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Hackers: Uncle Sam Wants You!
scraemondaemon writes: "A new TV public service announcement targets U.S. computer hacktivists with a blunt message: Uncle Sam wants you to help fight the war on terrorism. They demonize you and criminalize you and then ask for your help. What's a hacker to do?"
"Ask not, what your country can hack for you. Ask what you can hack for your country"
-The Slashdolt
mp3's are only for those with bad memories
Do I get Stock Options?
- WeaselGod
Eagles may soar, but weasels don't get sucked into jet turbines
simply come to the (insert local large public gathering place here) to pick up your prize!
a trick routinely employed by authorities to catch wanted criminals. they send out a mass mailing to wanted individuals stating they've won something fantastic, and all they have to do is show up to claim it. they show up, and their prize is an all expense stay in levenworth 8-)
of course, i'm sure our government wouldn't do something like this to hackers.
for the motivated, self starter, http://www.shamalbank.com/ is a bank with known bin laden accounts 8-)
not that i'm suggesting anything...
But they don't say how.
For all we know maybe they just want to test biological weapons on us.
Je t'aime Stéphanie
Plus the Marines, Navy and Army have never to my knowledge demonized hackers, I believe that was all the DOJ's doing.
"Earlier this month, a German group known as the Chaos Computer Club publicly appealed to hackers worldwide not to engage in retaliatory hacking in the wake of the terrorist attacks."
Aren't the Afgan's essentially in the stone age? - at least that's what has been spun in the media to us all.
What potential targets would hackers have?
Frankly, I was hoping that there'd be an opportunity for those of us who are old and/or out of shape to do something more to help the war effort than just giving blood. I can't shoot for beans, but I can run cables and configure routers and code and so on and so on. I'd love to do something meaningful.
Go read the actual article. Fret not, they're still demonizing and criminalizing.
(They're asking 'hacktivists' to lay off)
This is just like television, only you can see much further.
six months ago i would never have imagined vint cerf appearing in an ad during a new buffy on upn telling me not to hack web sites in afghanistan.
funny how things change.
go get it
After we haxor his boxen and root his servers and change all of their index.html files, then and ONLY then will Omar Bin Laden and his cohorts know they have been owned.
Their server farms and e-commerce terrorist sites that litter the internet cafes of Afghanistan will feel our rath. Our exploits will decimate their ftp sites and not a single router will go unpunished.
It looks like this can change. If we hackers take up the United States' call for help, it will help garner the positive attention we need to get our views heard. While fighting terrorism, we will also be fighting the image of the "evil" hacker that has been ingrained in the public psyche. I urge you to take this major step. Once hackers become heroes, we will finally be able to stand up against Corporate Interest. Remember, image is everything.
Loneliness is a power that we possess to give or take away forever
It's not so much that they're asking for help... more like "If you're going to spraypaint stuff, at least come to us, and we'll put you to work on a mural or something."
The write-up made it sound like Uncle Sam was putting together a crack commando unit of hackers.
Wow, this sounds like our foreign policy.
Step 1: Fight those bad people.
Step 2: Hey, they could be useful to us.
Step 3: Let's give them tools and have them fight our war for us. Call CNN and let them know about these freedom fighters
Step 4: Hmmmm, they aren't useful to us anymore. Better call CNN and tell them to start calling them bad people again. At least we know who they are now.
Wow. I'm in awe here people. They've got them there hackers pegged!
Wooden armaments to battle your imaginary foes!
While the superficial similarities between rewarding spook hackers and punishing civilian hackers seem sufficient to establish gross hypocrisy on the part of the Federal government, it's in fact little different from the time-honored tradition of our military and other militaries which, for aeons, have hired people to commit the same act of killing that would be punished as murder if it had been committed by a civilian acting without state authorization. Big deal.
