New Dershowitz book
Submitted by Tom on Wed, 02/22/2006 - 9:09am.
A conservative praises a new book by Alan Dershowitz, ahihc reframes some of the debate about civil liberties in an age of terrorism.
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Craig
He says he can't come on at work and he has no time. I've been working on him. His favorite would be this political back and forth like what's here. He definitely has strong opinions. I read it to him and we have fun. It takes a long time with our dial up - very time consuming and I can't get off!!!
Craig
Thanks for getting back to me on that question. Dial up? that's too bad.
I promised someone that I would refrain from hogging the bogoshpere--so I better get off.
Dial Up
There's no cable or satellite TV here on the mountain. When I download an audio file, I just have to walk away. Your input is one of the highlights of this website! Don't stop!!
Our inevitably dangerous WMD/terrorist infested future
Nice topic Uncle Tom! This is a touchy subject and poses a lot of interesting questions. Here are my thoughts on the subject. Sorry about the length, I got a little carried away.
What really scares me is the statement “our inevitably dangerous WMD/terrorist infested future”. The problem we have today is that we are attacking the wrong problem. Recently I took a GRE exam in which I had to write an essay basically criticizing a statement. The main idea of the statement was: People who snore tend to stop breathing occasionally and because of this they don’t get a decent sleep during the night. This leads to being tired during the day which leads to having less energy which then leads gaining weight. The solution they presented to the problem was for people who snore to eat less and exercise more then the not snoring people. Now as this seems like a logical stream of thought, the obvious problem with the statement is that they are not really attacking the right problem. In that case, you shouldn’t tell someone to exercise more but try to help them to stop snoring. Then they will get a better night’s rest, feel more energetic during the day, not gain the weight, and generally lead a happier life. This situation in a way (although far less complex) is similar to our problem with the Middle East, and other parts of the world for that matter.
We expect a horrible future so we are building up our defenses we that we can prepare ourselves. Although we might have to do this anyway being on the track that we are on, we are not attacking the correct problem. I’m not saying that I know the solution to it all, but I feel we should pay more attention to why all this terrorism is going on in the first place. All we are doing right now is playing a game of ‘who can last longer’ with our enemies. Us going in and invading the Middle East is not making us safer by killing all the bad guys, but making our future more dangerous by creating more animosity towards our nation. We are in a way fueling the “WMD/terrorist infested future.” The problem now is I feel it is too late to properly solve the problem. I’m not sure, but I think the beginning of all this anti western though in the Middle East was our creation of Israel. I know that there were many great and positive things that happened because of this, but externally dividing up land and creating political states has very infrequently worked. Most of the time, it just creates anger and instability.
Look at Africa for example, since the sprawl for colonies there by the Germans, English, Dutch, French, and Portuguese most of the place has been plagued by corruption and war. What they did was externally divided up the land. They split up domestic nations and ethnic groups without concern of crossing over preexisting barriers. This was also done in Israel and just as in Africa war broke out in the Middle East because of it. I’m not saying that this was the only cause of war but it was (and still is) a huge influence. Now I’m not saying that Israel was a mistake, I think it was very appropriate given the circumstances of the time. After WW2 Jewish people needed it, and I fully respect that. If I lived then I probably would have done the same thing. All I am doing is giving a hint of what all this animosity is all about. Palestine has become stronger and they feel we are the enemy because we are keeping them out of certain parts of Israel. If we can find a solution to all this we can possibly help calm our future, which would reduce the need for the government to impede on our civil liberties and then everyone will be happy.
Invading states to rearrange their governments takes decades to do, and will build us enemies. Now all we can do is try to solve the right problem as best we can. We shouldn’t just spend all time building up our security assuming that a terrorist/WMD future is unavoidable but try to figure out ways to solve some of the anger which is aimed at our country.
Deep subject
Jeff, your comments were very welcome. I am going to print them up and read and reflect on them, because there is too much there to assimilate in one reading late in this particular snorer's day.
So, are you applying to graduate school; what are you going to study?
More later.
short quick answers to
short quick answers to appropriate questions. re Israel: Jews have lived in the middle east since time immemorial. The beginning of the Zionist movement had nothing to do with western powers but was started by Russian Jews over 120 years ago. Great Britain tried to hold back settlers after ww2 (see Exodus film/book). Jews fought to reestablish a homeland on land that was just as traditionally theirs as the arabs. OK that has to do with history, and of course there are many more complexities to it. But Israel is a fact, it is a democratic ally in a sea of trouble.
