Posted on 09/27/2002 2:50:27 AM PDT by kattracks
Tom Daschle is indignant over, insulted by and aghast at President Bush's criticism of the Democrats' failure to approve legislation creating the Department of Homeland Security. But Bush is right. The Dems have been stalling on the new cabinet-level agency, and to say so doesn't impugn anyone's patriotism, as the majority leader claims.
Holding forth on the Senate floor, Daschle implied that his party's sluggardly pace was linked to arguments over a pending war with Iraq. Not true. The problem has to do with workplace rules for the new department's 170,000 employees.
Bush wants flexibility in hirings, assignments, promotions, demotions and dismissals. The ability to properly manage the new agency would benefit not only the current President, but all future ones.
The Democrats, traditionally organized labor's ally, insist that federal civil service rules apply. Goodbye, flexibility. Hello, bureaucratic stagnation.
That is the crux of the fight, and the reason the Senate still has not voted to establish the department. It is not about war. It's not about patriotism. It's about politics.
The Department of Homeland Security will be a massive operation. And a complicated one, combining the disparate functions of the Coast Guard, Customs Service, Immigration and airport security into a single, unified force. It must not have its anti-terrorism mission and its management capabilities hindered by stultifying civil service regulations. We do not need another Postal Service.
That's what the President was talking about when he chided the Democrats for foot-dragging on the bill. If the Senate continues to balk, that will be an indication it is "not interested in the security of the American people," as Bush charged. He wants to protect lives. The Democrats want job protection - even for incompetents.
"We ought not politicize this war," Daschle proclaimed. "We ought not politicize the rhetoric about war and life and death." Agreed. When the Senate gets around to actually debating the war. That hasn't happened yet.
The current debate is about the security of the American people. Just as the President pointed out. Which side is hindering efforts to increase that security? The one that Bush has correctly chastised for its slothfulness.
Hush-mouthed
After Hesham Mohamed Hadayet opened fire at an El Al counter at Los Angeles airport July 4, it took the Federal Bureau of Investigation until this month to publicly classify the assault a possible instance of terrorism. Later the feds surmised that the gunman was merely despondent. But the investigation is continuing. Huh? Where can the American public go for straight talk? Try the Israelis, who do not mince words.
Israel labeled the shooting spree as terror from Day 1. If it's wrong, it's wrong. It is not afraid to err on the side of caution. And new reports now suggest it might not have erred.
Hadayet, who had sought asylum in the U.S., admitted to immigration officials a decade ago that Egypt had accused him of terrorist links - a charge he denied. The Immigration and Naturalization Service, however, never pursued the case. Hadayet, who was denied asylum, also had an INS file so filled with "irregularities" he could have been deported. He wasn't. Anyway, the INS couldn't find him.
The more we learn about our federal agencies, the more their ineptitude is evident. As is their fear of keeping the public fully informed. What we don't know - or suspect - won't hurt us?
In 1999, Egyptair Flight 990 crashed after leaving Kennedy Airport. At the controls was co-pilot Gamil Al-Batouti, who was shouting something about putting his "faith in God's hands" as the plane's automatic pilot was disengaged. Was he linked to terrorism? Who knows? And the feds won't tell us.
Somebody please give Israel a call.
Burble
From the wires: WASHINGTON (AP) - That babbling coming from the crib is the sound of an infant learning the techniques of speech, a vocalization of signals from the language learning centers of the brain, a study says.
Okay. Now, what about the babbling coming from adults?
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Tom Daschle is a lot of things, none of them very becoming.
And every Fat democrat from Massechewetz is as big a fool
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