Fort Dix Hero: Am I A Racist?

If anyone thinks there is any validity to claims that Muslims need special protections against so-called whistle blowers based upon the Fort Dix incident and revelations around a video tape that brought the group to the attention of the FBI - read this Post exclusive. It wasn't the first time the group of ten bearded men had been seen lingering outside the store. What's frightening is his hesitation and that someone in the teen's position might need protection by legislation against being sued.

Eventually, the group - who'd been seen standing outside earlier that January 2006 week - selected two men to go inside while the rest waited in the parking lot, an employee who was outside smoking at the time recalled.

Once inside, the two men approached the television section of the electronics store where videos could be transferred to DVD and copies could be made.

They handed the teenage clerk a mini-cassette tape from a camcorder and asked for a $20 transfer to be made to DVD. As they waited, the two men calmly walked around the store looking at televisions, video games and DVDs.

What they didn't know was that they had sealed their ultimate fate.

When the teen and another employee went into a back room and began the conversion of the tape, they saw a group of bearded men wearing "fundamentalist attire" and shooting "big, f-ing guns," the teen later told co-workers.

Throughout the 90-minute-long tape, above the booming gunfire at a Pennsylvania target range, the jihadists could be heard screaming "God is great!"

The two employees "freaked out," their co-worker recalled.

At first, the teenage clerk didn't know what to do, his pal said.

"Dude, I just saw some really weird s-," he frantically told his co-worker. "I don't know what to do. Should I call someone or is that being racist?"

The fellow employee tried to calm his friend and told him that if what he saw terrified him so much, he should tell the police.

The teen first consulted with a manager before making the 911 call.

FBI agents got a copy of the tape from Circuit City, and went to the teen's house and interviewed him at length.

Comments

[Zifnab]

You highlight the most obscure passages.

"At first, the teenage clerk didn't know what to do, his pal said."

Why did you not bold "At first" and "his pal said"? This is the most random bolding I have ever read.

[southdakotaboy]

The most important part of this is the idea that this kid was frozen in fear of doing something because he was afraid of being called a racist. He was scared to the point of almost not reporting dangerous behavior. That is what libs have done to us. They have made many people frightened to the point that they will not lift a finger to defend themselves.

[Purple Avenger]

"This is the most random bolding I have ever read."

Yours was the most random blog comment I've ever read. When bolding is the best criticism you can come up with, you're in trouble.

[Cindi]

I recently read an article about legislation being considered in Congress to protect people against being sued for reporting suspicious behavior. Seemed to come about after the 3 Imans were ejected from a flight. Anyone else?

[seekeronos]

Cindi, that would be the best legislation to come out of WahooLand (Congress) in a long time. I betcha it gets buried though, if Frau Führerin Pelosi and Harry Ried have anything to say about it.

[Cindi]

Aaahaaa found it.

"The case prompted House Republicans on Tuesday to insert a shield law for "John Does" into a rail safety bill. The legislation would protect passengers against lawsuits for reporting suspicious behavior that foreshadows a terrorist attack".
http://www.washingtontimes.com/national/20070330-114945-6888r.htm

[shimmy]

So, the terror of liberalism is that the clerk took some time to think about the strange video that he saw. Which didn't seem to threaten immediate, impending danger. He asked his friend, and his friend said to trust his instincts, and call the police if he thought he should. So he did, after checking with his manager, and after thinking about whether or not to make a very serious charge concerning a serious and complex world situation.

Huh.

Terrible.

[Mwalimu Daudi]

No, shimmy, the terror of liberalism is that the clerk might get sued in the Holy Name of "tolerance" for helping to catch a bunch of terrorists. And since when is blatent terrorism a "serious and complex world situation"? I guess that it's "complex" if you are not the target.

I think seekeronos is right. As far as this Democrat Congress is concerned, the more terrorism the better - so long as Bush gets the blame for "not stopping it".

[Brian]

If this kid's first instinct was worried about being viewed as a racist, then it appears that CAIR and the liberal left's tactics have been more effective than I thought.

[Artbyruth]

According to Hugh Hewitt, this kid is a "bigot" for attacking someone's religious beliefs. Apparently, we are not allowed to questions someone's faith anymore or we get labeled.

So glad this kid went against the grain........

[Cindi]

What this young person displayed is called critical thinking. Weighing his needs/personal safety/job security against the greater good. Way to go kid.

[godfodder]

Artbyruth:
If people like you were less interested in scoring cheap political points, this country would be A LOT better off.

