Spamming sewing list

Rather OTT, to my way of thinking.

Yep. The US dollar is nearly the same as ours now. I would think of doing some Internet shopping in the US if the US postage rates were more reasonable, but they aren't so I refrain.

Indeed. Some of the silly rules and regs really give me the pip (although we dont' have to give up our water bottles on domestic flights here (yet). The rules seem to disproportionately disadvantage women (needles, pins, knitting needles, crochet hooks etc) but since I know from ex military friends that it is quite easy to kill someone with a pencil, why don't they ban bloody biros whihc could be a very useful dagger?

Yep. Spreading fear and loathing makes a compliant public. I must admit that I was quite surprised at how little reaction there was in the US to the Patriot Acts given the scope for infringing civil liberties.

I don't think it is just your Administration bungling things though. All the governments of the western world that are allies of the US have had the same response by introducing new security measures which in reality are only serving to divide our respective communities. In the situation the world finds itself these days, the worst possible response is to make certain sections of our communities appear to be less respected and worth their place in our society than those who are considered to be the 'mainstream' or the 'norm'. There is no such beast in our modern socieities.

and then have the nerve to tell people who don't support

It only takes a nanosecond to figure out that the war in Iraq has been a breeding ground for anti American feeling. I think that if one excludes Iraq, the US has done more damage to itself than anything else. It's lost it's reputation and the sympathy of the world that followed 9/11 and the war is costing an absolute fortune. And for what?

At least more and more senior US military people are finally coming out of the wood work and stating that it is not working all that well. There is some hope yet.

I agree with you Beverly. You know I moderate another list. Well, since it's a private list and I have to approve new members, I get an email from the list host that tells me who is requesting membership. I get a TON of them from gmail accounts, and 95% of those are spam. At the bottom of the email that the host forwards to me, there will be ads for all manner of pharmaceuticals, mostly for enhancing body parts I don't have. It's to the point now that when I see one from gmail, I really want to deny the request without checking to see if it's a real person. It's very frustrating. They really need to do Something to tighten up the security.

Sharon

Aaaack, Sharon, I had not even considered the problems gmail would cause a list manager. You have my sympathy. And undying gratitude for managing it so well.

As for Google, their motto should be "If It Makes A Buck, Do It".

Or "If It Generates Ad Hits, Run With It".

Or something... They gave up on adhering to "Do No Evil" a looooong time ago. :-(

Beverly