Beware of that Terrorism Thingy

A couple of years ago, I was trying to fly home from a vacation in Italy. I had a changeover in Paris for the flight back to JFK. My first plane was late, which caused me to miss my connection. The unexpected change in plans triggered me as a possible terrorist.

I was inspected, poked and proded. I was pulled out of the regular security lines for yet more inspections and reviews of my passport, and even tested once for explosives. It is inconceivable to me that after all of these additional checks that I could have gotten anything untoward onto the plane. The security agent in NYC even asked me what I had done to cause whatever tagged me as high risk.

I realize I must have looked pretty dangerous as a mid-40's, blonde haired woman who had not had a passport stamp in twenty years. In the aftermath of 9-11, I had no problem with this, though I thought that my change in plans could be readily verified as a matter out of my control, thus freeing up the security detail so they could inspect more likely suspects.

Fast forward to Christmas Day 2009: A young man, pays cash for a ticket on the flight date, is allowed to board with no passport, his father has notified authorities that he has become radical, and he has traveled to Yemen (OK, you got me...since he didn't have a passport, security would not have known this. Thus a really good reason why they check your passport when you first enter secure areas, and then again, just as you board the plane, which begs the question: how did he get through the initial screening to be allowed to enter the gate?).

I trigger a red alert for missing a connection that was out of my control, but this turkey, with several red flags manages to board a US plane with explosives.

Can someone please explain to me how it took security no time to flag me as a possible terrorist, but couldn't pick up that this guy needed a second look? I can only attribute the change in security to a new attitude and the inane political correctness that has been imposed by the White House.

Footnote: Why aren't they releasing the video of the man that talked the agent into allowing him to board without a passport? A witness describes him as approximately 6', well-dressed, with no accent (so he sounds American) that looked to be of Indian or Palestinian descent. Wouldn't the administration want to find and question this man, and wouldn't blasting his photo on the news and internet make identifying him a virtual certainty?

I am puzzled why the Nigerian with the panty bomb who wanted to kill hundreds of Americans was arrested only as a common criminal instead of as an enemy of the state which would let the military interrogate and handle him. No, the administration doesn't like to call him a terrorist...this is only another isolated incident. So now we taxpayers are paying for his lawyers and giving him rights like he is an American, including Miranda Rights, so naturally he's clammed up.

Let's do the math: Don't show us the video + Don't allow the military to handle the interrogation and prosecution = Doesn't look like the administration takes this terrorism 'thingy', as Bush might've called it, very seriously. But I bet Bush's team would've nailed him.

Somali Ass-lym Policy

I read in today's paper how a Somali man, with possible ties to al-Qaeda, broke into the home of the Danish cartoonist who drew Muhammad with a bomb exploding out of his turban. The jihadist was armed with an ax and knife, and was fortunately shot by police before he had the opportunity to use them.

Three pages later, I read about a large influx of Somalis trying to circumvent traditional immigration channels by traveling to Mexico and taking a cab to the US border agents in San Diego, and then asking for political asylum.

According to Mark Hetfield, senior VP for the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society, "The US has closed most of the doors for Somalis to come in through the refugee program, so they've found alternative ways to get in. This is their new route." Somalis made up the largest percentage of people asking for asylum in the US for 2009.

The article's subject claimed Islamic militants threatened him. However, he could offer no one to corroborate his testimony, not even via email to friends and family in Somalia.

The terrorist group, al-Shabab, linked with al-Qaeda, and other militant groups now control most of Somalia outside of Mogasishu.

So despite the fact that we know nothing about this man, and he comes from a country where many people want to destroy the US, the judge ruled, with only the man's testimony, that he could move to the US.

I feel for people who are suffering just like everyone else, but for Pete's sake, could the government PLEASE use some common sense? Gee, do ya think the bad guys might lie to the nice judge?

I smell a Detroit airplane incident brewing. And then Mr. O will order a full investigation in the tragic breakdown in our Homeland Security system. Again.

Update on 1-4-10: On yesterday's CNN's "State of the Union", Obama's lead counterterrorism advisor John Brennan said there was no smoking gun that would indicate that we should have prevented Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab to board a plane destined to the US. If they couldn't see a smoking gun, I'd like to know what they were smoking.

Health Care Monstrosity

Have been out of town and am playing catch up with a rental remodeling job,so haven't been posting regularly. But I wanted to make sure as many people as possible read the following WSJ article on the Health Care bill. Please read it, forward it to your contacts and also contacts your legislators.

Don't forget: a grassroots effort to contact and/or visit your legislators about the Health Care bill is scheduled for noon this Thursday. Please contact him/her to ask for a 'no' vote, and spread the word. This monstrosity must be stopped!

Well Done Washington! Stimulus Package a Hit (to the Taxpayer)

The White House is thrilled to report today that the $787 billion dollar Stimulus Package is responsible for creating or saving 640,239 jobs. Well done Washington! Uh oh. I just did the math...that works out to $1,229,228 and 40 cents a job. Hope those were well paying jobs it created. Yes I know that not all of the money has been spent yet, BUT STILL!!!

Of course it gets worse: Chris Johnston, Director of the Government Efficiency Division of the Indiana state budget office admits that the state can't really say whether the jobs it reported 'saved' would actually have been lost.

