Obama’s security czar needs a lesson in Canada

It’s bad enough when some no-name member of Congress from Texas clings to the xenophobic falsehood that the 9/11 terrorist attackers snuck into the United States through Canada. But when the president’s Homeland Security Secretary is equally misinformed, Obama, we have a problem.

First off, let’s clear the air once and for all. The 9/11 hijackers did NOT – repeat, did NOT – enter the United States by way of Canada. In fact, they entered the United States LEGALLY. So if dumbass American bureaucrats want to fix the problem of foreign terrorists on American soil, start with fixing your own immigration system and stop blaming the Canadian border.

That said, it is a shameful embarrassment that Janet Napolitano – President Obama’s security czar – would stoop to the same disingenuous level of blame Canada.

All this came to a head Monday night when Napolitano gave an interview to the CBC, Canada’s public broadcast network. First she said, “To the extent that terrorists have come into our country, or suspected or known terrorists have entered our country across a border, it has been across the Canadian border.”

Never mind the fact that she’s just plain wrong, the CBC’s Neil Macdonald then asked, “Are you talking about the 9/11 perpetrators?” And unbelievably, she said, “Not just those, but others as well.”

NOT JUST THOSE? Are you kidding me? Napolitano – Obama’s handpicked choice to “keep America safe” – is either knowingly lying or sadly ignorant.

The next day, Napolitano tried to correct the error by saying that she “misunderstood” the question. Um, Ms. Napolitano, the question really wasn’t all that confusing.

So she went from blame Canada to blame the media. Real helpful.

In her follow-up statement, Napolitano said, “I know that the September 11^th hijackers did not come through Canada to the United States. There are other instances, however, when suspected terrorists attempted to enter our country from Canada to the United States. Some of those are well known to the public – such as the Millennium Bomber – while others are not, due to security reasons.”

Two things are troubling about her statement: First, it was Canada that HELPED stop Ahmed Ressam from crossing the British Columbia/Washington state border and foiled his supposed plan to blow up the Los Angeles airport back in 1999.

Secondly, that was one incident. Oh, Napolitano says there are others that she can’t talk about for “security reasons.” That not only is very Bush-ian, but how can we trust someone who would so easily revert back to the horribly wrong 9/11-Canada connection.

But even more troubling were Napolitano’s comments during that CBC interview that she wants a “real border” between the United States and Canada. “I know that the pattern at the Canadian border has been informality.” Napolitano – a former governor of Arizona – also sees no difference between the Canadian and Mexican borders.

This is pathetic.

First of all, the border between the United States and Canada is indeed REAL. Just ask all those people who line up at the border –sometimes for hours at a time – to cross it in order to work or shop or play tourist. To listen to Napolitano, you’d think the crossings at places like Detroit and Niagara Falls are lawless free-for-alls. And as an American living in Canada, trust me, Ms. Napolitano, it’s a REAL BORDER!

But perhaps most troubling is that she sees no difference between America’s borders with Canada and Mexico. The U.S.-Canada relationship is primarily one of business and trade, and the treatment of the border needs to reflect that.

In Mexico, the issues are illegal immigration and illegal drugs, so it makes sense that there would be a different policy on that border. To punish Canada because of the sins of Mexico is shortsighted and, frankly, offensive.

Sadly, Canada’s wandering Conservative government seems to be more than willing to give Napolitano a pass. Napolitano’s equivalent in Canada – Public Safety Minister Peter Van Loan – seemed unconcerned when he said, “I don’t believe that there’s an effort to change the level of security at the Canadian border.”

Is he on crack? It’s already happening.

If Obama was being honest a few months ago when he said he “loves Canada, then he needs to put his Homeland Security Secretary on notice that such gross mistreatment of the United States’ strongest ally will not be tolerated.

FREAK OF THE WEEK: Billy Bob Thornton

This week, the FredBlog shines its freaklight on Billy Bob Thornton, who is following in the footsteps of Joaquin Phoenix, going from critically acclaimed actor to freaked-out-of-his-mind musician.

If you haven’t seen or heard Thornton’s bizarre appearance on the Canadian show Q, it’s well worth watching at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJWS6qyy7bw. And it’s an appearance that set off a whole week of freakiness.

It all started when Billy Bob’s band, the Boxmasters, came to Toronto to promote themselves as the opening act for Willie Nelson in a number of Canadian cities. As part of the promotional plan, all four Boxmasters came to the studios of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) to be interviewed by host Jian Ghomeshi on his show “Q.”

You have to wonder if Billy Bob was inspired by Phoenix’s recent appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” because Billy Bob was clearly not of sound mind.

First, when asked how long the band had been together, Billy Bob said, “I’m not sure what that means.” Ghomeshi, surprised, restated the question, but Billy Bob said he still didn’t understand. In fact, Billy Bob had that same reaction to a couple other questions as well.

It only got weirder, with Billy Bob saying he has never met Nelson, with whom his band is touring, and talking about monsters and building models when asked about his childhood musical memories.

Billy Bob’s bandmates, who answered questions posed to them clearly if boringly, looked embarrassed by their leader’s stupidity.

But then things really heated up when Billy Bob said he was angry that Ghomeshi introduced him as an actor. It seems that Billy Bob’s people told Ghomeshi’s producer that he was not to ask the grumpy star about his movie career. In fact, Ghomeshi didn’t. He only mentioned Billy Bob’s acting and screenwriting resume as part of the introduction.

No matter. Billy Bob was already pissed, and there was no pleasing him at this point.

Billy Bob went on to criticize Canadian audiences for their supposed politeness – according to Billy Bob, Canadian audiences don’t throw things during their shows, while American audiences do! He made the point by saying that Canuck crowds are like “mashed potatoes with no gravy.”

It got even weirder when Billy Bob refused to take part in an in-studio performance by his bandmates.

With the interview over, the bizarreness ended, right? Wrong. During the following day’s show in Toronto, Billy Bob called Ghomeshi an “asshole,” which elicited boos from the audience. “Boo all you want,” he continued, “but I want to say something. … I talked to this asshole yesterday.” And he just kept talking.

For someone who wanted to focus on music, why was he even bringing this up during his performance?

And for such a supposed big man, he certainly took the coward’s way out in the end. The Boxmasters cancelled their final Canadian performances in Montreal and London, Ontario, and Billy Bob blamed his bandmates.

Billy Bob’s publicist Arnold Robinson told the Toronto Star: "It is absolutely not because of the CBC interview. One of the band members and several of the crew have the flu and need a couple of days off to recuperate. Billy does not have the flu. The band is only concerned about giving the audience the best show possible, and when one of them is down with the flu, they can't do that.”

Yeah, that’s right, the flu, that’s the ticket.

Hey Billy Bob, if you are serious about this whole live music biz, you should learn the old chestnut, “The show must go on.” If you’re going to criticize others as being mashed potatoes, you’ve got to learn to take your lumps.