What's Secure About Our Homeland?

HOMELAND
noun [C]
1 the country you were born in.

SECURITY
noun
1 Freedom from risk or danger; safety.

So it occurred to PinF that this new cabinet level appointmentee of "Director of Homeland Security" is a bunch of crap. My homeland looked mighty unsecure this week, which in turn has created a feeling of "Homeland INsecurity" throughout the rest of the nation. One would have thought that four years after 9/11 we might have a better idea of how to handle calamities and catastrophies. So my gripe isn't really so much politically motivated; as I would be equally jaundiced towards whatever party was in power that exhibited such a total sense of misunderstanding.

The point is, if Hurricane Katrina were a test we'd have failed. We must demand more of ALL officials, instead of the local officials blaming the federal, and the federal blaming the state...it's a fricking joke to see our officials react in such a way while our fellow Americans and tax payers suffer and die. The FEMA appointment is another poitical payoff joke, if this had been the private sector he wouldn't even have been a secretary in this department.

The other sad truth is one the Bush administration chooses to both omit, and ignore. That is the fact that the war in Iraq is diverting much needed funds to the US Army Corps of Engineers projects. Since the levee's of New Orleans were identified as one the greatest single risks to the national disaster (by FEMA), the ACofE's has seen their levee improvement costs slashed by 80%. Coincidence we're spending like tourists on vacation in Iraq? I think not.

Another bothersome facet of this mess is the liberal assertion that Bush "allowed" this to happen because of the color of the skin of those left behind. I don't buy this, but I do accept that the urgency wasn't there after it became all too apparent that there were people of all colors dying, though predominently black Americans. So what have we learned? I guess the lesson is that if you attack a center of global commerce and wealth you can expect nothing less than the cavalry. And if a natural, predicted, and deadly "attack" comes from Mother Nature over a broad area containing demographically poorer inhabitants you can expect a varying response. So, better move to an area closer to money, and certainly closer to help.