"i piss down the throats of these nazis"

[updated]

The godfather of gonzo believes America has suffered a "nationwide nervous breakdown" since 9/11, and as a result is compromising civil liberties for what he calls "the illusion of security." The compromise, he says, is "a disaster of unthinkable proportions" and "part of the downward spiral of dumbness" he believes is plaguing the country.

great interview with hunter thompson in salon.

good news is you can now read salon's premium stories for free. you've just gotta sit through an ad. click 'one day pass brought to you by, etc.' and you'll get the full text.

interesting how the article points out that our current defense budget is in the range of $400 billion...that's enough money to give $1,256.48 to each of the 290,175,967 inhabitants of the u.s.a. or $58.76 to each of the 6,272,713,913 people living on earth. according to the war resister's league, we're actually spending about $800 billion per year if you count the interest on the debt created by ongoing military spending. according to the center for defense information, this year's $400 billion budget alone amounts to more than 26 times the defense budgets of all our potential enemies (cuba, iran, iraq, libya, north korea, sudan and syria) combined. now look where it's all going. what do you get for that money? the illusion of safety? a strong economy? bullshit! in the meantime, this year's proposed education budget is $56.5 billion: about 1/7th of the defense budget. and according to unicef, the u.s. ranks rock bottom in education.

thompson, of course, wisely responds, "the oligarchy doesn't need an educated public."

why does the citizenry put up with this bullshit? or did i just answer my own question?