The Expansion of the Patriot Act...

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This is where your ignorance shines through. I am not an Anne Coulter wanna be, I have nothing against her but I certainly have no interest in being like her or following her gospel. I am my own person. Acquiring information from a source or many sources does NOT make you educated or informed if it is not accurate, unbiased or false. I can write 1000 articles and publish them all over the net, people could read them.. does that make people educated and informed? Just because you take in knowledge, doesn't mean it is absolute truth and you must believe in it. I have an open mind... I have the ability to hear both sides of the story or many versions of the story and form my OWN opinions and follow my own beliefs. Why should I conform to things I do not believe in? Whether they are right or wrong, I am entitled to MY opinions. Just because I lean towards conservatism, doesn't make me a radical republican. I defend what I believe in, nothing more, nothing less. The same way, I suspect you do. However, the difference between you and me is, when you have nothing potent enough to respond with, you stoop to playground name calling.

You seem quite bitter towards women or just bitter in general... I'm sure you have deeper issues than just not agreeing with my opinions.

I just wanted to say .. I like all you crazy fucks - even Directfiesta! ;-)

It's the entire thing as a whole that really worries me altogether.. If you read it, you understand where I get my fears.. People just don't take this kind of thing seriously enough, and that's how it slips throught he cracks.. Next thing you know it's body cavity searches all around

Well I know I've been trying to argue my point without calling anyone a retard :P That's the most challgening part of all! :P

I am not sure what you mean by slipping through the cracks. There are 535 elected members of Congress (representives of the people) that say yea or nay to the passage of laws. There all of the Federal District Courts...with all of the Federal Judges that decide the legality of a law...or parts there of...with the Supreme Court being the final arbirter of the legality/constitutionality of a law...or parts there of. A judge is, and has been, defying the Attorney General in the so called "20th hijacker" case. Laws are passed but this country has safe gaurds against abuse of a Law. Does this mean that individuals are always treated justly under law...no...but this was the case prior to 9/11...and will be the case for the foreseeable future...this is what falls through the cracks.

^ what he said

Aww... <s>grope</s> group hug time?

All it takes is ONE good tragedy and people will sign anything to keep themselves "safe", even if the cure is far worse than the problem. How do you think the FIRST one went through?

This is why I call paranoia. You are projecting that a country of hundreds of millions of people, (most of whom are far more educated and aware than most suppressed 3rd world countries and/or Hitler ruled Germany) the Senate, the Supreme court, allied countries that rely on us and everything/everyone else involved, would stand back and ALLOW the EXTREME type of government control, that you and others fear will happen? It's absurd, because America only moves ahead, not backwards. I am not sure why anyone would believe in things so extreme and unrealistic.

You can mold the citizen's minds of countries that are underdeveloped, but America is the most industrialized and sophisticated nation in the world. It would take something supernatural to lead this country in the direction of communism.

The so called 9/11 "20th Hijacker" case.

A single Federal Judge defying the Attorney General and his Justice Department...Patriot Act be damned.

Of course the Judge may be overuled by the Appeals Court...or apparently...if things do not go the way the Attorney General likes...it appears he may have the power to withdraw the case from Civilian Court to a Military Tribunal...though it would not surprise me if this were somehow to be blocked by the Court.

The point being that there are safeguards in place for abuse of law...including the Patriot Act...safequards that apply in 100% of cases...no...but to repeat myself this was the case with laws prior to 9/11 and is the case now...and into the foreseeable future.

Excellent example, which more than proves my point. It's my impression that many other countries believe America is as primitive and malicious as other dictatorship countries. It's simply not true. Though this alleged 20th 9/11 hijacker is getting extra media attention and perhaps even extra special legal treatment, he is still "innocent until proven guilty". And when I say that, I mean he is not receiving punishment, unless he is convicted. Other countries, such as Iraq would not take the time to give fair legal representation or try this person, they would shoot him and throw him in a shallow grave while the body was still warm.

America is NOT perfect. There are flaws in every government run system, practice or industry... however, we are the most generous and humane nation in the entire world. If you believe, the US government is going to burn it's Constitution, revert to primitive ways and become a Communist country, you are either paranoid beyond belief or have too little knowledge AND experience of the US to make a fair judgment about it's direction.

The US is a melting pot of every race, culture and religion in the world. We have citizens from every denomination, giving their thoughts and opinions into our media. In other countries, you will not hear good things about America, because to most of the world, Americans are greedy, fat, lazy and evil people. This is what other countries portray us as being. Why? Jealously. So if you keep reading articles written by sites, newspapers, TV etc from other countries, they are going to be biased and negative. I can't stand a lot of media coverage, some of it is monotaneous and petty, but I will say... American news has by far the fairest world news coverage.

