Phooom?! You son of a bitch.

This post, like the many others I have put up online, is specifically written for those who live in the United States.

80 Eyes on 2,400 People: Please click here so that you may ignore your TV set and take time to think about this article.

Excerpt:

Thompson, with the blessing of the City Council, applied for the Homeland Security grant last year. He is 51, wiry, with a slightly harried air about him. He has spent 22 years in the Dillingham Police Department, starting as dispatcher and becoming chief a year and a half ago.

It's his department. He and his six officers take the oath to protect very seriously. He bristles at any reference to Big Brother.

"Tokyo is that way," says Thompson, extending his arm to the left. He's standing near the spot in the harbor where Roberts stood the previous day.

"Russia is about 800 miles that way," he says, arm extending right.

"Seattle is about 1,200 miles back that way." He points behind him.

"So if I have the math right, we're closer to Russia than we are to Seattle."

Now imagine, he says: What if the bad guys, whoever they are, manage to obtain a nuclear device in Russia, where some weapons are believed to be poorly guarded. They put the device in a container and then hire organized criminals, "maybe Mafiosi," to arrange a tramp steamer to pick it up. The steamer drops off the container at the Dillingham harbor, complete with forged paperwork to ship it to Seattle. The container is picked up by a barge.

"Ten days later," the chief says, "the barge pulls into the Port of Seattle."

Thompson pauses for effect.

"Phoooom," he says, his hands blooming like a flower.

"Farfetched? My view is we pay people like me to think of the 'what ifs,' " Thompson says. The cameras would help authorities monitor who is entering and leaving the port. If something bad happens, the cameras at the very least could help identify suspects.

"I'd be willing to bet that's a good reason why we got the grant," Thompson says. "The government, I think, understands the potential."

The Department of Homeland Security, which gave Alaska more than $16 million in grants last year, takes seriously the threat of terrorists infiltrating the country through remote border areas.

"Once a terrorist is inside Alaska, that person is inside the United States," says David Liebersbach, director of the Alaska Division of Homeland Security.

"Phoooom," Thompson says again.

The town has a population of 2400 people. It's Alaska; 1200 miles from Seattle. The cameras blanket the entire town. All told, they cost the federal government over 200,000 dollars.

You know, it's Bushshit like this that makes me hate this goddamn stupid fucking piece of shit country for encouraging this kind of thinking. This son of a bitch Thompson just linked "some" bad guy in Russia to "some" town in Alaska who would "probably" use it as a point of entry to Seattle. It's more complicated than the plotline for a freakin' season of 24! By acting on this sorry excuse for a scenario, he's destroyed the security of individuals on the streets and on the roads -- the security of their personal privacy.

Nearly all of these types of people need to realize an undeniable truth: very little can be done to improve our safety. Look at Israel and Palestine: terrorism has become the norm, and neither country can defend its citizens against the nutjobs from the other -- it's just not possible. Do you really think 80 security cameras in a port city on the Mediterranian would stop terrorists from transporting a weapon/bomb onto land? Hell no! It's in a container for Christ's sake!

We have to make the right decision: we have to uphold our free society, even though it opens us up to the possibility of terrorism. It is simply a matter of circumstance, as there is no intelligent way to limit freedom and maintain our country's ideals. (George W. Bush has proven that.)

We cannot -- we must not -- invade the lives of non-criminals if we wish to call ourselves the land of the free. If we do, then I hope you all enjoy living in fear and allegiance to a bastard of a country.