just posting so i can don't loose my page.  maybe i'll write an update later . . .

As the midterms elections are approaching and the political rhetoric is ramping up above its already sky high level I've been listening, and I've noticed that the most prominent issues seem to be terrorism and our security. So I started thinking, do I feel safer?

Do I feel safer that in the last 6 years North Korea has developed and is now preparing to test, what experts believe to be, one of many nuclear bombs? Do I feel safer that Iran is marching steadily towards becoming a nuclear state, regardless of whether its nuclear power or nuclear bombs? Do I feel safer that, after 9/11 many countries, Iran among them, reached out and offered us assistance, and we have wasted that capital? Do I feel safer that we spurned, and are now threatening, perhaps the one country in the world that hates Al Qaeda more than we do?

Do I feel safer that we took our eyes of Afghanistan to focus on Iraq and have allowed the Taliban to regain a foothold? Do I feel safer now that Iraq has become the hot bed of terrorism that we were told it was 4 years ago?

Do I feel safer now that I have to remove my shoes at the airport? Do I feel safer that there has't been an attack on American soil? When was the last attack before 9/11? 1993. Does that fact that there hasn't been an attack in 5 years really mean much in a historical context? There has been one attack in 13 years, and prior to that?

To use the lack of attacks by itself as a justification for the claim that our safety is greater is like claiming in the middle of a drought that your new umbrella is better because you haven't gotten wet.

A couple years ago I spoke with a professor at A&M who was the former director of counterintelligence for the CIA, and he believed that the next attack wasn't a matter of if, but when. If that's truly the case, then our preparedness should be of equal or greater importance than prevention. But, despite public statements assuring us that we were better prepared, we saw with startling reality, that in spite of seeing the danger coming days in advance, we were helplessly unprepared for the aftermath of hurricane Katrina. If that was our response with days of warning, what will our response to a sudden attack be like?

So, as I listen to the President's rhetoric about all that he's done for national security, I ask myself, do I feel safer? And the answer is a resounding no! I do not feel safer when our military is over stretched, supposed victories are unraveling into chaos, North Korea has gone nuclear, and we have lost the diplomatic capital to pressure Iran into negotiations. These things do not inspire a feeling of safety, but outright insecurity. So no, I do not feel safer.

Tried to post this yesterday, but it didn't work