The values which define America are incompatible with the dictates of a security state.
Watching the massive expansion of the state security apparatus in the United States since 9/11, I have found myself wondering when the people of this once-free nation would finally shout "enough." We have put up with massive spending on new security agencies, monitoring of our phones and email, unconstitutional confiscation of property, suspension of habeas corpus, blood and urine checks, restrictions on free speech, illegal imprisonment, massive invasions of our privacy and the virtual shredding of the Constitution. …
Article comments
76 - roger nowosielski
Jordan, the original remark was on-target, but since it was promptly deleted, I had no choice but to resort to flowery language a la Cohen. So trust me, the image I have in mind is quite picturesque and in vivid colors. Nothing like what I can convey on the computer screen. Trust me on that.
77 - Jordan Richardson
Whatever gets you through the day, pal.
78 - roger nowosielski
Now Jordan is committing another mistake. Since BC is a virtual reality, the BC organizational structure is virtual as well. Technorati just doesn't exist, or rather, it does exist but only in a virtual space. Which is to say, Jordan is free and clear to say what he will, because right or wrong, truth or falsehood, everything is virtual. Even his mistakes are virtual and therefore no mistakes at all.
Good night, my virtual friend.
79 - roger nowosielski
Jordan, I could send you a personal email if you doubt me.
80 - Jordan Richardson
Yeah, that's exactly what I said. I'd tell you to sleep this one off, Roger, but I think that'd take a few more nights than just one.
81 - roger nowosielski
Do you suppose it's the effect of my anti-flu medication or is it just you that I'm developing an antipathy to? If it's the latter, Jordan, and I'm strongly beginning to suspect that it is, then I'm afraid I've got a chronic disease. Must be allergic to you, Jordan, my virtual friend. Sorry.
82 - zingzing
"And no, I wasn't sufficiently interested in the topic to be doing any exhaustive kind of search, nor am I mow."
we is cat? mow. curiousity led me on a .00054 second search. i'm sure you could do the same. but just yesterday, you demanded i read 100 books to find something you were talking about. and then you deemed me lazy when i asked for some specificity. i'm just saying.
"So shoot me for not tending to your link, but the idea is simple enough to be grasped intuitively."
except you obviously fucked it up. and it's less than a 5-minute read. and you could have known what you were talking about.
"I think I'm going to forfeit this match."
as usual.
"You're worse than a woman (Cindy will kill me), and I'm not saying this lightly."
and you're better? i'm just pointing out your hypocrisy.
"Are you decent looking at least or just homely even for a man, because I might consider switch-hitting?"
i got it going on. i'm in brooklyn, baby. i'm a little bit sick with a cold right now though. and i've got this unfortunate green ooze thing going on. what is that?
83 - El Bicho
"First, a 13-year-old computer nerd in Omaha, Nebraska, hacks into TSA's network and downloads X-ray scans of several dozen gay teenagers"
say wha? how does a 13-year-old tell from an X-ray someone else is gay? That's some amazing technology. So, I presume in this new world you are imagining scientists will no longer need to rely on Judy Garland records to tell if a young boy is gay.
84 - roger nowosielski
Gotta send me a snapshot, baby. Don't go on blind dates, sorry. But kidding aside, I don't really care for how you project yourself, and I'm sure the feeling is mutual. So why continue?
85 - zingzing
because we will anyway.
86 - Alan Kurtz
You (#84) have a extremely limited attention span. Here's my entire sentence, not just the fragment you excerpted:
"First, a 13-year-old computer nerd in Omaha, Nebraska, hacks into TSA's network and downloads X-ray scans of several dozen gay teenagers who actually enjoy getting their 'junk handled' by male TSA screeners."
It's not the technology that identifies these teens as gay, it's their response to having their junk handled.
87 - roger nowosielski
Count me out, then. Play it by yourself.
88 - Arch Conservative
"Yet, Mr. Cotto is one of the most sensible of our conservatives in residence."
I wouldn't say that's true after his last post.
The way I look at it, the federal government steals enough money from us already. We don't need them grabbing our "junk" at the airport as we're boarding a plane to go see grandma.
We already give them too much. Find another way to prevent terrorist attacks. "We can't" is not an acceptible answer. Just shut the fuck up and do it. Get it done.
89 - Ruvy
FIGHT! FIGHT!
Who's coat should I hold? Clavos, you wearing a coat? You, I respect. You backed me up. The rest of them - well, the less said the better.
90 - zingzing
eh, ruvy?
91 - Ruvy
I got to the fight late, zing. Shoulda gotten there earlier. Oh, well, time to move on...
92 - Thrift
I love to fly and as a kid I was molested by a neighbor...the thought of someone feeling my junk up his nauseating and disgusting, especially when it's another guy doing it. If I have to endure the pat downs or the intrusive (and I think waste of time) full body scanners, I would have to chose the scanners, at least I would feel more comfortable then basically being sexually assaulted by a TSA agent.
93 - Paul Johnson
I will not FLY to the United States until this new fear-based and fascist imposition on my personal liberty is removed.
This article is well written and I can't for the life of me understand why the citizens of the United States submit to continued fascist policy such as this.
Stand up for yourselves, see through the propaganda and keep your own fear in perspective!!
Good luck America and I'll see you when I know I can enter your country (to spend money in your country) without threat to my personal rights.
94 - Christopher Rose
The USA has clearly over-reacted to the threat of terrorism and defeated itself by introducing this excessive level of security. Hopefully some of these excesses will be rolled back by future governments.
I'm sure the terrorists are delighted at their effect on the USA's levels of freedom and the expense involved in such an excessive security system that ignores not only cargo planes but also the country's extensive land borders.