We brought Napolitano on ourselves?
A lot of conservatives are freaking out over Janet Napolitano being the head of Homeland Security. The House Republicans are calling for her to resign, and the blogosphere is still reeling from her revealing that she plans on persecuting conservative activists.
At the risk of being pelted with rotten produce, I for one can only look at this and say "we told you so."
Some of us on the right joined with lefties in saying the PATRIOT Act went a little too far and Homeland Security had few built-in firewalls to prevent abuse. As many of my friends on here know, I happen to be aware of exactly how much leeway DHS is given.
My biggest concern at the time was what would happen should that much power be put in the hands of Clintonistas. I tried to tell people, be prepared for the next Democrat administration to take advantage of it.
At this point, the common argument is that we have to do something to stop Al Qaeda so Homeland Security is essential. What really makes you think the Democrats will apply it for that purpose? They pile on gun laws to persecute the NRA while failing to stop illegal purchases that lead to Columbine shootings - and then respond by blaming illegal purchases on the NRA. If we had the PATRIOT Act during the Clinton years, do you really think he would have made more of an effort to detain the USS Cole bombers? Do you honestly think Napolitano and Holder will use DHS to infiltrate radical mosques or crack down on illegal immigration to catch more terrorists living under the radar? Napolitano just got done blaming Canada for housing the 9/11 guys.
My point is this. Obama's administration will be slow to spy on radical Muslims but quick to spy on radical Christians. They will intervene on Muslim plots when they must, but carefully explain to the media that they were radicals who appeared out of thin air. On the flip side, they will target conservative activists for even looking suspicious, accuse them of manipulating veterans, and give us a whole backstory of what church they belong to and who they hang out with.
How many of you know about Sarah Palin's ties to "radical" Pentecostal churches? Now think about the 9/11 hijackers - do you know anything about which mosques they attended, which denom of Islam they believed, how involved they were with Muslim social groups in America? Have you ever heard the DHS warn that radical clerics might manipulate unemployed Muslims? You haven't? Interesting.
I realize Bush protected us for 7 years after 9/11, and for that I am thankful. But I fear Homeland Security was thrown together in a hurry without enough firewalls to prevent abuse.
