You know all those movies that show a horrible police-state future, like "Blade Runner", "The 5th Element", "Demolition Man", "Rollerball", "Total Recall" etc. etc.

Isn't it amazing how real life eventually catches up to the wet-dream fantasies of the Hollywood socialists? Thanks to the Patriot Act and the Anti-Terroism Act, with all the secret surveillance, money-tracking and new definitions of what is terrorism, no-one will be safe.

Funny thing is, the terrorists so far have all been suicidal, young, arab muslims. The new laws include enhanced punishments, which are worthless against martyrs, and are broad enough to make white middle-aged pro-gun protesters "terrorists".

In light of all this I am surprised that George Orwell's '1984' is only no. 531 on Amazon's sales ranking. It should start moving up as more people figure out what this all means. In the fictional country of "Oceania" they are permanently at war, which is how they justify keeping the people under control. How long do you think the War on Terrorism will last? The War on Poverty has been going for over 35 years, the War on Drugs for over 15.

I am really starting to get nervous.

As Bill Hicks said,

[b]"So there, we have figured it out, go back to bed America, your government has figured out how it all transpired. Go back to bed America, your government is in control again. Here, here's American Gladiators. Watch this, shut up. Go back to bed America, here's American Gladiators. Here's 56 channels of it. Watch these pituitary retards bang their fuckin skulls together and congratulate you on living in the land of freedom. Here you go America, you are free... to do as we tell you. You are free, to do as we tell you."[/b]

God Bless Texas

The United States will always be hated because of our living standard. So I figure the terrorism genie is out of the bottle now and will be with us forever more. This is what you get when loving everybody and PC is preached over common sense. Many more countries hate us than like us, and the countries that say they are our friends can't be relied on when the going gets tough, they are liars. We are alone in this dog fight for the most part, and we better get used to it. "live on and live strong" God Bless America.

Edited because I don't see the same thing when I am typing as when I post. Sorry

welcome to the dark side

Those movies are cool.  Wouldn't it be cool if real life were like that?

DK-Prof, I agree with you that European nations living standards are on par with the US.  But because of our size and super power status, and Global Pig image, we seem to generate a universal hatred. Also this countries economies of scale that makes it possible for so many millions of Americans to live above the worlds poverty level, I believe pisses off many smaller but still advanced nations. Just a dumb construction workers observations, I certainly do not purport to be a expert on such issues.  God Bless America and all our foreign professors. HE+HE+He  Nice talking to you Prof.

The Muslims hate us because we support the Jews and have a presence in Saudi Arabia.

Many countries hate us because we use our wealth, economy, and market as a means to secure sweetheart deals and to influence other nations. They cannot compete with the big boys, and for that they feel resentment.

Some hate us because we spread our American culture through multinational corporations and the like. As if McBurgers are a threat to their own cultural identity.

Others have a difficult time understanding how boorish people such as us became so successful, and they didn’t, when their cultures are obviously superior. This is a common trait in Europeans.

There is a general resentment among the large players of old such as England and France. Their empires shrunk as ours expanded. They made the mistake of putting all their eggs in land ownership while we put ours in manufacturing.

When you’re the big play on the block you’ll always be subject to resentment from the little guys.

Oh, and I would add that the fact we are the poster child for democracy makes us the best target. There are other democracies in the world, but if you're a terrorist and want to make a statement, wouldn't you go after the foremost democracy?

Amen.

"Temptation Island"
"Crossing Over"
"Call me now"
"NBA on NBC"

"War is Peace"
Orwell

mattja, I agree with you completely.  We could withdraw from the rest of the world (not altogether a bad idea), and many people would still hate us.

We need to send out a message that they can hate us all they want as long as it stops there.  If they f* with us, they will cease to exist.

We will never be loved, so we must be feared.

Excellent summation.  You get an 'A' for the day!

OK someone tell me if my tinfoil hat is on too tight.

What if the US military could have killed Osama several times over, but didn't because he is the boogie man, the target, and if he is dead, support for the "war on terrorism" would quickly dwindle?

Just a thought . . .

It's not on too tight.

Post from ChairborneRanger -

Wouldn't some 'patriot' in the US military drop a little bit of evidence 'over the transom' to a sympathetic media type (Bill Gertz, Bill O'Reilly, Rush), detailing our purposeful avoidance of the 'head shot' to Bin Laden?

There is such a thing as a secret 'too big to keep' you know!

Eric The(LoosenYourChinstrapJustABitOnThatT.F.Hat)Hun[>]:)]

NAFTA is ending our tremendously successful era of manufacturing.  Americans used to build it and sell it to Americans.  We had a (gasp) closed society with tariffs on imported goods.
(clearly isolationist thinking here)
People in third world countries are building our stuff for us in sweatshops which would make ours of the 19th century look like spas.  

It would be cooler if the world fell into decay and most all governments collapsed and it was total anarchy.  I would have my AR to protect me [:D]

And the new DoD authorization bill passed by 99-0.  Like madkiwi eluded to....things are going to get real fun real fast.

On the day of September 11, lots of people here were saying that everthing is changed; and that is still true.  Americans are almost complacent again..sad.

the biggest complaint I've heard about the US is us being imperialists. I'm not sure what that means but it doesn't sound good. As for our living standard, I think we deserve it. If they want a good living standard, just move here, why do they have to kill us? We're a pretty open country, we accept just about everybody.

Bearlaker wrote:




While this may have no connection to the unreasonable hatred of America, it surely will be our undoing!  As fewer people are able to earn enough to afford the manufactured goods things will spiral downhill, leaving only the paper pusher CEO types among the comfortable.

NAFTA and WTO are about "managed" trade, not free trade. That kind of gets glossed over by the politicians and the favored elite who can influence those agreements for their own benefit. The media is filled with people who can't balance a checkbook, let alone understand economics.

This country would be better served by getting the government out of the business of influencing trade. The tariffs as permitted in the Constitution were not about protecting US businesses, it was intended to be the source of revenues for the government. Incidentally, the ONLY source. But I digress...

What has destroyed the US manufacturing base is not slave labour in other countries- it is the strong dollar policies of the last 20 years. Fiat currencies are always subject to manipulation by governments, but we are hosed by the paradox of our greed. You see, in order to support our lavish lifestyles we keep importing "cheap" foreign made goods. Everyone wants shoes for $40, jeans for $19.99 and cars for $15,000. If the US$ is stronger than it should be, then it costs less $ to buy something from Korea or Indonesia.

The examples are endless. Lumber from Canada, lamb and beef from New Zealand and Australia. How do we pay for these things? And why do these sellers accept the US$? Because it is perceived to be strong, worth something. If it was not, we could not finance our $27 billion (Aug 2001) per month trade deficit. Thats $27 billion we paid to foreigners for stuff we bought from them, that they did not spend on stuff from us. Instead, they put that money into US investments and US$ bank accounts.

If these foreigners suddenly feared that their US$ were going to be worth less tomorrow than today, they would pull out of them in 2 seconds. We have trillions of dollars held by foreign entities. So it is in the interest of the US government and people to keep our $ strong, and if possible, for it to keep rising in value.

You don't think the Asian currency crisis was staged? Who benefitted? We did. Untold wealth was destroyed for millions or middle-class (and rich) people to the benefit of Americans. And it taught those uppity Asians a lesson- Keep your wealth in US$ or else.