We use 43 muscles to frown, 17 to smile, and 2 to pull a trigger. I'm lazy and I'm tired of smiling.

"There are no ex-Marines, there are only dead Marines"

Got to say I'm glad to see these guys. Without doubt they are playing to "interests". Is there any real need for Phillip to be wearing an NRA cap, or for Peterson to be waving a gun?

Don't get me wrong, I joined the NRA when I was 13-14, just to get the "Rifleman".

Les Phillip and Dale Peterson are hilarious, I'd vote for them. Rick Barber's rant was just disturbing.

Do I have some kind of a mental problem where I am not in the slightest bit scared about terrorism? I mean, I just walk around all day... not scared about terrorism at all. Is there something wrong with me?

Dan,

Start by trying to understand the people who walk around all day, not concerned by the fact that many drugs in the US are not legal. It may be the beginning of wisdom for you.

Dan writes,
"Les Phillip and Dale Peterson are hilarious, I'd vote for them. Rick Barber's rant was just disturbing."

I looked at Barbers spot again. Without doubt he is intense, but I am not so sure he is wrong. A mosque at "ground zero"? "Man Made Disaster", more people were killed than in the "man made disater" at Pearl Harbor. Why are the signs being held up in English rather than Arabic? Are they trying to impress the Germans? I do not propose that we turn Mecca into glass, but we are fighting barbarians who will not understand "turning another cheek". I cannot think of a single Moslem nation which is wholeheartedly on our side. Remember no Christmas trees or bibles when we were bailing out the Saudis and Kuwaitis? Sure, we will send you "our best" and even forbid them to worship. We take pains to avoid harming the innocent, and they do not. Are we fighting "our war" in a region which cannot understand it? Are we fighting "our war" for western television? Consider the Mahdi's actions at Khartoum. Did the Arab world condemn him? (I know Gordon was probably a pederast)I do wonder if they would understand Bin Laden's head on a pike?

Without doubt, some Moslems are assisting us covertly, but I expect there is a large dose of self interest in such cooperation. I do not see the Moslem world turning itself inside out in order to preserve peace.

Watch "Blackhawk Down" particularly where we plead for assistance from a Pakastani general. Then read the book on that incident. The U.S. officer puts a .45 to the Pakastani's head to obtain cooperation.

I suspect most Moslems approve the end, but at best may be uncertain about the means.

It often occurs to me that Christiandom was 1200 years old when we launched the Crusades, and what is the age of Islam?
Is there something about 1200 years which inflames faith?

Full moon on the rise.
No Dan, there is nothing wrong with putting very real threats in perspective and making personal decisions accordingly.

"Dan, start by trying to understand the people who walk around all day, not concerned by the fact that many drugs in the US are not legal. It may be the beginning of wisdom for you."

Except that there is a 100% chance every year that massive amounts of my money will be stolen from me in taxes to fight the insane and counterproductive drug war. In contrast to this reality, there is a 0.0001% chance that I will be killed or injured by a terrorist (I'm being generous). Slight difference.

Dan, you are probably correct in your lack of concern about being the victim of a terrorist bomb. Just as during the cold war, after the Navy pulled out of Newport, a nuclear attack on Rhode Island was unlikely. Simply not a target of importance.

Still it is a question of national security, not personal security. How would you feel if you were a subway commuter in Manhattan, or strolled Times Square. It is not that the threat is not real, it is just that you are not a high priority target.

I'm just not a big believer in living your life in fear. I see the most effective way of combating terrorism as just going about your life like nothing has changed. It doesn't mean that you have to be reckless, but to turn our entire country upside down because of it... it's just not rational, and that seems to be what the terrorists want.

Dan,

Then there is no significant difference using your standard. People can avoid living in fear about US drug laws and enforcement policy by ignoring the issue, like you would like to ignore the issue of the threat of terrorism.

Andrew, my disdain for US drug laws has nothing to do with "fear." You are comparing apples and oranges. I am not a drug user or seller, I never have been, and I likely never will be, so I am not "afraid" that I personally will be arrested, the same way that some people fear they will be the victim of a terrorist attack. I do have a problem with the ungodly amounts of tax dollars that we have to pay every single year to arrest and incarcerate people over victimless drug crimes. I need not fear that fact since there is a 100% certainty of it reoccurring annually, but I certainly do resent it.

Donald. You really are a crazed lunatic, aren't you! And you were a school board member? Back in the day when all those crazy contracts were written that now spell our present DOOM? What say you? Now you are a free lance lunatic denigrating our President. Rants are good. Rants are fun. Welcome to Donald World.

DavidS

You are right. Also the last few days the outgoing tide current in the bay has increased each day. That's a clear sign of the lunar effect of an approaching full moon. Planting seeds last weekend during the second quarter with the moon in Virgo has seen quick results with my broccoli rabe and kale planted from seed as the new sprouts are visible. Poor Don. It does appear that he is quite mad.

>>It is not that the threat is not real,

Faust, can you explain the threat in statistical terms as compared to say, drunk driving or other avoidable acts?

Or compared to gun accidents? Or deaths related to OTC painkillers?

There are lots of "real" threats, the worst of them probably being fast food and processed foods.....but as Dan says, it's certainly not of the level to change the way one lives....or to change the Constitution of the Nation.

On the other hand, tens of millions of 100% innocent Iraqis have had something real to fear - namely those "Christian Soldiers" which ended up resulting in 100,00+ deaths and millions of displacements and horrible suffering....even though they had absolutely nothing to do with the 9/11 stuff these dumbos are yapping about.

Putting that into perspective, that would be the equiv. of about 1.5 Million Americans dying from a foreign invasion, and tens of millions being displaced.

I suspect if Dan or I or you were an innocent in Iraq, we WOULD have lots of things to worry about.

I also disagree with the whole premise of these ultra-right wing candidates. 9/11 was perpetrated largely by Saudis...Bin Laden is a Saudi and most of the radical militant ideas and schools come out of the Saudis wahhabi branch of militant Islam. Yet these bozos cannot mention the word "Saudis", because like Bush and even the current admin, they love that oil too darn much.

The sad fact is that a lot of our current problems date back to the very poor decision of stationing US Troops in the Holy Land (Mecca).....a mistake which we finally fixed under Bush, but far too late.

Now we are seeing action-reaction and it will not stop unless we want it to.