You have got to be joking.

How would you know anyway? You have admitted you haven't done any real overseas travel, how would you know what we watch here in Australia or what people watch elsewhere in the world?

And I'm tired of Americans playing the 'jealousy' card. I am not jealous of your country or your culture. I don't want to live in the USA - ever. Most of the people I meet around the world have no desire to live in the USA either. Get over yourself.

Cheers bro.

Back at ya.

Same here Colin.

And glad to see TheKing back here and kicking...

Ok enough of mushing in public:

You both are moth..Fuck..Bast..AssHo..pri...farts.

LOL

Just because I haven't traveled the world, doesn't mean I do not see recordings of other's countries TV, their writing or other types of media coverage. It can be VERY negative and misleading about what America really is.

Maybe you are not jealous of the US... but you are Australian, you do not live in an impoverished country that suppresses it's people. Those suppressed people are jealous of our freedom and their governments are jealous of our wealth, technology, allies (cough ) etc etc ... the US is purposely talked badly about, so that the citizens of other countries do not get any "ideas" about civilization or expectations about what their crappy governments should be doing for them.

Yep. And I don't care what you say, the American people, just like ANY other people are CATTLE when they're afraid. If you don't know that, you need to do a little more research into humanity :P You say the average American is better educated than most of the rest of the world.. Why does America have such a HIGH illiteracy rate compared to European countries, etc? Click on this:
http://indian-river.fl.us/living/ser...als/scope.html
and be amazed. I'm not saying that America sucks, it doesn't. But to try to say that it's so far beyond all these other countries is sheer and utter bullshit.

Or how about THIS study from the National Geographic:
http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...perSurvey.html

Here's a few highlights for you:

About 11 percent of young citizens of the U.S. couldn't even locate the U.S. on a map.

Despite the threat of war in Iraq and the daily reports of suicide bombers in Israel, less than 15 percent of the young U.S. citizens could locate either country.

More young U.S. citizens in the study knew that the island featured in last season's TV show "Survivor" is in the South Pacific than could find Israel.

Particularly humiliating was that all countries were better able to identify the U.S. population than many young U.S. citizens. Within the U.S., almost one-third said that population was between one billion and two billion; the answer is 289 million.


Well informed? Sure, a lot of people in the US are. But for the most part, NO, they are not any more well informed than any other industrialized country in the world. In fact less so, in quite a few cases.

As I say, NONE of that negates the fact that in the face of a crisis, PEOPLE ARE CATTLE. Period. I don't care who they are.

Yeah, but if you're not a good Christian, be careful, Bush will getcha :P

Do you see the difference? Her statement is correct...isn't it?

When you were siting from that report is there a specific reason why you didn't site the following.

"Young adults worldwide are not markedly more literate about geography than the Americans."

ethnocentric Sociology 101

oh my god. Where have I been all these years? So the more you know about GEOGRAPHY, the more SMARTER you are?? WOW. So geography is the gauge of a nation's awareness and intelligence NOW?? Gee Wee, what a cool concept!! I wonder why they ONLY teach GEOGrApHY in Elementary sCHOOL?? Why the fuck are all our Universities teaching us theories about math, science and such when they should be teaching us GEOGRAPHY!!!!!

even Colin! ;-)

Here in Australia geography is taught at high school and at university level (although it is not compulsory in any way). If you only learn it at primary school in the USA then perhaps that explains why you're so bad at it.

Hah! Maybe your schools should focus on more relevant subjects that would help students in the real world instead of wasting their time studying for GEOGRAPHY. United States' schools breeds more entrepreneurs, engineers, and scientists than ANY other country in the world so don't sit there and QUESTION our core curriculum, IMMITATE it!!

Obviously they don't teach spelling either.

I see, so you are an idiot with a high IQ...

"STOCKHOLM, Sweden ? Two American citizens and a Russian won the 2003 Nobel Prize (search) in physics for their work in the bizarre field of quantum physics, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Tuesday."

"STOCKHOLM, Sweden ? An American and a Briton won the Nobel Prize in medicine (search) Monday for discoveries that led to MRI, the body-scanning technique that has revolutionized the detection of disease by painlessly revealing internal organs in exquisite 3-D detail."


In case you missed it from the link that LadyMischief took her info from...on the same link...as I posted...

"Young adults worldwide are not markedly more literate about geography than the Americans."

