Skip to content

Stripping

Saturday, November 20, 2010


© Glenn McCoy

“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” – Ben Franklin.

UPDATE: Here’s a case where the TSA arrested someone for taking off too many clothes.

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (3)

Taking a Stand for Real Airport Safety

Saturday, November 20, 2010

[by Geechee Girl, reprinted from Smoke Rings, Coffee Stains, with permission. Thanks Leslie.]

I’ve been pretty vocal about the new TSA “security” procedures lately and how against them I am. I’m sure the next time I fly will be be “interesting” because of it. Heck, I was vocal about it when it first started changing, right after 9/11. Ineffective smokescreens and placebos won’t keep us safe, and the more rights we give up for an illusion, the more rights we can’t get back.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen these links already, but I thought I’d put them here as well for those that don’t. I think it is so important to be educated.

• If you do nothing else with this post, Download This Opt Out Brochure and learn the risks of the body scanners and how to opt out of them. If it comes down to being repeatedly irradiated or being groped, I’ll reluctantly choose being groped. Or drive. Or take a train.

• Participate in National Opt Out Day on November 24th, 2010. Yes, it is on the biggest travel day so it makes the biggest impact. Yes, it will cause inconvenience, just like these security measures already do. For more: National Opt-Out Day Called Against Invasive Body Scanners | Threat Level | Wired.com

• Read what the University of California, San Francisco and other educated scientists and health professionals have to say about the safety (or lack thereof) and lack of testing done on these scanners

• This is an excellent and well thought-out article on how our ostrich style reaction as a nation and lack of fighting these machines and new pseudo security measures is contributing to the problem in a big way. Written by Schneier for Contemporary Engineering.

• Here is FlyerTalk’s excellent list of airports that have the scanners and new screening procedures in place, continuously updated. Hopefully the TSA won’t make them take this down. Just in case, I’ve printed it out, along with the brochure above (same reason)

• Israel’s airport has the highest risk in the world, and best safety record, with the least invasive safety procedures. Why our airport security needs to model theirs can be found in this fantastic article. They’ve been better at this for 50 years, and are appalled at how we approach the problem. My favorite part of the article was the reaction to our tendency to evacuate an entire airport at a threat instead of taking simpler containment measures.

• Some links illustrating recent fumbles by the TSA using these new screening methods against 3 year olds, rape victims, regular travelers (who opt out in the face of mal informed security details and now face huge lawsuits for no reason other than someone else’s incompetence), scanner image leaks, and sexual harassment abuses. The FlyerTalk forums linked above has many, many more stories, as does Twitter, Facebook, and the rest of the web.

• A humorous shirt or two you can wear on National Opt Out Day next week can be found here.

• TSA Terrifies, Too

• Ron Paul weighs in on the TSA and makes total sense.

• Oh good. Now these things are in private hands as well in the form of vans. Perfect. NOT.

• Well thought out post on why and how to resist the scope and instead choose the grope until we get this defeated.

• “She’s already had breast cancer and been advised not to undergo needless Xrays.”

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (22)

Rock-Paper-Scissors

Friday, November 19, 2010


© Clay Bennett

Unfortunately, the same thing applies to Medicare and the defense budget.

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments Off on Rock-Paper-Scissors

Late Night Political Humor

Friday, November 19, 2010

“This will be a rough week for President Obama. He’s got a lame duck Congress, he has to pardon a turkey, he has to eat crow, and the Chinese just flipped him the bird. It’s been a fowl week.” – Jay Leno

“President Obama’s picture book for kids is coming out. That’s when you know things have changed — when Bush writes a 500-page memoir and Obama hands in a coloring book.” – Jimmy Fallon

“You can tell President Obama wrote his children’s book a few years ago. It lists 13 great Americans and they include Bernie Madoff, Tiger Woods, and Charlie Sheen.” –Craig Ferguson

“President Obama wrote a children’s book. If only one person reads it, it will be double the number of people that read the healthcare bill.” – Jay Leno

“All of the royalties from Obama’s book sales will go to an organization that really needs the money: the Obama re-election company.” – Craig Ferguson

“President Obama is back home after his ten-day trip to Asia. On the way back, yesterday, air force one made a stop in Anchorage, Alaska, which is hopefully the only time we’ll hear air force one and Anchorage, Alaska in the same sentence.” – Jay Leno

“Sarah Palin’s new reality show premiered last night on TLC. Huge ratings. 5 Million viewers. The biggest premiere in the history of that network. If you didn’t see it, basically it’s Jon and Kate plus about four meets the deadliest catch. It’s Ice Road Soccer Mom.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“‘Sarah Palin’s Alaska’ got huge ratings for its premiere. It was followed by ‘John McCain’s Mesopotamia.'” – Jay Leno

