Ruffles aren't the only thing that has Ridges
I invite everyone to do something they might never have thought of doing.....riding a train. No seriously. My wife and I took a train across the country to Chicago and discovered why the whole argument about spending money for "national security" is so much a political attempt to scare you into thinking we can have security in a free society. Not only were we not checked for identification, weapons, or anything else but our luggage could have been full of explosives and not even the train personnel once looked inside.
Homeland security is a very large "concern" of the Bsuh administration. Terrorists indeed came across the border in Maine on their way to Boston. That crossing is still one of the most heavily scrutinized of all of the crossings in the eastern U.S. But citizens of Maine will tell you that there are many roads that crossover from the U.S. to Canada that hunters and fisherman have been using for years and years with no scrutiny at all. Having travelled to Canada more than 10 times per year (thank God for Ottawa and the Parliament Kitties) I can tell you the guards at the border lost interest in doing more than the "Citizenship?, Buy anything in Canada?, Have a nice day" routine about 3 months after 9/11.
So why is this homeland security, which isn't visible or even apparent in our lives such a big deal? I think we all want security, are willing to wait a little extra time at airports to get it and such, but is it worth spending money on as we are supposedly doing and dedicating a cabinet post to, even though we have a CIA and FBI and Justice Department working so dilligently to keep the bombs out of the shopping malls in Ohio?
I mean, do you really think that a terrorist who wants to blow up a building will be stopped by all the supposed security we have?
If you go to Parliament Hill in Ottawa Canada you will find on a summer's day.....? Well, people playing frisbee, others looking at the fountain and statues, members of parliament walking around, guides smiling brightly and the heavy millitary presence? Not to be seen. Consider Washington, D.C. where the White House is closed from traffic and anytime someone finds talcum powder in a mail envelope or a plane wanders overhead they evacuate Congress.
It's not that Canada doesn't think about security, either. Security is an issue and the Canadians have arrested quite a few people because they felt they might present a security threat. BUT, it is not the 3 ring political circus that is here with "elevated warning colored labels" and the Attorney General announcing 7 terrorists to be watched (6 of which were previously known).
Now, I want to say a quick word here about patriotism. Homeland security is only about patriotism if you are a citizen of a country you intend to harm. Timothy McVeigh was not a patriot. He intended to do exactly the terrorist act he committed. I love my country deeply but I know a pig in a barnyard when I see one and folks..... you can hear the oinks!