If you needed any more proof that we have become a nation of sheep, just fly somewhere. Since 9/11, the usual chutes herding us from door to door are supplemented with the TSA, the “Transportation Security Administration” Grumbling about the inconvenience is checked by the awareness that any behavior judged even mildly individualistic might be punished. Complain too loudly and you will be detained and miss your flight. A little louder and you are subject to a body cavity search or arrest.
Independent tests have shown the ineffectiveness of the TSA. Knives have been inadvertently left on planes by cleaning and repair crews. Explosives can be smuggled as constituents. Even a cursory examination of the 'secure' areas suggests obvious holes, some as simple as running up a down escalator to the baggage claim. Liquids and gels are the latest scare. Since we are ourselves just an organized collection of liquids and gels, figuring out how to defeat these restrictions does not require much imagination.
The rules of hijacking were rewritten by 9/11 on 9/11. The tried-and-true response before was to negotiate while the hijacker was allowed to take the plane where they wanted. The rules changed the instant that it became clear that the 9/11 hijackers had no demands so there would be no negotiations. This change occurred instantly. United Flight 93, the one that crashed in Pennsylvania, did not reach its target because the passengers were aware of their stark choice: do nothing and certainly die or do something and maybe live. (Among sheep, their choice passes for heroism.) The official rules, which changed soon after, no longer allowed the hijacker into the cockpit. These simple, new rules instantly dropped the chance of a repeat to near zero.
We are not safer today than on 9/12/2001. Stop the madness. Stop the Totally Senseless Administration.
Thursday, November 23, 2006
Monday, November 06, 2006
Global Suffocation
“Global warming” actually sounds kind of nice, even a little comforting. Feel a chill? Well, don't worry, the whole globe is warming up just to keep you comfy! To get action, to galvanize public outrage, we need a better name. We should call it what it is: global suffocation.
The warming is anyway just a symptom of the problem: increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This is due to man's burning fossil fuels and destroying the ecosystems of living plants in forests, praries, wetlands, oceans, etc. Everyone knows temperatures fluctuate – daily, seasonally, yearly. But since the industrial age, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels go only one way -- upward at an increasing rate. Any doubts whether CO2 levels are rising are dispelled by the data, just the facts, provided here courtesy of wikipedia. [The timeline on the x axis would be better shown reversed, history moving to the right, but look at the numbers: already over a record 375 ppm and increasing rapidly.]
You suffocate when you cannot get enough oxygen. Oxygen is removed from the air when it combines with carbon in fossil fuels to produce carbon dioxide. When we burn carbon (gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal), we are slowly, imperceptibly suffocating ourselves. A simple, true statement.
The warming is anyway just a symptom of the problem: increases in atmospheric carbon dioxide. This is due to man's burning fossil fuels and destroying the ecosystems of living plants in forests, praries, wetlands, oceans, etc. Everyone knows temperatures fluctuate – daily, seasonally, yearly. But since the industrial age, atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) levels go only one way -- upward at an increasing rate. Any doubts whether CO2 levels are rising are dispelled by the data, just the facts, provided here courtesy of wikipedia. [The timeline on the x axis would be better shown reversed, history moving to the right, but look at the numbers: already over a record 375 ppm and increasing rapidly.]
You suffocate when you cannot get enough oxygen. Oxygen is removed from the air when it combines with carbon in fossil fuels to produce carbon dioxide. When we burn carbon (gasoline, diesel, natural gas, coal), we are slowly, imperceptibly suffocating ourselves. A simple, true statement.
Justice timed is politics as usual
Justice delayed is justice denied. Gladstone
The trial of Saddam Hussein on charges he ordered hundreds of innocent people killed in revenge for an assassination attempt has come to its predictable conclusion: guilty. What are the odds that after so many months, the verdict would be delivered on the weekend before a midterm US election? Another time, it might have been thought mere coincidence. With the gang squatting in the White House, what once might have been considered cynicism is now realism.
These predictable verdicts are only the gloss on Hussein's crimes. Prosecution lawyers are not permitted to investigate American culpability in providing Hussein with weapons, satellite imagery, and other intelligence for use against Iran and misuse against internal enemies. Defense lawyers are often simply killed. This is a sad example of American justice in Babylon, the land of Hammurabi, who defined justice for millennia. The Bush League rewrite of Hammurabi would be "innocent until suspected".
The trial of Saddam Hussein on charges he ordered hundreds of innocent people killed in revenge for an assassination attempt has come to its predictable conclusion: guilty. What are the odds that after so many months, the verdict would be delivered on the weekend before a midterm US election? Another time, it might have been thought mere coincidence. With the gang squatting in the White House, what once might have been considered cynicism is now realism.
These predictable verdicts are only the gloss on Hussein's crimes. Prosecution lawyers are not permitted to investigate American culpability in providing Hussein with weapons, satellite imagery, and other intelligence for use against Iran and misuse against internal enemies. Defense lawyers are often simply killed. This is a sad example of American justice in Babylon, the land of Hammurabi, who defined justice for millennia. The Bush League rewrite of Hammurabi would be "innocent until suspected".
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