“Early on in the first episode Sarah Palin talked about trying to protect her family’s privacy while speaking directly into a television camera.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“There was a funny moment on Palin’s show when the Palins approached a brown bear and asked to see its papers.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Arizona just became the 15th state to approve medical marijuana. So I give it three days before they stop caring about the whole immigration thing.” – Jimmy Fallon

“Voters in Arizona have approved a measure allowing medical marijuana. Arizona is now the 15th state where you can pretend to have glaucoma.” – Conan O’Brien

“President Clinton is in Thailand and he just shot a cameo in the new movie the ‘Hangover 2.’ He was in Thailand giving a speech. He stopped by the set. You see that, he’s not a letch. Turns out all these years he’s just been preparing for a role. He’s a method actor. Thailand movie set, bachelor party, what could possibly go wrong? Hillary must be delighted. ‘You did what in Thailand?'” – Jimmy Kimmel

“Speaking of former presidents, I’m not making this up. Former President Clinton apparently has a cameo in he new “Hangover 2″ movie. Yep. When asked why Clinton is in the movie, the producers said there are some things Mike Tyson will not do.” –Conan O’Brien

“For Republicans, Bill Clinton is like a fine wine – the more you drink, the harder it is to remember, ‘Oh, I f*cking hate wine!'” – Jon Stewart

“Bill Clinton is going to appear in a movie, he has a small part in a movie called the Hangover 2. George W. Bush also next year will be seen in the new Jackass movie.” – David Letterman

“Reports suggest that parts of former President Bush’s new book may have been lifted from other books. Especially the parts about Dumbledore and Voldemort.” – Conan O’Brien

“Bernie Madoff’s underpants were sold at an auction. They were from ‘Fraud of the Loom.'” – David Letterman

“They sold a lot of Madoff’s cold weather clothing. He won’t need that where he’s going.” – David Letterman

“Madoff was upset that his wife sold her engagement ring for $500,000, because he hoped to give it to his new fiancé, Walt.” – David Letterman

“TSA agents can now feel the inside of passengers’ thighs. I get more action going through airline security than I did all through high school.” – Jimmy Kimmel

“In San Diego, a man refused to be patted down by airport security and some people are calling him a hero. I don’t mind being patted down by airport security, but I don’t like it when the guy says, ‘Now you do me.'” – Conan O’Brien

“Rep. John Boehner is the new speaker of the House. Turn-ons include tax cuts and spray tans.” – Craig Ferguson

“The lame duck Congress started today. Not to be confused with before the election — that was a lame-ass excuse for a Congress.” – Jay Leno

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments (2)

Deficit of Intelligence

Friday, November 19, 2010

A new Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll provides an interesting view into the minds of Americans.

Several polls in the past have shown that a majority of Americans want to cut the deficit, even during hard economic times.

However, when asked how they would cut the deficit, 70% were against making any cuts to programs such as Medicare, Social Security, or defense. And 60% were against raising taxes. Since Medicare, Social Security, and defense make up the vast majority of the federal budget (not counting things like interest payments on the debt, which cannot be cut), this basically means that people want to cut the deficit, but they want the spending to continue and they don’t want to have to pay for it.

One of the pollsters who conducted the survey summed it up: “Everybody wants to cut the deficit and cut the spending. But at the end of the day, everybody wants a choice that doesn’t affect their well-being.”

Also ironic was that when asked about the recent bipartisan proposal to reduce the deficit, more Republicans opposed the plan than Democrats. So are the Republicans actually interested in cutting the deficit, or are they just using it as a partisan attack?


© Tom Toles

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (14)

If Esquire Magazine can balance our budget, why can’t Congress?

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Esquire Magazine put together a commission to balance the budget. You may not agree with all their decisions, but at least they did it. If you want to skip to the detailed results, they are here. They did it with a combination of sensible spending cuts with a small amount of tax increases.

