Is everyone getting ready for the big Turkey Day? Congratulations to the Osbourn Eagles for another great win!
122 Thoughts to “Open Thread Saturday, November 20”
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All contents copyright Moonhowlings.net
Blogroll
- 9500Liberty
- Bacons' Rebellion Blogspot
- Bearing Drift
- Blue Virginia
- Citizen Tom
- Counts of Monte Cristo. The
- Derecho, The
- Dixie Pig, The
- My Side of the Fence
- My Star Journey
- NARAL Pro-Choice VA Blog
- New Dominion Project
- Nova Common Sense
- NovaTownHall Blog
- One Libertarians's Point of View by Al Alborn
- Pete Candland's Blog
- Potomac Local
- Prince William Muckraker
- PW Conservation Alliance
- PWC Moms
- PWCPolitics.com
- PWCPolitics.com
- Red NoVA
- Shad Plank, The
- She the People
- State of NoVA, the
- The Jeffersoniad
- Townhall
- VEA Daily Reports
- VivianPaige
- WDGolden.com
- You, Me and the Lamp Post
New book by Bush and Palin. Rude that both of them colored in most of the pictures.
Want to give us a little more info on that one, Moe? But did they color outside the lines?
Cooking at our house! Let the cleaning begin. It will take us until Thursday morning to get the place presentable.
Not really. Just wanted to beat whoever it was that had gotten the first spot the past few weeks. Another sign of Thanksgiving – about to rake leaves for the first time this year. Hopefully mowing for one of the last times until spring.
“A narcisstic sense of victimization, an egomanical belief in one’s own
rightness and purity, a willingness to distort the truth so every conflict
becomes a contrast of pure good versus pure evil, picks up the worst
excesses of American culture.”
David Brooks (NYT op/ed 9-16-2010)
He was writing about elements of the Tea Party movement, but I think
it could apply to the both the radical right AND left. There becomes no room for
a balanced thoughtful discussion where “compromise” and “mutual understanding”
are foul terms.
@Moe,
Or you could blow them around a tree like by lawn person to whom I am related just did. Yet another option might be to chop them up with the lawn mower. No blisters.
@Big Dog–that is certainly something to think about. I get so tired of EVERYthing being politicized.
I am listening to airport security being politicized at the moment. GRRRRRRRRR! How about just not liking the policy. It shouldn’t be batted back and forth between Bush and Obama.
Why is a kid being stabbed to death in GTS on the way home from school? What this random, gang related or what? How horrible! 15 is too young to be stabbed to death!
The article said that he was attacked by several men. A 15 year old should be able to walk home from school without be attacked, let alone stabbed to death. This is a sad story. Given that this took place in Georgetown South in the City of Manassas and several males did the attacking, it leads me to believe it might be gang related.
Then we have the thug with many priors high on PCP that killed two innocent people last night at 29 & 15. This guy has been in plenty of trouble before. He is a real piece of work.
My thoughts go out to those families of victims. Two very sad stories that took place within hours of one another. sigh
The young man was an Osbourn freshman and an active member of the All Saints Youth Ministry. What a sad loss.
Hopefully the criminals have been caught and will be begging Uncle Paul to convict and sentence them to death.
There is just nothing to say at this point. Just a kid walking home from school. Broad daylight.
@Laf
What always calls me is the drivers who cause these fatal crashes are usually so loaded up on the drug or booze du jour that they often emerge, like this thug, without a scratch. It just enrages me.
And it is usually habitual offenders-like Carlos Martinelly.
And if all of this ins’t bad enough–a dead 15 year old who was active in his church youth group, 2 dead people whose crime was simply driving down the road, but also some worthless mo-fo has mutilated a bear cub and removed its gall bladder.
That is just sick and unbelievably cruel. What kind of world do we live in?
Link to story in The Washington Post:
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/crime-scene/gangs/teen-killed-in-manassas.html?hpid=newswell
Two have been arrested in yesterday’s stabbing. Let’s hope the judge throws the book at these two.
http://www2.insidenova.com/news/2010/nov/20/two-arrested-fatal-attack-manassas-student-ar-667125/
Thanks Cindy. According to the paper, the Miguel was with other students. Is no one safe nowadays? Hopefully the stabbers will be caught and jailed for a long long time.
