Data Gathering And The Politically Correct Exemption

There are more "secrets" floating around government circles than you can count.  Mostly they turn up when someone asks for proof that something being done is actually working.  Like the data mining of our private information.

Since with all the technology and the information it makes available they missed the Boston bombers, who did they get?  And under what circumstances?  Was it dumb luck?

The same goes for airport security done by those highly trained professionals we encounter so close up and personal.  What threat have they actually thwarted?  Baskets full of confiscated shampoo don't count.

Profiling is still politically incorrect, that is the given reason the remainder of the travelling public has to put up with indignities and delays.  Heaven forbid we offend someone from a country we know harbors the terrorist element we seek.

I wonder...  Yep, it's going on in the mega data gathering operations now fronting the headlines.  The buck stops at mosques.  They have been off limits to the FBI since October 2011 unless another secret entity, this one in the trustworthy justice department, gives a thumbs up.  The panel, the Sensitive Operations Review Committee, is also secret.  No one knows who sits on it, who chairs it or who does the staff work.  There was a time it wouldn't bother me but since it appears we can't trust much of anyone anymore, that makes me nervous.

How did this come about?  The squeaky wheel, the Muslims themselves in concert with the ACLU teamed up to sue the FBI for violating their civil rights.  These palaces of jihad recruitment and radicalization of the homegrown.  If the Muslims were truly against the radical element within their ranks I'd think they'd welcome the scrutiny. Especially since recent surveys of American mosques show that some 80% of them preach violent jihad and distribute like minded literature to their worshippers.

We can't do the job if we're cowed by those preaching political correctness.  The FBI never checked out the Boston mosque where the bombers were known to worship.  That's criminal - on our part.

It's also criminal that people, citizens and otherwise, who fit a certain profile aren't given stricter scrutiny at airports.

That Edward Snowdon put into words what was already widely known, that our government was gathering data about us, is hardly the crime.  The terrorists have known about it too.  That's why they buy pre-paid phones that have a few free minutes on them, use them once and throw them out.  No registry, no trail.

The crime is that with all their snooping capabilities, they aren't focusing on the most likely.  That makes believing that the information they have on you and I is helping to keep the country safe difficult.  Plus, if an Edward Snowdon can access and manipulate it as easily as he makes it sound, what might anyone with no scruples do with it?  The worry is even if you've never done anything wrong, someone with information about you can manipulate it to make it appear as if you had.  In that case where does the burden of proof lie?  It should be of concern to all of us.