DHS to take on recreational boaters. In the name of "security" of course.

[wsuffa]

They've slapped lipstick on the pig to make it look like a "neighborhood watch" program.... it is anything but:

LINK

On Monday officials will announce the plan, which asks states to develop and enforce safety standards for recreational boaters and asks them to look for and report suspicious behavior on the water _ much like a neighborhood watch program.
.............
Initially the government considered creating a federal license for recreational boat operators, but that informal proposal was immediately shot down by boating organizations. Coast Guard and homeland security officials have toured the country in the past year to sound out the boating industry and its enthusiasts. While the government insists there will be no federal license, the strategy suggests that the government consider registering and regulating recreational boats.
............
The Coast Guard will work with states to establish minimum safety standards and ways to enforce the new rules. That may include requiring boat operators to have a copy of the safety certification on board with them and a piece of identification that links them to the certificate. That's important, security officials say, because currently there is no uniform requirement for pleasure boaters to have identification on board with them on the water.

Here we go again. Once again, the government thinks Identification=security. It's all about control of the population - and anything that MIGHT allow freedom must be closely controlled. More shredding of the Constitution.

"If you can't control it, make it such a hassle that folks won't do it".

No more renting a canoe at your local state park....

 

[alaskaflyer]

You know, pinning this on "the gubmint" is a canard...the responsibility for these type of actions (TSA too) should be placed squarely where it belongs: the general populace, afraid, who demand that we "do something" to protect ourselves. We are the enablers of things like Cheney's 1% doctrine.

I have no doubt that this measure (and the ones surely to follow) will protect us, to an extent. At what cost?

Obvious.

 

[mikea]

You know, pinning this on "the gubmint" is a canard...the responsibility for these type of actions (TSA too) should be placed squarely where it belongs: the general populace, afraid, who demand that we "do something" to protect ourselves. We are the enablers of things like Cheney's 1% doctrine.

I have no doubt that this measure (and the ones surely to follow) will protect us, to an extent. At what cost?

Obvious.

This game has no end. Any marroon can think up a threat, especially when you have all that help from TV and movies and Tom Clancy, which lets preventing the threat be an endless opportunity for pols and a growth industry for feds and contractors.

Example: Did you even notice that some poisonous insecticide look just like milk? What if some terrorist replaced MILK with bug spray? We CANNOT LET THIS THREAT continue! We MUST control all milk production and distribution!

Endless imagination.-> Endless fear-> Limitless power.

 

[Dart]

Did you know that right now, at this moment, there are tens of thousands of unidentified boats without 'float plans" buzzing about our ports???

Shirley, something must be done.

 

[ReverendSlappy]

Yeah, me and my 30+ year old 28' Pearson are a threat to national security. Uh-huh.

When will this stop?

 

[mikea]

Yeah, me and my 30+ year old 28' Pearson are a threat to national security. Uh-huh.

When will this stop?

The news story said they were worried about boats carrying nukes (on Lake Ochiphonnoke?) so there you go: A snowmobile, a car could carry... a BICYCLE could carry, a little red Radio Flyer wagon, a baby stroller could carry, OMIGAWD! ... hand trucks, skateboards, roller skates, big wheels!

 

[steingar]

Sooner or later someone with half a wit will wake up and realize that the government cannot protect people from criminal acts.

 

[silver-eagle]

Sooner or later someone with half a wit will wake up and realize that the government cannot protect people from criminal acts.

The government does protect people from criminal acts. They arrest and jail criminals. The problem is, there's so damned many of them.
There is a program afoot today called "Waterway Watch". It has been modeled after the AOPA/EAA/FAA "Airport Watch" program. Report suspicious activity to 877-24-WATCH. Last I knew, the same call center answered the phone.
We don't need a new program.

 

[mikea]

Sooner or later someone with half a wit will wake up and realize that the government cannot protect people from criminal acts.

You have more faith than I do. There's no upside for pols to choose sanity until constituents, en masse, complain often and loudly about such crap as TSA airport gate agents. That isn't happening (enough).

Maybe it will happen when TSA gets what it wishes and starts messing with boats and sickels and freight and pick 'em ups and guns.

 

[KennyFlys]

A few years ago, a bunch of people were calling into Boortz throughout the week complaining about those "rich, privileged private pilots and their expensive airplanes" and how they need to be better regulated. So, Neal decided to have some fun one morning when he went on the air.

