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Monday Night Open Thread

By Jeralyn, Section Blog Related
Posted on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 08:17:43 PM EST
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I'm sure there are other topics besides al Qaida and Charlie Sheen to discuss.

Here's an open thread, all topics welcome.

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    Monday Night Open Thread | 28 comments (28 topical)

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    I agree completely. (none / 0) (#1)
    by JamesTX on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 09:05:10 PM EST
    Usually when they start blowing these weird stories out of proportion, they are trying to sneak something through the back door. What cookie jar do they have their hands in this time?

    Now that you get to sit for the last hour (none / 0) (#2)
    by scribe on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:00:30 PM EST
    of your flight without books, carry-ons, blankets and all the rest, and No Getting Up, inquiring minds want to know:

    What are they going to do when one of these knuckleheads decides to stuff some plastique up his butt instead of in his underwear?

    Cavity searches for all air travellers?

    And when will people realize that they are now living in a big, open air prison?

    How will they light it? (none / 0) (#3)
    by Inspector Gadget on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:04:45 PM EST
    If it's inside their body?

    Parent
    it happened with the failed attack (none / 0) (#5)
    by Jeralyn on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:23:29 PM EST
    on the Saudi prince:

    After al-Asiri entered a small room to speak with Prince Mohammed, he activated a small improvised explosive device (IED) he had been carrying inside his anal cavity. The resulting explosion ripped al-Asiri to shreds but only lightly injured the shocked prince -- the target of al-Asiri's unsuccessful assassination attempt.


    Parent
    you remove it first (none / 0) (#15)
    by Dadler on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 06:16:46 AM EST
    then you ignite it. and that's all it would take. one well placed dynamite suppository and the passenger airline industry would grind to quite a "working" halt.

    Parent
    I have said it before and (none / 0) (#4)
    by JamesTX on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:21:54 PM EST
    then reneged, but I think I am serious this time. I think I'm done. I think I will only fly when I have to go to Europe, and I have seriously looked at those freighter deals and other options for that. When I go on vacation this summer, I will drive to the west coast. Europe and other places have had the same terror problems we have, and they for the most part don't respond with this senseless kind of stuff. The fact that we still do shows that we are a long way from breaking out of Bush-era reasoning. I wonder if we ever will. It isn't about security, and everyone knows it. It is about a political attitude toward individual rights, and an ever increasing symbolic trampling of those rights. It is about desensitizing us to government abuse of power, and stamping out any residual concept of individual rights in the population. It is political and psychological rather than strategic. Anyone with any capability of thought knows these measures will have no effect, other than to further degrade, insult, and demean Americans who value their Constitutional rights. That is what is all about. And it sucks that we can't break out of it.

    Parent
    The only difference I have seen between (none / 0) (#6)
    by oculus on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:34:02 PM EST
    U.S. airport security and that of European airports is the latter don't require removing shoes.  

    Parent
    London is no joke (none / 0) (#23)
    by CST on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 09:55:34 AM EST
    They may not make you take off your shoes, but they take security very seriously.  And you can only have one carry-on.

    I had a metal barrette in my carry one once - on it's edge I guess it could look like a blade.  They were very serious taking apart my stuff to find it.  I had a "what did I pack?!?" moment.

    I can't tell you how many times I brought that through U.S. airports with no trouble.

    And lest we wax too poetic about European civil liberties... They have had a big brother over there for a long time, and they don't have quite the same respect for "freedom of speech" either.

    Parent

    Hotel desk clerk: passport please. (none / 0) (#24)
    by oculus on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 10:15:51 AM EST
    We'll have it for you in a few hours--or tomorrow.

    Parent
    The UK security vs. civil liberty... (none / 0) (#25)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 10:20:03 AM EST
    model is not something we want to emulate, imo.  They're police-state crazy across the pond.

    Parent
    That was a thought I had last night... (none / 0) (#17)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 08:25:00 AM EST
    checking in for your flight is fast becoming synonymous with checking into prison.

    I know some among us don't mind being treated like a criminal as long as it gives them the illusion of safety...but I say to hell with that.

    Parent

    Crotch sniffin' dogs . . . (none / 0) (#7)
    by nycstray on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 10:43:15 PM EST
    the newest trend?! lol!~

    Seriously though, rather have a dog sniffin' than a body scan . .  . perhaps they should just give us an option?

    The new set of rules (none / 0) (#8)
    by shoephone on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 11:06:15 PM EST
    will be one of the biggest embarrassments of the Obama administration. The ridiculousness and inhumaneness of the rules will bankrupt the airline industry, because virtually no one will be flying anymore. I know I won't.

    Favre just got his comeuppance (none / 0) (#9)
    by Cream City on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 11:10:23 PM EST
    because he even made me root for the Bears.  And what a beauty of a play, a risky call, but it went like buttah.  Whoooeeee.  Now if the Vikes can lose again next week, Favre just might find himself having to play on his ol' field in Green Bay again.

