President Bush’s barrage of criticism of the treasonous, suicidal, just plain moronic filibustering aimed at derailing the Patriot Act has paid off,

The terror-fighting USA Patriot Act may have a new lease on life. The GOP-controlled Senate on Wednesday approved a six-month extension of the USA Patriot Act to keep the anti-terror law from expiring on Dec. 31. President Bush gave it his grudging blessing.

The Republican-controlled House is now expected to come back and consider the Legislation keeping the 16 provisions of the law passed after the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington from expiring.

Well, that’s something, we’ve gotten a reprieve, anyway, and perhaps this will provide those on the Hill with common sense to convince those whose common sense is on hiatus and maybe even those whose political ambitions or leanings override what common sense they do have to reconsider their profoundly dangerous opposition to the Patriot Act’s renewal.

– as usual,

Bush Was Right.

Debra J. Saunders could not have put things more in perspective.

Some D.C. Democrats are demanding an investigation — impeachment even — in the wake of last week’s New York Times’ story about the National Security Agency’s warrantless eavesdropping on international calls and e-mails from suspected terror players to Americans. The shriller they get, the more President Bush looks like a strong leader who is willing to stick out his neck and take the heat to protect the American people.

George W. Bush protects our country against terrorism, the Democrats find anything they can at fault with him in that regard: They seem to think that playing with our very lives is no big deal, as long as they have the opportunity to score their cheap, scuzzy little political victories. They can obstruct Bush’s Homeland Security endeavors and we can get creamed as a result, no problem, if a few thousand Americans die because of them, they’ll just blame it on Bush.

These are U.S. senators and representatives and the Mainstream Media. People we’re supposed to trust, point blank: committing treason to further their own political interests.

They seem to think that our lives are just fodder for their politics, nothing more. They are the Democrats.

Debra makes an excellent point, before the fact:

As for the get-Bush crowd, I have a little suggestion: Don’t tie the hands of the intelligence community — and then hold hearings about intelligence breakdowns if there is another attack on American soil.

Exactly — the next 9/11 will be as much the fault of the Democrats as it will consist of blame upon the terrorists, because the Democrats are so intent upon sabotaging the Bush defense efforts for political reasons. Our homeland security, yours and my lives, mean nothing to them, their only agenda is attacking George Bush.

Give the column a read, here.

First We Have John McCain’s “Al-Qaeda Bill Of Rights,” now President Bush has to do this because lawmakers are now seeking to put our nation in danger of sequels to 9/11.

President Bush, at the White House yesterday, calls for renewing the anti-terror act because “we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment.”
President Bush yesterday blasted senators using a filibuster to block renewal of the Patriot Act, calling the move irresponsible and saying it puts American lives at risk.

Are these people nuts?

“In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment,” Bush said in a rare live version of his weekly radio address.

He demanded full reauthorization of the act, parts of which are set to expire within two weeks.

“The terrorist threat to our country will not expire in two weeks,” Bush said. “The terrorists want to attack America again and inflict even greater damage than they did on September the 11th.”

These suicidal, stupid effin’ anti-Bush vote-chasers U.S. Senators are thinking through organs other than those inside their craniums.

Bush also took aim at leaks that have exposed a secret National Security Agency eavesdropping program that he authorized after the 9/11 attacks.

“Revealing classified information is illegal, alerts our enemies and endangers our country,” he said.

A report about the domestic spying appeared in Friday’s New York Times. Bush described the program as narrowly designed and called its use “consistent with U.S. law and the Constitution.”

He added that it had only been used to intercept international communications of people inside the United States determined to have “a clear link” to al Qaeda or related terrorist organizations.

“This is a highly classified program that is crucial to our national security,” he insisted.

The program is reviewed every 45 days, using fresh threat assessments, legal reviews by the Justice Department, White House counsel and others and information previously obtained under the program, he added.

It’s good to know{NOT!} that these boneheads elected U.S. officials at least have some soul mates(cell mates would be better, I mean treason is still illegal, isn’t it?) over at the New York Times, in terms of irresponsible journalists who’ll publish anything they believe might hurt the administration without first looking thoroughly at the legalities, pretending as though members of al-Qaeda don’t also read the newspapers.

If there really is a quagmire anywhere in the War On Terror, it’s located on Capital Hill.

Raven has more on the New York Times issue.

I fly a lot — not like Superman or Sister Bertrille, lacking in their skills I’m limited to airplanes, mostly those operated by American and United Airlines.

As a result, I pass through the TSA’s screening menage enough that I’m familiar with every variant — despite the fact that all airport screening crews work for the same gubmint agency, they seem to do things differently at different airports.

I’m not a very well organized traveller, I tend to procrastinate, during multi-destination trips, when it comes to booking my next flight, from, say, point B to point C, and sometimes do so only a day before making a flight. This sends up a flag at the respective airline itself, and their computers put through an automatic request for a behind the scenes baggage inspection and a session at the screening point with Mr. Wand.

