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The US is not encumbered by the the need to observe international treaties.

1) Yes, they most certainly are, in every practical sense.

From the first page of a Google search. You can educate yourself by reading further, or not, I don't care, but you are incorrect.
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2009/0926-IranPlant.html
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0311-NPT.html
http://www.unitedstatesgovernment.net/violatinginternationaltreaties.htm
http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2009/07/nuclear-non-proliferation-treaty.html
http://rwor.org/a/110/greatest-proliferator-en.html

2) Judging from this and other posts, you're just short of being a moron.

Oh dear! You think so? I'll consider where that is coming from, sort of a catch-22.
If a moron calls you a moron, does a tree fall in the forest?

The US is not encumbered by the the need to observe international treaties.

1) Yes, they most certainly are, in every practical sense.

From the first page of a Google search. You can educate yourself by reading further, or not, I don't care, but you are incorrect.
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2009/0926-IranPlant.html
http://www.twf.org/News/Y2003/0311-NPT.html
http://www.unitedstatesgovernment.net/violatinginternationaltreaties.htm
http://defense-and-freedom.blogspot.com/2009/07/nuclear-non-proliferation-treaty.html
http://rwor.org/a/110/greatest-proliferator-en.html

2) Judging from this and other posts, you're just short of being a moron.

Oh dear! You think so? I'll consider where that is coming from, sort of a catch-22.
If a moron calls you a moron, does a tree fall in the forest?

It has already been done. There was the EgyptAir Flight 990.. EgyptAir Flight 990..
From the transcript of the cockpit voice recorder.

0150:05.89 I rely on God.

0150:06.37 what's happening? what's happening?

0150:07.07 I rely on God.

0150:07.11 [sound of numerous thumps and clinks continue for approximately fifteen seconds]

0150:08.20 [repeating hi-low tone similar to Master Warning aural start and continues to the end of recording]

0150:08.48 I rely on God.

0150:08.53 what's happening?

0150:15.15 what's happening, Gamil? what's happening?

Ultimately you have to be able to trust the people on the flight deck. That didn't do the people on Air France Flight 447. Considering that NTSB investigations put most of the blame on pilot error, they ultimately have the responsibility for your safety. What sense does it make to run them through a nudeo-scan 5000 or a metal detector at all? there's also hundreds of employees at every major airport who have access to the aircraft and maintenance systems. At some point you have to trust them with your safety as well. I'd trade a metal detector for a breathalyzer test for them though.

The problem with the TSA, and as has been pointed out many times, is that they're are looking for the last thing that terrorists tried. Underwear bombers necessitate nudeo-scans. Richard Reid had a little explosive in his shoes, so now they have to be x-rayed. Somebody thought that somebody was trying to mix liquids so now no baby formula through the scanners.

I fly, 2 to 4 times a week and I'll tell you what the biggest problem with airline security is: It's the people of the TSA, the lack of consistency and the don't care attitude. Yes, they would like to be doing something else, perhaps flipping burgers or selling insurance but they wound up with a blue uniform checking 1000s of passengers a day who don't like the whole process. They also don't pay attention as well. Here's a true story, I go to the self service machine to check in, get my boarding pass. I go through the line and proceed to my gate. When boarding the plane the gate scanner doesn't "beep" to indicate that I'm okay to board. Why? I have somebody else's boarding pass with their name on it. The guy at the TSA line who looked at it and my ID and me, didn't say a word. Wow, talk about making me feel safe?

Here's what has to happen, get viscous dogs, guys in cammos and start walking the lines. If the next terrorist is in that line you can bet he'd start sweating and then spot, not the TSA SPOT, can do the rest.

In 1987 a bill to place the Fairness Doctrine into federal law passed the House by 3 to 1, and the Senate by nearly 2 to 1, but it was vetoed by President Ronald Reagan. Among those voting for the bill were Rep. Newt Gingrich (R-Ga.) and Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.). In 1989 the Fairness Doctrine easily passed the House again, but didn't proceed further as President George Bush threatened to veto it. In 1991, hearings were again held on the doctrine, but President Bush's ongoing veto threat stymied passage.

Hurricanes? Try http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2 005/09/02/national/w142153D44.DTL or a similar story where he admits the faults in his administration in responding. Wars? I don't think I need to give a link, W had at least a little to do with a war or two in recent history. I don't know what you're referring to with the drugs, however. No one makes that claim. Gore's loss? Well, yeah, that would be largely because of W. W's fault that the rest of the world hates us? http://www.twf.org/News/Y2002/1109-Poll.html isn't scientific, but it shows some attitude about this in lieu of a scientific European poll that I can't currently find. The main point, however, is that it was said the US and China are similar in one particular aspect. All of your later sarcastic comments are invalid by that same virtue, although you apparently knew that the author only meant it in that one respect. Adherence to treaties, or lack thereof, does not mean that the US has re-education camps. No one is saying that the United States and China are "practically the same country".

