I'm sure all you liberal-lily-livered-bin-laden-sympathizing-constitution-as-suicide-pact-surrender-monkey-terrorist- appeasers who used to whine about "profiling" will now cry about Excessive Force!  Some people are just never satisfied.  Instead of complaining, you should be celebrating.  Now the TSA and airport police offer equal opportunity beatings. Yay!

Here's the tape...  Good thing these Uber-Patriots are Protecting The Homeland, right?

But wait, it gets better....

Because thats the plan apparently being considered by the Gestapo, oh, I mean Homeland Security.  An RFP has apparently been drawn up and issued to Lampered Less Lethal, a Canadian firm specializing apparently in non-lethal torture devices.Lampered Less Lethal.

Conventional wisdom dictates that cabinet positions are selected between the November election and inauguration, while VPs are selected before the convention.  But with Barack Obama's unique challenge to persuade voters that he has sufficient experience to be president on day one (thanks to Hillary) and concerns about his ability to protect America (also thanks to Hillary), perhaps this conventional wisdom should be challenged.

This diary examines this issue and attempts to construct a cabinet of individuals that would put these concerns about Obama to rest, while putting McCain on the defensive.

According to the Washington Times, a senior DHS official has expressed interest in a "safety braclet" that could:

• take the place of an airline boarding pass

• contain personal information about the traveler

• be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

Video is available hereat the bottom right.

More after the flip.

Every feel like livestock when you fly?  DHS is exploring a new technology (warning, Moonie Times link) which, if it makes to airlines, will guarantee I will never fly again:

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called safety bracelet that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®. According to this promotional video found at the Lamperd Less Lethal website, the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers.

Check out what this piece of terror would do...

In a measured if frustrated piece in the Washington Times here, former FBI director William Webster examines the utter mess the Bush administration has made of the US's intelligence services. How any Republican can hold his or head up after Webster's analysis is beyond me: this is a national security scandal...and a tailor-made opportunity for Obama to go right at McCain on Bush's abysmal record.

Spread the word. The intell establishment is ripe for change, too.

I'd have to say yes. And no.

When trust and faith have been so abused and no one feels safe or secure and our collective future is at stake, I'd have to say no, it's not the same as usual. When more people than ever in our nation's history are involved and engaged in an election and political conversation and debate, no it's not the same as usual. When just about every important issue that we as a nation, as a planet are facing and seriously looking for ways to change, no it's not the same as usual.

Yet, there are different view points, different ideas, different experiences, different priorities for all of us and we are engaged in standing up for what we believe is the most important issue and/or stance, then yes. It is the same. Pandering, flip-flopping, media bias, Republican vs. Democrat, Man vs. Woman, Black vs. White, Religion (whose is the right one?), YES, it is the same. Money, campaign finance, the haves, the have- nots, right wing, left wing, conservative, liberal, centrist. Yes, it is the same.

We had three to choose from now it is down to two. Follow me.  

The issues listed here were "key bills" in the US Senate, as identified by WaPo http://projects.washingtonpost.com/... Below the fold, I rated each of McSame’s votes for 2007 with either a +1 or a –1 and I keep a running total.

[cross-posted at And, yes, I DO take it personally]

holy crap...! REALLY HARD QUESTIONS about guantánamo, the geneva convention, endless detention, torture, etc., etc...! chertoff can only offer slippery non-answers and standard talking points...

take a look at the clips below and weep for what's become of television news journalism in the good ol' u.s. of a... sami zeidan at al jazeera does the honors...

I'm not flying from a U.S. airport until Bush/Cheney and their band of idiots are out of office!                                        

So this is what Joe Lieberman has been spending his time on (well, the time he's not spending following around his buddy McCain, correcting his brain farts). He's, believe it or not, monitoring YouTube. From the YouTube blog:

Last week, Senator Joe Lieberman (I-CT) contacted us to voice his concerns about seeing videos from several Islamic terrorist organizations on YouTube. We appreciated our dialogue with Senator Lieberman and his staff and wanted to explain to the YouTube community how we responded to his concerns....

Senator Lieberman's staff identified numerous videos that they believed violated YouTube's Community Guidelines. In response to his concerns, we examined and ended up removing a number of videos from the site, primarily because they depicted gratuitous violence, advocated violence, or used hate speech. Most of the videos, which did not contain violent or hate speech content, were not removed because they do not violate our Community Guidelines.

