Google Earth reveals Star of David on roof of Iran Air HQ

Via Lucianne:)

El Rushbo (to the GOP) on the 'Cuda. Hallelujah

What Rush Says to Republicans about Palin. Video.

Previous post on the subject here.

Seasonal ruminations:

Interpol Issues 'Red Notice' For Arrest Of WikiLeaks' Julian Assange


Wired. Finally. For sex crimes. Will Eric Effing Holder defer his presidential mission--to lobby for the World Cup over in Zurich? (Is he really the guy you want to send? How come Holder hasn't been fired yet again)

Will the Russians get to Julian baby first
?

More. From this morning: Marc Thiessen: Obama administration is weak in the face of WikiLeaks. Washington Post

...In other news, our President Barack Obama is taking advice from Jimmy Carter.

Will the Russkies Take Out Assange?

Some Obama administration official is whining and leaking to the Daily Beast. How typical. Via HotAir:

National security officials say that the National Security Agency, the U.S. government’s eavesdropping agency, has already picked up tell-tale electronic evidence that WikiLeaks is under close surveillance by the Russian FSB, that country’s domestic spy network, out of fear in Moscow that WikiLeaks is prepared to release damaging personal information about Kremlin leaders.
As one commenter remarks, pass the popcorn. What could they have on Bad Vlad.

But seriously, are we going to in effect outsource our foreign policy to the Russians?

P.S. Why is Amazon helping WikiLeaks and what do we think about that.

More. Drudge headers:

PC See no evil on Sharia

Tribune columnist Clarence Page on those supposed rubes in Oklahoma worrying about Sharia.

Well gee, we already have evidence of dhimmitude in the press, including the Trib. Why would they notice Sharia creep. The American Thinker: Sharia Law is Already Here.

It's all just so hilarious. I'm sure sophisticated opinion in Portland continues to comfort itself. After all, tree-lighting ceremonies are so déclassé.

And at the Smithsonian, well, we know they're focused on attacking Christianity, as usual.

They may never know what hits them
.

Joe's "Reality" Show

Is Joe Scarborough a conservative? Does he talk to conservatives. Perhaps a few.

As for Sarah Palin, perhaps she wouldn't have to defend herself so much if others in the Republican party made clear her right to consider running--she has a strong constituency, for good reason--rather than trying in a cowardly manner from behind the scenes to drum her out of contention in advance. (And I was a Romney supporter last time. No more. After Romney/ObamaCare it would take a lot to get me back. Could we trust Mitt to sign a repeal?)

And actually I don't think Palin was mocking Reagan, she was making the point he was underestimated and derided by the establishment.

If Scarborough reveres Reagan so much he should appreciate that.

As should finger in the wind keeper of the flame of all things Reagan who went for The One Peggy Noonan.

How interesting that Sen. John McCain recently compared Sarah to Reagan.

How admirable that financial opinion makers have recognized her smarts.

In case you missed it conservatives won big in the midterms. But then your show, Joe, isn't big on reality.

Sarah Palin is as grounded a public figure as we've seen in years. And if she takes a pass on serving America one more time, we know she'll be fine. She can teach a man to fish, after all. You might need to take her up on that.

P.S. Romney to go on Leno.

More. Jeffrey Lord, TAS: Is Sarah Palin Too Dumb to Be President? "Moderates" you might want to read this. Since you seem to have short memories.

More. Apropos, Fred Barnes:
Palin is making the most of her prominence. Her criticism of the Federal Reserve’s printing of more money was sensible and well ahead of the curve. And she instantly defended Juan Williams when he was canned by NPR, noting that, like her, he’d gone “rogue.” Palin looks increasingly formidable.
More. Legal Insurrection.

Related posts: Man Up, Taking on the Dysfunctional Elites. Sarah Palin

How bout climate change talks in Iceland


Not Cancun. NY Times:
It attracts thousands of journalists, environmental campaigners and corporate executives, each looking for a story or selling a product.

The actual negotiations tend to take place behind closed doors, where progress is measured in verb tenses and punctuation changes. And nothing of significance seems to happen until the 11th hour of the final day.

(Doubtless sucking on big government's teat.) Come on NY Times, Wikileak whores--off to Iceland, where other promoters ally themselves with Julian Assange--we want climate change Wikileaks.

P.S. Do you know how to build a fire, NY Times.

