What Homeland Security Really Means
The upshot was that it was a bat, which, despite the prevalence of bat revisionism, is a spooky, nasty, disease-carrying, malicious threat to peace and contentment, made all the worse by its elusive, nocturnal habits. But this wasn't at all obvious at first. It began as little more than a peculiar sound, noted by a visitor to our home. It sounded like a woodpecker but not as steady and sharp, so it couldn't be that. I dismissed the observation. Noises are everywhere. Not to worry.
You can read the whole piece here, and it does have an interesting (I hope) point to make about political economy.
Comments (9)
Matt S
If you actually care the reason you are supposed to like bats is that they eat an enormous amount of insects, including mosquitoes.
Published: May 8, 2007 12:41 PM
george cronin
Unfortunately, bats return. You have to determine where they're entering. At dusk, stand outside and watch them leaving. Then plug the entry holes with wire mesh.
Published: May 8, 2007 2:41 PM
Mona
I see now connection between this story and homeland security, just somebodies day dream
Published: May 8, 2007 8:39 PM
Paul
Wolves, snakes and bats share the attribute of sentient life. Mercury and asbestos have no life and are capable of destroying life. Transfats - who knows, maybe just hard to digest. Seems valid that the dangers of irresponsible use of mercury and asbestos should be refrained from. How best to accomplish that?
Published: May 8, 2007 10:34 PM
Sam
This idea of "national security" is just about as mythical as the notion that some elected official with no fiduciary interest in our personal well-being can do anything to bring it about. Security is a microeconomic issue. Threats to person and property come in very precise forms. What gives us homeland security is not a swaggering occupant of the White House but locks on our doors, reliable insurance, a gun in the closet, or a daughter with a good technique for catching bats. BRAVO!
Published: May 8, 2007 10:45 PM
Mighty Blue Bustard
Bats are superb neighbors but lousy houseguests. Find out how they are entering and leaving your house. DO NOT plug the holes with mesh. (You may trap some inside.) Staple some nylon window screening over the top of the ingress/egress so that it drapes down a couple of feet below and a foot on each side. The bats will be able to leave but not return. Once you are sure they are gone, make permanent repairs.
The mention of 300 and 14,000 bats - if it was intended to allude to our presence in Iraq - was very weak. Serious minded people I know take the increased numbers of terrorists in Iraq to be a GOOD sign. Terrorists, unlike bats, are niether good neighbors nor good houseguests. They are worthy of extermination at every turn. If you want to exterminate a lot of them, go where a lot of them are - like Iraq.
Published: May 8, 2007 11:33 PM
CAITM
The proper statist response to the bat infestation, I think we can infer, would be to prohibit all flying by any mammals inside Mr. Tucker's House. with that ban in-place, all members of his family should have a picture ID made verifying them as a "non-flying" animal. Furthermore, he should designate one of the kids, or perhaps the Mrs. as "Family Member In Charge of Bat Extermination" and let them mill about the house, free of other responsibilities and only they could wield the Tennis Racket and Hammer of Defense!
This cowboy notion of giving everyone a tennis racket could only lead to chaos!
Published: May 9, 2007 7:02 PM
neil
Security is indeed a microeconomics issue. Or as my friend Charels Heller (http://www.libertywatchradio.com/) has been known to say "Remember that when seconds count, the police are only minutes away."
Self defense, somewhat tautologically, is not a delegatable function, at least for the average person who can't afford a 24/7 security detail. Furthermore the victim unambiguously knows who the trouble makers are. Johny come lately armed government agents are notorious for threatening the innocent with guns, just witness the video of evacuating Virginia Tech students under the guns of their 'protectors' whose pathology these dangers is contain and clean-up (lock down just imprisons the victims with the perpetrators). How nice of our 'servants' to treat us as prisoners.
The dial 911 mentality to order up security like a pizza disregards that for critical control functions like self defense, dead time in the feed back loop leads to no control for the perpetrators. It is both pragmatically and morally abhorant to seperate the moral authority to act from the local and immediate knowledge that there is a crime being committed.
As far as bats, one's home is not a nature preserve; reasonable steps to seperate ourselves from wild creatures is prudent.
Published: May 9, 2007 8:10 PM
CAITM
I strongly second neil's observation!
However, bats, unlike bad men, do eat insects and need only to be removed from the home. In the South, anything that eats bugs is OK by me...except for spiders, of course, not amount of bug-eating will redeem them
Published: May 9, 2007 10:03 PM