I'm White, How Dare You Do This to Me!

So, the TSA has some new procedures, procedures we Americans shouted and screamed for. After all, brown people were somehow managing to get on planes. Clearly something needed to be done.

Well, it's done, and the same people who kicked and screamed for heightened airport security are more than a little put out that heightened airport security applies to them, too.

Another passenger, David, told WND he traveled to attend a sister's funeral in Los Angeles and found the security procedures at LAX "like a racist homosexual grope fest."

"This screener made me turn all my pockets inside out, patted me down four times, being particularly attentive to my crotch and butt. I asked him if he just wanted me to strip down naked and he said go ahead. My wife then approached a nearby sheriff, who brought these violations of my privacy, and person, to a halt," said the passenger, who described himself as a "middle class white guy." [emphasis mine]

What, exactly, is he upset about, do you think? That he was "groped", or that he, a middle class white got groped? Groping is for brown people, not good white people. White people are never terrorists. White people never fly planes into IRS buildings . . . no, wait . . . white people never blow up federal buildings . . . no, wait . . . white people never concoct elaborate plans to kill law enforcement official en masse . . . no, wait . . .

Poor David, he lost his privilege for a moment. He got to spend 5 minutes in the life of a brown person, and he really didn't like it.

Boo-fucking-hoo, David. You get to live in the world you helped create. Deal with it.

Stop Dressing Like a Terrorist! (I mean you, JBiebs)

The most famous of all terrorist fashion statements, at least in the US, is the hoodie, as made famous by Ted Kaczynski, who was also attempting to popularize unkempt hair and beards, apparently. Unless you want people to think you are a terrorist, you should probably get rid of that hoodie and cut that hair.

Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist, preferred a more groomed look, and white T-shirts. If you don't want people to think you are a terrorist, grow a beard and don't wear white T-shirts. Maybe you shouldn't be a man anymore, as well. Just to be sure.

Andrew Joseph Stack III, frequently referred to as a "tax protestor", flew a plane into a government building. Clearly terrorism. He favored plaid button downs. Remove any plaid button downs from your wardrobe immediately if you don't want to freak people out on planes.

Hutaree, famous for a multipart plot to kill police officers by the dozens, made it just threatening to be a woman as a man, by including a woman in their group. They preferred to wear colored T-shirts and camouflage.

So, just to review, if you don't want people to mistake you for a terrorist, shave your beard and cut your hair, don't be clean shaven, don't be a man, don't be a woman, don't wear hoodies, don't wear plaid button downs, don't wear white or colored T-shirts and don't wear camouflage.

Oh, wait, silly me. All you have to do is not be brown in America. American nonMuslim terrorists don't exist, you see.

Yes, Clearly It's All About the Terrorism

Israel apologists will tell you that every action taken by Israeli forces against the Palestinians is absolutely necessary to defend Israel against terrorism. So, sexually harrassing a bound Palestinian woman is how you defeat terrorists? Who knew.



(from Permission to Narrate)

Killing Civilians Is the Army's Job?

I am against war. I have made this clear before. Others may see glory and honor, I see only broken, bloodied bodies and the pain and grief of the survivors. Perhaps war is inevitable, but I think people in power have more to gain from guns and bombs than words and more words. I understand that it is unavoidable, sometimes, that civilians will die during a war. I assumed that most people would want to avoid the deaths of noncombatants, of old men and pregnant women and children. Well, you know what they say about assuming . . .

According to Barabara, the US military is contemplating a medal for "courageous restraint", i.e., holding fire to save civilian lives. This isn't precisely true. (Nothing Barabara writes is precisely true.) Certain NATO commanders have suggested that we need to do something to cut down on civilian casualties in Afghanistan, while at the same time clearly stating that they don't want NATO or US troops to risk their lives, either.

Well, how dare they!

Are we becoming the stupidest country in the world? What can terrorists be thinking when they read this nonsense?

The emasculation/feminizing of our culture continues apace. What next: Little League trophies for purposely taking a walk to first base?

I imagine the terrorists are thinking that's it's going to be a little harder to recruit if we become the good guys. Just a thought. Beyond that, if we make policy based on what terrorists will think, they really have won. Seriously, we should emulate al Queda's tactics and make the world unsafe for everyone? Maybe the writer hasn't noticed, but what we call a war zone is what the Afghanis call home.

