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Politics : View from the Center and Left -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (10916)	2/6/2006 1:21:25 AM
From: epicure	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 541457

"The left doesn't take the threat of Al Qaeda seriously. Not compared to the threat of George Bush." It's always such fun to see gross generalizations. Are we supposed to glean something important from them (aside from your feelings about the left, that is)?

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (10916)	2/6/2006 8:55:53 AM
From: Lane3	Respond to of 541457

The left doesn't take the threat of Al Qaeda seriously. Not compared to the threat of George Bush. Nadine, I think that quarrel here is about relative threat. You original asserted that the left doesn't consider al Qaeda a threat, which drew the obvious reaction because it's obviously not so. The above is a better frame--is the threat greater or less than the threat from Bush, in all its various manifestations, or bird flu, tsunamis, Korea, global warming, whatever. Surely there are differences of opinion on the seriousness of the al Qaeda threat. I doubt that there are any competent people who don't consider them a threat at all. It's rained a lot here lately and there is standing water all around. Last night I squooshed a mosquito that was hovering around my computer display. Personally, I'm hard pressed to find more threat from al Qaeda but we need to all recognize that risk assessments will vary. Re the al Qaeda risk vs. privacy, my observation is that loss of privacy isn't the only issue, maybe not even the primary issue. Questions coming from the left (and the right, as well) are about balance of powers. My sense from what I've read here is that the privacy concerns can be alleviated by the use of warrants.

To: Nadine Carroll who wrote (10916)	2/6/2006 9:20:35 AM
From: KonKilo	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 541457

Who on the left thinks so, really? They sure don't act like it. I repeat, please supply names of those on the Left who feel that Al Qaeda is not a threat. Otherwise, your characterization of the Left is made of straw. We, as a nation, have historically faced down major threats to our existence; the WW II Axis, our own Civil War, war for independence, etc., without losing our respect for the rule of law, for the most part. I am unwilling to give any president, left or right, carte blanche to ignore the rule of law. Once that becomes routine, we have lost the basis for American exceptionalism, and the terrorists have won.