If you see something suspicious--SHUT UP!!!

Well the Kumbya PC police in the Democratic party got their way--those words you hear over and over again every time there is another foiled terror attack "be vigilant," "if you see something say something," "your eyes are our best defense." All of these quotes are saying the same thing if we want to be safe, we need open our mouths and tell the authorities when something looks strange. Like the smoking car in London, or the Jihad pictures in the Fort Dix case, even the attempt to blow up Kennedy Airport was foiled because a good person opened his mouth.
Congressman Peter King introduced an amendment to protect the whistle blowers--on Friday the Democrats Killed it....

Dems deep-six the King Amendment

CSP Decision Brief | Jul 20, 2007

Incredibly, Democratic members of Congress yesterday first used a backroom conference committee and then actually voted in the U.S. Senate to allow alert, public-spirited Americans to be subjected to harassing and potentially devastatingly expensive lawsuits for helping law-enforcement authorities counter possible terrorist activities by reporting suspicious behavior. From now on, every admonition along the line of "If you see something, say something" will have to have the warning label: "If you do, you could be sued."

It is hard to imagine a more insane policy for a nation at war against Islamofascist enemies that have proven themselves both willing and able to use surreptitious means to attack our open, highly vulnerable society and its infrastructure. It is particularly outrageous that the immediate beneficiary of this malfeasance is the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)  an organization recently identified as a Muslim Brotherhood front group and an un-indicted co-conspirator in a terrorism-financing conspiracy in this country.

After all, it was CAIR's declared intention to sue so-called "John Does" as-yet unidentified passengers on the USAir flight last November who reported the suspicious (if not deliberately provocative) behavior of six Muslim imams that precipitated the amendment offered in May to a railroad security bill by Rep. Peter King, the ranking minority member of the House Homeland Security Committee. It was the King amendment that was rejected by conferees on the so-called "9/11 bill" yesterday.

Subsequently, Senator Susan Collins, Rep. King's counterpart in the Senate, offered a similar provision affording limited-liability protection to terrorist-tipsters as an amendment to the then-pending education bill. On a procedural motion, the 39 Democrats who voted to prevent its adoption were successful. Despite the 57 bipartisan votes the Collins amendment garnered, proponents were three votes short of the 60 required.

The Bottom Line

It is unclear at this writing exactly where things stand. Senator Joe Lieberman  a supporter of the King-Collins legislation and chairman of the Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee indicated yesterday in the conference committee that he wants to "work with" Rep. King on his amendment. Whether that will happen in the course of staff efforts to finalize language for the so-called "9/11 bill" conference report or under other circumstances remains to be seen.

What is certain is that an outcome which leaves Americans who do their part for the common defense vulnerable to litigation by Islamist front organizations and their fellow-travelers is totally unacceptable. Such suits have the effect and, given the nature of the litigants, are seemingly intended to suppress what is, arguably, the most important force-multiplier available for homeland security: voluntary action by responsible citizens. Such action must continue to be fully encouraged, not effectively precluded by making it something we engage in at our peril.

In particular, the Democratic leadership of the House and Senate, Senators Patrick Leahy and Arlen Specter of the Judiciary Committee and Rep. Bennie Thompson, chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee need to hear from all of us today: Enact the King amendment and help the American people be part of the solution to the threat terrorists pose on the homefront of the War for the Free World.