No Nanny State - Molon Labe!

And my wee wee drags in the sand when folded in half

Call me a cynic. Call me a non-believer. Call me a scoffer, if you will. But I'll bet anyone $100 that will take the action that our "No Water On The Plane Because They Might Be Bombs" rule will be largely dismantled within the next 30 days.

Did the TSA find a way to distinguish water from explosives (that was only partially written tongue-in-cheek)? Have new passenger screening practices been put in place to segregate likely terrorists from the rest of us?

No. This is what has happened:

Airport wide, checked luggage handled by all airlines has grown by about 20 percent in the past two weeks, SFO spokesman Michael McCarron said. But the increase in checked luggage hasn't led to breakdowns or bottlenecks in baggage claim areas, he said.

The airlines make a huge amount of money from the stuff they haul across the country. This new rule is going to cut into 20% of that business. With margins as tight as they are in the airline industry, they can't take a 20% cut in income, especially when coupled with the increase in fuel prices.

Now, I don't know if the water/gel/Gatorade thing is real or not. If it is, then you keep that crap off of the planes. If not, and this was just another government use of fear to keep us sheeple beholden to the Mighty Nanny - as I suspect - then it should be scrapped in its entirety. They won't do that, though, 'cause then they'll look like the incompetent dolts they really are. Can't have that, can we?

So when you read online or hear it on the news that, "restrictions have been lifted because... blah, blah, blah", you will know that the restrictions weren't changed because we're safer, they were changed because it cost the airlines too much money.

Makes ya feel warm and cuddley, don't it?

Are We Fightin' or Fundin' 'em?

Let me line this up in my mind, just so I've got everything straight.

• Hezbollah is one of the major Islamic Fundamentalist terrorist groups on the planet.
  
• Hezbollah has effective control of Lebanon.
  
• Because of this control, they became emboldened and kidnapped Israeli soldiers and shot rockets into Northern Israel.
  
• Israel responded and they had a little war for a month or so.
  
• Everyone is hugs and kisses now, and we have a cease-fire.
  
• Numbnuts Bush announces at his press conference yesterday that the US is going to give Lebanon - who, we recall from an earlier bullet point, is controlled by Hezbollah - $230 MILLION in aid.
  

Have I missed anything here? Did I actually read, from an actual US State Department web site, that we're going to give nearly a QUARTER OF A BILLION DOLLARS TO A TERRORIST ORGANIZATION?????

Have we lost our fucking minds?

It grinds my guts as unconstitutional that we give ANY aid to ANY country, but when it's given to the type of organization we're supposedly at war with, I just have to shake my head and wonder how the fuck these idiots ever came to power. My God, we're in a pile of shit.

Hmmm. I wonder how we might have spent that money in other ways. Oh, maybe build a fence on our southern border. Perhaps give it to the VA to provide better treatment to the returning soldiers. I don't know, perhaps we could just keep the fucking money in our pockets and not spend it at all. Just a thought...

ca·pit·u·la·tion (k-pch-lshn)
n.

1. The act of surrendering or giving up. See Synonyms at surrender.
2. A document containing the terms of surrender.
3. An enumeration of the main parts of a subject; a summary.

I have great difficulty in bestowing praise upon this president of ours. I feel he has done so many things wrong - from the war in Iraq, to our borders, to our deficit - that when he does something right, I like to acknowledge it.

I did this in my previous post titled Speak The Truth? In it, I said,

Look at the outrage when the President recently called our enemies, "Islamic Fascists". The talking-heads on the Sunday news shows were apoplectic in their condemnation of the President when accurately describing our foe.

What a difference a couple of days make.

This description of these terrorists drew a hailstorm of outrage from Muslims, literally from around the world. Instead of standing his ground because what he said was the truth, he capitulated,

Mr. Bush said the United States was engaged "in a war against an extremist group of folks, bound together by an ideology, willing to use terrorism to achieve their objectives,"

An extremist group of FOLKS?!?! For those of you that didn't hear the quote, he (quite appropriately) sounded like a bumbling, stumbling, weak-kneed, ineffectual boob. He characterized these murderers as though they were a couple of neighbors having a disagreement over someone's dog crapping in the other's yard.

I don't know where his head is, but he is caving in at every turn. His single strength as our president was his apparent resolve against these fascist bastards. Now, he can't even bring himself to utter the phrase.

Supposedly, the Saudi prince made a personal appeal to straighten this out. I sure hope the money is good...

Can what's happening in Europe happen here?

In the past few years, all in the name of security or political correctness, we have seen a slow "chipping away" at our Constitutionally protected liberties.

