Podcast 4: More Woes from the land of the TSA

 Posted by at 11:08  Plain 'ol Cantankerous, Podcast, principles
Jan 152012
 
IMG_0759
Image by mariachily via Flickr

Hello folks.  Today’s podcast is inspired by a post over on my friend Maria Muir’s site.  It is about the absurd lengths the TSA is going through to make sure citizens get violated, I mean secured.  Go check Maria’s stuff out at MariaMuir.com. She will love the traffic.  The link to the article is after the podcast!

This pic is just a portent of what will be expected in the airport in the next few years. I can picture the agent (a large woman with a german accent strangely enough) saying, “Now you will stand like this while we check you for incendiary devices in your lower intestine!”  Scary thoughts.

[powerpress]

Thanks for listening.  Here is the link to Maria’s post: http://mariamuir.com/2010/12/01/tsa-the-new-sex-predators-grooming-your-children-with-your-consent/comment-page-1/#comment-3086

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Wolves vs. The Sheep

 Posted by at 22:13  principles
Dec 052011
 

Man there has been a lot of talk about sheep on here lately.  Maybe I should talk about the wolves.  Maybe I should wax poetic about how we should all work on becoming wolves, kings of industry and the fittest survivors.

Then I would call BS.  Cantankerousness does not lend itself to pushing one way or the other.  We lean towards giving you the facts and letting you decide how to proceed.  We have nearly given up and let the sheep run wild.

We have given much information on being your own person and taking control much like a wolf would.  But the truth is, you have to decide for yourself.  I for one am going to stay somewhere in between.  I am going to stay cantankerous.  I am not going to follow like a sheep and I will only lead as long as it suits me.

What do you think?  does being a sheep suit you?  Or are you a wolf that is going to tear everything apart?  Or are you just here to learn Cantankerousness so that you can be your own person, er old Coot.

Tell us below, or we will just keep arguing in the comments.

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Job security has reached new heights…and validation for pedophiles

 Posted by at 07:25  Coot Law, Plain 'ol Cantankerous, principles, rants
Oct 172011
 
Transportation Security Administration staff (...
Image via Wikipedia

Well folks, the arrogance of the Transportation Security Administration and the country’s official big sister, Secretary Janet Napolitano has simultaneously reached new heights…and new depths.

Under new standards (I use the term “standards” very, very loosely here), the thugs pedophiles perverts security officers of the TSA are going to get to know you REAL well by the time you finish clearing security at our airports.  The old AT&T phone company’s (remember that?  Talk about retro…) advertising line “Reach out and touch someone” has taken on a whole new meaning.

The TSA’s method of checking folks for explosives has changed.  Not satisfied with making granny take her shoes off and thirsty diabetics empty their water bottles, and deciding that rubbing you all over with the back of their hands wasn’t enough, they have decided to make sexual assault a normal part of flying from Cleveland to El Paso.

Would “feeling up” Richard Reid have kept us safe?  Uh…no.  His bomb was in his tennis shoes, not his crotch.

How about Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab?  Would copping a feel have stopped the Christmas Day Bomber?  Nope.  Despite the bomb being in his Fruit-of-the-Looms it was designed in such a way that a good session of getting to second base would have found nothing.

But getting to second base…and beyond…has just become a normal part of a TSA security screener’s job.

Hey…don’t complain!  Pedophiles and sexual deviants need jobs too!!!

Just how much more are we gonna take?  Just how close to the Gestapo of Nazi Germany will we allow this country to get?  When will we say “enough is enough”?

It’s easy for me to say since it can’t happen…I’m already on the TSA no-fly list…but if it were me and my family, I can tell you what would happen.  If a screener were to check my “package” there would be one hell of a ruckus raised…very loudly.  If a screener checked out the lushness of my wife or girlfriend’s breasts, or…God forbid…ran their hand between my daughter’s legs, copping a feel of her crotch, the screener would go to the hospital and I’d go to jail.

I’d take my chances with a jury.  It only takes one person to hang a jury, and a decent lawyer could make sure one of 12 would be a parent who would vote “not guilty” no matter the pressure by other jurors.

