There’s a breaking story now [...]]]> If you’re not familiar with Michael Yon, you should check him out immediately.  He is an independent photojournalist who has been embedded with our forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for years, delivering gripping stories and photos of our amazing men and women putting their lives on the line to protect us.

There’s a breaking story now where Michael Yon was detained at Seattle’s SeaTac airport by the TSA because he was unwilling to answer their questions.  What did they want to know?  How much money he earns.  What in the world does that have to do with national security?  When he refused to answer their inappropriate and unnecessary question, he was handcuffed and detained.  From Michael Yon’s Facebook page:

When they handcuffed me, I said that no country has ever treated me so badly. Not China. Not Vietnam. Not Afghanistan. Definitely not Singapore or India or Nepal or Germany, not Brunei, not Indonesia, or Malaysia, or Kuwait or Qatar or United Arab Emirates. No county has treated me with the disrespect can that can be expected from our border bullies. –Michael Yon

Perhaps Obama and Napolitano should consider asking for help, because clearly, they are out of their depth on securing the borders of this country.  What are we doing with the Christmas Day Bomber?  We’ve put him in the criminal justice system, affording him the full rights of a U.S. citizen, and talking about giving him a plea bargain.  Really?!

We are quickly becoming the laughing stock of the world, and our enemies are becoming more and more emboldened by Obama’s tactics.  Not only does asking someone about their yearly earnings have nothing to do with national security, but it tramples on our constitutional rights and freedoms.  In response to the Christmas Bomber, our “leaders“ have implemented mostly useless and reactive measures.  In contrast, the terrorists who, despite Obama’s words to the contrary, are clearly at war with us, and continue to plan new ways to hurt innocent Americans.

Might we suggest that they focus their attentions on the groups of people who are actually trying to blow people up on planes, and not on returning U.S. citizens?

UPDATE: The BigGovernment Website has picked up this story

What is the one responsibility our federal government should be concerned with the most?  I’m sure left-wing liberals would answer that it’s providing health care to everyone, including illegal aliens.  The rest of us know the federal government has no business getting involved in our health care.  So [...]]]> It’s a simple question: Do you feel safe?

What is the one responsibility our federal government should be concerned with the most?  I’m sure left-wing liberals would answer that it’s providing health care to everyone, including illegal aliens.  The rest of us know the federal government has no business getting involved in our health care.  So of course, the right answer is that the most important role of our federal government is the security and safety of American citizens.

With that in mind, let’s review what happened on Christmas day last week, and see how your government is working to keep you safe:

• Despite being a young male with no strong roots in his own country, 23 year old Umar Abdulmutallab was still given a short-term visa (see State Department visa regulation 214(b) that refuses these type of applicants – thanks to Michelle Malkin and Joel Mowbray)
• Despite Dr. Umaru Mutallab, Abdulmutallab’s father and prominent banking official in Nigeria, alerting officials at the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria that his son was under the influence of “religious extremists” in Yemen on November 19^th of this year, his short-term visa was not revoked.
• Despite Britain barring him from obtaining a new visa in May of this year, we provided him with one in June.
• Despite paying cash for his airline ticket, he was allowed to board without scrutiny.
• Despite declaring that he would be here for two weeks, he checked no bags, and no one seemed concerned.

Clearly, there were several red flags that should have prompted officials to –at the very least –scrutinize this man before he boarded the flight.  Had people been doing their jobs, the correct action would have been to bar him from boarding the plane entirely.

People can say this was a bureaucratic failure.  A human error.

Nonsense!

This was a failure on the part of President Obama and DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano.  They failed, epically, and their failure could very well have caused the deaths of some 200 or more innocent people.

Why do I pin the blame solely on them?

• President Obama has insisted that we are not involved in a War against Terrorism.
• He has returned our military and defenses to the same pre-9/11 attitudes that led to 3,000 innocent lives snuffed out in the worst attack on our soil.
• Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jane Napolitano said, when referring to the events on Christmas day, the “system worked.”  Let us remember who saved those people on that plane: It was the actions of passengers and the flight crew that averted disaster, not our federal government.  Remember that.
• Secretary Napolitano claims that her department is working to prevent “man-caused disasters.”  There are so many things wrong with this statement.  Not only does it insult the work of our brave men and women fighting to protect us, it undermines the efforts of our intelligence agencies.  As a euphemism, it makes us forget the innocent lives that were taken from their loved ones.  It dulls our swords, and allows our shield arms to falter.  It is disgraceful.
• Napolitano doesn’t believe crossing our border illegally is a crime.  Without defined and secure borders, we will not be safe.  Have you ever heard of a borderless nation?  It is an oxymoron.  It is the duty of our government to secure our borders to ensure the safety and protection of our citizens.  For someone in her position, with her authority, to say that it is not a crime, is the same as looking the other way as those that wish us harm sneak inside our country.  Isn’t she the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security?
• Granting Miranda rights to terrorists abducted from the battlefield –a right given to citizens of this country, not those from other nations trying to destroy us –sends our enemies a strong message that we are not taking their threat seriously.  And it sends a clear signal to our military that we are not behind them.

I believe all these “lone-nuts”, as Obama and Napolitano refer to them, who train with Al Qaeda and wish to cause “man-caused disasters” here in the U.S., are emboldened by the attitudes of our President and our DHS Secretary.  And I believe that this attempt on Christmas day is just the first of many more to come under their watch.

The economy is in shambles.  The President and the Congress are trying to spend more and more of your money on a Health Care bill and a Cap and Trade bill.  But who’s looking out for our safety?

That just might be up to you…

Feeling Safe Yet?

And then there’s this one:

America at its Worst