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Politics : Politics for Pros- moderated -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: unclewest who wrote (23475)	1/8/2004 6:48:09 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793725

"From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." If you go at it from a Religious viewpoint, you could say, under Dean's outlook, that: "If God had thought Murder was a sin, he would not have created murderers?" Sounds like Dean forgot about the Christian concept of "Free Will." (Yes, I understand that POV that people are "born Gay.")

To: unclewest who wrote (23475)	1/8/2004 6:51:07 AM
From: gamesmistress	Respond to of 793725

Dean does not need the Bible. He has a direct pipeline to God - he's a doctor.:-/

To: unclewest who wrote (23475)	1/8/2004 7:12:44 AM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793725

January 07, 2004, 9:13 a.m. Insecure About Security I'm staying home next Christmas. NRO — Jack Dunphy is an officer in the Los Angeles Police Department. "Jack Dunphy" is the author's nom de cyber. The opinions expressed are his own and almost certainly do not reflect those of the LAPD management. Holiday travel is a challenge even in the best of times, but when the obstacles that accompany Orange Alerts are placed alongside the more customary rigors of crossing great distances and breaking bread with relatives whose company is best enjoyed from at least two time zones away, well, the typical traveler is left with a condition remedied only by a good book, soft music, and strong drink. Most of you are back home now, perhaps even thankful to be back at work, and some of you are vowing never to go near an airport for the rest of your lives. And who can blame you? I had the opportunity to view the state of affairs at Los Angeles International Airport this holiday season, not only as a beleaguered traveler being scanned, poked, and prodded like everyone else, but also as a member of the security apparatus that sprang into action at LAX with the raising of the terrorist-threat level. I was one of the beleaguerers, if you will, and my apologies go out to all who were inconvenienced. It's difficult to prove why something didn't happen, of course, so for now we are left to speculate on what may have prevented the terrorist attack we were led to believe was in the works. When the history of this war is written, perhaps we'll learn that some sinister plan of destruction was indeed foiled at the very last moment by a sharp-eyed security screener, that in the long run the added annoyances placed in the paths of ordinary travelers were a small price to pay for safety. But don't count on it. At LAX, the plan seemed designed to present a facade of security to the traveling public while actually doing little to deter any terrorist with even a modest amount of initiative. Passenger cars were barred from curbside drop-offs and pick-ups in front of the terminals, forcing drivers into the already overcrowded parking lots and structures inside the airport. But exempted from this were shuttle buses, limousines, and taxicabs, all of which were allowed to stop directly in front of the terminals without undergoing so much as a cursory inspection. I've spent enough time in taxis to know that if I were going to begin a search for al Qaeda sympathizers any given city, I'd start with the cab drivers. And while the taxis were breezing in and out of the airport, ordinary folks in their own cars were stuck in long lines on the surrounding streets, waiting to pass through checkpoints manned by officers from the LAPD and the airport police. The instructions at one of these checkpoints just before Christmas were to stop and check every tenth car regardless of the occupants' appearance. The officers dutifully complied, using mirrors to check for hidden bombs and rifling the belongings of people no sane person would ever suspect of being a terrorist. At one point, an LAPD captain happened along and watched the checkpoint operation in progress. Cops everywhere know there is no situation so hopelessly fouled up that it cannot be made more so by the helpful intervention of the typical police captain. You should be searching more cars, the captain opined, and he gave the order that as soon as one car was searched and released another one should be stopped. The predictable result was a traffic jam that stretched back and onto the nearby freeway, prompting an inquiry from the California Highway Patrol. The sergeant running the checkpoint was summoned to the station and asked what on earth he thought he was doing. Captain's orders, the sergeant explained, only to be told that the captain in question was an idiot and that searching every tenth car would be quite sufficient, thank you very much. Officers were of course discouraged from stopping cars based on any outward sign that they might contain Arabs or Muslims. That would be racial profiling, after all, and we sure can't have any of that! A Buick brimming with Baathists or Mercedes full of Mohammedan mullahs would have sailed right through if it didn't happen to be the tenth car, and probably even if it did. The show of force was intended to inspire confidence, but I don't see how the sight of old ladies and young children being searched made anyone feel safer, especially when young men who happened to be a shade on the swarthy side seemed to be avoiding the same level of scrutiny. But we all came through okay, didn't we? And now we can share the tales of our ordeals with one another as we stand in line to exchange the unwanted gifts we hauled all the way home from Scranton. And even more important, next year we'll have an excuse for staying home. Like Perry Como said, for the holidays you can't beat home sweet home. nationalreview.com