What's more, the Sixth Amendment's "double jeopardy" clause is still in effect (one of the few clauses with some teeth left in it after decades of judicial erosion). If the Federal government establishes an arrangement whereby criminal acts are committed by individuals acting under government aegis and with the encouragement of state agents, then those acts cannot be subsequently punished (apart from certain situations such as genocide and other circumscribed offenses). One only need remind oneself of Whitey Bulger (on the FBI's most wanted list) who has gotten the FBI into a bit of a morass by acting as an informant for many years and during those years receiving tacit permission from the FBI to commit all manner of offenses including murder. The egg on the FBI's face hangs pendulously, because the FBI is now without legal recourse to punish those acts.
That glib tone is unbecoming, by the way.
...I thought under the ATA, hackers WERE terrorists! ;)
Let me just start by letting everyone know I live (and am currently typing this) from Manhattan.
I used to dislike cops. THey harassed me, the were disrespectful to me, and messed with my friends.
I take it all back. All of it.
I have a new respect for all police in New York City since the attacks on the world trade center. They, along with the firemen all risked thier lives to help get people out of the buildings as quickly as they could. But, as you know, the building collapsed, trapping thousands (literally) of New York's finest men and women, who selflessly gave thier lives to help the rest of us.
Now, when I see a police man on the street, I smile at him. He is ensuring my safety, and the safety of others.
Now, its our turn. Sure, the government may have "demonized" us before. But times are fundamentally different now. This is not about image, or public policy, this is about honest to god people. People's lives, thousands, mabey millions of people, are at risk. I for one will do ANYTHING, yes ANTHING, the government needs done. (And yes, if they have enough tech people, I will gladly go to the front line in Afganistan, or Iraq, or wherever).
It is now our turn to step up, and help defend our country.
Make no mistake, our society, our values, the very things that allowed us to achieve such levels of science and technology, is under attack.
Lets show those bastards they messed with the wrong people
--Alex Fishman
Vint Cerf was interviewed on NPR's Public Interest yesterday. You can listen to it in RealAudio here. He makes a great case for how the Internet was put its first real test of the original intention of using packet switching, which was to ensure a reliable method of communication in the event of an enemy attack here on US soil - and passed the test pretty well, with the exception of some of the major media sites being slashdotted.
He is joined by George Sadowski, Executive Director of the Global Internet Policy Initiative, GIPI.
Work for Change & GET PAID!
The FBI and CIA have been known to do turnabouts on hackers. Just ask Max Vision. The gov't fought long and hard to demonize and criminalize even the whitest hats of hacking, and Ashcroft's pushing to get them labeled as terrorist acts on top of that.
The DoD's had it's fair share of smudged histories. Be Alert. Keep your pistol handy.
Yes, you can be useful in combatting terrorism. Just make sure you know where the line is getting drawn and be on the correct side of it.
And realize that some of combatting terrorism may go against projects you've been supporting, like anonymous remailers, strong crypto for everyone, anti-censorship protections, and the elusive set of projects working to enable dissidents in countries such as China to safely communicate with the outside world. These and other tools can also be used by the bad guys, and will no doubt become targets.
Returned Peace Corps IT Volunteer
Buffy the Vampire slayer? What do they want the high school 3l33t hack0r3?
:)
The perfect opportunity is tonight on UPN when the new Star Trek premiers.
Sheesh.
If I was ever actually drafted to fight in a war, I know the DOD would rather have a talented computer programmer than another warm body in the front lines. Besides, it takes 3 years to train a soldier to do his (or her) job well.
Ummm, yeah. Right.
Be careful, here. US Marine Corps Boot Camp is 13 weeks, plus anoth 12 weeks of advanced infantry training. That's just over six months, start to finish. Training HVPI's (High Velocity Projective Interceptors) doesn't take three years at all. How is that possible, when the Army has a two-year contract for an Infantry position?
And, as a former Marine, I would state that any "talented computer hacker" who knows nothing about the actual operations of the military would be better off catching bullets than writing bugs.
