Someone's gotta say it. Some of the 9/11 Commission recommendations are horseshit.

[derby378]

Before we get carried away with ourselves and start cheering every piece of legislation proposed by the 110th Congress, has it occurred to anyone that the Department of Homeland Security, including the TSA, would be given greater control over our lives and freedoms?

The Department of Homeland Security, properly supported by the Congress, should complete, as quickly as possible, a biometric entry-exit screening system, including a single system for speeding qualified travelers. It should be integrated with the system that provides benefits to foreigners seeking to stay in the United States. Linking biometric passports to good data systems and decisionmaking is a fundamental goal. No one can hide his or her debt by acquiring a credit card with a slightly different name. Yet today, a terrorist can defeat the link to electronic records by tossing away an old passport and slightly altering the name in the new one.

Secure identification should begin in the United States. The federal government should set standards for the issuance of birth certificates and sources of identification, such as drivers licenses. Fraud in identification documents is no longer just a problem of theft. At many entry points to vulnerable facilities, including gates for boarding aircraft, sources of identification are the last opportunity to ensure that people are who they say they are and to check whether they are terrorists.

Improved use of "no-fly" and "automatic selectee" lists should not be delayed while the argument about a successor to CAPPS continues. This screening function should be performed by the TSA, and it should utilize the larger set of watchlists maintained by the federal government. Air carriers should be required to supply the information needed to test and implement this new system.

No, no, and HELL, no.

First off, I still remember how the DHS's incompetence doomed post-Katrina relief efforts in New Orleans. Why should I trust these goons to microchip my passport and then deny me access back into my own nation because of a computer glitch? Same goes for these ridiculous "no-fly" lists, too.

The Department of Homeland Security needs to be disbanded and dismantled. Period. Nothing less will do.

[Life Long Dem]

1. This contract was given out almost two years ago.

I remember this because there was an issue over giving this contract to a company that is based in Bermuda, but eventually was found to meet the legal requirements. The company is known for outsourcing as well. The company is Accenture. They won the bid. I still don't like it though.

[Flabbergasted]

5. Meaning this program is already in th works.....?

[kikiek]

7. Not only based in Bermuda but is very connected to Jeb. Was the co that did

the voter purge for FL http://www.truthout.org/docs_04/072804D.shtml

[Morgana LaFey]

28. Isn't Accenture the former Arthur Andersen?

Or something else -- something else nefarious, I'm sure.

[me b zola]

2. I couldn't agree more

"The Department of Homeland Security needs to be disbanded and dismantled." :thumbsup:

[fooj]

3. DHS is a joke.

Are we any safer? HELL NO!!!

[blues90]

4. I am surprised they did'nt change the title to something else

Beside just passing these bills does not fund them nore does it over see them . The entire HLS is a disaster at best .

[Oldenuff]

6. Thanks for saying it Derby,but you didn't go far enough...

As far as BioMetric data goes,it's a farce and an intrusion on my right to privacy...You are right that the DHS and TSA should be disbanded..

But,I am amazed at people who say they don't see anything wrong with the proposal for a National ID card.Unbelievable that people can call themselves patriotic,and still support that P-O-S Real ID Act.I was further SHOCKED to see how many Dems voted against my right to freely move around the world without bowing to the New World Order.Don't fool yourselves..like anything else,the government is passing off this issue as a necessary security issue,but it is just another manipulation by our governement to track everything we do,everywhere we go,what we buy,how we vote..on and on.

Any Democratic politician who supports this is a turncoat in my opinion.

[VelmaD]

23. they will not EVER willingly get...

ANY of my boimetric data. NOT. GONNA. HAPPEN.

[Bill McBlueState]

8. thanks.

I hadn't done my own research, so thank you for noting all this. This word "Homeland" is so third reich.

[derby378]

13. Homeland = Fatherland? I got that same creepy feeling

Glad you feel the same way. :hi:

[porphyrian]

9. B...but DHS was created by the party of small government...

It must be saving us in taxes.
</utterBullshit>

[Freddie Stubbs]

10. Then perhaps they should not have made it a campaign promise

Voters will not look kindly on broken promises.

[derby378]

15. They can implement SOME of the recommendations...

...but not the ones that infringe on your freedom to travel and move about at will.

[Freddie Stubbs]

16. The problem is that they promised to implement ALL of the recommendations

[bbgrunt]

11. damned straight.

[Zhade]

12. Thank you for reminding people.

If a Democratic Congress takes away freedoms, it's just as wrong.

[Imagevision]

14. To date the 9-11 commission has graded the Bush administration with an F for implementing

any of the suggestions -- The chance bush even read it is a flat zero!

[derby378]

17. This would be assuming that Bush actually gives a rat's behind...

Experience, sadly, proves otherwise.

[sampsonblk]

18. Some of the 9/11 Commission recommendations are horseshit

There. I said it too.

[JackRiddler]

19. THE AMERICAN HOMELAND IS THE PLANET

A direct quote from the "recommendations" sections.

When it came out, first thing I did was read the last two chapters, since the real function beyond covering up the US secret govt orchestration of 9/11 was to justify the real function of justifying the new police state: "Homeland" Security, global "war on terror", one ID system with biometric flags for all of you, one database to rule them all...

[Freddie Stubbs]

20. Yet Kucinich, Maxine Waters, Conyers, and every single Democrat voted for it:

http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2007/roll015.xml

[cosmicdot]

21. knr n/t

[OneBlueSky]

22. the entire report was horseshit . . . the questions and evidence ignored surpassed . . .

those that were asked and investigated . . . whatever your feelings about what did or did not happen on 9/11, the Commission was a farce, and the investigation must be re-opened if we ever want to find out the truth . . .

[bananarepublican]

24. Right on!!! Why did Bldng#7 collapse? Why haven't the black-box's contents been released?...

... How can buildings designed to withstand a fully loaded 707 crashing into it turn to dust at the rate 9.8 meter per second squared?

[Scriptor Ignotus]

25. is your problem with the concept of DHS

or just how it's run? I have a problem with DHS being run by Bush-cronies with little national security or disaster relief experience. I have a problem with their incompetence. I have a problem with their bureacracy. But I don't have a problem per se with a government agency trying to prevent the next 9/11.

It is clear that 9/11 was preventable; all we needed to do was have systems in place to catch the guys who were on the terrorist watch list. This should have been done a long time ago. Now we're starting to talk about a more robust and intrusive system to catch alleged perpetrators. I am all for it, but I do demand certain things, like the use of common sense in our methods. The no-fly list we have is indeed a joke.

[mhatrw]

26. How about security without fascism and security without pork?

That should be the Democratic platform. Not a bunch bipartisan bunko.

[Straight Shooter]

27. I think they were trying to make the point that nothing has even been done yet.

I seriously doubt all aspects of it will be implemented. All the Dems have to do is say, "Upon investigation we have determined that such-and-such provision would violate the civil rights of American citizens, who have already had enough rights trampled upon in the past six years."

The reason for the unanimous vote was to send a strong message that the Dems actually care about proper security measures. They can then separate the wheat from the chaff. I seriously doubt Kucinich and others would have voted for it otherwise.

The Dems merely forced the hand of the Repubs who voted no. They brought the negligence of the bush administration, which has done nothing to implement the recommendations, into the light.

Also, remember how Max Cleland was smeared so viciously for voting against the Patriot *blech* Act because he wanted to uphold the rights of workers? The Dems are simply turning the tables on the Repubs, making them put their money where their mouth is.