Drawing No. 142

Faces Drawing No. 142 By Jack Brummet
(Selected by Pablo Fanque, National Affairs Editor ed's note: this is my favorite in the series)

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Drawing: Lipstck Trauma

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I've been patted down 150 times to maintain the illusion of safety

Since 9/11, I have been patted down at airports here and abroad around 150 times. My stainless steel femur sets off the metal detectors every time I pass through them, except once in Eugene, OR. Here is an interesting sidebar to that story: when I didn't sent off the alarm, I told the TSA guy:

"Hey, this is weird...I always set off the alarm. Something's wrong with your machine."

He essentially told me "don't worry about it, and be on your way."

It's the only time in 9 years that I HAVEN'T been patted down!




Having been through it so many times, I am not unsympathetic to everyone who feels embarrassed or invaded. For my part, I am pretty inured to it now. Actually, I am probably just numb to it all. You just answer their questions and get through it as quick as you can. It takes two minutes usually, three at the most. I will admit, I have been tempted more than once when they give their little speech about searching you, to say "Hey, I actually like it, 'bro. . .it's kind of hot!" But the TSA guys are not the most humorous bunch of people I've ever met.



Since I had arthoplasty, I get to experience this close-up and personal shakedown every single time I ride an airplane (and twice, or more, if it is an international flight and you have to pass out of the "sterile" zone). Anyone who knows me could tell you I am the least likely candidate in the world to take down an airplane, due to a nearly maniacal fear of flying.




Finally, I would point out that the frisking is never that invasive...even when you get the special treatment and they look in every article in your bags (including looking at every page in every book, and turning on each iPod, camera, phone, and computer you have). In fact, they seem to go out of their way to not touch your "privates" or butt (or should butt be part and parcel of the privates?..certainly it's more private than public), which may be one reason the Christmas day crotch-bomber slipped through screening.


X-raying a crowd

Nearly everyone who has ever "examined" me has been professional and friendly, and even appreciative that I am petty sanguine about the whole operation. It's hard to get mad at them. . .they're earning $16 an hour the hard way. I have never met one of these guys who wasn't extremely nice. I watch other people become angry over the invasion, but it's really not worth the oxygen. As usual, the big problems lie further up the food chain. I don't mind the searches, but as recent events show, this may not be making us as safe as we once thought. One expert says the only really change since 9/11 is reinforced cockpit doors.

Other TSA/airport stories from All This Is That:

http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2008/06/full-body-scanners-cranking-up-at.html
http://jackbrummet.blogspot.com/2008/04/face-scans-at-airports-are-coming-to-uk.html
Aviophobia: Pilot's gun discharges on US Airways flight
Blown by the TSA again/Aviophobia once again
Aviophobia, Part 26 Airport Screeners Miss Fake Bombs 75% Of The Time
Aviophobia, Part 22
Poem: Landing, or, Aviophobia, Part 26
Aviophobia Update
Hello Austin! Goodbye Fear of Flying!
A confession: How I slipped through the NSA metal detectors. . .with some heavy metal!
Fear Of Flying, Fear of Dying
Poem: Falling
Poem: Notes On Flying
One More Reason Why I Am Scared Sh**less To Fly: Video Of Fixing A Jet's Wing With Duct Tape
Airline passenger restrictions, hip replacements, and why the Executive Branch goes unmolested, while I am scanned, probed, poked and patted down
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Alien Lore No. 166 - U.S. Officials In Meetings With The Greys, According To The Examiner.com

Thanks to Dr. Stephen Clarke-Willson for directing me to this story.

According to a story published late in December by The Examiner, "Independent sources have claimed an on-going set of face-to-face meetings between U.S. military officials and extraterrestrial life. The sources reveal that senior U.S. Navy officers have played a leading role in an inter-services working group responsible for the meetings, and that different extraterrestrial groups are allegedly involved."



These meetings are alleged to include high Navy officials (Source A among them) and were follow-up meetings to earlier conclaves with United Nations officials. Source A says he was directly involved in meetings with two separate alien groups about their spacecraft. Leaked reports give strong evidence of an ongoing program of secret meetings involving senior military personnel from the U.S. Navy and other military services with one or more extraterrestrial civilizations.

One source with the Defense Intelligence Agency claimed a large meeting was held in the Johnston Islands (A U.S. Territory near Hawaii that is administered by The Navy):



"The Ebens [ed's note: we typically refer to the Ebens as The Greys here] met on Akau Island with a total of 18 representatives from the U.S., United Nations, Russia, China, the Vatican and certain other guests. U.S. representatives are said to have included five military personnel, two intelligence officers, one linguist and one person representing the Obama administration." This meeting with the extraterrestrials occurred in November, 2009.

"...there are many events revealed in the Serpo story that are very likely based on real events such as President Reagan being secretly briefed at some point about extraterrestrial life. A number of Reagan’s public statements are circumstantial evidence that he did receive such a briefing. An alleged transcript of the briefing was released as part of the Serpo material in November 2007. This author’s assessment is that the Serpo releases mix real events with fiction in an officially sanctioned acclimation program. While the Serpo material requires much discernment given the level of disinformation in it, it is very likely that it accurately reveals the existence of secret military meetings with extraterrestrials..."