P.P.S. What we could use is someone to pull a WikiLeaks on WikiLeaks itself.

And this:
7. The key to understanding the WikiLeaks phenomenon lies in the erosion of the distinction, once clear and accepted, between the public and the non-public. Diplomacy, to work at all effectively, must draw a line between the “consultative process” and the “work product.” This is but part of the human condition: Human beings need to consult, speculate, brainstorm, argue with each other—yes, even to gossip and say dopey things—in order to find their way through the difficult task of coming to an official, or publicly stated position which would then be open (legitimately) to criticism. The refusal to see this distinction is, effectively, Marxist: It all comes down to property, which in Marxist terms is the root of evil. So one is no longer allowed to have property even in musings and speculations. (This, of course, is what underlies political correctness: You must no longer be allowed to think, let alone say, certain things.)
Freedom under assault in so many ways. Take note libertarians--especially in Iceland. These guys are destroyers. They don't care about individual liberty--they are the deciders.

Fresh Air Sweeps DC

Mother nature ship. APOD. A storm cell from the heartland.

Kirk takes office. New GOP leaders challenge The One on job-killing taxes. Hearing the voters loud and clear:
They want us to stop the spending binge, cut the deficit and send a clear message on taxes and regulations so small businesses can start hiring again.
Over in bankrupt Greece, The Goracle admits ethanol was a mistake. This chimera is costing us billions and counting, with other ill-conceived eco-jobs fizzling. Let the ethanol subsidies expire:
ethanol costs more than gasoline to make, raises food prices, increases tailpipe pollution and encourages cultivation of fragile lands.
And it's a huge water hog. Kill it.

Entitlement reform is on the table.

Americans are watching the weather in Washington.

More. A federal pay freeze is just a starting point--and it requires Congressional approval. Don't expect Dems to put this through, it will have to wait for the new GOP House, which wants a hiring freeze as well. But, as Heritage points out, this freeze merely locks in already high salaries:
As The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk has extensively detailed, federal pay gives the average federal employee 30–40 percent greater total compensation (wages and benefits) than a comparable private sector worker. Worse, the current federal pay system does little to reward performance. As a result, the federal government is both overpaying underperforming workers and underpaying the most skilled federal employees.
As for cutting spending--it's not nearly substantive enough. More:
We're keeping a weather eye on y'all.

More. (If Obama thinks the outmoded and pernicious START treaty with Russia is our most pressing national security issue he's delusional.)
Tom Bevan
Conroy: Obama Faces Big Test In Meeting With Republicans

Pat the Otter

The video.

Related posts: Pat the Nutcase, Pat the Coyote, Pat the Cougar

Here's the baby book. You know. For babies. Previous post: ‘Smithsonian Christmas-Season Exhibit Features Ant-Covered Jesus, Naked Brothers Kissing, Genitalia, and Ellen DeGeneres Grabbing Her Breasts’

‘Smithsonian Christmas-Season Exhibit Features Ant-Covered Jesus, Naked Brothers Kissing, Genitalia, and Ellen DeGeneres Grabbing Her Breasts’

Via NRO. More detail from the grisly article:
The promotion read, in part: "Gallery Talks & Tours, Kids & Families. EVENT LOCATION Throughout the museum COST Free RELATED EXHIBITION Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture ... NOTE This friends and family day includes music and hands-on arts activities inspired by the exhibition Hide/Seek: Difference and Desire in American Portraiture. Guided tours of the Hide/Seek exhibition also available at special times."
Isn't that special.

Seriously. Is this appropriate?

P.S. No Koran-burning sightings to date at the Smithsonian. Exit question--what if the ants were crawling over Mohammad?

Steve Forbes Gives Kudos to Palin

On monetary policy and a strong dollar, joining the WSJ in approving of her financial acumen. Palin on point.

You may or may not recall that Sarah Palin supported Steve Forbes for president, yup she was a hick from way back. As I recall Forbes was the first choice in our informal straw poll of our suburban Chicago New Trier GOP.

Getting some well-deserved respect. Sarah Palin.

Related. Palin Notes: Serious Questions about the Obama Administration's Incompetence in the Wikileaks Fiasco

Previous post: Who is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Afternoon Tea. Top TEA Party Blogs.


