Posts by Dominique
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Message boards :
Politics :
Political predictions - II
(Message 804657)
Posted 3 Sep 2008 by  Dominique
Post: It is ture(sic) that Congress has a very low rating, 9% from your post, however, it might be fear to add that Obama won his seat by winning 70% of the vote cast. Obama beat Alan Keyes, a conservative Republican from Maryland, who faced an uphill battle. First, Keyes had few ties to Illinois political leaders. Second, during the time when Obama had no opponent, Obama had campaigned throughout the more conservative downstate regions to build up name recognition. Third, Keyes was seen as a carpetbagger, only establishing legal residency in Calumet City, Illinois a few (4) days before running. The Chicago Tribune in an editorial, stated that "Mr. Keyes may have noticed a large body of water as he flew into O'Hare. That is called Lake Michigan." In all honesty Obama ran against no one. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Religious Thread [12]
(Message 804519)
Posted 3 Sep 2008 by Dominique
Post: i'm buddism,right under here is something simple about it: Simply stated... Karma |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Political predictions - II
(Message 804419)
Posted 3 Sep 2008 by Dominique
Post: Obama’s Fear of a Woman Now to a real patriot, a woman who will be John McCain's vice-presidential running mate, but who is far more qualified on all levels than Obama to be president. The title begins with the fact that Obama is afraid of a woman. That woman is Governor Sarah Palin of Alaska. Obama launched his first attack on Governor Palin before John McCain had time to make the official announcement. McCain was set to introduce Palin at noon. Some reporters pieced together flight information on the various "short-list" candidates, and reported that Governor Palin was to be McCain's running mate. Within 15 minutes, without doing any research on the Governor, Obama made a hasty and unfounded attack public. He said that McCain had chosen "the mayor of a town of 9,000, with zero foreign policy experience." If Obama's handlers knew anything about politics outside of Washington, DC they would have stopped him before he put his foot in his mouth (yet again) by missing the fact that she is the Governor of largest state in the Union. (Although much smaller in terms of population, Alaska is twice the size of Texas, and almost six times the size of California.) Yes, she was a mayor, and a darned good one if you ask the people she led. And she used that beginning as a stepping stone to greater and greater responsibilities until she defeated a corrupt incumbent governor, and embarked on a successful crusade to crush corruption in Alaska. (Before Palin, Alaska had the same reputation for political corruption as Chicago, where Obama learned his politics.) As to foreign policy experience, she is the Chief Executive of a state that is uncomfortably close to Russia, and was once owned by Russia. She is also the Commander in Chief of the Alaska National Guard, which would be our first line of defense should Russia try to do to Alaska what it recently did to another former Russian posession, the nation of Georgia. (You may say even Russia is not that crazy, but that's what everyone was saying about Georgia just a few weeks ago.) So I would put her knowledge of foreign policy way ahead of Obama, who served just 143 days as a junior senator before his arrogance persuaded him that he was capable of running a nation. His only foreign policy experience has been the blunders he has made during his campaign for the Oval Office. His mistakes during his pronouncements on international affairs made his inexperience and lack of preparation painfully evident. As far as the other two people in this race, McCain's foreign policy experience overwhelms that of Joe Biden. And Biden was added to the Obama ticket with the express purpose of propping him up in this critical area where everyone (including his own party members) acknowledged his weakness. So where Obama picked his running mate to try to make his ticket credible, McCain further strengthened an already strong campaign by bringing aboard someone who had vital experience that Obama, Biden and even McCain lacked: executive experience. Rudi Giuliani put it best when he spoke Sunday on "Face the Nation." "She's vetoed legislation; she's taken on corruption in her party and won. She took on the oil companies and won. She administered a budget successfully." Obama, meanwhile, has "never run a city, he's never run a state, he's never run a business, he's never administered a payroll, and he's never led people in crisis." Oh, by the way, Palin has an astounding 80% approval rating form the people she governs. Obama shares in the shameful 9% approval rating of Congress. Setting aside for a moment the fact that Sarah Palin is far more qualified than is Barack Obama to be president, ask yourself this question. Who would you feel safer with as vice-president, knowing that she or he could become president at any moment: Joe "Politics-as-Usual" Biden, who has run a committee? Or Sarah "The Reformer" Palin, who has very successfully run the largest state in the United States of America? |
