Bush: We're safe, but it's an illusion?

Anyone catch clips from Bush's latest speech regarding Homeland Security?

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050214-2.html
"Many key elements of the Patriot Act are now set to expire at the end of this year. We must not allow the passage of time or the illusion of safety to weaken our resolve in this new war. "

Illusion of Safety? But... but... I thought Bush has made the country safer?

Checking further, I checked the State of the Union address... the closest reference to the US's state of safety:

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2005/02/20050202-11.html
"Police and firefighters, air marshals, researchers, and so many others are working every
day to make our homeland safer, and we thank them all."

This of course says they are working to make it safer, not that it is already.

Hmm... odd. I thought he's said over and over that the world is a safer place now that Saddam is out of power? I would think he'd be proclaiming that all over, no?

It seems that now that Bush has won the election, he's gone back on his campaign rhetoric that he makes the US safer. And so, this is the game he plays with the US - when he wants something, he'll say it's needed to keep us safe. When he is faced with defending his track record, he'll say that he has.

So which is it? Are we safer or not?

We are not safe as long as that sicko terrorist fuck is still at large.

Bush, I mean.

NEW war? WTF? The prick formally said it was over last summer and now it's a NEW war?

Yeah, if 3 years old is still new... that means what for the prognosis of how long the "war on terror" will last (aka the time the gov't can continue to trample our rights in the name of public safety that has not really changed since 9/11, simply become more visible)

Bush's cronies get filthy rich while you sit like prisoners in your own homes.

There is alot of truth in the saying "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself"

I think it's about time people picked up The Lord of the Flies again and started reading.

Watch out for the monster in the cave, kids...

The problem with being safe is you can't use fear to erode personal freedom. After all, the Patriot Act is expiring soon.

I agree, stick him like a pig and mount his head on a stake!

Hey, great! And while we're at it, why don't we disband the military and all law enforcement agencies! The fact is, despite Bush's poor choice of words, the country *is* safer, but that safety is due to factors like the Patriot Act, the Department of Homeland Security, and the military.

-Kiamat Dusk
Stripping the SLefties of their illusion of forum safety

Vote Democrat in 06! Its the only way to reduce his influence.

How is the country safer? Please explain.

Because the US is now so paranoid with fear (or is that paralysed with fear?) that they now treat the rest of the world like they are all terrorists in training. Especially should any of the rest of the world actually dare want to visit.

But it's ok. We don't want to come anymore anyway

Since 9/11 there have been no *major* attacks on US soil/citizens *outside* a warzone.
This in contrast to:
The first WTC bombing
The Oklahoma City bombing
The Khobar Towers bombing
The USS Cole bombing
The 2 US Embassy bombings

-Kiamat Dusk
END THE UNJUST ENGLISH OCCUPATION OF NORTHERN IRELAND!

But how is the country safer? What steps has the President taken that has made the country safe from the form of attacks we were hit with on his watch? I'm curious. Enlighten me.

Yup, I'd leave the (edited), too

Addendum --all those tragedies you listed? Any of them as horrible as the tragedy which happened (despite 52 seperate specific warnings between April 2001 -and September 2001) on BUSH'S WATCH?

Sorry Kiamat - I completely disagree. On a day to day level, I am much more afraid of our local law enforcement (many of whom are, if not our right dishonest, inexperienced at best) than I am of Al Qaeda. The same holds true for our FBI, DEA and Secret Service.

I do not perceive them as serving the public at all. They have their own agenda and they will go to any ends to meet it and we the American public have almost no recourse in the courts any longer. Even if we prove that we are innocent - (as the onus is no longer on them to prove our guilt), it will end up costing us every cent we own to do so.

I say this as someone who has had a long line of family in both the military and in law enforcement as well as having worked in law enforcement at one point myself.

All the Patriots act does is further endanger American freedom and give the American people a false sense of security. Not a single word in the Patriots act is going to protect you against a person who is hell bent on blowing themselves up along with hundreds of others.

