Congress has passed a bill authorizing the use of military commissions to try people suspected of terrorism and providing for restrictions in how such a person might defend himself against the charges.
Archives: September 2006
Secretary Spellings, do you want your children “left behind”?
Posted: September 29, 2006 7:55 am
Why is it, Secretary Spellings, that we are so graciously praising mediocrity and penalizing success?
I want my children to learn so much more than how to answer multiple choice questions based on lower order thinking skills and how to fill in all the bubbles neatly with a number two pencil.
“Ridiculous” Washington smoking ban may be scaled back
Posted: September 28, 2006 10:04 pm
A Draconian smoking ban enacted in Washington state last year, which not only prohibits smoking inside buildings but within 25 feet of building entrances, has devastated restaurants and nightclubs, and led some state legislators to call for the ban to be scaled back.
Spellings plan for higher ed: Track every college student
Posted: September 28, 2006 6:09 am
The reforms advocated by the Commission for the Future of Higher Education and reiterated by Secretary of Education Margaret Spellings are sweeping and invasive. Through No Child Left Behind, the Department of Education has successfully hindered the progress many schools were making toward greater proficiency. So we are going to extend these same principles to high school, and to colleges and universities which have long been viewed as the best in the world.
Property Rights in 21st Century America
Posted: September 27, 2006 2:32 pm
After the Supreme Court’s 2005 eminent domain decision, saying that a government can take any property it wants for any reason it wants, or no reason at all, what is the future of property rights in America?
The news just keeps sneaking across the border
Posted: September 27, 2006 2:06 pm
Four updates to news items previously covered at Homeland Stupidity focus heavily on immigration, border controls and terrorism, and include an update on the Western Hemisphere Travel-crippling Initiative, detention facilities for illegal immigrants, terrorism insurance, and intelligence.
First Amendment banned in Lincoln Park schools
Posted: September 26, 2006 8:01 am
The Lincoln Park (Mich.) School District passed a controversial dress code which prohibits school students from wearing T-shirts with any images, writing or political statements on them, including 9/11 commemorative T-shirts and copies of the First Amendment.
State of Homeland Stupidity
Posted: September 25, 2006 4:09 pm
Every few months I like to update my regular readers on what goes on behind the scenes here at Homeland Stupidity. This fall there’s some good news, some bad news, and from a few of you I need some help.
TSA allows small amounts of liquids, gels
Posted: September 25, 2006 11:50 am
Updated: September 25, 2006 1:36 pm
The incompetent morons at the Department of Homeland Security took a month and a half to figure out that, after British authorities announced a foiled terrorist plot August 10 which involved blowing up airliners with liquid explosives, that the threat is from liquid explosives, not from liquids.
On Monday the Transportation Security Administration announced a loosening of restrictions on liquids and gels in carry-on baggage, to take effect Tuesday.
Department of Education ignored law and ethics in reading program
Posted: September 25, 2006 6:48 am
One of the greatest hypocrisies of No Child Left Behind since the beginning has been its “fourth pillar” of “local control and flexibility.” Federal involvement by its very nature is the antithesis of local control, and every school is being forced to show more concern for following the federal mandates than addressing the concerns of the parents whose children they are responsible to educate or risk losing their funding.
An internal review from the Department of Education Office of Inspector General has found mismanagement of funds and a violation of legal and ethical standards.
REAL ID costs: $11 billion, double time at DMV
Posted: September 25, 2006 6:26 am
The agencies who will be responsible for implementing the provisions of the REAL ID Act, which requires upgrades to state driver licenses and identification cards to comply with federal regulations, said that the costs are likely to exceed $11 billion, and they want you to pay for it.
Spy agencies say Iraq war increased terrorism threat
Posted: September 24, 2006 4:27 am
A classified report prepared by the nation’s intelligence agencies said that the war in Iraq has become the means by which Islamic extremists recruit the next generation of terrorists, and that the threat is increasing, not decreasing.
One arrested in New London eminent domain protest
Posted: September 23, 2006 2:49 pm
Updated: September 24, 2006 2:38 pm
You do not own “your” property. It belongs to the state. And whenever the state decides it wants to, it can take “your” property from you, and give it to whomever it wishes, for whatever reason, or no reason at all. This was the effect of last year’s Supreme Court decision in the Kelo v. New London eminent domain case. But despite the fact that the case is long over, people are still protesting.
On Friday morning, Lauren Canario was arrested when she refused to leave one of the Fort Trumbull properties as developers moved in to board up the buildings.
DoD IG: No evidence Able Danger had knowledge of 9/11 hijackers
Posted: September 22, 2006 9:33 am
A Defense Department inspector general’s report released Thursday said that there is no evidence to indicate that the Able Danger intelligence program run by the Pentagon had identified Mohammed Atta or any of the 9/11 hijackers prior to September 11. But the report drew sharp criticism for numerous “distortions.”
