be someone like Drake, saying, yes, but this is just a small thing. But many small things make a big thing, and we're getting more and more small things.

[drake]

So besides complaining about it on a board that has no bearing on anything, what are you doing to stop it Che? It's one thing to be opposed to something, but quite another to actually do something.

Democracy is about power to the people right? Well then why are you so afraid of doing just that? Giving power to the people???

Thats what we're talking about right? Empowering John Q Citizen to make a difference in the fight of terrorism right?

You don't trust the elected officials, you don't trust the people.....who do you guys trust?

[Victor Galis]

Democracy is about power to the people right? Well then why are you so afraid of doing just that? Giving power to the people???

Thats what we're talking about right? Empowering John Q Citizen to make a difference in the fight of terrorism right?

-Who said democracy was good?

[chequita guevara]

Originally posted by drake
you don't trust the people

Who says I don't trust the people?

[drake]

You don't trust the elected officials, you don't trust the people.....who do you guys trust?

How about this?