The Colbert Report: The Terror Watchlist
By Nicole Belle Wednesday May 07, 2008 6:45pm
Download | play 
Download | play (h/t BillW)
Stephen Colbert skewers the Terror Watchlist by speaking to Hasan Elahi, who remains on the Watchlist despite being cleared of all charges and who has resorted to an innovative way to respond to those federal watchdogs.
My favorite terrorist is Hasan Elahi. Just saying his name makes my heart go up one Terror Alert level. Why Elahi? Well, to begin with, he’s innocent. A quality so rare in someone so guilty. You see, in 2002, Elahi was detained by the FBI on suspicion of hoarding explosives in a Florida storage unit. Turns out, he didn’t have any explosives. In fact, he was the only person in Florida without gunpowder. But the FBI refused to give Elahi a written letter clearing him of suspicion because he refused to change his name, religion and skin color. Instead, they just asked him to “check in” with them periodically. And here’s where I really like this guy: for the last six years, Elahi has taken the burden off government surveillance by surveilling himself. Everyday, Elahi takes hundreds of photos of his whereabouts and sends them to the FBI. Pictures of the airports he travels through, the bathrooms he visits, even the meals he eats. With these pictures, he’s ensuring that he’ll never be arrested on suspicion of terror, though by judging by some of the meals he’s eating, Gitmo might be an improvement.
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Thank god almighty I’m first.
Well. I guess whoever we upset decided to knock off the hack attempts.
Excellent.
Colbert is a genius.
Youtube is SWEET! Elahi should post his activities there.
Funny, I thought racial/ethnic/religious profiling was only a Southern thing directed at funny-looking dark-skinned men.
You mean....the government's taking our idea!!!!
I say, organize a Crusade on Washington and teach those religious nuts a lesson!
j/k.
I wonder if I should change my name or start carrying around a camera.
Don't these terror watchlist guys have something better to do? Like scratch their balls or something more productive?
Naomi Wolfe is on the list!!!!
I am sure we are all on the list (regular c&l posters and writers)
john and nicole are FOR SURE on the list
Hasan Elahi is a genius! A comic genius! Way to stick it to the man, Hasan.
On a more serious note, here we have here YET ANOTHER example of the guilty until proven innocent policy of the war on Tara...er, terror.
You want your privacy? Give it up, America!
This has nothing to do with this topic, but I wanted to alert everyone to the latest rightwing junk that is being e-mailed to people like my 80 year old mother. It's possible she is considering voting for Obama, not likely as she hasn't voted for a Dem. in recent memory, but this has shaken her up. We should do something. Sondra
----- Original Message -----
From: Richard C Reeves
To: : Wednesday, May 07, 2008 7:58 PM
Subject: Fw: kind of long,,, but PLEASE read this one..
It may be tongue in cheek, but he hits the nail pretty much on the head !!!!!!!
Thomas Sowell Tells It Like it Is
Reaching the same conclusion as message below, albeit from a slightly different angle, is syndicated columnist and Senior Fellow of the Hoover Institution at Stanford University in Stanford, CA, Thomas Sowell, who wrote this past week in a column titled "Random Thoughts" and published in newspapers nationally the following "Senator John McCain could never convince me to vote for him. Only Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama can cause me to vote for McCain."
Oh, and in case you aren't familiar with Thomas Sowell, one other thing - He happens to be black.
PLEASE READ THIS ALL THE WAY THROUGH!
After long and serious thought, I have decided to endorse Senator John McCain for President. I have always voted for the person and have not voted for anyone because some political party was telling me who I should vote for. We all know the choices by now and, that said, I do believe that the process of selecting a chief executive is deeply flawed. The words "money" and "special interests" come to mind, among many others.
Here's the way I see it Barack Obama, you are a fine public speaker. You are also an extremely liberal Senator from the State of Illinois, which has a long and rich history of political corruption of the first magnitude. You are indeed a child of that system.