Find me in the Midwest:)

More tea, turning to local issues. WSJ. Running for local school and town boards. Why are those property taxes so high. Ask to see the checkbook, for a start:)

Following up to prevent vote fraud for the next time. Milwaukee's the latest in the ACORN hall of shame. Working to purge those dead voters from the rolls.

Some notice from the Brits on the TEA party impact.

And here's a new one:

It is called the Repeal Amendment. Brainchild of Georgetown Constitutional Law Professor Randy Barnett, the proposal has gotten legs with the help of Florida attorney Marianne Moran, Executive Director of RepealAmendment.org.

The proposal calls for a constitutional amendment that would allow the states, by a two-thirds majority vote, to repeal objectionable federal legislation and regulations. Virginia Representative Eric Cantor, slated to be Majority Leader in the upcoming Congress, has gotten behind the movement, as has Virginia’s governor, and lieutenant governor, leaders in the state legislature and Virginia’s Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli.
Have a cuppa tea. My choice? Constant Comment:)

Is it a happy birthday for the Rahmfather

Now that Jay Levine has been cleared of assaulting Bill Kelly, we can all rest easy so it is perhaps it is time for the media to ask Rahm Emanuel a few serious questions about his abilities to lead the City of Chicago.
John Powers, Chicago Daily Observer. Given the financial straits of the city.

Rahmbo's the front runner
, all the more reason to get these questions answered. After all, we don't want any nasty surprises like Blago, or his trial.

As for the residency issue, this is Illinois.
Here’s what’s going to happen: All the cases will be consolidated, hearings will be held by the election board and regardless of the outcome the matter will probably find its way up to the Illinois Supreme Court, which will ultimately find in Emanuel’s favor. They will rule that Emanuel’s two-year stint in the White House is equivalent to a soldier’s going to war somewhere and is therefore an exception to all the other residency requirements.
And Rahm is an insider's insider.

Do you want to send him a card? Like the ad that popped up on my site encourages?

...and yes, his tenant filed for mayor:)

P.S. A movement for more transparency
RT @: Profane emails among Rahm, Ari and Zeke / those would be fun
Related posts: Carol "Mostly Fraud" Bashes Rahm in Mayoral Bid, Rahm Goes Hollywood on Oprah's Plane, Laughable Objections to Meeks

Pat the Nutcase

What does North Korea want and what will Obama do about it. Fat chance. But maybe Seoul and Tokyo will step up.

Gordon Chang
with more, Forbes.

South Korea
stiffens its resolve.

In other news, why the TSA pat-downs and body scans are unconstitutional.

And Kim Jong-Un watches a musical performance with his dad. I'm sure beyond wonderful.

...As for placing hope in China being a benign influence on the Norks...Documents show China's role in shipments of nukes to Iran...

Cartoon by Michael Ramirez

Are you still coloring in the lines?

I always hated assignments like that. Actually, with the exception of choir, I didn't like school much until college. NY Times:
A few years ago, teachers at Ellis Middle School in Austin, Minn., might have said that their top students were easy to identify: they completed their homework and handed it in on time; were rarely tardy; sat in the front of the class; wrote legibly; and jumped at the chance to do extra-credit assignments.

But after poring over four years of data comparing semester grades with end-of-the-year test scores on state subject exams, the teachers at Ellis began to question whether they really knew who the smartest students were.

About 10 percent of the students who earned A’s and B’s in school stumbled during end-of-the-year exams. By contrast, about 10 percent of students who scraped along with C’s, D’s and even F’s — students who turned in homework late, never raised their hands and generally seemed turned off by school — did better than their eager-to-please B+ classmates.

Standards-based grading. What a concept.

The superintendent in Potsdam, Patrick Brady, who has been rolling out a revamped grading system this fall in his 1,450-student district, said it would allow teachers to recognize academic strengths where they often are not discovered — among minority students, or students from poorer families, or boys — subgroups whose members may be unable or unwilling to fit in easily to the culture of school.

A concept whose time has come.

That's not to say schools still shouldn't track. Evanston--you are going down the wrong path.

Content matters--not the "experience".

...And it's not a question of manners, but of culture. Otherwise you're whistling past the graveyard.

More. at Memeorandum.