Re: defending and preparing to defend ourselves. One of Al Quidas big beefs was our troups in Saudi Arabia. Our troops were there after saving an Arab country from unspeakable rape by Sudam Hussein. We didn't hit them hard after the baracks bombings or the Cole. Previous administrations passed up chances to defend the country yet Al Quida changed the game by attacking our homeland and killing 3000 innocents. Being nice doesn't cut it.
After WW1 Hitler wrote Mein Kampf describing in detail what he planned to do, (see the Pres. of Iran today) yet he was allowed to arm beyond treaty requirements, and rearm west of the Rhine, and attack and destroy Chechoslovakai, and the West did little. You could excuse his actions by saying that Germany had been abused by the requirements of the Armistace and should be allowed the above due to this, but this thinking brought on the deaths of 40 million people.
So being nice to the extremists didn't work. Peace is great but you don't get peace by playing nice unless someone is watching your back and unlike the rest of the world we've go no one watching our back.
Possibly a cheesehead for 2 more years
Uncle Tom and Norb,
Very nice to here from both of you. Uncle Tom, I am in the process of applying to Mechanical Engineering grad school here at Wisconsin. Hopefully I'll be here for 2 more years, but I hope to move back east after that. I miss the Ocean too much to stay in the mid west. Also, sorry to invade your blog with my overly long commment! Uncle Norb, last time I saw your house it was still in the process of being set up. I would love to come see it next time I visit Schenectady.
Sorry if some of my facts are wrong, I sometimes mess that up. In my reply I was referring to the creation of Israel as a state in 1948. I was just pointing out that when people come in and set up state bondaries they often don't match up with existing ethnic boundaries, and this can lead to trouble. I feel that this trouble led to some hard feelings towords our country. I know that the root of Jewish and Muslim history go back since the start of recorded history. I didn't mean to belittle the value of Israel as or ally. It is an important friend and can't be ignored. Someday, when things get better and I have the resources, I hope to visit there, it must be a beutiful place with all that history. I have a few friends who went there on birth-right trips and said it was incredible.
Also, I find nothing wrong with responding to extreemist groups. All I was trying to get across is that we examine the reasons of why people feel so strongly against us and see if there is anything we can do to prevent those feelings in the future so that it won't necessarily be a world riddled with terrorists. I don't know all the facts and I just feel that we need to do better to try to get at the root of the problem, which I feel we strayed away from today. Anyways, great to hear from both of you, and I hope to see you soon!
The Midwest
Our trips to chicago have made me appreciate the Midwest, and made me think it would be a nice place to live. But I don't think I have given adequate thought to the absence of ocean. and anyway, I think its a little late in my day to think I am going to move anywhere! there have been soem days that I think if I started driving west, I would just keep on going and never come back--I think they call that the "geographic cure"--it never solves any of one's problems, because wherever I go I am always there.
I was talking to Dan last night about terrorism, its roots and all. I realized that I have been impatient with people who were asking, particularly after 9/11, "why do they hate us?" I saw that my impatience was because I was making an assumption that the person who asked that question was going to try to accommodate the people who I considered to be the wrong-doers. But that (the accommodation; they are still wrong-doers) is not necessarily the case. We can still try to understand what is causing or driving the terrorism; if it is our open society, our individualism, our democracy, our equal rights for women and minorities, our tolerance of different religious sects, evenour material progress and success, then we are certainly not going to change in the vague hope that this will mollify them. That woudl be going in the wrong direction; many people think we still have a long way to go in that direction, let alone backsliding. Just so long as our attempts to learn the causes of terrorism is not some sort of concession that "We are bad; we deserve it", etc. then I have no problem with it. I also place little stock in taking the terrorists' or their apologists' statements at face value. I thnk my experience as a parent taught me that--kids will always tell you that if you (the parent) would just do, thus and so, the kid will do the right thing; rarely does it work out that way. So we who hear these demands that America must do x, y or z and if we do that the adversary will do the right thing, must always evaluate the action we are asked to take by our own moral standards and not abandon them, simply because we are told that we could influence the outcome by just doing what the person wants.
I'm not sure what topic this addresses, but its what has come out from my reflecting on your posting. hope to hear more from you.
Jeff what a nice response to
Jeff what a nice response to my rather stark comments. I think I was a little tired as I had just finished at work. I'm glad that you're thinking about these important issues.
Did you see the pictures above of the folks in Florida?
but, but, he was real mean
but, but, he was real mean and said women and men might be different