WTF? What is wrong with this country?

[Bigmack]

I just traveled by plane for the first time in two years. Fake knees, so I get the special treatment. All around me I see people taking off their shoes and otherwise getting frisked. Trash cans filled with bottles. Boxes of confiscated nail files and swiss army knives. Long lines at the security checkpoints. Talk of body scans.

And yet.

Some dude with an explosive vest gets invited into a CIA base and blows the shit out of their section. Some other dude - a real rocket scientist - sets his balls on fire trying to knock down a plane.... apparently having slipped thru "security".

I say again.... WTF?

And while I'm WTFing.... How can this country spend the astronomical sums it does on the military and Intelligence when it gets such shitty results? The vaunted - and expensive - US military can't pacify one country that doesn't have an army, and can't pacify another country without a country, fer crissakes. The intel community apparently can't find their asses with both hands, and they just can't stop killing civilians in those "surgical" drone attacks.

One quarter of US kids are on food stamps... one quarter of the homeless are vets... half of Gulf War vets are on disability...

See where I'm going?

WTF is wrong with this country?

[PDJane]

1. Military and the CIA took over governing........

And Harper wants to go there. He's really working hard on it, too.

And we're sleeping.

[Buzz Clik]

2. What exactly is your question/demand? More security? Less?

[SmileyRose]

15. sounds like a desire for more effective

We lost an awful lot of really good talent during the Bush years. Too many career intelligence people just said "fuck it" and moved on rather than put up with the working conditions.

[truedelphi]

41. Yes that is a good analysis. Decent

people who had been serving the nation for years, and if not willing to bow to Rumsfeld and the others, than they were put in the lower sub basements at the Penatagon. Eventually they would finally decide to take "early retirement."

[liberation]

49. Questioning and demanding are not synonyms, but I am sure you already "knew" that, didn't you?

Some of you couldn't be any more obvious if you tried... LOL

[austin78704]

61. Law of diminishing returns.

We crossed the point a long time ago at which additional expenditure on security gets squat for results. So now we all look at the current conditions and wonder why we have so much expense in both money and hassle but get results on par with a tenth of the effort.

Of course, who's gonna roll security back? The very next time anything happens people will scream bloody murder. It's a whole lot "safer" to endlessly ratchet up security measures.

The "no fly" list is bound to get bigger after the BVD bomber.

Never mind that between the rollbacks in the public safety net and the "wars" on terrorism, drugs, and other abstract bullshit we've let countless thousands die. Or worse, we've actively killed them.

We're at a point where it would make perfect sense to roll back abusive security and instead spend money on welfare and schools. But it's apparently more politically popular to pander to crybabies and let the anonymous poor die. God forbid anyone in Washington should actually LEAD us.

[Kansas Wyatt]

3. Corporate America merged with the U.S. Government.

Next question?

[eleny]

4. Rec'd for the very basic points you raise in your rant

At least they can't nullify my thread kick. :P

[kenny blankenship]

5. Ruling the world is a surprisingly difficult task

all the other empires that gave it go eventually had to give it up amid internal dysfunction and chaos -or they died trying.

[BeFree]

9. Yeah

We are spreading ourselves thin. 'Twas ever thus with empires, eh?

[kenny blankenship]

17. There are just so doggone many things to control

once you've set out to control everything everywhere. And with an ever expanding global population, more variables enter the scene every year.

[BeFree]

28. Yep

And since we've had 8 years of people leading the government who are dead set against government being the best it can be, it is no surprise that with expansion comes increasing failures.

"Republicans don't think government can work correctly and every time they get elected they set out to prove that government can't work correctly." BC.

[Lost-in-FL]

6. If you lower your expectations...

you would not suffer much disappointment.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. All too obviously, the "War on Terror" is a monumental flop despite the hype.

By any reasonable measure, we lost.

The wars have done nothing but increase the likelihood of more terrorist attacks.

Our much vaunted military and intelligence have proven to be, at best, incompetent.

Our economy is in shambles as we go ever further in debt to play tough guy.

The country is at war with itself fighting over money we don't have.

Our "leaders" are too fearful of being called unpatriotic or weak to end the futility of pursuing lost wars.

