POWIP Piece of Work In Progress

TSA Not at War with Us; Just Another Underwear Contingency Operation

San Diego, again:

In what can only be described as TSA handlers gone wild, the San Diego Harbor Police arrested an area resident for refusal to complete the screening/security process yesterday. This is the same airport that created the TSA security catch phrase “don’t touch my junk.” John Kliner of San Diego started the airport screening firestorm last week as Americans head into the busiest travel week of the year in the United States.

This time the defendant, Sam Wolanyk says he was asked to pass through the 3-D x-ray machine. When Wolanyk refused, Transportation Security Administration (TSA) personnel told him he would have to be patted down before he could pass through and board his airplane.

Wolanyk said he knew what was coming and took off his pants and shirt, leaving him in Calvin Klein bike undergarments.

“It was obvious that my underwear left nothing to the imagination,” he explained. “But that wasn’t enough for the TSA supervisor who was called to the scene and asked me to put my clothes on so I could be properly patted down.”

It was clear to Wolanyk that TSA only wanted him to submit to a pat-down and if they were interested in ensuring the safety of all passengers they would have rifled through his clothes, carryon baggage and acknowledged that he was not carrying any illegal paraphernalia on his person.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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How To Secure Your Future (If You’re a Politician)

Short version: by lavishing a bunch of your constituents' money on someone who will reward you for it, on the way out the door.

Iowa’s outgoing Democrat Governor Chet Culver gave his union buddies at AFSCME a true ’sweetheart deal’ on Friday—a two-year contract worth $200 million taken from Iowa’s taxpayers.

The funny thing is, Culver didn’t even bother to negotiate a better deal for the state’s taxpayers. In fact, Culver didn’t bother to negotiate at all. Instead, Culver took what was asked for by AFSCME and put it into effect leaving the next administration (and taxpayers) to deal with it.

Not that this is an unusual thing. You may recall what Chris Christie said about Corzine and what happened at his inauguration.

Way back when I was writing about how Fannie and Freddie used Enron-style accounting to reward their administrators, such as Franklin Raines and Rahm Emanuel, I noted that those were large sums they were getting for helping drive the economy into ruin by means of systematic fraud, but sadly paltry compared to the hardship and debt it has placed on the shoulders of taxpayers. It takes a special, special person to be able to justify such practices.

Naturally, Pelosi's net worth has risen dramatically over the past year, as the economy has languished. That's not true of Pelosi only: as the net worth of most Americans has actually dropped substantially, Congresscritters aren't exactly hurting.

It's going to be interesting to see who gets nabbed in the SEC's investigation of insider trading and hedge funds.

By the way, compare what you get from Bing! and Google for the search, FBI+eager beavers+Pershing+insider. Hmmmmmm.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Mediaite Malpractice and Steve Benen’s Crackpot Column

Ace posted about this yesterday, from a different angle, but I want you to read this piece on Megyn Kelly's appearance in GQ, both pictures and interview, and then look at the headline. The writer says, in effect, the interviewer goes out of his way to trivialize her, and there's a double standard regarding photos, neither of which is Megyn Kelly's fault. This is the headline:

Megyn Kelly Feeds The Beast Of Objectification, Strips Down For GQ

See? It's all her fault. Over at RightNetwork, I thwacked on GQ earlier this week for an idiotic whine about Eric Holder. What can I say? As a guy, I'm inclined to forgive them that for the sexy photos. As a "conservative," I think it sucky but predictable that they would try to diminish her real talents as compared with real titans of journalism and representatives of feminine intelligence, such as . . . Katie Couric. So, here we've got an article complaining about journalistic slant and editorial bias, and they toss that headline on it? Idiots.

As dumb as that was, though, it is really nothing compared with Steve Benen's latest column in Washington Monthly, where he manages to make a long piece out of the theory that Republicans are deliberately undermining the economy so as to keep people in financial straits up through the 2012 elections. This comes from Michael van der Gallien via Ed Morrissey on Twitter. I can't say that I'm surprised, because this is the natural apotheosis of the Krugmanesque mantra that the economic recovery hasn't materialized because ObamaCo hasn't spent enough. At the same time, it overlooks the fact that the Dems have had veto-proof majorities in Congress as well as the Presidency, that they've continually missed their targets, that Cash for Clunkers and other such programs have had retrograde effects, that the bailouts haven't slowed the mortgage mess for homeowners, though it's cushioned the losses for banks, and so forth. It really is nuts. Not regular nuts. BIG CRAZY.

Just as nuts as you'd have to be to believe that late-discovered ballots always just happen to favor Democrats.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Sunday Intentions, 11-21-10

For starters, BJ Tex. Under the fold, you'll find his latest missive, which itself contains a request for prayers for someone else.

For Johanna's continued healing.

For Kill Truck's family and their hard decisions.

For Jimmie Bise's car situation.

For all those who have to travel by air for Thanksgiving.

Please add your intentions to comments.

Prepare for Advent with The Anchoress.

ZOMG! not. Why the Pope's observations on condoms don't mark a departure, from Lisa Graas (critiquing HuffPo) and The Anchoress, again.

The Washington Times falls into the trap of not considering the reasoning behind the Church's position, calling this "a stunning comment." They go on to say that the issue has put the Church at loggerheads with the UN, which yesterday voted to exclude sexual orientation from its prohibitions against execution. Meanwhile, Obama is attempting to end-run Congress in doing the largest arms deal in American history, with Saudi Arabia, where abuse of Sri Lankan and Indonesian domestic workers is rife. They're even importing their version of slavery to the US. Gee, I remember when Bush was pilloried for holding hands with a Saud who was on the point of dying, but $3.00 plus gas was always part of Obama's master plan, so I don't understand the motivation.

