HOMELAND INSECURITY

Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi and chairman of the Homeland Security committee in the House, gave what for to Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" about a heightened possibility of "terror attacks":

"What color code in the Homeland Security Advisory System is associated with a 'gut feeling?' What sectors should be on alert as a result of your “gut feeling? Over the past five years, tens of billions of taxpayer dollars have been dedicated to standing up and building capacity at the Department of Homeland Security. The Department of Homeland Security is charged with deterring, preventing and responding to the threat of terrorism.

To that end, systems have been erected to identify risks and communicate them to the American public. With all the resources you have at your disposal and all the progress that you assure us that you are making, I cannot understand why you are quoted in the Chicago Tribune as saying you have a 'gut feeling' that we are entering a period of heightened risk this summer."

I wish Thompson was my representative...

Speaking of "insecurity"...



















Saw this on my way home from Jackson out on Highway 49 yesterday--four mobile camera outfits (click the picture for a much larger version). I'd never seen these things before, but the "SURVEILLANCE" splashed on the side kind of caught my eye...here's some text from this company's website:

CPS provides customized security answers for a variety of issues including risk management, loss prevention, industrial safety, vandalism, background screening, event super vision, liability claims, employee performance, emergency planning, fire prevention, and overall system consultation.

I don't know about you, but in a day and age where people write letters to the editor proclaiming unironically that freedom is slavery, the Homeland Security director's gut tells him what to do, and so forth, it makes me kinda queasy to see four giant mobile "SURVEILLANCE" cameras rockin' down the highway, headed the same way as me...