The only thing that makes Timothy McVay different from Osama is that he killed less people. Yet no one tried to pass the "Patriots Act" then. There are many things that we can do to circumvent terrorists, few of them are visible and most have nothing to do with the individual rights that are being torn from the American people by making the Patriots Act permanent.

Know what you have already given away and what you will be giving away in the future:

Americans could have their citizenship revoked, if found to have contributed "material support" to organizations deemed by the government, even retroactively, to be "terrorist." As Hentoff wrote in the Feb. 28 Village Voice: "Until now, in our law, an American could only lose his or her citizenship by declaring a clear intent to abandon it. But -- and read this carefully from the new bill -- 'the intent to relinquish nationality need not be manifested in words, but can be inferred from conduct.'" (Italics Hentoff's.)

Legal permanent residents could be deported instantaneously, without a criminal charge or even evidence, if the Attorney General considers them a threat to national security. If they commit minor, non-terrorist offenses, they can still be booted out, without so much as a day in court, because the law would exempt habeas corpus review in some cases. As the American Civil Liberties Union stated in its long brief against the DSEA, "Congress has not exempted any person from habeas corpus -- a protection guaranteed by the Constitution -- since the Civil War."

The government would be instructed to build a mammoth database of citizen DNA information, aimed at "detecting, investigating, prosecuting, preventing or responding to terrorist activities." Samples could be collected without a court order; one need only be suspected of wrongdoing by a law enforcement officer. Those refusing the cheek-swab could be fined $200,000 and jailed for a year. "Because no federal genetic privacy law regulates DNA databases, privacy advocates fear that the data they contain could be misused," Wired News reported March 31. "People with 'flawed' DNA have already suffered genetic discrimination at the hands of employers, insurance companies and the government."

Authorities could wiretap anybody for 15 days, and snoop on anyone's Internet usage (including chat and email), all without obtaining a warrant.

The government would be specifically instructed not to release any information about detainees held on suspicion of terrorist activities, until they are actually charged with a crime. Or, as Hentoff put it, "for the first time in U.S. history, secret arrests will be specifically permitted."

Businesses that rat on their customers to the Feds -- even if the information violates privacy agreements, or is, in fact, dead wrong -- would be granted immunity. "Such immunity," the ACLU contended, "could provide an incentive for neighbor to spy on neighbor and pose problems similar to those inherent in Attorney General Ashcroft's Operation TIPS."

Police officers carrying out illegal searches would also be granted legal immunity if they were just carrying out orders.

Federal "consent decrees" limiting local law enforcement agencies' abilities to spy on citizens in their jurisdiction would be rolled back. As Howard Simon, executive director of Florida's ACLU, noted in a March 19 column in the Sarasota Herald Tribune: "The restrictions on political surveillance were hard-fought victories for civil liberties during the 1970s."

American citizens could be subject to secret surveillance by their own government on behalf of foreign countries, including dictatorships.

The death penalty would be expanded to cover 15 new offenses.

And many of PATRIOT I's "sunset provisions" -- stipulating that the expanded new enforcement powers would be rescinded in 2005 -- would be erased from the books, cementing Ashcroft's rushed legislation in the law books.

It was a lot easier to trust my government when I actually felt like I had some recourse if they did something dishonest. Now, I'm not even sure that my vote was counted.

Draping the American Flag around these draconian laws that fly in the face of the US Constitution will not serve the American good.

Lessee....
Created the Department of Homeland Security
Created the Cabinet position of Intelligence Director
Signed The Patriot Act into Law
Deposed the Taliban
Deposed Saddam Hussein

We now have 3 fledgeling democracies in the Middle East, the Israelis and Palestinians are well on their way to peaceful coexistence (Bush was the first US President to support a separate Palestinian state).

Also, Libya came in from the cold and gave up it's WMDs. But we don't wanna talk about that, do we? God forbid anyone admit that Bush did anything *positive*.

9/11 was committed on Bush's watch, but planned well before. Again, I point out the fact that Clinton had 3 chances to kill or capture Bin Laden and failed to do so-maybe he was too busy with an intern to bother.

