Wordsmithing over at DHS

Here is a link to an actual Department of Homeland Security document on the correct terminology for writing about terrorists:
http://www.investigativeproject.org/documents/misc/126.pdf

It is strange to think that we don’t have enough money for immigration enforcement but we’ve got people doing research for a government stylebook to avoid offending terrorists. But here are the nine pages to prove it.

When you read it, you’ll note that we must be very sensitive to the feelings of …well, I’m not sure what to call them but they are the subject of the memo.

I was thinking about the furor (oops, I shouldn’t use that word) going on in Texas with the polygamist FLDS church. It would seem after reading the document, this group would have done much better if they had been from the middle east. Then the government would have to be sensitive to their culture. And they wouldn’t have sullied the reputation of the Mormons in the process.

As columnist Bret Stephens pointed out in the Journal today, one of the banned words is “liberty”; we’ll use “progress” instead. (page 7)

The entire tone of this memo is defeatism. DHS is apologizing for our country and what it stands for. We must defer to the feelings of these people, even if they have immigrated to our soil. We must avoid hegemony at all costs.

Can you imagine what a document like this would sound like to a Marine stationed in the desert, putting his butt on the line every day? Either Homeland Security is singing a lullaby to the sleeper cells or we’ve completely lost our way.