Related old post: Gender Gap in Suburban Schools

Questions? What Questions

U.S. Court Exposes ISNA as ‘Apparatus’ of the Muslim Brotherhood (and Hamas): Questions Remain About the Department of Defense Continuing to Rely Upon ISNA to Endorse Chaplains

Biochemist Raises Questions about Nude-o-Scopes


Related posts: The War Against Christmas. Religion of Peace Version(Updated), Second Hand Scanner Radiation?

that brand of intellectual darwinism...

good luck with that:
Liberals/progressives make such a show of wanting to understand. To empathize, talk about, gain a faux elitist appreciation among their peers. It's strangely juvenile and devolved, yet it's presented as the height of their humanity. Good luck with that brand of intellectual Darwinism, kids.
kids

More. Never Complain, Never Explain (Updated)

...Poker Face…Private First Class Bradley Manning Smuggled the Security Documents out CD-RW labeled “Lady Gaga.”

Who is life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness

Hot damn. Sarah America. Legal Insurrection.

Engage:)

One warrior knows another.
Grounded and inspirational

The final frontier.

Stand for America.

P.S:) ...she just passed the Kobayashi Maru. And again!:)

More: Yes, Prof. Jacobson, Palin for president in 2012 Cynthia Yockey, A newly conservative lesbian

...I trudged through the snow for Romney last time. This time?

You can call me dumb if you want...but you would be WRONG:)

Related posts: Liberals are a con artist's turkey farm, BackyardConservative Named Top 30 Mom Bloggers Who Will Change Your Vote (Heh)

how bout those bears

:)

Ghost Riders, Ghost Pensions, Fiscal Suicide

So. A snippet in the Sun Times. "Free-ride cards of deceased still in use". Can't find it online, here's the original investigation. Crain's:

The agency reviewed about 400,000 senior free-ride cards and found 3,000 users had died, Palmer said. Of those 3,000, the RTA audit found about 160 were still in use anywhere from a few times to 1,400 times. Palmer said the misuse takes advantage of the free rides for senior citizens at a time when the transit systems "is in dire straits."

How predictable. How sickening. Dead people are still getting free rides while children yet to be born will pay for them.

States are teetering on bankruptcy. Next up--municipal bankruptcies. The Tribune exposes severe pension underfunding in the suburbs.

In this case bankruptcy may be a good thing. Perhaps then we can get the politics out of pensions. Perhaps we can be responsible in whom we elect.

We can't afford union retirements at fifty. It's immoral to put this on our children.
Over the past four decades, many of the folks who run our state and local governments signed suicide pacts — spectacularly unaffordable retirement deals — with public employee unions. These pacts have committed so many of today's and tomorrow's dollars to so many pension and retiree health benefits that not enough money is left to fund everything else. Hence the suicide pact analogy: Our governments — our taxpayers, that is — cannot realistically cover all of these exorbitant retirement promises. And our public workers cannot realistically expect that their too-generous benefits will survive as written on paper.
Suicide pacts. A ghostly, ghastly future.

The War Against Christmas. Religion of Peace Version (Updated)

The Other McCain. Michelle Malkin.

How will they handle this in peacenik tree-hugging Portland.

Latest in a series.

...if he had only come with his pet camel he might have stayed unnoticed longer.

...in other news:) Mystery Surrounds Cyber Missile That Crippled Iran's Nuclear Weapons Ambitions In the 20th century, this would have been a job for James Bond.

More. Byron York:
Politically correct Portland rejected feds who saved city from terrorist attack

More. Bread upon the Waters. Look at the faces. Mohammed Coefficient: 200% HT Pundit & Pundette

...a teenager. "Acting alone"

Seize first, ask questions later?

Another disturbing Obama administration action. HotAir: DOJ seizes domain names of more than 70 websites suspected of piracy

Hillbuzz
creeped out by the Death Star Dems.

Sen.-elect Mark Kirk (R-IL) at NTRO

It was a happy morning. Greeting and thanking his first constituents as a Congressman, from his home base. I shook his hand and called him Senator. Jumping the gun a bit:)

Kirk made a few remarks, among them that his first order of business will be to introduce a bill to cut spending, and he'll reinstate the Golden Fleece award. I remember it well from Sen. Proxmire of Wisconsin--the Senator who used to jog around my home state. Extending the tax cuts to help grow the economy are also on the agenda, as is the Small Business Bill of Rights.

