In response to the Christmas Day attack, Homeland Security has issued new regulations.
From:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/26/AR2009122601773.html?hpid=topnews
–U.S.-bound passengers aboard international flights must undergo a “thorough pat-down” at boarding gates, focused on the upper legs and torso. All carry-on baggage must be inspected.
– Passengers must remain seated for the final hour before landing. During that time, they may not have access to their carry-on baggage or hold personal items on their laps.
– While over U.S. airspace, flight crews may not make any announcements to passengers concerning the flight path or the airplane’s position over cities or landmarks.
As usual, government’s response to a problem is regulation. But people, including terrorists, don’t just blindly obey the spirit of rules. People act in their self-interest, even when that interest is martyrdom. Now that we have a rule forcing passengers to play the Quiet Game for 60 minutes, terrorists will simply act 90 minutes before landing. It is far easier to circumvent rules than it is to create a foolproof set of rules.
Terrorists and capitalists both look for ways to use existing rules to their advantage. They both take advantage of the reduced competition created as law-abiding people follow those rules. Gun laws often work the same way. Robbers take advantage of the fact that guns are highly regulated, reducing the chance that they’ll have to face a loaded gun during their robbery.
The history of trouble on airlines paints a clear picture. The regulations in place before 9/11 were a response to the pattern of airline hostage-taking in preceding decades. Terrorists adjusted, and used the rules in place at the time to crash 3 airliners into buildings. The 4th attempt was thwarted by people who ignored the rules, overpowered the terrorists, and took Flight 93 into the ground before it could reach Washington. After 9/11, we put in rules about boxcutters, and worked to make the cabins of jets more secure. In response, the terrorists put PETN in their shoe. Security response: take off your shoes and run them through the X-ray machine. On Christmas Day, the terrorists showed their response to our response- hide the explosive in your shorts.
This sort of measures and counter-measures is an everyday part of war. It’s also how capitalism works. Businesses are constantly looking for ways to reduce costs and increase revenue. Government fundamentally fails to recognize that rules are made to be broken. You cannot devise a set of regulations that will keep us safe from terrorists, any more than regulations can prevent greedy people from making money.
I saw today a post normally attributed to Lord Woodhouselee, Alexander Tytler. While the attribution may be incorrect, the observation seems accurate:
‘The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the beginning of history, has been about 200 years’ ‘During those 200 years, those nations always progressed through the following sequence:
1. from bondage to spiritual faith;
2. from spiritual faith to great courage;
3. from courage to liberty;
4. from liberty to abundance;
5. from abundance to complacency;
6. from complacency to apathy;
7. from apathy to dependence;
8. from dependence back into bondage’
The product life cycle, common in business, seems to provide similar insights, as well. Most products go through introduction, growth, maturity, and decline. Where in the democracy or product life cycle would you say the United States is?
I got this email in 2006. I ran across it today, and thought it was worth getting up on the site.
Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following multiple choice test. The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened!!!
Do you remember?
-1968 Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed by
a. Superman
b. Jay Leno
c. Harry Potter
d. Muslim male extremist between the ages of 17 and 40
1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by
a. Olga Corbett
b. Sitting Bull
c. Arnold Schwarzenegger
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
2. In 1979, the US embassy in Iran was taken over by:
a. Lost Norwegians
b. Elvis
c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
3.During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
a. John Dillinger
b. The King of Sweden
c. The Boy Scouts
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
4. In 1983, the US Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
a. A pizza delivery boy
b. Pee Wee Herman
c. Geraldo Rivera
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
a. The Smurfs
b. Davy Jones
c. The Little Mermaid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
6.In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a US Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
a. Captain Kidd
b. Charles Lindberg
c. Mother Teresa
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
7.In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
a. Scooby Doo
b. The Tooth Fairy
c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombe d the first time by:
a. Richard Simmons
b. Grandma Moses
c. Michael Jordan
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
9.In 1998, the US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
a. Mr. Rogers
b. Hillary Clinton, to distract attention from Wild Bill’ s women problems
c. The World Wrestling Federation
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
10.On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take out the World Trade Centers and of the remaining two, one crashed into the US Pentagon and the other was diverted and crashed by the passengers.Thousands of people were killed by:
a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
b. The Supreme Court of Florida
c. Mr. Bean
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
11.In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
a. Enron
b. The Lutheran Church
c. The NFL
d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
a. Bonnie and Clyde
b. Captain Kangaroo
c. Billy Graham
d. Muslim male extremist s mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
13. 2004 – Spain Railway bombings were done by:
Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
14. 2005 London Railway bombings were done by:
Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
15. 2006 plot to blowup airliners leaving London for US destinations. Who has been implicated:
Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
See a pattern here?
