The more I see of the police and military carrying guns in public, the more I fill that the terrorists have already won. They set out to impose fear and terror in our country. To us be suspisus of each other. And god help us, we are. We (the US) and even Europe have taken a few step backwards from where we were only a few decades ago. Where are we going from here...

SET RANT OFF

>I guess you've never flown into Germany? Back in the early 80s I was amazed at the number of police and types of weapons carried at the airport and train stations...
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>>Hay, I commute via the Sounder train every morning to work. (It saves me hundreds of dollars a year). But, recently, there have been police standing guard on the trains. Even the military have been seen patrolling the trains and stations. All this started after the train bombing in the EU. I am not sure if I am safer or not. I feel as I did when I visited Mexico and saw all the military guards walk about with guns. What kind of country are we becoming?
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>>>What makes more sense is that the railroad is behind this - it is well known that the train is markedly less secure than flying - how better to increase business but to make it too dangerous, scary, or too much of a hassle to fly?
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>>>>>>>>I have an open mind about this. Do you think the "thwarted terrorist attack" this morning was legit or a diversionary tactic? Personally I am skeptical. It seems like every time the polls are down the government announces it has thwarted another terrorist attack. "This one was going to be really bad but we managed to stop it." Oh, did you really? Thoughts?
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>>>>>>>My wife was listening to the news all day... and royall republicly pissed off with "how come they all know so much about it... every expert they call has a mouthful to say right off the bat! Dang, back then we had real terrorist attacks in the middle of tourist season, and you wouldn't notice anything on the streets, all the trains and busses and planes flew normally... and here it's a successfully defended attack and all of a sudden a bottle of water is a weapon? C'mon... what was it this time? Liebermann lost? What is it they need attention diverted from? Lebanon? November elections? Or something else we won't know for weeks?"... more or less. It went on and on all day, with breaks though.
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>>>>>>>It may as well be the magical anti-elephant powder.
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>>>>>>What if they had succeeded? What would you have posted then?
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>>>>>They didn't succeed and we have no more reason to consider this a legitimate threat than that English lugnut with an explosive in his shoe. The fact is they never got to first base. Just because the government, one with a long track record of lies and obscufation, says it was a legitimate threat doesn't mean it was.
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>>>>>I heard on the radio that airport lines are markedly longer, reportedly 2 hours at O'Hare on average, due to new security checks for liquid carry-ons. Shampoo, mouthwash, nasal spray, all into the collection bags. Good lord. People still ask whether something like 9/11 will happen again. Here's how I look at it. The 9/11 operation reportedly cost Al Qaeda $200,000 in American dollars. How many billions has it cost us to date, not to mention the psychic cost? Of course it will happen again.
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>>>>Personally, I think the terrorist have got something going on. Make a bomb out of anything that is carried on planes, and then the security people will band it from the plane. What next, exploding cloths? Will we all have to fly naked?
>>>>:)