DHS: The Fascist State

Just when you thought it was safe to travel to America comes the story of a hapless Italian tourist jailed without recourse for ten days while his "well-educated, well-connected" (we believe that means rich and powerful, in the common parlance) girlfriend and her family tried to get him out. Caveat: You need to register and login before you can view the story at the link.

Domenico Salerno, the youngest son of a prosperous contractor in Calabria and a recently graduated lawyer who works in his brother’s law firm in Rome, has an American girlfriend whom he visits several times a year.

Apparently, DHS decided that Mr. Salerno, whose command of English is limited, posed some sort of swarthy threat to the nation. They accused him of seeking asylum and dumped his tush in the hoosegow.

You might form some sort of idea about the social background of Mr. Salerno's American girlfriend when you read this comment from her father about the indignities visited upon Signor Salerno:

“We have a lot of government people here and lobbyists and lawyers and very educated, very savvy Washingtonians,” said Jim Cooper, Ms. Cooper’s father, a businessman, describing the reaction in his neighborhood, the Wessynton subdivision of Alexandria. “They were pretty shocked that the government could do this sort of thing, because it doesn’t happen that often, except to people you never hear about, like Haitians and Guatemalans.”

Although swarthiness is not an absolute prerequisite for having your ass dragged off to the caboose. Witness the treatment of Erla Osk Arnardottir Lillendahl of Iceland, who was held by these valiant representatives of our nation. All uncaring about our fragile economy and its dependence on the tourist trade, they had the gall to seize a blond, pink female person and handle her most inappropriately. And now this.

We can't wait for them to arrest an entire planeload of Israelis, or better yet, Lubavitchers, and fling their tuchuses into confinement for "looking like terrorists," or summat. The combined howls of outrage should surely lead to a "reorg," as we call it in the SillyValley, of the DHS, hopefully rousting out the most maleficent and reducing its powers to appropriate, Constitution-respecting levels.

It won't happen unless you do something about it, though. Reps Jane Harman (D-CA) and Bennie Thompson (D-Miss) have just announced that the DHS is planning to spy on Americans within the country and share any information with local law enforcement. Presumably, the DHS, like our Pretzeldunce, believe that the Constitution may be substituted for toilet paper if there is a shortage of the latter.

Write Harman and Thompson and tell them what you think. Hell, write your Rep too.

Stumble It!