You have finally insulted my intelligence far beyond my capacity to tolerate your insults. It has nothing at all to do with your skin color. As a matter of fact, it would be so COOL to finally have an African-American for President. What a great statement that would be to the entire world that we are indeed the greatest country on earth! But, unfortunately, General Colin Powell is not running, and YOU are NOT the man for this job !
Barack baby, you want me to believe that you have never heard the sermons of your own pastor, the Right Reverend "God Damn America" Jeremiah Wright. It is a matter of record that this has been your church for over 20 years. It is a matter of record that you were married there by this very pastor, and that your children were baptized there.
The good Reverend saw fit to visit Khadafy in Libya with you and to give a lifetime achievement award to Louis Farrakhan, of all people. We have all now seen excerpts of his sermons all over the airwaves by now. And you have publicly stated that this man IS your "spiritual mentor".
BUT, your pastor is NOT the reason I am NOT voting for you. His words were disturbing enough, but it is your own HUGE church congregation, seen jumping, hooting and howling to his words in the background that disturb me the most. And please don't tell me you attended church there and never once heard a "discouraging word" in the 20 years you attended there. Don't tell me, that in addition to the good reverend, that you are now not having anything to do with all those other people seen hooting and howling out in the audience in the background of his fiery tirades. Even Oprah Winfrey got disgusted and walked out. I am no Oprah fan, but still she did the right thing.
Now YOU look me in the eye and ask me to believe that you never heard such language in all the years you attended there ! This is like me telling you that I attended dozens of Klan rallys and never once heard the "N" word. Yep. And Bill Clinton "did not inhale". Yes, Mr. Obama, we all have friends who have said stupid things that embarrassed us, but NOW you have asked me to believe something that is so incredibly stupid that you are telling me that I am just stupid enough to believe you. THAT is the main reason that I will never vote for you. I am deeply sorry, that in a country teeming with enormously talented African Americans who would make a good President, that the political system has chosen YOU. You are a pathetic and plastic excuse for an American, who will not even salute the Flag during the Pledge of Allegiance. God forbid you ever get near the Oval Office.
Now, did I mention Bill Clinton?
AH YES ! This brings us to MRS. WILLIAM JEFFERSON CLINTON, who this candidate really is, in spite of all the other names she may care to call herself. This "feminist" piece of work of course would like to be referred to as MS. and we all know who wears the pant suit in that family. MS. Clinton, (sugar), it is just as depressing to realize that there are dozens of women who would also make great Presidents. But, fortunately, the horrible state of the selection process has selected YOU. Ms. Clinton, I'm sorry, but you could not tell the truth if we waterboarded your worthless a-- ! Still you play the role of the "embarrassed but dignified noble wife". What utter malarkey ! I am not voting for you for a world of reasons, but the main one is the same as my not voting for Senator Obama. You persistently insult my intelligence. It COULD be conceivably possible that you did not know about Monica Lewinsky, extremely remote, but possible if we stretch our imaginations a bit. But you turn around and then ask me to believe that you also did not know about Paula Jones and the legion of other women who were chewed up and spit out by your lecherous excuse for a husband. Puleese turn off this broken record !!!
But let's set aside your hubby's flagrant peccadilloes. The real reason I will never vote for you is that I don't think the country can survive EIGHT MORE YEARS of Whitewater, Travelgate, Filegate, Sandy Berger stuffing his socks with classified intelligence, Janet Reno's goon squad, and the myriad other corruptions that seem to stick to you like your ugly face. So our former President can't keep his dick in his pants. The REAL issue is that he committed perjury under oath when he lied about it and the pathetically-attempted coverup that followed.
Like you, he is totally incapable of telling the truth. He could not do it if you tortured him, and in voting for you, we would get the BOTH of you, all over again. The same folks who could have taken out Osama Bin Laden over
4,000 dead Americans ago!
