Protect Us from Our Protectors

Holy crap this is ridiculous. Two officers from the Montgomery County Homeland Security Department walked into a public library there last week.

Then they made their announcement: The viewing of Internet pornography was forbidden.

The men looked stern and wore baseball caps emblazoned with the words "Homeland Security." The bizarre scene unfolded Feb. 9, leaving some residents confused and forcing county officials to explain how employees assigned to protect county buildings against terrorists came to see it as their job to police the viewing of pornography.

After the two men made their announcement, one of them challenged an Internet user's choice of viewing material and asked him to step outside, according to a witness. A librarian intervened, and the two men went into the library's work area to discuss the matter. A police officer arrived. In the end, no one had to step outside except the uniformed men.

Extreme props to WaPo Metro writer Cameron Barr for several wry digs at the abonimable stupidity of the cops and the wasteful bureaucracy they purport to serve.

[Cross-posted at Nobody's Business.]