Year: 2005

Can you guess what happened after this photo op?

Baisers d’âne. It’s the price one must pay to interpret the constitution.

Filed under today’s “Duh” category – Sending threats via text message is a stupid thing to do.

A 16-year-old Santa Teresa High School student was arrested after police said he sent text messages to a teenage girl threatening to kill her and her friends at Orchard Elementary School.

The boy sent the text messages to the 13-year-old girl’s cell phone Tuesday afternoon, said San Jose Police Officer Enrique Garcia.

In the message, he reportedly said he was going to the school to shoot the girl and her 13-year-old friend and anyone else who got in his way, Garcia said.

The girl and two friends reported the incident to the school Wednesday and the boy was taken into custody at Juvenile Hall, where he was booked on suspicion of making terrorist threats.

The cell phones were seized as evidence.

Good!

This kind of thing drives me batty. The whole ‘kid with a cell phone glued to an ear’ fad has run amok. Even the name ‘cell phone’ is a misnomer. Most teens I see with cellular phones are using them to take pictures of themselves, listening to the latest ringtone they downloaded for $1.99 (ripoff), or sending useless text messages that eat up bandwidth. And if they do make a phone call, it’s to a friend they see in person 1000 times per day already.

And parents don’t know why their kids are doing poorly in school.

If I had my way, elementary, middle school, junior high and high school students would be forced to check in and store their cell phones when they arrive at school and get them back when they leave. I would bet that average test scores would rise as a result.

This is the most obscene thing I’ve seen in a long time.

Is this really Canada?

Nova Scotia town bans use of names like ‘holiday’ tree and the phrase ‘happy holidays’. From here on out, it’s Merry Christmas.

Still smarting from a much-publicized bureaucratic bid to rename a famous Nova Scotia Christmas tree a “holiday” tree, leaders in this town of 1,300 say they’re sick of state-sanctioned attempts to secularize the Christian holiday.

Earlier this week, councillors passed a motion banning the use of other names to describe Christmas, chief among them “holiday,” which is a huge pet peeve of Mayor Lloyd Jenkins.

“We’re getting fed up with the term,” Mr. Jenkins said in an interview. “And the holiday tree was just the climax.”

Way to go, eh?

Over at The Will to Exist, Sgt. Trevor Snyder pleads with Americans to listen to President Bush and not pressure government to set a timetable on the withdrawal of coalition forces from Iraq.

“It’s sad that so many Iraqis and others are dying over here. However, when you discover you have cancer the treatment is always the same – attack it at the source. You don’t wait for it to spread. And when is the last time you heard a doctor putting a limited timetable on cancer therapy? I can picture it in my mind. “Mr. Smith, we have seen some progress with your tumor. It’s shrinking. But we need to move on now. The timetable for treating you has passed. Good luck.”

That’s a great analogy.

Go read the whole thing.

Mister Snitch details blogging styles and traffic stats today over at his place. He’s got a good grasp of the blogosphere, and the analysis is insightful. If you blog, go check this out and see if Snitch has nailed your style.

President George W. Bush has received a summons to report Monday for jury duty in Crawford, Texas.

I can hear it now.

“Umm, Juror # 286, what is your verdict?”

“Thank you very much. We must never forget the most vivid events of recent history. On September the 11th, 2001, America felt its vulnerability — even to threats that gather on the other side of the earth. We resolved then, and we are resolved today, to confront every threat, from any source, that could bring sudden terror and suffering to America. Many Americans have raised legitimate questions: about the nature of the threat; about the urgency of action — why be concerned now; about the link between the development of weapons of terror, and the wider war on terror. These are all issues we’ve discussed broadly and fully within my administration. So now, as the Commander-in-Chief of the armed services in this great nation, and the undisputed leader of the free world, I firmly believe and feel a strong obligation to say what I’m about say.”

“I believe that Brother Bobby Joe-Bob McDuffey Jr., is guilty of traveling 10 miles-per-hour over the allowable posted speed limit of 30 MPH.”

“Thank you all, and may God Bless the United States of America.”  

Are authorities at the Transportation Security Administration just being practical, or are we slowly losing our memory of 9/11? 

WaPo: TSA Would Allow Sharp Objects on Airliners

A new plan by the Transportation Security Administration would allow airline passengers to bring scissors and other sharp objects in their carry-on bags because the items no longer pose the greatest threat to airline security, according to sources familiar with the plans.

In a series of briefings this week, TSA Director Edmund S. “Kip” Hawley told aviation industry leaders that he plans to announce changes at airport security checkpoints that would allow scissors less than four inches long and tools, such as screwdrivers, less than seven inches long, according to people familiar with the TSA’s plans. These people spoke on condition of anonymity because the TSA intends to make the plans public Friday.

Faced with a tighter budget and morale problems among its workforce, the TSA says its new policy changes are aimed at making the best use of limited resources.

That last paragraph sends a chill down my spine. The TSA workforce has a job every bit as important as the one being done by our men and women in uniform abroad. When you meet a U.S. Marine, on duty or off, you’ll quickly notice a sense of patriotic pride, job dedication and appreciation for ‘the corps’ that influences their every action and utterance. Conversely, it seems as though the average TSA agent at any airport in the U.S. has just as much pride in the position they hold as does the teenager who works for the local 7–11 store. I believe this adversely affects the attitude of air travelers, who become increasingly annoyed with the process of entering secure zones at an airport. Couple this with the fact that a large percentage of travelers fly less than once a year and are unfamiliar with way security lines work. Most don’t remember to remove items from pockets or take their shoes off when walking through metal detectors. These ignorant mistakes collide head-on with fumbling pat-down search procedures by less than excited TSA agents who have their own unique communication problems. Ultimately tempers rise, altercations occur and our security suffers.

Instead of loosening security requirements to improve worker morale, the TSA should recruit and train better people. Incentives should be provided for those who join the TSA, in the same way that U.S. Servicemen and women receive college tuition. In return, TSA workers commit to a ‘tour’ of duty, and should be required to pass regular service benchmarks if they are to grow in rank, increase their compensation, or receive additional benefits once they leave the agency. If we treat the TSA the same way we treat any one of our other armed services, the dedication and commitment to keeping our homeland safe and secure will increase, and we’ll all be safer as a result.

After all, isn’t it important to do anything and everything we can to prevent a repeat of 9/11?

The kind folks at GOPBloggers.org sent along this little ditty today. Have at it!

Kicking the dog whilst he is down.

Of all people, Judy Belushi Pisano, the widow of comic genius John Belushi, comes out of the woodwork to heap dirt on Bob Woodward. In fact, a lot of people who were involved with the book “Wired” get in on the game.

It’s unlikely that Woodward will realize an uptick in royalty income on the mention of this title which was published in 1985. The going price for a used copy on Amazon is a whopping 49 cents.