Day: April 23, 2005

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The Problem With Penguins

Who says the TSA isn’t profiling potential problem passengers?
 
The Thousands Standing Around  as theater of the absurd:
 
 
Yep.  Really. I guess the Thousands Standing Around crew at Denver feared the penguins might’ve hijacked the plane or something (“Book two to Bogota!”)… (tip from a reader of Jerry Pournelle’s Chaos Manor)
 
Oh, and apparently, one TSA goon in San Jose, CA, thinks that the Thousands Standing Around ban on more than 2 matchbooks means any kind of book. (This is the only report I know of.  But it certainly fits the profile for Thousands Standing Around employees… ::heh::)
 
They seem get these guys by weeding out anyone with an IQ over 80.  And the normative curve for Thousands Standing Around goons seems (by evidence of reported behavior) to cluster around the average intelligence of yeast.
 
But they are only doing their duty (as the stupid man claims whenever he finally understands that what he is doing is stupid… ).
 
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“Fairy tales can come true, it can happen to you… “

Yeh, you wish… well, at least I do
 
If only.  Scrappleface has penned a piece of comic “news” that actually posits one of the most significant steps that could be taken to fix public education.  That it would have a salutory effect on public education is, of course, the primary reason politicians will NOT do it… Sample:
 
“The ‘No Bureaucrat Left Behind’ reforms will completely shut down the federal Department of Education, however, all former employees are expected to find jobs with education lobbyist firms which will soon have to sell their ideas to thousands of school boards nationwide, instead of just a handful of Congressmen.”
 
 
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Politicians, Lawyers and Creeps, Oh my!

But I repeat myself…
 
I promise myself, every time I see a particular road sign to write a post about it.  But before I do, a side trip down an apparent rabbit trail.
 
I once knew a lawyer who had descended beyond scoundrelry and rascelry into downright disgusting. One of his shady—though completely legal—deals was the management of a trust he’d devised for the bequests of a client, a very foolish, trusting client.  (Hereafter, instead of citing this lawyer’s name, in its place, I’ll simply use the name “Damned Lawyer”) When the client died, the lawyer had full control of managing the donations from this trust to various charities and non-profit groups.  In each and every case, the lawyer’s name was attched in some way, such as the Damned Lawyer Memorial Methodist Church (the lawyer was still alive, but he stipulated that the church be named after him in that way when he gave the church money from his client’s funds to build a new building).  And every road leading into the little town where that church was had a huge billboard proclaiming the Damned Lawyer Memorial Church.
 
He used someone else’s money to proclaim himself benevolent.
 
Every time I saw those signs, I felt the disgust I feel now when I see a similar sign proclaiming the G. Damned Congressman Highway.  Now, don’t get me wrong.  I do not see the idea of naming a portion of a highway after a public servant, as is done around here in naming portions of roads after state troopers who are killed on duty, as a bad thing.  Indeed, naming public works after public servants (such as the slain state troopers) is a good thing.  But naming public works after a politician, someone whose “benevolence” is all taking money from someone else to spend it on something the politician can claim “credit” for is beyond distasteful and into downright disgusting.
 
The only monuments, IMO, that ought to bear the names of politicians are their headstones.
 
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