Cluin and Kat,

What seems to be missing here is the admission that the U.S. is on a war footing now. They didn't choose it; it was forced on them by a series of pretty nasty terrorist attacks and I for one think they have a right to defend themselves.

Do I like what has to be done? No. I'm a firm believer in personal rights — a damn sight more strongly, I dare say, than the cradle-to-grave neo-monarchist fuzzheads who call themselves "Liberals" today.

But I'm also a realist. If you have to inconvenience 100,000 people to find one bent on killing 10, I think it's a pretty good tradeoff. There are a lot of fine, upstanding people in the U.S. and Canada who happen to believe in Islam. There are also some crazies who believe the West in general and the U.S. in particular are the spawn of the devil. If you can tell me a really good way to sort those out without doing some watching and identifying and tracking, I'd love to hear it. I'll bet Homeland Security would, too.

As for Kat's protest: No Kat, it won't do much to stop the home-bred crazies, but I still don't see the logic in identifying two nuts out to kill you, finding a way to stop one of them and refusing to use it because it won't stop both.
Sorry, lady, but if I've got people shooting at me from two directions, I won't hesitate to shoot back at the one I can see just because I can't see the other.

cheers,

david