It's not as though the Islamic Republic poses a threat to anyone.

Sorry, it seems I've ruined my intentions. Anyway, BJ's email: prayers for Juniata and her family.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Chris Christie Exemplified

This video from The Right Scoop pretty much says all you need to know about Chris Christie.  The man is an inspiration, can we just draft him?

Adam Wells

Living life at 84 mph and 7000 feet. All I ask is that you don't block traffic, act like a professional, and don't act all surprised when your actions have consequences. Oh, and don't complain about the refs; trust me, they don't care if your team wins or not.

I don’t know why I’m telling you this…

... but it explains why I haven't been posting regularly this week.  I'm still on chapter 2 of Decision Points.  Here are my excuses:

1. My son dug his noggin into my tailbone for 16 hours during his birth.  I've had lower back problems ever since.  About a week and a half ago I was making my kids breakfast before I was caffeinated.  I was surprised by a loaf of bread covered in mold, and I threw up.  I threw my back out throwing up, and this wasn't the first time.  When this happens my left hip swells up, and you can see that my hips are crooked even with my clothes on.  It's not a sore back, it's a laying on the floor and can't even roll over without assistance back.  It hurts. WAH!!!!  The only things that help are multiple trips to the chiropractor, ibuprofen and ice.  I'm also trying a pain ointment made from cobra venom I learned about from Treacher.  Anyhoops, this is the first day I'm remotely productive.

2. We've finally made the decision to medicate our autistic son.  It's one thing when his autistic behaviors that inconvenience us, but it's causing him distress now.  I think it's the right decision, but I'm sad that my little boy has to take an anti-psychotic drug.  It is what it is.

3. The other night Mr. KT mentioned applying for different positions within the occupation he's in, some of which would require moving back to our hometown.  I wanted to shoot him, but the next day I started thinking past the pain in the ass of relocating again, and started thinking about what it would be like to be closer to the support system we have within our own family.  You know that thing about how God will never give you more than you can handle?  Been second-guessing that a lot lately.  I keep thinking I just need a little more help beyond kind words and prayers.  If we moved home we'd have that.  And my mother is still really independent, but she won't be forever.  If we were closer that burden wouldn't fall solely on my sister and her family.  We're even considering buying a house across the street from my mother.  It would be like a Killtruck Kompound.

So we're applying for a compassionate transfer, which puts us at the mercy of two government officials we don't know.  We should know by February 1st at the latest.  If it's yes, great.  If it's no, then God must want us to stay here for some reason that is way beyond me right now.  We would appreciate prayers.

The move would also make it possible for me to travel to those weekend getaways where bloggers livetweet getting plastered   I mean conservative activism seminars.

Kill Truck

KillTruck is a wife, mother, blogger and native midwesterner now living in Eastern Washington state. She writes about politics, pop culture, parenting, wifing and a few other subjects she has no authority to write about. She has macabre fascinations with prostitution and/or cannibalism. In her free time she enjoys eating and/or drinking her feelings, liveblogging Lifetime movies, thinking about Scott Brown and mocking things she doesn’t understand.

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Don’t Tread On My Junk/Gadzooks Flag

A Serr8d Joynt, based on a Karl Bade concept.

Fly your Gadzooks Flag, patriots!

N.B. Most of the source images had no apostrophe.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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Teachers Union Head Earns $428k, Asks Shared Sacrifice

Via the discerning JamesonLewis3rd Daily comes this story from the Washington Examiner:

When The Examiner called the AFT to ask whether Weingarten was planning on taking a paycut to demonstrate her belief in shared sacrifice, the spokesman said no. “No, absolutely not. She works 24/7 on behalf of union members and the people we serve. Making sure that people get a great education in public schools in America. She works to the bottom of her soul. You can’t put a price tag on that.”

I joked that, well, there is a price tag on that, and it’s apparently $428,284, but got no response. (Quick update: The average high school teacher salary is $43,293, h/t Amanda Carpenter.)

The spokesman also asked whether The Examiner was equally critical of Goldman Sachs “who has received taxpayer dollars” (we have been), though it’s a bit odd that a spokesman for a teachers union that lobbies to funnel more taxpayer dollars toward its members would be so critical of Goldman Sachs for taking taxpayer dollars.

So, I mark the story with every intention of jumping up and down on this sterling example of entitlement, when what do I stumble across?

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael S. Steele hired his former personal assistant to manage the 2012 Republican National Convention in Tampa, Fla., for $15,000 a month plus a $25,000 signing bonus, The Washington Times has learned.

The contract, signed by Mr. Steele on the RNC's Committee on Arrangements (COA) letterhead, calls for Belinda Cook to serve "as RNC liaison to the convention."

The Tampa press has been identifying Mrs. Cook as "convention manager" - a position invariably filled in the past by Republicans of considerable federal-level experience in negotiating many contracts each worth millions of dollars.

Former RNC convention managers say they know of no such previous title as "liaison to the convention" and questioned the need for such a position in the second half of 2010.

Way to go, sport. Glad to see you've gotten the message.

Dan Collins

Dan Collins is a dude who blogs. He used to blog elsewhere. Now he blogs here.

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