HOMELAND SECURITY JOKE
Bloody chain saw didn't keep man out of U.S.

From the AP via the Houston Chronicle:

On April 25, Gregory Despres arrived at the U.S.-Canadian border crossing at Calais, Maine, carrying a homemade sword, a hatchet, a knife, brass knuckles and a chain saw stained with what appeared to be blood. U.S. customs agents confiscated the weapons and fingerprinted Despres.

Then they let him into the United States.

The following day, a gruesome scene was discovered in Despres' hometown of Minto, New Brunswick: The decapitated body of a 74-year-old country musician named Frederick Fulton was found on Fulton's kitchen floor. The man's head was in a pillow case under a kitchen table. His common-law wife was discovered stabbed to death in a bedroom.

Despres, 22, immediately became a suspect because of a history of violence between him and his neighbors, and he was arrested April 27 after police in Massachusetts saw him wandering down a highway in a sweat shirt with red and brown stains. He is now in jail in Massachusetts on murder charges, awaiting an extradition hearing next month.

At a time when the United States is tightening its borders, how could a man toting what appeared to be a bloody chain saw be allowed into the country?

Click here for the rest.

After spending countless millions on "homeland security," after eroding the civil liberties that make America unique in the world, after invading two countries and slaughtering tens of thousands of innocent Iraqi and Afghan civilians, I think it's pretty clear by now that the US is no safer from terrorists than it was before 9/11--factoring in the daily outrages the Pentagon rams down the throat of the Islamic world, I'd say we're less safe. Indeed, airport security has not improved; our nation's chemical plants are wide open; and the Department of Justice has not convicted a single terrorist since before "the world changed," despite its new police-state powers. It's almost as though Bush wants there to be another attack, and that fits into his familiar pattern: sow the fear and reap the votes--after all, only Republicans are tough enough to fight the terrorists, right? Of course, that's a bunch of bullshit, but it seems to work as far as politics are concerned. But these egregious security lapses aren't simply fear-mongering rhetoric. There is a very real chance that terrorists could strike here again, and that means loss of life. Given that it is Bush's responsibility to make the "homeland" safe, it follows that deaths resulting from his negligence are also his responsibility. He's not making us safe. Instead, he's placing us in danger. Why don't people get that?

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