Terror alerts: Useful? ... or not?

[houseelf]

Ummm....Amen to what Kris said.

I just have one small point. One of the first principles of debate is that personal attacks are the least effective manner in conveying your message. I hope this constructive criticism helps. Lord knows that you never shirk dispensing criticism so I'm sure that you will not be offended that I am returning the favor.

Kelly

My dictionary says regime is a 'mode of rule or managment', 'a form of government', 'a government in power', 'a period of rule'. But it would be disengenuous of me to claim I didn't know the emotional impact of the word in the current vernacular. I'm a writer, and I mostly use emotion-laden words to see if anyone is reading, because I don't get paid if I'm not read.

Very eloquently said, Kris.

Yes, I do feel less "free" since 2000. I'm a believer in the Constitution, (especially the First Amendment, given my profession) and I treasure the freedoms it guarantees, and I believe we are losing a great deal of that freedom. I'm troubled that writing/saying something against the current President is treasonous, when it certainly wasn't wrong to say anything at all against the last President. I'm troubled by the current President's attention to only half the people in the country, especially after the closest election in history. I want wars to be "necessary", not just us going in to invade a country to show how tough we are, and get a few thousand of our troops killed in the process. Yes, Saddam Hussein is a bad man, and we were right to go after him when he gassed his own people and invaded Kuwait. But we should have finished the job THEN. The "vacuum of power" that previous administration was so afraid of is there now--and Saddam had what, 10 more years to do anything he pleased. I'm troubled by the "Either you're with us or you're against us" mentality, especially when, due to my independent assessment of the facts, I find myself in the latter column. I just want to be proud of my country, and feel that my views have a place therein.

And nope, I'm not a child of privilege. My parents married at 18, and my father returned from Vietnam and became an auto mechanic, and I spent my childhood taking care of my mother, who was sick a lot. I have what I have because I made some good choices and worked very hard, and I will NEVER be made ashamed of that.