by Ken King

The New Year is upon us and like most of you out there I hope that it will be a happy and prosperous year for all. I hope that peace will replace war and our airmen, marines, sailors, and soldiers will soon return to the loving arms of family, friends, and countrymen. I hope that those in the far away places so willing to take others lives will have a turn of heart or meet the fate that awaits them for carrying out these uncivil acts. I hope those that are entrusted with our safety review what led to the events of September 11th and come up with a plan to counter additional attacks like what we have recently suffered. I hope that the recent events of last year stay planted in the minds of all as we move on to the future. Our lives were forever changed during 2001.

And what a year it was. If this first year of the new millennium is any indication of how the decade or, for that matter, the century will go, all I can say is it ought to be interesting. Think about it, this year saw a President with some character replace one that had no moral convictions at all, smothered by last years ballot battle that seems to have been settled accurately. We had another Capital Hill sex scandal when Chandra Levy disappeared and it became clear that she was in some relation with Congressman Conduit. Will we ever again care about what happened to her? Then we had the Clinton legacy, the September 11th attacks. The eight years of nothingness finally resulted in his administrations most memorable factor. The failure of their primary responsibility to assure this nation and its citizens are protected from enemies, both foreign and domestic. Which was followed by the unification of a splitting nation, the coming together of the people and the Congress supporting the President's response to bin Laden's evil and the possible terrors we now must face. We've had a military campaign that has had some really good results in breaking up Al Qaeda and the Taliban. Mopping up, and collecting bin Laden, Omar and any other Americans fighting for Al Qaeda, still needs to be done and will probably take some more time as it is easier for the quarry to hide in an area strange to the hunter then to find the one that you seek who knows the territory. We have watched as our airports have been militarized for security and yet we still have lapses that allow terrorists like our shoe-bomber to get aboard American aircraft even if from an overseas location. What will be next?

Even though it appears that law enforcement officials have been gathering intelligence on hundreds of suspicious "visitors" to our country, will they be able to locate all that have come here to do harm? It has been estimated that as many as 600 (and possibly more) Al Qaeda trained persons could be living amongst us. What will their next horrific act be? More importantly, will we be able to maintain the increased vigilance necessary to prevent future acts from occurring? Or is that even possible? I hope that our government looks at a means of limiting visas and verifying that those here on a visa are doing what it is the visa was originally for. We must maintain a serious watch of these visitors and those that don't comply with their visitation agreement or break the laws of our country should at the minimum be deported, if not incarcerated. This watch should include wiretaps, electronic surveillance, and profiling. Already we have the ACLU and other civil rights organizations screaming about "profiling". How in the world can we locate people like those that carried out the September 11th attacks if we don't look at who it was that has carried out previous acts against us and use that "profile" to facilitate new and ongoing investigations? To date the acts of terror taken against us has been by a select group of radical Muslims of Middle Eastern heritage. Shouldn't we exercise greater caution concerning this group of people? After all, didn't these criminals all come from the Middle East and shouldn't we be especially vigilante towards those from that region. I don't see this as profiling but more of a common sense approach. 

Once again some are pushing for a national ID card, claiming it will make us all safe. I feel that once a card is made a counterfeit can be created thereby defeating the purpose and intent of what the card is supposed to protect. Additionally, these required "papers" will place an air of things similar to what has been seen in the old days of Europe. It did little but allow for those governments to have at their disposal a means to bridle the freedoms of the people and will do nothing here in America other then the further ripping of personal privacy from the individual. Is that the path this nation should be taking? I say no to this tactic that has failed elsewhere. I don't see it working here any better and why do we need it in the first place? I am a law-abiding citizen and I don't need to keep proving that to you or anyone else on demand. I would be more inclined to see the facial identification system that is being developed and used over this requirement to carry "papers" proving who it is that I am. That way the data base accessed would be that of criminals and not law-abiding folk. Sure there might be a misidentification once in a while but that seems to be the lesser of the two evils, "papers or pictures". It also shouldn't be that hard for that misidentified person to prove who they actually are. This is all after the fact instead of prior to the fact and for me that makes a big difference.

As interesting and exciting as the New Year is anticipated to be, it is apparent that we have a lot of work to do. Congress seems to be getting back to business as usual, doing nothing but fighting amongst themselves for their political glory rather then doing the bidding of the people. We need to keep this in mind as the election process once again gears up. It's about time that we get some people in there that are more interested in how America should grow instead of how they will grow. We need to determine how it is we will handle those captured or arrested for being involved in the terrorist attacks or those that have waged war against their nation. Do any of them deserve the protections of our Constitution after what it is they have done? The only one I can make a case for Constitutional protection is that of John Philip Walker Lindh. This man, and any other Americans found fighting against the United States, should be tried for treason and are therefore entitled to our protections. The rest of the scum that dares strike out at America should face the fate of our military, whether at the end of it's barrel or in it's tribunals. Our civil courts should stay out of the way.

Well I guess that is enough ranting for now on this first day of the New Year. Again I wish the best for all of you during the year and I sincerely hope that your dreams and wishes come true. Happy New Year to all.