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Questions and Answers :
Windows :
Unable to get new tasks
(Message 804117)
Posted 1 Sep 2008 by Dominique
Post: What effect would this have? 01/09/2008 21:38:42||Preferences limit disk usage to 0.00GB |
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Message boards :
Cafe SETI :
. . . dinner is bein' served
(Message 803940)
Posted 1 Sep 2008 by Dominique
Post: No pics but this dinner is a fave of ours. --------------------------------------------- Carrot Slaw Fresh carrot salad with raisins and apples. 6 medium carrots 1/4 cup celery 1/3 cup raisins 1/2 cup diced apple 1/2 cup mayonnaise Salt to taste Grate the carrots by hand or in a food processor. Carrots must be very fine. Toss with the celery, raisins and apple. Mix in the mayonnaise, season carefully with salt and chill thoroughly. Keep a bowl of ice under your bowl of carrot salad to keep it fresh. Serve on a leaf of your favorite lettuce. ================================================================== Cranberry Pork Roast 1 boneless pork loin roast (3 lbs) 1 can (16 oz) jellied cranberry sauce 1/2 cup sugar 1/2 cup 100% cranberry juice (not that 27% kind) 1 tsp dry mustard 1/4 tsp ground cloves 2 Tbl cornstarch 2 Tbl cold water Salt to taste Place pork roast in a slow cooker. In a glass bowl, mash the cranberry sauce; stir in sugar, cranberry juice, mustard and cloves. Pour over roast. Cover and cook 6-8 hours on medium until tender. Remove roast and keep warm. Meanwhile, take 2 cups of the roast juices (adding water if necessary), and pour into a saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Mix the cornstarch and water to make a paste; stir into gravy. Cook and stir until thickened. ================================================================== Mashed Potatoes These are the most decadent and delicious potatoes you have ever tasted. I make these when we have either cranberry pork roast or chicken-fried steak (or about any other time as well). Forget your cholesterol for a meal and enjoy! I like making these Mashed Potatoes with Yukon Gold, when available. About 6-7 medium boiling potatoes(Yukon Gold or a quality Idaho) 1/4 pound (1 stick) butter 1 cup whipping/heavy cream 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese 1 Tbl chopped chives 1/4 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp parsley flakes Whole Milk Boil potatoes roughly 30-40 minutes until soft when fork is inserted. Drain potatoes and return to pot. Whip potatoes without any liquid ingredients (very important) to assure a dry consistency. Add butter and cream; whip well. Add additional cream or milk until you have the desired consistency. Add remaining ingredients and beat until well blended. Dollop with additional butter and garnish with additional chives, if desired. ================================================================ Drop Biscuits 2 cups all-purpose flour 3 tsp baking powder 1 tsp salt 1 tsp sugar 3/4 cup milk 1/3 cup corn oil 1 beaten egg Blend the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the dry ingredients. Stir together lightly. Drop by spoonfuls onto a buttered cookie sheet. Bake in a 450° oven for 12 to 15 minutes. =================================================================== And for dessert Pecan Pie Fresh pecans are the key to a fine Pecan Pie. Enjoy! 1 9-inch pie shell 3 eggs 1 cup dark Karo corn syrup 1/2 cup dark-brown sugar 4 Tbl butter, melted 1 tsp vanilla 1 1/4 cups pecan halves Turn the oven to 425°F. Beat the eggs in a bowl with a fork or whisk until very well blended. Add the corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla. Blend well again. Stir in the pecans, then pour the mixture into the pie shell. Bake the pie for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F and continue to bake for another 15 to 20 minutes. The edges of the pie should be set but the middle still has a little wiggle to it. If the pie bakes too long, it will be so hard when it sets that you may have brickle on your hands, so watch the pie closely. Let the pie cool and serve with whipped cream (the real stuff not that Cool-Whip crap). |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 803492)