Laf and I crossed in the mail. I am glad the stabbers are caught. Now, what will be done to ensure the safety of other students walking home from school? These kids were older than Miguel. Hopefully the 17 year old will be tried as an adult. Hopefully they stole something so they can be charged with a capital offense. Fire up old Sparky.
Oh my God! He was a former student of mine when he was in preschool. How very sad.
It happened very close to your school actually.
That is just senseless.
More arrests are expected, according to channel 7.
I recently had to contribute to the TSA ogling show when I flew from an area airport recently. After seeing how it works, my view is that it is completely ineffective window dressing designed to provide cover for Homeland Security officials in the event that a catastrophic act of terror is successful.
One vulnerability that I noted was that TSA employees were not subjected to the intrusive searches when they came on shift. So all a home grown terrorist has to do is get a job with TSA. How long do you think it will be until Al Qaeda notices this vulnerability?
The other problem is that it requires too much manpower to do these searches on so many people. With the search space this large, the chance of detecting a potential terrorist is greatly reduced.
I read a good op-Ed this morning that elaborates on these
issues:
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-mcnamara-airport-screening-20101121,0,3755067.story
Thanks for your report, Kelly. What would keep someone from stealing a uniform from a TSA employee also? Maybe TSA employees don’t want their fellow employees to sneak a peek or cop a feel. Imagine that. 🙄
Why wouldn’t mechanical explosive sniffers work in this case?
Sniffers like the one made by Implant Sciences are being used in Africa, Asia, and India routinely.
Moon: I suspect that running a blog ain’t free and I want to contibute to this site. How do I do that (I will not rake leaves)?
Kelly, we’re you a supporter of the new enhancements before your recent trip (and the trip changed your view) or did you always see it as security theatre?
Jimmy Johnson took his 5th straight Sprint Cup today. WOOOHOOO!!! Already looking for #6 next year.
NASCAR blames the recession for the increase in empty seats at the track. Okay, but what about the decline in TV viewers? That doesn’t cost anything. I used to say Jimmy Johnson was as exciting as watching paint dry, but then they came out with ceiling paint that goes on pink and drys white, so my analogy is no longer true. Owner Rick Hendricks gets another championship … proof that pleading guilty to federal felony fraud is no obstacle in NASCAR. After 45 years as a diehard fan, I’m done.
TV viewership is negatively impacted by both the football season AND the move from networked TV to ESPN coverage. My wife and I were complaining that sometimes it’s difficult to figure out what channel the race is on (on any given sat eve or sunday) and of course if you’ve unplugged [http://mediadecoder.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/11/17/cord-cutting-cable-subscriptions-drop-again/] and don’t want to hit the local pub for an ESPN feed and $7 domestic beer……
Sometimes of course we’re on the road doing errands or enjoying the day so when we listen to the race on radio — we don’t count on the ratings. 🙁
@Moon-howler
Or have your kids do it, which is what we did 🙂
Actually, my younger daughter volunteered for it. She thinks it’s fun. But then, we only have one tree and a front yard the size of a postage stamp.
Football and NASCAR overlapped every fall as far back as I can remember. There are more races on ESPN and fewer on ABC, but even the ones on the major networks were all down from the days when NASCAR was growing rapidly. In my view, the decline is due to what was a good old boy All-American sport dissing its base when it add foreign cars, foreign drivers and foreign races; started courting the corporate sky-box crowd; and race cars that are not the least bit stock. My family has owned a Ford dealership for more than 75 years. It used to be a win on Sunday meant more sales on Monday. Not anymore. Add the fact that Jimmy Johnson wins every year and it becomes who cares? There are better things to do with a Sunday afternoon.
You already did. Thank you.
I am just glad you are here.
A grope too far: Fliers’ anger at TSA boils over
By ADAM GELLER, AP National Writer Adam Geller, Ap National Writer – Sun Nov 21, 7:37 pm ET
How did an agency created to protect the public become the target of so much public scorn?