[CJCRANE]

11. The neocons designed it that way

and it seems there are covert stay-behinds still pulling some strings.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

14. Hell, Gates and the generals are hardly covert. Not to mention a compliant prez and congress.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken

[Skelly]

60. The "War on Drugs"

didn't work, so they needed a new war.
BTW- I haven't heard, did we win THAT war?

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

66. No. But, we did defeat mighty Grenada before they could invade Miami.

[lunatica]

8. I have lots of WTF moments too

It's as if the world just doesn't make sense but we keep trying to find it anyway.

[bridgit]

10. With their preferences for hotrods, bobby socks, vanilla malteds, burgers, fake religions...

false prophets and corporate sports I'm sure Americans will be among the very last to know just what is happening

[ThatsMyBarack]

12. Bring back "pre-9/11" Airport security!

Just metal detectors, and that's all.

No shoe removal, pat downs, frisking old ladies for knitting needles, etc.

[CJCRANE]

16. As long as they actually

stop or check the guys on the terrorist watch-list (which might have stopped 9/11 and this latest incident).

[Name removed]

21. Deleted message

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[Name removed]

19. Deleted message

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[ThatsMyBarack]

24. Well put, fred!

Welcome to DU! :hi:

[Name removed]

27. Deleted message

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[krabigirl]

62. yep..I'd include explosive-detecting devices, myself, but yes. ro

Also, I will not fly with the new no-bathroom and no carryon rules. I'll take a train or boat. screw it.

[asjr]

13. We've been on the downhill slide

for quite some time. But I fully believe the almost total disintegration took hold when Justice Sandra Day O'Connor was "scared of Al Gore becoming president" and voted with the right wing members of the SCOTUS to allow Geo. Bush to become our president. One of the first things he did was spend the surplus Clinton had left us and give it to his rich buddies. Then he invaded Afghanistan; then Iraq and where it goes from there is a question mark. There are many people to blame, but when it comes right down to it I blame O'Connor most of all. If I were O'Connor I would start wearing a burka.

[SmileyRose]

18. As for the airports and national buildings - they should hire Disney

there would be a quick (and fun) line to have a happy and smiling person look in your purse and under your ballcaps and then you'd be off to your flight. Just for show, of course. The REAL security no one would ever see except for the poor sap snatch and yanked down into the bowels of the airport to have God only knows what done to him. And the general public would never ever know anything ever happened.

Disney is the king of keeping their trap shut on the negative and semi-effectively dealing with it so that everyone can go there and believe in the magic.

[mix]

20. these are the costs of empire nt

[NYC_SKP]

22. The "security" at airports is 90% illusion to make the masses feel safer...

There are so many holes in it, in reality, that the whole thing is laughable.

[Name removed]

26. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[indepat]

23. What's wrong is that this country is eaten up with an extreme Christo-RW PNAC

ideology which is still alive and well, thank you: see, that was easy. :P

[Deep13]

25. Perhaps we should stop pretending that everyone is equally likely...

...to be a terrorist. While anyone theoretically can be, nearly all of them come from one specific group of people. While most people in that group are perfectly innocent, it is foolish not to focus on it. When I heard about the underwear bomber, no one needed to tell me what religion he was. Was it really necessary to search Al Gore at the airport? What about old people in orthopedic shoes? Doctors? Women? There's no point dropping lines in a hundred ponds when we know only one of them has fish in it.

[CJCRANE]

31. It would be more efficient to profile the people on the watch-list...

that seems to be the weak link.

[winyanstaz]

48. so how you going to profile the cia?

[Kablooie]

29. FROM SEA TO SHINING SEA! ... Don't pay any attention to that man behind the curtain!

[HughMoran]

30. You took the red pill

Just like we all make mistakes and can never be as good as we want to be, neither can a collection of humans be perfect in all places (airports) nor win all conflicts.

[snagglepuss]

32. Big cutbacks for counter-intelligence and confusion. Very good CBS article.

Very informative article explains the confusion in counter-intelligence and budget cuts to the 2010 intelligence budget.. the NCTC is losing up to $30 million of its annual budget, so "they're letting go a hundred contractors right now," the source said. Their job? Maintaining that TIDE database (Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment).



snip

As to why Abdulmutallab wasn't on a no-fly list, even though his father had reported his radicalization, and he'd been turned down for a British visa, the official said that's because the information still isn't getting to the Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment or TIDE list.

snip


"You'd be shocked how many times we still come up with this, 'Gee I thought you were doing it,'" my source added. "Initially, our reports were that he was on no-fly list. Obviously that was wrong. This is clearly a failure of the system."

