Yes Sir, Right Away Sir

TSA Throws Down the Gauntlet to National Opt Out Day

John Lantigua for The Palm Beach Post here reports that the TSA says it owns your ass until they say so if you enter the airport checkpoint.

Refuse the naked scan and refuse the enhanced pat down sexual molestation and it won't just be a simple matter of not flying. You won't get to leave the checkpoint area until they say so, and if you do leave before they say so, you face fines up to $11,000 and arrest. In addition, police may be called in to determine whether there is probable cause to search you anyway.

This is pure intimidation.

The only way to stop this is going to be economic, by boycotting all air travel until the airlines and the politicians feel the pain.

The American people are not the enemy. Muslim extremists are the enemy. Go after them, not us.

Selling China The Rope They'll Hang Us With

Pat Buchanan still isn't finished ridiculing the 20th century Republican party, trying to get it to remember what it used to be:

The policy the Chinese are pursuing, economic nationalism, was virtually invented by the Republican Party. Protectionism was the declared policy of the GOP from the day its first president took office in 1861 to the day Calvin Coolidge left in 1929.

Free trade was the policy of a Great Britain whose clocks those generations of Americans cleaned, even as the Chinese are cleaning ours.

Read more from "Who Fed the Tiger?" here.

Go Ahead, Line Up for the Airport Scanners. They Would Have, Too.

Representative Ted Poe (TX-2) On Unreasonable Search and Seizure

Quoted in TheHill.com, here:

"There is no evidence these new body scanners make us more secure. But there is evidence that former Homeland Security Chief Michael Chertoff made money hawking these full body scanners."

"[T]he populace is giving up more rights in the name of alleged security. These body scanners are a violation of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable searches and seizures ... There must be a better way to have security at airports than taking pornographic photographs of our citizens, including children, and then giving apparent kickbacks to political hacks."

You rock, Ted.

Burritos? We Don't Need No Stinkin' Burritos!

In China, Those Who Mock Japan Bashers Go to Labor Camp

Reminding us yet again that political correctness and totalitarianism go together like a horse and carriage:

A Chinese woman has been sentenced to a year in a labor camp for retweeting a Twitter post that mocked Chinese protesters who smashed Japanese products during a recent demonstration, her fiance said Thursday.

CNN.com has the story at this link.

R. Emmett Tyrrell Jr. Hasn't Gotten It For Years

That whole freedom thing kind of glazed over years ago when he picked up his ball and left the midwest for the beltway.

Here he defends the scanners and the groping, and joins the sheeple:

The other day, a CBS News poll found that 81 percent of Americans approve of the use of the high-tech machines at airports, but that means nothing to Drudge. How many more Americans would welcome a soothing pat-down midst the hurly-burly of travel at our nation's stress-filled airports I do not know, but count me in -- especially if the patter-downer is a cute little number on the order of, say, Sarah Palin.

Yes, and the majority of Americans were loyalists and against independence in 1776, too.

Count me in, er, out. Well, you know what I mean. 

Unemployment Tab to Date is $319 Billion

The cost of unemployment benefits already paid over the last three years has soared to $319 billion, according to this story from CNNMoney.com, $109 billion of which has been federally funded borrowed, and $41 billion of which to date the states have had to borrow from the feds.

Employers face $26 billion in new taxes by 2015 to replenish and pay back the depleted and borrowed funds, which represents an increase of 68% from the $38 billion businesses paid in 2009.

Another reason jobs are in short supply.

Strict Control on Internal Travel The Hallmark of a Police State

It starts under the appearance of protecting the public, until the public becomes the enemy and the protection becomes tyranny.

From The Washington Times editorial page:

Once freedom at airports is "locked down," it's inevitable that TSA will next target buses, trains and the Metro. After all, al Qaeda has attacked each of these modes of transportation in other parts of the world. Strict controls on internal travel is the hallmark of a police state.

Read the rest at this link.

Uncalled House Races Update: Republican Wins in IL-8

CNN.com reports here that the incumbent Democrat Melissa Bean has conceded to the Republican challenger Walsh in the IL-8 House district race.