We have a Supreme Court that allows private property be taken from individuals and given to businesses.

We have an administration that says gathering information on Americans without a warrant is A-Okay.

We have a War On Drugs by the Federal government that is rooted neither in the Constitution, nor in common sense.

We have increasing belligerence and "above the law" mentality from our local police agencies.

Our gun laws do more to punish citizens exercising their lawful right to protect themselves than to protect society from "evil weapons".

The list goes on and on. But, we have a "movement" - and laws - in our country that frightens me even more because of its potential to "Europ-ize" our country.

Hate Crimes.

This movement concerns me because it has the potential to bastardize the one Constitutionally protected freedom that is still largely untouched, that of Freedom of Speech.

I wrote about these concerns over 2 years ago:

That's the problem with these "“Hate Crime"” laws. They hinge on the motivation of the perpetrator. Is that really relevant? Aren't I just as dead if I'm killed for being white or being killed because I have a nice watch on my wrist?

If I can get additional punishment because of what I say during the commission of a crime, is it such a stretch of the imagination to expect that the laws will be changed to simply make what I say, a crime?

Never happen? It's already happening in Europe.

In May 2005 Adel Smith, the president of Muslim Union of Italy filed a suit against Fallaci on defaming Islam in her book "“The Force of Reason"”. The suit was acknowledged by judge Armando Grasso of Bergamo, who ruled that book contains 18 offensive towards Muslims statements , e.g. "“the Europe is becoming more and more a colony of Islam"” or "“instead of love Islam spreads hatred and slavery instead of liberty"”.

Fallaci lost. Oh, and the Italian Constitution guarantees Freedom of Speech.

Right.

Look at the outrage when the President recently called our enemies, "Islamic Fascists". The talking-heads on the Sunday news shows were apoplectic in their condemnation of the President when accurately describing our foe.

"Inflammatory!" "Painting with too broad of a brush!" "Doesn't acknowledge the US and Israel's part in the conflict!"

I expected this from CAIR and their ilk. But from Americans? What would they prefer we call them? Misunderstood youth? Victims of savage aggression?

You just want to choke these bastards out. (That's probably hate speech in our Brave New World).

Our basic freedoms and the requirement of personal choice and responsibility are being slowly, but surely, sucked away.

My friends on the right that support the warrantless wire taps, "for our security" are just as culpable as my friends on the left that support eminent domain seizures, "for the greater good". Both are willing to chip away at parts of the Constitution that they feel are problematic for their view of our society. The problem is, when you chip away from both sides for long enough, pretty soon it just tips over, and nothing is left.

I just received my monthly newsletter from one of my Senators, Diane Feinstein. I blew a vein in my forehead, and wrote her this reply. Enjoy.

Dear Senator,

Thank you for your recent August Washington Report. It provides me with plenty of information to use to get you removed from office at your next election cycle.

1. Minimum wage. Perhaps you could point out the Article in the Constitution that allows the federal government to involve itself in the setting of wages of a business. You, and those like you, seem to think that setting an artificial minimum wage will help lift lower paid workers out of poverty. Hello!? You seem to think that a small business has a certain number of positions open, to be filled at whatever wage the government sets. People in the real world understand that a small business has a limited amount of money to spend on wages. If you tap too deeply into that pool of wage dollars, it will result in that business having to fire workers (or not hire others) to ensure they have funds to keep the business profitable. Great idea, if you dislike poor people.

2. Global warming. Sounds dire, indeed. Any SCIENCE on what is causing this rise in temperatures? I won't hold my breath...

3. Medicare. While you're looking through the Constitution for an Article that allows the federal government to set wages, maybe you could also find an Article that allows the feds to provide health care. Really, I've look pretty hard, and can find nothing. Let me know what you find. Maybe your job as a Senator should be to follow the Constitution, not the current bad practices. Just a thought.

4. Stem Cell. Sorry, one more item for the Constitutional search. Stem Cell research, or any medical research for that matter. Since I've piled on 3 items, I'll give you an extra day for research.

You see, Senator, private industry does ALL of these things much better than a bloated, bureaucratic government could ever do. YOU are part of the problem of an ever-growing government that consumes an ever-growing percentage of our personal resources. Your policies actually encourage individuals NOT to succeed, because Big Government will take care of them.

It's because of meddling, Nanny-state bureaucrats such as yourself that the debt and size of our government are spiraling out of control. Tax and Spend Politicians (Dems and Repubs) will be booted from office, because we can't afford to keep you around. Enjoy your government pension.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts.

Ed. I'm not holding my breath... That would be releasing greenhouse gasses, ya know?!