People came from the surrounding towns--even someone from Evanston, who for the first time in many years will be represented by a Republican:)

For a better Illinois and a stronger America. We have a new Senator, Mark Kirk. New website--not going yet, is: http://kirk.senate.gov/

Chicago phone: 312-886-3506

Washington D.C. phone: 202-224-2854

Liberals are a con artist's turkey farm

Now Sarah's done it! Killing a fish on TV!

Let's fade out of that horror scene for a second and watch the liberals moan about
Sarah Palin killing a halibut.

In public. In front of God and everybody.

This is as bad as not aborting her baby. How could she do this?
***
She doesn't usually need a teleprompter because she believes what she says.
***
As people watch the train-wreck that is the Obama administration unfold, they are beginning to realize just how much the press, the politicians and their government has lied to them. There is a dawning realization that being a mayor of a good-sized town gives a person some very useful skills. Taxes, utilities, law enforcement, education, and myriad other things fill a mayor's day. Palin did it for ten years and did it well. It is true community organizing. It is a leadership proving ground with measurable human consequences -- America and America's problems in a microcosm. Palin cut her teeth there and made it to the governor's office, where, brief though her tenure was, she excelled. Her entry into national politics was perhaps premature, but the crucible of the 2008 election cut away much of her naïveté.
And this.

Taking on the Dysfunctional Elites


Palin on point
, time and time again.

P.S:) My fellow Americans in all 57 states, the time has changed for come.

P.P.S. My friend Pundette: Too much Sarah. Maybe. But. Just who the hell do we TEA partiers think we are, anyway. We. don't. want. this. political. class.

...If Chris Christie wants to snark that's up to him. He drops in my estimation. Anyone else who may or may not want to run should welcome her to the fray--or they drop in my estimation as well. What are they afraid of. If they can't debate Sarah Palin openly on the issues rather than send their paid minions out to bloody her up why should we trust them to take on Obama or whoever else the Dems run.

...Looking at the rest of the presumed field I'd better see more guts with honor, and soon...and that goes for whoever heads the RNC as well.

Related posts: Trib Hit Piece on Palin, Depose the Left. Palin vs. Gawker. A Case Study:), Classless Ruling Class on Palin. Barbara Bush

Past the lagoon and through the woods

Hooray for the pumpkin pie!

That left him free to attack several women

Powerline.

...in other news the effing Sen. Durbin Amendment is blatantly unconstitutional

Leftists assault us every day.

...If this ever happens to my wife or daughter, I’m going to need some bail money.

TSA Tweets

...tweets about Nude-o-Scopes, groping, and occasionally, humor.

More tweets.

Live.
Flying home for ? Learn the lyrics to @'s "Please Don't Touch My Junk" before you go.

ADAPT
We the powerful! @ TSA Beats The F** Out Of person For “Arguing”

Drudge Report
by digital_dude2
Ron Paul: Crotch Groped by TSA, Calls for Boycott of Airline...
...Oh, and for the next holiday: Oh, gee what do you know: BIG SIS: Next step for body scanners could be trains, boats, metro...
“[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through,” Napolitano said in an interview that aired Monday night on "Charlie Rose."
Janet Incompetano, on the job.

Full-body scanners popping up at courthouses...

First they came for your junk...

More on TSA via Zilla of the Resistance!

P.S.
Jeff Dunetz @
@ 70% of Americans Want The TSA To Adopt Israeli-Type Airport Security Measures
Previous post: Nurse Ratched Nanny State Go Away

Nurse Ratched Nanny State Go Away

Why did we declare independence anyway. Was it to be treated as gruel-consuming subjects? (You know, those scanners are called master and slave units.) I surprised myself by my rant yesterday. That's what comes from dealing with this Obamanation of a Big Government.

Today--a tremendous essay by my friend Fuzzy Slippers. Take Your Nanny State and Shove It. Read it all. We fight for freedom and for America.

And how about this stunner:
The middle class is being systemically bled into poverty or lured there because they are taxed so much that they now have less disposable income than those making minimum wage.
Buying votes with our tax dollars.

What's the matter with this Obama administration Nurse Ratched nanny state? Get stuffed. Get stuffed.

More. Surprise: Pat-Downs Poll Well Among Those Who Don’t Fly

Our New Obamacare Masters

Disband the TSA

More. Many Say Government Now Operating Outside the Constitution Rasmussen

Airport ‘Security’? The Obama administration would rather look under a nun’s habit than detain a jihadist imam for questioning.