Posted 30 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Sic Semper Tyrannis by Becky Akers Poetic justice is rare in this world, which makes what happened recently at Mineta San Jose International Airport all the more satisfying. A passenger suffering one of the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) unconstitutional searches suddenly remembered the canister of pepper spray in his bag and warned his assailant about it. "The TSA agent took it out and was going to put it into the hazardous waste disposal…'' said Rich Dressler, the airport’s spokesman. But that would have been too easy, and anyway there’s the TSA’s tradition of incompetence to uphold. So the screener "accidentally discharged" the thing instead. He took out nine of those happy, helpful Americans the TSA pays to paw us (presumably including himself, though reports weren’t clear). Pepper spray disables everyone in the vicinity, not just direct targets. Yet Dressler insists that "no other passengers or airport employees were affected and no flights were delayed." So the justice is pure. The agency didn’t even detain the poor guy from whom it swiped the spray because he "cooperated." Police states are big on cooperation. Meanwhile, witnesses dispute the "official" story, as they often do nowadays in the American aviation gulag. Someone at flyertalk.com who claims "I was there when this happened" says, "It affected way more than 5 [sic, according to early reports] people [sic for TSA goons]. Everyone I could see, ~30 people (including several pilots) in line at the security X-ray machines were all coughing and wiping their watering eyes….the worst part was that none of [the] TSA people would tell us what was going on." Yep, that sounds like the screeners we all know and loathe. The episode bolsters those cynics who suspect that TSA means "Thousands Standing Around." Screeners cluster so thick you can’t swing a dead cat or squirt pepper spray without hitting 9 of them. And for what? During the 6 years that the TSA has been delaying passengers, none of its employees anywhere has discovered a single terrorist. That isn’t for lack of manpower: the TSA boasts roughly twice as many screeners as Al Qaeda does terrorists. Estimates of the latter’s numbers vary, but none put its membership at more than 20,000, and most are considerably below that. Jack Cloonan spent six years at the FBI tracking Osama bin Laden. He laughed when a writer for Harper’s Magazine "pegged [Al Qaeda’s] membership at several thousand" and said it mustered only 198 troops in 2001. Then came the War on Terror. Four years later, the Federation of American Scientists (FAS) calculated Al Qaeda’s "members and associates" at several thousand. The James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies at the Monterey Institute of International Studies in California concurs. It thinks Al Qaeda has about 2800 militants and another 5000 in training, based on information from "an Arab security service." The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) errs on the side of safety, with a figure of 20,000. The Institute doesn’t specify whether that includes the joker in the White House and his puppeteer, though it does warn that their War on Terror has "accelerated" Al Qaeda’s recruitment. But what if even 20,000 is lowballing it? Say there are actually 30,000 "Islamofascists" trying to blow us sky-high: the TSA still trumps. It makes work for roughly 45,000 screeners, plus countless "Federal Security Directors" lazing about airports and the TSA’s lavish headquarters. If these leeches truly believe in the War on Terror, let them enlist and hunt bad guys Over There instead of harassing innocent passengers Here. Then again…imagine fat LaWanda in her blue gloves waddling about boot camp…not a pretty picture…the "ka-BOOM!" of an artillery drill scares her silly – or sillier than she already was…she "accidentally discharges" her rifle… Screeners this inept should be turned against America’s politicians, not her taxpayers. San Jose’s "wasn't a first for this type of pepper spray accident at an airport," according to the Mercury News. It quotes TSA spokesman Nico Melendez: "I can't remember where or when exactly, but this has happened before." We might consider that a commentary on the agency’s learning curve, but the TSA sees it as a lesson for passengers: "Melendez said he hoped this experience would remind travelers to leave their self-defense-in-a-can at home." Yeah, who needs self-defense when the TSA’s around? This slapstick doesn’t come cheap. The TSA, which annually eats about $6 billion of our taxes, has gobbled $36 billion since it began operations in 2002. That means we’ve spent $1,800,000 to keep each of those 20,000 terrorists off our flights – not counting the Department of Homeland Security’s billions. Heck, let’s disband the TSA and pay off Al Qaeda instead. Six billion divided among 20,000 terrorists gives every man $300,000 per year. Tell me they’d rather live in caves than retire to some Mediterranean mansion on our money. Then again, they might pull a George Bush on us: take our taxes to live in a palace but bomb folks anyway… I still say it’s worth a shot. We could probably even work out a deal for half the amount and save ourselves a bundle. Best of all, airports can revert to being airports instead of prisons. They may not be as entertaining when the wardens aren’t Macing each other, but at least we’ll keep our shoes on. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 803343)
Posted 30 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Nice! I fly this Custom Painted 2005 Mooney M20M Bravo.  I really liked the color scheme. That's one of the things that sold me on it plus its out and out speed. It gets us to Florida in 4-5 hours and then it's a quick jump to the Bahamas. Oh BTW, that's from New Jersey. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 803326)
