Well I have to admit that the Bush administration has been doing fine. The war on freedom is moving along nicely and at this pace we should all be happily goose-stepping about in no time.

Please don't get me wrong now, I really was not trying to be offensive with the propaganda machine line, but the point is that it is obvious that you guys seem to believe whatever it is that Fox news spits out at you. I just have not been given a clear answer as to why you, or anyone is so happy to put up with harrassment, and why you don't mind infringing on a few rights a little bit. Do you HONESTLY think we are any safer? You point out that there has not been an attack since 9/11, does that prove anything? What about the attack in the U.K.? Do you really think Al-Qaeda is only after us? You do realize that there is usually a span of years between terrorist attacks in the U.S. don't you? There has not been another attack, YET. There will be, there will always be another successful attack. Only the extermination of the human race can be the end of war.

My argument is this, I love living in the land of freedom. If I am gonna let them take my freedom from me, then I may as well live in any other country in the world. The way you guys are talking, I think Hevusa's love of Sweden is seeming more and more appealling daily. I have to admit I have never had any other forum make me question myself so much in my life you (RHS) and Nebraskaboy have really gotten me thinking. Thinking about what the hell I have been doing with my life for nearly ten years. The more this forum continues, the more I just want to get out of the military and move off to Mexico or the Caribbean to live in obscurity somewhere...

I absolutely will, as soon as they make a good decision. Telling me this, if we've made such good decisions, why don't we have Osama? Why did we attack a country that never attacked us, and never posed ANY threat to us, BEFORE we got Osama? Why Aren't people marching on the Whitehouse DEMANDING the head of Osama? Osama bin Laden, the REAL enemy of the U.S. is off doing his thing in peace, and we are busy in a country that has nothing to do with anything? We are making these people express their desire to rule themselves by blowing up our soldiers on a Daily basis, and no one cares about Osama? OSAMA! God damn it... OSAMA! I don't give two shits if Iraq had all the WMDs on earth, I don't care if they were having a big gay pizza party in the middle of the dessert while they were planning on raping every American in the mideast, until we find OSAMA! Helloooooooooooo... Last time I checked OSAMA was the dangerous bad guy that mad really bad things happen! Ok, I am officially yelling at my computer now... I need to Calm down.

Or maybe it's because you are a white, christian male, the most privileged group of people on earth.

I will leave you with one word....


OSAMA!

I agree that the Patriot Act is not inheriently racist, and I agree that the racial profiling would still occur without the act. But I do think that the Patriot Act makes the racism 'ok', and racism is my singular pet peeve in this world.

I had to scream out loud when I read this, just to calm down. I demand that you go back and re-read this entire thread, all of it.

1) I never said you are less safe. I said you are no safer. There is a HUGE difference, and if you do not understand that difference I have neither the time nor the inclination to make up for the faults in the Nebraska school system.

2) This being said, and hopefully now CLEAR, the rest of your post is meaningless. No one wants to be bombed. But I will not sacrifice my freedom for anything. Too many people died to give it to me. Since we are NO safer, there is no reason to sacrifice freedoms. Are you that scared? Honestly? Do you think the bad Arab man will come get you while you are sleeping? I am much more scared of my government than I am of any terrorist. I work for the government, I know what they are capable of and what they do, and I also know the mathematical odds of being the victim of a terrorist attack...

Tadpole, you bring up very good points in all of your posts and I'm looking forward to the replies, but this line disturbs me. In no way was your service a waste of time. We are all grateful for people like you. And if I've learned anything about you from my time here, you said that out of frustration because you of anybody here knows the meaning and the importance of our servicemen and women.

Well said, completely agree. I read the papers everyday at work, and get most of my news from Fox News simply because they cover progress in Iraq of which the other stations will never do. It's as if Fox News covers what the troops have done and they seem to support our troops yet the other stations are just showing the death toll and bombings in Iraq. The other stations barely covered the January elections. It's kinda obvious why they would do that

I know we are not 100% safe from future terrorist attacks. But I do believe we are partially safer now than the way we were back in the 90's. This is exactly how I see it if you look at the way we were 10 years ago.

I'll have my cousin reply to this when he arrives tomorrow because his father works for the United Nations and he has travelled the world. I honestly love America! The only other country I have travelled to was Europe. It seems they definitely have more freedom than us, but the technology and way of life is like 30 years back compared to us. I'm gonna have my cousin reply to this.

I wouldn't be so quick to defend Fox News, or any other news station for that matter. To me, Fox News covers "progress" in Iraq because they are a conservative news station and the war was started by a Republican and most of the support for the war comes from conservatives. On the other hand, stations like CNN will tend to highlight all the bombings and well, lesser notes. Even if the liberal stations cover the negatives more, you can't deny that they aren't happening. The same goes both ways. My point is that you can't really rely on the news for what is exactly happening over there. I'm not saying I don't trust the news but it's not like I do either. Stories end up on the cutting room floor or don't make the pages. There's no way to discern exactly what is going on over there.

I'll say it. I don't trust the news media. The only way to get a reasonable picture of the truth from the news media is to watch several different views and try your best to discern the truth from spin. I think it is interesting some of the spin I hear put on the Patriot Act.

Doesn't anyone here understand the idea of checks and balances? Civilians can comit crimes, but so can the governement. Government abuse of power is very real and very common. The Patriot Act is very abusable and make abuse easier to justify. Where is the balance?

aMFliberal, you are 100% correct.

Yes I know Fox News is a conservative station....and many other stations are liberal...

You also wrote, "Stories end up on the cutting room floor or don't make the pages." Can't deny that. Wether the station is liberal, conservative, or whatever...they can easily brainwash peoples minds. That's why I read the papers during my lunch break and or any other type of news source other than what's being shown on the tube.

There are no faults in the Nebraska school system, I simply asked you how we are no more safe than before but you have avoided anwering me, thats all I am asking.