HEADLINE please!

By Katie Harbath, staff columnist

The country and the world are on edge. In the Washington, D.C. area, a sniper has gunned down eight people and is striking fear into many people, making them scared to even leave their homes.

In addition, with the passing of the Iraq resolution last week by Congress, people are now certain the United States will attack Iraq; the only question is when and how Saddam will strike back. Will it be with biological weapons? The White House is preparing a nation-wide small-pox-vaccination plan just in case.

The White House is also warning that al Qaeda is gaining steam again. Attacks in Yemen and Kuwait that severely damaged a French oil tanker last week have been blamed on the terrorist network. Two new audiotapes have also been released by high-ranking al Qaeda members though the Al Jazeera satellite channel, possibly giving members a go-ahead on planned attacks, officials say.

The White House also said another large-scale attack is possible, and it has considered moving the terrorist-threat color back up to orange.

In India, the possible nuclear fight with Pakistanis remains volatile, so much so that experts warn an asteroid’s explosion in space, that had the same amount of energy as the atomic bomb detonated in Hiroshima near India, could have been misinterpreted by one or both of the parties to be a nuclear attack. Thus, accidentally launching the two sides, and probably the world, into a nuclear war. All because people are on edge, don’t know what to expect and, thus, are less likely to think rationally and more likely to be quick to pull the trigger.

Iraq has been the lawmakers’ focus for weeks now. Hussein is a threat that needs to be removed, and the House and Senate’s passage of the resolution has finally given Bush that necessary power.

Now the Senate must also act quickly towards protecting us here at home by passing the Homeland Security bill before recessing for the November elections.

The House passed the White House-backed Homeland Security bill in late July and the Senate has yet to take a vote. They did consider it two weeks ago, but delayed talks over disagreements with what Bush’s power should be over the flexibility to move workers around as well as workers’ collective bargaining rights stalled the bill. And now, with the Senate ready to adjourn this week to allow members to fully concentrate on November’s elections, the possibility of passing the Homeland bill is in serious danger.

The main holding point on the Senate’s legislation is the question of collective bargaining. Senate Democrats have been accused of stalling the vote to please the unions — a ploy some say is probably designed to help the Democrats gain votes in the next three weeks before the election. Some argue workers need to have the right to join unions and the government should have no power not to let them.

Yet, since President Kennedy, the government has had the power to keep workers from unionizing if it jeopardizes national security. And, every president since Kennedy has exercised that right at some point in time.

Dissenters of the White House’s bill also disagree with the power granted to the government regarding the flexibility of moving employees around within the department. They want to make sure employees that are transferred cannot be fired, receive less pay or have altered terms of employment because of the switch. The government wants to have the authority to rewrite personnel rules for the department in order to be able to move people around more quickly, which will allow officials to respond faster to terrorist threats.

If the government is to do all it can to protect its citizens at home, it must have the power to prevent workers from unionizing and the flexibility to alter the department quickly to best defend against terrorist threats. The slowdown of strikes or red tape will only hamper the government in protecting its citizens in the fastest and best way possible and could have devastating effects. Under the House-backed legislation, workers still have the right to join unions; the government can only prevent it if it harms national security — something that has been a presidential right since 1978.

The Senate still has work to do before it ends this session. They have done well and have given Bush the power to finally get rid of Saddam Hussein; now they need to get to work and give Bush the power to create a department of Homeland Security in order to protect American citizens at home.

Some citizens today are scared to leave their own homes, most are scared of a biological or chemical attack, and many are scared of another terrorist attack. They don’t know when the next one will be or where. People aren’t completely safe here in the United States, and a Department of Homeland Security is necessary to help stave off these attacks. The United States is under threat now; this legislation cannot be put off any longer. The Senate needs to put its partisan bickering aside, as they did with the Iraq resolution, and get this bill passed before they leave until January.

Katie Harbath ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science.