Posted 30 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Solution: We've stopped flying on commercial carriers a few years back. Most people don't have the luxury of flying their own aircraft as we do. I love the freedom of piloting my own aircraft. But even with this ability there are some minor hassels from the Dept. of Homeland Security. At least I don't get groped everytime I want to fly somewhere. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 803300)
Posted 30 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Fliers Complain About X-Rated Security Screenings TSA Agents Forced Woman To Remove Nipple Rings, Pulled Pants Off Disabled Man When travelers go to the airport, they know what kind of security to expect: luggage searches, metal detectors and shoe inspections. It's all part of our post 9-11 reality enforced by the Transportation Security Adminstration. But as CBS 2 Investigator Pam Zekman reports, thousands of travelers have complained that some of these screenings can become abusive and even x-rated. For arguing with a TSA agent, Robin Kassner wound up being slammed to the floor. She's filed a lawsuit. "I kept begging them over and over again get off of me ... and they wouldn't stop," Kassner said. And it wasn't enough for another woman to show TSA agents nipple rings that set off a metal detector. The agents forced her to take them out. Mandi Hamlin said, "I had to get pliers and pull them apart." In Chicago, people like Robert Perry are subjected to exhaustive security checks. He was patted down, his wheel chair was examined and his hands were swabbed, all in public view in a see-through room at the security checkpoint. Perry, 71, is not alone "It's humiliation," Perry said. Perry was also taken to a see-through room by a TSA agent when his artificial knee set off the metal detector. "He yelled at me to get the belt off. 'I told you to get the belt off.' So I took the belt off. He ran his hands down over and pulled the pants down, they went down around my ankle," Perry said. At that point, Perry was standing in his underwear in public view. He asked to see a supervisor. That made things worse. "She was yelling 'I have power, I have power, I have power," Perry said. The power to stop him from flying to Florida with his wife that day to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary. "It makes you feel like you have no rights," Perry said. Perry said he always alerts TSA agents about his metal knee and wonders why they can't just check his leg. "If somebody told me that I would save the people on the airplane by taking my pants off out in public out there, I wouldn't mind doing it, but this was not necessary," Perry said. A TSA official spokesliar said that when the metal detectors go off, their agents must resolve what caused the alarm. But experts have said it's important to use common sense when balancing security and customer service. Carlos Villarreal, former director of security for the Sears Tower, said proper training is crucial. "When you're wanding somebody and you can identify which part of the body set of the alarm, that should be sufficient to clear a person," Villarreal said. But all too often, it's not enough for 16-year old Michael Angone. She frequently flies as a member of the Chicago Children's Choir. "I've had to completely take my pants off and show them like my entire leg," Angone said. As a baby, Angone was diagnosed with cancer. Her parents, both Chicago police officers, had to have her leg amputated. She said she always warns TSA security agents that her prosthetic leg will set off the metal detector, but many insist on doing an embarrassing full body pat-down. "I feel like I'm being felt up in public," Angone said. Her father Bob Angone wanted to know, "What's the reason for all the feeling up, you know the groping at the back of the neck, the chest, underneath the bra, all the groping on her body, her buttocks?" CBS 2 News asked the TSA those questions, but got no answers. "The key word here is reasonable, and they have gone off the track. They are not reasonable," Bob Angone said. The TSA declined to comment on the Angone and Perry cases, but the agency has announced that soon, passengers who set off an alarm that cannot be resolved will have a choice: Agree to a physical pat-down or what some believe is an even worse invasion of privacy. This fall, O'Hare International Airport will get its first advanced digital x-ray machine. It allows TSA agents to see through clothes and discover any hidden weapons. Critics have likened it to a virtual strip search. A spokesman said that out of 2 billion passengers screened nationwide since 9-11, there have been "only 110,000" abuse complaints. As for the nipple ring case, TSA did change its procedures regarding body piercings. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
FEMA and Horse Shows
(Message 803191)