TSA still covering up airport security incompetence
Posted: September 21, 2006 2:09 pm
Another former Federal Aviation Administration special agent has come forward to say that the agency covered up lapses in security prior to September 11, 2001 and that the practice continues today at the Transportation Security Administration.
Hospitals not taking free money for illegal immigrants
Posted: September 20, 2006 9:18 pm
What if the government tried to give away a billion dollars to pay for emergency hospital bills for illegal immigrants? Do you think half the Southwest would be up in arms protesting? Far from it, in fact. The federal government actually does have such a program, but it hasn’t been much of a success.
The program, passed a couple of years back to reimburse hospitals for spending money on emergency care for illegal immigrants, has had very few claims filed, primarily because the paperwork is too onerous, hospital administrators say.
White House drug czar launches YouTube propaganda campaign
Posted: September 20, 2006 5:35 am
The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy is targeting its anti-drug messages directly to youth by maintaining a blog, a podcast, and now, a series of videos on YouTube.
Whistleblower exposes defense contractor wrongdoing on YouTube
Posted: September 19, 2006 6:18 am
National security whistleblower Michael De Kort, who made waves last month when he posted a 10 minute video on YouTube detailing security problems with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Deepwater program to rehabilitate older ships, has posted a second video providing updates and further information on the investigation into the disclosures he made.
Homeland Security not ready for Cyber Storm
Posted: September 18, 2006 6:48 am
A well coordinated attack against multiple critical infrastructure points launched via the Internet could overwhelm the federal government’s ability to respond, according to a report released by the Department of Homeland Security last week on the Cyber Storm exercise conducted in February.
The Constitution in a Time of National Emergency
Posted: September 18, 2006 3:45 am
September 17, Constitution Day, celebrates the signing of the U.S. Constitution in 1787 by 55 delegates at the final meeting of the Constitutional Convention. It has served this nation for over 200 years and is the cornerstone of our liberty. How dedicated are we to the basic principles on which it rests? Our students do not even know basic information about our founding documents, let alone the principles upon which they are built.
Doublespeak in the war on terror
Posted: September 17, 2006 10:54 am
The Bush administration has been engaging in an Orwellian tactic known as doublespeak in its justification for the global war on terrorism, according to a paper published by the Cato Institute last week.
CIA officers fear prosecution
Posted: September 17, 2006 3:04 am
Worried Central Intelligence Agency counterterrorism officers are increasingly taking advantage of government-reimbursed insurance plans to help them in the event of their being sued. According to many fomer intelligence officials, increased usage of the program is representative of a growing fear among CIA officers, many of whom fear accusations of prisoner abuse, torture, human rights violations and other crimes.
The CIA’s lame recruiting commercial
Posted: September 16, 2006 8:48 am
For the past few weeks, the Central Intelligence Agency has been airing commercials on the Discovery Channel and other channels in an effort to recruit more scientists and engineers, and the commercial is terribly lame.
Watch for yourself.
One arrested, computer recovered in VA contractor theft
Posted: September 15, 2006 10:44 am
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has recovered a computer stolen from a Veterans Administration contractor which was believed to contain the personal data of 16,000 veterans and has made an arrest in the case, the VA announced Thursday.
Registered traveler program to cost $200 per year
Posted: September 15, 2006 9:48 am
The cost per person of the Terrorist Support Agency’s Registered Traveler program to pre-clear passengers and give them a “fast lane” through airport security would be $200 per year, out of the range of many business travelers.
Aircraft ban on liquids, gels ignored
Posted: September 15, 2006 6:04 am
It seems Americans are finally figuring out that the Department of Homeland Security doesn’t seem to have their security in mind, at least at airport security checkpoints. Many Americans are accidentally violating a ban on liquids and gels carried onto aircraft placed into effect a month ago. And many more are openly flouting the ban.
Election can be stolen in “under a minute” with Diebold machines
Posted: September 14, 2006 9:29 am
Updated: September 19, 2006 10:28 am
Researchers at Princeton University announced Wednesday that common electronic voting machines can be subverted by installing software which undetectably alters vote totals and, as a computer virus, spreads itself from one voting machine to the next.
Senators: Iraq intelligence reports overclassified in “cover up”
Posted: September 14, 2006 6:40 am
Updated: September 14, 2006 11:54 am
Last week the Senate Intelligence Committee released two heavily redacted reports on pre-Iraq war intelligence, but according to two Senators who had full access to the reports, the parts which remain classified were not classified for national security reasons, but to cover up wrongdoing.
Bits of homeland stupidity
Posted: September 13, 2006 8:36 am
If you’ve been reading here for a while, you know I collect large numbers of stories of government stupidity, and rarely have time to share all of them or treat them all with the depth they deserve. Some of the more noteworthy or interesting ones I collect into these “bits” postings.