At least I can't lose my citizenship (only my green card )

I have no big problem with the act , they already are allowed to wiretap me because I'm no born american (some law made after 9/11 to protect against terrorism), they also have my fingerprints (or least of two fingers)

What are you guys bitching about? Don't you like to be "protected"?

the middle one???/

Seriously though.. That's the stupidest comment I've seen all day.

hello

I didn't miss it - I just went to the full report:

"Answering about 70% of questions correctly, young adults in Sweden, Germany and Italy ranked
the highest of the nine countries surveyed. They were followed by the French (61%) and
Japanese (55%). Respondents in Great Britain answered 50% correctly. Their peers in Canada,
the U.S. and Mexico answered fewer than half the questions correctly."

Well...ah...shucks...um...hi there. It looks as if you got your way today with the the Gov...but better keep your fingers crossed for the B actor to do a better job.

Anyone who supports the children of our state will do better than Gray Davis be it Repubican or Democratic




I have been a Democratic the majority of my voting life.


Everyone has to remember Arnold is part of the Kennedy family so he has alot of Democratic influence .

I asked you before...but I do not recall an answer. What specifically was cut from your daughter's school?

teachers all types

75 percent of the music funds

65 of the sports funds

Nope, the ring fingers....

For Teachers to be cut I would assume that some elective classes would have to be cut. At the local community college there have been some classes cut...and some construction delayed...and I think tuition was raised. At the community college my brother works at...I don't think any classes were cut...but at least one new department that they intended to open has been put on hold...and I think tuition was raised. My oldest sister is working on her Master degree and she told me that her tuition went up by 30%. Actually there was only one class available for her this Semester and I believe she said the cost was $750.00.

There is basically only two ways to restore funds to the schools and that is either for the State to quick taking funds away from the Counties (for the State to do this the State will have to raise taxes) or for the Counties to raise taxes or float bonds...niether of which usually go over well. Peope say they are all for education for the young but when it comes to their wallets their actions say otherwise.

I have AOL, I read the National Geographic article awhile ago

I was just talking about this the other day with someone. Yes, Americans are more educated and aware than a lot of other countries. As a whole right now, our government is run by people who are more than qualified to do so. However, in the past 30 years, the quality of education has gone down and I will tell you why.

1-) Over crowding, there's a lot more children in schools today, but less teachers.

2-) Education begins and evolves at HOME. Far too many parents in America are either a) single parents b) too busy with their work to give children the help and attention they need and/or c) too lazy to be active in their children's education, so they depend on the teacher to play, mother, father, babysitter, educator, guardian, mentor and authority figure. Years ago and in many other countries, both parents lived at home, dad worked, mom was "Mrs. Cleaver", teachers didn't have to spend 75% of their day chastising out of control kids from broken homes. Between the stress kids have on them from their total shit circumstances at home to the peer pressure they face and the ever growing trends the media and society demand these kids keep up with and the teachers who cannot play Jack of all trades, you have kids on anti-depressants and behavioral control medication, learning LESS and less and growing bigger and bigger. Until one day, it's their turn to run the government. I am 23 years old, I am with the Generation Xers ... and I'll tell ya, they scare ME to death. When my generation is old enough to start making the decisions, formerly made by a generation of conservative baby boomers, I'd heading for the highest and most secluded mountain top I can find. It's going to be a DISASTER. Providing most of my generation isn't dead by their mid 40s from diabetes and heart problems, from their parents letting TV, video games and computers babysit them while their teachers were done with them for the day.

3-) Courses in schools have changed. Geography is no longer a separate subject in American schools like it might be elsewhere. It's been replaced by a more modern and politically correct name called "Social Studies". I remember spending about a week, tops on most subjects in school. Just enough to get a brief summary, but not enough to get a real grasp on it.

I will agree that some Americans are not the smartest or most educated, but overall America gives the OPPORTUNITY to be, more than any other country in the world. Education can come free in the US. The opportunity is here, it's all around you... and if people choose on their own, not to take it.. that's their own self disappointment. As a nation, as decision makers, as inventors and as a power house of some of the most prestigious and world's best institutes, America is by far the leader of technology, information and human growth this side of the Atlantic (or Pacific )

http://www.bartleby.com/59/4/throwntothel.html

Not true. Again you are making huge assumptions that stem from your lack of knowledge of the rest of the world.

Are you sure? Because I would love to come to Australia to receive some free health care, food, shelter and a paid education. Do you offer this to non-Australians? If so, I'd love to take my first lesson about foreign countries in a country just like my own

Please name me a country that has more Community Colleges...more Universities...and more prestigious Universities that the USA has.