I hate Shrub too - but let's not get crazy...

My neighbor here at work hates Shrub. That's fine by me. I don't mind. I hate him, too. Turns out, a lot of people hate him. There are a plethora of websites dedicated just to the pursuit of hating Shrub. That's fine. More power to them.

... but can they try to make some sense?

My neighbor read an article from one of these sites that Shrub is underfunding Homeland Security to the extent that the ports in Los Angeles are open to attack.

Okay... before I start, let's establish a few things.

1) The US has been attacked by foreigners twice in the last 104 years. TWICE! That's two attacks in 37,960 days. Folks, you have better odds of getting into a car accident than being attacked by a foreign power. Or getting robbed by a politician, for which the odds are astronomically low!

2) Homeland Security isn't about making people safe. It's about taking your money and putting it into projects that fill the pockets of the wealthy. If you honestly think keeping nail-clippers off of airlines is keeping you safe, you have issues. (As George Carlin said, "How come they'll let someone on board with Big, Powerful Hands?!")

3) Shrub does not care about you. Witness the economy, Haliburton, his lust for war, and his "faith-based" pork projects. Shrub's all about making his wealthy friends wealthier.

Okay? So, there will be no attack on L.A. Homeland Security is a misnomer for "gimme mo' money". And Shrub is not going to help you.

With this in mind, I asked, "Who's going to attack LA?"

"Well, it's been tried before," she said.

"Not even the (quote) Japs in their Zeros (end quote) tried it. Nobody's going to attack LA."

"Well, Clinton stopped a lot of terrorists."

"So Clinton says and I'm sure Shrub will say he stopped plenty, too. The only difference is that you'll believe Clinton."

Listen, folks. There aren't nearly as many terrorists as we're being led to believe. Most of those who are called terrorists want people (us) to stop shooting at them. The word "terrorist" has morphed in meaning from "one who terrorizes" (Shrub) to "anyone who doesn't like us" (everyone else). You need to stop buying into the bastardization of the language and use some common sense.

As for Homeland Security, look around you and you'll see their biggest purpose is to keep you watching as things go from orange to red to FIERY! It's all about fear and keeping you in line, with little of it having to do with helping you. Want proof? Cities all over the country have been going bankrupt as money is drained from funding for police and fire departments for Homeland Security, money stolen from immediate needs to given to a tenuous organization that may or not help you in the event of some possible terrorist attack that's coming.... any day now... honest.

Look, as I told my neighbor, I can be just as caught up in the terror - um, excuse me, paranoia - that Shrub has brought to this nation. I can say that his theft of our national surplus and healthy economy has helped protect us. I can believe that the money he guts from important social programs and hands over to his cronies is doing someone good. I can worry that Homeland Security better get more money or (the dreaded) brown-skinned people with their spooky weapons will devastate Los Angeles. (Obviously, they've never been...) I can also say that my belt-buckle has special powers that save me from the aliens but, guess what folks, it's all bunk. Shrub stole from us and gave it to his people just like any Haitian dictator. Shrub isn't underfunding Homeland Security; he doesn't care about homeland security. He doesn't stay up late at night wondering how to fund it; he laughs at how easily the nation has been taken in while he counts his millions. Homeland Security is a joke that is making a lot of people (who live in privately-policed communities and who send their kids to private schools) a lot of money.

Is anyone safer? Of course, not. The world is a dangerous place and the minute you believe anyone who says they can save your from a concept (say, oh, terrorism) is the minute you might as well stop blaming them because you should just be ashamed of yourself.