TSA: Toddler Security Administration

The TSA continues to protect us from the most sinister of foes:  toddlers.  

This much is true: An 18-month-old was pulled from a JetBlue flight and her family was questioned by Transportation Security Administration agents because the airline said the child appeared on a “no-fly” list,  her parents said.

I have an 18-month old niece and while I do call her "The (Giant) Baby of Destruction", I think her taking down an airliner is probably outside the realm of possibility (at least as long as they keep the cockpit doors closed and locked).  Also, she knows about five words, so it would be interesting to see the TSA "question" her.  

I know times are tough and jobs are hard to find, but I would like to believe that I have enough honor to quit my job if it required me to 1) suspend disbelief and assume a toddler is a terrorist, and 2) forcibly sequester that toddler from his/her family and interrogate him/her.  

Do stories like this make you feel any safer?  We keep hearing more and more stories like this coming out about the TSA and yet, they continue to operate without any oversight or any semblance of common sense.  They don't seem to care at all about public outrage, which begs the question:  what do we have to do to get their attention and make them accountable to us (the people they supposedly serve)?  

More Decades-Old "News" About Obama

Related to this previous post about Obama's dog-eating, it becomes ever more obvious that no one read his book.  A news story this week is that one of the girlfriends Obama talks about in Dreams from My Father is actually a composite of several girlfriends of his over the years.  

Except this isn't news because Obama made note of the fact that he used composite characters in his book to protect the identity of actual people.  Ergo, people just bought this book to put up on their shelves and pose as ... I-don't-know-whats, people-who-buy-the-memoirs-of-other-people-too-young-to-have-authored-memoirs?  Ridiculous.  And all of these so-called reporters and journalists should be ashamed of themselves.  

Plus, the country is still in the crapper and we're talking about "news" pertaining to Obama's girlfriends coming out of a book that was written almost 20 years ago?  Pathetic.  And I am pathetic for talking about it as well.  

From One Julia to Another*

Alright, I was busy with some other things yesterday so I only became aware late yesterday evening of "The Life of Julia" -- the Obama campaign's attempt to bribe stupid/ignorant, shameless, and unambitious women into voting for him.  

The youtube video shows Julia from cradle to grave and how she lives (and even thrives!) off the government's largesse, thanks to President Obama.  It also has helpful reminders of how each of these vital "gimmes" will be taken away under a President Romney.  

I have a few questions for my liberal, female friends:  1) does this bother or offend you in any way?,  2) if not, why not?, 3) if not, have you no sense of shame?  Because of all my liberal, female friends -- I'm not aware that any of you need the government's help to live your lives.  You are all productive, tax-paying citizens who contribute positively to the fabric of our society (not counting your voting record, of course).  This should offend you.  I am offended for you.  This is how your government sees you -- as a damsel in distress, waiting to be saved because you couldn't possibly save yourself.

Are American women unable to provide for themselves?  Are we unable to actually earn a scholarship to college or work to pay our own way?  What is the role of parents and family in our society? Are we truly helpless without government handouts?  And if so, is that something to be celebrated?  Is that a reason to vote for a particular candidate?  He's just trying to buy your vote:  "if you elect me, I will pay for __________."  

The most offensive thing about this gambit is that he and his campaign think it will work -- they think we all operate on greed.  That the most important thing to any and all of us is how much we can get for nothing.  So, if your greed exceeds your desire for freedom (and it's responsibilities), then vote for Obama.  (But before you do, take a look at this rebuttal:  "The Real Life of President Obama's Julia".)

*My first name is Julia.

Old MacDonald and His Government Overlords

Now the government wants to tell farmers which chores their children are allowed to perform on their own farms. There is no limit to the government's sense that it knows better than you what is best for you and your family. In this case, the government knows better than you what chores are safe for your kid to do. 4-H and FFA programs would also be gutted by the new law, and replaced with  -- you guessed it! -- a government-run program.  

For those of you out there who think that the government is the only option for curing society's ills -- is this an acceptable trade-off for you? Is bartering away your freedom an even exchange for the bloated and ineffective welfare programs that only serve to create and maintain a permanent underclass? Or does this not bother you because you are not a farmer, so it's not your freedom being taken away or your relationship with your child being micro-managed by the federal bureaucracy? Do you not think that they'll come for you one day?  They will. They always do.