For instance, he asks rhetorically, "Why – if he was denied British visa – why wasn't that shared with us? I don't know."

He added, "There is still a tremendous reluctance to push that stuff out. There is still no sense of urgency in the intel community on this."




http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/12/30/world/worldwatch/entry6038564.shtml

[stray cat]

33. So where is the perfect world?

[Starry Messenger]

34. We're too busy worrying about being "rude" apparantly. n/t

[pretzel4gore]

35. it's like watching a neighbor kid chase a ballooon

onto a busy freeway. The kid is too focused on the fun/reward, and speeding transports etc can go suck a lolly.....but the cars are crashing each other to avoid running the lil rascal down! Cute, yeah, but ever see a bou run over by a limozine? Wanna puke? No way hose say. You have no mouth and you must scream.

[malaise]

36. Some people are becoming filthy rich

a a result of the terror we face at airports.

[tavalon]

37. I'm going to tell you something about airport security that might shock you

It's all just a big Dog and Pony show. They have never been able and still are not able to protect us at all. They are spending plenty to make us think we're being protected but it's all just a big stage production. Life has big and small dangers, no matter what, and airline hijacking and airline bombings are very small dangers. People can't see it that way so the giant TSA Dog and Pony show was born. It's just entertainment.

[neverforget]

38. I was patted down at Molokai, Hawaii's airport on Tuesday.

[Sen. Walter Sobchak]

39. Theatrical displays of force and authority are more important than results

it makes the fucktards feel safe in a world fully of scary people,

[maryf]

40. To find what's wrong follow the money and the power,

Profit is top priority; false security is another; people' needs are barely considered...K&R for questioning...

[Goldstein1984]

42. Look at how much a few thousands "terrorists" scattered

around the globe can make us spend.

They are winning.

They are achieving their desired result.

They are causing an empire to self-destruct.

[krabigirl]

64. and the people in power who want us to move to a police state are also winning.

it's up to us to not let it happen.

[Goldstein1984]

68. I hope "us" is big enough

I see far too many sheople out there.

[femrap]

43. Don't you hate it when

the French are right? The country offers a decent health care system as well as a Life that doesn't center itself upon work, but quality of life. Good food, minimum of 4 weeks vacation, and strong unions.

Maybe because they endured two wars on their land in the last century, they learned what is truly important in life.

You're right....WTF is wrong with our country and its people?

[Thothmes]

70. Life is so good in France

that some of their citizens decided to burn 1,137 cars to celebrate another great year in France.

[femrap]

71. So the cars didn't get

great mileage?

[Thothmes]

74. maybe that it.

[cornermouse]

44. Don't know.

I do know that I'm not flying anywhere. No point in putting myself through all the indignity, invasion, and loss of personal rights.

[salguine]

45. Because it's not about actually getting any of those things done. It never has been. It's

about making certain people/corporations very much richer. When you have so much money you fly in your own jet, it doesn't really bother you that the cattle have to go through that whole hassle and still not be protected, does it?

[DesertDiamond]

46. Answer: We need these incidents to justify our occupation of mid east countries.

[winyanstaz]

47. It's called fascism

and it sucks

[scentopine]

50. WTF is wrong with democrats who cheer these wars on?

Blood lusting democrats are eager to win their war chops and prove they can be every bit as murderous and torturous as Bush and win the hearts and minds of republicans.

More than a million dead as a result of these violent wars. We are propping up two corrupt governments and hiring private contractors to do the killing, the insanity goes on an on.

Things are going to get much worse in the years ahead.

As a nation, the new century ushered in an era of sleaze and corporate malfeasance that is unprecedented here in US.

Like the war on drugs, corporations and para military make billions and billions from these wars.

And like the war on drugs, our efforts are only fueling greater demand for the product we are trying to eradicate.

Whether we vote democrat or republican, this is what we can expect: blood lust, wall street decadence, corporate patronage and raw corruption.

[tsstranger]

51. WTF?

The problem with the country is the people who run it and the politicians that they buy.

It doesn't matter that the country voted out the Republicans and voted in the Democrats.

The recent health care debate is proof positive. The bill that we are likely to get is nothing more than a hand job for the insurance and drug companies.

That's because of how many of our politicians are on the payrolls of these companies, Dem or Rep.

The super rich and big business own and run this country. Look at the TeaBaggers and the companies that back them, one of them run by Dick Armey ( R-Scumbag ).

[midnight]

52. K&R

[L0oniX]

53. Did you mention the killing of innocent people in Iraq and Afghanistan?

[valerief]

54. Almost like the folks in charge wanted the "slip-throughs" to slip through.

Of course, we know the sideshows at airports are just theater anyway.

As long as men bear guns in defense of the elites running this world, this will happen.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

55. Enron, Deregulation, PACs, BFEE, Lobbyists, Fox, Supreme Court, Apathy, Propaganda....

MIC, War, Stupidity, Greed, Religious zealotry

[Lothrop]

56. Hey, aren't we the most exceptional nation in history?

http://vwt.d2g.com:8081/claude_shocked.jpg

What gets to me is people thinking America was once a great country with a moral compass? When was that? I must have missed that part of history. From the massacres of Indians, to slavery, to Hiroshima, Vietnam, to its policies in Latin America, to its support for the creation of the terrorist state of Israel, to supporting the Shah of Iran, to supporting Saddam with intelligence and chemical weapons against the Iranian people, to these modern day Middle East debacles, America has by far the worst track record. They just have a very powerful propaganda machine to show they are the land of the free.

"We" stole half of Mexico by armed force -- the nice parts with rich deposits of gold and silver (and, as it turned out, oil -- though "we" didn't actually recognize that at the time.)

"We" made sure that "our" influence over Latin America was such that wealth would be steadily transferred from their countries to ours. "We" sent the Marines to Nicaragua, Haiti, & Guatemala often enough to insure that life in those countries would be a permanent living hell for most of the inhabitants. "We" imposed military dictatorships in almost every Central & South American country, stunting the aspirations of their people, & imposing conditions from which some of those countries will never recover. (So if some of the people want to escape from the living conditions in those countries, "we" had very much to do with creating those conditions.)

Interestingly, "we" started doing all this at the same time that "we" were exterminating the indigenous people here, AND using black slaves from Africa. What a loveable, righteous people "we" are, here in the "Land of the Free"!!

"We" came here somewhere in the early 1600s. "We" found this Promised Land, rich beyond imagination with fresh water and fertile earth and abundant game and timber for the felling. And to "our" further delight, it was largely uninhabited--if "we" didn't count the Red Ones.

"We" didn't see too many of them at first; they avoided our noise and the smoke from our fires, which were always too big. But soon enough, "we" were here in such numbers that they couldn't go around us anymore.

"We" were shocked--SHOCKED, I tell ya--that there were Savages in "our" Promised Land! So "we" set about exterminating them. "We" killed them whenever "we" saw them, "we" drove them from their land and their homes, "we" slaughtered their food supply and left the buffalo bodies to rot in the sun by the hundreds of acres. "We" gave them blankets full of smallpox, murdered their children and raped their women before "we" murdered them as well. "We" rounded them up into concentration camps and ate their food while they starved. "We" made them cut their hair, wear britches and beat them to death if they wouldn't speak "our" language.

"We" stole a whole fucking continent from them and paid them in Genocide.

[L0oniX]

59. K & R

[ooglymoogly]

57. Electing fools to government and allowing profits to

dictate policy has consequences.

[mnhtnbb]

58. Government of the money, by the money, for the money.

[bdamomma]

65. that sounds about right, that is what it is all about greed

[krabigirl]

63. It's a way to keep us all in fear, so we support their bs wars. It's all for show.

[Liberal_in_LA]

67. +1

[Greyhound]

69. The controlling oligarchy. n/t

[rhett o rick]

72. This country is fucked up. What are you going to do about it? nt

[New Dawn]

73. The US government spends all its time spying on anti-war protesters...

...And people who want to buy Cuban cigars (or go to Cuba on a vacation).