The point of this story is that we ALL have to work together to prevent a mass murder, like 9/11. The point is NOT that we all have to dream up convoluted "arguments" to catch the Republicans (or is it the Democrats?) in some vague contradiction. That superficial game of "gotcha!!!" is just silly, and very, very... very! 9/10.

Have a wonderful night, and don't hesitate to help your fellow human beings!

[Stu]

Having two days ago reviewed a major chain's photo and video policies, I can say that the only allowable reasons listed for violating the customer's privacy is if p0rn is on the pics or videos. The teen covered his behind by telling the manager first to get the okay to call the police; if he had not done that, he almost certainly would have been fired for passing the information along. We have to be grateful the manager agreed that this needed attention from the authorities and was not bound by PC (or other) attitudes.

[SDN]

godfodder, the gotcha is incredibly easy, kinda like shooting fish in a barrel, when we have AQ taking our soldiers hostage "to help the Democrats apply pressure to George Bush." The Democratic Party is, to quote George Orwell, "objectively pro-terrorist", and meets the dictionary definition of a Fifth Column in this country.

[Lala]

I don't get the "racist" thing. Aren't Albanians white? Since only white people can be racist (haha)then how is one white person (if the clerk is white) reporting another racism? If Albanians are Arabs, aren't Arabs white? What about Pakistanis and Indians, aren't they Caucasians? How can reporting people of a certain religion be considered racist?

[Richard Aubrey]

Lala:
How: You'll have to ask the people of a certain religion why they complain of racism when called on things like terror. They've managed to successfully conflate the two.

[Format Avenger]

I would have to second the opinion that your bolding skillz are lacking.

That is all.

[southdakotaboy]

Yes everyone this kid did the right thing, but what about the next kid who sees something like this and makes the wrong choice. That is the really scary part. We have to depend on ordinary people to make decisions that could effect their jobs. How many people in that case will make the right choice?

[TomB]

According to Hugh Hewitt, this kid is a "bigot" for attacking someone's religious beliefs.

Link?

And how did he "attack" their religious beliefs?

[Zifnab]

"That is the really scary part. We have to depend on ordinary people to make decisions that could effect their jobs."

Nonsense. We've got government wiretapping our phones and reading our emails and infiltrating our Quaker gatherings. With all these draconian measures, surely our Department of Homeland Security has everything completely under control (except for those things they couldn't possibly anticipate). The Republican Administration has been doing a heckava job keeping us safe by de-emphasizing law enforcement as a first-line tool against domestic terror, recruiting lawyers from 4th-tier Regant Law School to run the DOJ, and pissing away $500 billion down a hole in the desert.

You know, if everyone in America had a gun, this kid could have just shot all the Imams while they were sitting out in their cars. He couldn't get sued for "defaming their characters" and we'd save millions on actually prosecuting these guys. It's a win-win. We just need to deregulate weapons sales. I think that's the real solution here. Repeal the Brady Bill so no store clerk will ever have to fear making the right decision again.

[David M]

Trackbacked by The Thunder Run - Web Reconnaissance for 05/14/2007
A short recon of what’s out there that might draw your attention.

[southdakotaboy]

Zifnab I don't know about you but if the government wants to wire tap my phone they can go ahead. I have nothing to hide as I am sure most people don't. I always find it amazing how liberals want the Government to have the power to interfere with our lives whenever it is in the interest of the liberal agenda, but they blow a fuse when it is done in order to protect us from criminals and terrorists.

[seekeronos]

While the young clerk did exhibit critical thinking (checking w/ supervisor, covering his rear, and asking if it was a good idea to contact the authorities)...

...it is a black mark upon us as a society that we have been so cowed by the identity politics special interest groups, the radical left, and other "race baiters" against standing up immediately for what is right, and having to even ask the question of whether or not these evil looking guys with guns shouting "allahu akbar yiyiyiyiyiyi!' among other anti-American sayings on video, is indeed, suspicious and worth of the authorities' attention.

Touching on Albanians, they are primarily of Caucasian (white) stock, as are most Persians and Arabs... although there is some diffusion with Afroid and East Indian stocks as opposed to the mostly Celtic/Nordic/Frankish/Gothic mixes of European derived Caucasoidal stocks one generally thinks of when the racial term "White" is used.

But it is interesting to note that the Leftists are happy to let people stay under the delusion that only middle-class Euro-American males (Ann Coulter excepted) can be "racist".