To: unclewest who wrote (23475)	1/8/2004 12:58:37 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 793725

"Dean said.... From a religious point of view, if God had thought homosexuality is a sin, he would not have created gay people." Who couldn't drive a Mac truck through that obvious piece of demagoguery? At this point, I doubt there's anything Dean could say, or a position he could take, regardless of its veracity or outragousness, that will turn off his core supporters or draw serious ire from major media outlets.

To: unclewest who wrote (23475)	1/8/2004 9:57:45 PM
From: LindyBill	Respond to of 793725

INFANTRY: Urban Snipers Change Enemy Tactics in Iraq January 7, 2004: Although snipers have been an essential part of successful urban warfare since World War II, the U.S. didn't set up an Urban Sniper School until May, 2001. The fighting in Afghanistan later that year did not require much urban sniping, but operations in Iraq over the past eight months certainly have. There's been a lot of on-job-training in Iraq, and CDROM versions of urban sniper training manuals have been hot items in American infantry units. Urban sniping, unlike it's rural counterpart, is much less about accurate shooting and much more about making the right moves in a more complex, and dangerous, environment. Out in the countryside, your average shot is going to be 400 meters, and shooting skills are critical at that range. But in urban areas, the average shot is a hundred meters. Shooting skills are still important, but it's simply easier to hit something at a hundred meters than at 400. The major problem for the urban sniper is where to set up, and what to look for. Scouting the battlefield is more work in urban areas, as there are more places for everyone, including enemy snipers, to hide. American troops have a big advantage with their UAVs and helicopters. Not only does the overhead eyes make it easier to sort out the urban battlefield, but you also tend to get a warning when the bad guys start moving in your direction. Another edge American snipers have is night vision equipment. The Iraqis, lacking aerial reconnaissance and night vision gear, have to move very carefully, trying to stay indoors as much as possible. But this limits mobility, and American snipers quickly learned to set up shop aiming at those places where Iraqi attackers have to come out in the open. But this spotlights another problem with urban sniping; innocent civilians. If you see someone sneaking around carrying a rifle, you can be pretty sure he's your target. But not always, as Baghdad is still a burglars paradise and the coalition allows each household to keep one AK-47 for defense against the thieves. So what does a sniper do? In most cases you have to use your judgment. If the guy just seems to be checking the roof or alley for intruders, you don't shoot. If he appears to be taking up a firing position, he's toast. American snipers also benefit from the popularity of computer databases. The PC revolution has the army keeping records of everything, and this is often useful. Snipers have always, as a matter of course, carefully recorded each shot, who was hit (or missed), plus when and where the shot occurred. A database of shots taken tells American snipers what the odds are of encountering various situations and that enables them to forget about the very rare events, and concentrate on the more likely developments. That usually means just shooting the guy carrying an AK-47, while wearing civilian clothes and moving along a roof, because the target is almost always hostile. The sniper out in the countryside has to deal with spending hours, or days, in hiding waiting for a shot. In urban areas you face hours looking for the best shooting positions, and then moving into them and trying to keep the rapidly unfolding military operation (often a raid) sorted out while looking through your night scope for any suspicious activity. U.S. infantry have found urban snipers to be a crucial weapon in dealing with unrest and hostile action. Iraqis trying to attack Americans have become much more cautious and reluctant as more American snipers are employed. strategypage.com