Random Thoughts (Political Edition)

[Top Geek]

Seriously, at what point do we get rid of this organization?

Should have done long ago. I still can't fathom why proven effective and less-intrusive methods haven't been adopted; it's not as if the US has shown itself to be above claiming already-existing ideas as its own.

 

[Blind_Io]

The whole idea of a "War on Terror" is just idiotic to me. Did everyone miss V for Vendetta or did they just go to the crapper when V had that awesome soliloquy about how dangerous an idea can be because it can't be fought and it can't be killed. Terrorism is an idea, and you can't go to war with an idea.

 

[tigger]

I wrote what I thought to be most accurate, but it looks like I forgot what the heading on Haaretz actually said. Too bad, my heading was more accurate.

Well the Haaretz article is still much better than what the Jerusalem Post has up.

The establishment of a Palestinian national unity government does not mean that Hamas will recognize Israel or will participate in peace negotiations, senior Hamas official and a member of the Hamas delegation to the Cairo discussions Mahmoud Zahar said overnight Wednesday in Cairo.

"Our plan does not involve negotiations with Israel or recognizing it," Zahar said. "It will be impossible for an interim government to take part in the peace process with Israel."

Added that bold bit. I wonder why JPost left it out of the title? And the intro? And the rest of the article? Or why they put the quote from Abbas spokesman, saying Netanyahu could have peace with a unified Palestine or his settlements, 3/4 the way down the article?

Should have done long ago. I still can't fathom why proven effective and less-intrusive methods haven't been adopted; it's not as if the US has shown itself to be above claiming already-existing ideas as its own.

Because funneling money into state businesses and airports, while creating an illusion of security, is vastly preferable to actually trying to deal with the problem.

And it doesn't end. Now birthers are saying Obama's farther should have Negro listed for race not African...

Or that his Indonesian step-father adopted him. Or that he has dual-citizenship. Or ... anything else they can spew to try to de-legitimize Obama. Yes, a mixed-race Illinois Democrat beat the "war hero and the milf". Deal with it.

 

[GRtak]

And it doesn't end. Now birthers are saying Obama's farther should have Negro listed for race not African...

Showing their true racist feelings as usual.

She should clearly be stripped of her title and be re-crowned Miss Pinko-Commie Terrorist, because no true peace loving American would ever speak out against TSA's Freedom Pats?; that's like speaking out against Mom, Apple Pie and baseball!

Seriously, at what point do we get rid of this organization?

It won't go away until somebody sues the fuck out of them. It will probably need to be a class action lawsuit too.

The whole idea of a "War on Terror" is just idiotic to me. Did everyone miss V for Vendetta or did they just go to the crapper when Guy Fawks had that awesome soliloquy about how dangerous an idea can be because it can't be fought and it can't be killed. Terrorism is an idea, and you can't go to war with an idea.

Most people don't care, they simply want to feel safer. But at what point does the scale tip from "I feel safer while being groped", to , "I will take my chances with the terrorists". There were many famous people on talk shows shortly after September Eleventh Two Thousand One that said, "I don't care, strip search me, make me feel safer"(para-phrased), and the sheeple followed along and the TSA has made a grab because of that. And now that the organization exists, they want to grow, just like all government agencies.

So we have given our "silent obedient consent".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W2ty3b4EBMg

It won't let me embed the video so there is the link.

 

[Cobol74]

The whole idea of a "War on Terror" is just idiotic to me. Did everyone miss V for Vendetta or did they just go to the crapper when Guy Fawks had that awesome soliloquy about how dangerous an idea can be because it can't be fought and it can't be killed. Terrorism is an idea, and you can't go to war with an idea.

Guy Fawkes' idea was kill everyone and go and get some foreigners to oppress (oops sorry - rule over) the English - not too bright an 'idea' - see Hammonds science show, where they re-enacted the bomb and its effects IRL. His experiment showed it would have succeeded in killing the whole government Commons and Lords + the King.