    And we won't warm it up for the old man.  Below zero, babeeeez, bet on it!

    Favre had a similar effect on me. (5.00 / 1) (#12)
    by caseyOR on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 12:42:50 AM EST
    His move to the Vikings had me, lifelong Bears fan, rooting for the Packers.

    My gawd, the man's a miracle worker!

    Parent

    Unfortunately... (none / 0) (#18)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 08:29:57 AM EST
    Favre and the Vikes play the Giants...who appear to have mailed in the season.  And in the dome, where the old man can stay warm.  But ya never know...Go Giants!

    I would love nothing more than to see Aaron Rodgers and the Pack end the Vikes season...a perfect karmic ending to Favre's season:)

    Parent

    Anybody who thinks Favre (none / 0) (#19)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 08:50:40 AM EST
    can't play didn't watch the game last night. Defense wins games and the Vikings didn't have one last night, and may not for the rest of the year.

    With my mighty Titans on the sidelines and the Broncos on the cusp of proving that losing Cutler was stupid to the max I have adopted the Vikings.

    Us seasoned citizens must stick together.

    Parent

    He can still play... (none / 0) (#20)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 09:04:34 AM EST
    he just can't do training camp or listen to the coach...so he's a piker:)

    Not to mention he can still play you right out of a game with his gunslinging ways with half a gunslingers arm.

    Parent

    He doesn't play defense (none / 0) (#22)
    by jimakaPPJ on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 09:37:18 AM EST
    or special teams....

    Speaking of playing... you coming down?

    Parent

    Sure as hell ain't flying... (none / 0) (#26)
    by kdog on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 10:23:01 AM EST
    I don't think the scrotum-bomber over-reaction will have subsided by then...I'm gonna work on some of my buddies and see if anyone is down for a road-trip...will advise old pal.

    Parent
    Given the recent news (none / 0) (#10)
    by Socraticsilence on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 11:10:29 PM EST
    about the people behind the attempted attack over Detroit, I have to wonder which way it spins-- They were held then released by the Bush Admin from Gitmo-- which obviously makes the previous admin look like crap-- but at the same time it seems to seriously undercut the argument that we should release more people from Gitmo.

    I think a lot of people have been saying that for (none / 0) (#11)
    by jimakaPPJ on Mon Dec 28, 2009 at 11:28:59 PM EST
    quite a while.

    Parent
    Louisa May Alcott, activist (none / 0) (#13)
    by caseyOR on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 12:53:18 AM EST
    Tonight I watched an American Mastersepisode on PBS about Louisa May Alcott. Count me among the many women who, as girls, yearned to be Jo March, and were inspired to become writers by Ms. Alcott and Jo.

    In addition to her prolific literary career, Louisa was a feminist, an abolitionist, and, news to me, a prisoners' rights activist. She was also an activist for the rights of American Indians.

    And she was a runner, long before everyone took up jogging. From the time she was a girl, Louisa would go out in the morning, hitch up those cumbersome skirts and have a good run.

    When she died at the age of 56, Louisa was one of the most successful writers of her time. And financially she outpaced all the fellows we hear so much about, including, Henry James (not an admirer of her work), Herman Melville and Nathanial Hawthorne.

    I have a photo of her home (none / 0) (#14)
    by Cream City on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 02:33:45 AM EST
    framed on my wall, because I love the quote from her under the photo:  "Housekeeping ain't no joke."

    Nor was coping with her scatterbrained father, her upbringing, and the whole freeky group there.  I hope the show captured that well; if not, I've read wonderful bios of the Concord Quartet -- Alcott, Emerson, Thoreau, Hawthorne -- and the long-suffering women who did the housekeeping and much more to make the men's lives-of-the-minds possible . . . and then, finally, Louisa May found a way to write, too.  You may want to find the books for a good winter's read.

    Parent

    Not kind to Bronson (none / 0) (#27)
    by caseyOR on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 02:05:28 PM EST
    The show was not kind to Bronson. His inability to support the family was clear, as was Abigail Alcott's (Louisa's mother) dismay about and anger with him because of that.

    The American Masters series generally does a good job with its subjects. And this one was no exception.

    Parent

    We have one (none / 0) (#29)
    by jondee on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 02:48:25 PM EST
    from the Japanese poet Issa:

             Dont worry spiders,                                  
             I keep house casually.

    I like to think some of them transcendental folks woulda' liked it.

    Parent

    Seattle area police (none / 0) (#16)
    by jbindc on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 07:17:54 AM EST
    Experience their 6th loss in the past 8 weeks.

    Very sad.

    Baucus on the Senate floor during HCR debate (none / 0) (#28)
    by Inspector Gadget on Tue Dec 29, 2009 at 02:44:07 PM EST
    Mark Foley says he thinks Baucus was intoxicated.

    Monday Night Open Thread | 28 comments (28 topical)

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