And please stop telling me that you have "8 years of experience" to lead us. You were the freakin' first lady already, not the Commander in Chief. Jeez ! The sum of your "experience" is that of the most worrisome and incompetent meddling in the history of the White House. You even cursed your pitiful staff and the Secret Service agents who were and still are unfortunately charged with risking their lives to protect your worthless, thieving hide, and all at the expense of other people who have to work for a living.
Your single pathetic platform is to finance the illegal drugs, alcoholism and bad habits of the very lowest and most irresponsible freeloaders in America and to then "garnish the wages" (your own words) of every law-abiding and hard-working American to pay for it. This disaster you refer to as "Universal Health Care". Where have you been the last 30 years ? Did you not see that socialism is a failure wherever it has been tried ? Did you not notice that the Soviet Union has collapsed since it gave no reward to those who worked the hardest for the fruits of their own labors to pay for those who will not ??
It is interesting to see all the dead bodies that you and your hubby have left in your wake. Suicides, mysterious deaths, cover-ups that make Richard Nixon look like a rank amateur. The utter contempt and unbelievable arrogance of some of your strongest supporters, most notably the recently resigned and disgraced Governor Eliot Spitzer, the epitome of hypocritical and malevolent arrogance gone wild, one of your most ardent, wealthy and powerful political supporters. A man the news media refuses to admit IS a "super delegate" in your own political machine, a fine example of your own "adopted" state of New York. No wonder you moved there to run for Senator !
The environment there is perfect for the likes of you!
Yes, I would vote for a woman, but I will NOT vote for YOU !
Which leaves us with Senator John McCain.
John, you are a flawed man. You are a bit old, a bit looney, and you have a notoriously bad temper. This perfectly qualifies you, in my humble opinion, to lead us for the next eight years. I WANT your trembling hand on the nuclear button.
Think about it.
We have Kim Jong IL, Chavez and Ahmadenijad all running around like lunatics, threatening America and threatening to plunge the world into nuclear Armageddon. We have Putin and the Chinese blustering and rattling their sabers at us. I want John McCain in the Oval Office and I want him to be really pissed off at all these other nut jobs around the planet.
John, once you are elected, I want you to go into the Oval Office and throw one of your perfect FITS. Jump up and down and throw something through a plate glass window. Rip the drapes down and foam at the mouth a bit. And I want the whole thing on camera so that Ahmadinejad can see it. I want ALL of these "world leaders" to lay awake at night and to break out in a cold sweat every time they think of messing with the United States of America.
I want the nuclear button sitting right next to the alarm clock on your night stand. I want pictures of this to be sent to Iran, Russia, China, Venezuela, Cuba, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and those other a-- holes in the sheets, the Saudis.
On the domestic front, poor John did try and reach across the aisle to the opposition in a desperate effort to compromise and to get the Congress to do something. You may not agree with his efforts, but at least he TRIED. For all his efforts, all he got handed to him was his head in a basket. The liberals are pissed at him and the conservatives are pissed at him. Just my kinda guy.
I predict that John will select Senator Joe Lieberman as his running mate. Good choice. I want a Jew whose memory of the Holocaust is still fresh in his mind and who is royally pissed off at all of these towel-headed morons in the Middle East to be the next in line if something should happen to John. Shalom, Vice President Joe. One heartbeat from the Oval Office.
Finally. John McCain knows on a most personal level what it is to suffer horrible torture for years and to see others die, right in front of
you, for their love of America. When you ask him about it, he will tell you that what he did was "nothing special". Even more incredibly, he states that ANY American who truly loves his country would do exactly the same as he did in that situation. You and I will have a hard time believing that, but the real point is that John McCain believes that about the "average American", and that, dear friends and neighbors, is why I will cast my one poor ballot for on election day for John McCain -- warts and all.
God Bless America.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Wondering what's for Dinner
Who's putting together the lists. Employees probably scour names for potential terrorists and they come across something like . . .
