It used to be when we thought of homeland we were looking at a building lot or some acreage to construct a house upon.But in all the terror and propaganda generated these past 8 years, "homeland" has taken on a new meaning now that we have a Department of Homeland Security (DHS).
Last year the DHS budget was $61,300,000,000 (sixty one billion, 300 million dollars).
That is the cost for only one year (it equals the cost of 408,667 homes valued at $150,000 each).
One wonders if that cost to taxpayers, who need to spend it on food and shelter, would go down if we stopped those expensive activities (wars, etc.) that make it easy to recruit terrorists who want to harm us.
DHS has 218,501 employees, 81% of which are civilian and 19% are military.
Thus, it is another fusion or confusion of the military with the civilian, which would have Eisenhower turning over in his grave.
By the way, have you taken the duct tape and plastic covering off of your windows yet?
This infamous department has made two great failings in the four or so years it has existed.
The first was "doin' a heckuva job" during Katrina, and the second was not protecting us from Bush and Cheney.
The republican controlled congress and the republican president created this monstrosity, but they now want to call certain expenditures "pork" when we talk about helping millions of Americans who have lost their jobs and homes.
Brazen blindness is the mother of DHS, necessity is not its mother. Time for a paternity test too?
Links to Critiques: Homeland Pork, Security Against Homeland Pork.
Hey Dreddster,
ReplyDeleteI watched The Spy Factory. It was wicked awesome as we say here in Beantown. Folks, just google it, go to PBS, it's all there.
It's tough to understand how the NoSuchAgency can explain how they let those terrorists get away with 9/11. That video seems to clearly prove that at the least, 9/11 was a "let it happen on purpose."
It also seems to imply that rogue forces in the manner of an inside job could have been behind 9/11. It makes no sense that not only would they mess up like that, but then they would allow their own incompetence to justify building such a spy factory.
I am not a conspiracy theorist. There were a bunch of {FBI/CIA} folks in that documentary who you could see were pained by what happened. You can tell they will go to their grave wondering what if. They wanted to let local enforcement/FBI keep an eye on those guys, but the NSA put the nix on it. I guess it's like the line about trying to walk in someone else's shoes. The one dude who wanted to spill the beans would have been arrested or something bad.
Then GW made all those signing statements and executive orders. That should send him to trial just for those. No way does illegal spying or torture become legal just because some nimrod, puppet President signs a piece of paper.
I recommend that show to everyone. Thanks for giving it the kudos it deserved, Mr. Dredd.
p.s. My Mark Singer book on Brett Kimberlin just arrived. There could be another DailyKos diary in the works. :)
Does it not seem like we are becoming Red? We could be missing the obvious. Drones, internet censorship, NDAA, militarized police force, re-education camps? What if the prez isn't what we thought? It would be hidden in plain view as people chase the elusive Illuminati. Just a thought.
ReplyDelete