That man did not have “sex” with that young child, he raped her.  “Sex” is consensual activity between adults or older teens (i.e. “sex” is the polar opposite of rape). Do not use such obvious doublespeak (What next, calling home invasions “house warmings?”).  Also, that word has universally strong and positive associations (e.g., happiness) and attaching it to the horrors of child rape only serves to mold our perceptions of that crime as if it were acceptable if not desired.

Again, it is not “sex,” but rape.

This is funny. More ‘terrorism’ caught in the act.

Maybe not as funny as Purplewolf’s sharing of the cartoon image of the guy naked at the airport security checkpoint with his hands in the air, but still funny enough, and scary as hell besides.

I tried to hang in there for as long as I could, but I just can’t do airports anymore. I guess 30 years was long enough, and that was mostly BEFORE 9/11, and all of the Islamophobia propaganda that was worked up to create a new ‘enemy’ after the collapse of the Soviet Union, which basically collapsed on itself anyway, just like we’re doing now. Anyway, it was when they came up with the “Behavior Detection Officers” that I really lost it. These TSA guys barely old enough to shave, lurking in the crowds of passengers with a ‘be on the look-out’ mandate. They’re tasked to observe behavior, and apparently look for people who might have a chip on their shoulder, or be pissed off at the world. Now how many folks are like that at the average airport? Well, start with all of the employees and go from there.

So I just switched to the train, and it’s been a love affair ever since, because the delays are no more frequent than they were with airplanes, especially in off-schedule weather operations. All you have do is just show up and get on. I really do think the US finally needs to come into the 21st Century and do some MASSIVE upgrades on the rail infrastructure.

But, maybe my praise for the rail system is premature..looks like they’ve fallen to the mindset as well.

http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/217341/february-02-2009/nailed—em—-amtrak-photographer

Well, I can tell you old geezer pilot, when I think about what they want us to believe about what happened on 9/11 I can really understand why George W. praised ‘C’ students and praised going ‘with your gut’ instead of thinking. Clearly the ‘A’ students are the ones who usually cause all the trouble for criminals like him and Cheney and the gang. Just remember what Francisco Goya wrote in his notebook: ‘The sleep of reason produces monsters’. So far the 21st century has proved what he said to be absolutely true.

Power corrupts-absolute power corrupts,absolutly….I don,t know who said that[someone really famous] but…..These people are put into positions of athotity-without oversite[just like wall street et.al.]-and when they take advantage-big time- we get all huffy about it…..What did we expect any way???

Solution to the problem?STOP putting others in charge of protecting what is yours…...YOU need to be in charge of protecting yours…..won’t happen cuz most people are to weak to take charge of themselves…let alone their own responsibilities and lives…..

What’s really depressing to me is that from Europe to China
citizens are marching by the thousands or rioting, protesting the
same “recession” we have in the US. We are now a classic plutocracy but I don’t think the militarized police goons are more powerful here than over there; the repression and impoverization are world wide
now. I wonder what is
the explanation for our relative lack of public protest. Are we dumbed down by the Media, Madison Ave, and Hollywood, truly
brainwashed and subjugated? In Roman times, the people had
“bread and circuses” while the aristocrats waged wars and plundered, and it’s the same today.  Maybe as the
“bread” supply starts to run thin, even Joe 12-Pak will get wise.
But when the voices of reason (and hunger) are raised in anger, here come the good squads again. I would call it a conundrum that
we are in the throes of today. It may take generations to sort it out.

The newshour with jim lehrer, tonight, revealed they had an undercover contestant go into one of these reality t.v. show, the one where people are acting like they are on a deserted island and pretending to be eating worms, but, just outside of the camera’s view was a catering truck.  Perhaps, the time has come, and now is, to stop being gullible, so willing to believe those who are only too willing to tell a lie.  A little white lie, still be a lie, even, in the name of entertainment.

When Obama is going line by line thru the agencies, seeing which work and which don’t, I sincerely hope he concludes that the Homeland Security scam can be put to pasture.
16 different Intelligence Agencies in this
country is redundant and dangerous…and too much of the work is outsourced to Private Agencies…so who knows how many screwballs have access that they should NOT?
We must keep on Obama to look closely at these dangerous operations.
The biggest problem seems to be the fact that putting more people out of work even though their agencies are corrupt will be a hang-up.

The American people will neveer throw off the barbarism imposed by the Bushite counterrevolution until it is understood that the function of Homeland Security and other militarized police agencies is to OPPRESS the American people, not to protect them. The absurd restrictions on flying (and there is now over a million people on the no-fly list) is to condition people to accept harrassment under the guise of Security.

It is true that this does provide Security, but not to the people.  It provides Security to the power structure that is swindling the American people of trillions of dollars.  As class inequality increases, more police oppression is needed to threaten people to keep us from revolting. 