- Hans
Weaseling out of things is important to learn. It's what separates us from the animals... except the weasel. -
You've never been in the military I take it? Let me fill you in. It don't mean squat what you know when you go in. Yes you could get lucky and they make use of your computer skills, but I've seen plenty of people with technical skills get plopped right in the infantry. I've even seen people sign up for technical training, receive it, and THEN get sent to infantry school. When you sign the contract, all they gaurantee you is training in a particular MOS (miltary occupational specialty). It does NOT mean that's how you will be assigned. If combat arms needs bodies, that's where you go. Three years to train a soldier? Where'd you get that from? You go from raw recruit to front line soldier in 12 weeks. And this is in the peacetime military, where the need for combat soldiers is not so great. In a draft situation, you're pretty much gauranteed nice comfy accomodations in a foxhole.
-Jeff
-Vercingetorix
"Necessitas non habet legem." -St. Augustine
Yeah, what's up with corporations thinking it's okay to act like some kind of authority figure? I'm getting kinda tired of it.
Anybody here work in advertising or media produciton? If you want to serve your country organize a "I Call Bullshit" ad campaign. So we all chip in cash and run ads to address all the misinformation put out by the spin doctors in the government. Fight fire with fire.
I've got 23 dollars to chip in.
Samsung took back my unlocked bootloader because Google wants me to rent movies. They're both evil.
In WWII Alan Turing was recruited by the allies for his mathematical genius. He essentially saved the world from fascism, and afterwards he was demonized and led to suicide by a government that disagreed with his lifestyle.
The government has been known to do turnabouts. Just ask Osama Bin Laden.
I rejoice that there are owls.
OK, so a week ago we have the FBI complaining that /bin/laden has given up on his satellite phones and computers in favour of sending messengers on camels (or whatever, apologies for lame western stereotyping) since they can't be wiretapped. Now: Please r00t his servers for us.
.Net takes it up the arse... well, they're going to know whose door to break down, aren't they?
Piss poor. And anyway, a whole bunch of people are going to want a whole load of legal protection for what they know before they will do this. I mean, spend the next six months breaking terrorists servers apart and in a years time when
But if anyone goes for this: good luck. I do have some pretty serious problems with piling into Afghanistan and blowing shit up; but no moral qualms whatsoever when it comes to merely trashing terrorists ability to operate.
Dave
I write a blog now, you should be afraid.
It they were hiring at the NSA or FBI it would be far more attractive. They could use some new blood from what they *say*. Joining a semi-approved vigilante organization is different. The alphabet agencies are somewhat well known for using and discarding people with plausible deniability, like Noreiga for example.
It's all whether they are really looking for people to protect the Internet, or to help them with the Big Brother program. Some of the provisions of the ATA are nonsensical -- they help the terrorists more than us. They are all very nifty domestic surveillance measures however. So I'm not following any leaders until this measure is finalized. If you want to protect the Internet what could be better, for now, than protecting your own systems?
The ATA makes it life in prison without chance for parole for defacing a web site. While I agree that action is illegal, I am not in favor of paying taxes to support the script-kiddies for life.
If you'd like to help them decide here's a petitition getting broad bipartisan support.
In Defense Of Freedom
At least, I hope it was a joke. There is nothing to attack in Afghanistan.. The Taliban banned the internet a while back because it permitted access to "immoral content". Afghanistan doesn't have an information infrastructure, much less one that connects to the big wide world.
Check out the .af domain sometime. Totally barren. That's what makes this whole thing so ridiculous.
This
You think they'd have messed with 767's if they had nukes? This isn't a game.
You think they'd have done anything at all if the CIA, through Pakistan's ISI, hadn't trained them to be extremists? Like you said, this isn't a game - I just wish states and their "intelligence" arms would realize that next time someone involved with them feels like installing a military junta or training "freedom fighters" to "uphold policy". Nations in both East and West are guilty of this, and until these deadly cloak-and-dagger games of subversion and manipulation stop, there will be more incidents involving "blowback," where innocent civilians - like WTC employees, and women in Afghanistan - get caught in the crossfire of others who should know better.
And you wonder why people trust their governments less and less...
Someday, you're going to die. Get over it.
Actually, this is a worse joke than either of you realize... Bin Laden's organization is called Al-Qaeda, which translates to "The Base"...
