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Originally posted by marcel:
We often speak of our desire for Jesus' soon comming at church but I wonder how many of us don't subconsiously hope to live a long healthy life here on earth rather than looking fowrward to Jesus' return?

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I can honestly say I am not looking forward to a "long" life on this earth of sin. No. I pray many times a day for the Second Coming of my Lord and Savior to be soon. If I had my choice it would be yesterday.

Linda thank you for all your updates on these things. They are not meant to scare us into anything but to keep us informed of what is going on, and I truly thank you for this.

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The Homeland Security Monstrosity

by Rep. Ron Paul, MD

Congress spent just a few short hours last week voting to create the biggest new federal bureaucracy since World War II, not that the media or even most members of Congress paid much attention to the process. Yet our most basic freedoms as Americans – privacy in our homes, persons, and possessions; confidentiality in our financial and medical affairs; openness in our conversations, telephone, and Internet use; unfettered travel; indeed the basic freedom not to be monitored as we go through our daily lives – have been dramatically changed.

The last time Congress attempted a similarly ambitious reorganization of the government was with the creation of the Department of Defense in 1947. Back then, congressional hearings on the matter lasted two years before President Truman finally signed legislation. Even after this lengthy deliberation, however, organizational problems with the new department lasted more than 40 years! What do we expect from a huge bureaucracy conceived virtually overnight, by a Congress that didn’t even read the bill that creates it? Surely more deliberation was appropriate before establishing a giant new federal agency with 170,000 employees!

When the Homeland Security department first was conceived, some congressional leaders and administration officials outrageously told a credulous rank-and-file Congress that the new department would be "budget neutral." The agency simply would be a reorganization of existing federal employees, we were told, and would not increase the federal budget. In fact, the agency was touted as increasing efficiency, rather than expanding federal power. Of course the original 32-page proposal sent over by the White House quickly grew to 282 pages in House committees, ending up at more than 500 pages in the final version voted on last week – with a $3 billion price tag just for starters. The sheer magnitude of the bill, and the technical complexity of it, makes it impossible for anyone to understand completely. Rest assured that the new department represents a huge increase in the size and scope of the federal government that will mostly serve to spy on the American people. Can anyone, even the most partisan Republican, honestly say with a straight face that the Department of Homeland Security does not expand the federal government?

The list of dangerous and unconstitutional powers granted to the new Homeland Security department is lengthy. Warrantless searches, forced vaccinations of whole communities, federal neighborhood snitch programs, federal information databases, and a sinister new "Information Awareness Office" at the Pentagon that uses military intelligence to spy on domestic citizens are just a few of the troubling aspects of the new legislation. To better understand the potential damage to our liberties, I strongly recommend a November 14th New York Times op-ed piece by William Safire entitled "You Are A Suspect." The article provides a devastating critique of the new Homeland Security bureaucracy and a chilling warning of what the agency could become. The article can be read on my website, under the section entitled "Speeches."

November 19, 2002

Dr. Ron Paul is a Republican member of Congress from Texas.

Find this article at:
http://www.lewrockwell.com/paul/paul62.html

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Bush Signs Homeland Bill
WASHINGTON, Nov. 25, 2002

"This act takes the next critical steps in defending our country against the continuing threat of terrorism. The threat of mass murder on our own soil will be met with a united, effective response."
President Bush

(CBS) President Bush signed legislation Monday creating a new Department of Homeland Security to lead the fight against domestic terrorism, but said even the biggest government shakeup in more than a half century can "neither predict nor prevent every conceivable attack."

As he signed the bill at a White House ceremony, Mr. Bush said, "We're doing everything we can to protect America. But he warned, "In a free and open society, no department of government can completely guarantee our safety against ruthless killers who move and plot in shadows."

Mr. Bush named close friend and current homeland security chief Tom Ridge to head the new department. He also said he will nominate Navy Secretary Gordon England to be Ridge's deputy, and Asa Hutchinson, the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration, to be undersecretary of border and transportation security.

The president's signature launched the most sweeping federal reorganization since the Defense Department's birth in 1947.

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