[CLUE-Talk] Traitors, Cowards, Scoundrels, and Intelligent Dissenters

[Dennis J Perkins]

> David,
> 
> I'll take the put up or shut up challenge!  :-)
> 
> Your President started the us/them rhetoric when he said:
> 
> "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists."  just after 9/11.  
> Seems pretty cut-and-dry there, doesn't it?  What about those of us who are 
> not 'with' the President or the terrrorists?  I suppose we are all 
> terrorists, but the President's "logic".
> 
> Want some more quotes from other conservatives?
> 
> Ari Fleischer warned that "all Americans" should "watch what they say."  
> Attorney General Ashcroft said that those who complained of lost liberties 
> during the war on terror "aid terrorists" by giving "ammunition to America's 
> enemies and pause to America's friends."
> 
> When Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle expressed sadness that Bush's failure 
> to find a diplomatic solution was finally leading to war, House Speaker 
> Dennis Hastert said Daschle had come "mighty close" to giving "comfort" to 
> the enemy. 
> 
> House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, more bluntly told the South Dakota 
> Democrat to shut his mouth. "Fermez la bouche, Monsieur Daschle!" he snapped, 
> equating Daschle's criticism with France's efforts to block a war resolution 
> in the United Nations. 
> 
> CBS warned musicians not to protest against the war (before the war) at the 
> Grammys.  Last week, Clear Channel (our favorite local radio monopoly) barred 
> protest groups from distributing literature at an Ani DiFranco concert in New 
> Jersey -- and threatened to pull the plug on DiFranco or anyone else who made 
> antiwar comments from the stage.
> 
> Is this enough evidence?
> 
> Perhaps you can see why some of us who do not agree with the President get 
> upset at such inflammatory statements made by him and other conservative 
> politicians.
> 
> Later,
> Jeff
> 
> -- 
> Life is a tie. In the end, no one wins. 
>  -- Oswald Neimo 
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> 


My dad likes to say, "if everyone else jumped off a cliff, I suppose you would 
want to do it too."  

I've angered at least one friend by my attitude about this war.  He thinks that 
we must uncritically support the president.  Why?  Don't I have the right to 
dissent?  Isn't this a democracy?  Or has the bill of rights been repealed?  If 
someone says you are either with them or against them, that means they think 
you don't have the right to disagree with them.  That usually means I am 
against them.

I am not convinced that we should be doing this.  Who appointed us policemen of 
the world?  Is there enough of a threat to justify the war?  What if we don't 
find the proof we're looking for?  

Simplistic logic leads to simplistic solutions.

The only thing preventing anyone from using the same logic against us is our 
military power.

I'm wondering what the consequences will be.  Will American officials be siezed 
overseas by disaffected groups and tried and executed?  Or ordinary Americans?  
How many countries have we strained relations with over this?