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The Wrong Approach to Terrorism
Author: BobR    Date: 01/08/2010 13:47:42

There have been a lot of interesting discussions over the last few weeks about how to deal with the threat of terrorism. Sadly, the most interesting information is relegated to the lesser known or more biased news networks, so they are either ignored or dismissed out of hand. The mainstream discussion seems to revolve around "stricter restrictions via the TSA", "gitmo-ize the crotch-bomber", and "military action with Yemen". None of this will work, and will likely be counter-productive.

So why won't it work and what might work instead? First we need to look at a little history...
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37 comments (Latest Comment: 01/09/2010 01:33:48 by trojanrabbit)

This might piss you off, but it's gut check time.
Author: Raine    Date: 01/07/2010 18:21:05

My friend Teri wrote the following today and gave me permission to repost.. It's pretty close to how I am feeling these days. I don't want to alienate my online friends, but the following sums things up for me. Yeah, it's 'in your face writing', something I am not very good at.

The question we have to ask, with the understanding of politics in our country today, are we really willing to let the GOP take control again because change isn't happening fast enough? We need to start having a real discussion about how we proceed from where we ARE NOW as opposed to where we want to be. One is reality, the other is wishful thinking. The latter can happen if we if we stay focused and not shoot ourselves in the feet.
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11 comments (Latest Comment: 01/08/2010 17:20:37 by Raine)

Quickie
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/07/2010 13:30:39

Good Morning, everyone!

Raine has advised me that they're without internet this morning in Virginia, and me in my new job here, I don't dare stay on any longer than it takes to open a stubby.

You know what to do.


 
15 comments (Latest Comment: 01/07/2010 18:34:18 by Raine)

Crotch-Bomber Conspiracy
Author: BobR    Date: 01/06/2010 12:16:23

It hit all of us like a slap in the face on Christmas night - another person tried to perform a suicide bombing of a plane in flight. The details were sketchy at first, as one might expect in a situation like this, and changed several times. As time has progressed and more information come to light, one has to wonder if there's more to the story than we're being told.
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32 comments (Latest Comment: 01/07/2010 04:22:15 by livingonli)

Ask a Vet
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/05/2010 11:30:21

Good Morning.

Today is our 2,404th day in Iraq and our 3,101st day in Afghanistan.

We'll start this morning as we always do, with the latest casualty figures from Iraq and Afghanistan, courtesy of Antiwar.com:

American Deaths
Since war began (3/19/03): 4372
Since "Mission Accomplished" (5/1/03): 4233
Since Capture of Saddam (12/13/03): 3909
Since Handover (6/29/04): 3513
Since Obama Inauguration (1/20/09): 144

Other Coalition Troops - Iraq: 325
US Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 949
Other Military Deaths - Afghanistan: 619
Contractor Employee Deaths - Iraq: 1,395
Journalists - Iraq: 335
Academics Killed - Iraq: 431


We find this morning's cost of war passing through:

$ 950, 625, 850, 000 .00



We'll start 2010 by checking in with our friends at IAVA. Things have been rather quiet there since before Thangsgiving, but with a new number on the calendar, things are starting to get busy again.

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33 comments (Latest Comment: 01/06/2010 07:37:09 by Scoopster)

Connecting the dots?
Author: Raine    Date: 01/04/2010 13:45:14

You know, I was going to write about Security this morning. I can't -- in looking over the numerous stories about the underwear bomber, the closing of part of Newark Airport yesterday, the disclosure that there was no 'smoking gun' and that we will be doing closer screening for people entering our country -- it is all just a bit too much for me.
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37 comments (Latest Comment: 01/05/2010 04:16:37 by Mondobubba)

What the Rush!?!
Author: velveeta jones    Date: 01/03/2010 15:10:50

A theory in the works, bear with me please. Rush Limbaugh was on a vacation in the birth country of our Socialist President, Hawai'i. Why was he there? Socialist Obama was there also. Also on vacation. ALSO. Coincidence? Rush was playing golf. GOLF! Just like Tiger Woods does - though admittedly, not nearly as well as Tiger. Tiger has numerous affairs with women. Rush can't keep a wife and some say that he dates underage hookers that resemble the children of his many housekeepers and gardeners while under the influence of Viagra. AND.... and there was a terrorist plot done all while Rush and our Socialist President are on vacation overseas while Tiger is NO WHERE to be found!

