Fiedor Report on the News
A Weekly View from the Middle of an Asphalt Jungle
December 1, 2002 #298
by: Doug Fiedor
Copyright © 2002 by Doug Fiedor, all rights reserved
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SECURITY BY THE NUMBERS
Now comes the Department of Homeland Security. The Goal of the new organization is to reorganize the government so that agencies responsible for protecting the country can communicate effectively and act swiftly under the direction of one single and accountable director. That's how it was represented, anyway.
Some say this scheme might well "streamline" the fight against terrorism in the United States. We found a few rather good changes and some reasonable changes in the new Act. At least, if we were discussing a business, rather than the federal government, they could be good and reasonable changes.
The problem is, this reorganization is of government, where nothing ever works as expected. Worse yet, this reorganization plan is exactly what my Army training of forty years ago instructed we look for as a prime target. We'll get back to that part shortly.
The Act calls for merging 22 agencies with roughly 170,000 employees into a single bureaucracy. At least half of the personnel will be middle management, who go to meetings and write directives, but do no productive work. Already, union bosses are warning that seasoned employees will quit in droves because their collective-bargaining rights will no longer exist within the new department.
For instance, T.J. Bonner, president of the National Border Patrol Council, representing 10,000 agents, said that employees will walk rather than risk losing union protection. "If the administration's goal was to create a more mobile and agile workforce, then it's succeeded, because they'll be streaming out the door faster than you can say, 'Bye,'" Bonner told reporters.
Colleen Kelley, president of the National Treasury Employees Union, representing 12,000 Customs employees being transferred, says the inspectors feel "pretty devalued and disrespected."
If the plan is near schedule, a large portion of the department may be operational starting March 1. Then, the Secret Service, Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and Naturalization Service, and a few other agencies, fold their employees and budgets into the new organization.
Since the INS employees are in the new department, perhaps they will finally be under some adult supervision and start doing their job. There are something like ten- million illegal aliens in this country. We can judge the ultimate effectiveness of this new Homeland Security Department by how long it takes to deport all these illegal aliens.
In Congress, concerns are that the new department will not streamline anything at all. Rather, costs are expected to skyrocket beyond the $37.4 billion budgeted for 2003 -- already $19 billion more than in 2002. Bush's budget request for 2004 is about $57 billion. So, it will not be long till this "streamlined" reorganization costs about $100 billion a year. Some streamlining, eh?
Then we note that the key agencies directly involved in fighting terrorism are excluded. For instance, the Central Intelligence Agency, the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Defense Department, and the National Security Agency are not included. Neither are the more than two dozen other seldom mentioned intelligence agencies.
What is yet to be determined, evidently, is exactly what kind of security the new department is supposed to provide. More than anything else, it appears designed to provide good job security for mid-level bureaucrats.
As expected, Bush tapped Tom Ridge as director. Navy Secretary Gordon England will be deputy director. Asa Hutchinson, the current head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, will be undersecretary of border and transportation security.
To date, Ridge's most visible act was the color- coded national warning system. That's been a big help, huh. Anyone have any idea what the warning color is today? Anyone even know where to look? Anyone care? That's what I thought.
Hutchinson, on the other hand, called his appointment "an enormous challenge" and said he was "delighted to be on the team." Not said is the fact that the real challenge will be getting political permission to actually protect the borders. That will not be easy.
"My main objective will be to make sure our borders are safe," Hutchinson said. We shall see if that is possible in today's political world. It's doubtful.
Anyway, officials of the new Homeland Security Department (HSD) are looking for a building large enough to house the 17,000 workers based in the Washington area.
That's right. They want all the Homeland Security people in the same building where they can communicate easily. All 17,000 in the same place. . . . .
Any ground-pounders trained by the Army who are reading this are either shaking their heads or laughing at that for good reason.
You see, that building then becomes a prime target of opportunity for the enemy. The psychological effect of taking out such a large Homeland Security office would be enormous. The place would be a tempting bulls-eye for all terrorists wanting to raise havoc in this country.
And so it goes: That's our government at work. There is never a dull moment watching Washington watch us.
GOVERNMENT IS NEGLIGENT
After reviewing the Patriot and Homeland Security Acts, we sincerely recommend everyone pick up a copy of George Orwell's novel "1984" to read over the holidays. The socialists gave us the Newspeak. Now, under the guise of fighting terrorism, Republicans are giving us the continuous monitoring -- almost every violation of privacy modern technology makes possible. All we will be missing is the Orwell-type constant surveillance (the telescreen) while at home.
On the other hand, information leaking from the White House indicates that President George W. Bush will soon be informing Americans that federal laws are somewhat arbitrary and capricious. Therefore, he finds it totally acceptable for whole classes of people to violate federal law when they find it to their personal benefit.
That information came from Tony Garza, who was sworn in last week as the new U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Garza told reporters in Mexico City that reaching an accord legalizing the status of Mexican immigrants -- illegal aliens in the U.S. -- without giving them citizenship, "continues to be a top administration priority." Garza proposed new guest-worker programs for illegal Mexican aliens, which would allow all the illegals to stay, with no need for any INS supervision.
"If we don't do something about their status, we will be admitting that our country has a permanent underclass," Garza told reporters.
They already are a permanent underclass. Out of the many millions illegally in this country, tens of thousands are packing our prisons, tens of thousands more are involved in organized drug crime and/or street gangs and a few million others are on welfare. Enough is enough, already! Yet another problem is that they do not even bother to learn our language and customs. Worse yet, a large segment of that population is actually scheming to break off a chunk of our country for their own.