Yes, Egypt is on the list. It receives more US military aid than any country on Earth except Israel.

"Military dictatorship with a ruthless secret police. Routinely tortures and murders opponents. Many thousands in political prisons. Censored press. Sham parliament. As in the case of Iran under the late Shah Reza Pahlavi, FBI, CIA, and NSA all assist Egypt's secret police in repressing opposition and keeping the military regime in power." - Eric Margolis

Don't forget Uzbekistan; one of the worst.

"...the US government has tripled its aid to Karimov. Last year, he received $500m (300m), of which $79m went to the police and intelligence services, who are responsible for most of the torture." - George Monbiot

There are places where the US government makes a token effort to support human rights. The Middle East and central Eurasia are not among those places.

"The more places terrorists can live and train the more likely we are to be attacked again. So, the best way to defend against the next WTC attack is to take away the hiding places."

What like Texas?

Maybe not. But, I have an idea of how good it should be, and we're not there. Don't take offense if it seems to me that you have no idea how bad we have it from just a few short years ago.

Until you've seen the face of a person terrified at the idea of meeting any police, or a person shaking after getting a ticket, or a person afraid to talk to anyone in government, then you should talk.

I can guess by your lack of experience that you're without a permanent tan and haven't been pulled out of line by airport security for having one. Not through any fault of yours, as we are all birthed in our skin by chance. I would submit that freedom isn't a state of being, but a continuous struggle against those who hypocritically only value their own rights while disregarding yours. Freedom isn't very anything. It simply is or isn't happening. It can start or it can stop. The freedom to access a lawyer when your arrest has been categorized as a "terrorist action" has stopped.

We are free. We are very free. You can walk up to the White House and picket it. You can drive your truck with a rifle in the back. You can say what you want on the Internet. You can read the books you want.

Anyone can do any of the things you've mentioned and more. It is simply a matter of the consequences that becomes the deterence to those activities. Even expressing yourself on the internet can be a dangerous proposition. To keep this reply short and educational, I'll simply point you to a source you can learn from.

Even if another terrorist attack occurs, do you think they're going to take these liberties away? No. The government won't. In fact, they can't. Because people like myself speak up and let people like you know what is going on.

You're statement has a naivete that is almost charming. On the other hand, it is also a sad indictment of our public schools' failure to teach history in any meaningful manner. This failure is one the reasons why historical events repeat themselves in such tight, short cycles in the U.S., which is reflected so heavily in our foreign policies.

Our founding fathers knew what they were doing a hell of a lot better than you give them credit for.

I give them all the credit. Many of them are my heroes. Unfortunately, they are dead. The dead cannot defend their dreams. Its up to you and me to defend them at home, so that bad things don't happen to other people.

= 9J =

• some history for you.
• the US govt imprisons more of its own citizens per capita than any other country in the world, and the number of children in us prisons is on the rise. Many of these prisons would rate as "horrific", especially for kids.
• There are many documented instances of the US gassing their own people. here's just one and didn't the russians just gas their own people too? and for the record those kurds supposedly gassed by Iraq were actually gassed by Iran with US and british supplied weapons.
• actually the US does execute miltary officers by the hundreds. in fact the US executed thousands of retreating iraqi soldiers in 1991. Not onlty that but the US is guilty of political assasination, car bombing, torture, and general mayhem associated with their ongoing war of terror. I mean Nixon and Kissinger and Rumsfeld actually extended the vietnam war (95% civillian casualties) by years just to get Nixon elected.
• and finally to say the US doesn't repress free speech is too much of a joke. even google is staffed by NSA spooks. self censorship is at an all time high - wake up and smell what your are shovelling. If the press in the US were really free you'd probably know a bit more about your own evil soaked government and their clients.

- Demand regime change in the USA now.

http://www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/fbi m.htm
http://csf.colorado.edu/pen-l/2000IV/msg03767.html
http://www.twf.org/News/Y1999/1130-SecretEvidence. html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/1999/oct1999/ins-o22. shtml
http://www.fas.org/irp/news/1999/02/990222-in.htm

There are obvious biases involved, but I leave it up to you to figure out the current state of our democratic institutions.