Never mind Al Sharpton or Farrakhan, or the MEChistas, or any of a number of other identity groups that are just as mouth-foamingly rabid in their respective racisms or sense of ethno-racial supremacy as the Klan and its ilk.

[Zifnab]

"Zifnab I don't know about you but if the government wants to wire tap my phone they can go ahead. I have nothing to hide as I am sure most people don't."

Yes, well, maybe when I'm sweet-talking my girlfriend or bitching about work or talking about my Fantasy Football picks, I don't want GI Joe listening along. Maybe I don't want noisey neighbors with good friends in the FBI peaking into my doctor's history. Maybe I don't want to end up on a no-fly list because I listen too the Dixie Chicks or watch too many Michael Moore movies.

I know you don't have a problem since you're a "friend" of the administration. And when the Republican newsletter goes out soliciting campaign contributions, I'm sure you chip in your $200 tithe or whatever it is you give, so they leave you the hell alone. But for those of us who don't pledge to our partisan overlords, its a bit unsettling to know that the government could be building a file of all the times you used the f-word in casual conversation or rooted for the Eagles while you were living in California or talked bad about your mother-in-law, ready to dump it on someone's desk if they think you're getting out of line.

[Dr. Ellen]

Of COURSE I'm racist! Ever since the Fifties, people have been telling me I'm racist. And nothing I do, say, or think seems to get me off the hook. I'm white, dont'cha know. And all whites, and only whites, are racist. So I've embraced it.

The whole tactic has been counter-productive for the race screamers. Since I'm going to be racist no matter what, I don't have to wonder what to do when I see a conflict between PC and observed reality. I speak truth. I can't say I have complete, total truth - but if I see something, I allow myself to perceive it. And if it's important, I allow myself to say it.

[Lala]

It's funny no one ever seemed to worry or even talk about Echelon, the spy system which was in place long before Pres. Bush came into office.

[jpe]

I betcha it gets buried though, if Frau Führerin Pelosi and Harry Ried have anything to say about it.

It'll be buried because it's unnecessary legislation.

[Derek Murphy]

Thank God these six merciless, weaponless killers were stopped before they actually agreed upon a five-year plan for possibly attacking the front gate of the guard box at the entrance to Fort Dix before being shot dead in seconds.

Yes, yes, GWB has once again saved us from inniment dangertude thanks to his fine strategery.

How does it feel, stooging and hawking like a hack for the worst president of all time?

[southdakotaboy]

Zifnab if you think that the US government is taking time out of it's busy schedule to listen in on your fantasy football league or your fights with the girlfriend your nuts. Crayon eating, rolling your feces into little balls nuts. The simple fact that you could think that is what the Government would do shows a level of paranoia that is simply staggering in its scope. Either that or your the most selfcentered egotistical guy on the planet. Take your pick.

[jt]

So let me get this straight. The kid stopped for a moment to think about what all the consequences of his actions might bring and then made the right call. So basically your problem with it is that he stopped to think for a second. Well we can't have that, now can we. Thinking! No! Knee jerk reactions in a tense situation are a much better idea.

[Robert]

southdakotaboy,

Remind me again why the authorities should be trusted at all times to do the right thing?
If you've paid attention AT ALL (i.e. Watergate, Iran-Contra, NYC cops shooting an unarmed man 41 times, etc), you'd realize the authorities should never, ever be blanketedly-trusted to do the right thing.
You are so right. Karl Rove would never politicize the stuff you say on your phonecalls. (LOL)

If you want to trust your government completely, and allow them to be secretive and do anything they want, then I think you were born in the wrong era. But just 20 short years ago, you could have moved to the USSR which had this set-up in spades.

[vincenzo]

"I don't know about you but if the government wants to wire tap my phone they can go ahead. I have nothing to hide as I am sure most people don't."

This is one of the dumbest things I've ever heard any self-described "freedom loving" American say. Down the road, your ideological opponent will inevitably win the office and run an administration according to his/her priorities. At that time, even though you'll have already wilfully surrendered your privacy to the government leviathan, I would be surprised if you weren't to be found leading the protests on the blogs and in the streets against the "overreach" into yours and your fellow Americans' "personal freedoms".

Anyone who's paid attention to the federal government since at least as early as FDR should know that the freedom-robbing, governmental-power-increasing initiatives and programs ALWAYS survive the turn of administrations. It's the small-ball stuff like the "Mexico City policy" and the like that's used as a sop to partisans every 4 or 8 years.