President Obama has responded to the request that General Stanley McChrystal submitted on August 30. This Sunday, Nov. 29, Obama signed off on an order to increase troop levels in Afghanistan. Not quite to the 40,000 that his chosen General requested, but troops from other nations should make up the difference. It took 3 months for Obama to decide on this. McChrystal had said that the next 12 months in Afghanistan will be decisive. That leaves us with 9 months. Hopefully that will be long enough.
Part of Obama’s plan for Afghanistan, a key part of his speech coming up on Tuesday, is a definite timetable for ending hostilities. Which begs the question. What happens if we haven’t won by then? Here’s what Gibbs had to say:
“The president will talk about, ‘This is not an open ended commitment,’ that the goal and the purpose of the strategy is to train Afghan national security force, comprised of an Afghan national army and a police, that can fight an unpopular insurgency in Afghanistan so that we can then transfer that security responsibility appropriately back to the Afghans,” Gibbs said.
So, the goal of our involvement in Afghanistan is to train Afghan soldiers? What happened to the goal of destroying Al Qaeda, killing bin Laden, and ending the threat of Islamic Extremism? Are those no longer on the radar?
What happens if Afghanistan’s troops aren’t ready to provide security? If Afghanistan doesn’t meet Obama’s “very strict benchmarks” will we just go ahead and leave? If that’s the case, then our commitment doesn’t seem very sincere. How do our allies in Afghanistan and Pakistan read this? They’ll likely assume that they need to hedge their bets, because America isn’t planning on sticking around. How will the Taliban react? They’ll hunker down and wait us out, or maybe even conduct a few major attacks in an effort to speed up our timetable.
It’s clear that Obama’s main concern isn’t winning. It’s leaving with some shred of dignity. He likely believes that it’s impossible to beat the Taliban. But winning wars is a matter of strength and will. America undoubtedly has the strength to destroy the Taliban and Al Qaeda. But right now, we do not have the will. Bush warned us that we were locked in a long struggle with fanatical Islam. Have we already forgotten that warning?
The short title for it is: Affordable Health Care for America Act. That’s House bill number HR 3962, though it’s not listed on Thomas yet. Apparently the plan is to debate the bill for a few weeks, and then vote on it Thursday or Friday.
That means we have a week to read it, and tell the world the parts we like and don’t like. Hey- it’s only 1,990 pages.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi proudly proclaimed that this bill will lower the deficit. By spending $980 billion dollars. That’s a neat trick, isn’t it? I’m going shopping now, so I can save some money. Be back later!
In Jacksonville this week, President Barack Obama spoke to members of our military, mostly naval aviators. While there, he repeated what he’s been saying for weeks:
I will never rush the solemn decision of sending you into harm’s way
As the same article points out, his words came 1 day after 14 Americans were left dead in 2 helicopter crashes. Overall, 55 Americans have died so far this October in Afghanistan. 2009 promises to be the bloodiest year so far of the campaign in that country. Last year saw 111 American deaths. In July through October, we’re over 270. It would seem that Americans are ALREADY in harm’s way.
I don’t know why Obama hasn’t made a decision yet. It’s possible that he has no capacity for decision-making. That’s an executive skill; his history as a legislator would indicate a talent more along the lines of compromising. But leaders shouldn’t comprimise lightly. Not when our life and safety are at stake.
Perhaps Obama wishes to avoid the mistakes that he believes lead Bush into Iraq. But Bush got UN resolutions against Iraq. Congress debated the issue. Colin Powell presented evidence. Saddam had a history of defiance. But those points aside, there is a huge difference in the two situations. Bush had the options of fight or no fight. Obama is already in a fight- at which point the options become: WIN, or LOSE.
The delay can’t be a lack of input. McChrystal made his recommendation weeks ago. Dick Cheyney says the Bush administration assembled data and presented it to Obama in 2008. Obama announced a strategy early in 2009, and it closely resembled the reccomendations that McChrystal is now making. Joe Biden gives his own advice.
Obama would have us believe that compassion and a desire to protect human life are causing him to take extra time. Important decisions must not be rushed, he says. Well, sometimes you don’t have the luxury of time. Simple decisions become complicated when you delay. Don’t believe me? Try driving down the road and delaying the decision to turn the steering wheel. Or ponder the possible consequences of hitting the brakes as you approach the light, and motor right through oncoming traffic.
