----- Original Message ----- From: "Michael Pollak" <mpollak at panix.com>
<snip>
What we have
instead is a sophisticated public-relations system, the color-coded
"Homeland Security Advisory System," that works to terrify Americans
without the grisly work of actual terrorism.
Many desired activities, from shopping to watching television, have
been cited as examples of what we must do, or else "the terrorists
will have won." This is debatable. What is not debatable is that if
the American people are terrified the terrorists have won. And, in
this regard, they will have been working with the full cooperation of
the current administration.
=============================
[a little friendly reminder from Charles Tilly......]
"To the extent that the threats against which a given government protects its citizens are imaginary or are consequences of its own activities, the government has organized a protection racket. Since governments themselves commonly simulate, stimulate, or even fabricate threats of external war and since the repressive or extractive activities of governments often constitute the largest current threats to the livelihood of their own citizens, many governments operate in essentially the same way as racketeers."