Zeke Zzzppt wrote:


So, while you're on the subject, is there a place for government
fear-mongering? Like Secretary of Homeland Security Chertoff, with
access to -every- law enforcement agency in the US and probably the
Western world, and the best he can come up with is ..."Gee, I have this
gut feeling". :-(


Some of the greatest scientific discoveries have come as a result of
a gut feeling. Ask anyone who's been in combat if they don't develop a
'spidey sense' of impending engagement while on patrol. Ask anyone who's
served in law enforcement if they've not developed a gut feeling about a
suspect based on very slightly discernable behaviours. Ask anyone who's
ever worked in Customs if a gut feeling hasn't led to an arrest and
confiscation of contraband.

The hard reality is that gut feelings can be inaccurate. They can
also be abused, like anything else. But they develop as a result of
front line experience and are right more often than not. To disparage a
gut feeling in this circumstance and require compelling dispositive
proof before taking action is precisely how 9/11 came to happen. It's
precisely how the Cole grew the hole in her hull. It's precisely how
party goers died in a disco in Germany. Had more gut feelings been
followed, the heightened state of vigilance would have prevented
engagement in this instances by permitting more proactive defensive
postures.

Give me a Marine with a gut feeling over a so-called scientific
approach any day. ANY DAY.

In other words, I'll walk into a hot zone with a Marine at my side
before I'd walk into a public school with you.


It's real easy to armchair quarterback the guy sitting in the big
chair. And it's real easy to criticize someone charged with
responsibility based on your politics and his colloquial speech. But
I've noticed your criticism does not come accompanied with an
alternative practical solution other than "Impeach Bush."

Forgive me for saying this, but paper tigers are made of these.