I was wrong: Creating the Dept. of Homeland Security was a mistake

[bluestateguy]

I supported the creation of this agency 4 years ago, as in fact it was actually first proposed by senators Cleland and Lieberman.

Now I realize that this was a mistake. The bureacratic bungling and plodding reveals that we have made no progress at all in our homeland security measures since 9/11. All the officials from this agency seem to know how to do are press conferences, photo ops and meaningless TV interviews.

It's time to dissolve this bloated agency and start over again.

[Tace]

1. I'm Glad You See What A God-Damned Stupid Idea It Was

Fuckin' Homeland Security. Too Fourth Reich for me.

[IChing]

6. I agree it reminded me of German or South Afrikan's agencies in fact:

Snipets from Associated Press
An uncommon word to begin with, "homeland" became an everyday word after the Sept. 11 attacks and was institutionalized when President Bush ( news - web sites) created the Office of Homeland Security.

Jeff Neberman, who teaches European history at Boise State University, says it's "right out of Nazi Germany." The German word "heimat" means "homeland" and was used by the Nazis. Others dispute a direct Nazi link and note various cultures have used the word, too.

"Homeland" has "obviously grated on quite a number of people," said Todd Gitlin, who teaches culture and sociology at Columbia University. "It feels like an import even if you're not aware that its origins are German."

Leslie Savan, who wrote a book about advertising and popular culture, said "homeland" makes her think not only of Germany, but also of Russia and South Africa's former apartheid government.

"It's been one of those words that's supposed to sound cozy and warm," she said. "But because it sounds cozy and warm it has been used by totalitarian governments

http://www.hypocrites.com/article8273.html

[Beam Me Up]

2. Better yet: Disolve the maladministration that created it and start over!

n/t

[supernova]

3. I did think differently

I wondered if adding an extra layer of beaurocracy on top of FEMA would decrease it's effectiveness.

That turns out to have been true, sorry to say.

But I couldn't do anything about it at the time.

[SpiralHawk]

4. I refuse to live in some stinkin "Homeland"

I am a citizen of the United States of America. That's plenty for me.

Homeland sounds like a place with impoundment camps, not a place with amber waves of grain.

[jus_the_facts]

5. DISSOLVE IT AND START OVER....HOW GRANDIOSE...THIS IS REALITY

[ChairmanAgnostic]

7. invasion of privacy, destruction of civil rights, travel nightmares

and that's the good news!

add a layer of impenetrable burrocrats on top of political hack put in place because of their fund-raising, and you have a recipe for disaster - a manmade one.

[dogday]

8. I have never liked the dept or the name

all of it seemed so Hilter-like...

[July]

9. It's just been a way to shovel our treasury to Bush's private consultant

pals. IIRC, recently it was determined that a boatload of HS money was spent on ineffective measures. Solution: give more money to more private security companies. It's just another boondoggle.