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Toonbots message board: 9/15

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mouse Sat Sep 15 14:50:22 2001
9/15

below are some random quotes from today's NYTimes on the web. my apologies, michael - your paranoia was more prescient than my optimism. i'm more than a little stunned to see the calls saying that preserving American liberties and freedoms is the best response to terrorism turn so quickly to moves to restrict those same liberties and freedoms. i didn't look for stories on attacks on US mosques and Muslims - those are common enough on the radio.

we seem to be racing to turn ourselves into our enemy.

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"Victory against terrorism will not take place in a single battle but in a series of decisive actions against terrorist organizations and those who harbor and support them," Mr. Bush said. "We are planning a broad and sustained campaign to secure our country and eradicate the evil of terrorism."

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Without a single dissenting vote, indeed without debate, the Senate passed a resolution authorizing the use of force.

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Some advocates were dismayed by a proposal the Senate approved on Thursday night that would, among other things, make it easier for federal law enforcement to wiretap computers.

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Representative Martin T. Meehan, Democrat of Massachusetts, said: "I don't think we've done a good enough job in this country utilizing the technology available, like facial recognition technology. We need to make greater investments there."

Mr. Meehan, who was interviewed while the Capitol was being evacuated on Thursday night, also felt that the nation's attitudes had fundamentally changed after the attacks. "Given this unspeakable act, Americans will tolerate some restraint on their liberties for the sake of security," he said.

And polling suggests that they are more than willing to make that tradeoff.

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Envisioning the Future in a Fortress New York .... In one telling sign of the times, spokesmen for the American Civil Liberties Union — normally quick to take issue with calls for increased profiling, random searches and surveillance cameras — declined to comment.

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Members predicted that when they returned they would swiftly resolve the remaining budget issues before the fiscal year ends in September. Many also predicted that Congress would put aside most of the domestic agenda until next year so as not to engage in partisan debate over issues like health care and campaign finance revisions.

Michael Sat Sep 15 15:06:31 2001
Call me Cassandra
> below are some random quotes from today's NYTimes on the web. my
> apologies, michael - your paranoia was more prescient than my optimism.
Um. I'm not sure whether or not to thank you for the apology. I wish I wasn't right.
> Some advocates were dismayed by a proposal the Senate approved on Thursday
> night that would, among other things, make it easier for federal law
> enforcement to wiretap computers.
The price of liberty is eternal vigilance.
> Mr. Meehan, who was interviewed while the Capitol was being evacuated on
> Thursday night, also felt that the nation's attitudes had fundamentally
> changed after the attacks. "Given this unspeakable act, Americans
> will tolerate some restraint on their liberties for the sake of
> security," he said.
Benjamin Franklin again: "Those who sacrifice liberty for a little security deserve neither."
> And polling suggests that they are more than willing to make that
> tradeoff.
Because sheep want security.
> Envisioning the Future in a Fortress New York .... In one telling sign of
> the times, spokesmen for the American Civil Liberties Union — normally
> quick to take issue with calls for increased profiling, random searches
> and surveillance cameras — declined to comment.
Not this week. They'll be back.
> Members predicted that when they returned they would swiftly resolve the
> remaining budget issues before the fiscal year ends in September. Many
> also predicted that Congress would put aside most of the domestic agenda
> until next year so as not to engage in partisan debate over issues like
> health care and campaign finance revisions.
Heheheheh. I'll *bet* they'll grasp at any straw to avoid reforming campaign finance. They're off the hook with the hard questions, aren't they?
Well. Before too long, Europe, not America, will be the beacon of freedom and opportunity. Europe remembers fascism. Germany riots when they try to take a *census*. And slowly, ever so slowly, my income base is shifting to Europe anyway. Look at the last month: workflow project completed in Bonn, translation from England, now a new workflow project in Berlin, stacked against my usual sysadmin stuff at VerticalNet (American) and miscellaneous webmastery customers.
You may have noticed my blog entry for yesterday. I'm thinking of ways to get back into the whole make-the-world-better scene. There's plenty of material. I wish I had the knack for political cartoons, but I don't, really. Yet. I'm sure I could learn.

mouse Sat Sep 15 15:22:34 2001
Re: Call me Cassandra
i did see the blog. i truly hope the world will get better. all the stories of people here reaching out to help, and people around the world expressing sympathy, and governments offering support gave me a brief surge of optimism that maybe we could come together and find a different way. one thing i hadn't got to when i posted that was pictures of prayer meetings all over the world. maybe it's just to soon to try to guess how it will all shake out.
i have no objection to Europe taking the lead - i just hope in the rush for revenge we don't fall too far behind.
i'll be funny again next week, i hope. (i was going to give you all a _stunning_ rendition of "i'm the top" (complete with tap dancing) in honor of my position in the posts. *foo*)

mouse Sat Sep 15 15:29:54 2001
Re: Call me Cassandra
oh wow - but you _gotta_ check out the picture of bush greeting giuliani (http://www.nytimes.com/ Bush in New York, 1st image). it looks like giuliani's trying not to cry - but in this case, i'm not sure it's the attack that's got him upset. i _knew_ there would be repercussions when he moved in with 2 gay guys (not that there's anything wrong with that).
(and if you haven't checked out the times before, they _will_ ask you to register before they let you see stuff -- the only thing i've ever identified from them as a result was a query asking me to reconcile the multiple identities under which i registered (i keep forgetting passwords))