Humpday Happenings...
Well, here we are...smack dab in the middle of the week, and a Midwestern storm system...how can we possibly get ANY luckier?
It may not feel like Minnesota...YET, but it sure feels like we're getting there.
Global warming....HAH!
But let's not dwell...
Like most of you, I've been following the aftermath of this recent terrorist attempt to bring down an airliner over the USA, and I'm not at all comfortable with having this guy being "tried" as a common criminal in our judicial system.
We're hearing people banter semantics back and forth, day after day, and nothing really is getting accomplished.
This guy is an ENEMY COMBATANT, and was taken into custody (by passengers wrestling him to the floor of the plane, I might add) not wearing a uniform OF the enemy...that used to mean he was a SPY, and spies USED to be shot...or hanged.
So WTF is going on now with all this now?
Obama comes out and claims the "system" failed...after our DHS Secretary Napolitano says the "system" WORKED!
Who the hell is right?
Our intel communities had information on this man, and pretty much sat on it, because it didn't fit "specific" guidelines for surveillance or apprehension. Maybe we should AMEND those "guidelines"...or maybe call them something a bit sterner than mere guidelines.
TO me, a guideline is more of a suggestive aspect to a function that needs to be performed.
We need some "etched-in-stone" kinda stuff, agreed?
No more suggestions...take some definitive action.
Then there's the whole "profiling" slant to this...
Some want every person who even appears to be Islamic or Middle Eastern checked out, and that could include Hispanics, Blacks, and even some mulattoes, as well as Greeks or Italians.
Others would keep the status quo, doing "spot checks".
You could wind up opening a huge can of worms with this, but when you consider that Israel's airline checks EVERYONE already, it makes some sense to "err" (if you must) on the side of caution.
After all, several hundred people's lives COULD be at stake here, not to mention any civilians on the ground, should the unthinkable occur. And we certainly don't want a repeat of 9/11/2001...right?
One thing I just can't fathom about this, is that with ALL the agencies we have in place to monitor such people and events, WHY are they "not talking" to one another?
At least, that's what we're being told is going on...
I would think that these departments and agencies are in CONSTANT contact with one another.
That, to me makes a lot more sense.
I mean, every member of these agencies are part of some family, and those family members COULD be on some airplane...or train, or bus, and could wind up on the receiving end of some loon with delusions of 72 virgins dancing in his very disturbed cranium. So there IS a vested interest to protect AMERICA...and her citizens.
Personally, I feel this situation is being spun a little...
There are already OVER 400,000 people on some no-fly list or watch list, and that number grows daily.
You could be on some list yourself...just by posting a comment here, having your OWN blog, sending a letter to an editorial department, making a telephone call and using certain "key" words in your conversation, triggering the "echelon" software in some huge mainframe at some clandestine location.
There seems to be no end to HOW you can be monitored...but that serves a very few people, and not the masses.
Sure, we could have someone in THIS country talking in Yemeni to someone else in Iran...now THAT would get someone's attention REAL fast. But it could also be as innocuous as saying the word "bomb" on the telephone when speaking about a lousy movie, for example.
The real problem here is we never really know, do we?
Again, this is what I spoke about yesterday...all this is designed to distract us from other matters both in THIS nation, as well as in countries all around the globe.
Now, you DO have to admit that personal safety on a plane is a HUGE distraction, and a deserved one.
If we become so enraged about this nutjob and his trial, how much are we concerned about that health care bill being snuck under our noses NOW, hmm?
And what about the economy? We're worried about flying safely, but if the economy really tanks, we'll be more likely to NOT be able to afford a loaf of bread, let alone a frigging airline ticket.
I think we can successfully DIVIDE our attention, keeping eyes on more than one thing happening in this country (or to it).
But, as I also said yesterday, it's all about being FOCUSED, too.
Here is a perfect case where WE...the PEOPLE of this nation need not be tunnel-visioned" as a lot of our political leaders and representatives seem to be.
This is the right time...to do the right thing for this country, and that being able to pay attention to what's going on, to be able to separate the "wheat from the chaff" when it comes to policies and political rhetoric, and to be able to make your voices heard.
We don't have to wander aimlessly about this fun house full of smoke and mirrors, constantly bumping into reflections to understand what direction THIS country needs to be headed in, do we?
Not a damn thing wrong with keeping something...anything in perspective.
We need to make sure other terrorist attempts don't occur...that's a given.
We need to take positive action AGAINST those enemies OF this country.
We need to be setting the pace and not playing "catch-up".
All this is possible, if every one of us sticks to whatever game plan is working for us.
And if it's NOT working, we need to dump it, and find something that DOES.
THAT is what made this nation great...and what will sustain it well past out time here.
Keep the shovels handy (if you live in the Midwest or on the right coast), do good to yourself, do well for others, and...
Stay safe out there, America.