I've always been sceptical about the introduction in the states of a Department of Homeland Security, just as I am with Australia's so-called 'Border security'. Fortunately, we haven't got one almightily powerful department to manage it - as yet, though that's eventually coming too I guess. These departments just give legitimacy to an aggressive ramping up of intelligence gathering and policing and further breed fear and intolerance within the community.

If though, as Arjay tells it, the DHS is going after America's lunatic rightwing fringe, then I say all power and more to its success. And while its about it, perhaps it can finally do something about introducing gun control into a country where over thirty thousand people a year die from gun related injuries. The right to bear arms has always been a key part of the far Right agenda in American politics. Hopefully, we might be about to see some long overdue action on this front. I hope so.

Bronwyn

Thanks for a straight forward common sense optimistic hope for an empathic, tolerant and inclusive USA.

The third post in this thread seemed to me to be inordinately long. I know that when I include links in my own posts they contribute to the total word count, which I routinely check, before attempting to post, in my text editor, Gedit. So I copied the post in its entirety into a blank Gedit document, and checked the word count. It came to 621, well above the OLO post limit of 350 words per post.

So I dobbed the post in for deletion, suspecting that in some way the poster had hacked a way around the OLO software word limit.

GrahamY advised me by email that when he checked the wordcount in MS Word it came to 334 words in the post. He suggested that perhaps my text editor (Gedit) was taking full stops as defining a word and turning all the links into multiple words. Seemed reasonable.

As a check, I copied the entire post into an OpenOffice Writer document. That is an open source program broadly equivalent to MS Word, except that it comes free with Ubuntu Linux, which itself comes free, of both cost and BSOD. (I don't have MS Office readily available to me at the moment.) The total word count for the post came to 541 in OO Writer. Curious, when the same copy in Gedit returned a word count of 621.

Next, I selected the black text in the OLO post and got the word count for that in OO Writer. It came to 323, leaving a notional 218 words worth in the orange link text. As a cross-check, I copied all the links in the post into a Gedit document by way of pre-compilation of a post as I would normally do, before copying a post into the OLO posting pane.

The text of this post comes to 334 words, and should be accompanied by the identical links that were posted by the original poster. We'll see if I can post.

PS No go. The red warning said my post was 360 words! Go figure!

350 words.

Forrest, a hearty thanks for your efforts in trying to protect us from the tyranny of too many words.

Bronwyn, so your all for the 'aggressive ramping up of intelligence gathering and policing and further breed fear and intolerance' as long as you get to pick the target? If someone breaks the law then arrest them. Being anti abortion is a right, demonstrating on this issue is a right, blowing up abortion clinics is a crime.( for the record I am pro). Like pregnancy you can't be half tolerant.

Some think I'm being alarmist.I will be less alarmist if Obama repeals the Patriot Act and supports Ron Paul in the auditing of the US Fed Res whom the US tax payer is being indentured with more debt to bail out the Corporate elite.Billions of dollars have been given to the Fed yet they are unaccountable to Congress or the tax payer.It is legalised theft on the grandest of scales.

Some doubt my sources.Dr Ron Paul is the US Congressman for Texas.He was also a credible canditate for President.You may not agree with all his policies but he is the only Congessman who has the courage to take on "industrial military complex" that JFK warned about before he was assassinated.There have been many presidents like Andrew Jackson,Abraham Lincoln who have warned about the this vile Federal Reserve system that has corrupted the entire political process in the US.

We in Australia cannot sit idely by and let the US sink into totalitarian oblivian.If the US goes under so do we!

The first step is to support Ron Paul in the auditing of the US Federal Reserve.How much do you treasure your liberty?

A woman who owned a business outside the tube stations in London after the terrorist's attack said,"I will give up my liberty for freedom!" 1984 double speak? This is how afraid and dumbed down the West has become.If you want your liberty,then you better have the courage to fight for it!

What a curious way of responding you have [for-rest grump]
if error of fact rebut that in error

its funny how those who cant rebut what i post rebuke me as cheating [or being illiterate]..but the fact is they dont like what is wrote

mate look at the title...[note it dosnt say complain about how people are posting, but ALARMING TRENDS in the usa..[all the links were re ALARMING stuff going down in usa]//vile things shortly going to affect us all

fine you dont like what i posted,..but such is democracy, we all are allowed to discuss things..[except for those such as you ,who dont like some stuff becomming known

stil your post reveals much about those,your posts are meant to be serving..[all that effort and you cant commennt on a single link?..way to go hero...you cant be bothered to respond to the topic nor a proper response to the topic..[but simply get off on commenting how much you did to keep yourself..[and others who would be deprived of the info]..in ignorance

wonder if your here to comment or censor
working freelance or serving the elite for money

mate there is real evil in this world,..you can try to hush it up or censor it down,..but mate evil loses in the end,..get used to the truth becomming common knowledge..[as people actually read the proofs presented instead of just counting words it takes to reveal their evil]

those who dont want their vile exposed should not do the vile they do

hopefully next time you will respond to the topic..not the poster or the way he posts,..all that education just to go to hell...mate what a waste of the best education, you clearly got, yet fail to relise for a greater good,

please brother try reading just one link, then use your brilliant writing skills to help others only trying to help you