Is this what our flag will look like in the future ...

[lionkingcmsl]

as we watch and give up our freedoms one by one?



I hate being cynical, but I have become more so in recent years.

That is how I picture our flags as our freedoms are taken away from us and we do nothing but surrender and say, "Well, it's for our own safety and security."

We have the "no-fly list", and now a U. S. Senator from New York is saying that Amtrak should have a "No-ride list", because someone might try to blow up a train. Well, ObL's papers said it might be worth going after softer targets, like shopping malls in the mid-west. So, what's next; a "no-shopping list" because someone might blow up a shopping mall? Then you will have to be checked to cross a bridge against a "no-cross list" because of threats against bridges.

We, as a nation have to stand up and say, "Enough is enough! We will risk our security because the loss of our freedoms is even worse. We are not a nation of sheep and we will not let the terrorists win."

I hate to say it, but the terrorists have already won. Look how we now check and recheck everything and how suspicious we are over any little thing. My neighbor just took out the back seat of his car! Maybe he is going to plant a big bomb in there. I better call the police! BTW, that really did happen.
Am I saying throw it all away? No, reasonable precautions are just that: reasonable and precautions. Bomb sniffing dogs in train stations and on board trains? Yes! No-ride lists? No! I know we can never go back to the 1960's when everyone could walk up to the gates without going through a metal detector, thank you hi-jackers to Cuba, but let's tone down the overt security measures. Will there be people that will get through the cracks? Yes, of course, but if someone has their mind to do something awful they will do it, not even the most stringent of security measures will deter him forever.

Another thought that I have had, is that 9-11-01 was the best thing to happen for Washington D.C. I'm not saying they were in on it, but being that date created a climate of fear, and the best way to cow people to your way of thinking, Right or Left, Republican or Democrat, is to play on people's fears.

FDR said it best: "The only thing we have to fear, is fear itself!"
Let us not give into fear. We beat it once and we can do it again.

These are my thoughts and I stand by them.

Comments

[mwalimu.livejournal.com]

It's not just the "safety and security" interests that worry me, though they are a big part of it. There are other parties who would take our freedoms away too. A few big intellectual property interests with deep pockets seem to think all internet traffic should be monitored, and if they had their druthers, people would be serving jail time for copyright violations (read: they'd rather pass draconian laws to protect their outdated business models than try to figure out how to adapt to the internet age).

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

If you read the June issue of Trains, there's an amusing story of TSA officials in Savannah being given their marching orders from Amtrak police after overstepping their bounds--a story that you've probably heard before. The people aren't in the mood to take it lying down!

[lowen-kind.livejournal.com]

I haven't heard of that story, but that doesn't surprise me, given how much the APD dislike the TSA.

I'm sure some of the APD would give the TSA "marching orders" just on general principals.

[dhlawrence.livejournal.com]

It was more than principles this time. In February, the TSA took it upon themselves to search every single person who went into the station that day, even if they were just using the bathroom. APD chief John O'Connor told them to get off all Amtrak property until they could be taught to behave. They were eventually allowed back, but have the same freedoms that APD officers do--in other words, not much.

The TSA put up a blog post that inaccurately described the situation, and despite hundreds of negative replies it hasn't been taken down.

Airports and border crossings have given in to the TSA...but the railways shall lead them!

[skipai.livejournal.com]

It's a shame that they do get away with pretty much at the moment with no real guidelines/laws to control on what they can and cannot do. Not just for American citizens but for anyone else that comes in and out of the country.

Quite a fair bit of business and money does come from tourists and companies that do business by coming in and out of the country and to be treated in such a bad way must have negetive reactions such as those feeling it's not worth the hassle to travel back again.

Which is where I stand, love the people and friends over there, even those that aren't friends anymore. But dealing with that crap... No thanks.

[skipai.livejournal.com]

Yeah but does anyone actually like the TSA at all? I'm surprised they haven't forced the issue of being on every other airport in the world for checking people out before they even got on a plane that was US bound.

*shudders*

[telbert.livejournal.com]

I couldn't have said it better, myself. Terrorism is all about striking fear into a target population, and in changing our behavior so drastically and driving up the "travel misery index", we have given the terrorists what they wanted. This is why I prefer to drive on trips instead of flying: I don't need to deal with TSA guards to get in my car and take a road trip =0(

[skipai.livejournal.com]

May happen, you know you could have a car/truck etc full of petrol and blow up while doing 70mph or whatever speed you go at on motorways/freeways.

TSA could have outlets on all inways and outways on freeways across the country...

Could happen.... Means higher taxes but hey, it's for protecting freedom... ;)

[kamau-d-lyon.livejournal.com]

Moderation in lists and measures along with a situational awareness on the part of both transportation personnel and the public is what is needed. And as far as I'm concerned the security people are looking in the wrong direction when it comes to rail safety. Yes it would be tragic and cost some lives if they blew up a passenger train but the real threat is in the rail yards. Every medium to big city has a rail year in its midst. One well placed bomb or a single RPG to a tank car could cause far greater death than any bomb on a passenger train. A cloud of poisonous gas drifting over a city could kill and injury thousands in minutes. That, in my opinion, is the real threat to the rail system.

[skipai.livejournal.com]

A no-ride list? *rolls eyes*

Okay, I know terrorism is all new for your country and all but this is starting to get rather silly and as someone who lives in a far older country who until recently had just shrugged it's shoulders and carried on with normal daily life. (The IRA really didn't scare us that much, yes what they did was horrifying and yes there were a few Americana that funded them for some stupid reason than it was a fight against something that was against freedoms and all.)

However since 9/11 things have changed, no more funding of various terrorist groups, that I can understand but the past will always remain to those who did fund the IRA and any other group previously to that event.

But it's this whole new way of trying to say that we need to do this to protect ourselves. It's like in some way we've become really scared now and trying to establish a way to say that we will change for what the terrorists want as we don't want to be blown up anymore but we have to do it in such a way that we can't let anyone know that we are changing to the point that the terrorists get what they want. And in a way they are.

They wanted change, they wanted freedom to become so restricted that you need to fill in a form 48 hours before you travel by plane. (Thank you US for being so *censored* paranoid.) I do wonder what stink the US. Fed. government would stir up if other countries suggested that American citizens had to do the same and that we had to gather personal information on them, etc. Always seems like a one way street with your country on some of these matters.

But checking to see if anyone can get on a train? Oh come on, this is getting silly, next it be checks to see if you can get in a cinema (though cinemas need to realise that their time is coming to an end and video on demand is the way of the future.)

9/11 was bad, people had to be brought to justice on the matter and as such most if not all have. 7/7 was bad but may not have been in the same scale as some over there think as a proper attack. But again I don't think we're that scared yet. But that's probably due to decades of bombs going off in London and other big cities from one localised sort of terrorist group.

There has been some disturbing changes over here where the government has started their own taking away of freedom rights over the play the fear card. (Not going to rant over the stupidity of you can't take photographs in public anymore)

I'm sorry but that New York Senator needs to get a clue and stop being so paranoid, I doubt he even uses the trains anyway as it would be too poor for him/her and gets driven about by someone else in a posh car anyways.

No ride list, what a stupid idea....

[ccdesan.livejournal.com]

Well said. We've got to end the knee-jerk response to terror. What happens the first time someone blows himself up with explosives he packed up his butt? Will we all be required to undergo rectal exams to get on a plane?