America loves a good bogeyman. Or should I say America always needs a good bogeyman or a gaggle of them. When we run out of real ones we just invent new ones or keep riding an old one until the horse drops dead or is hung, like Saddam Hussein.

Sometimes we just lose interest though. You know like all of those illegal immigrants who were coming to this country to rape our women, molest our children, steal good jobs and run Taco Bell out of business.

When was the last time you heard a good rant about immigrants other than that guy on CNN who is pretty much a one trick pony? Of course we still need a fair and sensible immigration policy in this country and, of course, no one is doing anything about it.

In part that is because we have moved on to brand new bogeymen, the dudes locked up at Guantanamo. Right wing radio and television entertainers have done a pretty good job whipping this one into a frenzy and they really should because they are running out of ammunition to scare the crap out of many Americans. Even Democrats have caught bogeyman fever this time. The turned on their own President. This had nothing to do with the reality of the situation but it has everything to do with running for re-election.

With wedge issues dying out like your 401k this just could be the last stand of the now far, far right Republican Party and if they don’t make it work they could become extinct and moderates will take over. God forbid.

So just like in all of your home communities every time someone says we need a new landfill to throw all of your garbage away people stand up in unison and say “not in my backyard.”

We owe much of the latest hysteria to Mr. Fear himself, Dick Cheney. Many people are saying he is setting himself up to run for President in 2012. I really don’t think so. What Cheney is doing is doubling down his bet that he can change the inevitable historical view of the Bush/Cheney years. He is betting there will be a terrorist attack on Barack Obama’s watch. And he might be right. Of course that will have nothing to do with Obama it will just be because a couple of nut cases figured out how to kill a few dozen people in the name of their God. And just like that Cheney is vindicated. And just think if it could be masterminded by a former Guantanamo detainee now housed (or better yet escaped from) a U.S. prison? If that isn’t a political lottery winner I don’t know what is.

So I say Obama goes all in with his chips, close Guantanamo and, in the memorable words of George “Mission Accomplished” Bush, bring em’ on.
And bring them to Indiana. First we have a state of the art maximum security prison in Terre Haute. This place is so good we sent Timothy McVeigh there and we executed him there. Surely our terrorists are smarter than their terrorists.
We have a very good Republican Senator (Dick Lugar) and a very good Democratic Senator (Evan Bayh) and we have a pragmatic Governor in Mitch Daniels who cannot run for re-election.

So lets bring the dudes to Indiana. I will double down my bet that none of them will escape, rape our women, molest our children, steal back the Taco Bells from the illegal immigrants or spoil the monthly meeting of the Terre Haute Kiwanis.
Plus we can show the world that we are still the best in the world at making some things, like prisons. After all we lead the world in prisoners so what is a few more.