Posted on 09/18/2002 7:03:03 AM PDT by Neckbone
Since 9/11/01, national security has been sexy. It has been a topic on which suddenly everybody has an opinion, however influenced by the media, and everyone is willing to share it. Once again it has become, much to the chagrin of the phatic Left, okay to be cautiously isolationist. It is we of the clear eye and lucid mind who are questioning the refusal of airline security to offend or inconvenience those passengers who are statistically far more likely to pose a security risk than the old and infirm who are the favorite targets for screening. Of course we, the aquiescent majority, are a hell of a lot less trouble to detain.
It is this pervasive lack of a work ethic on the part of our federal beaurocracy that comprises the largest gap in the armor of our national security. It is not an issue of an overzealous FBI, an over-secretive CIA, or an overly-redundant DEA, although these are issues worth pondering. It all comes down to the fact that our federal administrative rank and file are, by and large, lazy.
When our President stated that he wanted the freedom to hire, fire, and hold accountable the men and women who would be tasked with defending our homeland security, he was roundly vilified. His motivations were characterized as “anti-worker” and “regressive” simply because he wished to have a workforce free of the stupefying effects of federal organized labor. Allow me to illustrate the current state of our post-911 beaurocracy:
An employee at one of my Ohio facilities is a registered alien, meaning that he has a legally-procured “Green Card” and as such has for the past ten years worked legally, paid taxes, and contributed to Social Security. It seems that this employee lost his Social Security card a few months back, and at the urging of his Human Resource Department went to the local Social Security office to register the loss and get a copy of the card. Here’s where the Machine took over. Instead of going through the necessary steps to log the loss and get a copy of the card, the clerk simply issued the man a new Social Security number. It turns out that issuing a new number is easier than going through the replacement process (for the clerk anyway).
The potential impact of this act of laziness is huge, once you think about it. Too much debt? Get a new Social Security number and start a new life. Is your brother-in-law Rashaad a little too militant to be allowed into the US? Hell, with a Social Security number he’ll be one of us! The clerk at the Social Security Administration office had, in the words of her supervisor when questioned later, “took a shortcut- it’s common when the office is busy.”
We all make jokes about the DMV, and we all have horror stories about governmental agencies. Has the time not come, however, when acts of aggredious inaction are no longer funny or acceptable? Hasn’t the time come to say “enough is enough! Get the lazy, the stupid, and the otherwise unemployable off of the federal payroll! Get the unions out of government!”?
Didn’t the time come already?
This is trrue. If you know or have a family meber in the Federal Service, and department, these days you know for a fact it's all about "benefits", not "patriotism".
All employees of the Executive Branch serve at the pleasure of the President; the Constitution recognizes only one such Chief Executive.
The war department of the federal government, over which the President is the Commander in Chief, includes federal employees not necessarily of the current sub-department known as the Dept. of Defense.
The proposed Dept. of Homeland Security, is a separate department than the DoD, but the DoHS is a also a sub-department within the war department. Same for the C.I.A., the N.S.A., etc. --- they are sub-departments of the war department of the federal government.
The President could have, at any time, grabbed a cab, gone over the DoD, and begun to appoint personnel to an operation satisfying the purposes he thinks necessary, and called the operation, the Federal Bureau of Homeland Security.
Instead, the President's natural inclination to prostrate himself before the Alter of the Beltway and submit a request for bigger government, rules him --- because he lets it, that is his nature.
When issuing the directions for establishing the Federal Bureau of Homeland Security under the war department, should have been among his work load from day1, the day he became aware of how serious was and is the threat from Fascist Islamism and fascist group-nationalizing socialism --- that's a day well in advance of September 11, 2001.
Daniel Day-Lewis .... Hawkeye
Madeleine Stowe .... Cora Munro
Russell Means .... Chingachgook
Eric Schweig .... Uncas
Jodhi May .... Alice
Steven Waddington .... Heyward
Wes Studi .... Magua
It appears that we share similar taste in movies. This one is a classic (as is Cooper’s novel).
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.