Invasive Living

The concept of privacy is dying. If you want proof, check out this article regarding the CIA and your t.v. set. Smart devices provide excellent little bread trails about your activities. (When you get home, what you're interested in, etc., etc., etc.) So the Federales want to use those devices for espionage.

If that doesn't get your dander up, at least a little, then THIS might. POTUS has issued some sort of martial law related executive order for assessing apocalyptic preparedness... and ensuring there are sufficient resources to stifle any domestic concerns.

That wouldn't be sooo bad (the same order, essentially, has been around for years) if our Government didn't have a history of taking things a little too far in terms of control. See Interment Camps.

When viewed in conjunction with stories like this you can see why people are getting a little nervous about federal authority. Attorney General Eric Holder (the guy whose department bought a gun, sold it to drug lords and then allowed those same drug lords to kill a U.S. border patrol agent... with the gun we sold them... and then claimed that U.S. citizens were the one's selling guns illegally to drug lords) is extremely anti-gun. So much so, that he had commercials created so we could "brainwash" kids into hating firearms. That's right. Instead of teaching citizens about their rights and how to exercise them responsibly, he'd rather you just completely fore go those rights all together... by brainwashing you. Probably not the best choice of words Eric.

And then there's the TSA. As much as we talk about the TSA you would think some of this stuff is made up. Sadly, it isn't. The Transportation Security Authority really is that bad.

This past week they actually made a wheelchair bound child go through an "enhanced" pat-down. His parents were not permitted to be with the child during the "professional" molestation.

Another TSA worker was recently indicted on federal child pornography charges. But that doesn't reflect on the TSA or their hiring process...

Yet another TSA worker was arrested with a boatload of heroin packaged for street sale. Seems like a solid group of folks over there at the TSA. No wonder Orlando wants to kick them out of their airports.

TSA Wastes Billions

I've said it, and said it, and said it again and again, and again, but I haven't quite said it the way that these people said it. So go read it: TSA sucks and wastes billions of dollars for nothing.

Mr. Schneier is quite right. What a waste. But the problem is so much more than lost cash.

The TSA's current approach is effrontery to our very existence as Americans. Mr. Schneier and the article have focused on the foolish waste of resources but, in reality, the biggest harm is not to our finances, it is to our freedoms. Today, not only have you lost your right to be free from illegal search and seizure, you have paid a government moron to look at you naked, touch you inappropriately and violate your family before your very eyes. This destruction of liberty undermines the very fabric which knits our country together. The glory of America is not our resources, it is our freedom. Freedom keeps these United States united. Take that away, and I promise you the South will curse the North and the East will gladly flip the West a bird. Everything becomes a power grab when liberty is taken from the individual. I recognize that is a strongly worded sentence but I don't believe we should undervalue attacks on the Constitution.

And to what end? Over the last ten (10) years more Americans have died in bathtubs than in terrorist attacks on U.S. soil (thanks in no part to the TSA). Our military and counter-intelligence have kept us safe, not these botan waiving goons. So, again, why are we paying them so much money to act like idiots?

The Duck Was Right

...but you already knew that didn't you?

So a congressional report recently concluded that the TSA was bloated, ineffective and generally obnoxious. Shocking no?

Also, it turns out that the GM / Auto Bailouts were even worse than originally thought. Super shocking no?

As a fun FYI, it turns out GM didn't lose 14 BILLION of your hard earned dollars. They actually lost around $24 BILLION. (I bet that figure still goes up before its all said and done).

So, you see, dear reader, The Cluster Duck is always right.

TSA Does A Good Job Of Screening Employees

TSA, the bureacracy that is in charge of touching your genitals, does a superb job of screening its employees. It is so thorough, that only the best and most fit obtain positions with the organization (so they can then look at you and your children naked). Anything less, would be outrageous. Well, prepare to be outraged. Recently, a TSA agent, Michale Scott Wilson, was arrested for possessing and distributing child pornography.

In response to this wretched news, the TSA stated:

"The TSA holds its security officers to the highest professional and ethical standards and aggressively investigates allegations of misconduct. The allegations against this individual in no way reflect on the outstanding job our more than 50,000 security officers do every day to ensure the security of the traveling public."

Actually, it does reflect on them and on the TSA. But you know what else it reflects on, how poorly the organization is run. The TSA is charged with investigating you every time you fly. They touch you inappropriately, they touch your children in a manner that would be illegal anywhere else, and they look at you, your wife and your kids naked via digital strip search. We are supposed to be comforted by the fact that TSA agents are somehow highly ethical people and reassured that TSA does a thorough job of screening applicants and employees. Well, as it turns out, neither applies in reality. This isn't the first time a TSA agent has been arrested with similar charges. Not even close in fact. Why would you allow the TSA to touch/look at you or your loved ones?

But wait, there's more good news about the TSA's efficiency and high moral fiber. Down in Miami, another TSA Agent, Eduardo Valdes, "accidentally" carried a gun into a secure area of the airport. He didn't have a concealed weapons permit to carry the firearm in the first place (which must also have been an accidental oversight?). Wow, great job TSA! I feel safe and dignified every time I fly! How about you (our one dear reader)? Remember, these people, who work for TSA, don't reflect on other TSA employees or the TSA as a whole. Just think about that "fact" instead of reality. Ignorance is bliss.

IRAN UPDATE; TSA UPDATE

IRAN: "Dear American and Jew Pig Dogs, we're still not building a bomb because we're peaceful. We did build a big ass missile though. Tee-Hee."

TSA: "We're still going to touch your children in a manner that is arrestable in all 50 states. You can't do anything about it. Obviously, we're also going to continue looking at them naked as well."