So, why so interested in granting undue powers protected by our Bill of Rights to the government? I don't get it...

v

p.s. I don't need a lecture on the NSA tap program, etc. I support those things; however, the idea expressed in the line and post I quoted takes things a step further. Do you support putting TV's that watch us into our living rooms, too? After all, it's not like you've got a methlab or bomb workshop in your house, so what's to hide, right? Think it through, wipe the foam from your chin and then get back to us.

[southdakotaboy]

Robert I was making the point that the Government is not going to waste time and money wire tapping people like you, me and Zifnab. That was never what the whole wire tapping thing was about. It is about being able to keep track of suspects who are trying to avoid detection by switching cell phones and other tactics and not having to go get a warrent every few minutes. The left wing has successfully distorted what the government was trying to do. I hope your distrust of Government extends into all of the programs they run and not just the law and order end of things.

[Tom]

Zifnab I don't know about you but if the government wants to wire tap my phone they can go ahead. I have nothing to hide as I am sure most people don't. I always find it amazing how liberals want the Government to have the power to interfere with our lives whenever it is in the interest of the liberal agenda, but they blow a fuse when it is done in order to protect us from criminals and terrorists.

Posted by: southdakotaboy

You are as unamerican as they come, dude. You would gladly undo 200+ years of democratic traditions of fairness, due process, and loyalty to the LAW of the land simply because you are scared? I thought your righties were strong and brave (Bring 'em on!) I guess you are just little pansies who need 'dear leader' protecting you, huh? How far we have fallen. We don't need to throw away our GOD GIVEN INALIENABLE rights just because YOU are scared. If you want - you should go to where they have dictators. That way you don't have to think about anything. Just sit in the corner and know that you are being protected. Or why not find your own backbone and stand up for this COUNTRY - and not the imbecile you so willingly allow to destroy what this great nation once was. The rule of law must prevail - even dimwits like you should know that. Well, maybe not.

[southdakotaboy]

To everyone out there who seems to have a problem with the comment I made about not having anything to hide and the Govenment tapping my phone. The whole wiretapping thing was about being able to go after suspected terrorists and at some point the Government would have to go infront of a judge and show reasonable cause. The fact that the Government has to do this will force them to concentrate on people who are displaying certain types of behavior. The Government has used this against the mob for years and no one really has a problem about that do they?
As far as putting TV and other things up to watch us, well we on the right have been warning about that kind of stuff for years only to have people on the left argue how good of an idea it is. We have been slowly losing our rights to big government for years. For you guys on the left to take me to task for simply saying that we should realize that the vast percentage of our government employees are not some sort of secret police is just plain dumb.

[daveinboca]

Liberals are a cancer in society who have scared the working stiffs of this country into the defeatism and politically correct cowardice that allows groups like CAIR, a Fifth Column for terrorists, to browbeat patriotic Americans.

I speak and read Arabic and have lived in the Middle East a decade. This country is being suborned by liberal treason allowing a violent woman-hating group of reactionaries infiltrate and terrorize our population. If you saw what I saw, you'd realize bonehead nimrods like zifnab are enablers for the downfall of the USA. Zifnab should be watched closely.

[vincenzo]

Tom,
no need to get snippy.

I'm a rightie, and I think I made the point you're making much better than you just did, and without the nonsensical foaming at the crotch that a lot of BDS sufferers (like yourself, apparently) often exhibit when invoking the president's name or office.

The most ridiculous part of that sort of flaming-rage discourse is that if a Democrat is elected in '08, all the "Clinton-hater" guys -- like you except from the right -- who went into hibernation after Bush got elected will rise up like the phoenix to take your hand-off of the megaphone of mania. Strike up the band for another St. Vitus' Dance!

But if a Republican wins the office in '08, what are all you guys going to do? "You're not gonna have Bush to kick around anymore!" I feel for you, I really do.

"How far we have fallen"? Jeez Louise; does anyone really speak like that anymore? You guys sound more like neglected spouses than the fierce, fire-spitting partisan heroes you think you are. Less emotion, more reason; you might find yourself able to persuade people to listen better that way.

[southdakotaboy]

Tom the simple fact that we can all get on a site like this is proof that your the one that is scared. If this country was the dictatorship that you claim it is or will become then why aren't all the libs who post or blog in evil Republican jails? Why aren't major Democratic party leaders in jail on allsorts of made up charges? Why is it that they even won back control of the two houses of Congress if the evil Conservatives and the Patriot Act were going to be used to quash our rights.
This country has along 200 plus year history of the rule of law and it will follow those rules. I say once again I really don't have a problem with the Government spelling out who they are going to go after with secret wire taps and such.

