Loss of Privacy

Lurkertech.com has an amusing Homeland Security Terror Threat Level chart.  Sadly, this is probably far more accurate than the one released from the government.

First, the airline industry and the government expanded their full body scanners to ten airports, despite knowing that it won’t do any good to prevent terrorism.  Now, the TSA has changed the rules and you will be denied your flight if you refuse to show your ID.

“Beginning Saturday, June 21, 2008 passengers that willfully refuse to provide identification at security checkpoint will be denied access to the secure area of airports. This change will apply exclusively to individuals that simply refuse to provide any identification or assist transportation security officers in ascertaining their identity.”

Exactly what kind of assistance am I supposed to give them?  Do I just respond with my name?  Give them my boarding pass?  Give up fingerprints?  Will this “assistance” be the same at all airports or, as usual, be discretionary?

This new procedure will not affect passengers that may have misplaced, lost or otherwise do not have ID but are cooperative with officers. Cooperative passengers without ID may be subjected to additional screening protocols, including enhanced physical screening, enhanced carry-on and/or checked baggage screening, interviews with behavior detection or law enforcement officers and other measures.”

So, if you refuse your ID, you’ll be denied boarding.  If you claim you lost your ID, you’ll get a little extra patdown and then continue on your way.  On what planet does this make sense?  Did the TSA purposely come up with this loophole?  “Oh, but officer, I left my ID at home.  Honest.”  The only terrorists we’re going to be protected from now are those who don’t know how to lie.  Do they really think that any terrorist is going to refuse to show ID?  No, they will have proper ID and no one will know until it’s too late.

This is just more security theater and it pisses me off.  I don’t need to be controlled in every aspect of my life.  If I don’t have to show ID to travel from state to state, why are the airlines allowed to violate this law?  IDs are just another hoop we’re now forced to jump through.

All the policies and laws enacted since 9/11 still wouldn’t have prevented 9/11.  I know several ways I could kill someone on a plane and I don’t need to take any weapons with me.  If I were a ninja (seriously) I could also kill many people on a plane.

Springfield Lodge Day Nursery in England is now taking the overly cautious step of fingerprinting parents to make sure they are really the parents of the children inside the nursery.  Unfortunately, parents have bought into the hype that their children are in danger and most have agreed to be fingerprinted as a safety precaution.

Linda Berryman, the owner of the nursery, said the measures were for the “safety and security” of the children.

But the charity Kidscape, which aims to protect children from harm, described the measure as “paranoid and overkill”.

Michelle Elliot, director, said it gave the wrong message to youngsters.

She said in reality of the 11 million children in the UK, on average seven to 10 were abducted and murdered each year.

There you have it.  Parents are now going to be placed into the British fingerprint database because someone has overreacted.  The only thing the parents are guilty of is having children.

“There is no actual information recorded, only the information that we’ve already got,” she said.

Uh, yeah, that means the parent’s fingerprint information.  You have to record that in order to make a match when the parent shows up?  Do they really think that by merely saying they aren’t recording anything that people are that stupid and they believe it?  Oh wait, I forgot for a moment where I was.

Yeah, we should have done this two years ago, but, last night, Dennis Kucinich introduced 35 articles of impeachment against President Bush.  They are, as follows,

Article I
Creating a Secret Propaganda Campaign to Manufacture a False Case for War Against Iraq.
Article II
Falsely, Systematically, and with Criminal Intent Conflating the Attacks of September 11, 2001, With
Misrepresentation of Iraq as a Security Threat as Part of Fraudulent Justification for a War of Aggression.
Article III
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Possessed Weapons of Mass Destruction, to Manufacture a False Case for War.
Article IV
Misleading the American People and Members of Congress to Believe Iraq Posed an Imminent Threat to the United States.
Article V
Illegally Misspending Funds to Secretly Begin a War of Aggression.
Article VI
Invading Iraq in Violation of the Requirements of HJRes114.
Article VII
Invading Iraq Absent a Declaration of War.
Article VIII
Invading Iraq, A Sovereign Nation, in Violation of the UN Charter.
Article IX
Failing to Provide Troops With Body Armor and Vehicle Armor
Article X
Falsifying Accounts of US Troop Deaths and Injuries for Political Purposes
Article XI
Establishment of Permanent U.S. Military Bases in Iraq
Article XII
Initiating a War Against Iraq for Control of That Nation’s Natural Resources
Article XIIII
Creating a Secret Task Force to Develop Energy and Military Policies With Respect to Iraq and Other Countries
Article XIV
Misprision of a Felony, Misuse and Exposure of Classified Information And Obstruction of Justice in the Matter of Valerie Plame Wilson, Clandestine Agent of the Central Intelligence Agency
Article XV
Providing Immunity from Prosecution for Criminal Contractors in Iraq
Article XVI
Reckless Misspending and Waste of U.S. Tax Dollars in Connection With Iraq and US Contractors
Article XVII
Illegal Detention: Detaining Indefinitely And Without Charge Persons Both U.S. Citizens and Foreign Captives
Article XVIII
Torture: Secretly Authorizing, and Encouraging the Use of Torture Against Captives in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Other Places, as a Matter of Official Policy
Article XIX
Rendition: Kidnapping People and Taking Them Against Their Will to “Black Sites” Located in Other Nations, Including Nations Known to Practice Torture
Article XX
Imprisoning Children
Article XXI
Misleading Congress and the American People About Threats from Iran, and Supporting Terrorist Organizations Within Iran, With the Goal of Overthrowing the Iranian Government
Article XXII
Creating Secret Laws
Article XXIII
Violation of the Posse Comitatus Act
Article XXIV
Spying on American Citizens, Without a Court-Ordered Warrant, in Violation of the Law and the Fourth Amendment
Article XXV
Directing Telecommunications Companies to Create an Illegal and Unconstitutional Database of the Private Telephone Numbers and Emails of American Citizens
Article XXVI
Announcing the Intent to Violate Laws with Signing Statements
Article XXVII
Failing to Comply with Congressional Subpoenas and Instructing Former Employees Not to Comply
Article XXVIII
Tampering with Free and Fair Elections, Corruption of the Administration of Justice
Article XXIX
Conspiracy to Violate the Voting Rights Act of 1965
Article XXX
Misleading Congress and the American People in an Attempt to Destroy Medicare
Article XXXI
Katrina: Failure to Plan for the Predicted Disaster of Hurricane Katrina, Failure to Respond to a Civil Emergency
Article XXXII
Misleading Congress and the American People, Systematically Undermining Efforts to Address Global
Climate Change
Article XXXIII
Repeatedly Ignored and Failed to Respond to High Level Intelligence Warnings of Planned Terrorist Attacks in the US, Prior to 911.
Article XXXIV
Obstruction of the Investigation into the Attacks of September 11, 2001
Article XXXV
Endangering the Health of 911 First Responders

I even made a t-shirt for my webshop if you want to walk around with the Articles of Impeachment.   You can also read the Articles for yourself (pdf warning).

So, this guy decided that it would be a good idea to capture a deer and feed it corn for a few weeks before it was fattened up and he could kill it.

The deer kicked his ass and it’s totally hilarious.