Should Kerry use the term "Homeland"??

I really dislike that term...It's so Bush...

And it creates the impression that before the DHS was created that there was no other agency protecting the country.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/front/archives/2004/05/28/2003157228

Also imperial- "homeland," as opposed to WHAT land? Land we've invaded and occupy without it really being our homes?

Main Entry: home·land
Pronunciation: -"land also -l&nd
Function: noun
1 : native land : FATHERLAND
2 : a state or area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural, or racial origin;

The United States is not a state or an area set aside to be a state for a people of a particular national, cultural or racial origin...quite the contrary. It is a term in fact, which has been historically steeped in intolerance and segragation, typified by cultural hierarchy....diametric to everything this country is supposed to stand for.

The first thing Kerry should do when he takes office is remove this word from the governmental lexicon....and he should explain very publicaly why he is.

RC

It is a word that has been around for centuries. Even today it is still in use (for example in the Anthem); the nationalistic/propagandistic sound to it is rooted in the 19th centuries German Nationalistic movement - a Democratic Movement BTW.

As usual the Nazis simply used it for their ends, not creating anything new.

nt

Same with Patriot Act, evil doers, camp redemption, or any other silly name the Repugs came up with in the last 3 years.

I cringe every time I hear that word

It's creepy and weird.

I hate it like poison, but the term wasn't a BushCo. creation. It's actually the language from the Hart/Rudman terrorism report. They proposed a "Department of Homeland Security"

The Bush people were so clueless after 9/11 they grabbed Richard Clarke's proposals and Hart/Rudman and anything else lying around with 'terrorism' in the title and said "Implement this shit!" (Though the moronic formal demand for a cabinet dept of HS was an early instance of Joe Lieberman's mad drive to out-nazi the nazis.)

That's what we used to call it before "Homeland Security"

back in the days before bushco

Civil defense, national security -- those terms served us well. "Homeland" has given me the wim-wams since it first came out of Dubya's mouth -- it's just so Fatherlandish, and we're speeding along that road fast enough as it is.

Hekate

call it our nation, the nation, this nation, America, the US, but do not use 'homeland' It makes a lot of people very nervous cuz it makes a lot of other people act like brownshirts.

"Our country," or just "the United States" worked for 225 years before Rove tried to change everything.

Too many people accept the term to describe America in this 'War on Terror', and although it's rather distasteful, abandoning it would turn a lot of "Rah-Rah" types away.

As long as Kerry communicates a strong message about National Security...I don't think they will miss the term...but the message must be clear. "National Security" is perhaps, more familiar and tangible to everyone.

I prefer "Homeworld". (Home World?)

v.o.r.

It's an ugly word that conjures images of fascism.

As in "Bush has done a niggardly job responding to the concerns of the Homeland Department"...

We were fine with words like Dept of National Security. We identify with those words. Kerry should express his discomfort at the notion, the words Homeland Defense is all too reminiscent of the Third Reich.

This is America, the land of the Free!

not the Home Land of the Free!

....anything but the word "homeland"....its such an ugly word to me and I remember the first time I heard it I thought of "Vaterland" from Nazi Germany...it still gives me chills everytime I hear it...

It's OURS.. Bush always says it's HIS..

MY military...MY whitehouse..MY government..

He's an egomaniac..

Kerry needs to bring the people back into the equation...

Our Country says it about right :)

Bush is acting niggardly! Not "ours" but "his" I've noticed this since the beginning....What a miser...

..."Protecting the homeland" - which sounds totally contrived.

Who TALKS like that? No one. Only when they're making speeches.

How about "America" or "United States?"

WHAT A CONCEPT!!

n/t

What I want to know is, if we needed a whole new department to make the 'homeland' secure, then what exactly is the Department of Defense defending? Rex Grossman's pass opportunities?

We ought to go back to the days when it was called "Department of War". At least that was honest. (sigh)

He should get rid of that damn Gestapo department, too.

i hate the term

A thousand times NO.

We are fighting two wars:

the war against Al Qaeda

the war in Iraq

And they are not the same (or even related).

The retired Marine four-star said something about "defending the states." I thought that sounds a lot better than Bushler's NAZI-sounding "homeland."

Defending the country. National security. "Homeland" is superfluous (and creepy).

not Homeland or Air Strip 1.

foreign speech yesterday. I hate how this Nazi-like term has become commonly accepted in the media - and even Dems are routinely using it. Kerry needs some letters from DUers to set him straight.

... using Bush's terms implies they have a modicum of credibility.

Patriot, compassion
Terra
unamerican
It will be a long time before I am not reminded of bushco, when I hear these words

Bush uses this all the time...opposed to "Bad Progress" I suppose?

I have always hated this term as well as it did remind me of Nazi fatherland. I personally have always thought its use was over the top gratuitous right wing propaganda used to stir the flocks.

unless he's native american this is NOT his homeland!

think it would be good for them

just all the no