Posted 29 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: [quote][quote] It's the most overdone "typo" on the Internet. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
FEMA and Horse Shows
(Message 803184)
Posted 29 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post:
It's LOSE! |
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Message boards :
Politics :
FEMA and Horse Shows
(Message 803178)
Posted 29 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: So he was a fire chief and helped clean up after a hurricane and a plane crash? The hurricane guy who was appointed in Jan. 2003 was Michael D. Brown who is remembered by GWB's line, "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job". |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 803099)
Posted 29 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Federal Attitude Policy by James Bovard August 29, 2008 The Transportation Security Administration has created more gauntlets at American airports than most travelers realize. It has continually changed the rules for flying since it first deployed its 40,000+ army of screeners across the land. Americans are at much greater risk of being arrested or fined in the airport for not kowtowing to federal agents. The rise of the TSA vivifies how low contemporary Americans have fallen. James Madison observed in The Federalist Papers, It will be of little avail to the people that the laws are made by men of their own choice if the laws be ... so incoherent that they cannot be understood; if they be repealed or revised before they are promulgated, or undergo such incessant changes that no man, who knows what the law is today, can guess what it will be tomorrow. Today, “law†and regulations have become tools to force people to behave in ways government officials approve of, rather than a clear line that citizens can respect in order to live their lives in privacy and peace. Government agencies now routinely covertly change their regulations. The rule of law – the classical concept endorsed by the Massachusetts constitution of 1780 as a restraint on government power – has been replaced by the “rule of memo,†whereby federal officials on a whim create new rules to bind private citizens. Americans of the Revolutionary era glorified the law because it was seen as a means to restrain government and to secure the rights of the citizens. Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek defined the rule of law in 1944: Government in all its actions is bound by rules fixed and announced beforehand – rules which make it possible to foresee with fair certainty how the authority will use its coercive powers. The rule of law aims to minimize discretionary power. But the TSA maximizes its discretion to change the rules travelers must obey at any time. Fining for fun TSA agents are entitled to reverential treatment, regardless of how much damage they inflict on people’s travel schedules or luggage. The TSA slapped fines on almost 5,000 people in 2003, yet never made any public announcement that people faced fines for violations. There were no warnings and people who received a fine in the mail were never informed of their right to contest or appeal the fine. TSA waited until early 2004 to announce the fine system, at which time the maximum fine was raised from $1,100 to $10,000. TSA agents at Baltimore-Washington International Airport confiscated a small steak knife from the briefcase of Susan Brown Campbell, a California lawyer. After she received a $150 fine in the mail, she called TSA seeking information on how to challenge the fine. A TSA lawyer phoned Campbell and, as she later stated, was “very, very intimidating,†warning “that the penalty could be up to $10,000.†Campbell was told she would have to travel back to Baltimore to contest the fine. TSA punished Campbell’s insolence by doubling her fine to $300. Travelers can be heavily fined for inadvertently possessing the same kind of object TSA now approves giving to first-class passengers during flights. It ruled in September 2003 that airlines would be permitted to provide metal knives to first-class passengers at mealtime. One of TSA's spokesliars Yolanda Clark said of a typical airline knife, “Even though it’s stainless steel, it has rounded edges and the chances of it actually being used to bring down an aircraft are probably minimal.†The metal knives given to first-class passengers may be potentially more dangerous than most items seized at TSA checkpoints. But the agency has no plans to boost its seizure totals by launching raids on first-class cabins. The fines are an extension of the power the feds awarded themselves in a February 2002 Federal Register notice, which announced that people could be arrested if they acted in a way that “might distract or inhibit a screener from effectively performing his or her duties.... A screener encountering such a situation must turn away from his or her normal duties to deal with the disruptive individual, which may affect the screening of other individuals.