Joe Schmo
John Green
Sissy Mitchell
Cathy Dull
David Dire
Frank Grindstone
Barney Brown
Kathy Grim
Yusuf Islam
"Whoa Bill Bob! Stop right there. I think we got us one."
I was on a secondary no-fly list (I'm a tall blond WASP housewife with two blond kids and a WASPy name and a WASPy husband- a high risk group apparently). I had to call and request that they take me off. I was told it was probably my common sounding name that caused me to be put on the list. I was pulled aside at every single US airport I initiated a flight in, practically strip searched, asked where I was going, who I was seeing, they would go through my luggage by hand, look through my Treo and the kids GameBoys. Every single flight. They'd make the kids step away from me, and if my husband wasn't traveling with us the kids were quite upset. They'd separately question the kids. The weird thing is, coming back into the US they never stopped me and asked anything other than the usual agricultural questions, even when I had travelled through north Africa. I'd get waved through with a 'Welcome Home!'.
And, as the Harvard study on airport security asked, what could you hide in your shoe that you couldn't hide in your underwear? That's what really annoyed me. All that scare mongering and wasted time, all for show.
Richard Gage, AIA is on Air America tonight from 9-11p ET (Clout with Richard Greene)
Brilliant! Great website.
Absolutely wonderful stuff. My only concern for Colbert is how he'll have to change his show once the Bush admin is history. The Dems will have their own foibles, but there's no way he'll have such a rich pallete of idiocy to draw from when they're gone.
"them" in my previous comment refers to the members of the Bush admin.
I need to remember that preview is my friend.
Sondra,
If I got a rambling email that long, it would immediately go to the spam list
The only way to really destroy tyranny is to laugh at it.
The smart tyrants know that.
Stay careful Hasan. Keep up the good work.
sciguy @ 16:
No way, think about all the fake, mindless scandals the right wing pulled on Clinton. You think they’re not going to pull more of the same if Obama is elected, especially if he does what Clinton didn’t and introduce some needed (probably mild at best) social programs? There will be no shortage of fake controversies or straw men if Obama is elected, comedians will continue to have a field day with the logic-less right wing in this country.
Sondra from WestPalm @ 11:
So many things wrong, and I'll only nip a few things in that excresent e-mail in the bud.
1) Colin Powell is a great man...if you're Republican. He deliberately misled us into an illegal war that is currently devastating the very region settled human culture began in. Bad example, to use a man who would betray military principles of honor merely for his own agenda. Is that what wingnuts consider heroic?
2) About Kim, Mahmoud, and Hugo:
1) Kim is hemmed in by the PRC. If he pulls a Dubya and tries to finish what daddy started, his puppet-masters will remove him. Not only that, but he basically has a toy army. Man's too smart to start such a war anyway, what with North Korea's economy having been too tied with the South for 2-3 decades that a war would spark the very revolution Kim fears.
2) Mahmoud has no power even to play with sharp toys. He is not the leader of the Iranian army, nor is he really anything but a bone the Mullahs threw to his people. And his electoral situation is virtually identical to Bush's.
3) Hugo is an evil man, but even he realizes that the CIA still has people who could pull off another Allende situation if he blusters too hard.
About the collapse of the USSR: No country can survive decades of having 30% of its budget at minimum dedicated to the army. The Russians collapsed as well because Gorbachev was dumb enough to believe people in Russia actually liked the Communists (who made the Tsars look like professionals.) Communism in its purest form is unworkable, but then so is pure capitalism. Gilded-age America was a nightmare to live in.
The only problem with the left wing bloggers is that if they got their wish to get rid of all the right wingers that they would have no one left to defend their right to be stupid. If you really want a country based on your emotional ideas, move to china and enjoy their freedom (or lack of it).
