December 5, 2012, Millions for paranoia, not one red cent for...
Anything that might help anyone, excepting the military [and the other components of the ruling class.] And so, amidst the fake crisis we're told is a "fiscal cliff," the Republican House has nonetheless found some money and voted to provide lifetime Secret Service protection to all living Presidents (right now, Democrats outnumber Republicans three [Obama, Clinton and Carter] to two [Bush Pere and Dubya])... but paranoia has bipartisan consensus. [the change, btw, is that current law provides for Secret Service protection for up to ten years after the President leaves office; this will provide such protection for life of the President and their spouse wife.]
Stated ground, of course, is fear of terrrrrrrorism. The fact that, other than professional do-gooder Carter, pretty much all ex-Presidents [Bill Clinton I mean especially you] trade on their former office for obscene riches, and can more than provide for their own security... but this is kind of symbolic... "servants of the people [on Wall Street]"... don't want to have to mingle with the hoi polloi... unprotected.
But in our ever-more "gated community" society, as the logical continuation of "every man's home is his armored fortress" that defines American suburbia [at least until the eventual energy/financial/environmental/social collapse renders it obsolete]... the "important people"-- symbolized, of course, by the President, the chief executive used as the chief mascot of the ruling class (lest they, you know, pay attention to bankers)-- need "protection" from the rest of us.
One might ask... do they know something the rest of us don't? Or... is this just the wave of the future? Them what has... gets extra security... and why not?
Where was I going with this? I guess I got nothing...