Thursday, July 30, 2009

Free Nation : War on Everything

Dominate, Intimidate, Control. Sounds like a free nation to me.

Man...this article by James Bovard is yet another reason why I should just take the blue pill. I had to put my lunch down and vent before I can take another bite. Obviously, I think added security measures are necessary in recent times, but the measures they - TSA - are taking are ridiculously superficial and largely ineffective. TSA is charged with the task of providing security service FOR the people, not hinder the lives of innocent travelers while exuding self righteousness. Are we any safer? Maybe. I guess that depends on the expert-deadeye-badass air marshal with the Glock in his hand. The answer to problems facing our nation has always been to overwhelm the issues with "solutions". A disgruntled Iraqi who had witness the "accidental" death of a relative decides to get back at us " solution: nothing less than emptying clips of ammo from a dozen soldiers in his general direction, and let's not forget about calling in close air support to take out the buildings. Violence in DC schools " solution: let's get the Metro police with low morale and resources to baby-sit these students while we avoid tackling the real issues and root causes to our inner city problems. You know the list goes onĀ¦

We declare war on almost anything that the word "war" itself has lost meaning. War on drugs " give me a break. I'm sure glad I don't see anyone openly puffing a J while I'm walking through Bubonic Park. Those homeless folks could go really crazy and start feeding the pigeons and rats or worse yet, sit there idle and relaxed. Those new anti marijuana ads you see all the time is disturbing only because of the continual trend in misinformation that they are spamming. We are medicating everything these days - treating the symptoms rather than the illness. Also, almost all new ads for medication have that quick warning about all the side effects that could actually magnify all the original problems and symptoms instead. Our biggest drug dealers " the pharmaceutical companies - are providing short term relief while lining their pockets. We all know about prescription drug sold out there in the open market, so why don't we have ads about that? We can even have Rush on huge billboards with the caption "Just Say No" or "Drugs Are Bad" with close caption "except those drugs that keep your heart going when you are on your Atkins diet."

The whole threat profile thing is also disturbing to say the least. I hope they have updated my records to show that I am an actual citizen of this country " like that makes any difference. I mean, if they had Malaysian and agnostic " he's not Christian, and it's a Muslim country - in my profile, you can be sure I'm moving up on the threat chart. The next thing for me to work on is to get rid of that ever suspicious smile.