The article concludes "there is very real dissatisfaction in the U.S. military, especially officers from the Navy, over the way in which extraterrestrial affairs has been secretly run and managed by a covert transnational group initially known as MJ-12 [ed's note MJ-12 is often known as Majestic, and has written about extensively, and portrayed in the great TV drama "Dark Skies"]. The article also alludes to a cover-up, long discussed by researchers and UFOlogists, in which the existence of the aliens had been hidden from the American public for decades
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Chris Matthews tears into Politico.com as tools of Ex-VP Cheney

2009 Political Scandals: Ruh-roh! Where to start?

By Pablo Fanque (All This Is That National Affairs Editor) and Jack Brummet (Illustrations, "fact-checking," and research)

Here are All This Is That's top fourteen political scandals of 2009. It wasn't quite up to the high bar set during the Monica-gate year, but 2009 was pretty good; by a wide margin the fallen, debilitated, resigned, and neutered were from the "Republican Family Values" wing of the G.O.P.




John, with son

Baby Daddy John Edwards - After dropping out of the Presidential race in early 2008, Edwards steadfastly denied paternity of Rielle Hunter's baby. However, a DNA test apparently proved otherwise. Edwards wanted to admit he was the father, but his dying (and pretty cool and smart) wife didn't want him to do that. I guess it's in limbo. This almost doesn't qualify as a scandal. No one really cares. But we consider it a scandal, since we were among the dupes who actually supported Smilin' Ex-Senator John Edwards. . .and even sent him money. The scandal, really, is how could we have been so dumb when we think we're so astute?


click to enlarge Crazy Joe

Pants On Fire! - Republican Representative Joe Wilson's shouted "You lie!" during President Obama's speech to Congress on health care. Wilson said it was "completely spontaneous," and he apologized. [Jack note: If you believe the laughable claim it was spontaneous, then you must admit, this guy is spooky]. It was highly disrespectful, and an egregious breach of Congressional Rules. but I kind of like it. On the other hand, this isn't England. On the other, other hand, Joe Wilson has always been, and is now officially, a deranged and dangerous no-op.


Ex-Representative William Jefferson, headed for the hoosegow

The Freezer Cash Dude - Ex-congressman William Jefferson, hid $90,000 in dirty cash in his freezer and was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting bribes--the longest sentence ever imposed on a congressman for bribery. And there have been a few of them!


It's all about the ice

Climate-Gate - Late in the year, a scandal erupted over e-mails that suggest global-warming scientists used "tricks" to boost their warming theory. The scandal permeated the climate summit in Copenhagen and gave new hope and vigor to the flat-earth movement of climate change doubters and skeptics.


The President, VP, Cop, and alleged miscreant Gates share brewskis

Obama's Suds Summit - The arrest of Obama pal and one-time Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates by a white Cambridge, Mass., cop, prompted the president to hold a race-laced "beer summit" outside the Oval Office. Since the summit, tensions in the case have eased. This wasn't a scandal so much as just weird.



Live Mike Nightmare - Republican Mike Duvall, an Ex-assemblyman in California resigned after his hot sex comments were picked up by a live microphone during a September assembly meeting. In the video, the married family-values crusader (of course!) from Yorba Linda talks in graphic detail about two women he said he slept with -- at least one of whom was a lobbyist with business before his utilities committee. He sounded amused that he was cheating on both his wife and a
mistress.

“Oh, yeah, Sher, Shar, Shar,” Duvall said. “Oh, she is hot! I talked to her
 yesterday. She goes, ‘So are we finished?’ I go, ‘No, we’re not finished.’ I go, ‘You know about the other one [Barsuglia], but she doesn’t know about 
you!’”

Hiking the Appalachian Trail - Yes, hiking the Appalachian trail was how South Carolina Gov. Mark "Hasn't resigned yet" Sanford explained it to his wife, family and aides. He was actually heating up the sheets in Buenos Aires with his Argentinian mistress. He's been reprimanded by the legislature and dumped by his wife. U.S. News and World reports that his South American love quest may have even jeopardized his Top Secret security clearance.

Sen. John "hasn't resigned yet" Ensign's Affair - Nevada Sen. John Ensign's extramarital affair with an aide who is the wife of a former aide. The Senate Ethics Committee is investigating.

The State dinner gate crashers - Michaele and Tareq Salahi, are under various investigations, including one by a House committee probing how they got in without an invite and skated past the White House Social Office. The Secret Service seems largely to have sloughed off any blame. It looks like it will be the WH functionaries and bureaucrats who take the fall on this one. Yeah, it's not a big story really, and much like the Balloon Boy story. . .just a bold plea for attention, and their own reality show.



ACORN - What can you even say about this one? First they were attached by the right-wing, and were later seriously caught with their pants down.

Ex Governor Rod Blagojevich - The former Illinois Gov. was impeached on charges he sold, or tried to sell Ex-Senator Barack Obama's seat in the Senate. Rod had a notable head of hair, and has been seen on at least one reality TV show (joining Tom DeLay) since leaving office.