See! See where I'm going here? Certainly you do.
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8 comments (Latest Comment: 01/03/2010 21:38:06 by Mondobubba)

Resolution Day
Author: TriSec    Date: 01/02/2010 13:22:25

Good Morning.

I'm a bit miffed; the police in this city woke me up at 6:30 by driving up and down the street with sirens screaming and announcing a snow emergency. What, we can't handle 6 inches of snow anymore? Like the rest of my conditioned-drone neighbors, I dutifully went outside and moved the car to the off-street lot a half mile away.

But unlike my neighbors, I'll be posting some letters to the Mayor and my City Councilor. Waltham declares a snow emergency at the drop of a hat; last year we had several where it never even snowed. People aren't happy. I lived in Revere for 8 years before moving 'inland', and we never had any declared snow emergencies there...a period of time that included the Perfect Storm.

But I digress.

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5 comments (Latest Comment: 01/02/2010 17:34:10 by Raine)

Dipping into the Teens Today
Author: BobR    Date: 01/01/2010 14:35:04

Today is the first day of the "teens" for the 21st century. What does this year and this decade hold in store for us? Some of it is pretty obvious, such as this year's election cycle. What else will we see?

We'll continue to see the worship of Saint Sarah, and the blatant racist hatred of Obama, such as in this email image.
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13 comments (Latest Comment: 01/02/2010 02:02:58 by livingonli)

Hard to believe we Aught to say goodbye.
Author: Raine    Date: 12/31/2009 13:48:11

The last blog of the year, the last blog of the decade. What a decade it has been. For many of these past 10 years, I have had the pleasure of bantering back and forth with many of the members of this blog, and the other blog from which Four Freedoms rose. It's hard to believe that this time has flown the way it has.

This decade has had as many highs as it has had lows. It's fair to say that in 2000, the most formidable event that happened that year in our nation was the election, but also in that year, Elián González, 6 years old then, was reunited with his father. The USS Cole was attacked that year as well. The Yankees and the Mets met in the world series. in 2000, the Human genome was deciphered -- we still have not reaped the scientific bounties from that discovery.

I was going to write a brief summary of each year and a few events that the decade has brought us, but I will leave that to those who are better pontificators that I. I sit in wonderment of this decade. It started out in chaos, that never seemed to end, but we all plugged thru and made it to the other side. Here is a great site for your year-by-year breakdown.

It's hard to believe we didn't have the Google 10 years ago. We didn't have iPhones, iPods, Blackberries, or HDtv. We were infantile in our electronic communications. We didn't have progressive radio and we didn't have the voices that we do now. Perhaps we had that all along, but lacked a way to come together.

All of these things brought us together, here on this blog and other places. I have made lifelong friendships because of the events of this decade, and as bad as many of them were, what I gained far outshines anything the events that the decade tried to take away. Fate brought me to Georgia and now Virginia with a loving partner. Never in a million years would I have dreamed such a thing possible in the beginning of this decade. Our joys and sorrows were met with compassion and humor as we supported each other the very best we could. People have come and gone (such is the mercurial ways of electronic communications) but each person has meant the world to me, and left me a better person.

So as we say good by to this year, and this decade, know that as bad as things were, there were a few bright and sunny spots along the way. It's for those moments that make everything worth going forward. Call me a hope-monger, but I know that even in my darkest moments of this decade, things would get better. It may take as long as possibly the next decade, and I hope that we will still have the pleasure of communicating with one another, in whatever form that may be. Then we can do it all over again!

Goodbye Aught's. Hello Teens!

and
Raine



 
92 comments (Latest Comment: 01/01/2010 05:18:11 by livingonli)

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