There is bus service from Boston to Woods Hole, and last time I checked it is fairly inexpensive.
By the way my point is this more then “sucks”, it may verywell be the downfall of our country.
We’re turning into the taliban.
So the argument now is, why of course more protestors than terrorists will be arrested (protestors are easier to find because they’re the ones throwing rocks at the cops and dare to stray from their designated “chip on your shoulder zone”), but since they’ll be out looking for terrorists, it’s all right.
Hey man, under the taliban, women could take off their birka! OK, so maybe it was only at their home with the shades pulled … Women could, and rightly so, have their say, it’s just that no one paid attention when they were segregated to their homes, again, too bad.
There aren’t enough roll-eye smilies in the world . . . If the terrorists blow up a subway or major intersection, you’ll be the first one screaming, “the government didn’t do enough to protect us!”
I will? Where the hell do you get that from? What else will I do?
Lord only knows. But, since I will be in New York that week, the more cops, bomb-sniffing dogs and security, the happier I will be. You wanna get your ass blown to smithereens? Be my guest.
That’s not exactly the point I’m making. All the things you just mentioned cost money, take up resources, and seriously inconvenience people. I question if we as a nation can sustain living like this.
OK, then, what’s your solution? You’re president. Or mayor of NY. How are you going to protect the city without spending money, taking up resoruces and inconveniencing people?
We live in a whole new world now, like Europe and the Mideast have for decades.
Well Eve I think people should accept the fact that we’re more at risk and there isn’t much we can do.
I don’t think we should get dragged into some long drawn out “who can build a better mousetrap” scenario, bankrupting the country and stripping us of our rights (in the name of our safety) in the process.
I think the limited resources should be directed towards things that we can’t change. Fuck the olympics in NY, fuck the convention too, we don’t need to waste security resources towards these things. We should spend the money protecting people in everyday life.
I agree wholeheartedly with your “Fuck the olympics in NY, fuck the convention too” sentiments (though this is NYC and major events are going to come here).
But “we’re more at risk and there isn’t much we can do” is just plain defeatist. We should have done more, and earlier. And I’m blaming Clinton as much as Bush.
It’s because I’m voting Democrat this time.
Sayeth World Eater
Precisely.
Personally, I don’t care if they put the protesters in New Jersey, as long as they have the right to protest. Voices will be heard, only from a safe bloody distance.
The right to freedom of speech and assembly is NOT absolute. You cannot say certain things in certain places, it’s really that simple. Another thing, if there WERE protests allowed right in front of the convention, just how fucked up do you think traffic would be then? How fast do you think the subway would shut down if one intrepid protester slipped by an officer with an unidentified backpack? Could be school books, could be C-4, personally, i don’t want to take the chance, and I don’t want the agencies whom I pay to ensure my safety taking that chance either.
That said, I do not think, World Eater, you can adequately appreciate the gravity of what these agencies are asked to do. I’d wager that you haven’t the slightest idea what-so-ever about the horribly difficult logistics of dignitary protection, not to mention the safety of the crowd that surrounds the package.
I do.
I can tell you that even on routine presidential visits, there is so much more going on that you DON’T see, it would boggle your mind. A simple mid-year fund raiser visit NOT in an election year, and PRE 9/11 involved no less than 5 Helicopters, 2 Jumbo jets, 2 refueling aicraft 3 limousines, a van full of million dollar electronics and a squadron of personnel no less than 100 in number.
Fast forward to present day, and you’ll count yourself lucky that they’re not shutting down the entire city for this useless gathering of the confederation of dunces.
Would you consider Central Park a good distance from MSG? Because they just denied issuing a permit for a protest there.
Just in case you don’t know NY very well, those two spots are nowhere near each other.
I could care less about the logistics of presidential security, as these precautions are necessary. The whole point of my OP is that the terrorists have won because we’re blowing money hand over fist on unnecessary things, such as a stupid ass conventions and securing Mount Rushmore. We can’t sustain throwing away wads of money like we currently do to secure everything.
Quoth World Eater…
Well, I both agree and disagree with you on this point. On the surface, it would appear that yes, they have indeed won, in fact, they won the second that plane hit that building. Thank Og that we have the money to blow, which, in a true dichotomy, is the reason we got attacked in the first place. Still, we’re only doing now what many EU countries have had to do for many years, and certianly, there’s no question that sustaining such increases is not going to be simple, or cheap, but sustain them we must.
Whether that means deploying national guard or active reserve or even active duty military personnel to do the job, then that’s just what it means. Perhaps though, this might mean that we stop wasting billions of our hard earned dollars on foreign aid money, and redirect it to more pressing issues, like the security and safety of our country and way of life.
I’ll agree that we agree and disagree.
[sub]Sheeesh, I’m starting to sound like Rumsfeld[/sub]
Do we have the money to blow?
Maybe I’ve missed something, what have many EU countries been for years?
Spain is the only one I can think of that has had to deal with terrorist problems. Britain as well, but 2 countries isn’t many, and Britain isn’t EU. I’m not really arguing with you on this point, maybe there is something I’m not aware of.
Yeah, ain’t gonna happen. Somehow I think we’ll end up giving Pakistan 5 billion or some equally ridiculous amount in aid to deal with AQ on their doorstep. Then, Musharraf will be our buddy until he turns around in about 20 years and “saddamizes” us.
We never learn from our mistakes.
Yes it is.
I stand corrected, thanks.
IIRC, they want to keep the pound instead of switching to the euro, I think this is what gave me the impression they hadn’t joined the EU yet.
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040503_1410.html
Bolding mine
FIVE bags in a city of 9 million? All within a week? Are you fucking kidding me?
Our tax money at work folks.
<shaking head>
There’s a wide difference between what you can think of and what actually happened and you didn’t hear about.
Let’s see. Out of my head, in France, we had the bombing of a Jewish restaurant in the 80’s, the Corsican bombings (though they don’t kill people, except by direct assassination from time to time), the odd Britanny independantist bombing (but it has been a long time since the last one. And until now only one fatality), the ETA terrorists who hide in french Basque country and pile up there the explosives they latter use in Spain, the wawe of Algerian islamist bombings in Paris markets and subway at the beginning of the 90’s which caused many deaths and resulted in heightened security with militaries patrolling the stations, airports, etc…, some hijacked planes, including one which was due to be crashed on Paris ten years ago or so…
What did I forget? Some extreme-left revolutionnary movements in the 80’s, but these weren’t terrorist, they just assassinated people. And Carlos the jackal, of course, but this one is quite old. Also attacks against french people in foreign countries, like the military barracks in Lebanon, the assassinations in Algeria, or the bus of technicians which was blowed up in Pakistan…
That’s understandable, since the UK joined the EU only thirty years ago…