Gawd Bless Amurika

July 26th, 2007

Thank GOD/DESS for the web, and bright people connecting the dots — for the intellect that I see coming back at me from bloggers — for the humor I find, even if it’s wrapped in snark. I remember the daze of yore, when we had only three networks and three choices for newz … each of them were credible. Now we have the 24/7’s, and none of them are credible, they’re all “cult of personality offerings” and White House stenographers, occasionally throwing in some alternative fare to raise a pre-planned ruckus for ratings boost. Take a moment to thank God/dess yourself, today — because without this medium we’d all be frogs blanched perfectly and served with a side of fava’s and a nice Chianti.

Here are some of the more absurd snips I’ve found today — they tell a story about what America has become in the hands of the dullards.

The first, regarding plane travel, must be opened [so I hope the links works; but it's worth a copy 'n paste if it won't] for the graphic and the FIRST blogger response that made me laugh out loud! The next is about Ann [Succubus] Coulter’s recent slip of the tongue. The last is an outrageous arrest of a senior, and note that the response of those around him was self-absorbed hope that his situation would bring them more business.

Regarding the first piece on flying — here in the Pea Patch [and with gas being as high as it is] if they don’t carry it at WalMart, I won’t have it in my pantry [I always spit in the parking lot before I go in, locked-in and defiant.] A couple of years ago, before the “gel” nonsense, I went home to California and while there, found some ketchup that didn’t contain sugar, so I bought five bottles and packed them in my under-belly luggage for the return trip. I arrived in the Patch with four — I guess they were looking for the plutonium. Sigh. I s’pose I was lucky to get here with any — on the other hand, they were clearly a specialty item, I wasn’t lugging home a suspect case of Heinz.

Cartoon-ish snips on our lives, today — below.

Jude

The ice packs that threatened America
Will Bunch, Attywood

Michael J. Aguilar, the San Diego director of the Transportation Security Administration, referring to security bulletins from the TSA.

Depending on your world view, it was one more sign of a nation at war, or it was all a big joke — terrorists testing our defenses with block cheese and ice packs. But if you watched the TV news today, you couldn’t miss the big story and the hyperventilating that went with it: Possible “dry runs” testing airport security by would-be terrorists.

Here’s CNN in the 3 p.m. hour today (via Nexis):

KYRA PHILLIPS: Airport security agents nationwide are on the lookout for what the feds say could be dry runs for a terror attack. A government advisory sent out a few days ago reveals that four incidents in recent months involving suspicious materials in both checked and carry-on luggage, well, the incidents happened at airports in Baltimore, Milwaukee, Houston, and San Diego. The items included cheese, batteries, pipes, ice bags, rapped or configured to mimic bomb components.

A former Homeland Security official tells CNN there is cause for concern.

CLARK KENT ERVIN, CNN SECURITY ANALYST: TSA is right to say that they receive reports of suspicious incidents all the time. But this is really out of the ordinary.

It sounds out of the ordinary, unless you actually call people on the ground (literally) at the airports involved. One enterprising journalist in San Diego did exactly that, and found out that — to paraphrase Sigmund Freud — sometimes an ice pack is just an ice pack.

In fact, the woman whose luggage sparked the San Diego portion of the alert was an American woman in her 60s, hardly the proifle of al-Qaeda. And what happened at the airport there bore little resemblance to what was in the TSA report — which claimed that ice packs were wrapped in duct tape and contained clay, which are not usually in ice packs and could resemble plastic explosives.

The San Diego Union-Tribune quickly learned the ice packs contained the usual blue gel:

Sanfilippo said they weren’t covered in duct tape and didn’t have clay inside of them. “It is a little bit off,” he said of the bulletin.

The chief said a Harbor Police officer found what appeared to be hardened old gel that had seeped out of the ice packs and dried, leaving a clay-like substance around the outside edge of the pack.

Investigators with the county’s Metro Arson Strike Team were called in to assess the ice packs, and they determined there was no risk.

In all, it took about three hours for the woman’s luggage to be cleared by security officials.

After the packs were cleared, the woman told authorities she didn’t want to keep them and they were thrown away, Sanfilippo said.

In the end, TSA inspectors did the right thing in thoroughly checking the suspicious baggage, but the aftermath raises a lot of questions. Why did TSA officials put such blatantly incorrect information into their memo and send it out across America. And more importantly, who decided to leak this memo to NBC News, knowing that it would become such a big national story.

As has been reported many times, we have an administration that loves to get the media talking about terrorism and vague threats to America — especially when it wants to change the subject from the president’s low approval rating or contempt charges against administration officials. Even Tom Ridge has said the terror color coding alerts seemed to be manipulated at times — especially in the months leading up to President Bush’s re-election. Who wanted to make this today’s lead story, and why?

I can’t wait to find out the real story behind that cheese. ++

Note: while you’re there, read the previous post, Memo to Self: Never again fly with processed cheese.

Did Ann Coulter just admit it?
Rick Perlstein, TomPaine
July 25, 2007

Ann Coulter’s latest column claims that “New York cabbies’ compliance rate on daily bathing” is less than 48 percent; dilates upon the reporting in the “Treason Times”; and reflects, “Fox News ought to buy a copy of Monday’s Democrat debate on CNN to play over and over during the general election campaign,” because the only people it could possibly convince to vote for a Democrat are “losers blogging from their mother’s basements.”

Now why ever would Fox care about electing Republicans, given that they’re a news organization in the business of “fair and balanced”?

(By the way, you may wish to avoid the link, which for me at least automatically fired up a doddering Ronald Reagan talking head advertising, in the present tense, the glories of Human Events.) ++

Maryland Retiree’s Anti-Bush Buttons Got Him Arrested
Short News
07/24/2007

74-year-old Alan McConnell was arrested this weekend and charged with trespassing, after police said he was selling “Impeach Him” buttons without permission. McConnell has sold the anti-Bush buttons at a Maryland farmers’ market for months.

Officials said that the incident has nothing to do with politics, but that they feared McConnell and his supporters were becoming a safety hazard. As he was being arrested, about 40 McConnell supporters booed and yelled “Free speech!”

Some of the market vendors say that all the controversy may actually help business. “The excitement has certainly brought a lot more people here, but not all of them are buying,” one said. “Hopefully, the protesters today will come tomorrow to buy.” ++

“So keep fightin’ for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don’t you forget to have fun doin’ it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin’ ass and celebratin’ the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was.”
~ Molly Ivins, 1944 - 2007

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Entry Filed under: Political Waves