I am traveling today, so I don't have the article in front of me, but my fine state of NC used some odd phrase that sounded suspiciously Orwellian about describing the jobs it had 'saved' via the Stimulus Package. (I'll post it when I return).

Leave it to Washington to crow about the success of a failed program, yet still need to embellish the figures in an attempt to make things look brighter.

Meow. Maybe I'm being a tad catty. Obama says his Stimulus Package will create 3.5 million jobs by the end of the year.

Let's see (in just 61 days,) that works out to a mere $224,857.14 a job. One question: where do I apply?

7 pm Postscript: Jake Tapper of ABC news is doing his job (unlike most of the main stream media): Here's his take on today's announcement. Bad news: turns out I'm a 'Calculator Abuser". I guess I just don't understand Washington math.

"Suddenly, We're Connected" and Connecting the Dots

In a govenment program announced in June, we give away free cell phones and 68 minutes a month to just about anyone who gets a federal handout of some kind. This program is called Safelink.

From the Trac Phone press release:
"By approving the SafeLink Wireless program, the FCC took action to enhance its Lifeline program and keep the right to communicate (emphasis mine)in pace with technology." I didn't know we had this unalienable right. "Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness and communications" is not how I remember it from school. Can't find it in the Bill of Rights, either.

But, according to the release, taxpayers don't pay for this boondoggle. No, that becomes the curse of the taxpaying cell phone users. Ever wonder what the "Universal Service Charge" is that appears on your monthly cell phone bill? That's it, plus a kick in from the cell phone provider. Bet they don't pass that cost on to us paying customers. Right.

TracPhone, a subsidiary of a Mexican based company, (nope - sorry, a US company wasn't the beneficiary of this new FCC enhanced program) gives the phones for free to the poor people. Surely none of them are using up all of the free 68 minutes. Surely none of the poor people are buying additional minutes for as much as $33.3 cents a minute. The cheapest rate, assuming a poor person has $79.99 is $17.7 cents a minute. Me thinks I would give them a free phone in order to get that lucrative revenue. I bet most of their sales are the $9.99 for 30 minutes plan. The company has enormous gross margins of about 68%. I am a small business person. I love large gross margins. But not on the back of a poor person and not hyped as a "free government program" to help the poor.

This program looks to me like a taxpayer-funded bonanza to a foreign corporation. Question: Who snuck this bill in the budget and can we take a look to see if a lobbyist from TracPhone paid him or her a visit beforehand?

Americans For Prosperity

Last night I attended a local Americans For Prosperity (AFP) meeting and I wasn't quite sure what to expect.

So far, I have been a solo worker bee and traveled independently to the Tax Day Tea Party in DC and the September 12th March on Washington. But earlier in the week, I signed up for a Defending the American Dream Summit in DC sponsored by AFP on October 2-3. This time I would be traveling with this local group, so I thought it would be good to see who they were.

Turns out they were just like me: concerned citizens who are deeply worried about the direction this country is heading in and the massive deficit spending that may well bankrupt our country.

They weren't kooks or crackpots. I didn't hear people bemoaning the president; rather they bitched about the waste and spending from both parties. These were just ordinary folks who gave up an evening with the family to see what they could do to help get this country back on the track intended by our forefathers. I left the meeting impressed with the group and its sincere efforts to make a difference, and am glad to be riding on the bus with them for the summit.

Americans Take to the Streets: The Real Picture

I received an email that I thought you'd find interesting:
MORE DC Tea Party pictures not seen on national news

Be sure to also check out a UK write up on the number of protesters...not bad for a self-described liberal writer. I like that he also made note that this was a more gentle crowd than he is used to seeing at protests he covers. Too bad most US media downplayed the story.

"This is the first great conservative anti-status manifestation in American history. The conservative movement, which developed in the post-WWII, Cold War environment has now fully matured into the most significant political movement of the 21st century. I believe that this day could be referred to in the not too distant future as the day that changed America. This was the day the great silent conservative majority finally found its voice.

Many of the attendees were quite meek and timid and were unsure of exactly what to expect, this being the first time in their lives they’d been involved in a protest movement. Their fears evaporated early in the day and I saw people reveling in the camaraderie , the joy and sheer civility that was exhibited at the entire event. Chants of “Freedom, freedom, freedom”, “No more czars! No more czars!” carried through the air without the slightest hint of rancor or incivility which is the norm at the leftist rallies I have photographed over the years.



The two photos above show a tiny fraction of the two million ABC estimates attended. I saw signs and heard lots of comments comparing this event to Woodstock. At the time this photo was taken, around 1:00 p.m., Pennsylvania Avenue was still jammed completely, and the mall was packed from the Capitol Building past the Washington Monument. See aerial photos here.



Protesters came from every state in the union. This man came from San Antonio, TX. He said that he was really sorry he hadn’t brought his family. He stated that being a black conservative he was afraid to expose his children to what he expected would be a lot of liberal abuse. He was thrilled with the tenor of the event and the fact that no liberals were present to harass him. He spoke about how incredibly intolerant the left is to black individuals who don’t bow to the party line.

The commentary continues. Email me for photos and complete essay.