[nowingker]

I think you meant what you said the first time, that if you don't have anything to hide you don't need any legal protections from the government. I assume this extends to allowing the police to search your home at any time for any reason, since if you have nothing to hide you have nothing to fear.

In fact, the Republicans tried very hard to sway the 06 elections their way, even to the point of pressing US attorneys to bring voter fraud indictments against Democrats shortly before the election. Those attorneys who resisted were fired. There is also the spector of Karl Rove and cohorts giving presentations to the GSA on how government contracts could help out Republicans in tough races. But of course, all of this has been misconstrued as Bush trying to illegally use the federal government in pursuit of partisan politics, it was nothing of the sort.

There is a LONG list of political activists, peace activists and those who have spokent out against Bush who are always 'randomly' searched and whose names are on the special airport list that necessitates extra scrutiny. This is what the government is doing with that information on its citizens that its innocently collecting, using it to intimidate protest.

Also, the Bush administration has asserted its right to conduct warrentless wiretapping/email reviews on American citizens who are NOT suspected of being terrorists, but why may be inadvertently associated with terrorists, another way to say they believe they can spy on any innocent citizen at any time, all they have to do is tell THEMSELVES there is a terror connection.

[Phoenix]

"...maybe when I'm sweet-talking my girlfriend..."

Phooey, Zif,

You know you pull up to the curb in front of your sweetie's apartment where she's waiting with her Dell PC laptop, Starbucks latte, and her feet ensconced in worn Birkenstocks, and you turn down "Not Ready to Make Nice" and holler, "Get in the truck, bitch." You don't spend any time on your cell phone sweet-talking her and you know it. :)

Oh, but you know the G.I. Joes hurry one another over to listen in when you talk about Fantasy Football and your new prescription for Proactiv. "Hey, Zif's on..... quick! He still has zits but damn, he's great with those football picks!"

[charles]

There is a LONG list of political activists, peace activists and those who have spokent out against Bush who are always 'randomly' searched and whose names are on the special airport list that necessitates extra scrutiny. This is what the government is doing with that information on its citizens that its innocently collecting, using it to intimidate protest.

Also, the Bush administration has asserted its right to conduct warrentless wiretapping/email reviews on American citizens who are NOT suspected of being terrorists, but why may be inadvertently associated with terrorists, another way to say they believe they can spy on any innocent citizen at any time, all they have to do is tell THEMSELVES there is a terror connection

b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t

[southdakotaboy]

I find it really, really funny that all the leftwingers on this site seem to have an overwhelming fear of the government when it is being used to safe guard their personal safety. I've always found the millitia guys who talk about the secret UN black helicopters coming to get them really funny, it seems the left has their own version of those guys to. Maybe you guys could all get together.

[Robert]

sdb,

Not funny at all, really.
The authorities have shown time and again they can not be trusted to do the right thing.
They need to have oversight into their actions in order to keep them honest.
It doesn't matter which "side" they are on. Absolute power corrupts absolutely.

To paraphrase the NRA: When guns are outlawed, only the authorities will have them.
I'm not a big fan of the NRA, they were silent when people's voting rights were being taken away, but I support their fight against gun control.

[nowinkger]

b-u-l-l-s-h-i-t

I beg to differ. While the anti war activists and Bush critics who routinely get searched at airports can't PROVE conclusively that its because of their criticism of Bush and the Iraq war, the anecdotal evidence is compelling. I'm sure you don't believe it, however its irrelevant, when people who run organizations that are against the war keep on getting stopped and searched it doesn't take a genius to figure it what's going on.

As far as Bush aserting that he can eavesdrop on American citizens who are NOT suspected of being terrorists themselves without getting a warrant, its in the public record, this is what they have said, you can't get around it.

[Lala]

I always get searched, twice, once at security and again at the gate. I don't belong to any organization, none. Why me?

[charles]

against the war keep on getting stopped and searched it doesn't take a genius to figure it what's going on

not very difficult to get removed from no fly lists, just takes some time and correspondence

"the anecdotal evidence is compelling" oh really

As far as Bush aserting that he can eavesdrop on American citizens who are NOT suspected of being terrorists themselves without getting a warrant, its in the public record, this is what they have said

the anecdotal evidence says you don't have a quote to back your assertion

[nowingker]

"There is simply no excuse for not providing to this committee all the legal opinions on the president's program," Rockefeller said.

