It's ubiquitous, everywhere and apparently we can't survive without it. Right.
A caricature was born during the anthrax crisis -- not a good thing for someone trying to convey reassurance. It grew a few months later when Ridge introduced a color-coded scheme of terror threat levels. (Comedian Jon Stewart said Ridge was issuing an alert for "partly evil around Texas and Oklahoma while, in the Midwest, morning evil will give way to afternoon skulduggery.") And it exploded earlier this year when the department suggested that citizens stock up on plastic sheeting and duct tape in the event of a terrorist attack involving weapons of mass destruction.
The caricature has grown to a point where Ridge began to collect mocking cartoons. One of his favorites features a couple cowering in a safe room. "We've got canned goods, water, batteries, flashlights and candles," the woman says. "We've also sealed the windows with plastic sheeting and duct tape. What do we do now?"
"Act normal," her husband says.
I think the only thing that's totally true about that is that the afternoon skullduggery is still going on.
Why are they looking for such acceptance of their "brand"? I'm sure that we would be just fine without the hyper-instrusive TSA; they have a function, but are slowly starting to expand their scope into areas they have no business in...for instance if I were to piss off a TSA guy they could yank my pilot's license without any due process. They just one day ceded themselves that right via memo, and even FAA is pissed about it. They are in charge of the mysterious "no-fly" lists that keep American Citizens who have spoken out about the 1600 Crew, the war or any other "subversive" topic off planes. They even have a list that has a person with the same name as Ozzie and Harriet Nelson's son, David on it and since there is a David Nelson on some Terrorist Watchlist list he gets harassed every time he boards and airplane.
Welcome to America, where you can't pick your brand of harassment, courtesy of the Paranoid Powergrabbers...the 1600 Crew, they decide then harrass. Kinda like Faux News...
Yay. Give me a Sears Catalog...worked for Grandad, in the one-holer out back.
