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A Friend of Ford and this hobby
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Date Posted: 02:22:42 09/10/02 Tue
In reply to:
Dave Arnold
's message, "Willistown - The Final Word" on 14:50:55 09/09/02 Mon
I could see the start of this argument on the previous posts on this board. What a shame that we have all lost our sense of reason, patriotism and humor. What?? Where do we as a group of hobbyists and Americans win here with pointless arguments of this type and trying to squelch one another’s opinion? I have an opinion as well as Dave, Don and you all and I thank Dave for allowing me as well as others to post opinions here on this board on a free basis. Some true, hurtful foes of this hobby have been squashed over time through joint efforts of conversations at the Copcar.com discussion boards and others before it, groups like HPCHG and dedicated show hosts to police the hobby, but I don't recall ever seeing Dave as anything less than a staunch supporter to this hobby! Dave has gone out of his way to help grow this hobby through his contributions to the hobby by providing Copcar.com "FREE" to us hobbyists. Do I always agree with Dave’s opinions? No, honestly, not always but I respect that he has an opinion and states it! I know where he stands with issues and I am glad that he posts them. Don also has merits by his involvement of the HPCHG in keeping our hobby on the front burner by the showing of our vehicles at all sorts of honorable events throughout the year. This is truly America with American values shown by the Freedom of Speech on this board and the Freedom of Peaceful Assembly by HPCHG. Where have we lost these particular parts of our American heritage recently?
As an American that has had a whole family affected by war overseas in the hands of a tyrant that expounded the need for a perfect race of people to lead the earth and believed that his methods of extermination and oppression were the only way to achieve this goal, I am appalled that anyone or any group here would try to do the same by forcing someone to retract their opinion or by stating that theirs is the only way!? Isn’t that oppression what those that gave the ultimate sacrifice have fought against?
As an American that had been called to Desert Storm to help the cause in 1990 and has had friends fighting for our rights as Americans here and abroad in virtually every conflict, I also urge us all to work as a team here! “United We Stand-Divided We Fall” is a very appropriate saying and never truer than now! Have the terrorists won here from the horrific acts of 9-11? It is starting to look that way if we cannot distinguish between humor, reality and stating of opinions by a simple posting on this board. How are we showing the brave men and women of that fateful day in September that perished that we are honoring their ultimate sacrifice? By fighting amongst ourselves??!! By stating that the rest of us have no clue about the atrocities that occurred in our country? I think not! We all suffered together as a unified country! I cannot recall in my lifetime where Americans showed their pride in this country and in defending their freedoms!
As an American Photographer, I am also very much interested in the rights of a photographer to take photographs in a public place. This will be a landmark case if the photographer was legitimate in his intentions to capture images in a public area and was simply misunderstood in his actions during the time of questioning. Do I condone the fact that this photographer came back after a warning and may have not gotten proper clearance in that specific area to take photographs—no not really. But I do believe that any public area is open season on photographs taken. Please understand that possessing photographs of emergency vehicles AND intending to commit a terrorist act through the use of those photographs is definitely a crime and should be stopped at all cost! That is what the FBI looks for in these arbitrary cases and pieces together these various threads of evidence in identifying potential threats on our country. Simply put, our budding photographer in PA may have possessed other threads of evidence that are not apparent to us right now and may never be until this person is actually tried in court. Are photographers going to be arrested when heading to PA? I think not…. Please folks this is not rocket science here and we should not be torn apart on a very simple set of issues here! There is a difference between a legitimate photographer and a terrorist!
In closing, I stand firmly behind this hobby and support all the folks that work hard at making this hobby fun and viable. If I am able to join “honorable” groups either by membership or by fellowship in discussion I will gladly do that! However, we really need to have a reality check here in how we respond to opinions of fellow hobbyists by allowing them to be stated and respond to them with your own opinion. It is healthy that we discuss in these trying times. Please keep this hobby healthy by discussing these topics in open forums such as on Copcar.Com and understand that we all have a right to an opinion! We don’t need heavy-handed approaches to having your opinion mean more than other fellow collectors’ as this will surely destroy this hobby quicker than most!
Respectfully submitted to all for all to respectfully review.
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