After nine years of funneling travelers into ever longer lines with orders to have shoes off, sippy cups empty and laptops out for inspection, the most surprising thing about increasingly heated frustration with the federal Transportation Security Administration may be that it took so long to boil over.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101122/ap_on_bi_ge/us_airport_security_backlash
“Don’t touch my junk” is the new Tea Party anthem. I can imaging them rallying around flags with images of hands groping peoples butts.
“Don’t Touch My Junk”
Actually, that’s very apropos for the Tea Party when you look at it in all its connotations.
But the flag will still be a coiled rattlesnake. Rattlesnakes don’t want you touching their junk AT ALL……
Ever notice that the TSA uses gloves when doing these enhanced pat-downs to protect themselves from the unwashed masses that they have to touch of a very personal basis? Just wondering if they ever change their gloves to protect the unwashed masses from the rest of the unwashed masses or do they just use the same pair of gloves on everyone’s junk?
Imagine that your given 3 months to live, what would you do? Most would do their ‘bucket list’, well, what if you spent your life savings on your bucket list only to find out a few weeks later that your not dying at all. That is what happened to this poor guy:
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/oops-man-spends-live-savings-after-wrongly-told-he-has-3-months-to-live/
http://www.hulu.com/watch/194728/saturday-night-live-message-from-tsa
Guilty verdict in the Chandra Levy case! Guandique was a M$-13 gang member.
http://www.myfoxdc.com/dpp/news/dc/jury-reaches-verdict-in-chandra-levy-case-112210
@Laf
You beat me to the punch.
Not that I expect her parents and family to ever have closure but it is a start…seeing that this toad is put away for even longer.
And speaking of toad behavior…..how is the dark screen coming up with an extra body? Inquiring minds want to know.
The guy that starts mass manufacturing lead lined underwear with catch slogans that only show up on a backscatter like JUICY, TASTY, or POLICE STATE will be RICH I tell you.
Oh, and the lead lining would make sure your giblets wouldn’t be captured on the HDD everyone know’s is connected to those RAPESCAN systems…
@marin
I thought giblets were chopped liver and gizzards??????
http://blogs.fredericksburg.com/citybeat/
Non-English speaking students – in large numbers – are a huge problem
for all small school system. (MCPS would be thrilled to have an ESL student
population of only 13.1%).
need a little reality check here. I do not know what the answer is re the TSA, but folks need to get over it. The number of complaints is really being overblown by the media (where have we seen that before) and the blogosphere (where have we seen that before). The vast majority of people do not have a problem with the scanners, or the pat downs. I will not use a scanner, but reluctantly, will go with the pat down, it is the price to pay to fly – remember, no one is making you fly and go through TSA, you can always take the bus.
I do feel for the people with medical devices, but isn’t that where the terrorist will put the explosives, if the devices were not checked out? A good breast prosthesis should be able to carry a good amount of plastic explosives.
The TSA issue is a hard one for me. I don’t like the idea of full-body screenings or pat-downs any more than does their most vociferous critics. However, I object even more to the idea of crashing planes and people falling from the heights of the World Trade Center. Moreover, I’ve known John Pistole, the head of TSA, for many years. He’s a good guy who cares about both our nation and our safety very much. He is not the sort of person who would approve of these measures frivolously or unless he thought they were absolutely necessary.
I will be traveling some, including internationally, after the New Year. My intent is to put up with whatever I encounter at the airport without causing a disturbance or making an a** of myself, and hope that my suffering means I get to my destination and back home to my family in one piece.
A student pilot in a Cessna was forced down at Manassas Airport by 2 F-16s around 2:30, according to N &M. The Cessna had flown into DC airspace. The White House grounds were evacuated.
I was in Centreville and missed the action.
To Pat’s reality check, how many consumers…err flyers will it take to either disrupt the ‘system’ by refusing the pedophile system and prefer being groped or by just refusing to travel by air or rail and just staying at home and not putting that money back into the economy.
I think I’ve mentioned this before — my wife has vetoed air travel for us. So, instead of vacationing in Florida (assuming I don’t want to make the 1/2 day drive) we can hit Virginia, NC, SC, WV, etc. The house of mouse and all the people that make a living off tourism don’t really need my disposable income. But, thank you government for the future airline bailouts that’ll need to happen………
Ah…so that explains all the jets in the air when I was outside with the kiddos at recess.
“– remember, no one is making you fly and go through TSA, you can always take the bus.”
And when the searches and scanners move to other “public” transportation, what is the answer? When does the 4th Amendment apply? What if we start having car bombs?
This was Pistole’s idea to start the new invasive procedures with no explanation to the public other than, “if you don’t like, don’t fly.” Why isn’t his concern also for the professionalism of his Dept.?
It was his policy to do the same checks on the pilots until the union threatened action. It’s his policy to attempt to embarrass people into using the scanners. The public has already been lied to about the type of picture available and the ability of the scanners to save pics. Why should the safety of the scanners be trusted? Is there third party independent verification that the two types of radiation are safe for children and pregnant women?
I’ve been searched by the TSA before. In fact, every time I’ve used my military ID, I was singled out and searched. My civilian ID, not once. My belief is that happened because the TSA felt that I would not be a problem. Those pat downs were effective and non-invasive. What increased security risk demands this sort of scrutiny? The scanners cannot find items within the body. I know of no detonators that use no metal, though there may be some. I can think of no item that is not a bomb nor a firearm that can now take over a plane. The passengers won’t allow it.
Why did we not have this sort of scrutiny when planes were blowing up in the 80’s? We seemed fine with the security then. How is the threat any different now other than we seemed to have become nervous nellies.
I believe this entire act of security theater is a reaction to the public’s perception that the TSA is filled with rude incompetents and that THEY won’t be held responsible for any lapses of security. Basically, their reaction is, “IF the public wants security, we going to GIVE them SECURITY. And they’re going to like it.”
Awwww, are we still bitter that Dana Millbank can’t sell a book to save his immortal soul?
The TSA thing is government mis-management at its worst. All you have to do is call a terrorist a terrorist, and you’ll do just fine. But no, we spend our time grabbing nuns’ sweater puppies in order to not offend a terrorist. No wonder people are getting a good case of the Kentucky Quick-Step over this. It’s just one more thing……just one more thing!
I’m with Pat.Herve and Need to Know on this one. What a country. Now we see that the privacy of one’s “junk” trumps one’s own safety and the safety of everyone on a plane. Pat is right. A reality check is in order here.
I kind of snicker whenever I see a video of a nun being searched and the outraged commentator (Yes, this means you, Sean Hannity!) saying that no one should suspect a nun and that she should be allowed to pass unimpeded. I cannot help but have a flashback to the old days when I had to try to think like my targets. I can see it now. The terrorist planner is looking at this and thinking like I am thinking right now. Nuns come in all colors, races, and ethnicities, including those living, working, and studying in this country. So, if the nuns are allowed to board without inspection, why can’t I dress sister Fatima, who looks like she could come from many places in the world and who is ready to die for Allah, as a nun, complete with a girdle filled with “le plastique” and a detonator?
Then I hear the old refrain about doing it like the Israelis. O.K. Let’s see here. Israelis have been on a war footing and serious terrorist alert since 1948. They have developed a certain security mentality, if you will. Americans, on the other hand, are easily distracted. Many have to be reminded every year that 9/11 actually did happen. Moreover, even though many will discard the numbers aspect of it all, the Israelis have one major international airport (Ben Gurion at Tel Aviv) and one major domestic flight airport (Sde Dov in Tel Aviv) with a combined annual passenger flow of about 11 million. They have had a long time to develop the human and techical skills for profiling, and they do a good job of it. In fact, it looks like they are going to close Sde Dov and meld the domestic flights into Ben Gurion because of development plans in that part of Tel Aviv. So, the Israeli security forces will be able to locate the bulk of their air security personnel and equipment in one single air terminal.
