Letting the Terrorists Win
I've been up to my neck in politics all day. Still upset and crying over the ridiculous bailout that's going to cost all of us-- every person in the USA, adults and children, $2500. I just watched Bill Maher and they discussed a point that I think has been sorely missed in all of the election nonsense and economic crisis and gloom and doom and fear and patriotism that's going around this year.
It all comes back to 9/11. Really.
When the Islamic extremists wanted to hurt us they hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, a symbol of the money and power in America, a physical manifestation of the strength of our economy. Not the White House. Not the Capitol Building. Not the Empire State Building. Those towers were destroyed for what they represented.
The terrorist attacks on the Trade Center led directly to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We bombed Afghanistan because that's where we're told Bin Laden is hiding. Bush said we went to war against Iraq because Al Qaeda is there and because they had weapons of mass destruction. He was wrong on both counts, but that's how he sold the war to the American people. Iraq has the terrorists that hurt us and we have to go after them.
So what's happened in that war? We've lost the lives of more than 5000 American soldiers and we've destroyed our economy. We've spent $585,000,000,000 so far on that war and in the process we've destroyed our economy and thrown our nation into the most serious debt we've ever had.
$585,000,000,000. Nine freaking zeros.
Iraq itself has a budget surplus of $80,000,000,000 from selling us their oil. We occupy their country and we're still paying them for oil, still paying for their civil war with the lives of American soldiers and destroying our financial future and security in the process. They have a surplus in their economy and ours in tanking. What does that say?
It all comes back to 9/11. Do you think that the goal of Al Qaeda was to knock down a few buildings and kill 3,500 people? No, their goal was and is to ruin the United States and they're succeeding. By continuing this war of lies that is costing and costing and costing, we are SELF DESTRUCTING. We're letting them win.
Congress doesn't help when they sink $840 billion dollars into banks that are failing against the will of most of the people in America, the people who elected them, to represent them and their wishes in Washington!!!! We pay their exhorbitant salaries and they aren't even doing right by us, what's right by the country. It's a sad day that actor Alec Baldwin has a better plan for all that money than all of the economists and finance experts in DC. Baldwin says we should not give that money to Wall Street banks, but instead distribute it to local state banks to fix the mortgage crisis.
Nevermind that the original bill that failed was said to be too expensive at $700 billion and they passed the sucker at $840 billion with $140 billion of that in PORK!!!!
Back to the economy and the war and $585,000,000,000.
How many college educations for Americans could have been paid for in full? How many children and families would have health care? How many people could have been treated for horrific diseases both here and abroad? How much research could have been bought to work toward curing cancer, AIDS, diabetes, lupus? How many good teachers could have been paid better wages? How many roads and bridges rebuilt?
How could we have made our own country better?
Instead, we've let the terrorists do exactly what they intended when they took those planes and flew them into a couple of buildings in New York City. They've crumbled our economy. We let it happen. We cheered for shock and awe. The politicians are still touting that the surge worked even though it's known that it wasn't the surge but some new highly classified techniques that have improved the situation in Iraq.
It all comes back to 9/11. Really.
When the Islamic extremists wanted to hurt us they hijacked planes and flew them into the World Trade Center towers in New York City, a symbol of the money and power in America, a physical manifestation of the strength of our economy. Not the White House. Not the Capitol Building. Not the Empire State Building. Those towers were destroyed for what they represented.
The terrorist attacks on the Trade Center led directly to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. We bombed Afghanistan because that's where we're told Bin Laden is hiding. Bush said we went to war against Iraq because Al Qaeda is there and because they had weapons of mass destruction. He was wrong on both counts, but that's how he sold the war to the American people. Iraq has the terrorists that hurt us and we have to go after them.
So what's happened in that war? We've lost the lives of more than 5000 American soldiers and we've destroyed our economy. We've spent $585,000,000,000 so far on that war and in the process we've destroyed our economy and thrown our nation into the most serious debt we've ever had.
$585,000,000,000. Nine freaking zeros.
Iraq itself has a budget surplus of $80,000,000,000 from selling us their oil. We occupy their country and we're still paying them for oil, still paying for their civil war with the lives of American soldiers and destroying our financial future and security in the process. They have a surplus in their economy and ours in tanking. What does that say?
It all comes back to 9/11. Do you think that the goal of Al Qaeda was to knock down a few buildings and kill 3,500 people? No, their goal was and is to ruin the United States and they're succeeding. By continuing this war of lies that is costing and costing and costing, we are SELF DESTRUCTING. We're letting them win.
Congress doesn't help when they sink $840 billion dollars into banks that are failing against the will of most of the people in America, the people who elected them, to represent them and their wishes in Washington!!!! We pay their exhorbitant salaries and they aren't even doing right by us, what's right by the country. It's a sad day that actor Alec Baldwin has a better plan for all that money than all of the economists and finance experts in DC. Baldwin says we should not give that money to Wall Street banks, but instead distribute it to local state banks to fix the mortgage crisis.
Nevermind that the original bill that failed was said to be too expensive at $700 billion and they passed the sucker at $840 billion with $140 billion of that in PORK!!!!
Back to the economy and the war and $585,000,000,000.
How many college educations for Americans could have been paid for in full? How many children and families would have health care? How many people could have been treated for horrific diseases both here and abroad? How much research could have been bought to work toward curing cancer, AIDS, diabetes, lupus? How many good teachers could have been paid better wages? How many roads and bridges rebuilt?
How could we have made our own country better?
Instead, we've let the terrorists do exactly what they intended when they took those planes and flew them into a couple of buildings in New York City. They've crumbled our economy. We let it happen. We cheered for shock and awe. The politicians are still touting that the surge worked even though it's known that it wasn't the surge but some new highly classified techniques that have improved the situation in Iraq.