We Must Not Let Terrorists Take Away Our Freedom

I cannot emphasize that enough!

Our representatives are in the process of throwing out the very foundations of this country in a misguided effort to achieve safety. Much of what they're doing will have little effect on safety, and the repercussions will last long after the WTC is a chapter in a history book. Banning knives on airplanes will not make planes safer. The only reason the hijackers got away with it this time is because no one had ever done something like this before. The next poor hijacker-wannabee is going to get beaten to a pulp by the passengers and crew. It's perfectly reasonable to secure the cockpit, and continue the bomb and gun checks that have been done for years, but eating utensils and fingernail clippers? Give me a break. Shall we also ban anyone with maritial arts training? They're as much of a threat, if not more.

Just one more example of a useless attack: trying to regulate backdoors in crypto software. Unfettered software is available, and anyone who wants to can use it. All it means is that we give the government that more power over our lives and one day we'll regret it, just as Germany did in the 1930's.

I was lucky enough to visit the World Trade Center once. It was in 1989, when I went to NYC for the gay pride parade celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots that marked the start of the gay rights movement. Here's three admittedly not very good pix taken from the top: