Excited Delirium

Stories about Excited Delirium, the Shock Economy and a little fiction here and there.

Daily Archives: March 16, 2008

Missile Defense: “Longest Running Scam” Exposed

Full Story Here.

Here are some comments:

Rep. Stephen Lynch asked whether the allocation of resources is proportional to the threat.

“Absolutely not. I believe that the Ballistic Missile Defense program is the longest running scam in the history of the Department of Defense,” Joseph Cirincione, [president of the Ploughshares Fund] said. “This is an enormous waste of money, and if you leave this decision to the Joint Chiefs they won’t spend anything near what this Administration is requesting. In fact, the last time the Joint Chiefs were asked about this in 1993, [they] recommended to then-Pres. Clinton that we spend only $3 billion a year on these kinds of programs, and of that $2.3 billion should be spent on efforts to intercept short-range missiles – the ones that are a real threat to our troops and allies…. We’re no further along in our ability to actually hit a real ballistic missile now than we were 20 years ago.”

Both Cirincione and Flynn pointed to the disturbing fact that there is no comprehensive threat assessment comparing missile and non-missile threats to our security. “We haven’t done a good threat assessment – an intelligence estimate that looks at the non-missile threat and the missile threat,” Flynn said.

Cirincione agreed. “I believe that in order for Congress to judge whether these sums are necessary they need a comprehensive assessment of the ballistic missile threat. Congress has never – never – gotten this kind of assessment…. We need a comprehensive threat assessment of what the most serious security threats are facing the United States, and then budget allocations based on that.”

Not, it’s not quite the same context, but I seem to recall a lot of tension when then-Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien rejected the scheme that the Americans had to envelope the entire North American continent with a ‘missile defense’ system. A scheme that would have siphoned billions of funds to the companies that perpetuate the myth that missile attacks need a massive level of spending year after year.

Good call, Jean!

Of course, that didn’t stop the mainstream media multitudes from lambasting the man at every turn, insinuating cowardice and lack of will to support our most important neighbour.

Brazil and Argentina to drop US dollar in bilateral trade

Full Story Here.

My bet is that this will be the first of many stories that will materalize over the next few months / years about the rest of the world resisting trade in US funds. These are the cracks in the pavement that give way to Honda-sized potholes in the economic roads we’ve paved.

To be honest, I would have thought that they’d trade in a local currency anwyays, but then, there isn’t one in Latin America. Maybe this is the first step in many towards a common currency in South America? What would Mexico do? As a Latin country that is rich with resources, would they get pulled in that direction, potentially even bowing out of the NAFTA?

Anything’s possible, right?

Canadian House Descends Into Anarchy?

Story here.

This is troubling. A number of public officials who are distant from the house have made very public comments about the level of partisan politics that are threatening to turn Canada into a has-been democracy.

What’s stunning is that so few people are in an uproar. The media keeps saying ‘you don’t want an election’ and the Liberals and Harpies are doing their best to keep the minority government from collapsing.

First, we suffered from an endless tirade from the Minister of Finance telling other jurisdictions how to manage their business when most factors were beyond their control.

Then, we have a situation where it seems like the Harpies ‘made a mistake’ when it came to the level of influence on the outcome of the Democratic primaries in the US. It matters. Obama is a surprise candidate with the potential to win and he’s not nearly as well endorsed by the military establishment as Clinton and McCain. That’s the difference. And our leaders, who are all too keen to slash taxes and social programs while locking in a minimum 2% increase per year for defense, know that.

Next, comes the Cadman affair. I don’t care what the situation was and who was promised what, but to slap a lawsuit on the official Opposition simply because they are asking the questions that all Canadians want answered is insane. Who knows. Maybe the Liberals did go too far with comments on their site. But that doesn’t matter anymore because what’s most important is that the people of the Harper government no longer have to respond to requests in Question Period because they can say it’s before the courts.

Enough’s enough already. The whole thing has become a farce and there’s only one party left to vote for (the NDP), but they’ve got a lot of work to do if they’re going to grab the ring while the other two parties are busy mud wrestling.