Saturday, January 9, 2010

Say Cheese!


So there it is, what it looks like when you are subjected to a full body scanner. I am conflicted on using them in the US. Safety should come first and other than swallowing the explosives this looks like a pretty good way to see what a person is packing (no pun intended). In this troubled time we live in you got to give to get. Of course how much are people willing to give?

In a post 9/11 world we have put up with many many extra hours standing in airports, been deprived of our toothpaste and most would say it is worth it to be safe. But the crotch bomber of X-mas '09 showed us it's not enough. So is the next step parading naked in front of some barely high school diploma holding TSA agent. Plus is this just dumbing down the job? I once saw a cash register at a Taco Bell in Huntington Beach, CA with pictures on the buttons. So they had dumbed the job down to you ordering a taco and the kid behind the counter pressing a picture of a taco! Same principle applies here, will the scan make the TSA lazy? The crotch bomber got on the plane not only with his explodable panties but a syringe full of the acid he needed to make his explosive cocktail. Add to that the religious people that would find it demeaning to have some looking at them and or their spouses exposed. Not that I care about offending people so much as their response. Jews and the like would take it on the shoulder and move on but we all know how butt hurt muslims get and well that's why we're in this mess in the first place. I also saw an interview with a former head honcho from EL AL (Israeli airline) who has a pretty good record of zero attacks in the last 30+ years. He said we don't need scanners we need to profile, racially and any other way we can. But we are too worried about offending someone, by profiling them, not looking at them naked!

Friday, January 1, 2010

Divided We Fall

I have been as excited about the Tea Parties as the next guy, but I am starting to think we are headed down the wrong path. It is a fact that the Republican Party has been slipping away from conservatives over the last 10 years, maybe longer, running Bob Dole in '96 was pretty lame. The RNC has repeatedly decided just not to campaign in areas they think chances are slim. But being in California , in the late 90's I believe, and watching Matt Fong struggle without  RNC support and lose to Diane Feinstein by 8 points makes me very angry. But all that anger aside splitting the party in two just guarantees Obama a second term, and that is exactly what the dems would love to see happen. I've attended a few tea parties and watched several more on TV and the internet, I was proud to be a part and see other people who were like me and frustrated with what is happening in the Govt. But never did those feelings, not even for a second, make me want to split the republican party. We know what happens to third party candidates, they suck votes of off whichever party they are closest to and send the other guy into the winners circle. The excuse "We have to show the republicans we are unhappy by letting them lose" has not worked. They lost and we paid the price! We are drowning our grandchildren in debt. We can't afford the democrats another minute, much less another term by splitting our party.

I don't like it one bit. I have left the party before and came back after reading "If it's Not Close They Can't Cheat" by Hugh Hewitt (I'm pretty sure). He was right. We can't afford even a close race. We have to win and win big. Forming a "Tea Party" will only take us farther from that goal. That brings me to Sarah Palin, a very smart woman who has way more experience than Obama (exectutive wise). But we gotta face the facts she doesn't have enough experience by our standards to be President of the United States. Ladies don't mis-read me, I am not saying a Woman can't be President, just not Sarah Palin.

We need an experienced Republican (any race, creed or gender) to stand up and take on the challenge of being President. Then we have to back that person 100%. We cannot be sidetracked by a shiny new Tea Party. I hear what you are saying, who is it? Who will step up and take reigns? Honestly, I don't know. I can throw out names but it won't help. That being said it is time for the Republican party to step it up too. The RNC is weak and it bends to political correctness and whining liberals. I am not sire Michael Steele has what it takes to do it. But someone has to. If the RNC wants to survive the next 6-10 years someone has to take a stand.

Someone is out there, maybe not a Reagan, Lincoln, or Washington. But someone who will make a name for themselves. A name that will be synonymous with the great ones not living in their shadows. Someone who understands we are one Nation under God, indivisible. United we stand!