08.31.06
The devils are down in Georgia
Richardson R. Lynn. What can you say about someone who is so completely clueless. Have a few tastes from this juicy op-ed.
If I knew a terrorist, I would ask how much Osama bin Laden Inc. counts on the massive, unnecessary expense and damage America inflicts on itself by overreacting to the threat of terror.
The foolishness of color-coded alerts and X-raying the shoes of all airplane passengers is well-known. The huge expense and bureaucracy of the Transportation Security Administration is a monument to our miscalculation of risk. And so on. But, as a lawyer, I’m more interested in the thinking of government officials who should know better.
If I knew a terrorist I would…. ummm…. report them to the authorities, or kill them myself if I knew they were going to do grave harm. But I know, he’s leading with a little hyper-bowl. (and yes, I know it’s actually hyperbole, but hyper-bowl is funnier… it also brings to mind a Saturday afternoon in a place in Iowa or someplace that has a lot of nylon shirts with names on them, rolling balls and falling pins, and an all-you-can-consume crystal meth bar…. hyper-bowl)
The only kind of legal system that could “prevent things from happening” requires a highly intrusive program of government surveillance of all communications (e-mail, letters and phone calls) and financial transactions of private citizens, incentives for people to spy on neighbors or family members, and lifting all restraints on interrogation and investigation of suspects.
I’ve said before, and I’ll say again- I don’t give a rat’s ass if the government checks my library records, or listens to my international calls. I AIN’T GONNA KILL ANYONE. This is, at most, a trivial intrusion into my civil liberties that don’t effect me in the least. I like my privacy, but my privacy is worth bupkus if in over-protecting it someone has the opportunity to kill me.
Terrorists will exploit whatever vestiges of a free society remain to plot and implement violence.
Wow, that actually makes sense, but- as is always the case with these nuts- there is a caveat.
Like almost all crimes, the plot to suicide-bomb planes between London and the United States was discovered through a combination of a tip, randomness and routine police work. The overseas reach of the Homeland Security-approved legal system would be limited, unless every nation joins us in those preventive measures and executes them as aggressively as we wish.
I find it quite bothersome that such a major threat that was diverted in a very stealth-like way can be waved off with such nonchelance. “It was just a tip and random, no big deal.” I seriously doubt the MI-5 and the good people at CIA and NSA would take it as just another day at the desk.
This is the best line….
It is entirely rational to accept some level of terrorism, crime or disorder rather than live in a police state that claims to guarantee perfect safety.
What friggin police state ? There is no such thing as perfect safety, you nimrod, but there is such a thing as reasonable safety. And the government checking my library records if they think I am a terrorist is not a damn police state.
And this clown is dean of a law school. Doesn’t surprise me. At some point we’re gonna get hit again, and these moral-relativists are gonna have to face some music…. I’d be happier if Dean R. R. Lynn was in Ames, IA, cranked up on meth, participating in a hyper-bowl.
