Illustrating Absurdity
Can we get any more absurd than complaining about a TV-show being fixed? When did Dancing with the Stars become purist high art? Seriously, give Bristol Palin credit for trying to do something with her life instead of immediately getting on the government dole. I don't watch the show, and don't care to watch the show, but if I hear one more blogger or avid show watcher belly-aching about Bristol Palin winning for another week, I may just call in and vote for her! Obviously there is something about her the American people love, kind of like Fantasia Barino--so deal with it and truly, truly get over it, or change the channel. Blogosphere in a tizzy over Bristol Palin's advance to the finals.
Climbing off the soapbox now and on to real matters of import. This TSA/Airport Security Body Scanner/Invasive Groping mess. Jon Tyner's phrase "You touch my junk, and I'll have you arrested" has entered the hallowed lexicons of our language, right up there with "Don't Tase me, Bro!"
But the Associated Press offers up their anemic response to what is fast becoming a national crisis. Airport body scans, pat-downs draw more complaints. AP boils all this brouhaha down to 1) blame the passenger, and 2) we haven't made any real sacrifices for national security. So terrorizing a three-year-old is just a minor bit of inconvenience?
The lefty-heavy Los Angeles Times in their article, "Shut up and be scanned", offers this bit of sunny advice:
"There's no bright line to indicate where our quest for security becomes intolerably invasive of our privacy, but we're still pretty sure the TSA hasn't yet crossed it. Although the pat-downs are seriously embarrassing, they're also usually voluntary — to avoid them, you just have to go through the scanner. And fears about the scanners have been overblown."
Bite me. Michael Graham at Boston Herald gives more reasoned (and sensible) advice. We take this now, imagine what we'll have to put up with later? Airport security is one big scan. And Jennifer Abel at the Guardian UK gets even more caustic. Get your hands off me, TSA!
I will watch with relish next week to see how passengers and TSA fare on the biggest travel Holiday of the year. Thanks to John Tyner, I'm sure many will come armed with a camera phone that also includes their lawyer's number. So glad I'm staying in town!