azredhawk44
Moderator
I'm a republican with a little "r", not a "kool-aid drinking, whatever dubya says is how it's gonna be" type of guy. I am also very libertarian.
I see that there are 2 axes (plural for axis) to our political system. There is left-right, populated by ideology and represented by democrats and republicans.
There is also up-down, populated by methodology and represented by fascists and independents.
No matter what party has had dominant power, the size of our government has increased dramatically over the last 200+ years. Dubya has given us the DHS, the Patriot Act, and US citizens held without trial (Jose Padilla).
I was arguing with a coworker earlier today:
In the case of John Walker Lindh, I agree that he was an enemy combatant. He foreswore his US citizenship and took up arms against our soldiers while representing the Taliban. He should be treated just like any other enemy combatant, or maybe even like a spy. While he wasn't wearing a uniform, the Taliban was not exactly affluent and may not have had uniforms for many or any soldiers. Geneva may or may not apply in his case. Execute him or let him go, but keep him the hell out of the US. If he shows up on another field of battle, execute him.
With Jose Padilla (scumbag 9/11 leftover terrorist), this guy is a US citizen. I see him the same as Tim McVeigh. While both are disturbed and committed or attempted to commit terrible crimes, they were both us citizens that were arrested by domestic law enforcement and held for domestic criminal trials. I don't lose any sleep over Padilla's fate personally, but I worry about this idea:
What happens when the political pendulum shifts back to democratic strength, and the Dems have the strength of the patriot act, legal precedent of holding a us citizen without trial, and DHS at their command?
We need to seriously consider dismantling DHS, the Patriot Act, Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, HUD, Department of Education and all the other "Great Society" garbage that we got suckered into during FDR.
Does anyone have a credible news source for violations of the patriot act? I don't care about whiney non-citizens that are from the middle east, I only care about US citizens being targeted by the PA.
I could probably swing this guy across the aisle on this issue if I had a good source for PA violations, but the only drivel I can find online is about poor, poor arabs being discriminated against... :barf:
I see that there are 2 axes (plural for axis) to our political system. There is left-right, populated by ideology and represented by democrats and republicans.
There is also up-down, populated by methodology and represented by fascists and independents.
No matter what party has had dominant power, the size of our government has increased dramatically over the last 200+ years. Dubya has given us the DHS, the Patriot Act, and US citizens held without trial (Jose Padilla).
I was arguing with a coworker earlier today:
In the case of John Walker Lindh, I agree that he was an enemy combatant. He foreswore his US citizenship and took up arms against our soldiers while representing the Taliban. He should be treated just like any other enemy combatant, or maybe even like a spy. While he wasn't wearing a uniform, the Taliban was not exactly affluent and may not have had uniforms for many or any soldiers. Geneva may or may not apply in his case. Execute him or let him go, but keep him the hell out of the US. If he shows up on another field of battle, execute him.
With Jose Padilla (scumbag 9/11 leftover terrorist), this guy is a US citizen. I see him the same as Tim McVeigh. While both are disturbed and committed or attempted to commit terrible crimes, they were both us citizens that were arrested by domestic law enforcement and held for domestic criminal trials. I don't lose any sleep over Padilla's fate personally, but I worry about this idea:
What happens when the political pendulum shifts back to democratic strength, and the Dems have the strength of the patriot act, legal precedent of holding a us citizen without trial, and DHS at their command?
We need to seriously consider dismantling DHS, the Patriot Act, Social Security, Medicare, Welfare, HUD, Department of Education and all the other "Great Society" garbage that we got suckered into during FDR.
Does anyone have a credible news source for violations of the patriot act? I don't care about whiney non-citizens that are from the middle east, I only care about US citizens being targeted by the PA.
I could probably swing this guy across the aisle on this issue if I had a good source for PA violations, but the only drivel I can find online is about poor, poor arabs being discriminated against... :barf: