it's the incompetence, stupid!

[unblock]

people are fed up with tsa for the same reason people are fed up with congress and fed up with the tax system and fed up with government spending and fed up with government mismanagement of the economy as seen through bailouts and silly subsidies and so on.

VERY few people REALLY object to any of the good things that government is capable of. people want security at the airports, effective and reasonable laws, a reasonable and fair tax system that pays for cost-effective, fair and necessary government services, and a steady hand that steers the economy while cushioning an otherwise bumpy ride.

but a prerequisite for support for all these is COMPETENCE. reasonable airport security procedures would not be objectionable if people felt they were necessary, appropriate, and effective relative to the cost in terms of money, delays, and loss of dignity and privacy.

no one really ever had much of an issue with x-raying luggage and metal detectors, because that seemed reasonable. a small price to pay to make sure there were no unauthorized guns on board. but genital groping is crossing a line, not in terms of invasion of privacy so much as in terms of competence. it's simply hard to fathom how someone could think that the highly limited extra security prevented could justify the massive, extensive humiliation and indignities.

the main principle of security is that it is only ever as good as the weakest link. groping everyone's genitals and/or subjecting them to backscatter machines might very well deter one category of terrorism, only to find that all you've done was to shift it to another. just as putting eight different types of locks on your front door might deter a direct assault, only to find your house burgled through the back door.

so, fine. these ridiculous procedures will keep terrorists from putting their own genitals at ground zero. so? unless and until you've secured every other avenue, this one would seem to most people to be the last resort. no one has a sense that we're there yet.

so if you want people to support security procedures, try showing a little competence before insisting on feeling people up.

[demigoddess]

1. don't know how it is connected but have you all noticed like I have

that many, many businesses are also doing really stupid stuff?? I seem to notice it more and more. I have seen businesses turn down business, one business remodeled and put in four new check out stations but only one person at a time to use them, so the customers are standing in longer lines than before. A number of businesses are closing in our area but have hear that the owners of a strip mall has increased the price for their storefronts. A fabric store has cut down on their fabric but increased the cheap stuff from China that is holiday specific that they have to put on sale right after the holiday. Airlines seem to be trying to drive away business. And I hardly get out anymore so there must be more.

[unblock]

2. i think you're right.

we all know how screwed up our legislative process is these days. companies lobby for tax incentives for inane crap and suddenly you see silly things all over the place, most notoriously due to the corn subsidies.

companies are pulling the rug out from under their own consumer base.

companies are looking to nickel and dime at the expense of pissing away entire accounts, and they're not even trying to sneak it by.

there's far too much uncertainty for long-term planning, so people are going for the quick buck.

and a lot of this is due to the screwed-up compensation structure for the corporate decision-makers.


those who blame obama at every turn have NO CLUE just how seriously screwed up we have become. i can't say if he could have been more effective in his first two years, but i know that seriously fixing this mess will take AT LEAST THIRTY. i mean, the other side effectively had that long to screw it up....