Paeans to the Peons

Ranger Question of the Day:
When did the position of Secretary of State
become an equal opportunity billet?

If it's a car you lack
I'd surely buy you a Cadillac
Whatever you need,
anytime of the day or night
--Thank You For Being a Friend,
Andrew Gold
_______________

The U.S. Phony War on Terror (PWOT ©) is a gravy train for everybody involved, except the U.S. taxpayers. Yet we carry on like the inhabitants of Jonathan Lethem's dystopia, Chronic City, where Times readers can opt for a “war-free” edition. It's not that bad, is it?

Well, the Department of Defense has informed us that U.S. aid to Yemen is being doubled in an effort to counter terrorism there. Never mind that the Yemeni government controls only the capitol, and its power diminishes with every step one takes into the countryside. Sound familiar? It is Afghanistan, redux.

What are we buying with this expenditure? Friendship, or another ally we don't need? The best friends money can buy? U.S. carriers offshore add meaningless air power to cement meaningless relationships. This is not about terrorism; it is about money.

The actions of both Yemen and our policymakers are so predictable that they are painful.

The TSA/Homeland Security are adding full-body scanners in response to the Christmas '09 crotch bomber. The cost has not been fully disclosed, but what is the purpose of the expenditure?

There has been absolutely NO attempt by anybody to infiltrate a bomb onto a U.S. domestic air carrier since 9.11.01. Nonetheless, the U.S. will emplace a system to address a problem that does not exist, the non-problem of on-board quasi-bombs originating in foreign airports. The age, ethnicity and country of origin of the hopeful perpetrators is predictable.

We choose to live in the "enervating gray fog [which] has descended on the financial district and remained there for years, hovering mysteriously" over Chronic City.

We're safe here, right?