From: Randall Randall (randall@randallsquared.com)
Date: Sat Sep 07 2002 - 14:08:05 MDT
Robert J. Bradbury wrote:
> On Sat, 7 Sep 2002, Technotranscendence wrote:
>
>>It's not that terrorists aren't a threat, but that government is a much
>>larger and longlasting threat. Long after Al Qaeda is forgotten, the
>>DoJ will still have its expanded powers and those who are not in favor
>>or not in a position to defend themselves.
>
> Daniel, I think this statement is absolutely wacko. Yes, in this administration
> the DoJ is trying to stretch its powers and what I see is the courts slapping
> their hands (witness recent decisions regarding who you can hold in secret
> or without legal consul). I don't think that is unreasonable considering
> the event that provoked this was the worst attack on American soil in 60
> years.
This is just the latest excuse, though. It isn't as though this process
started on Sept 12th of last year.
> Here is the truth -- the DoJ is operating within a set of constraints called
> the U.S. Constitution. I happen to think the document works reasonably well.
> If you don't -- move elsewhere.
If the Constitution has anything to do with how government actually works
where you live, I'd love to move there.
> Al Qaeda is *not* operating within any
> constraints at all which is why they could use airplanes to kill 3000
> civilians because they simply felt like doing that. While our political
> history has examples of individuals who got out of line (Nixon comes to
> mind) -- for the most part it seems to work pretty well -- witness the
> current debate on whether or not we should use a large amount of force
> to remove a despot in Iraq.
Just to be clear, let me ask: You believe that the Constitution
is working well because there is some debate before waging war on
a country which hasn't attacked the US? *That* is 'wacko', in my
opinion. Personally, I would take it as a sign that the Constitution
was working well if any proposal for conquering another country were
dismissed out of hand, as absurd.
-- Randall Randall <randall@randallsquared.com> "[The] poetic justice of cause and effect compels respect, compassion." -- Faithless, God is a DJ.
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