She ends with this gem of a prayer:

Please dear Lord, can we vote these wusses out of power so we can let the military do what they are supposed to do?

Killing civilians: what the military is supposed to be doing. Nice.

It's a Scary Place Inside Your Head

terrorism, bigotry, racism, fear,

[disturbing images below the fold]

I have a devised a test so you can tell if you're a wingnut or sane.

Two women wearing headscarves walk into a McDonalds. Do you (a) not even notice them as you has cheeseburger, or do you (b) watch their every move because they might be ISLAMoFACIsTERRORISTS and ISLAMoFACIsTERRORISTS are known for blowing up McDonalds franchises in the greater Pittsburgh area?

Wednesday night, we all went over to our local McDonald's for some food. I didn't have the gumption to really cook anything of substance, and state law requires us to feed the kids. It doesn't say WHAT we have to feed them (yet) but only that they have full bellies.

Sitting there eating, I happened to notice a couple of families who must have been traveling in the dining room. The women were wearing hijabs (the muslim headscarf), and my radar kicked on. I sat through the rest of my meal not paying attention to my family, but watching their moves.

What a scary place inside your head is, bngfan. Really, it's tragic. Racist and rude and tragic. Are you filled with this kind of terror every time you see brown skinned people, or just when you see brown skinned people in scarves?

I would like to point out two things. If you truly feel that this level of terror was appropriate to the situation, then the terrorists really have won. Their goal is, after all, to instill terror, and they seem to have succeeded admirably with you.

Secondly, has it occurred to you at all that those families could well regard us white Americans with the same terror? 'Twasn't the brown skinned desert folk who did this:

or this:

or this:

Those were, by the way, the least disturbing images of our violence that I could find. Yeah, we're so much better.

The Price of Mercy

mercy, terrorism, al queda, This child paid a price, but not for mercy.
mercy, terrorism, al queda,

If I had to do it all over again, I would study philosophy in college.I studied business because it was practical, but I loved philosophy. Which explains why you sometimes have to endure my ramblings on ethics and morality.

Anyway . . .

I'm sure you all know about Pants on Fire Guy (hereinafter "PoFG"), the would be terrorist who managed to set himself on fire on a flight into the US while damaging noone and nothing else. There was a great deal of hullabaloo about PoFG which I had two reactions to: (1) big deal, he set himself on fire, and (b) I'm sure I wouldn't feel that way were I on the plane.

PoFG doesn't really interest me per se. Violence is all the same, only its victims change. What I find distressing are the reactions of my fellow Americans to PoFG. He should not be tried in a court of law. We should shove him in a hole and leave him there. We should waterboard him. We should remove his eyes and arms and legs.

I'd ask when America lost its mercy, but we never had it, did we? We certainly weren't merciful to the natives. Witch trials were basically the sport of the day. We weren't merciful to those held as slaves. We dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese. We aren't even terribly merciful to our own citizens. Social Security and Medicare were fought just as hard as health care reform is today, and don't even get me started on "welfare queens".

You ever see those stupid bumper stickers that say "Freedom isn't Free"? (The price of freedom is responsibility, not dead soldiers, but that's another post.) Well, neither is mercy. Mercy is the act of extending a hand to the person who most wants to cut it off. Mercy is offering kindness to those we hate, generosity to those we feel least deserve it. Mercy is admitting that some higher ideals are more important than assuaging our rage or disgust in the short term. The price of mercy is high, and we are, it seems, unwilling to pay it.

Unfortunately, the price of rejecting mercy is equally high, if not higher. We are faced with suspicion and hatred in many places in the world, suspicion and hatred that is quite well deserved. Tell all the mothers of Iraq's dead children how much they should love us. Tell all the widows of Afghanistan just how wonderful we are. How easy do we make it for al Queda and the Taliban to recruit? Iraq is significantly less stable and more fundamentalist now than it was before. The Taliban holds far more of Afghanistan now than it did before.

I don't think what PoFG did was right. I think he deserves to be punished for endangering the lives of a plane full of people. I just think we need to discover mercy before it is too late. If we continue to pornify war, celebrate bombs and cheer for torture, we will pay a price that will be terribly high indeed.

enough is enough

Rice and Rumsfeld thought it would be fun to make people scream. And yeah, terrorists are people, too. This makes me sick.

Whore Dolls Die!

The Bratz are dead! Yeah!