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Jonathan Rauch inquires into the Homeland Security Department's curious lack of interest in securing homelands.
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John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 8:55AM|#
Why is it everyone assumes - just because the agency is so named - that the primary motivation of the folk at DHS is securing the "homeland?"
Oh, and memo to Jay Walker: No good deed goes unpunished, so you should probably be thankful you're only out a few million and some time.
JMJ
(in a cynical Monday morning mood)
|5.8.06 @ 8:59AM|#
Well, of course they're not interested. They're too busy investigating bumper stickers, tackling college ninjas and shutting down library porn to worry about "securing vulnerable sites".
John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 9:08AM|#
Yes, and - better! - by not securing vulnerable sites, one of them might actually be attacked, which, by the twisted logic of government funding and staffing, obviously would imply they (and their power) would need to grow.
A reasonably cheap, effective solution like Walker's can only curtail this "plan" - and, unlike a juicy billion dollar contract, offers little in the way of bucks and favors to peddle.
JMJ
John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 9:23AM|#
And I'm not kidding about that "good deeds" thing, either. As someone whose been in a similar position (albeit with other agencies, not DHS), I can tell you that you're quickly regarded as the proverbial skunk at the picnic.
That Walker offered something cheap and (probably) effective meant he and his company were probably peeing on someone's parade.
JMJ
|5.8.06 @ 9:34AM|#
There is a more ominous reading here. If the security guards are private citizens, then they might stop terrorist attacks that the government has secretly approved. Cf:
http://www.opednews.com/articles/opedne_allen_l__060507_another_view_on_flig.htm
Wonder how that anthrax investigation is coming along.
|5.8.06 @ 9:42AM|#
JMJ: you and JMJ need to fight to the death.
John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 9:50AM|#
Hey - while I can't claim to be the "original" JMJ (can I?)... I can say I've been signing electronic correspondence this way since my BBS days in the late 70s/early 80s. (When not using my dorky teen hacker nom de plume or keyboard or whatever, that is.)
JMJ
|5.8.06 @ 10:58AM|#
Is that fight to the death going to be like a cage match thing? Pay per view maybe?
John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 11:23AM|#
Didn't we already do a "Battle of the JMJs" a month or two ago, in another thread?
As for the cage match: probably not a good idea. Too much blood to clean up, and paperwork to do at the local PD afterwards (not to mention the inevitable civil suits from survivors).
JMJ
(name now links to the MA school I train at - principally the Filipino side of the house, too - rather than the usual link to Pludie)
|5.8.06 @ 11:58AM|#
As for the cage match: probably not a good idea. Too much blood to clean up, and paperwork to do at the local PD afterwards (not to mention the inevitable civil suits from survivors).
I thought it was "Two men enter, one man leaves."
John M. Joy|5.8.06 @ 12:04PM|#
Sure. But grieving relatives tend to sue.
JMJ
Larry A|5.8.06 @ 3:30PM|#
HomeGuard's obvious problem is that it relies on civilians working from home. DHS believes that only people directly employed by the Federal government and constantly supervised by government managerial personnel can adequately protect the country.
Why, most of the HomeGuard folks probably wouldn't even join the government workers' union!
fish Fisher|5.9.06 @ 3:07AM|#
Pay per view maybe?