That OBAMA birth cert.:
I must say it does seem very odd that all this birth certificate rubbish has blown up when a black/mixed race (which is what he really is) chap is in office, do not recall it having ever been mentioned before about any other encumberent of the oval office, nor was it as far as I recall been brought up during the campaign (I like McCain and he would not, I suggest, stoop so low)- possible racism by someone?

Personally I thought he would actually have been a better President, certainly from the Ukanian view of the world - less dithery especially over foreign policy.

 

[nomix]

Guy Fawkes' idea was kill everyone and go and get some foreigners to oppress (oops sorry - rule over) the English - not too bright an 'idea' - see Hammonds science show, where they re-enacted the bomb and its effects IRL. His experiment showed it would have succeeded in killing the whole government Commons and Lords + the King.

I agree with you on that one. It's not really that strange, the story of Guy Fawkes is told like a cheery story, even in my old English Textbooks, never mind the fact he was a terrorist, wanting to reintroduce a catholic rule that was becoming more and more authoritarian by the year. It's funny to see his name linked with liberty. It's like people using photos of 1960s Camaros to illustrate great handling and cornering.

That OBAMA birth cert.:
I must say it does seem very odd that all this birth certificate rubbish has blown up when a black/mixed race (which is what he really is) chap is in office, do not recall it having ever been mentioned before about any other encumberent of the oval office, nor was it as far as I recall been brought up during the campaign (I like McCain and he would not, I suggest, stoop so low)- possible racism by someone?

It's a common thing to say, that you open yourself to racism accusations once you critizese someone who's not white. I got to say, in this case, I think a lot of it is racism. It would never, ever have been an issue if Obama was white. Never. Ever. In the history of the world.

Just to illustrate how ludicrous it is, NO ONE has raised the question that McCain was born in Panama. Sure, in the Canal Zone, so it was US territory, I suppose, but it was still in Latin America, some miles from any American state. What's to say McCain wasn't born in a hospital outside the Canal Zone? Perhaps the family was on an outing, and young McCain were coming early?

I?m not saying that's what happened, because it wasn't. And both his parents were American citizens anyway. But I still have to ask, why did the black guy get the scrutiny he got, while the white guy didn't?

If it wasn't about race.. then I'm a fucking canoo.

Personally I thought he would actually have been a better President, certainly from the Ukanian view of the world - less dithery especially over foreign policy.

He's a great improvement over W. I think we forget how tired we were of W. when he left office..

 

[Blind_Io]

Guy Fawkes' idea was kill everyone and go and get some foreigners to oppress (oops sorry - rule over) the English - not too bright an 'idea' - see Hammonds science show, where they re-enacted the bomb and its effects IRL. His experiment showed it would have succeeded in killing the whole government Commons and Lords + the King.

Sorry, I should have said the character "V," not Guy Fawkes.

 

[Top Geek]

I agree with you on that one. It's not really that strange, the story of Guy Fawkes is told like a cheery story, even in my old English Textbooks, never mind the fact he was a terrorist, wanting to reintroduce a catholic rule that was becoming more and more authoritarian by the year. It's funny to see his name linked with liberty.

Fair enough, but ...



Jus' sayin'

 

[calvinhobbes]

The whole idea of a "War on Terror" is just idiotic to me. Did everyone miss V for Vendetta or did they just go to the crapper when V had that awesome soliloquy about how dangerous an idea can be because it can't be fought and it can't be killed. Terrorism is an idea, and you can't go to war with an idea.

[video=google;-1758399283485600863]http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1758399283485600863#[/video]

"War is the only metaphor we have for solving problems."

 

[Top Geek]

Followed the link to her blog and...

Am I a threat to US security? I was Miss USA, for Pete?s sake!

The irony is too much to bear.

Undoubtedly, that complaint card will go straight from the TSA's inbox to the shredder.

 

[GRtak]

That complaint will get kicked to the next department within Homeland Security because she is speaking out against the agency and is now considered a threat to national security.


Am I the only one to miss the news about the radiation problem in Ohio? Didn't think so.

http://www.wkyc.com/news/article/18...r-plant?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|FRONTPAGE|t

NRC: Higher than normal radiation levels at Perry power plant


PERRY -- The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission has started a Special Inspection to review the circumstances around work activities that led to higher than expected radiation levels in a work area at the Perry Nuclear Power Plant.

