A Spork in the Drawer

Monday Poll

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A Bit Of Robert Heinecken

Textured Torso, 1964

More Heinecken here.

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Economics Panel

Paul Krugman, Atrios, & Echidne of the Snakes



Econ 101



Echidne

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Media Panel

Will Bunch, Eric Boehlert, & Susie Madrak



Athenae



Susie & Athenae

(Note: I'm shooting, editing, and posting these pics in real time so the quality is...)

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Saturday Palate Cleanser

Art appreciation:

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Comedy Panel

watertiger, TRex, The Rude Pundit, Ted Rall, & Thers



Rall and Scalia.



watertiger makes an obvious point.



watertiger, TRex, & The Rude Pundit

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Panel

digby, Jane, NTodd, and Atrios



Jane & NTodd



digby & Jane



Atrios

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Noted In Passing

Off to Philadelphia for a few days so spotty posting although the regular weekend stuff should appear as if by magic.

Phun Philly Phact: It was in Philadelphia that the colonists electrocuted King George III with Dr. Franklin's lightning rod.

It's a Phun Philly Phact!

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Operation Enduring Freedom -- Caribbean and Central America

William Arkin:

My assumption was that "Operation Enduring Freedom -- Caribbean and Central America," a formal military operation I'd never heard of before yesterday, is oriented toward Cuba and Venezuela. But it is not. The U.S. military is indeed engaged in a global war, and the terrorist threat, at least in the eyes of the counter-terror warriors, extends to our backyard.

I don't know whether the actual threat necessitates such an "operation," but its bureaucratic existence says a lot about our overreliance on the military and the belief of many in government that the GWOT is a real war, equivalent to the Cold War, and is one that the United States should and will be fighting for decades.

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Is this for real? Or is this just a bureaucratic invention to extend the GWOT to every nook and cranny of the globe?

There is no easy answer. But at least in terms of the hierarchy of priorities, such a threat seems overhyped. Just after 9/11 there was much talk of al Qaeda activity in the "tri-border" area of South America, but since then there has been very little new information and certainly little to indicate a threat in the region. The danger, of course, is that under the guise of the GWOT, this reserve unit is preparing contingency plans for Venezuela and Cuba, in which case one wonders why the "GWOT" label is being used.

We can't get rid of the maniacs running things soon enough. And if St. John is occupies the White House...

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Feel Safer Now?

Your Transportation Safety Administration at work:

The female TSA agent used a handheld detector that beeped when it passed in front of Hamlin's chest, the Dallas-area resident said.

Hamlin said she told the woman she was wearing nipple piercings. The agent then called over her male colleagues, one of whom said she would have to remove the jewelry, Hamlin said.

Hamlin said she could not remove them and asked whether she could instead display her pierced breasts in private to the female agent. But several other male officers told her she could not board her flight until the jewelry was out, she said.

She was taken behind a curtain and managed to remove one bar-shaped piercing but had trouble with the second, a ring.

"Still crying, she informed the TSA officer that she could not remove it without the help of pliers, and the officer gave a pair to her," said Hamlin's attorney, Gloria Allred, reading from a letter she sent Thursday to the director of the TSA's Office of Civil Rights and Liberties. Allred is a well-known Los Angeles lawyer who often represents high-profile claims.

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She said she heard male TSA agents snickering as she took out the ring. She was scanned again and was allowed to board even though she still was wearing a belly button ring.

We live in a very silly country.

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