Today’s Dayton Grassroots Daily Show goes where no one really wants to go. How many billions does it take to stop a terrorist? The only answer is zero- because that’s the nature of terrorism: it only works because it’s unexpected. The ultimate surprise attack.
The latest actions by a Nigerian Muslim on a plane from Amsterdam, are just one more justification for a country gone mad. While our neighbors get foreclosed on, our jobs go overseas, our civil liberties are diminished and our armies are engaged half-way around the world- the tail continues to wag the dog.
And it’s nothing new. President Eisenhower warned us in his farewell speech in 1961 of the dangers of the military industrial complex. [1]
With this latest “attack” justifying the drastic changes we’ve made, it’s time to listen to the last General who became president:
We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together.
Greg Hunter and David Esrati in today’s Grassroots Dayton Daily Show talk about terrorism, and try to remind all of you- that it’s your job to be “alert and knowledgeable” and that we hope, by watching us- it inspires you to think twice about your duties as an American.
Enjoy.
Illuminating analysis, as usual. The terrorist on the plane was a wealthy Nigerian who went to a nice school in London and lived in a very expensive flat (~£2m). Makes one question how we ought to be fighting the existential threat of lone wolves collaborating over cyber space to bring about mass destruction. Or why we’re sending arks full of troops to Iraq and Afghanistan.
On a side note, I just read an article by Mark Steyn entitled “Cross the River, Burn the Bridge” mostly because he is one of the few people out there nowadays that can make anything sound interesting even if I disagree. The article was on healthcare and I scanned it until I came to this gem: “Whatever happens, it’s a dagger at the heart of American federalism, just as the bill’s magisterial proclamation that the Independent Medicare Advisory Board can only be abolished by a two-thirds vote of the Senate strikes at one of the most basic principles of a free society — that no parliament can bind its successors.” That’s pretty startling and does more to subvert participatory democracy than any filibustering Joe Lieberman was threatening.
I bring that up to draw a parallel between the crisis of terrorism and the ‘crisis’ of uninsured Americans. Are the solutions being offered by the military-corporate-industrial-government complex worse than the actual problems? Do they actually exacerbate the issues? Something to ponder.
Keep up the great work. You’re the best news show in town.
After this morning’s dose of the Esrati-Hunter experience, the Old Bandito had to replace the two AAA batteries in his BS detector with a Sears Diehard. For while a Nigerian on a terrorist watch-list just misses a mass slaughter on a Detroit tarmac, David Esrati saves his real venom for Wall-Street bankers. Perhaps it never occurred to you, David, that high credit card rates can be averted by such tried and true remedies as delayed gratification; simply waiting until one has the cash on hand to make purchases. The Esrati proclivity of wanting to save folks from their own bad decisions is not of the same priority as saving us from those who admittedly wish us harm. And perhaps gentlemen, if you were making your statements in New York City, you would not be so cavalier about the violent and horrible deaths of over 3,000 of your brethren, knowing that the relatives, friends and co-workers of the victims would be watching. In retrospect, the number of dead on 9-11 mirrors the number of fatalities at Pearl Harbor, and yet our predecessors didn’t stop and do the math about what ratio of enemy dead would be permissable. There are many of us today that don’t care if we kill 10,000 for every one of our fatalities if it prohibits our slavery and submission to those who mean us harm. Gotta’ admit though, the Old Bandito really likes your Blue Jackets sweater, Greg……….
I simply must amend the quotation attributed to me about Arab armies. My statement is that they litter the battlefield with their boots, which these barefoot soldiers shed for running away. I did not say that they leave their rifles behind.
I have never been able to accept the cease-fire we granted the Iraqi (ELITE) Revolutionary Guards in the First Gulf War, when we could have chased them all the way to Baghdad, and have never understood the almost-unanimous acclamation of General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, who should have warned his superiors against halting the operation.
(By the way, for you old-timers who can remember “Gangbusters” on the radio, his father, Col. H. Norman Schwarzkopf was on that program every week. I believe he was head of the New Jersey state police.)
Dad – you are correct about Stormin’ Norman’s dad. He was also one of the lead investigators for the Lindbergh baby kidnapping.
Perhaps it never occurred to you, David, that high credit card rates can be averted by such tried and true remedies as delayed gratification; simply waiting until one has the cash on hand to make purchases. The Esrati proclivity of wanting to save folks from their own bad decisions is not of the same priority as saving us from those who admittedly wish us harm. I agree with you Icey as the Americans desire for instant gratification is un matched; however, I expected the Government to work for the “Common Good” and not be a tool of Corporate Interests. Borrowing tax dollars at 0% and then raising the rates on the taxpayers to 25% does not appear to be in the common good, at least now. It would have been better had the rates been higher before the crisis so people would think about whether to finance a purchase or not. And perhaps gentlemen, if you were making your statements in New York City, you would not be so cavalier about the violent and horrible deaths of over 3,000 of your brethren, knowing that the relatives, friends and co-workers of the victims would be watching. In retrospect, the number of dead on 9-11 mirrors the number of fatalities at Pearl Harbor, and yet our predecessors didn’t stop and do the math about what ratio of enemy dead would be permissable. Absolutely violent and horrible, so lets not talk about it let’s go to war like we did in WWII. I say that is a strawman argument as you picked an obviously justified response to the global threat that the Axis powers posed versus 19 Saudi/Yemeni Highjackers. Sorry the Patriot Act, the Iraq War and the Screw Up at Tora Bora is an unacceptable way of honoring the dead in New York, DC and Shanksville, in my opinion. If you want to track every foreign national and every green card holder fine, but leave me out of it. There are many of us today that don’t care if we kill 10,000 for every one of our fatalities if it prohibits our… Read more »
Interesting isn’t it as he also allowed the Iraqis to use their helicopters, so they could put down the Iraqi Revolutionaries terrorists. Based on the facts, somebody in the Pentagon understood the “how things would play out” Reaping what we sow should be obvious.
And the TSA releases it’s knee jerk reactions- no more laptops for last hour of international flights:
http://www.electronista.com/articles/09/12/28/international.flights.get.reactionary.security/
Read the comments- pretty funny- or not.
What definition of common are you using Greg? http://www.thefreedictionary.com/common