Naivete Rules, Or Is It Really Stupidity?

Let's see where we are today.  Obama has begun a campaign to resell the ACA while still not admitting that the botched roll out is the least of it's problems.  The problem is the law itself and how he continually flouts the Constitution by imposing his own adjustments.  The roll out is but a mere example of incompetence across the board.

 Then there is the fact that the TSA is now searching parked cars at airports supposedly looking for bombs and such.  Of course you don't know about this until you find a note stuck under your windshield wiper telling you this has been done.

Don't you love the police state this administrations is creating?  Apparently so.

Let's return to the Middle East.  They should not be forgotten amid all the domestic turmoil.  We know the administration has negotiated a deal with Iran regarding their nuclear program.  We've eased the sanctions.  Countries it took years to get to comply have rushed back in giving immediate relief to Iran's financial burdens and making reimposition nearly impossible.

We are allowing them to continue enriching uranium though at a lower grade than before.  They've told us in no uncertain terms they will never give up their enrichment program so I don't see that we're being particularly magnanimous.

They also have not retracted any of the rhetoric that makes clear how they feel about the West, especially the U.S., and Israel.  Knowing that we're taking the word of a country who cares little about keeping it but never-the-less we can say we've negotiated.  Right up until it behooves them to put together that bomb.  They'll have all the necessary ingredients just like the North Koreans did and one day there will be a big boom and we'll find they've tested their very first nuke.

No, no.  We'll have strict verification criteria.  Okay.  Then why is the White House looking for ways to allow Iran to keep enriching officially?  Oh, it will be for domestic use only.  Any one who has been following this knows that the current deal has allowed for everything to stop just below weapons grade but at a point where it can be quickly upgraded.

I personally think they have already have the 20% goal, maybe even an actual bomb, and have it safely stashed away therefore entering into these negotiations with absolutely nothing to fear.  That may be a stretch but then maybe not.

The question that begs to be answered, however, is if the Iranians do not have the right to enrich why are we trying to make it easy for them to do so anyway?  For the life of me I have no idea what we're trying to accomplish in that region of the world.

Neither does anyone else and that's why business continues as usual.  Now we're supposedly turning our focus to Asia as China rattles its sabers over territory disputed with Japan. Are we going to negotiate that too and cave in to Chinese demands?  Probably.

If I were the other countries in that region and saw us coming I'd turn tail and run as fast as I could away from the "n" word.  The "n" word?  Negotiation.

The TSA - Because They Can Doesn't Mean They Should

I'm beginning to think that if there is another disaster involving terrorists and the airlines it will be because of the TSA rather than in spite of them!

It is no secret how I feel about airport screenings - that they do little good since agents with fake explosives seem to readily allude them. And of course now pocket knives and golf clubs are going to be allowed while shampoo and mouthwash is still verboten. How can you respect this group of "highly trained professionals"?

I wonder about the requirements for employment for those $40,000+ a year jobs.  They must include a degree - in stupidity, mean spiritedness and hubris.  The more an individual has the more likely they'll become a supervisor never again to be seen.

You see, after all these years, they still haven't gotten to the point of using good judgement.  There must be at least a story a week regarding unnecessary and invasive searches.  This week is no exception.

This time an active duty Marine who lost both legs to an IED and was wheelchair bound. He showed the TSA his military identification and as the story reads it seemed to encourage them to go beyond total reason.  He was ordered to stand and walk to a different area, having been directed to the wrong one initially.  Though extremely difficult for him, TSA agents made no attempt to help. Then he had to remove his prosthetics, put them back on then stand again while his chair was searched.

My eyes tear up whenever I watch one of those Wounded Warrior spots on television and think what a waste of once healthy young men and women.  How inordinately brave they and their families are in dealing with situations that have no end.  Then to read how they are treated at an airport. It makes my blood boil.

This young man filed a complaint with his Congressman who asked for a detailed report regarding procedures for wounded members of the military.  While his treatment is egregious, no one should have to endure what he did and so many others who are are elderly or very young or exceptionally good looking or incapacitated in any manner.

Rather than spending her time purchasing more ammunition than has been used in the entire Afghanistan war, armored vehicles, drones and new uniforms, perhaps Secretary Napolitano ought better to spend her time setting some reasonable policies if indeed we even need them and actually training those who so love flexing their muscles in the ultimate power trip.

Then again, perhaps this is a new definition of the trickle down theory.  If there is nothing in the way of intelligence at the top there is nothing to trickle down!  You know what?  Both parties are little more than a collection of power hungry, bloated egos paying no attention to anything but self.  One of these days the people just might fight back.

