Mycontribution to the demented Mod forum

First, if you accidentally clicked on this link, you can leave now, and no hard feelings will be involved.

This is from Jonah Goldberg from the National Review Online--

This made me laugh out loud --

 

A that is hardly controversial

B you arent a 'demented Mod'

However... what an opening for ..

Michael Yon handcuffed and detained by TSA for not answering 'income' questions

Guess they keep SOME name lists up to date, evidently those who might question guvmint war policies.

A commenter on another blog excuses that by pointing out that Yon's passport would be chock full of exotic war locales, but Yon's bags are full of cameras and all he should need to furnish is occupation:
'Freelance Reporter'

Doesnt matter the agent doesnt recognize Yon's name. Sadly most people wont.
Except every freakin US or Brit soldier who reads mil-blogs

 

Getting the AQ Message

We're now being bombarded, by the thinking, talking heads, with the 'correct take' on attacks by the radical terror orgs.
Watch what Ted Koppel thinks. When a ginger hair twit's hair turns gray, he's still a ginger isn't he!

'They want to make us afraid, they WANT us to overeact.' Boy, that's a revelation.

Mercifully we arent being bombarded with interviews of little old ladies down the street on how they're now afraid to fly out to LA to see the grandkids. We have to wonder, though, why there isnt some reflection of the effect on the general public... what do the proles REALLY think?

And answer me this: Apart from the immediate news coverage of the incident, what is it about the specific known facts that REALLY sparks dread in the general public?

Something tells me it's more than the fear that a bomber will slip through without being detected or suspected, it's that there will be signs and clues pointing toward the bomber and nothing done about it. That is exactly what happened in 9/11 and it happened even more blatently in the panty-bomber case.

The evidence is clear that security measures will be so PC tainted that we'll continued to have little old white ladies from DesMoines detained for additional security checks purely on the basis of demographical distribution, not profiling. Or that TSA looks for the right things in the wrong people, and ask questions that dont make sense for the circumstances. See Yon's case, above.

And, in every stupid terminal shutdown like Newark's, it seems the anger is directed primarily toward the wrong target. There was no one watching that exit .. the TSA guy took a break without replacement.
The guy who slipped through was dumb, TSA was derelict.

Here's the end ofKoppel's interview by BBC:

Note the irony there... I doubt either Frei or Koppel does. The Israeli public doesn't just 'get used to it', and neither do the French. Especially when it comes out there was warning and it was essentially ignored.

I may not be typical but I fully understand flying is safer than before Lockerbie and would be even if the panty bomber succeeded.
I am not afraid to fly.

But I have less confidence than ever that my government is doing all it can to protect me. To imply that complaining about that is 'overreaction leading to fear' is ridiculous.

Even better is 'reaction nuance' like Fareed Zakaria in WaPo: Don't panic. Fear is al-Qaeda's real goal

There is so much truth in just those two last paragraphs that it probably overloads the mind.
Zakaria hits ALL the right points, and makes perfect sense, but what he can't know is what bomber's dad thought might happen to his son.

 

Let's see what Fog has to say about this contribution:

This is from Tom Sowell :

Here is wher groups like the ACLU mistake for truth. Civil Liberties are the most important thing is our society. No, people's safety and well being is -- and this Nidal goof violated that in disgusting detail, all while hiding under his freedom of speech. I wonder how things will change in the Army, and would like to witness it froma firsthand perspective. Not enough to reenlist, but you know what I mean.

Also,

The last point is pretty arrogant, and I really don't think there is a debate that we can make air travel safer and more secure without taking Play Doh out of the hands of five year old miscreants

 

Steve, I feel your pain, of course. But stepping back, the 'pladoh' incident is understandable, IF you dont profile.
But consider that the real anger should be expressed at incompetent execution in context.
Like I said, we're never going to be free of the terror risk, but we sure SHOULD be able to point out stupid people in the process.

The point is there must be balance. Currently the fulcrum is wrongly placed.
The perfect point is that the system DIDNT work. Not even the notification process worked.

You sure you want to continue with doing that? Who's expressing their anger, here.

 

Do you mean to say that the murder of those US soldiers at Fort Hood and the fact that some common sense could have prevented it doesnt make you angry?