It's Time To Grow Up
Director of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff has managed once again to stick his foot in his mouth, and this time even Republicans are outraged, according to this AP article:
A driver's license won't be good enough to get Americans past a checkpoint at the Canadian or Mexican border, Chertoff said. That will be a surprise to many people who routinely cross the border with Canada, but Chertoff bristled at criticism that such extra security would be inconvenient. More than 800,000 people enter the U.S. through land and sea ports each day.
"It's time to grow up and recognize that if we're serious about this threat, we've got to take reasonable, measured but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. [Emphasis added]
Some folks in the northern tier of states are obviously not happy about having to get passports to travel to and from Canada, nor are they happy that Canadian tourists and shoppers are going to have to do the same thing. What triggered the real outcry was the rather insulting language Mr. Chertoff used to justify the new travel rules.
Congressional critics representing Northern border states were anything but impressed with Chertoff's rhetoric.
His department has proved incapable of implementing a 2004 law on border security, and Chertoff "frankly has as much credibility on telling people to 'grow up' as Geoffrey the Giraffe," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Buffalo-area Republican.
Added Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, "Secretary Chertoff's comments that those objecting to the plan need to 'grow up' indicates that the department still doesn't understand the practical effects of DHS policies on the everyday lives of border community residents."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move does nothing to enhance security and will only hurt the economy. "When it comes to the Northern Border, the muddled thinking and poor planning at DHS seems to have no bounds, and the agency that botched Katrina seems to have no shame and no memory to boot," Leahy said.
But Mr. Chertoff wasn't content with just insulting those who live near the border. To bolster his argument for the new travel papers he raised a familiar administration cry:
Not moving to the new restrictions would be a tragic mistake, Chertoff said. "I can guarantee if we don't make this change, eventually there will come a time when someone will come across the border exploiting the vulnerabilities in the system and some bad stuff will happen. And then there'll be another 9/11 commission and we'll have people come saying 'Why didn't we do this?'"
Hey, it's worked for over six years...why not use it again?
A driver's license won't be good enough to get Americans past a checkpoint at the Canadian or Mexican border, Chertoff said. That will be a surprise to many people who routinely cross the border with Canada, but Chertoff bristled at criticism that such extra security would be inconvenient. More than 800,000 people enter the U.S. through land and sea ports each day.
"It's time to grow up and recognize that if we're serious about this threat, we've got to take reasonable, measured but nevertheless determined steps to getting better security," he said in an interview with The Associated Press. [Emphasis added]
Some folks in the northern tier of states are obviously not happy about having to get passports to travel to and from Canada, nor are they happy that Canadian tourists and shoppers are going to have to do the same thing. What triggered the real outcry was the rather insulting language Mr. Chertoff used to justify the new travel rules.
Congressional critics representing Northern border states were anything but impressed with Chertoff's rhetoric.
His department has proved incapable of implementing a 2004 law on border security, and Chertoff "frankly has as much credibility on telling people to 'grow up' as Geoffrey the Giraffe," said Rep. Tom Reynolds, a Buffalo-area Republican.
Added Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican, "Secretary Chertoff's comments that those objecting to the plan need to 'grow up' indicates that the department still doesn't understand the practical effects of DHS policies on the everyday lives of border community residents."
Sen. Patrick Leahy, Democratic chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said the move does nothing to enhance security and will only hurt the economy. "When it comes to the Northern Border, the muddled thinking and poor planning at DHS seems to have no bounds, and the agency that botched Katrina seems to have no shame and no memory to boot," Leahy said.
But Mr. Chertoff wasn't content with just insulting those who live near the border. To bolster his argument for the new travel papers he raised a familiar administration cry:
Not moving to the new restrictions would be a tragic mistake, Chertoff said. "I can guarantee if we don't make this change, eventually there will come a time when someone will come across the border exploiting the vulnerabilities in the system and some bad stuff will happen. And then there'll be another 9/11 commission and we'll have people come saying 'Why didn't we do this?'"
Hey, it's worked for over six years...why not use it again?
Labels: DHS, Terra Terra Terra
posted by Diane at 4:02 AM
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