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (5)

Late Night Political Humor

Thursday, November 18, 2010

“Sarah Palin has a new show. She takes viewers all around Alaska, and shows them where she water-boarded Levi Johnston.” – David Letterman

“A show with Sarah Palin? Did we run out of Kardashians?” – David Letterman

“John McCain makes an appearance on Palin’s show. He wasn’t scheduled, he just wanders through.” – David Letterman

“I think the name of the Sarah Palin show is sh*t my ex-governor says.” – David Letterman

“George W. Bush has a new memoir out and he said in an interview that he thought that Sarah Palin was not qualified to be president. Well, isn’t that the pot calling the kettle of black. Honest to goodness.” – David Letterman

“An article on ‘Huffington Post yesterday claimed that several passages of George W. Bush’s new memoir ‘Decision Points” were lifted from other books, including several written by his advisers. Which explains why he spent much of the book complaining about his boss.” – Seth Meyers

“George Bush’s memoir out. It’s called ‘Decision Points’ It’s also available in an audio version so you can listen to it while you drive the economy off the cliff.” – Bill Maher

“The weirdest part of his memoir is that Bush says when he was a teenager, his mother showed him a fetus that she had miscarried that she kept in a jar. And his decision point there was to start drinking. … Actually Bush says when she showed him the fetus in the jar, that’s what made him so strongly against abortion — and for food labels.” – Bill Maher

“Bush was everywhere this week. He was on Matt Lauer, Sean Hannity, Oprah. And he got 50 bucks for his fetus in a jar on ‘The Antique Roadshow.'” – Bill Maher

“One of the new proposals from a bipartisan commission released Wednesday suggested that in order to bring down the deficit, the government would need to raise the retirement age to 69 by the year 2075. So the next time a baby is crying on your flight, it’s probably because they just found out they’re gonna have to work until they’re 69 in new China.” – Seth Meyers

“Speaking in a video for an ad campaign aimed at ending the bullying of gay teenagers, Cindy McCain, the wife of Senator John McCain, broke with her husband and called for the repeal of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell.’ McCain says he and his wife have disagreed on other issues too. Things like, “Where am I and what the hell is going on.” – Seth Meyers

“Things are so bad for Obama, today a gay teenager made a video showing him that it gets better.” – Bill Maher

“President Obama said on ’60 Minutes’ that he wants to bring back the 8 million jobs we’ve lost. Today India said ‘no.'” – Jay Leno

“Obama’s overseas trip has been such a disaster that people in Kenya now claim that he has an American birth certificate.” – Jay Leno

“Hillary Clinton met with Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for six hours at a hotel yesterday. When Hillary saw that she had a six-hour meeting at a hotel, she was like, ‘Wait, I think this is Bill’s schedule. This isn’t mine. It can’t be mine.'” – Jimmy Fallon

“The major pilots unions are complaining about the use of full-body scanners and these pat-down techniques at the airport. Pilots say the searches make it almost impossible for them to smuggle in liquor.” – Jay Leno

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments (3)

Improving Airport Security

Thursday, November 18, 2010


© Tom Toles

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments (2)

A Flip-Flop by Any Other Name

Wednesday, November 17, 2010


© Jack Ohman

The headlines are: “McConnell Does About-Face on Earmarks” (from the conservative NRO), “McConnell Caves on Earmarks” (moderate Washington Monthly), and “McConnell blinks on earmarks” (liberal Daily Kos). At least we can all agree on something!

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (4)

Late Night Political Humor

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

“President Bush is everywhere talking about his book and he’s being very candid. In one interview, he said that he used to do stupid things while he was drunk. But think about it, who among us hasn’t had a couple of drinks and invaded Iraq?” – David Letterman

“The point he wants to get across is that we should go out and buy his new memoir, ‘If I Did It.’ No, that’s not it.’ – Jon Stewart

“President Bush is everywhere. He’s been on the Larry King show. He’s been on the ‘Today Show’ with Matt Lauer, he’s been on all of the programs. He was on Rachael Ray this morning water boarding a veal cutlet.” – David Letterman

“He’s like an old pair of slippers, this guy. Like a gift you didn’t particularly want. Wasn’t really a good fit. Started a war between your pants and your shirt. But you had them for eight years, and that’s something. In hindsight, they did keep your feet slightly warmer than — ah, f*ck… it, I never liked those slippers.” – Jon Stewart

“Former first lady Laura Bush used to be a librarian. Coincidentally, she’s the only thing George W. Bush ever checked out at the library.” – David Letterman

“Wall Street hands out new bonuses. Poor people, get prepared to be trickled down on.” – Stephen Colbert

“Well, some good news today from President Obama. You know how he’s been trying for two years to shut down Guantanamo Bay. Well, they finally found a place to put the terrorists. They’re going to stick them on the Carnival cruise. Just let them drift.” – Jay Leno

“The Carnival Cruise liner was disabled and drifted for two days without any power, thus earning the ship the nickname ‘The Democratic Party.'” – Jay Leno

