I read quickly, but the great liberal thinkers and posters here are slipping. The analogy to Nazi Germany wasn't made until about the 20th or so post. Usually that's the first thing you howl about.

Being a conservative, I think all liberals have soft heads, present company included. That's my bias, of course, talking, and I say it, believe it or not, with great affection. You may be softheads, but you're OUR softheads, and we'll defend your right to say stupid things forever and ever.   

Regardless, to me, this threat of terrorism is real, and to use an A. Lincoln analogy: the poisonous snake is in your child's bed, as your child is sleeping. What do you do?

You great champions of civil liberties/PC/multi-culturalism/diversity/tolerance and all the other feel-good buzzwords will scream out of the other sides of your mouths if and when another 9/11 happens. Especially if they hit your town. When the snake bites your child, you'll want more than 500 detained, I'll wager.

I am willing to vote for security for my children and their future over some illegal aliens being inconvenienced. The choice is an obvious no-brainer; that liberals can't make the choice is again evidence of shallow and ultimately dangerous thinking.

Last, I nevertheless consider the creative tensions within our laws and Constitution as another sign of native American genius. So I am delighted to read that, and I'm no fan of the organization, ACLU
membership is UP more so now than in the last 20 years or so. Isn't that a great sign of the vitality of this country and and an unerring adherence to that creative tension? I think so, and it makes me feel proud of this country, and gives me one more indication that my children do have a future.

I do wish everyone, in or out of the USA, a peaceful Christmas, or whatever I'm now supposed to call it, with the hope of more to come.