Saturday, November 27, 2010

Berman Post

Berman Post

Whoopi (And The View) - 'National Opt Out Day is Sort of an Act of Terrorism'

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:55 PM PST


I agree with the first thing Whoopi said, that regarding opting out of the naked body scanners being an act of terrorism is far fetched. She, and The View, then went on to agree that it was not far fetched.

Video embedded below.

Obama Gets 12 Stitches After Accidental Elbow to Mouth During Basketball Game

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:38 PM PST


Rey Decerega, a director of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, has been identified as the person who accidentally elbowed Obama. Why are people throwing up elbows in a friendly game of basketball with the president?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101126/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama

"President Barack Obama needed 12 stitches in his upper lip after taking an errant elbow during a pickup basketball game Friday morning with family and friends visiting for the Thanksgiving holiday, the White House said.

First word of the injury came in a statement from press secretary Robert Gibbs nearly three hours after the incident.

The White House did not initially name the person who caused the injury, but identified him later Friday as Rey Decerega, director of programs for the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

Obama received the stitches under local anesthesia in the doctor's office on the ground floor of the White House after returning home. Doctors used a smaller filament than typically used, which increases the number of stitches but makes a tighter stitch and leaves a smaller scar."

TSA Announces Facebook Integration For Naked Body Scanners (Joke)

Posted: 27 Nov 2010 01:16 PM PST


Picture embedded below.



"John Pistole, the head of the Transportation Security Administration, announced yesterday that full body scanners at airports across the nation will be seamlessly integrated with Facebook next month, allowing travelers to save, tag, and share their near-naked security photos with friends, family, and co-workers through the popular social networking site. Immediately after being subjected to a scan, the traveler's photo will be automatically uploaded to a public album on Facebook and tagged accordingly."

Proof Terrorists Crossed Mexican Border

Posted: 26 Nov 2010 05:26 PM PST

National Opt-Out Day a Bust; or Was it?

Posted: 26 Nov 2010 05:02 PM PST


National Opt-Out was a planned protest against the new 'Enhanced Screening' by the TSA. If the plan was to cause dramatic increases in lines all across the country at our nations airports then the plan failed. The reason may not be so clear cut. There are reports, though denied by the TSA, they shut down a number of the machines. It is also not clear to me that such a protest could ever have had that effect. If the Naked Body Scanners are used at random, the more people that opt out the less overall they will process. That in itself would not necessarily snarl air port security. The fact that it takes longer to process the people opting out since they had to be patted down (groped), does not mean the regular lines get blocked up; it just means fewer people were pulled from those lines. The lines would continue to flow normally, perhaps without the benefit from a few being siphoned off.

If the goal of the protest was instead to increase awareness of the new procedures, then it could be considered a success.

Cher - 'I Just Those Teabaggers Are F*cking Nuts'

Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:49 PM PST

TSA Claims 'National Security' to Avoid Answering Question on Success Rate

Posted: 26 Nov 2010 04:20 PM PST


I do not really understand how giving out a number of successfully prevented terrorist attacks has a legitimate National Security component. If they were asked for specific details on how they figured it out (assuming they had), that could have some implications. While it may be unfair to say refusing the answer the question means they have not caught any, it is likely that the number is embarrassingly small given the resources dedicated and the burden/impact on travelers.

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20101119/18284511954/whether-not-tsa-has-ever-caught-terrorist-is-apparently-state-secret.shtml

"We asked recently if there was any evidence, ever, that the TSA's security procedures prevented an attack on an airplane. Last week the TSA claimed, without any details, that its procedures had stopped 130 "prohibited, illegal or dangerous items" from getting on airplanes in the last year. But it provides no details. And, in a day when a bottle of water and nail clippers are considered "prohibited," it's difficult to judge if this actually means anything.

Over at Slate, Juliet Lapidos tries to dig into the question, but the TSA won't point out a single specific case claiming it's a "national security" issue. Huh? Actually telling us whether or not the naked scans and crotch grabs catch anyone is a state secret? That seems likely to mean that the answer is, no, they have not caught anyone or stopped any attempted attack, and they're just too embarrassed to say so. In fact, Lapidos points out that, in years past, the TSA has publicly announced when it "caught" someone -- as in the one time, nearly three years ago, it found a guy who had enough materials in his (checked) suitcase to make a pipe-bomb. Of course, there wasn't an actual pipe bomb in the suitcase, so it wasn't going to blow up the plane or anything."
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