CDR: Re: Why?

[Greg Newby]

On Tue, Sep 12, 2000 at 09:30:25PM -0500, Jim Choate wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 12 Sep 2000, Michael Motyka wrote:
> 
> >     a greal deal of pain for some plain folks
> 
> The folks who worked at the federal building were far from 'plain' folks.
> It isn't like they walked into a corner grocery.

On the sympathetic side: there was a child care facility there too, and
for the children, it *was* like they walked into a grocery or other
place they shouldn't have needed to fear.

On the cynical side: maybe the feds shouldn't be putting child care
facilities in potential terrorist targets.  (Really cynical: maybe
it was intended as a human shield.)

> In addition, the plain fact is there is a considerable underground
> movement in this country today which is in direct and potentialy violent
> opposition to this countries current political infra-structure.

I'm distrustful of the government enough to think that most reports
and statistics about such groups are greatly exaggerated.  After all,
what better basis do the feds et al. have for increased surveillance,
bigger budgets, and laws that limit privacy?

> Ask yourself this, how could a fugitive who is wanted for several bombings
> stay un-found for four years? He certainly isn't working by himself and
> there is considerable funding available clearly.

Yes, obvious funding and underground support.  But I also take this
as a good indication that in spite of how difficult it is to 
withdraw from society's radar entirely (e.g., get no mail, no
driver's license, no social security records, etc.), some people
can do it well enough so they can't be easily found.

Or maybe law enforcement is simply incompetent, and everyone
from Blockbuster Video to Home Depot can tell you everything you
might want to know about 90% of adults in the US.

  -- Greg