Assume the Position - Virtually

If left unchecked, they will be at the mall and supermarkets checking for shoplifters; at ballgames and concerts where many gather; and finally, in schools.

Right now, they are used at 40 airports with 19 machines at $170,000 a pop without regulations on what is done with the technology. The TSA, Transportation Security Administration, police themselves, using the 9/11 mentality, which we know uses terrorism fear to get away with anything the government wants to do at our expense.

"The machines detect both metallic and nonmetallic threat items to keep passengers safe," said Kristin Lee, spokeswoman for TSA, in a written statement. "It is proven technology, and we are highly confident in its detection capability."

According to TSA, the six airports using whole-body imaging as a primary security measure instead of metal detectors followed by a pat-down are San Francisco, California, Miami, Florida, Albuquerque, New Mexico, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Salt Lake City, Utah, and Las Vegas, Nevada. The rest present them as a voluntary secondary security option in lieu of a pat-down for individuals who've repeatedly set off the metal detector or require additional screening.

The TSA claims the big advantage of the technology is the speed, saying a body scan takes between 15 and 30 seconds, while a full pat-down can take from two to four minutes. They further that by reminding us what the alternative involves, being touched by a security official during a pat-down because of a hip replacement or similar circumstance.

TSA officials say privacy concerns are addressed in a number of ways, using a pair of security officers, saying the one working the machine never sees the image, which appears on a computer screen behind closed doors elsewhere; and the remotely located officer who sees the image never sees the passenger whose face has been blurred.

As further protection, TSA says the officers monitoring images aren't allowed to bring cameras, cell phones or any recording device into the room, and the computers have been programmed so they have "zero storage capability" and images are "automatically deleted". I don't believe it. Do you? What is the point of the scan on camera if they can't keep a successful one as evidence at trial, nevermind nude celebrity photos for sale at the gift shop? No, they are defending the technology, but enter the human element. Who could honestly defend that?

It all sounds safe and convenient, but if you recall, tasers were once described as the safe alternative to guns.

Rudy Says Take Your OxyContin

“Everything I did with Giuliani Partners has been totally legal, totally ethical,” Mr. Giuliani recently told The Associated Press. “There’s nothing for me to explain about it. We’ve acted honorably, decently.”

Apparently, helping a company cover details of their product's tendency to result in the death of their consumer base falls under the headings "totally legal, totally ethical, honorably, and decently”. Yeah, TOTALLY.

He lies like a rug. For instance, "The air at ground zero after 9/11 is safe." and "I was at ground zero as much as the rescuers." There was also, "Kerik would be perfect for the homeland security job."

The Republicans who made such a big fuss about Giuliani's personal life, you know, that he racks up marriages like a mormon, they think it is okay that he is almost as dishonest as the idiot in the White House currently? Nah...Even they know we have had enough dishonesty to last a lifetime.

Ho-Ho-Homeland Security My Ass

Has the post 9/11 mentality invented by the current administration finally pissed on Christmas? I had been ashamed of myself for not thinking to send holiday cards to soldiers at Walter Reed myself, but when I read the suggestion and thanked the author for bringing me to my senses, I put a write up to that effect here, only to read the headline in today's news that letters to soldiers at Walter Reed without specifying a name are either returned or thrown out, but never delivered. The story said 450,000 pieces of mail not addressed to anyone in particular was sent to Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was either returned or just thrown away. The ubiquitous "war on terror" excuse that has gotten an awful lot of Americans and Iraqis killed without holding our leaders responsible for invading a country that posed no threat to us has been overused but never proven, and now it admonishes a kindness people looked upon as a way of supporting our troops and saying thank you. I hope LITTLE WALLY REED gets coal in his stocking.

Bush Claims to Know What the American People Want

After spending a couple of hours at the Pentagon and deciding he wants $196 billion this time, Bush had the nerve to say, "The American people expect us to work together to support our troops. That's what they want," He continued blathering on, "They do not want the government to create needless uncertainty for those defending our country and uncertainty for their families. They do not want disputes in Washington to undermine our troops in Iraq just as they're seeing clear signs of success."

I haven't seen any clear signs of success. Have you? I never saw a reason to go over there in the first place as it was never proven to me or anyone I know that Iraq was responsible for 9/11. Did you see a connection there? Nope...me neither. I thought he used the revenge platform to invade. I know Bush wanted to kill Hussein before people took him seriously in his rantings, so I saw the fastest trial and execution I ever did see. Hell, it was even speedier than Timothy McVeigh. I have seen clear signs of gas prices higher than I've ever seen them and groceries too expensive to buy to feed my family, so I don't know exactly what Bush means when he touts the sound economy or spouts off about what the American people want. He does not know what we want anymore than he cares what we want. The man couldn't find his ass with both hands, so why doesn't he just shut up?

Maybe he just needs to be told to shut up, kinda like my mother-in-law. That woman tends to prattle on about nothing whether anyone is listening or not. When my father-in-law was alive, he would let her go on so long, but when he got sick of listening to her or saw people start looking at their watches, he would very loudly tell her to shut up and she would cease talking immediately, I don't care if she was mid-syllable. My father-in-law died two years ago and while I didn't appreciate him when he was alive, I sure miss him now. My mother-in-law hasn't stopped talking since he died and like Bush, she really needs to be told to shut up.

