Neo Con Mom

My parents keep getting more and more conservative. They've bought in completely to the "freedom in exchange for security" mentality. It's a major difference in paradigms; so much so that nothing I ever say would be able to convince them otherwise. We just have different views of what is important. I opened with comments about the Boing boing article about it costing 15 million dollars per person caught with the US - visitor program, and they rebutted with "it's worth it, because it's a deterrant. Besides, the cost per person caught will decrease as more people are caught."
Last night, the president announced a "22-percent increase in clean-energy research. . . to invest more in zero-emission coal-fired plants, revolutionary solar and wind technologies, and clean, safe nuclear energy. (Applause.)¹ " I checked the department of energy website but couldn't find how much is currently being spent on these kinds of programs. I think that somebody should do a study on the cost effectiveness on reducing the probability of terror attacks, comparing spending on programs that increase security and those that reduce dependancy on middle eastern oil. I'll grant that such a study would probably cost $15 million, but that just means that we wont catch Cat Stevens the next time he tries to enter the USA.

1. That quotation is from the white house website. The "applause" was actually written into the transcript. I'm not sure if that means that people were scheduled to applause there, or actually cheered spontaneously there.