Now that Bush has been formally slapped down for using the Constitution as a Kleenex... can we impeach the drunk already?? Or are we saving that distinction for extramarital affairs now?

Posted by: TKrueg at August 18, 2006 05:06 PM

It is Bush's fault. Everything. Including making women check their gel-filled falsies.

BDS

Posted by: Anon at August 18, 2006 05:27 PM

Damn. And I thought I was tasteless.

Posted by: Tasteless Tattler at August 18, 2006 05:41 PM

Dolly Parton has been banned by all of the major airlines.

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 18, 2006 07:30 PM

The travesty in all this, liberties notwithstanding, is that terror plots simply aren't cought at the gate. They're caught by the intelligence agencies months in advance. We've finally learned what to look for.

As a libertarian, I have a hard time with wiretapping in general. However, I gotta say, in the current climate, it seems the NSA, FBI, Scotland Yard, Interpol, and other international agencies have done a good job.

Can I bring my toothpaste with me now? Can we realize that the TSA is nothing more than a "for show" agency that doesn't make us any safer than prior basic measures?

Or, in defense of said idiotic agency (thanks, GWB), can anyone point me to a crazy who, but for our shoe-removal requirements, would have succeeded? I don't remember any? All I can recall are incident after incident of planes turned around or entire shutdowns or airports due to a "concern". None, including the dead guy with the depression problem, have been any real threat.

How long? What next? Terrorists have figured out how to put explosives in clothing. I can only imagine the next memo.

Land of the free? Land of the media-induced scared. Land of the "safety at any price, even if it will create billions (trillions?) in wasted delay, direct government expense, and hassle" mentality.

Those who would trade a little liberty for a little security deserves neither and will lose both. I heard that somewhere. Had a nice ring to it.

GOd, this is starting to sound like one of Ledbury's posts. ;)

Posted by: Don Smith at August 18, 2006 07:41 PM

You'll never match Tensk...

Posted by: Jack Bog at August 18, 2006 07:43 PM

Jack- Being that you're a legal guy, I'm surprised you haven't posted a word about the ruling yesterday...

Posted by: TKrueg at August 18, 2006 08:29 PM

I could note that there is just one more intrusive loss of "liberty" that is typical of a prison setting to assure "safety" and to prevent the flow of contraband. Instead . . .

There once had been a day when the mere belief (as an ideology) that one might be able to get ahead in a free and fair market by individual effort to meet consumers wants and needs better than others. The preservation of wealth, or relative wealth, under "Capitalism," was just a necessary, and decidedly secondary, means to enable the innovator to benefit from their unique contribution; but it was fleeting, subject to continuing risk of loss through one's own stupidity on their next move or someone else's superior product or innovation.

Bush's view of "liberty" seems bankrupt both as to Capitalism and individual liberty. It is incapable of dynamic innovation of individual liberty; or economic "dynamic efficiency." Should I go re-read the glowing words about preserving individual liberty from the McCarthy era attacks on Communist sympathizers and apply it to Bush's apparent world view; with an eye toward asserting psychological projection?

Bush, in rather tame words, is not a very good caretaker of liberty, nor an inspirational advocate to gain converts by way of their own free will. "Strip . . . place your belongings in that pile . . . and walk through that door . . . " Sadly, Bush is not alone in his philosophic view.

Don, -- "libertarian"

Is that a description of a set of beliefs or is that the name of a political organization that can be fully hijacked by folks as clueless as Bush? I don't know if I could find anyone to get chummy with at Barton Park tomorrow. I would feel much less queezy if I were to banter with the locally recognized lead ideological heart of the ACLU.

Posted by: Ron Ledbury at August 19, 2006 07:44 AM

Um, how do they know if you're wearing a gel bra?

Posted by: Kari Chisholm at August 19, 2006 09:13 AM

Kari,

Prank caller news:

"Identifying himself as a police officer, the caller issued an ultimatum: Ogborn could be searched at the store or be arrested, taken to jail and searched there."

Um, "But I was commanded to do it or I would get fired; or even called a traitor. (He he.)" (Rhetorically: Where is Packwood today? Is it his fault?)

Posted by: Ron Ledbury at August 19, 2006 10:10 AM

Sorry, Miss: we're going to have to check that out.

Is the TSA still hiring?

Posted by: Mister Tee at August 19, 2006 10:29 AM

Disdain for separation of powers, contempt for the Bill of Rights -this is one subversive group of wealth mongers. When the TSA inspector asks; "real? or fake" takes one upside the head, the offended passenger will be indicted for assault and probably terrorism related offenses. On her way to jail, I hope she says "they're real and they're spectacular"
Makes ya proud to be an american?

Posted by: genop at August 19, 2006 11:02 AM

But the new adaptation will be false beer guts by the time you get hired.

"My, what a big gut you have. Is that gut real?"

Posted by: Ron Ledbury at August 19, 2006 11:07 AM

100% USDA Prime.

Posted by: Mister Tee at August 19, 2006 12:33 PM

Just wait. Pretty soon they'll be checking to make sure no flier is a female-to-male transvestite:

"Excuse me, 'Mister' Bogdanski. I'll have to squeeze your testicles to make sure they're real."

Posted by: Alan DeWitt at August 19, 2006 01:45 PM

All back to the point - TSA does not make anyone safer. Period.

Posted by: Don Smith at August 19, 2006 02:40 PM

Don Smith All back to the point - TSA does not make anyone safer. Period.
jk: No surprise here. Politicians don't have to get results - they only have to appear to be doing something. Example: Portland's concern with affordable housing while no one talks about the fact that government policy is the primary cause of the lack of affordable housing.

Posted by: jim karlock at August 19, 2006 02:59 PM

In a related story, a woman in Isreal who was hit with shrapnel from a Hezbollah rocket was saved by her breast implant, which the shrapnel imbedded in. This is a true story!

Posted by: Jim Golden at August 19, 2006 09:59 PM

But if they're cosmetic, you should pack them in your checked luggage.

Sounds kinda vague...if they aint original equipment, they're cosmetic. Buch of retards at the TSA...

Posted by: Jon at August 21, 2006 07:58 AM

[Posted as indicated; restored later.]