new secretary of homeland security
The Department of Homeland Security, which was created after September 11 to keep everyone freaked out about the possibility of terrorist attacks so that they'd be scared enough to vote for the gun-totin' Republican cowboy and ignore any unwarranted military aggression, trampling of civil liberties or environmental devastation, has a new boss. Bernard Kerik will now be in charge of keeping that godawful colour-coded threat level thing hovering at a comfortable yellow ("All Americans should continue to be vigilant, take notice of their surroundings, and report suspicious items or activities to local authorities immediately").
My evident frustration aside, though, it's a fascinating choice. This Kerik character has a resume that sounds like it comes right out of fifteen different action movies: high school drop out, army recruit, security expert in the middle east (including "a stint with the Saudi Royal Family", says BBC), NYPD cop, undercover narcotics officer, campaign bodyguard to Rudolph Giuliani, director of investigations for the Department of Corrections and eventually Commissioner, security consultant to Mexico City... I am not making any of these up.
It seems like Kerik became more widely known after the September 11 attacks, so Bush is killing three birds here - hiring on a highly efficient person, bringing a rabid Republican into his "inner circle", and playing the ol' 9/11 sympathy card. Huzzah!
Links about Kerik: BBC article, Wikipedia article
My evident frustration aside, though, it's a fascinating choice. This Kerik character has a resume that sounds like it comes right out of fifteen different action movies: high school drop out, army recruit, security expert in the middle east (including "a stint with the Saudi Royal Family", says BBC), NYPD cop, undercover narcotics officer, campaign bodyguard to Rudolph Giuliani, director of investigations for the Department of Corrections and eventually Commissioner, security consultant to Mexico City... I am not making any of these up.
It seems like Kerik became more widely known after the September 11 attacks, so Bush is killing three birds here - hiring on a highly efficient person, bringing a rabid Republican into his "inner circle", and playing the ol' 9/11 sympathy card. Huzzah!
Links about Kerik: BBC article, Wikipedia article
