The initiative is a move to ask Americans to help local law enforcement by keeping their eyes peeled for “suspicious activity,” DHS Secretary Janet Napolitano and NBA Commissioner David Stern told press at the Verizon Center in Washington, D.C. The emphasis toward civilian “suspicious activity reporting” has surged in recent years, but advertising campaigns and high-profile partnerships have really begun to take off.

In December, DHS joined forces with Wal-Mart, launching the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign initially in 230 Wal-Mart stores, with a target of 588 sites in 27 states. A short video plays at select checkout stations, telling shoppers to call local police if they see something suspicious. (The term “suspicious,” by the way, is rarely elaborated on or defined by DHS in campaign messages.)

Moving on to sports, DHS partnered with the NFL with its campaign at the Super Bowl in Dallas early this month. And now the NBA.

“We hope that this partnership will emphasize basically that security is a shared responsibility,” said NBA Commissioner David Stern at yesterday’s press event. “We think that sports is a terrific way to send messages, and to get people who go to events to focus on this very important message.”

Or maybe Napolitano is just a big sports fan.

“Our partnership with the NBA to bring the ‘If You See Something, Say Something’ campaign to professional basketball events throughout the nation is a vital part of our efforts to ensure the safety of players, employees and fans,” she told the press.

Inquiries have begun over how effective these campaigns are at protecting the country from terrorism. With sports fans and budget-conscious shoppers reporting “suspicious” activities every 10 minutes, does that help the security agencies or overwhelm the system?

David Rittgers, a legal policy analyst for the Cato Institute, said he thinks the national security agencies are overwhelmed with information.

“While there is value in getting a person on the street to be aware and report suspicious activities, you can also create too many false positives,” Rittgers said.

Rittgers said the Federal Bureau of Investigations receives about 700 messages a day, and the National Counterterrorism Center receives about 10,000 pieces of information daily. Clogging the system with even more reports of indiscriminate “suspicious activities” won’t necessarily bring these agencies closer to the information they need to prevent terrorist plots.

“People talk about connecting dots,” he said. “But it’s knowing which dots to connect that has value. …. The commitment to simply collect all the dots might not be as useful as a lot of people would propose.”

For example: “It’s not illegal to purchase a ski mask, it’s not illegal to purchase a gun, it’s not illegal to sit outside a bank. But it’s when you put those all together.”

The measure of success is still to be seen, but meanwhile the money is flowing.

“If You See Something, Say Something” are now being posted all over the country, according the DHS: on 9,000 federal buildings nationwide, at the Mall Of America, the American Hotel & Lodging Association, Amtrak, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority and the general aviation industry.

DHS allocated $2.9 million for the campaign in 2009, but an official told CNSNews.com that the agency has only spent $500,000 on the campaign to date, saying it is focusing its efforts on partnerships –- outsourcing security, if you will. And while Napolitano told the network the campaign has resulted in the launch of several investigations, she said it’s still difficult to measure whether it will effectively deter would-be terrorists.

“Secretary Gates met with the President just before Christmas and gave him a commitment to stay on the job for AT LEAST another year. They agreed to revisit this issue again later this year, but for all intents and purposes their original agreement still stands: he serves at the pleasure of the President indefinitely and he is honored to do so, though he certainly looks forward to one day retiring to his family home in the Pacific Northwest.”

One presumes Gates, a former A&M president, would add: Hook ‘Em.*

*I asked two Texans with whom I am watching the BCS Championship if a Texas A&M president would indeed be pulling for Texas here. This is their call.

Update: I am getting slaughtered on Twitter, and by at least one former Defense official, for suggesting anyone from A&M would root for Texas in anything ever. All right, fine! I had two sources on this! Of unquestionable Texan credentials! One of whom looked like he was going to cry after the Arenas interception! Like Ahmed Chalabi, I declare myself a hero in error.

I don’t think anything that Rush Limbaugh said was offensive, but with Fergie and with J-Lo, they have, between the two of them, alleged that the CIA are terrorists and liars, they’ve promoted sexual abuse of women, they’ve used the N word, verbal pornography, recreational drug use, etc. And they are owners of the Dolphins. And it’s also ironic that Fergie was approved as an owner on the very day that you made your statement on Rush Limbaugh.

It’s probably worth mentioning that the House Judiciary Committee hearing was titled “Legal Issues Related to Football Head Injuries.”

Here’s the video:

Allen’s passing around a talking points two-pager that should bring a smile to anyone who covered his 2006 Senate race — it’s rife with football metaphors, casts the fight against cap-and-trade as a way to “play tenacious defense,” and packages all of this as a “Winning Energy Game Plan.” It’s a surprise that Allen is the president of AEFC, and not the “coach.”

Basically, Republican Norm Coleman is contesting DFLer Al Franken’s election victory on three fronts. First, he says that 133 lost ballots that benefited Franken by 46 net votes should not be counted. Second, he alleges that between 130 and 150 ballots were counted twice, though he can’t be sure which candidate they helped. And third, he argues that 654 additional absentee ballots should be counted, even though they were twice rejected by election officials.

The election contest will be adjudicated by a three-judge panel to be named by NFL Hall of Famer and current Minnesota Supreme Court Justice Alan Page, who is believed to be a Democrat. Republicans will no doubt whine about a liberal bias in the courts — as they already have in this contest — but Page is the ranking member of the state’s high court, after Chief Justice Eric Magnuson recused himself.

Basically, this is all a “Hail Mary” on the part of the Coleman campaign, which would have to have everything go its way to stand a chance of erasing Franken’s 225-vote lead.

When will it finally end? From The Minnesota Independent:

Nobody knows. Most political observers have speculated about a roughly two-month timeframe. But legal expert Ron Rosenbaum, speaking on KFAN (1130-AM) yesterday, poured cold water on that relatively quick scenario. “I think those people are dreaming,” he told host Dan Barreiro. “This thing could easily last longer than you even want to imagine, if permitted, and I think there’s a reasonable chance that could happen.”