My advice is that as many people in the hacker community that can, should help out the old .gov people in winning this 1st war of the 21st century and/or help out the less technically inclined NGO's doing disaster response in NY and DC. It is the patriotic thing to do. It is the right thing to do, and that should be enough reason.
.gov groups are the same ones that have misunderstood and/or demonized technology and the hacking community in the past. So what. It's still the right thing to do to pitch in and help, even if you don't like some of the people who will be on the team. If hackers are magnanimous here, then maybe some of those old political adversaries could be educated and shown that hackers are not criminals (those would be crackers). This could be an opportunity to win the "hearts and minds" of some local .gov people in addition to the ones we'll be fighting for in Afghanistan, the Sudan, and Iraq.
.gov how patriotic and productive the hacking community is. Ask Dr. Gerald Bull about the hazards of doing favors for the gov't in secret. Joe and Jane Sixpack need to be won over as well. Buy a book on public relations for small organizations; befriend a reporter; do a little of that social engineering to make sure that when the media is talking about what groups are doing what to help out, they mention your work as well. I am not suggesting that PR should take priority over actually helping out, but rather that with a little extra effort this is an opportunity to kill two birds with one stone. An opportunity that may not come again soon.
Many of these
But don't just take this opportunity to show
And besides, even if no one but you ever knows what you did... donating time and effort to help the war efforts and/or disaster victims is still the right thing to do.
The English tried this before... giving ships the right to be privateers, attack their opponents, and keep the loot. When the war ended, the government took back the permission, and pirates were born.
I'm not an USA citizen, but if I was, that's what I'd do: write an open letter to the Govt, saying I'd be happy to help if they (a) nullify the DMCA, (b) nullify the Sonny Bono Act, (c) abort the SSSCA and (d) FIRE ASHCROFT!
Publish on a Web site. Ask for signatures. Make clear that the signers DO mean to enlist if the above happens.
As I said, I'm not from the US, so it'd be weird if I made such page myself. Anyone who likes the suggestion, fell free to go ahead. The idea is hereby placed in the public domain.
Exclusive: Crackers Prepare Retaliation for Tues. Terrorist Attacksl ?d ocid=3030000000002974
www.govtech.net/news/features/news_feature.phtm
(take out the extra space between d and o)
Crackers Prepare Retaliation for Tues. Terrorist Attacks
www.newsbytes.com/news/01/170117.html
These stories from last week are probably what brought about this PSA.
Seriously though, the slippery slope arguent with regard to civil liberties is vary difficult to make, since based on that argument, organizations such as the ACLU and other organizations have had to defend all sorts of morally reprehensible (yet still legal) activities/things/people, to such a degree as to alienate a large portion of the population. This effect of having to act based on the slippery slope argument, has resulted in members of the news media recently making statements such as those on the ABC sunday discussion program This Week, which were to the effect (and not an exact quote):These light treatments by the news media, of the civil liberties issues around the right to privacy, as manifested by the ability to use cryptographic mechanisms in communication, are inexcusable. Unfortunately, here I suppose I'm preaching to the choir.
--CTH
--Got Lists? | Top 95 Star Wars Line
As others have pointed out, the U.S. government is not advocating cracker attacks; it's "Cyberangels."
How come when the "major media" get stuff wrong, it's due to pro-corporate bias and part of an evil conspiracy, but when michael or someone else on Slashdot publishes falsehoods, it's an honest mistake?
Which is it?
EXT - NAMELESS AFGHAN PLAIN - MORNING.
An Apache helicopter settles onto the barren plain. Out from it emerge three plain males. They wear an assortment of camouflage combined with curious t-shirts, with sayings like "I don't work here" and "will frag for bandwidth".
Just as Geek1 begins to aim his machine gun at JonKatz, to put an end to his ravings once and for all, a crazed member of the Taliban comes flying over the desert horizon. He is screaming something.
