This piece via American Thinker hits the nail right on the head….It’s not a lack of intelligence, it is, rather, a lack of intelligence in dealing with it.

Like any bureaucracy, the intelligence game is full of mindless drones. And in normal times, that is ok. But now that is not ok. Just not getting fired is not enough. We need intelligent people, who can “connect the dots”, and do things right, each and every time.

Having people who are just putting in their time towards retirement is NOT going to keep the citizens of (and visitors to) this country safe.

“They” (the enemy, the jihadists) will keep trying. We must have people who are at least as cunning as “they” are to thwart “them”. Drones will not get the job done.

Civil service laws be damned. Get the right folks in there, and the pencil pushing REMFS who just need to get their time in, and their proper tickets punched the hell out of the “intelligence” game.

Or soon, we will have airlines falling from the skies, or a city turn into a green glass parking lot.

Here is why….If it’s good enough for the Amish, then it’s good enough for me.

We could call it the “First church of Phred”…..

Whatever we should call it, it’s main tenet would be that we object on “religious grounds” to paying into a government run and mandated health care system, rather than making our own choices.

Think it would fly? I’m almost willing to give it a shot…

Might include mandatory firearm ownership in there as well…..might could come up with some other stuff too.

But as leader of the church, I’d most likely have to collect tithes and such…probably be a bookkeeping nightmare

Perhaps we should find a hall and work out what the gods will require of us.

Interested?

The plural of “anecdote” may indeed demonstrate a pattern.

Here is another anecdote, and observation about the “security” procedures we have at our airports. As is this. And this.

The Kabuki Theater we have instead of security (performed by the mindless TA workers) does little to enhance our security. It isn’t designed to do that. It is designed to discourage people who are security threats, and to force people into compliance. It does little (if not less) to create a secure environment, and it is possible that you are, when you fly today, less secure than you were before 9/11/01.

Look: I have no doubt that this is a tough job. And I have no doubt that many of the TSA folks are doing the best they can. But the system is designed for failure, and the workforce is, I have noticed, not what you might call the highest motivated nor drawn from the least murky gene pool…Not to mention a management pyramid that does not cause the best and brightest to rise to the top.

We have here, a largely poorly trained force that costs a significant amount of money, which inconveniences a large number of people every day for little, if any, gain.

But hey, it employs a lot of people who otherwise might have worked at McDonalds, or Taco Bell, thus making it harder for those establishments to hire, and to make a profit. And it does, no doubt, give them something to do, and probably influences them to vote for the current stars of the DNC. And, of course, provide them with some sort of health care benefits and such….

What it does NOT do is to make you safer.

If you think othersise, then you are a fool.

.

Scott Brown does fairly well at fund raising in a blue state….

Perhaps (just perhaps) the tide is turning, even in Mass.

It may be that there is hope for this country yet.

Breda loses a friend.

Think good thoughts for her.

The day is coming soon for me and my dog.
May I have the courage to take the step when necessary.

Honey.

Explosive???

Chemical Fumes??? From Honey???

Hospitalization of TSA Agents….For honey exposure…RIIGHT….

Methinks they need retraining…

Or better acting lessons.

Or an ass kicking.

I feel safer already knowing the professionals from the TSA are on the job.

And I can’t wait for the new Health Care Workers….

Look, I understand that honey might show up on a scanner looking like an explosive….But from there the theater gets creepy. How is it that they found both TATP and TNT in the initial swab, but not after that? And how is it that these agents were struck ill by honey fumes? (or were they just acting??) I would think that after all this mess that they might could be fired?

Yeah, I didn’t think so either.

as posted by HoosierBoy….

SHOW US THE HEALTH CARE HEARINGS, ASSHOLES!

And, as he states, we should all be saying it. Call yer congresscritters…..Hound them. Make them do what they should be doing….Shame then, tie up their phone lines….

But keep the pressure on.

only like 9 years late

Seems that there is now a fatwa prohibiting attacks against the US and Canada by extremists…..It is no longer a good idea..In fact, anyone with knowledge of such an attack or plans thereof should expose such plans….

Well, it is a step in the right direction, if a little late.

And, in order to make it stick, they had to state that any attack against either country was an attack against the Muslim citizens of our countries…..Not just that the attacks themselves are wrong (apparently as the rest of us are infidels it might not be wrong to attack us?????)

Hey, Imams….It’s wrong to kill people….Not just Muslims, EVERYONE who is not attacking you. Call it wrong. Condemn those who commit such acts…Stand up, move your religion into this century….

Anyway, enough said. It’s at least a start.

So once again the TSA is in the spotlight. Since they are now 8 years old, one might expect that the management of the TSA would have had time to get their shit together in one sock, and be able to keep it there. But apparently once a person becomes a government employee, their IQ and attention span decreases by at least 10%.

The “security breach” at Newark on 1/3/10 shows just how much we have gained in security…..It’s not just that some guy who took the job because the local McDonalds wasn’t hiring that day was not paying attention. It was also because the folks in charge of the cameras had apparently not bothered to make sure that this important piece of technology was operating….

I’m sure that everyone involved, the techs, the officer(s) and especially the management will be beaten and then “thrown roughly to the floor” disciplined and then summarily dismissed.

The fact is that you need very few credentials in order to be hired to be a TSA agent. IIRC, you do not need a H.S. diploma or G.E.D., nor are their any IQ tests. In fact, these are the same people (and their friends and siblings) who were doing your security BEFORE 9-11, only with better benefits and more comfortable (and official looking) uniforms….

So why, after nearly 8 years, can they not do any better?

It is frightening to me that we have examples like this, and that of the Post Office USPS, to inspire confidence in the government operation of our health care apparatus.

The USPS loses more and more money every year, at a higher and higher cost for the same service……The TSA cannot even stay awake long enough to do its job of keeping US air travel safe. More and more stupid regulations implemented, not for additional safety nor in response to a specific threat, but rather to make up for the shortcomings of the TSA personnel.

Remember this when you cannot get care because the Big Government Health Care clerk (transferred from the TSA, and probably cohabitating with a USPS mail sorter) decides you really don’t need that heart operation this week…..

We all know that a job created by a government bureaucracy attracts only the best and brightest folks, with the highest work ethic….

I just can’t wait for Health care…..Really, The TSA makes me feel so safe with it’s “Kabuki Security Theater” ever changing and poorly thought out rules, and I am so inspired by the thought of such behavior in my Health Care masters.

Seems that the Aussie government is getting SERIOUS with the folks who are against the government screwing with a farmer. Crushing of dissent and all that. Watch what happens. I would not put such tactics past our own dearly loved Jack Booted Thugs government officials.

Remember, this is a peaceful protest, planned in support of a farmer whose hunger strike is in protest of a government whose policies have resulted in a situation where his land has been essentially taken away from him with no compensation and no recourse.

The Aussie government is beginning to notice the protesters, judging by their tactics.

Perhaps they are getting scared.

How soon ’til these tactics are used against the Tea Party protesters? How soon until they decide to get serious about squelching protests?

Stay tuned. Seems that when one government does it, the rest soon follow…

Thanks to Bore Patch for the info.