Bush Warns of Nuclear-Armed Iran

Letter to Congress followed by article:

Wasn't he warning us about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq not so long ago? That wasn't true and I'll bet this isn't either. Are you in Congress gonna cave again? At the expense of human lives, are you gonna do what you suspected was the wrong thing the first time, yet did it anyway? You are no less guilty than Dumbya is if you don't stop it now. I don't care how the republicans vote...get your face in front of a camera and say "NO!" Tell the idiots on the right that they have been blindly following a crazy, greedy, draft-dodging criminal who couldn't find his ass with both hands and stop this before there are more dead soldiers and innocent people on your conscience. Yes, it will be your fault. It was your fault last time too, but you had the excuse of not knowing any better. You don't have that excuse this time. Stop cowering before inferiors and get the job done. Save the world and people will applaud you forever. Fail and that is how you will go down in history if your name is even remembered.


LANCASTER, Pa. - President Bush warned Wednesday of a nuclear-armed Iran but did not rule out that the United States would negotiate with its provocative leader if he gives up his suspected nuclear weapons ambitions.
Bush said it's important for the United States to stay engaged in neighboring Iraq to convince the Iranians that the U.S. is committed to democratic reform in the region. "There would be nothing worse for world peace than if the Iranians believed that the United States did not have the will and commitment to help young democracies survive," Bush told businessmen and women where he took questions after a talk on government spending.
"If we left before the job was done, there would be chaos," Bush said about withdrawing U.S. troops prematurely from Iraq. "Chaos would embolden not only the extremists and radicals that would like to do us harm, but it would also embolden Iran. What you don't want is to have a nuclear arms race taking place in the Middle East."
He denounced Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad for his remarks about destroying Israel.
"In Iran, we're dealing with a country where the leader has said that he wants to destroy Israel," Bush said. "My belief is that the United States will defend our ally Israel. This is a leader who has made very provocative statements. And, we have made it clear, however, that in spite of that, we are willing to sit down with him, so long as he suspends his program."
"In other words, it's his choice, it's not mine anymore. So I believe that's the best way to achieve an objective," the president added.
"If your question is, will you ever sit down with them? We've proven we would with North Korea. And the answer is yeah, just so long as we can achieve something, so long as we are able to get our objective."
Bush traveled to Pennsylvania Dutch country after vetoing a bill that would have expanded health insurance coverage for children. He spoke before members of the Lancaster Chamber of Commerce and Industry in a Republican-friendly enclave of the state.
Bush, who has threatened to veto 9 of 12 annual appropriations bills, wants the GOP to be seen as the party of fiscal disciplinarians. Democrats, however, say the billions spent on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan dwarf the far smaller increases they want in domestic programs.
Bush said the five-year budget proposed by the Democratic leadership of Congress would increase spending by $205 billion over five years.
"All these programs sound wonderful," he said. "Except how are you going to pay for it? ... And the answer is raising taxes."
The president's motorcade winded through cornfields and tidy neighborhoods on its way to a warehouse, owned by The Jay Group, a marketing firm. About 70 pro- and anti-Bush demonstrators stood outside.
Nick Meley, a 52-year-old contractor from Columbia, held a sign calling Bush the "worst president ever."
"Do I need to say Iraq? Every part of that, from the beginning to where we are now, has been mistake after mistake after mistake," he said.
A Bush supporter, Louis Gable, an 82-year-old World War II vet from Lancaster, said there are no simple answers to the war. "Everyone tries to second-guess," he said. "What would you or I do if we were there?"
By DEB RIECHMANN, Associated Press Writer

They Had The Tea Party - We Have The Internet

Growing tired of the abuses of tyranny, culminating in smothering taxes, a group of colonists broke bricks of tea against ships docked in Boston Harbor, thus sparking the necessary revolution that resulted in our democracy. America was coming along quite well with its ever expanding Constitution, focused always on the improvement of the rights of the American people until one day, it suddenly stopped. This greatest of all nations once rife with worldwide reverence for democracy and all the perks that came with it had come to a screeching halt. America had grown away from the original encroachments that suppressed it under the moralist mindset of the 1700's, tweaking the Constitution whenever it was necessary to bring the country up to date; away from the savagery of arrogant ignorance perpetrated by past oppressive generations, moving always forward, never backward. It was a beauty to behold and Americans held their heads a little higher than everyone else by birthright as they traveled the world proudly and freely.

Americans are no longer as enthusiastic about holding their heads quite as high as they once did, fearful of getting it chopped off as our country is not as revered as it once was when it was moving forward.  It is now moving backward, flirting dangerously with the descendants of racial segregation and McCarthyism.

When the present administration came to power, America's credibility began deteriorating. The U.S. is no longer revered by citizens of other nations as we are judged by our policies and our willingness to attack countries for no cause.  Bush is ridiculed on late-night television talk shows, but what he's cost the United States is no reason to laugh.  Aside from the war, back at home, we have crises after crisis and our government does nothing to protect its own people, so our government worrying about Iraq after we leave somehow lacks sincerity.  We should not have invaded that country and Bush knew it. When the American people discovered the false pretense that brought us to invade a country with which we took no issue, we should have left immediately, but that would have lost the president his 9/11 scapegoat, and the money being made by this war for the people who have invested in it, makes it worthwhile to stay as long as we can.  Gen. David Petraeus, commander of U.S. forces, says the United States will be in Iraq for another nine to ten years.  We can not allow that.  If Congress will not take the necessary steps to bring our troops home now, it is once again up to the people.  Those of us with young children who will be eighteen in the next nine or ten years already have incentive; all we need is a non-violent means to get our message to the government.  We just need a modern day version of a tea party or at least an updated issue of the Pentagon Papers.  The blogs are not enough if we just write them and read them.  There is so much more to be done.