Trib Hit Piece on Palin

Wow. Who do they go to for quotes. Mark McKinnon, the guy who fell for Barack Obama along with the rest of the smart set:
Mr. McKinnon had told friends, and some journalists, that he did not want to be part of a hard-fought campaign against such a historic candidacy. In his interview with Cox, he had said of Mr. Obama: “I think he has a deep character and good judgment. I also think he’s wrong on some fundamental issues. But I believe he is honest and independent.”
Nicole Wallace, whose friendship with the snotty, silly Katie Couric paved the way for her openly hostile interview of Palin.

And David Frum, described as a conservative. Well, he thinks he's one. But he now makes a living with the left by trashing conservatives, particularly Sarah Palin, since she's been out front rallying the principled opposition to The One.

As for Gawker, doesn't the Trib follow the news?
Indeed, Palin can dominate the news cycle with a simple tweet, something she did regularly before the midterm election. But as recently as last week, she was making waves. On Thursday, she tweeted, "This publishing world is LEAKING out-of-context excerpts of my book w/out my permission? Isn't that illegal?"

She was instantly mocked. "That last tweet [by Palin] sums up in 140 characters why this person should never be allowed any authority over any police force ever," Frum tweeted.
No mention of the judge knocking back Gawker. Oh wait--the Trib truncates the last two paragraphs in their print edition, it's mentioned online. How blatantly biased and irresponsible. More background on that Gawker attack. Who's the fool.

Here's some balance, since the Trib didn't give you any. Sarah Palin on Hannity last night.

This president is not respectable

The mainstream media is MSM no more--that's why I call them the PC media. Same goes for what Jack Cashill calls the Respectable Conservative Media. Well actually I don't consider them conservative, I consider them finger to the wind moderates, the vestiges of the Country Club Republicans of the Ruling Class. Stuck with an outdated template. This is what Cashill says about Obama--he's been writing about this for some time:
He has always known that he is not as competent as he has appeared -- as a writer, as a thinker, as a student, as a senator. His "luck" derived from the fact that he grew up almost exactly as privileged white people do but in the body of a black man.
This is what I wrote back in 2007:
And I don't object to Obama as black, or as a person of faith, I object to him as a liberal. I would further say that for him, being black is an asset, perhaps his only political asset---if he were white, he'd be just another liberal son of privilege who went to Harvard Law, and did a little community organizing while filling in the time before admission.
I do wonder though if he really does admit to himself the limits of his competence. Look at his best friend. (If Michelle ever dumps him look out.) I think we will eventually find out, no thanks to the ruling class media. Cashill continues:
The problem for the RCM is that they no longer control the information flow. In fits and starts, the blogosphere has done most of the real reporting on Obama.
They don't control the info filter any more.

W
e will choose our own Republican standard bearer in the primaries thank you very much.

...And let Ulsterman keep chronicling the juicy leaks or whatever they are.

Vice Tax and Big Bro BACKLASH

I don't know about you but I'm sick of the government. Naked scans or hands on our privates and in our wallets. You know they're going to want to tax us to the max rather than cut spending. It will never be enough.

Oh, and the Dems in Illinois want to put casinos everywhere so the state can profit--a dubious prospect.

Even at the airport. Who needs a cartoon.

And they'll probably try to put through a regressive tax on people who just want a cigarette or a coke. More destructive foolishness. They'll drive revenue and jobs and people who can leave out of a bankrupt state like Illinois. I live in Illinois and I say let the state go bankrupt. Then maybe we can restructure sensibly instead of paying through the nose for government unions.

And how does the government necessarily know what's good for us anyway.

Enough.

Cut the spending. And to fund s#@%! like this:

The so-called Ground Zero mosque recently applied for a $5 million federal grant from a fund designed to rebuild lower Manhattan after 9/11, reports The Daily Beast’s John Avlon.

omg.

Leave the "vice" in the private sector please.

And concentrate on the bad guys.

I am so sick of this Dem administration.

Second Hand Scanner Radiation?

Yes, the TSA is trying to keep the terrorists guessing so we're not supposed to second-guess the TSA. (No matter how astonishingly stupid, politically correct to the point of insanity, or profoundly ill-advised--there's a better way) Well, think again. This is from a science-trained millennial relative.
Read the Johns Hopkin's safety report from August 2010 here.