Ex Governor Sarah Palin - Sarah Palin's unexpectedly quitting as Alaska governor, months after a brutal and losing vice presidential campaign, was a shock to most everyone. She's gone on to make millions with her autobiography, Going Rogue, a mega-bestseller still riding the charts, and is toying with a presidential bid in 2012. Maybe.


Liz Becton -click to enlarge

"Don't Call me Liz!" - Elizabeth Becton, office manager for Jack's personal congressman--U.S. Representative Jim McDermott, (Seattle-Democrat) is a complete freak. On May 22, 2009, Becton sent a snarky email to an executive assistant at McBee Strategic in response to the individual calling her “Liz” in an email instead of Elizabeth. The alternately pissed-off and apologetic chain of e-mails went on for about nineteen volleys, with the assistant apologizing six times if she had somehow “offended” Becton. The emails went viral all over the internet and around Capitol Hill. Time magazine posted one particularly twisted one:

“In the future, you should be very careful about such things. People like to brag about their connections in D.C. It's a pastime for some. It's also dangerous to eavesdrop, as you have just found out. Quit apologizing and never call me anything but Elizabeth again. Also, make sure you correct anyone who attempts to call me by any other name but Elizabeth. Are we clear on this? Like I said, it's a hot button for me. And please don't call the office and do not leave a message. My colleague told me you called while I was away. ... I do sometimes leave my desk.” — "Don't call me" Liz Becton



The Birthers - OK, I guess someone needed a new wack cause, as the US did the 9/11 attacks movement started to die out. And the birther movement was launched.
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Drawing: Suspects

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Digital art: Tantrum

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Poem: God's Angry Rain

The windows of heaven opened
The fountains of the deep opened
And it rained forty days and forty nights

Until even K2 and Everest
Were hidden beneath
20 feet of water
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Seattle may have let pro basketball go to Oklahoma City, but in their stead, we got pro soccer and the Lingerie League's Seattle Mist

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Seattle may have allowed/enabled the SuperSonics to depart for Oklahoma City (!), but in their stead, we do have the pro soccer Seattle Sounders, and, of course, the Seattle Mist of the Lingerie League. The Mist play in the suburbs of Seattle, in Kent--a few blocks from where I grew up. Unlike the departed SuperSonics, the resident Seahawks and Mariners, and the UW's Husky football team, the Seattle Mist actually win!
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A salute to President Barack Obama, George W. Bush's magnificent clean-up man, or, the man with the broom following the elephant

by Pablo Fanque

All This Is That National Affairs Editor

As you probably know, I frequently criticize Barack Obama. I voted for the man and I like the man, but have been disappointed by his compromising and centrist stance on the issues of the day. His cool, cerebral approach is often just a little too cool. And there have been odd moments of distraction--two that come to mind are the beer party he held for his old Professor and the cop who busted him, and flying thousands of miles to throw a Hail-Mary for a Chicago Olympics bid. But that is, really, pretty small stuff.

Barack Obama has inherited and masterfully begun to tackle hundreds of problems that President George W. Bush either left behind, or actually created. This hit home this week with the Christmas Day bombing attempt on a passenger jet. And, once again, BHO is left to clean up his predecessor's mess. One expert says that the billions of dollars we have spent on airport security have been virtually worthless. Security expert Bruce Schneier wrote this week:

"For years I've been saying 'Only two things have made flying safer [since 9/11]: the reinforcement of cockpit doors, and the fact that passengers know now to resist hijackers.'"

President Barack Obama said U.S. intelligence agencies missed “red flags” that would have put the Nigerian bomber on a no-fly list before Christmas Day, when he is accused of trying to blow up an airliner. He called this lapse a "systemic failure."

Our government failed to heed warnings that Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab could pose a terrorist threat even after his father warned U.S. authorities about his concerns, the president said yesterday. President Obama said: “The warning signs would have triggered red flags, and the suspect would have never been allowed to board that plane for America.” Abdulmutallab, a 23-year-old Nigerian, is charged with smuggling explosives onto a Northwest Airlines jet and trying to blow up the plane as it prepared to land in Detroit. The TSA's absurd response? Not let passengers leave their seats the last hour of a flight.

Obama said he expects results tomorrow from investigations he ordered into the nearly tragic failure of aviation security and terrorist intelligence gathering.

On top of everything else he assumed, The President now has to deal with cleaning up the entire national airline security system. If Bruce Schneier is correct, and it looks like he is, the President will need to rebuild that laughable system from the ground up. Between a two-front war, a teetering economy, and the other bits and pieces he must pick up, it's an absolute miracle Barack Obama was able to focus on health care reform. I'm glad to see he was able to get anything accomplished on that front. For now, he has to return to the job that will consume his next seven years in office: cleaning up the messes left behind by George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.

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Spotting a concealed weapon: how to tell if someone is packing a heater

Thanks to Jeff Clinton for sending along another great tidbit. This fascinating page from an NYC police training document. A couple years ago, a Seattle cop told me that he thought the majority of those leather fanny/front packs you see contain a heater of some sort.


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