The Geeks all stop and look at him. Terror strikes into their very hearts and souls. The words of their enemy shock them into utter panic. The three begin to flee in the opposite direction, now heading directly into a minefield. Geek1 stops running, a serene expression coming across his face. He grabs Geek2's shoulder by his t-shirt, quietly, allowing JonKatz to continue to flee further into the minefield. The two geeks turn to face their adversary, brandishing their weapons with a newfound confidence and sense of purpose. JonKatz vanishes over the horizon, screaming wildly.
CUT TO...
"You think they'd have messed with 767's if they had nukes?"
Hell yes! The goal of these extremists is to destabalize the US and give their own forces a chance to set up what is essentially a police state across the Muslim world. Think of the Iron Curtain back in the bad old days.
Stratfor.com suggests that bin Laden and his peers feel that they can get the US out of the picture by dragging the US into another Vietnam-esque war, destabalizing the US government as Americans get pissed off once again at the meat grinder war a conventional invasion of Afghanistan would turn out to be.
The reason such an invasion of Afghanistan would be such a pain is because we need to borrow other countries' airspace (if not ground bases). A nuclear attack by these terrorists, on the other hand, would justify a nuclear response by the US on the terrorsits and their sponsor countries (legally if not morally). ICBMs don't need to travel through anybody's airspace but ours and the target's. We might be nice and borrow Pakistan's airspace just long enough to send over B-52s to drop leaflets warning civilians near targets to get out of the way, but that's it.
When it's all over, instead of taking over the Islamic world, there may not be an Islamic world for these people to take over.
These people may be cruel, but they're not stupid. They know they need a US hampered by it's own morality/decadence/sloth (depends on your point of view) than MIRVs raining down on their heads.
You know the drill: They have a bunch of felons at large. Rather than try to serve warrants on them singly, they just send out a mailer. "Congratulations! You'vewon tickets to the Superbowl! Now all you have to do to claim your prize is show up at the stadium on such and such a date and get your picture taken!" And the dumb 'cons' fall for it every time... So go ahead, send them your resumes. Then they'll know where you live and can drag you in for questioning any time they want.
Besides, is this something you want to be supporting?
You're using her as bait, Master!
As a Brit that has been living in the States for the last couple of months I've had the opportunity to experience the behaviour of the US media and the government first hand, and to be honest it makes me sick. Let's get a few things straight:
.mil or a .gov.
- America is the largest producer and exporter of weapons on the planet.
- America has the largest arsenal of nuclear and toxic weapeons on the planet.
- America is the largest producer and exportor of torture equipment on the planet.
- America is the largest producer and exportor of anti-personnel landmines on the planet.
America supports more oppressive regimes around the world than anyone else, as and when it suits them. A while ago they were supplying the Iraqis with weapons. Then they went after them. During the Russo-Afghan war, they were funding, supplying and even training the very afghans that are now described as 'evil'. 20 years ago they were called freedom fighter. Now they are deemed 'evil'.
Two weeks ago hacking was illegal. Now it's OK, just as long as it's not a
Just because you are not shooting at someone doesn't mean your actions are peaceful. This is another attempt by the American government to whip up what is already a frenzy of 'They're evil! Get them!' sentiment.
If people had the foresight to try and work out *why* the events of the 11th happened, then maybe we could make some progress. As it is we'll be bombarded with the same old footage of disaster and death followed by Bush claiming that these people are 'evil'.
No doubt people will start port-scanning the few afghan/islamic websites that are around. Maybe while you are waiting you go to Amazon and buy The Plague by Camus. Oh, and switch of CNN.
Invoicing, Time Tracking, Reporting
I saw a letter about this in the most recent (summer 2001, p. 52) issue of 2600. It is as follows...
