"John H" wrote in message
...

I was referring to the atmosphere of fear which Ashcroft and Bush would
like
us to accept as normal, thereby making it OK to carve away at the
Constitution. All this to chase an enemy we cannot see or define clearly.
Quite a bit different than fighting German and Japanese soldiers.


Doug, are not the Democrats themselves continuously complaining about
the insufficiency of money for homeland defense?

"Homeland defense" is too broad a term. But, it suits the suits nicely
because most citizens are too lazy to tweaze the term apart into its
different elements. Just because we need to secure our cargo ports more
effectively (since they are barely secured at all) doesn't mean we have to
give the police Orwellian powers. They are two different aspects of the same
program.

Hasn't Harry himself
used our lack of searching every container from every container ship
as proof that Bush is falling down on the homeland security issue?

I have no idea if Harry said that. But the fact is that until voices were
raised last summer, virtually NOTHING was being done about securing cargo
ports. From what I've read, there's still next to nothing being done,
compared with all the big ideas that were floated in the months after 9/11.
However, last week's news mentioned that the CG has been authorized to crack
down on traffic to & from Cuba. The government spokesperson said it was part
of the homeland security effort. Call me crazy, but it sounds more like
pandering to Cuban voters in an election year. That should go far in
protecting us from them pesky A-Rabs.

At least someone woke up recently and has provided a bunch of feds in boats
to patrol the harbors here in Rochester. With enough dramamine, you can
cruise from Canada to here unseen in almost any weather. Most days, it's a
cakewalk. Wait...I remember....it was Louise Slaughter, our Dem
congresswoman. She nagged the appropriate parties until they woke up.

Isn't the hardest part of this whole terrorist battle the fact that we
*can't* see or define them clearly?

Warning - cynicism ahead: How can that be? We've been shooting at them for
the past year.