The plant is operated by Akron-based First Energy's subsidiary FENOC Nuclear Operating Co. and is located in Perry.

The issue involved the removal of a source range monitor from the reactor core on April 22, as the plant was shut down for a refueling outage.

A source range monitor measures nuclear reactions during start up, low power operations and shutdown conditions. While performing the activities to remove the monitor, workers at the plant identified an increase in radiation levels in their work area.

Four workers stopped and immediately left the containment area when the higher than expected levels were identified. The licensee does not believe the workers received radiation in excess of NRC limits.

The plant is in a safe condition and there has been no impact to workers at the plant or members of the public from this issue.

The special inspection team began work on Monday and will review the circumstances surrounding the higher than expected radiation levels in the work area.

The team will gather data to establish a sequence of events, review the utility's work planning and engineering actions, determine if there were human performance factors that may have contributed to the event and evaluate the actual radiological consequences, including exposure to the workers.

The team will also evaluate the utility's root cause report. The NRC's special inspection report will be available within 45 days of the inspection's completion of through the NRC RIII Office of Public Affairs.

NRC

 

[Blind_Io]

So they were working sighing the containment vessel and noticed a slight increase in radiation, so the left and didn't even exceed their radiation dosage? Sounds like a non-issue to me.

 

[nomix]

Watching some Keith Floyd. He's in Texas. Here's the random political thought:

"We're in Texas, [...] politics a little to the right of Vlad the Impaler."

 

[Cold Fussion]

Should have done long ago. I still can't fathom why proven effective and less-intrusive methods haven't been adopted; it's not as if the US has shown itself to be above claiming already-existing ideas as its own.

How can you say the Israeli method is more effective.

 

[Cobol74]

Er because it is?

 

[Top Geek]

How about its proven track record of actually stopping attempted attacks?

 

[jmsprovan]

How about its proven track record of actually stopping attempted attacks?

how many attacks have their been against the US, that have originated in the US, recently?

 

[Blind_Io]

None, but that doesn't mean TSA is effective. The fact that so many people have accidentally breached security should indicate to anyone with a rational mind that a someone with intent to circumvent security would be able to do so.

The fact that there have not been any attempts doesn't count in TSA's favor. If you start working backwards from 9/11, the next hijacking you find of a US airliner occurred in 1985, and that was a flight from Rome to Athens - still outside TSA's reach. If you go back to the next flight that was a US-originating hijacking you are back to 1980, 21 years before 9/11/01. So there is a history here of long periods of time between attempted hijackings.

Combine this with intelligence that Al Qaeda is focusing on other targets and the TSA becomes irrelevant in the security landscape. The real reason I think the focus is off airplanes is that they have taken hijackings as far as they can. By turning aircraft into weapons they upped the stakes, back in the 60s, when hijackings were at their highest rate in history, passengers were content to sit quietly and let negotiators and hostage rescue teams take care of the problem because that was their best chance for survival. Now the world knows that their best chance to survive a hijacking is to rise up against the hijackers. If the hijackers can't gain control of the plane then the whole thing is pointless.

TSA has consistently sent the message that they are there to catch or discourage potential threats, but these people are ready to die, they want to die. They don't care if they get caught, if you corner a terrorist with a bomb he will just detonate it there rather than at his intended target. Anything less than a bomb isn't going to be enough to take over a plane, a knife, a gun, it won't matter because the passengers simply won't allow it to happen anymore. You can't get into the flight deck to take control, and even if you did, some flight crews now carry firearms and they have a really nasty axe up there.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, TSA's entire rationale for its existence is the same as me building a giant microwave ray in my back yard that repels comets and then claiming that it works because no comets have struck the planet.

 

[jmsprovan]

Well there hasn't been a hijacking, attempted or otherwise from within Israel either.

The same logic applies to their Aircraft security too.

 

[Blind_Io]

Got a source for that? I will try to find something about attempted hijackings in Israel.