We've spent nearly a TRILLION dollars on Homeland Security since 9/11

[gratuitous]

13. From a post yesterday that sank like a stone

"You've completed a 20-year cycle of escalating missile attacks, kidnappings, interventions, and turning your country into a giant prison. The result, they tell you, is that now the threat is even greater than before. And the solution? Let's do all the same things that worked so well the first time."

So, we're gonna need another trillion dollars. In the meantime, every little rumor or imagining or speculation will immediately assume concrete form of the Greatest Threat We Face Today. So be careful on the train. Watch out on the subway. Check your water supply. Get one of those mirror-on-a-stick doohickeys to look under your car every morning. Buy duct tape and plastic sheeting, and practice covering your windows and doors. Hide under the bed. Assume the fetal position. And if you're STILL not scared enough - you traitorous lout - we'll bring out Lindsay Graham and John McCain, a prospect that makes even the nerviest person quail.