"Dear 2600: I was going to send you an e-mail two weeks ago stating that we should channel many of our frustrations with the U.S. justice system toward our adversaries, i.e., China. All of us in the U.S. hacker community are still U.S. citizens. Let us not completely denounce our country. We can utilize our special skills in a constructive manner that is conducive to U.S. information warfare policy. Later, we may use this as legal leverage for future legislation. -ICFN PMP
*response* As one of many such messages we got from the Navy, let us remind you that hackers are not soldiers and are far too individualistic and free-thinking to buy into jingoistic nonsense, regardless of the source. You should seriously consider the effects of reducing hackers to the equivalent of some kind of weapon. It will only increase paranoia and fear. And we find it extremely telling that the authorities, the media, and apparantly a whole lof of people in the military feel it's OK to vandalize sites if it's done for nationalistic purposes."
(As an aside, there's an interesting picture of an Ewok holding a rifle behind the article)
It would seem quite hypocritical for us (typical /. posters), who are so against Big Brother poking his nose into our business to turn right back around and do EXACTLY the same thing to other members of the US public. I seriously doubt "fighting terrorism" involves busting into a secret (insert arabic country here) computer and taking vital military plans. Rather, it will involve spying on your neighbors and seeking internal 'threats,' probably in ways which violate the 4th amendment to the constitution.
A different kind of animal
Be an American and fight for our survival.
Rather odd to hear "Che Guevarra" say that, considering he was executed by the CIA in Bolivia in 1967.
In the grand tradition of governments and hackers as usual. They do everything they can to criminalize us and demonize us, and now they want our help. Will they reward us the same way the British government rewarded Alan Turing, by "treating" his homosexuality "disease?"
If you're a hacker, my suggestion to you is that you don't just help out of the goodness of your heart. Fair is fair: Demand just compensation, in the form of pro-hacker legislation and ditching the DMCA and the laws that are currently on the table. If they want hacker help, they're going to have to change the laws to be more hacker friendly.
It's that simple, folks. If they don't support you, you don't support them. If the USA really wants hackers to help them, the first thing the USA can do is to help the hackers.
"All your Al-Qaeda (the base) are belong to U.S."
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
-Bob
America this, America that. Isn't this the same Uncle Sam that creates messes like the DMCA and SSSCA? Isn't this the same Uncle Sam that's trying to keep us all from using GPG and copy files? And now this Uncle Sam comes crawling back to us hackers and ask for us to help him?
Go ahead and mod me down, but it has to be said. Uncle Sam is not the entity to be helping. He's become old, senile, and tyrannical. If it we up to him, all hackers would be in jail! So instead he's giving us a choice: work for me or get labeled a terrorist. I think not. I don't know about other Slashdot readers, but I've about had it with these shenanigans.
I don't care if Uncle Sam wants to hunt me down, but I'm keeping my 31337 5k1Llz to myself. If I get drafted I'll move to Canada or get a sex change. (Why is it that only males are drafted?)
Anyway, I'm pissed. Uncle Sam can shove it where the sun don't shine.
Join the Slashcott! Stay away entirely Feb 10 thru Feb 17! Close all tabs to prevent autorefresh!
> Now I know what to do with all those AOL CD's..
Next time you're in a plane, and some crazed fanatical "Holy Warrior" threatens you with a box cutter, take out the AOL CDs, distrubute them among the passengers and break them apart.
Voila, now everybody is armed with sharp CD fragments ready to impale the "Holy Warriors".
See, AOL CDs are very useful. Thank you AOL !
- sigs are for wimps.
Hmm...Last week they were calling hackers terrorists, this week they're telling them to identify themselves. Seems a bit suspicious to me...like you're going to be doing the aforementioned hacking from within a jail cell
I know that there have been a lot of movies that have portraid hackers to be the bad guys, but there have also been some shows that portray them as the good guys. Independance day where he hacked the enemy and blew up the mother ship. The movie hackers where they saved the oiltanker. I think one of the big reasons that hackers got such a bad rap was that movie with mathew brodrick in it that portraid hackers as bad guys and the goverment was trying to lock them up, rather than getting his help.
Now being a war vetran myself (Desert Storm), I can tell you that if the goverment wants to recruit hackers then I'd say that is probably the best way to serve your country. You would probably not have to fire a gun, you could do what you like, and if htey are understanding and don't get in your way (hahaha) then you can pretty much write your own ticket at that point. Anyway I'd do it, if I were a hacker.
