Ballpoint Adventures for March 27, 2006: Billy finally concedes to Barbie... sort of...

When I was growing up during the Cold War, it was as black and white a world as it is now--where there was good and evil and we were the good guys and blahblahblah. The difference is that back then, we were bravely standing up against the communist threat. We wore our freedoms on our chests like medals of honor. I, for one, was ready to die for my freedom if I had to (still am). Flash forward a few decades and we're all a bunch of scared kids afraid of the boogie man. What happened to us?

Ballpoint Adventures for March 26, 2006 Yes, Billy is still laughing at Barbie's joke about Al Qeada getting a nuke.

What else is there to say? Statistically, we are way more likely to be killed by a car, than killed by a terrorist. This has ALWAYS been the statistic since before 911, even. Why, then, are so many Americans willing to give up what brave men and women died to protect just because they have a tiny fraction of a chance they might get killed by a terrorist?

Ballpoint Adventures for March 25, 2006: Billy still enjoys Barbie's joke about Al Qeada getting a nuke.

It's such a silly thing to be afraid of. Sure--we should definitely stop terrorists and I don't want anyone to be killed by terrorists, but for Americans to be scared of terrorists? I'm sounding like a broken record, but so does anyone who still insists that AQ could ever "destroy America."

Ballpoint Adventures for March 24, 2006: Billy enjoys Barbie's joke about Al Qeada getting a nuke.

It is pretty silly, when you think about it--I mean--the USSR had almost as many nukes as we did and there was no Patriot Act in the 1980s. And now we're supposed to be afraid of a handful of guys in the desert getting a single nuke when those of us who remember the cold war were staring down the barrel of a gun firing thousands of nukes at us? Seems like America has turned into a bunch of fraidy cats.

Ballpoint Adventures for March 23, 2006: Barbie still doesn't get why Billy's not afraid...

Now that Al Qeada seems to be much less of a concern than gay marriage, women's health, immigration and the economy, I have to admit I am a happier person. There's still no reason to be afraid of gays or to control women's bodies, but at least literal wars aren't fought over those issues. The economy however? A flagging economy has been used to as an excuse for war since the dawn of time.

So, I wouldn't be surprised if suddenly a war pops up to help the economy out of its slump. Only problem: who will be the enemy? My guess? ALIENS!

You just WATCH!!

Ballpoint Adventures for March 22, 2006: Live on your knees or...?

Too many people would rather live on their knees than face death standing up. As if it's even death we're facing by not being afraid of terrorists. Statistically, you're MUCH less likely to get killed by a terrorist than you are a car. And cars aren't even Muslim!

Ballpoint Adventures for March 21, 2006: Barbie wants to know...

The one drag about going back through these strips is that it reminds me of how afraid we were of a bunch of guys in the desert. Sad some of us still are afraid of them. Even more sad that President Obama is one of them.

Ballpoint Adventures for March 19, 2006: There's still plenty for Barbie to be afraid of...

FDR was right--be afraid of fear, first... or else you might find yourself performing oral sex on someone who claims to be keeping you safe.

All This For 500 Al Queda?

underpaidgenius:

David Sanger and Mark Mazetti, New Estimate of Strength of Al Qaeda Is Offered

American intelligence agencies believe that there are most likely fewer than 500 members of the group in a region [Afghanistan and Pakistan’s tribal areas]  where the United States has poured nearly 100,000 troops.

This is proof that the US government is cracked. We are spending billions every month to wage a ‘war’ — in reality, to attempt to suppress a terrorist movement — than comprises a few hundred hard core radicals.

Afghanistan is not a ‘country’ in any sense, and neither is Pakistan, really. We are wrestling with shadows.

Insanity.

Sociopathy.

I’ve been saying for years that Al Qeada is a joke and that we have little (if anything) to truly fear from these guys.  The USG has us as scared of a handful of idiots in the desert as we were of the Soviet Union.  This is absurd and our leaders should be ashamed.

There are about a thousand things we could be better spending hundreds of billions of dollars on that would save more lives right here inside America.

Where are we going to get the money to pay for free health care for all Americans? I’m pretty sure ending the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan would help pay for it.  That way my step-dad doesn’t have to die of the cancer that is killing him.

But no, let’s keep on being scared of nothing so we can keep the funds flowing into the military industrial complex that runs our government.

Sociopathy.

Happy 911-Day

Come on, let's be honest! In another thirty years, 911-day will be a holiday and we'll get the Monday before 911 off and we'll spend that day at the barbecue, cookin' up some brats!!

The actual dead will be long forgotten.

The fact that 5 years after 911 the guy the USG says was behind the attacks still isn't in custody will be forgotten, too.

The fact that nearly as many Americans have died in Iraq as died on 911 is something most of us will never know (source).

In thirty years we'll have forgotten all about how a handful of men took our freedoms away and blamed extremist muslims to get away with it.

In three decades, America will have moved on and will have an impossible time remembering what it was like before George W. Bush introduced us all to pre-emptive war.

Ah, what the hell? Break out the brats now, dammit! It's not like any of us really care about human lives.

Happy 911-Day!