The committee asked a year ago for Bush's order -- and the Justice legal opinions supporting it -- that directed the NSA after the Sept. 11 attacks to eavesdrop without warrants on Americans believed to be in contact with terrorists.

[nowingker]

At first glance, it may not seem like anything bad happened to Stephen Sprouse and Kristin Douglas, two Kansas Citians who ran off to Las Vegas at the end of 2003 to tie the knot.

But in his methodical and utterly convincing “Frontline” report at 8 p.m. Tuesday on KCPT (check the listings for your PBS station), Pulitzer Prize-winner Hedrick Smith shows how the happy couple were spied on by their own government. They and 250,000 other visitors to Sin City were caught up in a massive dragnet made legal under the Patriot Act.

Hotel records, airline records, rental-car and gift-shop receipts -- all were demanded by FBI agents in response to a vague report that Al Qaeda “could have an interest in Las Vegas” in the lead-up to that city's annual New Year's celebration. It was one of the first, but by no means the last, instance of the Bush administration using the far-reaching powers granted by Congress after 9/11 to conduct warrantless searches on its own citizens.

The Sprouses had their personal information hoovered up by powerful computers at the National Security Agency, a fact they only learned about when “Frontline” contacted them.

“They have no reason to be looking at me,” an indignant Kristin Douglas-Sprouse tells Smith. “I don't think that I've done anything to raise any suspicion.”

OK, but was any real harm done to the Sprouses? Were they pulled off a commercial flight or denied credit or paid a visit by Homeland Security? No, no and no, Smith said when I asked. But as a former New York Times correspondent who was bureau chief in Moscow at the height of the Brezhnev era, Smith is not the guy to go to when seeking assurances that the dangers of domestic surveillance are overblown.

“I've lived in a society where people operate under the assumption that somebody else is listening or watching,” said Smith, who wrote a best-selling book, The Russians, shortly after returning from the Soviet Union in 1975. “Over time people start to behave differently. They start to pull in their horns, even if they are technically free to speak and do what they want.”

From its Cold War founding, the NSA was forbidden from eavesdropping on U.S. citizens, but that changed after 9/11. What makes Smith's report so valuable is that, in less than an hour, he lays out a short, accessible history of how the feds got into the domestic spying business in a big way.

And just like in Iraq, the private sector does much of the dirty work. As Smith explains, privacy laws forbid the government from gathering huge troves of data about its citizens. But that doesn't mean it can't tap into the vast databases kept by companies like ChoicePoint. “Frontline” reports that more than 50 separate federal agencies are plumbing through private data in nearly 200 different spying operations. No search warrants are being asked for or issued.

Smith chose the Sprouses to be the human face of this troubling trend because, as white Midwesterners, they embody the idea that domestic surveillance has reached every corner of America. Well, that and they had Elvis video.

By scouring local newspapers during the week of the data sweep, Smith found the announcement of the Sprouses' nuptials. The couple agreed not only to talk to “Frontline” but to share the home movie of their Vegas wedding, held at a chapel where the King himself was in attendance.

[Lala]

“I've lived in a society where people operate under the assumption that somebody else is listening or watching,” said Smith, who wrote a best-selling book, The Russians, shortly after returning from the Soviet Union in 1975. “Over time people start to behave differently. They start to pull in their horns, even if they are technically free to speak and do what they want.”

Yes, this seems to be what happened to the clerk who had to think twice before reporting the Muslims, so afraid of being called a racist and losing his job for it, or possibly being prosecuted for a hate crime.

[charles]

data mining = govt eavesdropping and spying eh?

you've got lots of nothing and you know it

"No search warrants are being asked for or issued."

because there is no actionable intelligence, but they use weasel words to make it sound sinister

is there a "chill wind blowing?"

and this: "Bush aserting that he can eavesdrop on American citizens who are NOT suspected of being terrorists themselves without getting a warrant, its in the public record,"

according to you equals this:
"The committee asked a year ago for Bush's order -- and the Justice legal opinions supporting it -- that directed the NSA after the Sept. 11 attacks to eavesdrop without warrants on Americans believed to be in contact with terrorists."

more weasel words, you guys keep bringing up the same nonsense over and over again, even tho it's been discussed to the breaking point

it's funny to watch you guys twist yourselves into knots over the way things "seem"

while denying or outright defending people who make very clear threats or hostile actions on a daily basis

one of these things is not like the other