Senator Lieberman stated his belief, in a letter sent today, that all videos mentioning or featuring these groups should be removed from YouTube -- even legal nonviolent or non-hate speech videos. While we respect and understand his views, YouTube encourages free speech and defends everyone's right to express unpopular points of view. We believe that YouTube is a richer and more relevant platform for users precisely because it hosts a diverse range of views, and rather than stifle debate we allow our users to view all acceptable content and make up their own minds. Of course, users are always free to express their disagreement with a particular video on the site, by leaving comments or their own response video. That debate is healthy. [emphasis mine]

Note that that letter was sent by Lieberman in his capacity as Chairman of the Homeland Security Committee, committed to fighting the uploading of Web videos by people who might be terrorists and curtailing their legal speech.

In the meantime, there's the real world that Sen. Lieberman's committee is supposed to be paying attention to:

Greg Alderete has more than a passing interest in homeland security. A retired lieutenant colonel in the Army, he has devoted most of his life to it.

So when he realized he had driven a van onto a runway tarmac at Sea-Tac airport — and that no one had asked his name, checked his ID or searched his vehicle — well, he just about lost it."I was appalled," Alderete says. "If you go in the airport's front door, they take away your tube of toothpaste. But the back door? That's the weakest security of any critical facility I've ever seen."

He's talking about the corporate jet area, on the airport's south tip. Business and government bigwigs fly in and out of there.

Alderete and Chris Clodfelter, a former senior master sergeant in the U.S. Air Force, arrived there Thursday, May 8, to pick up a two-star general flying in from Portland.

What happened floored them. When they said they were picking up an Army official, the gate opened and they were invited to drive onto the airfield.

"We were sitting there, the engine idling, nobody around, when all of a sudden I realized: We're out on the goddamn runway," Alderete recalled. "We're in a gassed-up, seven-passenger van, and no one really knows who we are. We have an unobstructed path to the main runways, the commercial gates, the whole place. It was unbelievable."

No one asked their names or screened them or the van. Both were in civilian clothes.

"Within 30 seconds we could have been flooring it down the runway," Clodfelter says. "They couldn't have stopped us."

"With a van full of weapons we could have shut down the entire aviation system," Alderete said.

The federal Transportation Safety Administration has reviewed this incident and concluded that it's not a problem, that security at Sea-Tac, and presumably every other airport in the country with a corporate jet area--the one that politicians and people like presidents use, is just fine.

Maybe Joe could spend a little less time surfing for YouTubes and writing letters and a little more time conducting oversight over the Keystone Kops that appear to be in charge of our nation's security? Just a thought.

Time to wake up and smell the coffee... and trust me, the coffee isn't a cup you want to drink.  (Or maybe you've already developed a taste for this brew...)

A bigoted bombshell was lobbed from Inside the Beltway last Thursday when the Senate Committee on Homeland Security under the "leadership" of Committee Chairman Joseph Lieberman and ranking Republican Susan Collins. The report, "Violent Islamist Extremism, the Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorism Threat," (PDF) combines Muslim bashing with suggestions that would further undermine Constitutional rights in the United States.

Iowa has been anticipating an immigration raid since Homeland Security leased the National Cattle Congress fairgrounds in Waterloo late last week (as diaried by isucyclones94).  The raid went down this morning at the Agriprocessors Inc. meat processing plant in Postville, Iowa.  The plant is known as the nation's largest kosher slaughterhouse and was opened in 1987 by Hasidic Jews from New York.  Postville has about 2500 residents and has a substantial Jewish and immigrant community that includes many native Mexicans and Eastern Europeans.

Violent Islamist Extremism, The Internet, and the Homegrown Terrorist Threat

When a bipartisan Congressional committee issues a report on the threat of domestic terrorist violence during an election year, you can be sure that the centrist establishment is worried about the popular backlash against government repression and the threat to civil liberties.

Last summer the Puget Sound populace was shaken by a bow wave of fear.  Two 'Middle Eastern'-looking men took a few ferry rides on our state ferries.  They appeared curious about the workings of the ferries and took photographs on board.  Locals noticed their foreign appearance and their frightening actions and alerted Homeland Security.  A massive search mission failed to identify or apprehend the two, even with huge front-page headshots in the papers and some quality time on CNN.  Much anguished discussion resulted both here on DK and in Northwest newspapers and news forums.  Had we been violated by terrorists?  When were they coming back?  What were they planning?  

How disgusting is this?

Nobel Peace Prize winner and international symbol of freedom Nelson Mandela is flagged on U.S. terrorist watch lists and needs special permission to visit the USA. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice calls the situation "embarrassing," and some members of Congress vow to fix it.

Does anyone really believe this is an accident? It's not just Mandela who's on the list, but all members of the African National Congress (ANC). You know, those wicked terrorists who wanted to end Apartheid.

What have we become? As FairyTale commented, "what we have always been."

    Securing the nation’s borders is so important, Congress says, that Michael Chertoff, the homeland security secretary, must have the power to ignore any laws that stand in the way of building a border fence. Any laws at all.

Remainder of diary deleted for copyright violation. mcjoan