†Practically any comment or behavior that makes a TSA screener “turn away†from whatever he was doing can thus be a federal offense. A thousand people were arrested in airports at TSA’s behest in 2002, and roughly 1,500 were arrested in 2003. (Many of those arrested were caught with firearms or bona fide dangerous weapons.) Since the TSA is now intercepting 15,000 prohibited items a day from travelers, the new system of fines could raise enough money to pay for fancy new epaulets for every TSA agent’s uniform. TSA agents can fine Americans up to $1,500 for any alleged “nonphysical interference†at a TSA checkpoint. There is no formal definition for this offense. TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis said the offense included “any nonphysical situation that in any way would interfere with the screener and his or her ability to continue to work or interfere with their ability to do their jobs.†This penalty would seem to be limited solely by the imagination or the malice of TSA agents. TSA agents can slap fines on Americans based on “attitude,†which TSA classifies as one of the “aggravating factors†in determining financial punishments. TSA has issued no guidance on the precise amount of obligatory groveling at airport checkpoints. People who question TSA commands are probably far more likely to be fined. The Wall Street Journal reported in 2005 that individual TSA airport “federal security directors†have sweeping discretion to impose penalties on travelers – or not. The frequency of fines ranged from 300 per million passengers to zero per million passengers. The Manchester, New Hampshire, airport had by far the highest rate of fines for travelers. The airport’s manager, Kevin Manger, complained, “Far too much discretion has been given to the federal security directors.†Ann Davis explained why the 160 federal security directors had such varying policies: “I’m sure they and their regulatory staff have differing philosophical approaches.†But passengers hit with TSA fines are not facing a philosophical conundrum. Instead, they are being hit by the Iron Fist of Uncle Sam. It is not a philosophical dispute: it is an issue of arbitrary power and intimidation. The TSA’s system of fines is a travesty of the Administrative Procedures Act – which guarantees Americans due process rights in dealings with federal agencies. Instead, TSA simply concocted a system of fines, failed to give people warning or notice, failed to define the key terms, failed to notify violators of their right to appeal. And if people are unsatisfied with the TSA’s “justice†– they must go through the Coast Guard’s administrative law judge system to dispute the fee. This guarantees years of delay and makes it far more difficult for an American citizen to let a jury of his peers in a federal courtroom decide the justice of the government’s action. Petty tyrants The TSA has made little or no effort to control the attitude or arrogance of many of its own screeners. In March 2004, airline passengers filed almost 3,000 formal complaints with the federal government over the conduct of TSA screeners. Hundreds of people complained about the rudeness of TSA screeners. And yet, none of these complaints by taxpayers and citizens will result in a single attitude fine for a TSA employee. (Air travelers filed four times more complaints against the TSA than against airlines.) These fines have nothing to do with preventing terrorist attacks. The 9/11 hijackers intensely studied American airport-security procedures. Once the system of attitude fines becomes known, savvy hijackers will simply work around it – the same way that the hijackers learned how to bypass obstacles at airport checkpoints prior to the 9/11 attacks. The TSA’s attitude-fine regime may soon become far worse. The TSA is unleashing a horde of “behavior detection officers†into airports, aiming to have 500 spread across the land by the end of this year. The BDOs will be surveilling passengers for “body language and facial cues ... for signs of bad intentions.†The TSA’s latest intrusion is based on an Israeli model. McClatchy Newspapers reported last August that Jay M. Cohen, undersecretary of Homeland Security for Science and Technology, said in May that he wants to automate passenger screening by using videocams and computers to measure and analyze heart rate, respiration, body temperature and verbal responses as well as facial micro-expressions. There is no word yet on whether the TSA will begin fining passengers who break into a sweat because of all the government nonsense they encounter at airports. Attitude fines exemplify that TSA aims to rule airports by fear. Anyone who is not properly docile can be treated as a public enemy. The attitude fines illustrate how power has gone to the heads of TSA chiefs. Amidst a surge of private and congressional complaints about TSA abuses, the TSA aspires to shut the American people up, once and for all. Intimidating people is the same as protecting them, and exalting federal agents the same as protecting public safety, apparently. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Coming to a Police State near you...
