Monthly Archives

Monthly Archives for August 2002.

Today is the biggest traffic

Today is the biggest traffic day yet for Impeach Underperformin’ Norman. I’m also seeing the graphic on a variety of sites. I got to thinking this afternoon about the Impeach Mineta meme. It’s a simple slogan that “fits on a bumper sticker” so it’s easy to understand. It’s easy to pass on. It’s represents a set of ideas incredibly concisely. I’m just starting to realize how much that kind of packaging matters. I’ve been railing about the transportation security agency, and our nation’s approach to security, for a long time and falling upon deaf ears. All of the policy studies and detailed analyses fail. Now, I think the analysis has to be there to undergird the marketing — I’m not sure that the marketing is sustainable without a strong argument — but the marketing really…

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Tremendous thanks go

Tremendous thanks go to Instapundit for introducing so many of you to this site — and more importantly for keeping the pressure on in the fight for real security at airports — that takes both actual threats and our liberties seriously.

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The current issue

The current issue of The Atlantic has an outstanding piece on security — airline security, computer security, and how to think about protecting ourselves from terrorism. The bottom line is that we need systems that “fail badly.” It makes no sense to have a security checkpoint where if something bad passes through the system shuts down. We need to strengthen cockpit doors, arm pilots, and create sundry other redundant systems.

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I had a

I had a Sand in the Gears moment at the local Giant grocery last night. My girlfriend asked me to pick up ice cream on the way home. A simple task that was about to become not so simple. I picked up a package of Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey (let’s leave their politics out of this — we’re talking about ice cream, chocolate, and banana here!). I walked to the front of the store and found three checkout lines open, each one with at least five customers ahead of me. I got in the express line designated for shoppers with ten items or less and found that it was being worked by the store manager. I advanced through that line… and I was next. The store manager said, “I’m sorry, this line is closed.”…

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