It appears that Walsh won by fewer than 500 votes in the race where a third party Green candidate siphoned-off 3% of the vote on the Democrat's left.

That would give the Republicans a net gain of 62 seats in the US House, with four races still to be decided: CA-11, CA-20, NY-25 and NY-1.

Real Clear Politics also shows IL-8 a Republican pick-up overnight. 

Federal Workers Owed $3.3 Billion in Delinquent Taxes in 2009

US Postal Service employees were $283 million plus in arrears.

Department of Veterans Affairs workers were behind $156 million plus.

Retired military personnel were delinquent by more than $1.5 billion.

Executive office workers from The White House owed more than $831,000 in back taxes.

CNBC.com has the story here.

Scanners and Gropes are Beneath You, America

"Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

-- Benjamin Franklin, 1755

TSA Thugs Think Airports Are No Longer Part Of America

The constitution no longer applies in the airport, according to the TSA, and also apparently according to the courts, so if you just plan to buy a ticket to fly like John "if you touch my junk" Tyner,  that simple commercial transaction now means you are relinquishing your rights under the constitution:

Tyner was told by a TSA supervisor on tape, “By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights.” ...

According to [Michael J.] Aguilar, [TSA Chief, San Diego], Tyner is under investigation for leaving the security area without permission. That’s prohibited, among other reasons, to prevent potential terrorists from entering security, gaining information, and leaving. ...

Aguilar said that once a passenger enters the security area, there is a legal obligation to follow through with the process.

So by buying a plane ticket and entering the airport, you become the TSA's slave, in their view.

The complete story from The San Diego Union Tribune is here.

The Golden Fact of the Day

From James Grant in The New York Times:

From 1900 to 2009, at much lower nominal gold prices than those prevailing today, the worldwide stock of gold grew at 1.5 percent a year, according to the United States Geological Survey and the World Gold Council.

Fascinating reading, here.

Refuse the Backscatter Scanner, Get Felt Up

As reported here:

“They’re feeling up old ladies and children and they’re calling it security, but it’s not security,” said Babb, 

of wewontfly.com.

Bank Failure Update: FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund Balance is Minus $19.8 Billion

The insolvent banks are being bailed out by an insolvent FDIC.

From Richard Suttmeier for Minyanville, here:

The FDIC Deposit Insurance fund has now been drained by $2.2 billion in the fourth quarter to date, which brings the DIF Deficit to an estimated $19.8 billion. The FDIC has already burned through the assessments for 2010. The assessments for 2011 and 2012 have been pre-paid at $15.33 billion per year. ...

The three failed banks last Friday had extreme overexposures to C&D and CRE loans. C&D exposures for the three overexposed were between 143.7% and 654.7% versus the 100% regulatory guideline. The CRE exposures were between 896% and 1397% versus the 300% of risk-based capital regulatory guideline. The CRE loan pipelines were between 96% and 99% funded versus a healthy pipeline of 60%.

Unreasonable Search: You're Guilty Until Proven Innocent By The TSA

The San Diego Union Tribune details the story of John Tyner, who told the incompetent and authoritarian TSA, "You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested":

Tyner points out that every terrorist act on an airplane has been halted by passengers. "It's time to stop treating passengers like criminals and start treating them as assets," he said.

Uncalled House Races Update: Republican Challenger in KY-6 Concedes

As reported here, the Democrat Chandler holds on to his seat, winning by less than 700 votes.

The Republican net gain continues at 61 seats, with 5 uncalled races: CA-11, CA-20, IL-8, NY-25, and NY-1.

Massive Social Security Hearings Backlog: Millions Waiting, Many More Than Two Years

Sure that Obamacare thing will be different. You won't have to wait that long. Maybe only half as much! You can live with that hernia for a year, right?

As reported here:

A Senate subcommittee is expected to hear testimony on Monday at a field hearing in Akron, Ohio, about the rising number of threats, as well as the status of the massive backlog in applications for disability benefits, which are available to people who can't work because of medical problems.

Nearly 2 million people are waiting to find out if they qualify for benefits, with many having to wait more than two years to see their first payment.