Going Too Far

This administration has long preached fear from some unknown assailants that could attack at any time. They have built everything and further their own agendas by this rhetoric of fear they keep spouting. Sadly, 50.1 percent of the population keeps buying it.

So where has all that lead? All these wars and military built up and tracking of Americans? Do you really feel safer today? Even if you do, do you feel that giving up some of your civil rights is worth this little bit of safety that you feel (yes, your civil rights have been eroded with legislation like the Patriot Act)?

America was not built by military powers or by Fear. America was built on Freedom and Civil rights for all. This is what separates us from other nations that we're currently in battle with. This is what separates us from the people we are fighting.

This administration and the Neocons destroys that ideal every day they’re in power as they inch us ever closer to a religious military state. You have to ask yourself, who is the real enemy here?

Everyday with the repeated talks of nuclear weapons, terrorism, and fear, this administration continues to build up for a war they’ve created. A knee jerk and unthought out solution to a real problem. Everyday we inch closer to the same religious military state (i.e. Iran) that this administration keeps saying is so bad.

With an insanely high constant state of alert, these type of problems can occur.

Feds pounce on UGA sophomore dressed as ninja
ATHENS, Ga. (AP)
— Running through the University of Georgia campus as a ninja can elicit a prompt response from authorities, a UGA sophomore learned.

Federal Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearm agents, on campus for a community training project, detained Jeremiah Ransom of Macon Tuesday as a ‘‘suspicious individual’’ when they spotted a masked figure darting near the Georgia Center.

Ransom told The Red & Black student newspaper that he had left a Wesley Foundation pirate vs. ninja event when he was snared by agents with guns drawn.

‘‘It was surreal,’’ Ransom said. ‘‘I was jogging from Wesley to Snelling (cafeteria) when I heard someone yell ‘freeze.’’’ At first, he thought a friend was playing a joke.

University Police Chief Jimmy Williamson said Ransom was released as soon as he was found to have violated no laws.

Vanessa McLemore, the ATF special agent in charge, said agents thought something was amiss when they ‘‘noticed someone wearing a bandanna across the face and acting in a somewhat suspicious manner, peeping around the corner’’ then breaking into a run.

Williamson said Ransom was wearing black sweat pants and an athletic T-shirt with one red bandanna covering the bottom half of his face and another covering the top of his head.

What kind of country do we live in where a college student can’t dress up and freely roam as a Ninja without being attacked by the government?

This ‘Safety’ is not surely not worth that.