“Sarah Palin has a show about Alaska premiering Sunday. I was starting to worry that she’s underexposed.” – David Letterman

“China is expected to overtake the U.S. as the world’s biggest economy in the next two years. Americans couldn’t believe it. ‘That hasn’t happened already?'” – Jimmy Fallon

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments (1)

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

Wednesday, November 17, 2010


© Tom Tomorrow

The largest increases in “average life expectancy” are actually due to a lowering of childhood death. Old people really aren’t living that much longer than they did when Social Security was originally established. And those who do live longer are primarily in the top half of income earners. Interestingly, the tax that funds Social Security is capped, which means that the lower income earners, who aren’t living as long, are effectively paying for the longer retirement years of the upper income earners. Only in America.

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (10)

The Party of No and Nuclear Armageddon

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

I guess we now have a new meaning of the term “nuclear option” and just how much the Republicans are willing to sell out their own country and their own principals for partisan political gain.

The nuclear Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START) expired in December 2009. The original START was negotiated by the Reagan administration and was responsible for reducing the proliferation of nuclear weapons in the world.

In April 2010, the Obama administration negotiated a new START, which would reduce the number of nuclear weapons in the world even more. It also signaled a new era of cooperation between Russia and the US, including Russia helping put pressure on Iran to halt its nuclear program. The treaty is clearly good for America.

The new treaty has been “endorsed by six former secretaries of state and five former secretaries of defense from both parties; the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; seven former Strategic Command chiefs; national security advisers from both parties, and nearly all former commanders of U.S. nuclear forces.”

Not only that, but the treaty enjoys strong bipartisan support. A new survey from CNN shows that 73% of Americans say the new treaty should be ratified, with only 23% against it. In fact, a breakdown by political affiliation shows a majority supports the treaty, whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent, or whether you consider yourself a Liberal, Moderate, or Conservative.

The Obama administration even reached out to Republicans, negotiating with Republican Senator Jon Kyl. Kyl insisted that additional money be spent to modernize our existing nuclear arsenal. The White House offered $40 billion dollars, but he said that wasn’t enough, and asked for an additional $4.1 billion more. The White House said yes, giving him everything he asked for. This is in addition to the $100 billion already allocated to upgrading our nuclear weapons.

So much for Republican claims that they want to balance the budget.

But it was all for naught. Today, Kyl announced that he would block the vote on the treaty. He didn’t even have the decency to inform the Obama administration, who learned about it from the media.

Why would Kyl play Lucy pulling the football away from Charlie Brown? Why would he block a treaty that is so important to our national security, spitting on the legacy of Reagan? Why would he utterly destroy American credibility on the global stage, just when we are starting to regain it? And why would he pretend to negotiate with the Obama administration, and when they give him everything he asked for, then pull the rug out from under the treaty?

The only explanation anyone can come up with is the Republicans refuse to let Obama do anything that can be seen as good. Obama recently declared that ratification of the treaty was his “top priority” for the lame duck session of Congress that opened this week. But the Party of No doesn’t care about our country, about preventing our enemies from obtaining nuclear weapons, or even about our economy. All they care about is partisan advantage.

It makes me sick.

The rest of the world wonders why we put up with this. The French ambassador asks us “Have you been drinking?” To them, the notion that a legislature would hate their president more than they love their country just doesn’t seem plausible. Welcome to America.

Share
Filed in Hypocrisy | Comments (9)

How many excuses can McCain make for DADT?

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

We seriously need to figure out if McCain simply can’t remember what he has said in the past.

UPDATE: John McCain has changed his position on every single policy issue:

Share
Filed in Hypocrisy | Comments (3)

How to balance the budget – real health care reform

Tuesday, November 16, 2010

Recently, the NY Times published a “deficit-reduction calculator” that is fun to play with, but its options for reducing government spending and raising revenue are simply too limited.

Ezra Klein gives some links to other similar calculators, but in case you want to skip to the ending, pretty much the only way to balance the budget without raising taxes is to hold down the growth of health care costs. Especially Medicare, which pays approximately half of our country’s health care bill.

In fact, if we paid per person for health care what any (including the most expensive) country with better health care outcomes pays, then we would have no budget deficit at all, we would have a budget surplus. We spend twice as much per capita as any other advanced country, and yet we have worse health outcomes and a lower life expectancy. And it is destroying our economy.

Share
Filed in Irony | Comments (18)

Modern Bipartisanship

Tuesday, November 16, 2010


© Jen Sorensen

Bipartisanship — like an abusive relationship.

Share
Filed in Humor | Comments Off on Modern Bipartisanship