If they do they will win.  They aren't power hungry, just hungry.  Their egos aren't bloated for they have little left after governmental abuses.  And they've more collective intelligence than those they would face. So much for 'representative' government.

Napolitano - Forever Faithful

Long before the administration put out the memo telling department heads they need to make sequester cuts painful because they've already said they would be, Secretary Napolitano was already out there.

Lines at the airports would be painfully long, traffic controllers would be off the job, the borders were already less secure.  All by design of course, not by necessity nor even in truth.  Such is the way of those who choose to follow blindly.

I dare say the underlings in this administration have adopted as their anthem I Will Follow Him from Sister Act.

                          I will follow Him

                          Follow Him wherever He may go,

                          And near Him, I will always be

                          For nothing can keep me away,

                          He is my destiny.

 For the President indeed is their destiny.  Without him they are doomed to an existence of invisibility.

Arne Duncan was bad enough, but Napolitano wins the prize for best of breed for Presidential lapdog.  With her insistence that the draconian measures foisted upon us by her department are vital to our safety, why are they now suddenly being altered?  Knives, with less than three inch blades, are now going to be allowed on flights.  As of April 25th mind you. So are pool cues, hockey sticks and ski poles.  In the cabin as carry on items.

I breath a sigh of relief knowing box cutters and bottled water will still be verboten. I mean how much damage can a 3 inch knife blade or the point on a ski pole do?  Suddenly these items are safe?  Yes they are.  And because they are the agents can focus more closely on finding the really dangerous stuff like explosives.  Oh, yes, there was also some international pressure.  To be sure!

Back to the point of the sequester. The scare tactics are being employed to stall or negate minuscule budget cuts.  I might suggest doing away with the entire department.  Put the Coast Guard back with Defense, the Border Patrol to where ever it came from and everything else with the agencies that were raided to form this monstrosity in the first place.  There must be a few bucks that would be saved with such a move.

And one more thing that might help. Cancel the order for the $50 million worth of new uniforms! Along with their new bomb resistant vehicles and ammunition stockpiles. Some of those uniforms are to be manufactured in Mexico. If the President wanted revenue he could have them manufactured here but I guess since it wouldn't be considered a tax on the rich it doesn't count.  Don't worry, though.  It will be painful for the agents.  Replacements will be on them and they'll have to provide their own shoes.  Black leather. Non-slip soles. Ouch.

Carrying Security Efficiency Too Far

I rarely carry a topic over to a second post but after writing yesterday's about the lack of privacy due to over zealous camera surveillance, I had to chuckle about the TSA firing five and suspending scores more for not properly screening passengers in a Florida airport.

Supplemental screenings were not performed on 300 to 400 passengers during a time in 2011.  It makes me wonder if those passengers got through and nothing happened on any of their flights if we're not being told something no matter how subtle.  All the screening isn't necessary!  Just multiply it out to all the airports and how many more passengers may have been spared the hassle if other agents, too, had been lax.
 
On the other hand, maybe the wrong people are being screened!  Forget sending the drones to focus on the sanitary habits of cattle, just focus the cameras on the TSA workers!  Okay, the diatribe on the cattle was meant to be tongue in cheek playing on the mental image of cows being spied upon.

The TSA worker issue is another matter.  Quite often there are tidbits in the news about people having items stolen from their checked luggage, but when your carry on luggage completely disappears while you are being scanned it's quite another.

A writer for The Financial Times lost her luggage between the time she put it on the belt at JFK and the time she exited the body scanner. A search of the area turned up nothing except the irritation level of security personnel.  Certainly the cameras would show what happened to it.  But no.  Cameras are only placed where they can see you place your luggage on the belt.  There are none on the other side of the x-ray machine so if you're off being scanned it can disappear without a second glance. The article didn't say, but I'd like to know if this is the case because it's less expensive and more efficient to have only one camera?

It also made me laugh because this is a government entity that is proving to be extremely expensive considering the return on our money.  More passengers have been robbed by TSA employees than terrorists caught.

I'd suggest sticking with the drones and the cattle but what if some errant drone operator decided to take out a poor cow because it was defecating too close to a water source?  Of course they are highly trained and professional at what they do, but cattle aren't like people.  They can be herded, but they are not sheep!

TSA To END?

Finally!  As I had hoped for what seems forever, if the TSA harassed the right member of Congress something would be done about these thugs. Finally, it may actually be happening.

Not so long ago Senator Ran Paul was detained by the TSA.  Why?  He refused to be patted down after already having passed through a scanner.  It grew contentious enough that the Senator missed his flight.

