of tempests and tea parties

i have been thinking in broad strokes lately--- and conversely, i have been hunkering down and working on personal issues. it would suffice to say that i am just plain exhausted. i have a feeling many folks are worn down and worn out by life- and it just shouldn't be that way. there really isn't any reason for it either- but for the greed of a small percentage of the entire human population. of course, we see it on a global scale with price gouging during disasters; private contractors simply stealing money allotted for projects to help folks; the financial implosion across the world, etc., etc.,

i started to think about what that means for me- i have to constantly be on the alert for my financial institutions levying fees and fines for any and everything; i have to pay fees and surcharges on any government or utility 'privelege' of using- more for simply using electricity in my home or renewing my driver's license; i have to be on the alert for disreputable gutter companies or price shop to not get taken advantage of to have my gutters replaced; i have to worry about taking my car to the garage for a check engine light coming on so i don't get ripped off; i pay pretty close to double for groceries than i did 10 years ago- and i have to worry whether or not my food has been genetically altered or filled full of antibiotics--- or has some viral disease like mad cow or fish fungus. whew!!!

not to mention- we have a horribly broken government system from the local governments on up and are constantly fighting against our neighbors, colleagues, and often friends and family members against a dangerous and regressive ideology. did i mention i am freakin' pooped? when you live with the stress of waiting for that other shoe to drop- and put other life losses on top of all of the above- i think we have a pretty fair idea of how most americans are living these days. even those of us who haven't lost our jobs and homes- are kind of waiting for the whole shebang to collapse and anarchy rein- and we all lose everything. it's that kind of decade i guess.

anyhoo, had to have mom's sink fixed and was lucky enough to have a buddy who could do it. got me thinking about capitalism and whatnot- and yes, i do need to have the car and gutters fixed. and, i am still looking for a part time job to pay for it... welcome to the western world where suburbanites want so badly to keep their mcmansion gated subdivisions safe for their 2.3 kids and dog and suv- that they join tea parties because they are promised a bag of lies. we, the people, have all been sold a bill of goods- the american dream- and the fact that we have woken up from that and can see that it amounts to owning swamp land--- is lost on the leaders of the tea bag movement and their minions.

the fight has just begun- and i hope that upcoming social civil wars don't devolve into actual bullets flying. and, i also hope that evolution speeds up a bit and the conservative mindset is just a painful blip in the human history.

The Cost Of Security (Meaning: Terror)

The terrorists keep on winning - my point ... exactly.

In the meantime, what has been the monetary cost of "fighting terrorism and improving our security"?

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For Canada: the Afghanistan "mission" overall price tag will be an estimated $11.3 to $18.1 billion by 2011. $23.1 billion in successive increases to National Defense spending have been dished out since 2001. The military budget for 2008-2009 was $18.2 billion, which increased to $21.2 billion for 2009-2010 - a 60-year high. Spending for development in Afghanistan up to 2006 was $466 million - by 2011, it is expected to reach $1 billion. In between, more than $2.6 billion have been committed to enhancing aviation security since 2001 - just last year, airport security cost $450 million and its further "beefing up" will cost $590 millions this year (apparently not including the installation of 44 body scanners @ $250,000 a piece for a whopping $11 million price tag). In the same vein, the budget for CSIS ballooned from $248 million in 2001-2002 to $356 million in 2006-2007, along with an additional increase of $80 million over two years beginning in 2008. And by the way - the security budget for the 2010 Winter Games and Paralympic Winter Games in Vancouver will amount to about $900 million.

For the USA: the cost of the war in Afghanistan so far amounts to approximatively $235.9 billion (about $57,077.60/minute). The running tab on the Iraq war stands now at about $716 billion. The combined cost of both wars is now almost at $1 trillion. Military spending (excluding the costs of the Iraq/Afghanistan wars) has increased from $404 billion in 2001 to $626 billion in 2007, and then to $636 billion by the end of 2009. $23 billion have been spent on reconstruction and development contracts in Afghanistan since 2002. Another $53 billion have been likewise spent in Iraq since the 2003 invasion. In between, the TSA's budget went from $6.5 billion in 2003 to almost $8 billion in 2009. The number of body scanners in airports will more than triple, going from the 40 already in use to 150 (@ $150,000-$190,000 a piece). Meanwhile, the budget for the DHS has reached $55 billion for the 2010 fiscal year (pdf here). And for 2009 alone, the estimated (i.e. classified) budget for the National Intelligence Program (which includes the CIA, FBI, NSA and various military intelligence branches) stood between $55 billion and $66.5 billion.

I am reminded of the infamous words of one Osama bin Laden (emphasis added): "We, alongside the mujahideen, bled Russia for 10 years, until it went bankrupt and was forced to withdraw in defeat ... So we are continuing this policy in bleeding America to the point of bankruptcy."

Incidentally - Canada's accumulated deficit stood at about $55.9 billion for 2009 (a record), whereas that of the USA now stands at about $12.3 trillion (another record).

And never you mind that Canadians and Americans are now essentially living in Corporatocracy-run National Security and Surveillance States - all for nothing.

But do you know what's even worst? All those people on the right who keep screaming, yelling, crying, asking, demanding, insisting, promulgating, encouraging, preaching, enabling, pushing that we continue further surrendering to the terrorists - all the while lying about terrorism in order to score political/ideological points, if not actually advancing themselves politically.

It has worked before - why should it not work still?

All of the above constitute proof again that the ever-expanding and wasteful, so-called Global War on Terror is only about scaring people, not protecting them.

All of the above furthermore constitute proof again that we are the real problem with terrorism.

And that is why the terrorists keep on winning.

Any questions?


(Cross-posted from APOV)