Propaganda and corporatism

This Fox News piece on the "multi-billion dollar homeland security industry" is pure propaganda. Americans did not wake up after 9/11 - rather, they turned off their brains as usual and bought into the fear-mongering of our leaders. Of course, the politicians were in cahoots with a burgeoning "security industry" that does not sell its products to a voluntary public, but forces it upon us, getting paid with tax dollars, public debt, and inflation.

The article also tries to promote the work of DHS as something that benefits local agencies, and quotes a police sergeant to that effect (emphasis added):

Sgt. Brian Muller of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has long been involved in security advancements. "Superior tactics reduce risks," he said. "And if there is some type of technology that we can exploit -- so that we will be able to serve the public better, do it safely, keep things within constitutional limits, not violate people's rights, apprehend the bad guy and make the community safe -- we're interested in looking at that type of technology."

I've yet to see the DHS and their cronies do anything but violate people's rights! In any case, what's really happened is that our local police has become militarized: a SWAT team in every small town and escalations of events that used to be defused without the police killing or intimidating someone.