The adverse publicity from that incident did not keep the TSA from continuing its invasive and humiliating pat downs, especially egregious when it came to young children, the elderly and the handicapped.

To my knowledge not one single potential terrorist has been stopped by this methodology.  I could be wrong.  The TSA doesn't release such information.

They picked the wrong Senator with Rand Paul, however. He has launched a campaign to end the TSA .   I love his quote, "It's time to end the TSA and get the government's hands back to only stealing our wallets instead of groping toddlers and grandmothers."

Every time something outrageous occurs Janet Napolitano comes out and defends her "highly trained" agents who are just following procedure.  I can't help but wonder who established procedures that included the removal of a prosthetic breast or a mother to open formula bottles thus contaminating the only food available for her baby on the upcoming flight.  We've all heard more and worse.  What kind of people supervise this kind of behavior?  What kind of people consent to engage in it?  I see nothing worth redeeming in the entire agency.

I hope if Senator Paul succeeds and gets the government out of the airport security business, the airlines review the entire process before establishing new guidelines. As with everything,  the private sector will do it better.

Think about the pluses.  While the lines won't disappear, they should be shorter.  You might be able to take more than a day's supply of shampoo with you and carry on a bottle of water.  You won't have a knot in your stomach from the time you plan your trip until you're home again because of the stress of waiting for what you know is coming.  You just don't know how bad it will be.

So here's to Rand Paul.  Go for it Senator.  I signed your petition .  I hope many of my readers will follow the link and join with me!

Where Has The Media Been?

The good news is we've finally been heard.  The question, however, is where the heck has the media been? Intimidated by the administration - again - or protecting it?

The last I recall reading anything about the TSA was when Texas tried to opt out of using federal screeners and were told no planes would be allowed to land or take off in the state.  Meanwhile the TSA's legalized molestation continued.

Today I saw a headline stating that Orlando is opting out.  What?  Are they gluttons for punishment?  Nope.  It seems last November the TSA froze the ability for airports to use their own security personnel because too many airports were opting for it. It had been there all along but conveniently ignored.  It appears this freeze happened about funding time.  If too many strayed from the realm of Pistole and Napolitano, the very funding of the TSA might be in jeoprodized.

Well, it's still an issue isn't it?  With the excessive groping for the most flimsy of reasons,  the yet to be determined safety of the scanners, discourtesy and thefts Congress finally came to the fore with legislation requiring the TSA to reconsider the applications they had rejected.

Of course none of the suspicions nor the accusations were true, mind you.  Just ask the TSA.  However, for the sake of propriety the pressure was applied by Republicans Mica of Florida, Issa of California and Chaffetz of Utah.  A huge hurrah for them!

Pressure by the TSA on the media to not cover the issue hasn't worked.  Congress, for a change, has!  Mr. Mica has written 200 airports informing them of their renewed opportunity.  West Yellowstone has already given the TSA the boot,  Butte is about to do the same.  Leave it to the rugged individualists of Montana to lead the way!  Now Orlando Sanford, one of the 30 most busy airports in the world is following suit.  I hope it will have a domino effect and every airport in the country gets on board.

Maybe Congress will keep up the scrutiny, find the TSA has outlived it's usefulness if it ever had any, and withdraw it's funding.  Maybe little old ladies and kids and the disabled will want to fly again.  Maybe tourism will pick up.  Hotels, resorts, restaurants, car rentals.  Maybe a slew of private sector jobs will be rejuvenated.  Maybe the media will regain some backbone.  All by calling one government agency on the carpet for it's hubris.

Wow.  I could think of several others to add to the effort.  Imagine.  Finally knowing we've been heard.  I hope it's not a one shot deal!

It's Time To Profile - Period

Here we go again!  We now hear that al Qaeda in Yemen, according to The Wall Street Journal, plans are being considered to implant explosive devices inside suicide bombers with the possible intent of targeting US airliners.  Note the italics.  Nothing concrete, mind you.  Just more chatter which seems to be what airport security is based on.

Homeland Security has warned the airlines that they're trying to make this functional.  Wow.  Now, among other things, they're experienced surgeons and engineers who can perfect an implanted explosive that can be set off with an injection of some sort of chemical.  Why do I not think this is imminent?  Sounds pretty sophisticated to me!

Of course the TSA has said it will intensify security procedures across the nations airports since the current invasive ones, from pat downs to x-rays, won't be able to detect an implant! What the heck is left to be searched by the 'enhanced tools and technology' they propose to use.  What the heck does that mean?  It makes me cringe just thinking about it.

