First Rule in Homeland Security

We should have learned more lessons from 9/11. Specifically, we should have set the first rule in Homeland Security to be: no more stupid bureaucratic policies that endanger our lives!

There were bunches of them before 9/11. Most famously, the "wall" between the FBI and the CIA that hindered sharing intelligence data on terrorists between the two agencies.

But there were plenty of smaller, equally stupid, rules in place for senseless bureaucratic reasons only. Take this one, that has been in place in the Air Marshall Service ever since the beefed up from 30 agents to thousands after 9/11:

- Male field agents were required to wear suits and ties and have no facial hair.

Now, I ask you. How sensible is that on the surface? You are trying to hide armed air marshalls on a plane full of people. You want them inconspicuous. You want the terrorists to operate under a cloud of uncertainty - anyone on the plane could be an air marshall, armed and trained to take you out. Anyone. Except of course, you Mr. Terrorist don't have to worry about any male not wearing a suit, because the powers that be in Washington are more concerned about a dress code than about effective threat prevention!

The air marshalls have been protesting this policy for years. They want to be able to alter their dress to blend in better. Alter their appearance. But no dice as long as Democrat Norman Mineta was Republican George W. Bush's choice to head the Transportation Department. This politically correct attempt at bipartisanship had consequences, notably in stupid policies that made us less safe.

Mineta's gone now. And, today the air marshall's got their change. They no longer have to wear suits on a plane. Sanity is restored. It's five years too late.

What other stupid and unsafe policies are yet to be overturned in the TSA?

Quick Shots on the News

Some thoughts on the avalanche of breaking news items:

- Kudos to the authorities who foiled the airline bombing plot in England last week.

That includes our very own NSA who picked up the early chatter that started the investigation. The same NSA and surveillance who have been under fire by liberals for a year now. Democrats should apologize for yammering that the President's NSA surveillance program on people in the US who were talking with terror organizations was "illegal" and grounds for impeachment. Bush is doing the right thing. Democrats are undermining our security. Simple.

This foiled attack should bring it home that we are still at war

- Islamic Jihadists. That's who we are at war with. Not "terror". Let's name the enemy already.

Let's start showing pictures on TV. The airline bombers. The missing Egyptian students. Let's see the suspects. It will bring it home that Islamic Jihadists are our enemy.

- I think Joe Lieberman should step down from running from the Senate in Connecticut. He lost his party's primary. He shouldn't have - his opponent was a pawn of the far-left antiwar fringe. But he did lose. He should respect that and relinquish his seat. But, he won't because Senators see power as an entitlement.

Having said that, I hope he runs as an independent. His "independent" candidacy will split the liberal vote and give the Republican a chance to pick up a seat there!

- The Israel / Hezbollah situation is a mess. I don't have hopes for a UN-brokered cease fire working for any length of time.

I'm puzzled by Israel's actions. I support their self-defense efforts. But, I'm not sure what they accomplished if they stop now. Did they degrade Hezbollah's capability to hurt them enough? I don't think so.

- I think that the story of the missing Egyptian students should be looked at more. If the majority of a group of "students" who arrive here on a visa fail to go to there destination, it should be treated with utmost suspicion. It's suspicious. And, I don't understand how the FBI could come out immediately with a statement that they were not a terrorism threat. I don't buy it.

- We should build an oil pipeline in ANWR. Now.

World Gone Mad

Amongst the many things that Mel Gibson ranted about in his drunken roadside discourse this week was about coping in a "world gone mad".

Two things are clear to me.

First, Mel Gibson - who I've defended before on this blog - is toast for a while and rightfully so given his comments about Jews that can't be explained by mere overindulgence in the spirits.

Second, the world is gone mad.

It's hard enough to wrap your mind around the sudden volatility in the worlds hotspots. Bombings killing 50 people a day in Iraq. War in Lebanon and Gaza. Bombings in India. Big events that just keep escalating beyond my mere power to comprehend.

That's hard enough.

But, it was a little story that pushed me over the edge this week into utter incomprehension of man's inhumanity to man. It was the story of the 50-ish businessman from Chicago who died in Miami for the sin of asking for directions in the wrong neighborhood. He travelled to his ex-wife's new city to be with his son on his 17th birthday. After dropping his son off at work, he pulled into a gas station to ask a passerby for directions. Whereby the savage stranger shot and killed him for the little that he could rob out of the man's car.

This is senseless tragedy, and it's relatable. The majority of us are not going to get killed in the Mideast. But I know that I have been on the road and found myself out of my element and needing help in rough neighborhoods. I guess the Chicago businessman made the mistake of being in a neighborhood where he wasn't a neighbor, and for that he paid with his life.

The world has indeed gone mad.