In Afghanistan, Obama’s delays result in the death of U.S. soldiers and Afghani civilians. These deaths directly influence events in Afghanistan, in the Taliban’s favor. Our troops lose morale, and Afghans become more bitter. Without the resources, our troops are caught between strategies. That’s a road to destruction and defeat.
As Obama considers options, the Taliban is taking action. They have stepped up attacks in Afghanistan. Is Obama going to cave in to their violence? In the short run, it doesn’t matter. Just the DELAY is killing people.
Obama has been criticizing Bush, and criticizing doctors, and criticizing bank executives, and criticizing the heads of the Big 3. But he does so from the luxury of an insulated world. He says deadlines are important, but the health care bill has missed numerous deadlines. He sets goals for the stimulus plan, and then claims success when falling short of those goals. What executive can succeed this way? What leadership is this?
Any leader knows that you can’t wait for perfect information. At some point, any decision yields a better result than delay. I want Obama to send more troops. But if he wants to pull troops out, then let’s get started. He may think that he’s on a treadmill, but his troops are in a war zone.
The Spanish philospher Maimonides said:
“The risk of a wrong decision is preferable to the terror of indecision.”
This very terror is growing in the guts of our soldiers. And it fuels the resolve of our enemies. We must act, or fail.
Angela Merkel won a 2nd term as chancellor in Germany. She got enough support from center-right portions of the government that she be able to get legislation passed with less trouble from the left-leaning Social Democrats.
Once again, Europe shows the lie of the American fable of “the rest of the world is loves liberals”. True, European conservatives are generally more liberal than their American counterparts, but on economic issues, Germans effectively voted for prudence in favor of patronage.
Some progressives may believe that their policies are good. But the fruit of liberal policies is a stain on our schools, a blot on our inner cities, and a nest of fraud and waste in our health care system.
Your average Democrat believes that government spending will help people. It’s time to show them the error in their beliefs. If spending more on schools makes them better, why are we spending ever more, with worse results? It’s easy to fix schools. Longer school year – more discipline = better grades. It works whenever it’s tried. Its the same on every issue that progressives love. Money is not the answer.
Once people realize that money is not the answer, we should ask “why, if the solutions are simple, do our leaders choose to ignore the solutions?” The answer is obvious – the powerful want to control more spending, because it gives them even more power. I believe that when Democrats realize this, they too will be filled with a desire to clean out the nest of corrupt politicians in Washington.
In an emergency prime-time address to a joint session of Congress, President Barack Obama revealed the following startling consequence of opposing his health care plan.
“More Americans will lose their coverage when they are sick and need it most and more will die as a result.”
I was not aware that employers had a new tool to determine when their staff was sick and truly needed health care. Or that insurance companies have improved their actuarial tables to the point that they can now accurately determine the critical point at which to drop coverage.
But maybe I missed the President’s point. Maybe he’s really earnest about this health care thing because he’s finally found out that he’s not invincible. People don’t live forever. He went to law school, not medical school, so he can be forgiven for not knowing this previously. Clearly his top-flight team of advisors has shown him the awful statistics: 100% of humans who survive childbirth eventually die!
Obama’s efforts to stop this epidemic of deaths are welcome. Surely a bipartisan effort can be made to stop this needless cycle of birth and death. Sources in the GOP have said that they, too, want to stop death, and are in fact calling for a “humans bill of rights to life”. But a misunderstanding with their Democrat colleagues forced them to change the language to “right to remain alive after a successful planned birth”.
Big news to Glenn Beck fans, a puzzlement to New York Times readers. Green Jobs Czar, I mean “special advisor to the President’ Van Jones resigned today. The White House had been pulling back from support of Jones as new announcements of his past statements came to light. He called Republicans “assholes”, and signed a petition indicating a belief that the U.S. government had been aware of the 9/11 plot.
Conservatives, of course, had many more problems with Jones. Like his claim to be a socialist. Or his role in the radical group STORM. Or his statements about “white people spreading poison in our inner cities. But now they should be dancing in the streets over his resignation, right?
In a word, no. Van Jones was a special advisor to the President. Valerie Jarrett made a big deal of bringing him into the White House, because he was the sort of visionary they were looking for. Does Obama’s core belief system change because Van Jones left? Does Jones no longer have the President’s ear? Nothing has changed on those fronts. The only difference is that now Jones can’t give speeches to students on the American taxpayer’s dime. But he’ll get all the funding he needs from left-wing groups who will portay him as a victim of the Republican smear machine.
The real issue is – will the White House change direction now that Jones has resigned? No chance.