(Message 802715)
Posted 28 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Delayed by her bra, air passenger is indignant by Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer Tuesday, August 26, 2008 (08-25) 16:51 PDT OAKLAND -- When Berkeley resident Nancy Kates arrived at Oakland International Airport to board JetBlue flight 472, she thought she was heading off on a routine journey to visit her mother in Boston. Instead she ended up in a standoff with Transportation Safety Administration officials over her bra. In the post-Sept. 11 world of heightened airport scrutiny, Kates, like most travelers, is familiar with the drill: Take off shoes and belts, open the laptop, carry shampoo in 3-ounce bottles. For Kates, on Sunday, though, the security check got too invasive. A big-busted woman wearing a large underwire bra, she set off the metal detector. She was pulled aside and checked by a female TSA agent with a metal-sensitive wand. "The woman touched my breast. I said, 'You can't do that,' " Kates said. "She said, 'We have to pat you down.' I said, 'You can't treat me as a criminal for wearing a bra.' " Kates asked to see a supervisor and then the supervisor's supervisor. He told her that underwire bras were the leading item that set off the metal detectors, Kates said. If that's the case, Kates said, the equipment must be overly sensitive. And if the TSA is engaging in extra brassiere scrutiny, then other women are suffering similar humiliation, Kates thought. The Constitution bars unreasonable searches and seizures, Kates reminded the TSA supervisor, and scrutinizing a woman's brassiere is surely unreasonable, she said. The supervisor told her she had the choice of submitting to a pat-down in a private room or not flying. Kates offered a third alternative, to take off her bra and try again, which the TSA accepted. "They tried to humiliate me and I was not going to be humiliated over this," Kates said. "If I was carrying nail clippers and forgot about them, I wouldn't have gotten so upset. But here I was just wearing my underwear." So she went to the rest room, then through the security line a second time. Walking through the airport braless can be embarrassing for a large-chested woman, not to mention uncomfortable. The metal detector didn't beep on the second time through, but then officials decided to go through Kates' carry-on luggage, she said. The whole undertaking took 40 minutes, Kates said, and caused her to miss her flight. JetBlue put her on another one, but she was four hours late getting to Boston. "It's actually a little funny in a way, but a sad, sad commentary on the state of our country," Kates said. "This is bigger than just me. There are 150 million women in America, and this could happen to any of them." TSA spokesliar Nico Melendez said Monday that he wasn't familiar with the incident. But he said in all circumstances, "we have to resolve an alarm." That's the case for bras, artificial hips or anything with metal that sets off an alarm, he said. "Unfortunately, we can't take a passenger's word for it." Melendez said he didn't have any statistics on how many times passengers are screened because of bras. But he said, "we do everything we can to ensure that a passenger doesn't feel humiliated." Kates said she plans to talk to her family lawyer as well as the American Civil Liberties Union and the National Organization for Women and decide how to pursue the incident. Barry Steinhardt, the director of the American Civil Liberties Union's technology and liberty program, said Monday of federal security officials: "They can't find bombs in checked luggage, and they're essentially doing a pat-down of private parts. This is a security apparatus that is out of control." Kates said that although she flies about once a month, the only other time her bra has set off alarms in an airport was while she was being "wanded" in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. When she explained to the security agent that the wand was picking up the metal in her bra, she said, that was the end of the matter and she was allowed to go on her way. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Over 2 Billion groped 0 "terrists" found Billion$$$ spent What a Good Deal! |
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35)
Message boards :
Politics :
NUDISM裸体主义
(Message 802684)
Posted 28 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: I'm naked right now. Same here. (NO picture available!) |
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36)
Message boards :
Politics :
Jay Leno's Hydrogen Car
(Message 802357)
Posted 26 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Nikola Tesla's Pierce-Arrow Automobile |
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37)
Questions and Answers :
Windows :
WUs consistently 'exiting with zero status but no 'finished' file'
(Message 802254)
Posted 26 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Hello all, It would probably be best to ask about this on the CPDN boards. |
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38)
Message boards :
Politics :
Jay Leno's Hydrogen Car
(Message 801503)
Posted 24 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Mr Gray Wrote: Right from the website: Note: Please do not call us for additional information. All information currently available - is on this website - We know there are a lot of customers anxiously awaiting the release of our Hydrogen Fuel System kits. Our products are still in development - when they are ready for final production & sale, that information will be immediately posted here. We are currently working with our prototype equipment & gathering data. We will not be in a position to discuss technical specifications, distributorships, component or kit prices, estimated sales dates, etc. until we're up & running and in production at our new facility. Thank you, but we do not need additional prototype vehicles, and we do not accept outside funding. =================================================================== In other words... You can't buy it yet at any price. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Jay Leno's Hydrogen Car
(Message 801336)
Posted 23 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Has anyone looked at the cost of replacement batteries? The last quote I heard was in the $8,000 range. If you consider the life of the battery used in the hybrids which is roughly 150,000 miles or 241,401 kilometers, there is not much savings going on there. The cost for replacement works out to be $18.75 per mile. By my math it works out to 5.33 cents per mile. |
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Message boards :
Politics :
Money is Man's Only Creation
(Message 799139)
Posted 17 Aug 2008 by Dominique
Post: Religious dogmata |
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