GWB’s plan to carry the fight to the enemy will go down in history as the single best move made by this country to defeat terrorism. The terrorist, [deleted] desire to shut down the open and free exchange of ideas and thought. [deleted--please consult the commenting policy. Posts made with the intent to insult or incite a flame war are subject to editing or deletion.]
fox_news_rocks @ 22:
The problem with your comment is, it's not based on reality. Wake up and change channels or better yet, turn off your TV and radio. Rush. Sean and Bill have you brainwashed.
hasan has a website! i am beside myself with admiration, bordering on lust!
oops, that link should be: elahi.org!
ee now this is what I am saying about the left wanting to control the free exchange of ideas.
Site Monitor: Stay with me here. This is a liberal blog. We're not a neutral site. When you make blanket derogatory statements against "the left", you are attempting to insult the community here and/or start a flame war. Your point of view was not edited, just your insults. Because we don't want the flame war. If you are capable of posting without insulting, then we would not edit your post. Please review the commenting policy before posting again.
fox_news_rocks @ 22:
[deleted--do this without name-calling please] (Here you have a poster) who backs the policies that have gotten us to this point. Crumbling economy, overpriced and underperfoming healthcare system, destructive and illogical environmental policy? No worries, Bushie will win over future historians, who will obviously look past the fact that what we've done in Iraq is try as best we can to PREVENT democracy. Why would dumb left wingers object to THIS healthcare system? Why would the idiot left object to Iraq when the US has only killed upwards of a million people, dropped thousands of pounds of depleted uranium on Iraq, forced and economic system on them that they don't want and which has destroyed the country, tried to privatize their oil even though about 70% of Iraqis are against it. The women of Iraq have less rights now than before and Iran, who the right wing here hates, is now much more powerful. Don't worry though, it will only cost about 3 trillion (with billions un-accounted for) and thousands of Americans lives.
Fox. News. Rocks. Awesome. A real living platitude! People like you DO exist! By the way [deleted], this is an OPEN forum, where tools like you can say whatever you want. Try not towing the party line on the right wing sites, which all require registration, and see how long you last.
To Sondra from WestPalm
Kiss my black ass.
fox_news_rocks @ 22:
fox_news_rocks @ 26:
Fox_News_Rocks: Yes, there are actual policies about posting on blogs. The site monitors are human, they all make mistakes. But, an instructive comparison is this site to say, Michelle Malkin's. Malkin doesn't allow any commentors to join, anymore. I joined this site and Orcinus as long as fall 2007 ago, but I see new members show up. Where's the same from Malkin and her ilk?
China is not based on Communism. Not anymore. The People's Republic has reverted to default Chinese government, or mild authoritarianism. Sort of like the Roman Empire of Augustus compared to the Empire under Constantine, only Mao was as powerful as Constantine and Augustus is Hu Jintao. The People's Republic has replaced Communism with Nationalism, a dangerous thing in a nation of 1 billion people.
What else...the post wasn't deleted, or at least that part of it wasn't deleted for ideological reasons, but for the common-sense one of avoiding this thread turning into an online version of chimps throwing shit at each other.
fox_news_rocks @ 26:
Was it the left or right wing who sold Saddam “dozens” of bio agents (according to OUR government, if you want the link let me know) and increased funding to him after they were used on his own people? I could have sworn it was under Reagan. Did the left wing or the right wing under the first Bush bring Iraqi scientists to Oregon in 1989 to TEACH them how to make WMD's? Was it the left wing or right wing who funded and supported the groups who attacked us on 9/11? Was it the CIA or the left wing who let the person who was head of a group responsible for the 1993 bombing in New York into the country? Does the left or right wing look the other way as the Saudis fund the groups attacking US troops in Iraq more than any other country (including Iran and it isn’t even close according to OUR intelligence agencies), even according to our government, while paying the most attention to Iran? Did McCain not have a Hezbollah backer working for his campaign up until about a week ago? What does your brain Rush think of that (since I’m sure he hasn’t bothered to mention it)?
