Day 38: Homeland Insecurity

News has been getting me down.

Homeland Insecurity
By Batsheva 1/8/10

Now hold, on
Let me get this straight
This hurts my brain
So please just wait
While I try to figure out
How this whole mess
First came about

Back in '01
On Nine-Eleven
Nineteen nuts thought
They'd go to Heaven
If they could crash
Some big jet-liners
Oh yes, they thought
Naught could be finer
And so they did
Three thousand died
And on that day
The whole world cried
Well, not everyone
For there were a few
Who thought this was
Just great to do
One even tried to hide
A bomb inside his shoe

So the President said
Hmmm. . .let's see. . .
I'll create a new bureaucracy
Called Homeland Security
'Cause one thing we know for sure
Is absolutely everybody
Wants to feel secure

So now the year is Twenty-ten
Eight years have passed
And now, again
Some crazy man
(It's always men!)
Has tried to bomb a plane
But he didn't use his shoes
Oh, no, that would be insane,
Instead the bomb was in a place
No one would guess--
His private space
Yes, the bomb was in his briefs
And this has brought us all
To grief
For now, they're not
Just checking shoes
A new machine
They now will use
That through our clothes
Will take nude pictures
Which seems unnecessary stricture
The other option
They have found
Is letting ourselves
Get pat down
Including in our private spaces
I think that's what the
Disgrace is

The briefs bomber
Might have had a plan
To embarrass each American
In which case, I say
He won, he beat us
For now we let our own fear
Cheat us
Of our modesty
How can we do this?
Honestly?
When all it takes
To stop these crimes
Is intelligence that
Fits the times
We knew the guy
Was dangerous
His own dad told us
And there's this
He was flying
Cross the earth
One way, no bags
That's not a dearth
Of intelligence
It's just a lack
Of common sense
With Internet
And Blackberry
There's no way
In Heaven's Name
That lunatic should ever have
Set foot inside a plane

Instead of turning
All our airports
Into big traumatic scareports
The government should
Do its JOB
Of our dignity
We'll not be robbed
'Cause if this keeps up
(I don't mean to be rude)
Next thing, they'll
Make us all fly nude!