There's radiation that extends out from the scanner, for one, which according to the report could result in a higher than recommended dose for bystanders. And if these things break, which I have no doubt that they will given the high rate of use they're going to have and the no doubt crappy maintenance, they could be leaking a whole lot more than that.
I would think TSA employees, not just frequent flyers or cancer survivors would be worried about that. Not to mention the general public. Not to mention any parent concerned about the longterm effects on their growing child.

More and more of us are being subjected to this assault. This professional woman's reaction is very, very understandable. It's not going to be pretty. This administration had better listen up and get smarter about fighting terror.

Scientists Warn Naked Body Scanners May Cause Cancer. "They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays," says a John Hopkins University doctor.

The Dems won't let us store nuclear waste entombed deep in rock in Yucca Mountain but we can be radiated routinely by this administration in the middle of our airports.

Cartoon: Jack Higgins, Chicago Sun Times

More. Jindal blasts Obama administration, calls TSA searches excessive.

Obama's airport security strategy dictated by CAIR

Obama wants to go down with the TSA ship -- time to make him


More. Up on Drudge: REVOLT: Passenger chooses to strip instead of undergoing pat-down...

More. John Wohlstetter, TAS. TSA's Bait and Switch Airport Security Trap. Including this:
Israeli security neither uses body scanners nor intimate cringe-inducing pat-downs. The former do not detect certain explosives and critics say radiation exposure is low only if they are properly operated, not a given with TSA drones who are hardly radiologists at Johns Hopkins.
Get the sniffer dogs, at only $5,000 a crack. We don't think they're unclean.

More. U.S. Will Have to Rethink Airport Measures - Matt Lewis, Politics Daily

Depose the Left. Palin vs. Gawker. A Case Study:)

Hoist by their own smug petard. Legal Insurrection: Sarah, Now You Get To Give Gawker A TSA Screening

Illegitimi non carborundum, Gawker.

Turnabout is fair play:) Better than you deserve.

P.S. Hey there Mo. (Another Mo):

MAUREEN O’CONNOR: Weekend and night editor, Gawker

Talk about coming of age in the Internet era. Ms. O’Connor, 25, has never had a journalism job that even remotely involved a print product, having started at Princeton blogging for the IvyGate, a popular gossip blog about the Ivy League. “Our bread and butter was the scandals and follies of Ivy League students and faculty — hazing bloopers, secret societies, campus controversies,” said Ms. O’Connor
More. Wow. A quality media appearance.
Gawker's Maureen O'Connor Featured on ABC's The View

Two days after publishing an in depth study on the reliability of tabloid journalism, Gawker's Maureen O'Connor was invited to speak with the women of The View about her findings, including which tabloid magazines were the most (or least) accurate.

More from Mo O'Connor, back in the day:
As many have noticed, IvyGate is long overdue for regime change. (To the group of enraged Princetonians who launched an organized attack on my Facebook page: Touche.) You’d be surprised how hard it is to get someone to take over your crazy little lawsuit-magnet of a blog!
Petard.
Previous post: Classless Ruling Class on Palin. Barbara Bush

Bacon as Wonder Drug

For epilepsy. NY Times magazine.

...What about treating other diseases? Will Michelle O stunt medical advances?

Will ObamaCare?

Massive Lines Already at O'Hare

Video.

I'm not flying at Thanksgiving, but I am the Monday after. I shudder to think.

More:
Our government, fearing liquid explosives, now takes bottles of milk away from women with babies. It searches and gropes three- year old children and octogenarians alike. It makes all travelers remove shoes and boots when entering the gate area. Why? Because our government is now so politically correct that we’re on the verge of insanity. Rather than looking for terrorists, the TSA is looking not to offend those who might appear to be terrorists. It’s absolutely something Sartre would have written about were he alive today.
And this, from the left: Members of Congress Exempt From TSA AIT Full Body Scanners

***
They have enough authority to feel my kid's crotch, but not enough to admit their machine had malfunctioned. For that it takes a team meeting and phone calls -- after that second more invasive search.
Related posts: How Sexy is TSA, Moderate Muslim who beheaded his wife claims jailers are torturing and plotting to kill him, Don't Touch My Junk, An Astonishingly Stupid TSA

Subsidies for Citizenship?