The primary function of Home Security is directed against American Terrorists, i.e. anyone who protests the barbaric Amereican power system.  That is why the prisons are overflowing and the US, with 5% of the world population, imprisons 25% of the world’s prisoners.

Homeland Security is needed to protect the Freedom of the American power structure to swindle us.

BTW what ever happened to “warrrantless wiretapping”? I still see surveillance
cameras atop light poles at major intersections and strung across freeways.
Are these items of interest to our new Fearless and Revered Leader—or like
everything else in Media reporting have they now disappeared from Joe 12-pak’s
addled short-term memory,  and conveniently ignored by the “changed” White House?
Can anyone undo this New World Ordure…

But, you know, you still don’t get the joke. Not only have these cretins hired criminals to do this work but Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld and the neo cons were behind 9/11. That’s the real punchline. The public are being played for fools and none of this mumbo jumbo can keep them safe from the kind of people who are prepared to commit murder and treason to further their political agenda. Analysis was done that showed that the average American has more chance of being hit by a car or struck by lightning than being involved in a terrorist attack and there’s a very simple reason for that. An airborne attack of any kind on the United States could not have happened on 9/11 without the assistance of the government and NORAD -that remains the case today. The Pentagon for example is surrounded by several missile batteries and their sole purpose is to shoot down any plane in Pentagon airspace that doesn’t have a military transponder on board. But people are supposed to believe that on 9/11 these missiles didn’t fire, even though they’re controlled by computers and someone would have had to disable them for a plane to hit the Pentagon.

Purplewolf is exactly right: ‘...it is not fear from outsiders, but those on the inside who have stolen our rights away in the false name of security and safety’. You only need to consider what was in Patriot Act II ( or Traitor Act II as I call it). It contained provisions which meant that American citizens could be subjected to the same abuses and withdrawal of legal rights as the 86 - 90% of inmates at Guantanamo who were kidnapped off the streets in Pakistan and Afghanistan and sold to the US for $10,000 a head. You would only need to have been an environmentalist or a member of a peace group to come to their attention. And to then be described as a ‘terrorist’. Mercifully TA II was not written into law. But it’s still around and if someone like Cheney or Rumsfeld ever gets their hands on the reins again it can always be dusted off and put through. As the very clever Mr. B. Franklin said, ‘Those who would exchange their liberty for security don’t deserve to have either’.

Hulk2008-I feel for you and your son. And you should have had every right to object to them wanting to search your son alone. Who knows what kind of perverts they have working for them.

What is disgusting is that the terrorist still at times manage to get things through, while innocent people are held up with this endless nonsense. Other countries years ago thought we were insane here in the USA. In fact many, if not all of the things we take away from American passengers is given as token items on other airlines around the world, like nail grooming kits. I have never flown and never intend to, ever.

There was a comic last year in “Closer to Home” in my local paper where a man walked into the airport terminal with nothing on and arms raised about his head so the security could see he had nothing to hide-except maybe internal. We have almost come to that from what I read and hear from other people. Wonder when they will start the full body cavity searches, like what is sometimes done in the prison system in this country? Hey and what about extracting all this dental fillings, bridges and crowns, you never know what they might find, but what the heck, this is America, Land of the Formally Free. You betcha!

If you wanted to cripple the US government from the inside, have Congress set up a new mega-cabinet function - Homeland Security - even though you already have a very expensive Department of Defense - then stuff that agency full of taxpayer dollars so that Congressional Representatives and federal branch turf warriors can fight over the spoils until the next attack comes from the next Al Quada wannabees - missed of course, by the two agencies who’s job it is to prevent such attacks

After having observed my young son having his scoliosis back brace removed, his wheelchair and braces swabbed down looking for evidence of explosive residue, my pocket Catholic rosary examined up close for possible terrorist usage, and finally my young son’s hand-drawn cartoons confiscated by TSA as potential evidence, I am never surprised at anything that is done in the name of “homeland security”.  In fact my son’s wheelchair was impounded at the airport for several days when we returned from his high school trip to France.  Of course, all the internal screws in his neck and ankles and hips were also objects of heavy scrutiny - no surgery at the airport to inspect those was required.  At one checkpoint a TSA “officer” wanted to disrobe, examine my son in further detail and balked at my insisting to be present during the examination.  I DO feel SO much safer with these wonderful highly-trained security “experts”.

In Indian country we have t-shirts sold at powwow’s with various pictures from history of our armed Native peoples with the saying: “Homeland Security Fighting Terrorism since 1492”. I added the comment to my t-shirt saying: “Didn’t work then, doesn’t work now!”

It is more like homeland insecurity. Do you really feel safer with all this hype from the Bush administration? I don’t, but it is not from fear from outsiders, but those on the inside who have stolen our rights away in the false name of security and safety.