US Gestapo "Homeland Security" Department

Frankly, I am disturbed by the recent turn of events
in Congress and the White House concerning the
creation of the new "Homeland Security" Department.

Though initially the plan was to bring together
different bureaucracies without spending more money
in an attempt to simply improve coordination of
activities and reduce conflict by removing
disputes about jurisdictional boundaries and
prerogatives, it appears that President Bush is
endeavoring to turn the new department into
something else entirely: an American Gestapo force
of 170,000. Here's why I am worried:

1) He has threatened to veto the legislation
unless he is given broad authority to hire and
fire regardless of the existing civil service
system protections that were enacted after the
old system of political spoils fell into disrepute.

2) The new department may be wholly or partly
exempt from Freedom Of Information Act inquiries
as well as "whistleblower" protections.

3) He demands the ability to shift the billions
of dollars around within the new department without
consulting Congress.

Essentially, the President wants to be CEO and
Chairman of the Board of a 170,000 member agency
of spies, cops and paramilitary forces, but he
doesn't want to be accountable to shareholders
or labor. Given his dubious and tainted history
as a corporate executive, not to mention his
blithe disregard for his oath of office to
uphold the Constitution, this new threat is most
troubling. Indeed.

Consider: the new department will be created by
melding existing bureaucracies of careerists,
people who most likely have never tried or
been able to function in the private economy.
Most of the new department's employees will be
people who have small hope of being able to
replace their position, job security or health
and retirement benefits (FEHRB are gold-plated)
in private life. Therefore, they would be
most unlikely to disobey illegal orders in the
event, and given a heightened paranoia and
culture of secrecy, would be easily compelled
to obey nearly any directive given to them by
their superiors.

Already we have seen American citizens secreted
away for indefinite prison terms without trial
or counsel, held as "material witnesses" for
legal cases that may never materialize. And,
the other provisions of the USA PATRIOT act give
broad leeway to Federal enforcers to search,
detain, and confiscate without reasonable suspicion
as guaranteed by the Constitution. How much
more likely will we be to retain even a portion
of our Constitutional rights with the new
"Homeland Security" department, full of boot-licking
bureaucrats cringing in fear of dismissal (the
stick), and eager to reap bonuses and pay
raises (the carrot) at the hands of their
executive branch reichmasters?

I'm sorry, but back in the old days I thought
we had a homeland security department. Americans
called it "The Defense Department" or "The
Army, Navy, Air Force and Marines." Those were
the people responsible for defending the US of
A. Apparently though, those fine soldiers are busy
in 100 other countries and don't have the capability
to protect America the Beautiful at home. They
exist to fight in far off lands protecting
corporate interests, not to protect American
people.

I really wish that for once a government
phuck-up could be solved without new laws or
new bureaucrats. Why couldn't the careerists
just get it together and fix their problems
on their own, perhaps goaded by the bully
pulpit of the President and their own self-
respect as professionals dedicated to
serving America? Do we really need thousands
of new laws every year, or do we just need
the people working for the government to
go out and earn their pay?

I despair for this country. I really do.
It doesn't seem like a free land anymore,
but like the places we were trained to fear
and hate in school: the Communist countries.

We have met the enemy and he is us, Pogo.
We are subjects of a police state, ruled by
highly moral dictators (i.e. neofascists)
who quote the Bible while planing wars
throughout the world to save us from Evildoers.