I can’t afford to buy a ticket to ride on an airplane, so I don’t feel the frustrations of airline travelers in the post-9/11 age. However, from what I am hearing, I think this outrage over the TSA’s new hyper-intrusive body-scanning and pat-down procedures just may be the straw that breaks the camel’s back. For years I have been astonished by the absence of good old-fashioned righteous indignation over the loss of our rights and dignity that is a uniquely American trait. This time, however, I am quite optimistic regarding the mood of my fellow countrymen as they seethe over what is possibly the most egregious invasion of privacy free people have ever experienced. I can sense that they are finally preparing to take action.
Put down your musket, tough guy--I don’t mean that kind of action. I mean the kind of action where people start actually thinking about what it truly means to have certain inalienable rights which cannot be violated, and if they are, the violator should expect one hell of a fight. If the atrocities the TSA is committing against law-abiding citizens do not merit an infraction of our Constitutionally-protected right against unlawful searches, I don’t know what does.
The first course of action is to demand that all Congressmen and federal officials (outside of the President and Veep, of course) use commercial air travel instead of private jets. They’ll put legislation together in a heartbeat to put the brakes on Janet Napolitano’s abuses. If they refuse to fly with us commoners, or if they agree to do so but they don’t seem to mind the searches, then the next step is to boycott the airlines. They couldn’t have been any more thrilled to hear about the scanners and pat-downs than we were, but they haven’t yet put up a sufficient fight to protect their customers. After half of the traveling public starts going Greyhound, they will.
A libertarian radio commentator said today that he believes the TSA may bow down to public pressure soon and the intrusive procedures will stop. He fears, however, that the next terrorist attack will then be blamed on those who opposed the searches and even more brutal government policies will follow. I have nothing to object to in this statement, as I indeed believe that our current government is looking for any opportunity to clamp down on our rights. The response to that, however, would be the same as it is to the first problem: Do...not...let...the...government...violate...your...rights. Have I made myself clear?
I wouldn’t even worry about the next terrorist attack; they have already won. The Underwear Bomber and his cronies knew exactly what they were doing. They just as easily could have hidden a bomb in his shirt pocket, but they wanted more: They wanted to make life as miserable as possible for all of us, which is the real goal of terrorism. After the event, an astute security expert said that even though no one was killed, the ‘failed’ Underwear bomber was actually “85% successful.” Why stop at killing a hundred-or-so Americans when you can do that and at the same time make sure everyone else has to submit to dignity-robbing searches? That is how terrorists win. Let's ensure that they lose.
Tuesday, November 16, 2010
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Life Imitating Art: Obama and the ‘V’ TV Series
I haven’t religiously followed a television series since Kung Fu: The Legend Continues went off the air more than a decade ago. Many good shows have come and gone since then, I am sure, but none of them focused on the intricacies of roundhouse kicking so I didn’t waste my time. I should have paid better attention, because the ‘V’ mini-series is so poignant, if not terribly entertaining, that every American who understands what the Obama administration is doing should watch it with a note pad in hand.
‘V’, the TV show, not the letter of the alphabet, might as well have been named ‘O’. The remake of the 80’s sci-fi series presents viewers with a reality so strikingly similar to Obama-era America that one wonders if the show’s writers saw this coming. For those who are not up to speed, the plotline of ‘V’ is simple: alien lizards dressed up as humans (Visitors, or simply, ‘V’, led by their commander Anna) surround the Earth, claim to be peaceful, and promise to enhance the lives of Earthlings with their advanced technology. The price for all this bliss? Oh, nothing, really. Just the complete surrender of all sovereingty and the total acceptance of alien domination by all humans.
Obama supporters couldn’t snatch up a deal like that fast enough. But those of us with functioning brains would be just a tad bit skeptical. On the show, humans divide along these lines with all the fear and self-doubt Americans feel over the questions posed by Obama’s promises to replace what is left of our freedom with the specious security offered by totalitarian rule.
The photogenic but devious Anna is such a delicious metaphor for Obama, and the show leaves no doubt that she is every bit as malicious as the President and anyone who trusts her is a fool. However, it’s not easy to stand up to the peer pressure and public sentiment that comes with opposing a popular regime which enjoys absurdly favorable media coverage. At least on the show, Scott Wolf’s character is a reputable reporter who participates in the shenanigan until he realizes what the aliens are up to. Oh, if only somebody in the American media would examine the writings of Elena Kagan or Cass Sunstein--they might have the same epiphany!
The protagonists on ‘V’ are obviously the leaders of the resistance, known as the ‘Fifth Column’, an allegory for the Tea Party movement. They are denounced as ‘terrorists’, and considered a ‘threat to peace’, although they are not the instigators of violence. They are accused of lying and spreading calumnies despite the fact that it is they who know the truth. Hmm? Oh, I was describing the Fifth Column, not the Tea Party. Or was I?
My favorite reference to Obama is Anna’s secret million-man (lizard) army being grown in a giant incubator. Her plan was to deploy them as soon as they were hatched, in the same way Obama is currently building a “civilian army” (as promised in a July 2008 campaign speech) to do his bidding. Unfortunately for Anna, her army was destroyed by the resistance before it had a chance to do any damage. Let’s hope we can short-circuit Obama’s plans before he can cause any more devastation to our Constitution and our country.
‘V’, the TV show, not the letter of the alphabet, might as well have been named ‘O’. The remake of the 80’s sci-fi series presents viewers with a reality so strikingly similar to Obama-era America that one wonders if the show’s writers saw this coming. For those who are not up to speed, the plotline of ‘V’ is simple: alien lizards dressed up as humans (Visitors, or simply, ‘V’, led by their commander Anna) surround the Earth, claim to be peaceful, and promise to enhance the lives of Earthlings with their advanced technology. The price for all this bliss? Oh, nothing, really. Just the complete surrender of all sovereingty and the total acceptance of alien domination by all humans.
Obama supporters couldn’t snatch up a deal like that fast enough. But those of us with functioning brains would be just a tad bit skeptical. On the show, humans divide along these lines with all the fear and self-doubt Americans feel over the questions posed by Obama’s promises to replace what is left of our freedom with the specious security offered by totalitarian rule.
The photogenic but devious Anna is such a delicious metaphor for Obama, and the show leaves no doubt that she is every bit as malicious as the President and anyone who trusts her is a fool. However, it’s not easy to stand up to the peer pressure and public sentiment that comes with opposing a popular regime which enjoys absurdly favorable media coverage. At least on the show, Scott Wolf’s character is a reputable reporter who participates in the shenanigan until he realizes what the aliens are up to. Oh, if only somebody in the American media would examine the writings of Elena Kagan or Cass Sunstein--they might have the same epiphany!
The protagonists on ‘V’ are obviously the leaders of the resistance, known as the ‘Fifth Column’, an allegory for the Tea Party movement. They are denounced as ‘terrorists’, and considered a ‘threat to peace’, although they are not the instigators of violence. They are accused of lying and spreading calumnies despite the fact that it is they who know the truth. Hmm? Oh, I was describing the Fifth Column, not the Tea Party. Or was I?
My favorite reference to Obama is Anna’s secret million-man (lizard) army being grown in a giant incubator. Her plan was to deploy them as soon as they were hatched, in the same way Obama is currently building a “civilian army” (as promised in a July 2008 campaign speech) to do his bidding. Unfortunately for Anna, her army was destroyed by the resistance before it had a chance to do any damage. Let’s hope we can short-circuit Obama’s plans before he can cause any more devastation to our Constitution and our country.
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