Journalists caught taking pay from U.S. government
Posted: September 12, 2006 3:56 am
The Miami Herald newspaper has fired ten journalists after discovering that the U.S. government had paid them to appear on Radio Martí and TV Martí, anti-Castro propaganda stations run by the U.S. Office of Cuba Broadcasting.
9/11 whistleblowers ignored, retaliated against
Posted: September 11, 2006 3:07 am
The most haunting image I remember from September 11, 2001, is watching people prefer to jump to their deaths out the holes in the building made by the airplanes rather than be burned alive.
Then I remember that Congress was quick to grant the President authorization to use military force against “those nations, organizations, or persons he determines planned, authorized, committed, or aided the terrorist attacks that occurred on September 11, 2001, or harbored such organizations or persons, in order to prevent any future acts of international terrorism against the United States by such nations, organizations or persons.”
But Congress didn’t want to know who they were. For the longest time it resisted opening any sort of inquiry into what happened that fateful day.
Social services involvement proposed for homeschoolers
Posted: September 10, 2006 9:15 am
Is homeschooling such a dangerous threat to the health and safety of children that all homeschools must be regularly monitored by the state, with visits from social workers and medical records kept by school officials?
Where’s Osama?
Posted: September 10, 2006 8:41 am
Has anyone seen Osama bin Laden? The U.S. government can’t seem to find him or his right-hand man, Ayman al-Zawahiri.
The trail has gone “stone cold,” it seems, and the U.S. has no idea where they might be.
A government of our choosing
Posted: September 9, 2006 9:32 pm
American self-government is truly unique. Many people mistakenly believe that our self-government is about us choosing our own leaders. This philosophy still places the power of government firmly with the state and makes our officials elected rulers rather than elected representatives. This philosophy is at the heart of political activism, both on the left and the right of the political spectrum. Political activism is not about political activity and necessary political discourse, but about making the will of subgroups of our nation into law.
The true nature of American self-government, however, places the source of man’s direction, regulation, control and restraint with the conscience and convictions of the individual.
Whistleblower safe harbor not safe anymore
Posted: September 9, 2006 5:08 am
Whistleblowers who are retaliated against are supposed to be able to go to the U.S. Office of Special Counsel to seek redress. Acting independently, the OSC can force investigations into retaliation and misconduct which whistleblowers report to it. But lately the OSC isn’t such a friendly place to whistleblowers.
Terrorism prosecutions drop to pre-9/11 levels
Posted: September 7, 2006 7:20 pm
The number of terrorism cases being prosecuted by the Justice Department has fallen off sharply, to near pre-9/11 levels this year, according to a study released earlier this week.
Bush admits secret prisons, announces new terror strategy
Posted: September 6, 2006 8:07 pm
President George W. Bush on Wednesday confirmed the existence of secret prisons run by the Central Intelligence Agency which held terrorist suspects who have now been sent to Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and called on Congress to pass new legislation authorizing military tribunals for terrorists.
In addition, the White House on Tuesday released its updated National Strategy for Combating Terrorism.
Circumventor: Getting paid to fight censorship
Posted: September 6, 2006 1:57 am
We all know that countries like China, Singapore, North Korea, as well as organizations such as the U.S. military, the State of Kentucky, and various corporations, local school districts and public libraries censor their Internet users’ web surfing. Bennett Haselton of Peacefire has a solution he calls the Circumventor.
And to bring in more Circumventor users, Peacefire is paying $10 per IP address to anyone who installs the anti-censorship software and leaves it running for at least a week.
California Communists pass single payer health care
Posted: September 5, 2006 10:05 pm
Back in March I reported that Communists had brought a biological weapon of mass destruction into the state of California and were threatening to deploy it, putting everyone in the state at risk. Now they are closer than ever to killing thousands and potentially injuring everyone in the state.
Ready.gov “inaccuracies, incomplete information” embarrass Homeland Security
Posted: September 3, 2006 6:08 pm
The Department of Homeland Security was sorely embarrassed by an announcement by the Federation of American Scientists that the DHS web site ready.gov contained “inaccuracies and incomplete information,” so much so that it launched a counterattack on FAS.
Military funds positive-PR generator
Posted: September 2, 2006 5:28 pm
The U.S. military in Iraq has issued a $20 million, two-year contract to provide what they see as an essential service: a public relations program that seeks to “promote more positive coverage of news” from the region.
Paulison: Increase the size of FEMA
Posted: September 2, 2006 2:53 am
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is still far short of its recruitment goals, but its director, R. David Paulison, says he wants to expand the agency’s staffing even beyond those goals.
REAL ID to cost states at least $2.5 billion
Posted: September 1, 2006 2:46 am
Complying with the provisions of the REAL ID Act of 2005 will cost states at least $2.5 billion and take at least until 2012 to implement, a market research firm said Thursday.
