No, not a moron, CSP. A ventriloquist dummy. Or a marionette. Figuratively speaking, of course.

Seriously, you actually believe that the President has real decision-making power? All on his lonesome?

Wow.

Meanwhile, Israel’s been using it successfully for decades. I’m sure behavioural scientists will catch up some day!

@7 – So you don’t want actual protection. Well then! You can keep Security Theater.

-jcr

To shave $2 million off the budget, the governor also has proposed … merging the Seed Potato Board and the Potato Board into “a single, unified Potato Board”…

Wait – they were getting $2M/yr each?

TSA True Story:
Used to fly a lot, often for conventions where my company set up a booth to hawk their software. Anywho, used to carry a Leatherman tool with me all the time in my European CarryAll ManPouch (ECAMP [TM]) which is useful when setting up the booth (the tool not the fanny pack) but, when flying, would transfer to checked bags. Upon arrival, we’d often go straight to setup and I’d simply pull the tool out of my luggage.

Get to BWI, triage stuff for check/carry-on/leave-behind status, shuttle to terminal, thru security, arrive in Indy, “Thank you for flying the friendly skies with us, COL Dr. Monsignor Pi!” Easy peezy lemon squeezy.

Taxi straight to hall, open luggage – no knife. “Rat Farts! Musta left it in the PiMobile back in Balto.” Manage to set up knifeless, resourceful as I am, go to dinner, pony up at bar and… there’s my Leatherman in ECAMP. Like, as in, carried right thru security @BWI. Wow, funny dinner story, can’t wait to share when I get back.

*_cue Ronco Pocket Fisherman commercial_* But wait – there’s more!

Coworkers spending night there after show, I’m flying back early to attend daughter’s gymnastic meet next day so pack, take bags to con for quick getaway. Help break down, they go to hotel, I head to IND airport, ready to fly. But going thru security I get pulled aside, xray of ECAMP suspicious. “Excuse me, COL Dr., could you please come over here with us?” Oh noes – did I put the Leatherman in my carry-on? Opposed as I am to anal probing, I nervously followed.

Supervisor comes over, the two TSA agents rummaging thru my butt bag reminded me of a commericial where two gorillas broke open some suit cases, flinging undies and toiletries as they probed. “This your water?” (I totally swear) pulling a 200-mL plastic bottle from my bag, holding out to me for consideration. Resisting the urge to respond with “No. I’m just carrying it for that Muslim-looking guy over there.” we came to conclude that, if I just threw the bottle in the trash before boarding, I’d not need to go thru security again, apparently being deemed safe with respect to liquid-based threats. Then, I witnessed the most thorough physical inspection of an my very nice, A-tuned, everywhere-I-go blues harmonica. Finally, having successfully passed all inspection, including the “Drop Test”, without having the harp go off, I was finally free to fly, poop shoot lube-free. *wipes brow* Hastily repack, board, “Stewardess – I’ll have a double Red Stag over here. And Keep ‘em coming!”

Deplane at BWI, shuttle back to car. Start putting stuff I’d left behind – house keys, extra lighter, etc – back into ECAMP. It was at that moment when the giant neon TSA is Junk sign started flashing in my head and hasn’t run down any since. Right there, in the bag next to the harmonica – I mean smashed tightly together – was my Leatherman. In the ECAMP. That I’d carried on the plane that flew 800 miles in the air. The one that was searched by not one but TWO TSA Agents.

Essentially, I was scrutinized more heavily over a few ounces of water and concern about how the little square holes in the little silver and wooden box might be used to… to… Blow bluegrass licks designed to torture non-Appalacians and coerce the pilot into surrendering control of the plane??

TSA is Junk.

The Israelis have been saying Iran is “close” to a nuclear weapon since 1992. It really doesn’t matter though. I don’t believe we’re going to do anything with Iran. We don’t have the money, and the people are (finally) war-weary. But most important of all, is the Cardinal Rule rule of U.S. military intervention: America doesn’t hit anybody who can hit back.

Ah, the “Bush is a moron” narrative. I’m sorry, but I don’t buy it about Bush, or Obama, or Clinton, or, for that matter, anyone who has ever been elected to the Presidency.

But, in fact, my argument IS that Bush never gave it much thought. Even a low grade moron could have seen that NOT creating a Federal airport security agency would involve pushing public opinion uphill. Right or wrong, Bush didn’t decide to put the necessary effort into it. Maybe it seems obvious now that such an agency would be a gold plated clusterf*ck, but I remember the number of people, of all political stripes, that I heard or read calling for teh Feds to Do Something about Airport Security.

I doubt the Iranians have pure self-defense motives here. The universe is not constructed in such a way as forbids all sides of a conflict from being evil in their own special way.

Nice of you to come around on the idiocy of the drug war, Mona. Now if you could only recognize the same type of idiotic, belligerent foreign policy that has Iran completely surrounded with tens of thousands troops which, coincidentally, is exactly what gives them no other choice but to try and acquire nuclear weapons.

Of course, that’s an area where it seems to be difficult for neo-clowns to put 2 and 2 together…

Wow. You actually believe that the real person George W. Bush gave one second of thought to this? Or had anything personally to do with it? Just wow.

I’d almost think that’s trying to get some snark hidden, except for the fact that a good number of people think that’s a good thing.