Dan Pink observes that the administration’s Iraq hawks haven’t served in the military and that those calling for caution are the ones that have served. He proposes that Any political leader who favors attacking Iraq must also offer a son, daughter, or other close relative to serve on the front lines of the war. Pink also introduces the Spence Abraham prize for hypocritical conservatives who denounce a government agency and its laws, go on to run those very same agencies under Republican presidents, and agree to enforce the very laws they have attacked. There may be no higher journalistic calling than exposing hypocrisy.
Punditwatch is up.
Punditwatch is up.
Holders of the Delta American
Holders of the Delta American Express register for Triple Miles on Everything in October.
Glenn Reynolds notices
Glenn Reynolds notices that the first person in line to board an aircraft gets a random screening. He’s right.
ScrappleFace: McDonald’s To
ScrappleFace: McDonald’s To Launch Restaurants for Protestors (link via cut on the bias). Outstanding satire: (2002-08-23) — Following yet another lawsuit, McDonald’s Corporation announced today it intends to launch restaurants specifically for protestors. “We looked at the demographics and it just made sense,” according the news release. “Protestors are everywhere and they’re very vocal about what they like and what they don’t. In essence, they’re the ultimate target market. If our regular customers stood in the streets shouting about their personal preferences, we’d be out there with tape recorders. These protestors have really opened our eyes to opportunity.
The Los Angeles District Attorney
The Los Angeles District Attorney won’t press charges against Buzz Aldrin for hitting a man who was aggressively trying to get him to admit that his walk on the moon was faked. BEVERLY HILLS, Calif., Sept. 20 (UPI) — The Los Angeles County District Attorney’s office declined to file a misdemeanor battery charge Friday against former astronaut Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin, who allegedly struck a man in Beverly Hills earlier this month in a dispute over whether Aldrin’s 1969 moonwalk was a hoax. Aldrin, 72, was confronted on Sept. 9 by Bart Sibrel, who has been challenging the authenticity of NASA’s manned moon missions, claiming that the Apollo program was a cover — designed to trick the former Soviet Union into overestimating U.S. power during the height of the Cold War.
The New York Times reports
The New York Times reports that expensive screening machines get little use. Even as the Transportation Department races to install million-dollar machines in airports to screen checked baggage, most of the devices are operated less than two hours a day, and some hardly screen any bags at all, two congressmen said today. ..Citing figures from the inspector general of the Transportation Department, Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and James L. Oberstar of Minnesota, both Democrats, said in a letter to the domestic security director that only 4 of the 155 machines installed in June were even screening at what the inspector called “minimum capacity,” or 125 bags an hour for 10 hours. “You’d think they’d be increasing their efficiency as we get close to the deadline, so the gap won’t be so enormous,” Mr.…
This cartoon captures
This cartoon captures the recent airline ticketing policy changes quite nicely.
Passenger Questioned At
Passenger Questioned At Oakland Airport because his name was similar to one on the FBI watch list. It was a false alarm, and doesn’t instill confidence in procedures: The law enforcement response was part of normal airport procedure and such name matches are “not necessarily a daily occurrence, but it is somewhat routine,” (Airport Spokeswoman Rosemary) Barnes said. Even a match of the first three letters of a passenger’s name with a name on the FBI’s list could trigger a security alert, according to Barnes.
Another victory for pressure on
Another victory for pressure on Mineta. The TSA will end “random” screenings at airplane gates. This means an end to the practice known as Gate Rape. These screenings were not random — frequent flyers learned just not to be first in line, and to walk onto the plane right after a screener had tagged someone else. These screenings were not effective, so this is good news. For some reason TSA thinks that dumping out our passengers’ underwear at the gate after it has already been dumped out at the security screening checkpoint makes TSA look like they are on top of things,” (Continental Airlines Chairman Gordon) Bethune said in a speech to the Wings club of New York in June. This good news comes after another idiotic measure was withdrawn — passengers may now carry…
