Thursday, February 09, 2006

Our Top National Priority

Just read the transcript of Russ Feingold's speech to the Senate re the president's lies and lawbreaking with the wiretaps. I was reading along, nodding my head in agreement, and then I came to this line:

Defeating the terrorists should be our top national priority. . . .

Why? Why should that misguided impossibility be our "top national priority"? What about education? Ending hunger? Lowering the deficit? Creating new jobs? Assuring equal rights for ALL Americans? Why isn't any of these critical issues our "top national priority"?

Since when did we buy this republican-driven campaign of fear so completely that even an outspoken opponent of the war is parroting lines from the republican propanganda machines? Since when did anyone of sound mind believe that it's even possible to defeat every person on the planet who's practicing terrorist tactics, let alone pondering doing so?

When defense/war spending is increasing but programs to directly help all Americans are being cut, there's something wrong. This isn't Sparta. This isn't the Roman Empire. The hundreds of billions of dollars we're spending in Iraq (so that people can steal it out of unlocked file cabinets or gamble it away in the Phillipines, and so that Halliburton/KBR can reap huge profits) should be spent here--on causes that directly affect every American, every day.

That should be our top national priority.