Ugg

Just so you know, this is yet another day when I wonder just why the hell I didn't join the Coast Guard.

I know that there are good units in the Army. I've been a part of them. I've experienced just what a properly run unit can be and do.

This down here? Yeah. Not it. In fact, I really don't think that the Army in Puerto Rico is really part of the US Army. This is Pancho Villa's Army. It's a sad joke.

Anyways, I'm sure you all didn't surf on over here to listen to be bitch and moan. So let me direct you to a letter from an airline pilot that Patterico posted over at Hot Air. It's a complete rundown of how the Federal Gummint has managed to fuck up just about every aspect of security on airlines.

There is no question that we will get airline security right someday. My only question is whether, at this point, we will get it right before the next attack. After 9/11, we were given the gift of time and of awareness. I am very concerned we have squandered the gift of time — and there is little left before we are hit again — and we are losing the gift of awareness, as we truly forget what that morning was like. There is no question in my mind, based on everything I hear in my position, that Al Qaeda is actively, aggressively preparing to target the United States again, and that commandeering an airliner is still the easiest, quickest method of possessing a weapon of mass destruction. I am even more concerned that the next attack could be far worse than 9/11, which, while devastating, would pale in comparison to other available targets.

The TSA is stuck in a deficient mindset, and it's convinced me that the people in charge are Leftists through and through. They refuse to deal with the people who want to kill us, and instead focus all their attention on the objects that those people would use in their murderous acts. The problem with that approach is that somebody can and will always find a replacement object if you take their first option away. If you focus on objects instead of people, then you get the ridiculous instances where Marine Corps Ace and Medal of Honor awardee Joe Foss had some nitwit trying to take away his MoH because it had sharp points on it.

Here's a picture of the deadly hand-to-hand weapon that the 86 year old war hero could have used.


Pathetic.

That is the sort of thing that happens when you focus your attention entirely in the wrong direction. If some kid is learning how to spell, and he keeps making mistakes when he's spelling "Leftist moonbats", do you take away his pencil? "Gosh, that pencil is causing so many mis-spellings, we'll just have to get rid of it!" No, you teach the kid how to properly spell. You deal with the person, not the object.

The same holds true with stopping terrorists. We had the Shoe Bomber try to blow up a plane, so now we all have to go barefoot through the security checkpoint and have our shoes x-rayed. Then some terrorist tumblefuck tried to blow up a plane using a gel explosive, so now we can't have more than a 3 ounce bottle of liquids in our carry-on baggage. All of this bullshit is reaction to different objects, and it's absolutely fucking moronic. One, you can only react after something has happened, so by reacting you're already showing that you're behind the curve. Second, take away an object and somebody can find a different object to replace it! Scan the shoes, the terrorists will use gel explosives. Now try to stop gel explosives, and they'll find something else. By refusing to deal with the actual problem, i.e. the people who want to kill us, they've set themselves up for failure.

I mean, hows the crime in LA, D.C., Chicago, New York, and Philadelphia? Those cities have extensive gun bans, right? And yet people are still getting shot. Because those cities have focused on an object, and not the people behind the crime.

I honestly think that we'll get hit again eventually, especially with the way that people refuse to deal with the problem head on. Go read that pilot's letter. It's rather scary. The gummint isn't doing it's job, plain and simple.