That Mexican President, Vicente Fox, is no friend of the American people or the United States. He heads one of the most corrupt governments in the world and even his police and military are involved in smuggling illegal drugs into our country. Now he's demanding that our federal government give amnesty for over 3 million illegal aliens squatting in the United States.
As Rep. Tom Tancredo, Colorado Republican and chairman of the Congressional Immigration Reform Caucus, said about the proposed amnesty program: "The first lesson these new residents will learn about the United States is it is OK to break the law. Is that the America we want to build?"
Tancredo is correct. All illegals should be arrested and put in jail. Or, there not being enough room in our prison system for all these lawbreakers, they should all be bussed back to Southern Mexico, where it is a long walk back to the U.S. border.
After all, if American citizens are expected to obey federal law, most certainly all foreigners must, even more so. Or, we all get to violate federal laws with impunity. In no case should illegal squatters have a free pass but not American citizens.
Yet another lead balloon the administration is trying to fly concerns a fund called the Millennium Challenge Account. That was first proposed by President Bush last March. The first disbursements are scheduled for the fiscal year starting next October and annual funding will grow to $5 billion a year by 2006. Which means, every American taxpayer will be kicking in an average of $45 every year to send to places like Bolivia, Mongolia, Senegal, Tanzania, Ghana, El Salvador, Morocco, South Africa and Jamaica. Free trade is the excuse this time.
With all the obnoxious illegal drug laws we already have, and now all the anti-terrorist laws passed, one would think that the most important function of the federal government would be to stop the illegal flow of goods and people into our country. But, that does not seem to be the case at all. Instead, they make laws that violate the liberty of the American people.
Something is definitely wrong with this picture!
Get all the illegals -- from every country -- out of here and our welfare and medical costs will plummet. Our schools will also have a lot more room. Ditto for the prison system. And, the American people will again find they can safely walk certain neighborhoods.
This is a function mandated to the federal government under our Constitution. Yet, the federal government intentionally refuses to perform. Fact is, they are totally negligent at protecting our borders -- and hence, the American people. Which means, our trust in government has been totally violated and the American people may have to act to remove that function from the federal government and make other arrangements. We look for studies of legal ways to arrange that to begin after the first of the year.
If this foolishness keeps up, there will be at least one less lifelong registered Republican on the books come 2004.
HOLIDAY BREAK TIME
Every once in a while, I need a little vacation. The last break from the newsletter I had was because I was moving -- not much of a vacation then, to be sure. This time is a better excuse: There are a number of people nearby I have not seen in many years. This holiday season seems like a very good time to rectify that little problem.
Besides, most of the Capitol Hill politicians and aides will be off visiting places they don't really belong as reward for whatever vote their immediate hosts think they cast correctly. Foreign hosts wanting something from our government cannot legally give money unless it is first laundered through a lobbyist. So, they pay for special "fact finding" trips that include a lot of wining and dining at special resorts. That keeps the politicians from passing anymore stupid laws for a while, so no one usually complains much about that type of graft.
Anyway, between now and the end of the year I will either be hibernating while working on a novel or out on the road visiting long lost friends. Nothing will be scheduled and little else is actually planned.
Meanwhile, readers need not miss any of the news we would have published. Besides Drudge, there are some very good news sources available just a click away.
For instance, The Washington Times(1) is a great news source. Starting from the top: Editor in Chief Wesley Pruden's weekly column is always good reading and right on the mark. The new Editorial Page Editor is Tony Blankley -- who was Newt's press secretary for quite some time and knows government as well as anyone. Blankley's weekly column is also a must read. But, so are the daily Times editorials. These editorials are unsigned, as usual. Nevertheless, the influence of both Purden and Blankley is very evident.
For good political news flashes, "Inside the Beltway" by John McCaslin and "Inside Politics" by Greg Pierce are quick and interesting reads and often humorous as well as informative.
Not exactly on the Times staff, yet always interesting reads, are Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell, Linda Chavez, Paul Craig Roberts, Mona Charen, Don Feder, L. Brent Bozell III, Cal Thomas, and others -- all published by the Times.
Wow! It sounds like we're pushing the Washington Times here. In truth, that is always my morning reading with breakfast. Even so, that is not our only news source. Their sister publication, "Insight on the News"(2) is a very interesting weekly publication. There are usually some very good in-depth reports there.
The New York Post(3) is another newspaper I like to browse. Interesting tidbits can often be found there that New York Democrats would much rather you do not know -- and few other newspapers will tell you.
For the real newshounds who prefer a wide mixture of news, Free Republic(4) is the place to go. Click on Editorials and Opinions and browse an almost endless list of articles posted by many "Freepers" frequenting the site all day every day. That has become an important research site for many political writers around the country as well as a major news source for a few thousand Freepers. Beware, though. That site gets addictive.
Last but not least is a very well written weekly ezine by Rich Martin: "Slickplus."(5) There's not much in the way of a web page there, but you may find the publication quite interesting and thought provoking. When you see that you like it, subscribe.
Along with other holiday reading, I suggest a copy of a thin paperback novel titled "1984" by George Orwell. The passage of the Patriot and the Homeland Security bills put us in a situation that is becoming eerily similar to Orwell's story of totalitarianism. Or, maybe I really do just need a vacation. Read it yourself and see what you think. Some parallels there are positively amazing.
Meanwhile, I wish you all the best of holidays and a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. See y'all next year.
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1. <http://www.washtimes.com/>
2. <http://www.insightmag.com/>
4. <http://www.freerepublic.com/home.htm>
5. <http://slickplus.spunge.org/list/>
End
Copyright © 2002 by Doug Fiedor, all rights reserved
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