-Kiamat Dusk
Feels so good to be Right!

Yup. Just keep your blinkers on and trot out your little pieces of 'evidence' and you're 'right' and feeling good, huh? Did you read Rose's post? Gonna address anything in it? Gonna tell her why she should feel good about being an American under Bush? Or are you just gonna quote some more crap you found off a website without actually addressing anyone? The funny thing is, the rest of the world has this stereotype view of Americans... and you're it, Kiamat.

It's heartening to know that at least some Americans are actually grounded in reality instead of blind patriotism... nice post, Rose

People like Kiamat, who'll so willingly give up their freedoms and liberties for some bogus perception of "safety" and who have so little regard for the constitution and due process clearly represent a serious danger to the United States and should have their citizenships revoked and be deported immediately.

Two attacks committed on American soil. In both cases those responsible were caught, tried, convicted and sentenced. All of this was accomplished without a Patriot Act.

Number of terrorists convicted under the Bush administration and the Patriot Act? ZERO

I've said it before and I will say it again. Bill Clinton was getting the job done. Too busy with an intern to bother? Maybe that is why pussyfoot conservatives screamed "No War for Monica" as he was getting the job done.

If this administration produced a single result worth mentioning, I might buy it. How's that hunt for Osama Bin Laden going?

Let me refresh your memory from your great President.


http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2002/03/20020313-8.html

No wonder he hired a gay prostitute to ask him the easy questions after that!

None of this makes us safe against terrorists with boxcutters. Experts in counter-terrorism (Like Richard Clarke) argue that we are in fact LESS safe under Bush's policies than we have EVER been. Bush has created a hotbed of "Terror" activity in Iraq where there was once NONE. The Taliban still controls Afghanistan. Iraq is not by any means a Democracy --nor is it likely to become so, unless the US swallows a huge mea culpa and engages the aid of other nations. Bush "supports" a separate palestine all while continuing to fund Israel's aggression. Libya was about as dangerous to the security of the US as Costa Rico at the time of it's "surrender".

Where's Bin Laden?

Kiamat, how do you decide when Bush is using "a poor choice of words", and when he's "lying to the public and/or greatly exaggerating" or "made a huge mistake"?

It seems far too convenient that every "misstatement" Bush has been caught in has either been blamed on someone else, had some cockamaymy story invented, or outright drowned out in a sea of fearmongering?

http://www.50bushflipflops.com/Introduction/home.html

Here's 50 Bush flip-flops. How did he explain all of these "misstatements", hmm?

Bah, the Dems suck just as bad as the republicans do.

It may come as a shock, but I also have serious reservations about the Patriot Act and actually agree with the issues Rose presented about it. Thing is, a lot of the Patriot Act isn't new, but rather an amplification or and amalgam of existing laws. Where were you guys then?

It didn't take the Patriot Act for Janet Reno to have Elian Gonzalez taken at gunpoint from his uncle's home and deported to that socialist paradise that is Cuba.

Also in the Hypocrisy Department-it's amazing which Constitutional rights you Liberals choose to scream about. Many if not most of you have no issue with the constant erosion of our Second Ammendment rights, but you want to have a fit over the Patriot Act.

The fact that Rose is less afraid of al Qaeda is evidence to Bush's efficacy.

Someone please tell me how Clinton was "getting the job done". I think it was Monica who was actually getting the "job" done while Bill was just getting the "job" done to him.

Funny how people who support your side, Kendra, are considered "experts" while those who disagree are labeled crackpots and whackos.

Heading back into the Hypocrisy Department from which the SLeft seems to be uable or unwilling to escape, you speak of Isreali agression while happily overlooking Palestinian atrocities. The difference here being that the Palestinian suicide bombers whom you support were *purposely targeting* civilians and were not above blowing up school busses and kindergartens. Moreover, you are constantly comparing Bush to Hitler while your naked anti-semitism and socialist bent clearly make you closer akin to him than Bush will ever be.


-Kiamat Dusk
Won't back down