Now, I understand that just three of our major airports, O’Hare, JFK, and Dulles, handle by themselves over 133 million passengers per annum. When you add all the other major airports and the lesser ones, you are talking some serious numbers. So, you are now going to drop the quick search of all passengers and create an veritable army of “expert” profilers to cover that amount of traffic? You think you can hire profilers off the street who will be able to watch each of these millions upon millions of passengers and make decisions on whether or not they may be dangerous? Don’t you think that such a profiler is going to have to have: (1) knowledge of terrorism; (2) a good knowledge of human psychology; and (3) a broad knowledge of the natural behaviors of all those foreign cultures which pass through this country? Where are you going to get them and how much will you pay for such skills? That’s the kind of skill my people had; and I will tell you that they would be bored to tears in such a job and would soon have their minds wandering, absolutely worn out by saying “yes” or “no” on the mass of individuals passing briefly through their vision day after day after day. And don’t think you can count on forewarning from intelligence services on all the bad guys. I would estimate that our intelligence files contain no really helpful data whatsever on far more than 99.9% of the people on this earth, so, more often than not, it will wind up being “Yes” and “No” as the people pass by and God save me if I should misjudge somebody and let them pass. Maybe by looking at the manifests you might be able to prejudge some passengers, but many of our flights carry a virtual UN of nationalities. And let us not think that we might never be betrayed by an American citizen with an American passport in hand.
Then I hear that we ought to profile those who are most likely to be terrorists — race, origin, looks, etc. O.K. So you missed one of the key elements of the Christmas Day thing in Detroit. You were looking at the spectacle of a guy carrying a bomb in his Fruit of the Looms or whatever. Look at the guy himself. Not an Arab. Not a Pakistani. Not an Iranian. He was Black. An African from Nigeria, a country of 120 million people, many of whom have been traveling in and out of this country on business or for schooling or other legitimate reasons for more than fifty years. The terrorist planners were trying to fake you out of your shoes by sending someone who did not look like them or like the people who first come to your minds when you speak of terrorism. This time it did not work. We had a generic lead about al-Qaeda possibly using a Nigerian suicide bomber, and then we had the kid’s own father come into the embassy in Abuja and warn us. The dots still did not get connected. What saved us was one thing: the bomb didn’t work. Those terrorist planners have a very large supply of potential recruits out there in the Muslim world — in the Near East but also in Africa, in South Asia, in Oceania,and even in parts of Europe. They will count on your starting to profile too narrowly and they will then draw from their ultra-varied potential recruiting grounds to try again to fake you out of your shoes. All they need is just one success, and our airlines will be in big, big trouble.
But go ahead and scream about the intrusive scanning of all passengers and place all your eggs in that profiling basket. I have had numerous decades of the kind of training and use of many of the skills which would be needed, but I wouldn’t take the job. The numbers are too big, and the daily tension would be a real bear. Good luck, and I hope you enjoy the flight because your profiler guessed right.
Wolverine, I am so glad you said what you said about Israel. I have been hearing about that small country for a week now. It makes no sense to compare the USA to Israel. I have no knowledge of terrorism, and certainly not the background you have. However, a simple knowledge of basic math says it is impossible to do what Israel does.
I actually agree that Israeli profiling will not work on the scale of air travel we have here. So, what’s the solution? Perhaps if the TSA actually treated the passengers with more respect and better communicated the reasons why it does certain things? Explain how the new procedures are better than the previous ones? Stop doing stupid things as shown by innumerable examples on the web?
What should our reaction be WHEN, not if, but WHEN, the TSA decides to expand its operation to other modes of travel?
Why do we now use these methods of security when we had an apparently greater threat in the 70’s and 80’s? We had 3-4 bombings or hijackings per year during some of that time. Yes, I know that we did not have the tech at that time. What I’m talking about is the attitude and the sense of desperation that we MUST DO SOMETHING.
Wolverine actually makes a good point. TSA doesn’t profile not because of political correctness, but because it’s impractical and ineffective. When terrorists include the likes of blondes from Pennsylvania like Jihad Jane to Nigerians to Indonesians, there really is no profile. You’re safer by being thorough and inspecting everyone.
Excellent point Starry and Wolverine.
We all knew life would change drastically on 9/11. We just weren’t sure how. I once worked for a great boss who always used to say, “This too, shall pass.” TSA will get it right eventually. I remember how everyone moaned and bitched about the private contract inspectors who didn’t speak English and who wore turbans. Think back…