9/11 Scorecard, again

Here's a good summary of the effects of the 9/11 events on the western world:

http://www.unz.com/proberts/911-after-13-years/

and for further consideration:

http://original.antiwar.com/lucy/2014/09/12/never-learn-anything-from-911/

I'm struck by the level of ignorance, incompetence, greed, malevolence, willful blindness, political opportunism, and savagery that has been displayed by our governments in response to the 9/11 incident.

I am saddened by the degree to which our rights to privacy, freedom of association, free speech, freedom of movement, and basic rule of law have been subverted in the name of keeping us safe from the people whose resources and countries the west has been violently pillaging for over a century.

I despair over the opportunity costs that are associated with our governments' actions.  Canada has spent over $22 billion on its Afghanistan debacle.  That money could have been spent on medical research to eliminate things like malaria, leprosy, or even ebola.  It could have been used to create refineries so that the tar sands oil profits would stay within Canada and our energy independence assured for the relatively near future.  So many opportunities lost, along with our vaunted military capabilities that were dumped into the Afghan deserts.

We are behaving like stupid serfs inside an American empire.