Only 'flamers' flame!
Translation, "Script kiddies and trolls put down your keyboards." Not a bad thing to ask, and the appeal to patriotism is nice too. The message is consistent with others, such as making DOS attacks and cracks a terrorist offense with a real death penalty. "Doodz, you got the death penalty?", not to funny anymore and much less nice.
You don't really think the US government wants to hire out 10,000 script kiddies do you? What, with every CS teacher, National Lab researcher and defense contractor willing to jump right in the US has no shortage of computer operators. OK, they might use one or two. Warrez operators please report to the office of cracker mobilization right next door to the Imigration and Nationalization Free Refridgerator Service Office for Illegal Aliens.
Give it up, bitches! Turn off your crack bots and behave. Carry out useful and constructive protests instead. In the end, survival is cultural victory, so build up rather than tear down.
Friends don't help friends install M$ junk.
Just want to correct the false statement. Soviet Union did not "invade" Afganistan. They went there to stop the civil war and restore the communist government. And where did you get the information that Soviet Union wanted to invade Saudi Arabia?
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
Bingo. Turing served a government that demonized him.
Hackers shouldn't provide the same blind devotion. If the US Government really wants help from hackers, the first thing the US Government can do is STOP DEMONIZING THE HACKERS! Drop the DMCA, drop the case against Dmitry, drop the new laws being introduce that criminalize the use of a computer for everything but shopping on eBay, and GIVE US SOME GUARANTEES THAT OUR FREEDOMS WILL BE PROTECTED!
If the US Government wants our aid, they need to make efforts to indicate their good faith towards us. And they have a LOT of catching up to do.
I'll be the biggest patriot you've ever seen when the Liberty this country is supposed to stand for is restored to me. It is Liberty that makes the country great, not the fact that it happens to be (out of some random chance) where I was born, live, and work.
Subject line says it all.
sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f(q{sub f{($f)=@_;print"$f(q{$f});";}f});
NateKid said: If you let one bombing change your opinions about ANYTHING (other than stiffer package checks at the airport), Osama Bin Laden has completely won. The poiont of terrorism is to instill terror in civilians and in your case it looks like they've succeeded.
Some have said that allowing the attacks to change the way we think is wrong, and I think that argument is flawed.
People are more grateful for the good things they have and grateful for those who have survived. They are more aware of the world they live in, aware that vigilance is necessary and that freedom is not always easy.
Not learning anything from events is a backward step in evolution.
Humans attempt to learn, to improve ourselves, it's what we do.
And that includes improvements in airport security *and* gratitude replacing taken-for-granted attitudes towards the police.
fosh said: Sure, the government may have "demonized" us before.
Putting aside the past mistakes of the police when they ask for your help (showing that you in fact can help and are capable) is putting aside pettiness for something more important, something constructive.
Pettiness begets fighting and achieves very little.
Maybe not all cops are heroes, but very little in this world is absolute. Be grateful for the good things you have and do what you can to change the bad things, without becoming bad yourself.
If you want to improve the police force, do something positive like joining it and doing it right.
Hah! That's true only insofar as the bases in Saudi Arabia were built for the purpose of attacking Iraq in the Gulf War, which chronologically was after Soviet Union had moved into Afganistan. It was also after Soviet Union had moved out :-) By no means was it a result of the war in Afganistan.
This is exactly what pissed off Osama bin Laden, BTW -- the presence of US troops in the holy land and their continued attacks on Iraq.
___
If you think big enough, you'll never have to do it.
That's odd, I was fairly sure that bin Laden's beliefs prevented him from keeping his money in banks, because they pay interest and interest is evil. I guess if he can pervert Islam into blowing up buildings with planes, he can have his money in a bank... but that does seem very uncharacteristic of him.
I don't know who pulled that uncle sam refference out of thin air, but I've been all over the cyberangels website, they *aren't* the government, just a standard non-profit organization. No where do they claim any connection to the government, which is what the figure head of "uncle sam" traditionally represents.