Wealthy investors seek quick path to U.S. residency. Arcane federal program lures foreign investors to put up money for $52 million complex in McHenry County.
I'm not sure yet what I think of this program, but this part really bothers me:
As part of the $52 million deal, the investors would pay off $34million in federal and state bonds that would be issued for the project.
It's a subsidy by taxpayers. And that's wrong. We are already overburdened--and in bankrupt Illinois we are already paying ruinously higher interest rates for bonds we've already issued.

And I'd say this is a valid concern as well: "But their biggest worry is that the sports complex will wind up a failed local eyesore."

...Gee, what's on the next page of the Trib: Northwest suburbs still waiting for lift from O'Hare expansion

Boomer Bust. Baez Falls out of Treehouse

So aging hippie singer Joan Baez builds a treehouse to sleep with the birds, falls out.

...resting comfortably in an undisclosed location. Presumably not another treehouse.

Sun Times, Boomer Bust. The leading edge retires. Premium coffee in nursing homes?

If you can afford it.

Well, I'm at the younger end of the generation so I can spare some amusement. Grasshopper or ant, how did you live your life.

Aging hippies may be the most likely to be at the mercy of the Obama Dem Big Gov. heartlessness. Unless they've struck it rich like Joanie. But foolishness can do you in.

P.S. Is your pension safe?

Classless Ruling Class on Palin. Barbara Bush

She keeps her mouth shut for years to emerge with this?

I guess she wants to stay in the good graces of the Kennebunkport set, but did you notice even Maine went TEA party, Barbara?

Sarah Palin is in tune with America--common sense and guts. Grounded and inspirational.

Get used to it.

And while I won't tell Barbara Bush to shut up I think these establishment types are creating a backlash among the base--we want to choose our own candidates, thank you very much.

That's what this election was about--because the establishment are FOOLS and have run this country into the ground while they pork up themselves and their friends.

I don't know if Sarah Palin is going to run or not but this kind of derisive treatment had better be spurned by prominent Republican candidates or they'll fall by the wayside fast.

Related. Ruby Slippers: Did Gawker read those fair use links they suggested Sarah Palin read? UPDATED- Judge orders Gawker to pull pages

P.S. Sarah Palin's Alaska, Episode 2 tonight. Walking the walk.

More. An Exclusive Sneak Peek at “America By Heart” Sarah Palin

sisu: Barbara Bush vs Sarah Palin: "Sarah is all class"

How Sexy is TSA

SNL Imagines TSA Agents as Sex Workers. Video.

And TSA apparently may hire sex offenders.

This from a reader:
My 58 year old mother who had a titanium knee replacement in April 2010 was groped going through security at O'Hare Int'l Airport on her way to Palm Springs, CA to see my sister having a C-Section. Her breasts were lifted up underneath her shirt & genitals felt up. The details of the second part are nothing short of molestation, as she shared with my significant other what exactly took place:

"Had I been wearing a tampon with a string, this would have been pulled out by the TSA agent."

Utterly vile! My Mom told TSA she had a titanium knee as she entered the security area. She bears the scar tissue on her knee to prove the recent surgery.

My mother is trained as a psychologist. She shared that these TSA employees know they have absolute power over travelers. Furthermore, due to my mother's professional work and specializing in areas related to children, she discussed the serious problem now faced by women and girls who are survivors of rape, sexual molestation and sexual abuse. Potential for flashbacks, PTSS, or worse. If if one of these women or girls responds in anger, they will face even more trouble from TSA.
Wonderful.

...Air travel: One step behind terrorists


More. RCP Leads:
Life in the T.S. of A. - George Will, Washington Post
Patting Down My Disabled Daughter Makes Us Safer? - John Smith, LVRJ
A Better Way to Screen for Terrorists - Thomas McNamara, LA Times

More. Drudge:
TSA Pat Down Leaves Bladder Cancer Survivor Humiliated and Covered In Urine...

Young boy strip-searched...

Related posts: Moderate Muslim who beheaded his wife claims jailers are torturing and plotting to kill him, Don't Touch My Junk, An Astonishingly Stupid TSA

Writing my book - good times


Hiya guys,

Sorry for the lack of posting as of late, as the title suggests I have been writing my own DofE training manual lately, I have just finally finished off the chapter 2 of 8: navigation, word count sitting at 8217words, I am so psyched for writing this at the moment, really enjoying making the book the way I would want a training manual, it has taken me a while to write what I have so far, however quality is an issue so slow and steady is the best way. Little sneak peak in the picture there! More updates soon!