Give us some issues that the left doesn't use facts on and tell us what facts are missing. Don't ignore the challenge, on what issues does the left not use facts and the right wing does? I've had a bad day and will delight in shredding your pathetic straw men to bits.
fox_news_rocks @ 26:
The site moniter has the ability to recogonize bullshit being proffered [deleted]. Thank goodness you right wing[deleted].
Site Monitor: Thanks for the vote of confidence, but the no name calling rule applies to everyone.
Gosh, so many inaccurate statements to choose from and so little time. Here is one simple question to you lefties, do you really believe that there is much difference between the political elite of the left and the right? For example, do you believe that Kennedy is all knowing and right 100% of the time. Or Nancy P.? Do you believe Teddy has always told you the truth?
I'll ask again, on what issues does the left ignore the facts and the right more factually correct? Have anything to say about the connection between past right wing US governments and agencies and terror groups or are you as much of a coward as the rest, with your fact less, empty straw men nonsense?
Regarding your question: there isn't much of a difference between the elites in either party. The people of this country want national healthcare according to polls by a large majority, neither party is backing the policy. People want entirely different economic policies than both parties have created. People want much stronger environmental policies than either party is giving. The elites in both parties could care less about you or I, but that's a result of the philosophy of people like yourself. Concentrated GOVERNMENTAL power, the government being the only institution that can guarantee rights that could never be won on the market, is a problem, so the government should be a shell of its former self and get out of the way of the private tyrannies, the corporations. People like yourself want lower taxes, less regulation, more economic liberalization in general and have gotten your wish for the last few decades. What do we have to show for it? The worse, and most expensive, healthcare system in the industrialized world, a dwindling industrial base, declining or stagnating wages for the majority of the country, wealth concentration going through the roof and the highest in the industrialized world, amongst other things. You've gotten your wish, the country is a mess as a result, and somehow people like you want to blame it on the left. Isn't your side about "personal responsibility"? Your policies have gotten the country to this point, what can you point to (not what people in the future will say, which is cheap and easy) to as a success thanks to your policies?
fox_news_rocks @ 32:
No, not really, all politicians are equally amoral in my eyes. It's the nature of politicians to be treacherous, as Machiavelli explained. In some ways, I'm anarcho-primitivist, so politicians as a whole are to be distrusted.
Pepper,
This is a good example of the arguments of the left. First you complain about the “right-wing” government when forgetting that the congress and courts are controlled by the left. The economy was good until the democrats took over the congress.
Yet here is the important point. We both agree that the political elite are basically the same. Then why to you refer to it as a right wing government. The policies are the same. It was Clinton that signed NAFTA. It was GWB that expanded medicare. What is the difference?
What everyone wants is a smaller government that is not in our everyday business. This can only be accomplished by going back to the founding fathers idea to limit representation of the house of representatives to 1 rep per 30,000 people. In this way, special interest has less power and the people have more power (I would also vote to get rid of the insurance companies, medicare, Medicaid and trial attorneys to get the cost down on healthcare)
Unless you are a socialist or communist we both want the same thing.
Does anyone else find it disgusting and apalling that Nelson Mandela is on the list?
If he's taking pictures in airport bathrooms, maybe he can get one of a Republican in a compromising position and blackmail his way to freedom.
Michael @ 36:
Is Khadafy on the list?
This is a terrible idea, actually. The problem with it is that sarcasm and irony fly right over the heads of the jokers who are currently running this country. What will most likely happen is that the Feds will look at this guys website and say, "See how easy this is? If this guy can do it, so can all of you, so HOP TO IT and start surveilling yourselves! Anyone without a website detailing all their movements every ten minutes will be 'detained' for questioning."
Then, when we're all forced to watch ourselves for them, they'll continue robbing us blind.
Ron @ 18:
This was Sondra's way to avoid having this email go into people's spam lists. Why waste time sending out e-mails when she can get all the readers of this blog to see it in one fell swoop. It's been done before. I wish the site moderator would delete this crap.