I’ve been through airports that required removing shoes, a few that didn’t, some that restrained you from leaving the scanning area until all your possessions(pocket items, laptop, etc) had cleared the conveyor belt, and many whose agents were not very thorough. I blogged back in October about how a Swiss Army knife I’d totally forgotten about, buried deep in my computer carrying case in August, had travelled through a whole bunch of airports, including O’Hare, Midway, Dulles, National, Orlando, JFK and others before being found by a diligent screener at Logan in early October.

While headed for a recent flight from Reagan National to O’Hare on a day that was really, really quiet, I found myself in a quagmire of utter confusion at a screening point because some idiot had left the shoulder strap from a carry-on bag hanging outside the plastic bin you put your stuff in for scanning and it got itself jammed in the conveyor belt. Suddenly several of the screeners were over there attempting to wrestle the strap loose(they looked like the Keystone TSA Screeners) while others tried to reroute the line to the adjacent conveyor belts. Talk about professionalism, it was indeed a professional mess.

But beyond these vagaries in the millieu(man, too much French for this time of the morning –meeelyiewww– gag–choke!) of being established as a probable non-terrorist and a safe bet to allow aboard the airplane, there is still the issue of political correctness that overshadows the entire experience.

And that is the policy of including every kind of person in the “special attention” category… except those whose profiles most match those of the kind of terrorist all this extra security and extra hassle was added on to keep from getting aboard airplanes to begin with.

Young Arab males, one of the ACLU’s protected categories, along with pedophi– oops, there I go, off on one of my digressions — okay, this time I’ll stay on topic.

Sure, we’ve all been over this many times, but our entreaties seem to be falling on deaf ears. Instead of responding to realistic criticism, the TSA is indulging in appeasement tactics. Sure, this pass card program they’re gearing up for will make things a little more convenient for us frequent flyers, at least until we all have them and the lines we access become longer than the lines of those who don’t, and sure, it will be nice for those who have little pairs of scissors and souvenir letter openers in their carryons to be able to keep them — it really doesn’t matter, anyway: A terrorist can order a can of ginger ale and rip it open to make a nasty slashing weapon, for one of many examples I could make but won’t, I don’t want to give anybody any even “better” ideas they don’t have already.

The point is, those who most fit the terrorist profile are the ones who need to be given the most attention, not a little old lady from Kalamazoo or a four year old girl clutching the latest Barbie and sucking her thumb.

I’ll say no more, and let former Congressman Joe Scarborough say the rest.

The Miami Police Department has created a program that should keep citizens aware of the possibility of terrorist acts being perpetrated in their city, inspire vigilance and make things just a little bit hotter for any terrorists planning any operations there.

MIAMI - City police will attempt to thwart terrorists by staging random, “in-your-face” security operations at so-called “soft” targets ranging from city buses to sports arenas, officials announced Monday.

The idea behind the “Miami Shield” program is to make such targets less attractive to terrorists and improve vigilance among Miami residents. Deputy Police Chief Frank Fernandez said al-Qaida and other terror groups carefully plot their attacks based in part on surveillance that identifies flaws and patterns in security.

Random, high-profile security operations will keep terrorists guessing about where police might be next, he said. For example, a group of officers might surround a downtown bank building, checking the identification of each person going in and out and handing out leaflets about terror threats.

“This is an in-your-face type of strategy. It’s letting the terrorists know we are out there,” Fernandez said.

What amazes yours truly is that the ACLU actually says they find no grounds for mounting one of their usual pit-bull legal attacks on the program. Hmmm…

Some police counterterrorism actions around the country have sparked debate about their constitutionality. The American Civil Liberties Union has filed one lawsuit in New York to challenge random searches of the bags of subway riders; a federal appeals court has halted pat-down searches at the stadium in Tampa where the NFL’s Buccaneers play after another ACLU lawsuit.

Howard Simon, executive director of ACLU of Florida, said the Miami initiative as announced appears aimed at ensuring people’s rights are not violated.

“What we’re dealing with is officers on street patrol, which is more effective and more consistent with the Constitution,” Simon said. “We’ll have to see how it is implemented.”

Give ‘em time, they’ll find something, especially if the program seems to be enjoying any kind of success over the long haul, since what’s good for America is not good for the ACLU, and vice versa.

Fernandez said Miami officials want people to take notice of the beefed-up security so they are reminded that the threat from al-Qaida and its sympathizers has not disappeared.

“People are definitely going to notice it,” he said. “We want that shock. We want that awe. But at the same time, we don’t want people to feel their rights are being threatened. We need them to be our eyes and ears.”

At Monday’s Heat game against the New York Knicks, season ticket holder Tony Gonzalez, 34, said he wasn’t worried about any potential violation of civil liberties.

“When you enter an arena or stadium at full capacity you just don’t know who is going through the turnstiles,” said Gonzalez, an attorney. “Everything that helps our security, I’m for it.”

In the aftermath of the disasterous wave of hurricanes we were recently slammed by, acts of nature that turned thousands of U.S. citizens into “refugees” of a kind as they flooded cities and destroyed homes, there is still much recrimination from both sides of the political spectrum as to who was to blame for what has been termed an “inadequate response.”

