|
Essay 3 |
||
| Tom Ridge (as seen) from a Great Hide | ||
| By Richard Spisak Jr. SFLA-BoRDC Quiz today class, “What is today’s terror color level?” If you don’t know, you’ll have to turn in, your homeland security decoder ring. I caught a tiny one-inch mention of an appearance by Tom Ridge director of Homeland Security buried deep in a Tuesday morning paper. He was reported to be making an appearance on the same campus, where, just a couple of months ago a debate had to be canceled because only one side showed up. (see: Where have all the Federales gone? also by R.W. Spisak) A debate was scheduled between the FBI and the ACLU about the extraordinarily misnamed USA PATRIOT Act, but despite confirmations by the US Attorney’s office, the FBI and the FDLE, no one from the law enforcement side, showed up to debate. What if they gave a debate… and only one side spoke. I contacted the usual suspects, a network of regional activists informing them of the meeting, and of the necessity of advanced registration. The word went forth. I received responsive emails from several activists who were interested in attending or who had already sent in their registration, and a question for the panel. My questions were these: Question number 1: When was habeus corpus suspended? Question number 2 When was unreasonable search and seizure repealed? Question number 3: How much of our Bill of Rights must we forgo, so that the military industrial complex can adequately maximize its profits? Now, the head of Homeland Security was coming himself, not to debate but to declaim, I mean inform. It was further stated, that the title of the event was “The Council for Excellence in Government1 presents: Homeland Security, from the Citizens’ Perspective” yes it was italicized… just like the rest of the show. Can I get some mercy with my Justice – another one of my unasked questions. I was wondering if the Attorney General’s widely reported call, for every judge and every prosecutor to strive for the harshest penalties across the board. What kind of justice does he seek, that is not tempered by mercy? Clearly these guidelines proclaimed by the Justice Departments’ top Ayatollah, who in his last run for the Senate, came in second to a month-cold corpse. This quality of mercilessness seems at odds with the Christian principles of compassion and mercy. They do however, most loudly proclaim their faith nonetheless at the drop of a school voucher and the mercy falls away. Certainly not the sort of guidelines the president’s favorite philosopher would suggest. Over and over the backdrop repeated in cool friendly letters, reminding us to try www.excelgov.org. It seemed important to understand this “non-partisan” organization and some investigation of their website and history is strongly recommended. Example; a page from their web site is entitled: “Coalition for Evidence-Based policy” seeks: “New User-Friendly Tools To Identify Educational Practices Supported by Scientifically-Based Research: A Meeting of Leading U.S. Education Officials To Discuss and Seek Input (co-sponsored by the Council of Chief State School Officers), Washington D.C.” – This chirpy document goes on to explain, in case you don’t speak neo-con – “This event will mark the first time that leading U.S. education officials gather to discuss these tools for implementing a central requirement of No Child Left Behind – that state and local agencies demonstrate, in applying for federal grants, that their proposed activities are based on “scientifically-based research.” The meeting is sponsored by the U.S. Education Department’s Institute of Education Sciences. Margaret Spellings, the President’s top domestic policy advisor, will open the meeting on December 9.” – If you want more information on these and other exciting programs from the Council on Excellence in Government and their very interesting “Coalition for Evidence-Based Policy” which is described as a Government Performance Project. Part II Overlooking a jutting ridge. As the presentation begins, a quick scan of the audience reveals a very high percentage of police and fire department uniforms. Another significant subset was lawmen and women in suits. Easy to spot, from body language and social clustering alone; members of many of the other local security clans were represented. Many in their team uniforms, in costumes ranging from full dress, to the casual undercover look, just jeans and pullovers. Among the clans from federal, state, local, municipal, and county security services, each had a fulsome contingent. The pugnacious Ridge took the microphone with “salesman’s gusto” explaining the purpose of these (manufactured /engineered) outreach meetings. He is paraphrased on the Excellence in Government web site (www.excelgov.org) and describes these meetings on Homeland Security this way – “Citizen participation is an important spoke in the wheel of homeland security," he said of the partnership with the Council for Excellence in Government to host a series of town-hall meetings with local and state officials, "first responders" to emergencies and citizen groups. The first meeting will occur Oct. 8 in St. Louis, followed by meetings in Miami, Rochester, N.Y., California, Kentucky, Texas and Washington state. Calling the meetings an opportunity to gauge citizens' concerns, Ridge said he believes citizens are asking the same two questions he asks himself: "Is everything being done to protect my family?" and "How can I help?" Answering those two questions will help the department protect and engage citizens, he said.” When will the executive branch of the US Government return our country to the rule of law and begin to develop some respect