Some of you already know he states to never believe what he says unless you've verified it for yourself or already know it to be generally true. This is just such a reason he says that.

He went on the air and began stating there was news about DSH had plans to regulate access by private boats on reservoirs used for drinking water and for stretches of river shores along major cities. People called in up in arms and saying how government can't do that.

I bet many of those same people were ready to limit the rights and privileges of private pilots.

 

[wsuffa]

You have more faith than I do. There's no upside for pols to choose sanity until constituents, en masse, complain often and loudly about such crap as TSA airport gate agents. That isn't happening (enough).

Maybe it will happen when TSA gets what it wishes and starts messing with boats and sickels and freight and pick 'em ups and guns.

Mike, I have zero confidence that it will ever change. This is about power and CYA, all wrapped up in the facade of "protecting the public".

Just like certain medical matters at the FAA, no bureaucrat or elected official ever wants to be painted as soft on terism. Shredding the Constitution means nothing as long as their own rear is protected. And the extensive propaganda effort and the politics of fear ensure that Ma and Pa Kettle think that security is a good thing.

 

[Dart]

Yeah, me and my 30+ year old 28' Pearson are a threat to national security. Uh-huh.

When will this stop?

When we accept the mark of the beast.

 

[Anthony]

You know, pinning this on "the gubmint" is a canard...the responsibility for these type of actions (TSA too) should be placed squarely where it belongs: the general populace, afraid, who demand that we "do something" to protect ourselves.

This is true. The populace fueled by the fear mongering media demands government step in for just about every issue to keep us "safe". There is no such thing as absolute safety so quit trying to attain it folks. You are more likely to get hit by lightning than die from a terrorist attack. People still drive their cars and trucks yet 50,000 people per year die from auto accidents.

 

[wsuffa]

This is true. The populace fueled by the fear mongering media demands government step in for just about every issue to keep us "safe". There is no such thing as absolute safety so quit trying to attain it folks. You are more likely to get hit by lightning than die from a terrorist attack. People still drive their cars and trucks yet 50,000 people per year die from auto accidents.

I disagree to a point. The media blather is fed by our politicians who trade on (and think they get elected on) the politics of fear. If it weren't for the "boogeyman" canard constantly raised by politicians and backside-protecting bureaucrats ("gotta protect my job"), the media would have nothing to go on.

This is nothing new: Joseph McCarthy made a career out of it decades ago.

Politicians want to create fear - or a crisis - so they will have a problem to "solve". And "solving" a problem means more restrictions on the public, who eats it up because it believes the propaganda that there is a crisis.

Oh, and the report this morning said that some Federal Air Marshals have been denied boarding because their names appear on the "Do Not Fly" list. Gimme a break.

IMHO, a bureaucracy exists to feed itself. It doesn't want to be eliminated, ergo it must justify itself. Even better if there is no real accountability.

Yeah, the media adds to it by regurgitating the propaganda. And the Kettles won't stand up until it's too late. Politicians don't want to be seen as being soft on anything.

 

[Ghery]

Politicians want to create fear - or a crisis - so they will have a problem to "solve". And "solving" a problem means more restrictions on the public, who eats it up because it believes the propaganda that there is a crisis.

Kind of like "man made global warming"?

 

[tdager]

I disagree to a point. The media blather is fed by our politicians who trade on (and think they get elected on) the politics of fear. If it weren't for the "boogeyman" canard constantly raised by politicians and backside-protecting bureaucrats ("gotta protect my job"), the media would have nothing to go on.

This is nothing new: Joseph McCarthy made a career out of it decades ago.

Politicians want to create fear - or a crisis - so they will have a problem to "solve". And "solving" a problem means more restrictions on the public, who eats it up because it believes the propaganda that there is a crisis.

Oh, and the report this morning said that some Federal Air Marshals have been denied boarding because their names appear on the "Do Not Fly" list. Gimme a break.

IMHO, a bureaucracy exists to feed itself. It doesn't want to be eliminated, ergo it must justify itself. Even better if there is no real accountability.

Yeah, the media adds to it by regurgitating the propaganda. And the Kettles won't stand up until it's too late. Politicians don't want to be seen as being soft on anything.

I hear ya Bill but I will NOT let the populace off the hook on this one. Too many times people want to blame the pols, or the gov, or someone, anyone, but the PEOPLE for a particular mess.

As Neal Boortz's little joke proved, people are quite willing to let the pols/gov limit peoples rights, so long as they do not limit THEIR rights.