Is Our Country Safer Since the Creation of the Department of Homeland Security?

Is Our Country Safer Since The Creation of The Department of Homeland Security?

Since Tuesday, September 11 2001, we have realized that our country is vulnerable to attacks from foreign terrorists groups. However, to make up for that we have created an agency that is supposed to, "...take the strongest possible precautions against terrorism by bringing together the best information and intelligence. In the war on terror, knowledge is power." This agency is to protect us and prevent another terrorist attack. The Department of Homeland Security has not made us safer even though that is what it was created for, instead it is just an enormous waste of government funds that is pushing us more into debt.

Homeland Security was created to stop and prevent future terrorist attacks here in the United States. After receiving the oath of the office of Director of Homeland Security, Former Gov. Tom Ridge said that:

"But there may be gaps in the system. The job of the Office of Homeland Security will be to identify those gaps and work to close them. The size and scope of this challenge are immense. The President's executive order states that we must detect, prepare for, prevent, protect against, respond to and recover from terrorist attacks, an extraordinary mission. But we will carry it out." (Kerrigan 38)

The agency according to the President's Executive Order he mentioned, is to focus solely on the terrorist aspect of it all, its only mission is to not have another terrorist attack on America. That is good, but it is not the only thing we need to be protected from here. The United States has stopped many terrorist attacks such as, the Underwear Bomber, the arrest of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the failed Christmas Day bombing, The Time Square Car Bomb, the killing of Osama bin Laden, and numerous other plots but they were stopped mostly by the FBI and local law enforcement, not Homeland Security. There have also been a few attacks accomplished, even though the Department was created to stop them. That is according to Gov. Ridge, "While the effort will begin here, it will require the involvement of America at every level. Everyone in the homeland must play a part. I ask the American people for their patience, their awareness and their resolve. This job calls for a national effort" (Kerrigan 38). Ridge says that in order to be an effective agency to protect from future attacks, he needs the help of aware citizens. The Department of Homeland Security has not stopped many terrorist attacks even though they are one of the biggest beneficiaries of United States funding.

"Rockstar"

By: Nickelback

The song, "Rockstar" is a song created by the band, Nickelback. Before you read or listen to the song, "Rockstar", the title suggests it about a rockstar, possibly about him how he became a rockstar. It would suggest that it might be about how he became a rockstar because he is a musical artist and it might be talking about what it took to get to where he is now.

All throughout the song the singer is talking about rockstars and their lifestyle. The singer is saying in stanza one that he is becoming tired of his lifestyle that he has now and it has not turned out quite the way he wanted. While the second, third and fourth stanzas talk about the benefits and the nice things that you would get out of that lifestyle what he really wants out of it, too. In stanza five, he talks about what he would do to become a rockstar, like cutting his hair and changing his name to become more of a rockstar. Stanza six is also the chorus and it says that everyone wants to be a rockstar and that they all want the riches, the benefits, and the possessions that come with the lifestyle. In stanza eight, nine and ten, he talks about the benefits and reward for being a famous rockstar. Stanza twelve talks about also the benefits of being a rockstar of going anywhere you want and the availability of drugs to the stars. While stanza fourteen talks about how he being a rockstar, he will break laws and do immoral things. Stanza sixteen talks about the availability of drugs to the stars just like in stanza twelve. He talks about how the lifestyle of the rockstars are not what everyone thinks it is.

All through the song of "Rockstar," the use of connotations show the author's attitude. The use of drugs and illegal and immoral things shows that he is making fun at the lifestyle, not wishing he had that lifestyle. Also, the use of expensive possessions also shows that the lifestyle he is talking about is shallow and says that your wealth is based on what you got, and that he would even cut his hair and change his name is showing that some would do anything to fit in with the rockstars and to become one of them. Connotations help create the attitude, shift and theme of the song.

The theme, shift, and attitude of the singer are intertwined and are the same. When you first read the song, you hear the positive attitude towards that lifestyle but if you read the lyrics in depth, you begin to see the author's negative view towards the lifestyle he is talking about. He is poking fun at the shallowness of the rockstars and their morals. The shift takes place during the twelve stanza in the song, because he was talking about the shallowness of the rockstars by their possessions, but then he talks about the drug use and the immoral acts of the rockstars that some of the rockstars participate in. The theme of the song is that even though the rockstar lifestyle sounds good and it is very popular does mean that it is right, because the rockstars' lifestyles are wrong.

The title before reading it is that it was about a rockstar or about how he became a rockstar. Now, after reading the poem the title of, "Rockstar," is that he is making fun of the shallow, immoral, and unethical lifestyle of a rockstars lifestyle, and that he hates his life and wants to be one of those rockstars.

All through this song, Nickelback is basically making fun of all the rockstars that are that shallow to belief and even be caught up in that lifestyle. They are saying that those people