Recently in Politics Category

Proving Santayana (or Einstein) right, today marks a milestone in the Afghanistan quagmire. A milestone in colossal stupidity: "On Saturday Nov. 27, the United States and its allies will reach a grim milestone: they will have been in Afghanistan a day longer than the Soviet Union had been when it completed its 1989 withdrawal."And the end is not in sight:"Pentagon spokesman Geoff Morrell last week made clear that the 2014 date for an end to...

The ever-encroaching police state-coming soon to a bus, subway, train, boat, federal building (and who knows where else) near you:"The next step in tightened security could be on U.S. public transportation, trains and boats. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano says terrorists will continue to look for U.S. vulnerabilities, making tighter security standards necessary."[Terrorists] are going to continue to probe the system and try to find a way through," Napolitano said in an interview that aired...

As is usually the case (usually being defined as 99.9999% of the time) when the question arises as to why the ruling elites in Washington do what they do, the answer comes back to 3 little words--follow the money:"The companies with multimillion-dollar contracts to supply American airports with body-scanning machines more than doubled their spending on lobbying in the past five years and hired several high-profile former government officials to advance their causes in Washington,...

You'll recall that earlier today, I reported the molestation of my 5 lb. poodle, Mimi, when she was selected by a TSA agent for an "enhanced" pat down late Saturday night as we were trying to get home for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The reason for the pat down?  She was wearing a dog sweater.  We hadn't set off the metal detector, and hadn't refused any TSA requests.  She was selected because she was wearing a...

I recently sat down for an interview (sort of) with our third president and author of the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson. The questions are mine, the responses all quotes attributed to Jefferson. You could look it up:Mr. Jefferson, a topic in the headlines lately is the security measures being taken in our airports, the aim of which is, allegedly, our safety. What is your opinion on that? "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences...

In Charlotte, a cancer survivor and a flight attendant of 32 years was forced to remove her prosthetic breast. Other breast cancer survivors have had similar experiences at Dulles Airport in Washington, D.C. A 66-year old California woman who wears a pacemaker wrote in an e-mail to MSNBC:"During a recent enhanced pat-down, a screener cupped my breasts and felt my genitals..To 'clear my waistband' she put her hands down my pants and groped for the...

The right-wing blogosphere is frothing at the mouth this morning over the outcome of the civilian trial of Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani yesterday. Ghailani was acquitted on all but one of the 280 charges of conspiracy and murder brought against him in relation to the 1998 bombings of U.S. Embassies in Kenya and Tanzania.Pamela Geller called it, "another breathtaking Obama failure, yet again putting Americans and national security at risk."Hugh Hewitt said of those who were...

There is a fight taking place about who should be the next Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives.The incumbent Speaker, Republican Joe Straus, was elected two years ago with the help of Democrats in the House.With Republicans gaining many seats in this month's election, some Republicans are calling for someone they feel would a more conservative Speaker to take the office from Mr. Straus.Speaker Straus is Jewish.Not surprisingly given the people involved in this...

The circular firing squad is forming:"The Democratic Party's Herbert Hoover-like response to high unemployment cost them their majority, a member of the House Democratic leadership team said Tuesday. "We never did enough in terms of that area for us to have the kind of success we would have," he said on MSNBC. "We had a Roosevelt moment and responded like Hoover."Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill) on the recommendations from the co-chairs of the deficit commission:"The middle...

Hamburger Wearing An Astros' Hat, a regular contributor to my blogging efforts,  is reading the book Boone--A Biography by Robert Morgan.Boone is a very good book. It shows Daniel Boone as a real person instead of some wild person out in the woods.All people have complexities. Or--at the least---all people have the potential for complexities if they can avoid intellectual laziness and only seeking out the easiest solutions.Here is a review of Boone.Daniel Boone had complex relations with Native Americans. He came...