Laure @ 13:
Whats the legality and morality of security types like TSA goons or LEOs separating young children or teens from their parents or guardians, and interrogating them at airports and similar places.
Surely if they are below the legal age of responsibility (and below say 10) they are vulnerable to suggestion and anything including false implanting of
bad thoughts about their parents.
Are the security goons asking about drug use or other behavior and info of their parents, "who did mummy see" "did you see any
brown skinnedbad people during your vacation?" the whole idea of interrogations of isolated children raises so many constitutional and legal questions.It stinks of fascism and 3rd reich indoctrination of children.
Maybe a good tactic to use would be to tell the kids (ones below age of responsibility) to call the TSA people 'fascist pigs' when they interrogate the kids on their own, or even when the detaining begins in the public areas, what are the thugs going to do, shout at or hit children !!! not likely esp in public.
Captain Bitter Elitist Hussein Kangaroo @ 3:
Ayup!
Hasan is too! That man has the patience of a saint, I'd be hoppin mad if I was him.
SebastianT @ 39:
i am sure that the "jokers" running this country got the irony a long time ago, since they are clearly using massive intelligence gathering to create a climate of fear and paranoia, not for the stated purpose of finding terrorists . . . if they really wanted to find terrorists, they'd be concentrating their resources on specific suspects, not indiscriminately gathering the communications of innocent citizens and overwhelming airport security with a bloated terrorist watch list
having been on the receiving end of government spying, i was outraged by the the waste of precious "intelligence" resources as much as by the violation of my privacy . . . elahi's protest is more than a joke, it lays bare exactly what's produced by indiscriminate "terrorist watch" lists, cameras on every corner, and wholesale gathering of phone conversations and email . . . a torrent of info is being collected, in which the true evildoers will never be found
this is what complacent, it'll-never-happen-to-me america needs to see, because until they get the picture, the situation will not change
" It was Clinton that signed NAFTA." Wrong..Nafta was signed on December 17, 1992. Who was President? NAFTA was an expansion of the Canada-US Free Trade Agreement of 1988. Who was President? I see this "Clinton did it" all the time. It's just not the facts.
The guest is a genius!
Left right... left right...
First off, Kudos to Hasan. Now, on to the other stuff.
The leftist rightist attitudes of people in this country sicken me. I can handle the armchair quarterbacks that sit there and cheer for their guy (or gall) to win the presidency without getting involved in the flame wars that go on. But what annoys me, are the people that are so busy defending their ideas, that they feel the need to out right attack (verbally or physically) people with differing ideas.
This country was founded on the ideals that everyone has a voice. And, there is nothing wrong with that, I support it daily. But those ideals to not include obstructing other people from exercising their own beliefs. Sadly, our very government is guilty of this, but, so are the detractors of that government.
Example: CODEPINK defacing and slandering recruitment offices. Or, on the other side, the people that attempt to stop CODEPINK from congregating with violence.
Acts like the above are detrimental not only to communities, but to our country as a whole.
I am not a republican, I am not a democrat. I am just a guy, who does my job, and votes when the time comes. (bring on the flames please) Until this country can get rid of its victim mentality, and go back to being a unified nation, then we are doomed to continue this cycle of stupidity. one side feeds off the other, and nothing productive happens.
The war in Iraq... health care... gas prices....
The odds of any significant changes being made to any of the major issues are slim to none. And they will remain non existent until we get rid of the left-right mentality, and either abolish the two party system (lets face it, there are only two parties. go ahead and vote green party or independent, but it would be better if your vote actually accomplished something, so vote either rep or dem, thats the only way that it will matter, sad to say) or levelt he playing field for other parties.
The dems are shooting themselves in the feet, and, Mccain will most likely cause just as many problems as he will fix.
But, as I said, until something changes, those are our options. like it or not.
BTW: I am a career military man, and have served 4 tours in Iraq. (bring on the insults and flames, and please, insult me and call me a murderer, without knowing the first thing about me)
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