Lazy Journalism, Part 4

Robert Nemeth, I've missed you (Part 1, 2, 3).  Apparently Mr. Nemeth just woke up from his nap to comment on the attempted bombing of Flight 253 that occurred 44 days ago.  I'm glad he took the time to think his way through the issue so he could be factually correct.

Mr. Nemeth as we know is an independent (assuming you don't know that Independent = Republican in Nemeth speak.)  Therefore you would expect an independent, well thought out critique of the intelligence agencies that failed to detect a threat to America. 

"Have those entrusted with the security of the homeland heard the alarm this time?"

"He (Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab) allegedly carried the same explosive that shoe-bomber Richard Reid tried to use."

"The roots of the problem go deeper than just procedural glitches and negligence at the gate. They derive from the contrition mentality of the Obama White House based on the notion that the Bush administration had overreacted to Sept. 11 and exaggerated the terrorist threat at the expense of civil liberties."

"The much-maligned Bush administration’s security measures might have displeased the ultraliberal crowd, but they kept America safe."

Those four quotes underline the 'logical' leaps that Mr. Nemeth takes to diagnose the problem.

Muslim bomber 

+ 

soft liberals in love with constitutional rights

= 

AMERICA UNDER ATTACK!!!! 

= 

Go back to Bush Administration policies

If Mr. Nemeth truly is independent, then he would acknowledge that Richard Reid attempted to blow up Flight 63 after the passage of the 'un-emasculated' Patriot Act during the Bush Administration.  His critique of security measures should lay the blame equally on the Obama and Bush Administrations for letting two foreign nationals on planes in foreign countries with explosives.  Perhaps Mr. Nemeth would acknowledge that the creation Homeland Security as an additional layer of bureaucracy hasn't solved the primary failure of the intelligence community.  The FBI, CIA and NSA have the information, and haven't acted upon it in time to prevent attacks (9-11 and Fort Hood) or attempted attacks (Shoe bombers and underwear bombers).

Instead of blaming President Obama, perhaps Mr. Nemeth should read this article, with this quote:

 "Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab's visa wasn't taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would've foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.

"Revocation action would've disclosed what they were doing," Kennedy said in testimony before the House Committee on Homeland Security. Allowing Adbulmutallab to keep the visa increased chances federal investigators would be able to get closer to apprehending the terror network he is accused of working with, "rather than simply knocking out one solider in that effort."

 Instead of praising Israel's security sytems, perhaps Mr. Nemeth should be aware of this nugget:

"Reid demonstrated his nerve in July when he flew to Israel and passed El Al's intensive scrutiny, after raising suspicions during security screening."

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In Mr. Nemeth's America, a threat to our safety means we should grant our government almost unlimited powers to monitor our movements, conversations and actions.  Safety can only be achieved if the government knows where everyone is at all times, what they are thinking, and what they are doing (or may do in the future).  If Mr. Nemeth truly believes in such a scenario, I would like to pose the following hypothetical situation. 

Currently the Republican party is the minority and out of power.  

Imagine that a very vocal part of your party advocates violence against the Democratic majority.  

Imagine there is an outbreak of political violence aimed at the Democratic majority.  

Imagine that President Obama reacts just like President Bush, and declares all Republicans possible terrorists and a threat to national security.  

Imagine that Mr. Nemeth gets picked up because he wrote articles in the past that attacked the Obama Administration.  How soon do you think Mr. Nemeth would be screaming for his liberties and railing against the tyranny of the Democratic party? 

I imagine it would be as they dragged him away to a CIA black site.

If we want our government to know of every threat and the location of every possible terrorist, then we will lose whatever liberties granted to us in the Bill of Rights.  That isn't an America I want to live in.