Face it, no matter how much a government plans for natural disasters, until one comes down on us with a vengeance as Katrina and her siblings did, we really cannot know whether those untested rescue and relief measures we have planned are going to be adequate to the task.

Now our response system has indeed been tested and found wanting, and we know more — ain’t hindsight wonderful — about how bad things can get and what we need in the event of another “worst case scenario.”

So what happens now? Do a bunch of politicians sit around and do what they do best, which is jaw the subject around for a few months{before and after the coming congressional recess — boy, I’ll bet a lot of working Americans wish they could enjoy the lengthy holiday vacation Members of Congress are entitled to} — and then produce some wordy page of legalese only an attorney can understand, full of doubletalk, pontification and little else?

Or will they look here?

So, you want to see what these old girls will be able to do? Here’s a list of only a few things we can provide during a Coastal State disaster (such as flooding or a hurricane)

—-Service a disaster area of up to 10,000 square miles (up to 100 miles inland) with minimal (if any) outside support

—-Provide complete berthing facilities for up to 400 emergency responders “on scene” at a disaster site

—-Fully integrated communications system serving all local, state, and federal agencies, as well as cell phone coverage and military band frequencies–allowing for seamless communications between all disaster scene personnel, no matter what radio frequency or cell phone is being used.

—-Daily provide 110 tons of bagged and palletized ice to the disaster region

—-Daily generate, bottle, and palletize up to 50,000 gallons of fresh water

—-Provide refueling station and loading platform for helicopters operating in the disaster area

—-Carry over 7,000 tons of food and supplies for a disaster area

—-Store (and provide delivery of) 700,000 gallons of diesel, gasoline, and aviation fuel for use in the disaster area on emergency vehicles and critical needs generators (hospitals, emergency operation centers, etc)

We now have the opportunity to add a couple of these eminently mega-useful ships to our disaster response effort, but in order for this to take place, Congress must give it a thumbs up. Congress will only be available for another two weeks before their next session opens in 2006.

So there is a rush on this, and all of us can be instrumental, with a simple email or telephone call, in making it happen.

Below are those to contact:

Senator Cochran, (R-MS) (Chairman of Appropriations)
Phone: (202) 224-5054
Internet Contact Form

Senator DeWine, (R-OH)
Phone: (202) 224-2315
Fax: (202) 224-6519
Becky Watts has the legislation for his office
Internet Contact Form

Senator Shelby, (R-AL)
Phone: (202) 224-5744
Fax: (202) 224-3416
Ryan Welch has the legislation for his office
senator@shelby.senate.gov

Senator Sessions, (R-AL)
Phone: (202) 224-4124
Fax: (202) 224-3149
Stephen Boyd has the legislation for his office
Internet Contact Form

For further information and links to other sites posting on this, please visit Phin’s Blog.

The Transportation Security Administration{TSA}has come up with a plan that will definitely eliminate a lot of hassle for travellers when they pass through airport security checkpoints.

WASHINGTON — The government wants to offer airline passengers the chance to avoid extra security checks.

The Transportation Security Administration plans to make a “registered traveler” program available nationwide, agency chief Kip Hawley said Thursday in prepared testimony to Congress. The initial rollout is scheduled for June 20.

The program, which was tested at five airports, allows people to avoid random pat-downs if they pay a fee, clear a voluntary background check and provide some form of biometric identification, like a fingerprint. It’s designed to let people who travel often avoid delays and to free up screeners to focus on other travelers.

“We believe that a nationwide registered traveler program can provide expedited screening for many travelers and enhance aviation security as well,” Hawley told the House Homeland Security subcommittee on economic security.

Hawley said the TSA is considering adding benefits to the program, such as letting registered travelers keep their shoes and their jackets on, or setting up special screening lanes.

Yay!!!!

According to members of both the F.B.I. and the Homeland Security Department’s Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, the government’s policy of deporting illegal aliens belonging to MS-13, the gang named Mara Salvatrucha has been working in the gang’s favor.

…a deportation policy aimed in part at breaking up a Los Angeles street gang has backfired and helped spread it across Central America and back into other parts of the United States. Newly organized cells in El Salvador have returned to establish strongholds in metropolitan Washington, D.C., and other U.S. cities. Prisons in El Salvador have become nerve centers, authorities say, where deported leaders from Los Angeles communicate with gang cliques across the United States.

A gang that once numbered a few thousand and was involved in street violence and turf battles has morphed into an international network with as many as 50,000 members, the most hard-core engaging in extortion, immigrant smuggling and racketeering. In the last year, the federal government has brought racketeering cases against MS-13 members in Long Island, N.Y., and southern Maryland.

Very interesting story, one that indicates the need for a change of policy where dealing with MS-13 members is concerned.

It is certainly bad enough, thanks to our porous borders, that we face a veritable infestation of illegal aliens in the United States –Mustang at Social Sense has a great post on our lax border security situation and the illegal alien problem that continues in a long, highly informed comment thread, well worth checking out — but to be infiltrated also by gangs of violent criminals who make our own domestic gangs seem like weak amateurs is an inexcusable breach of homeland security.