Tuesday, November 16

Airport Security is a Mess Because the Government Refuses to Profile

TSA has gone and managed to piss off the entire country simply because they refuse to employ technology that can help them identify travelers who are more likely to be a threat than others. That technology is profiling.

The nun being frisked as pictured on the Drudge Report? A waste of time. The children getting disturbing in-depth pat-downs, disturbing and damaging to our country's future.

The simple fact is that most every American traveler is absolutely no threat to airline security. Zero threat. Most every real threat can be identified by first profiling the travelers. This is something that they can (and should) be doing from the moment the person purchases a ticket.

Now are security officials going to find things hidden on children and on grandma? Sure they are. History has no shortage of evidence of children being used to smuggle things through security. Are these things dangerous in respect of airline security? No. And I say finding pot strapped to a kid getting ready to board a plane is not the job of TSA. And even then, I bet that profiling will in most cases identify the parents most likely to do such a thing. Anyway, they already have a way to detect smuggled drugs by way of drug sniffing dogs.

The Government, and Democrats specifically, is/are greatly responsible for the problems that resulted in all of us getting probed at the airport. Think about it for a second. Criminals are not put in prison. Dangerous terrorists are let free. Millions of illegal aliens are roaming around this country with de-facto immunity from the same Government Department that is probing the rest of us. As it is, the 9/11 hijackers were well-known to the government already. And with that it is worth noting 'the wall' created by liberals within the Government to actively prevent the sharing of information concerning threats to this country. The ongoing result of this failure to use the information we have is the mess at security checkpoints at every airport in the country.

At this time I for one refuse to let my children go through a full-body scanner. There is no way that the Government can convince me that this is either necessary or done in a way that protects the privacy of my children nor done in a way that does not save the images for future potential abuse. I for one am convinced that the Government is lying that they are not saving copies of the scanned images. After all, they would be crazy not to. Otherwise how are they are going to review what might have happened in the case of a breach of security?

I certainly hope this is a temporary problem. Scanning everyone is not only not fun for passengers but also surely no fun for security screeners. Worse, I believe it helps the real terrorists hide in the crowd of just another person to get the same treatment. It is they who should have a spotlight trained on them. Not the rest of us.

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Tuesday, November 9

Gerry Connolly, Kieth Fimian and Tea Party Derangement Syndrome

It figures that the Congressional District that I live in will apparently stay represented by a Democrat. As it stands now, Democrat Gerry Connolly has close to a 1,000 vote lead over Republican challenger Kieth Fimian.

I have to say that I was sorely disappointed with the candidate thrown up by the local Republican Party. I also think that this was a race that the Tea Party missed as Kieth was certainly no Tea Party candidate. Worse, this is the second time Mr. Fimian tried (and failed) to take this seat from Mr. Connolly, so I think it is time for someone else to give it a try. This is unfortunate, as I thought his primary challenger, Fairfax County Supervisor Pat S. Herrity would have made a better candidate. At least I think this will push me to become active in the decision-making process in the next race. I don't mean that I would run. I certainly am not interested in having people go into forensic detail of every aspect of my life. I expect that there is no shortage of things that could be twisted into making me look like a horrible person. At least I have the golden defense, I was a sailor and (whatever) is nothing uncommon for a seafarer...

As for the Tea Party, watch the development of 'Tea Party Derangement Syndrome' among the left as the next Congress comes to power. I think that the influence of the Tea Party, and those who sympathize with their goals, like myself, still has a long way to go. As it is my neighbor was asking me on election day to explain what the Tea Party was, while a Gadsden Flag was flying from the front of their house! Just image how many other people are out there who have yet to organize and take an active part in the election process, both as voters and candidates.

This should be interesting times. The Connolly-Fimian race has not been called yet but it appears to now be Connolly's to lose. No matter, he will be my representative and will need to deal with the concerns of his conservative constituents like myself. Otherwise it might just be that he and others who won election are going to start feeling sorry that they wanted this job.

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Tuesday, November 2

I Voted (With Bonus Harrasment by the Election Officer)

Just got back from voting. I took my two kids with me and had them helping me with the touch-screen voting.

I did not have any problems with the machine, but I did have a run-in with the head election officer. She came up to me just as we were finishing and she told me that children were not allowed to touch the machine. My first reaction was 'Really?' She said yes and I asked her to show me the rule. She told me that that would take so time and I asked her to get it. She walked away and then comes back. Not with the rule but with the complaint that there were three of us at the machine and even made the snide comment about how many times we were trying to vote. As far as I know it is impossible for me to vote more than once. Isn't that the point of electronic voting, to make sure things like that don't happen. And it's not like my kids, 3 and 5, were going to hack the machine. I took them along just like my parents did with me. Although back then, we used the large machines with the curtain that offered some privacy from troublesome election officials.... I pointed out that if there was a problem with me taking my two kids to the voting booth, that is was something that should have been told to me when I went to the registration table. They of course were happy that I brought my kids to participate in the experience. By this time I was just pressing the 'VOTE' button and in the back of my mind I was wondering if she was trying to goad me into a situation that was going to end up with me being arrested. So in response her her demand for my voter number I simply replied that I was done voting and was leaving. I have no clue what was her problem. I never saw a person have a problem with kids coming to help parents vote. Also I was not interesting in escalating a situation where she was probably volunteering her time to begin with.

Just to be clear, I did not let me kids touch the machine after she told me they could not touch it. After all, there could be a valid rule, in an attempt to prevent kids passing on germs to the touch screen, or more likely getting something off the touch screen. But if any of these are the reasons, she should know the reason why and she had no clue.

This is not the first time that I have done this. I did the same in McLean for the last election and not only did I not have trouble, but the kids also got candy. I think that was why they wanted to come in the first place. Well for that and the sticker. And I bet the election official yelled at the helper for giving us three.

No matter, I voted and look forward to the results tonight.

Update: I voted at North Springfield Elementary School.

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