Frankly, enough is enough.  It has long been way out of hand and is getting worse.  They will kill the airline industry pure and simple.  I don't fly.  Many of my readers have indicated they no longer fly.  Talk about destroying the American way of life!  The ability to get from point A to point B without being mentally and physically molested!  The inability to take a vacation anywhere we may like without the same.  Don't even think about the poor business traveler!

When will we, en masse, say no more.  We have to if we want it stopped.  The politicians won't.

It is time to profile.  If I appeared to be of middle eastern ethnicity, even if an American in good standing, I would accept the fact that those of a similar ethnicity are the perpetrators of this type of terrorism.  If it meant a more thorough questioning and going over I'd like to think I'd endure it, when appropriate, for the greater good.  That doesn't include every single time I might fly with no good reason.

But I'm not.  I'll never see 69 again, am Caucasian and have a bad back.  No one is going to plant a bomb in me and I'm not going to inject a chemical into myself to set it off.  Neither will anyone I know from the tiniest infant to those with even more years than my own.

Anyone who thinks knows who should be scrutinized more than others.  It has gone beyond the point of being ludicrous.  It's nearing criminality and it's about time someone, no, everyone, calls the government on it.

Right Michele?  Mitt?  The rest of you?  Are you paying any attention at all?

The Political Views Of Grandma

Remember the commercial decrying the proposed budget cuts put forth by the Republicans? The one where Grandma is pushed off a cliff, wheelchair and all?

Of course that's not what's going to happen, but considering what the Democrats are really doing to Grandma, I may have just stumbled across a campaign issue.  It seems like Democrats must hate grandmothers.

Consider this. 95 years old.  105 pounds.  Wheelchair bound.  Wearing an adult diaper.

This elderly woman, no, old woman, was submitted to a 45 minute search including having to remove the diaper because an alarm was supposedly triggered.  And it was soiled and was impeding their search.

After filing a complaint, a spokesman for the TSA explained the procedures are the same for everyone because it is known from intelligence that terrorists would take advantage of the vulnerable.  Right.  A 95 year old woman with her daughter is going to have explosives in a body cavity.

Every time there is an incident like this, be it children or the elderly, or anyone else for that matter, the response is always the same.  The "highly trained professionals" were properly following procedure.

I have two thoughts.  Too bad the "intelligence" they have about terrorists doesn't equate with the intelligence of those in the TSA that make the rules.

And two.  The election issue.  Get rid of the TSA or reform it.  Ask the question.  You know as well as I do if Michelle Obama's mother, who lives with them at the White House, had to go through such a procedure there would be hell to pay.

I think I've been looking at this from the wrong end.  I've blamed the "highly trained professionals" who are stuck doing the searches rather than the "highly trained professionals" who come up with this stuff.

It's time to change it.  If this administration won't, be sure the next one does.  Between Obamacare and this type of treatment of the elderly, it's obvious that they're thought of as inconsequential.

Death with dignity is often talked about in conversations about assisted suicide.  Well, how about life with dignity?  There should be no limit on that.  Those who insist there is no other way "to keep us safe" aren't looking very hard.

Patting Down A 6 Year Old Is Beyond Reprehensible

We really need to get over our paranoia about terrorists and flying. According to the TSA the procedure used on a six year old in New Orleans is exactly according to procedure. Fine. Change the procedures. For all of us.

They supposedly are working on it. According to John Pistole, Administrator of the TSA, they're trying to work out procedures for the less risky - like children and the elderly. Yet they have to be careful because if they slack off the terrorists may take advantage of the situation.

Right. They're going to take a white, probably Anglo-Saxon, six year old, or any child, and plant an explosive device on him/her to fool the authorities. The same with Grannie in her wheel chair ~ or me. I definitely, by definition, am elderly.  Reading this stuff makes me feel just plain old!

I struggle with just how they are going to do this unless they kidnap and drug me. Even at that I might might be suspicious if I suddenly turned up at the airport with strange things strapped to my body. I'm not senile yet!

It interests me that this child did not want to under go the search. They even tested her for traces of explosives! It was pointed out in the report that parents spend years teaching their children what is inappropriate touching yet here it's done by law! Watch minute 1:04 on the tape.

I'd also like to know how many "terrorists", young, old and in between have been apprehended by these procedures. especially, though the very young like this girl and the infirm elderly and the handicapped who might be hiding explosives in braces or prosthetics!

I also wonder if that child had been of dark complexion and wearing traditional middle eastern clothing, being a girl, if she too would have been so searched.

I rather doubt it. It would have been called racist or profiling.

I'm tired of the lament "Well, if it's keepin' us safe." It's not.

It is, however, a fine example of the old axiom, "Absolute power corrupts absolutely."

Oh, yes. Why are pilots exempt?