for the balance of power implemented by our founding mothers and fathers? – another one of my unasked questions. President of MDCC Edward Padron welcomed us all to the Campus and expressed what was in all our hearts, – we were indeed as he stressed, all very, very impressed. Although possibly not for the same reasons. What was also clear, from the very top, was that Frank Sesno, our immoderator, formerly with CNN was going to ask nearly every question. Among the very few questions taken from the floor, the majority had something of the “boy I’m glad you asked that… quality.” Of the few questions from the floor, only one or two were off the reservation.. Frank’s questions were engineered to elicit prepared and rehearsed answers. Frank, called moderator, and thus misnamed, like the USA PATRIOT Act started out meeting with the question (for which we were to utilize the audience participation data handsets.) Question number one delivered in careful tones was, What are you scared of most ?… unfortunately the dangers to the rights of citizens and the constitution were not on the list… Choices were limited; NUCLEAR ATTACK, BIO-TERRORISM, or CHEMICAL ATTACK? This, I’m afraid, was no attempt at subtle humor or self-parody with their selectable optional dangers. Dutifully nearly everyone, with the exception of the distracted high school students sitting nearby, registered their terror and carefully calibrated their fear. All round, everyone carefully logged in and registered their nightmares. There were question cards on every seat, as we entered and a sticky “magnetic dot” was attached to each question card. I removed mine, attaching it to the chair. Regrettably this reporter was unable to detect anyone in a non-scientific survey, who could correctly identify today’s terror alert color level. The morning of the presentation, I received an email confirmation, of my acceptance as a registrant to the public meeting. It did also caution the potential registrant, that there would be no cameras or electronic recording devices permitted in the meeting, and no sags, bags or purses. ( MISSING PICTURE HERE ) When did our legislative or judicial branch remove the constitutional guaranties of unreasonable search and seizure and when can we expect a return to these original constitutional principles of governance? - another one of my unasked questions. The panelists before us, were Curtis Tearte, who heads IBM’s global sales and marketing strategy for customers in government – I had an IBM marketing rep in my row, I ventured a wry reference to the paucity of citizen representation on the panel. He didn’t seem to understand. Chief Carlos Castillo, head of Miami Dade County’s office of Emergency Management office, Sheriff Ken Jenne, Broward County’s chief law enforcement and detention officer, Angela Gittens Director of Miami Dade County’s Aviation Department, and Jeb Bush appointee the Honorable Glenda Hood Secretary of the State of Florida. Katherine Harris’s successor, who presides over an election system, paper trail-free ? And they had to ask, what are we worried about. Just the day before this meeting, the Secretary Ridge rolled out a new public information program geared toward Miami’s Hispanic Community. Its called “listo” like listen or watch, with a graphic of a “Guardian Angel”, symbolically representing the program. Cultural sensitivity is not part of their makeup. Please checkout www.listo.gov to get your own reaction. In this campaign the “guardian angel” is used to deliver the “critical citizen preparedness information”. In the press release on the “listo” project it further explains, “this campaign seeks to reduce fears, and empower Hispanics by providing individuals with specific actions they can take to protect themselves, their families and their communities in the wake of an attack, or other emergency situation. Chapter III Ridge Back The message was summed up by Director Ridge when he suggested, “we shouldn’t allow fear and terror, to completely and utterly consume us”. We may rest calmly with the assurance that our safety is best placed in the strong muscular hands, of the powerful and all-knowing security professionals, who know just how far they need to go. There were only two troubling voices raised from beyond the reservation. One asked about ongoing mis-management that has been documented in the freshly minted TSA. Our interrogator, a former employee of TSA wanted to know what had been done to solve the problem and deal with weaknesses that were confounding port security. “Yes”, director Ridge deflected, with a hand flourish. “We know all about that”, and the question was dismissed to lay unanswered, gasping on the floor. A few minutes later, a questioner, who identified himself as a member of the Sierra Club, wondered at all the rough handling and abuses suffered by the FTAA protestors? This resulted in a couple self-congratulatory high-fives among the fire-breathing law and order types, who growled their enthusiastic approval, when Secretary Ridge opined that the POLICE DID A HELL OF A JOB, A HELL OF A JOB! Sounds like the cheering section at a wrestling match from the law enforcement majority in the audience. Ultimately the Council on Excellence in Propaganda had a great success and supplied their audience with a well engineered and highly polished message. If you wonder what other facts were to be garnered from the meeting, I will leave you this one last tasty morsel… be afraid, it’s important, at least… you be afraid. Quiz today class, “What is today’s color terror level?” It was elevated like your blood pressure to a lovely canary yellow. The Council for Excellence in Government1 202-728-0418 |
||
|
|
||