At the End of My Rope

Time to wake up, people.  Our government is completely out of control.  As is usually the case, the TSA is the perfect example of not just government ineptitude, but true tyranny. The latest news out of that cesspool is their detaining and terrifying a four-year old girl for the crime of acting like a four-year old girl in a security line at the airport.  

Have you ever read about the Kapos in the concentration camps in Nazi Germany?  They were the inmates on whom the Nazis relied to keep order and dole out punishments in the camps -- without them, the camps couldn't operate in such an efficiently evil manner. The Kapos were often just as -- and sometimes more -- cruel than the Nazi guards.  It may seem that I'm overreacting by comparing TSA agents with the Kapos, but there's a starting point for all malevolence and there's a definite and comparable psychological reaction involved when a small cadre of people is given power and authority over their fellow citizens (or previous co-equals in the case of the concentration camp inmates). You know the saying:  "power corrupts; absolute power corrupts absolutely."   

We are now faced with the greatest moral dilemma of our society and civilization:  do we want to be truly free individuals and accept all of the responsibility that comes with that, or do we want to be serfs and slaves to Leviathan and humbly take whatever handouts our rulers are willing to dribble out in order to keep us at bay and prevent us from revolt? Which is it?

To those on the Right -- are you willing to work within the confines of the private sphere (or at the local level) to influence your fellow citizens to adopt your morals and values? Can you accept that such a system will allow people to engage in behavior which you find abhorrent (i.e. abortion, gay marriage, drug use, prostitution)? Are you confident enough in your convictions and your powers of persuasion to save others from themselves without using federal laws and regulations to enact your vision for us?

To those on the Left -- are you willing to work within the confines of the private sphere (or at the local level) to influence your fellow citizens to adopt your morals and values? Can you accept that such a system will allow people to engage in behavior which you find abhorrent (i.e. not recycling, driving SUVs, shopping at Wal-Mart, engaging in capitalism, deciding where and how to spend their paychecks, using incandescent light bulbs, having a kick-ass shower-head with awesome water pressure)? Are you confident enough in your convictions and your powers of persuasion to save others from themselves without using federal laws and regulations to enact your vision for us?

Can't we all just f***ing get along? We live in a huge country with lots of different kinds of people.  Even when we were just 13 states along the Eastern Seaboard, our founding fathers were smart enough to realize that the Constitution was the most specific legal document practicable to bind our nation together. That's why it's so short. And that's why it's not a "living" document. And that's why it is primarily a treatise on what the government cannot do. We should not -- and ultimately cannot -- effectively govern our great nation from Washington  D.C. (look around you if you need evidence of this).  

What are we all so afraid of?  Failure?  When the s**t really hits the fan, do you think the government's going to save you?  Ask the residents of New Orleans how that worked out for them.  We are already on our own in every way that matters, so let's embrace the freedom that our forefathers gifted us with over 200 years ago, and we will create our own prosperity rather than waiting on favors and indulgences from those who seek to control us.

About that Dog Story

The most amazing thing to me about this Obama-ate-dog-meat story is that it's just now news (or more accurately, just not news).  We are aware of this dietary eccentricity because Obama wrote about it in his famous memoir Dreams from My Father.  That was published in 1995 -- for a best-seller, it sure seems that a lot of people haven't actually read it.  Not that there's anything wrong with that.  

Face Time

So, Obama has now put his face on a bunch of basketballs they were using at the White House Easter Egg Hunt.  This is trivial -- it's not like adding several billion dollars to the deficit -- but it is seriously creepy.  We are a nation of ideals, ideas, principles and citizens.  We are not a nation defined by the personality of our leader.  But this dude puts his face on everything -- in much the same manner that a totalitarian ruler does.  I find it very troubling that he and his staff can't see how creepy and off-putting this stuff is.  He's probably already commissioning his own memorial on the Mall (I'd  bet money on it).

Can you imagine if George W. Bush put his face on everything?  Created his own presidential seal while still just a candidate?

Don't know how I missed this earlier, but he's already had his face put on our freaking flag.  (I don't actually know who created the flag with his face -- just like I don't know if I'm more disturbed by him or his freaky-deaky acolytes.)