Bob@HayleStorm Interactive

Bob comes to us with a skeptical attitude and a full cup of Cantankerousness. He also writes about homesteading and yurts over at JuicyMaters.com and rants about politics at Common-Sense-Conversation.com Most of the time, though, you'll find him at HayleStorm.net, cranking out great websites for clients OR writing tutorials teaching them to build their own sites.

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Yet another day we should not forget

 Posted by at 04:21  principles
Oct 162011
 
Remember December 7, 1941
Image by Zooomabooma via Flickr

Today we present a special edition of the coots, outside of our regular posts.  If you were missing Bob yesterday, so were the rest of us.  He had some internet issues out there in the yurt, hopefully he can get that fixed quickly and bring back the Cantakerous!  Now, onto today.

Today is “A Day that will live in infamy.”  Not today exactly, but December 7, 1941.

President Roosevelt gave us this phrase that is now part of the American lexicon along with “Life, Liberty, and Happiness” and “We Hold These Truths”.

That is the day the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, HI and brought the United States into World War II.  Even though this happened 69 years ago, we still need to remember those brave Men and Women who gave their lives that December morning, and those who immediately rose to the occasion and prevented more loss.

I am not going to go into details, there are too many other good links out there (see above).  I would like to hit some highlights though.

We were devastated to lose so many ships.  Here is a list of the ships we lost that day:
4 battleships sunk,
4 battleships damaged including 1 run aground
2 destroyers sunk, 1 damaged
1 other ship sunk, 3 damaged
3 cruisers damaged
4 midget submarines sunk,
1 midget submarine run aground,
29 aircraft destroyed,
188 aircraft destroyed
155 aircraft damaged

And then the loss of life that still grieves us:

55 airmen killed
9 submariners killed
2,402 military killed
1,247 military wounded
57 civilians killed
35 civilians wounded

There were also many who rose up and gave service to their country “above and beyond the call of duty” and were justly decorated.  In the wake of the battle 15 Medals of Honor, 51 Navy Crosses, 53 Silver Crosses, four Navy and Marine Corps Medals, one Distinguished Flying Cross, fourDistinguished Service Crosses, one Distinguished Service Medal, and three Bronze Stars were awarded.  Most military personnel are not there for medals or accolades.  They just happen to be the ones who step up and do what needs to be done.

I have written before about Veterans Day, Memorial Day and Patriot Day.  Today is another to be remembered for the brave souls who gave their lives in the pursuit of freedom and liberty, just by being there that day, and for those who survived and went on to fight the battles in the Pacific.  Gentlemen, (and ladies of course) we salute you, thank you for your service.

-Justin

Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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Contributing to the delinquency of a Street Sweeper: Oil Stains

 Posted by at 11:15  Plain 'ol Cantankerous, principles, rants
Mar 182011
 

Oil.  It is here, it is there, it is all around us.  Our bodies produce oils that stain pillows and hats much like Ralph’s Brylcream.  There is however some oil that gives issues to the powers that be.  The Powers that be being the city.  Out in front of my house, on the street are 2 very good size oil stains.

They have been there for 4 years.  They were caused by a cracked block on my old truck.  Despite all of the times that our street has been swept by the city, the oil stains remain.  There is also a fairly substantial stain on my driveway from the time my power steering pump blew a hose.  And the time that I was changing the oil and the wind started blowing the oil harder than gravity or surface tension could keep it in a column.

The point of all this is that for better or worse we live in a world that is run largely by oil.  We cook with it, we run our cars with it, we put it on the hinges of a squeaky door or a wooden countertop (new ones use a lot of oil for a while, another coat goes on this afternoon here).  Oil also is a highly staining substance that soap cannot always foil, and can defy steel brushes, rain, snow, salt and time.

I can sit here and look across the way at my neighbors driveway where he recently parted out one of his trucks and the oil stain he has is larger than the truck itself.  and will he ever be getting rid of it?  Probably not, it is in the gravel part so until it is paved there is a stain.  You can look almost anywhere and see oil stains.  Parking lots, driveways, roads, the shirt I’m wearing today.

Oil is here to stay at least for my lifetime.  That means that stains are here as well.  Might as well get used to them and while we don’t have to quit complaining about them, I can’t wait for the street sweeper to come around again and see him back up and try to do something about the oil stain.

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Justin

Justin is the young Coot with a Cantankerous Soul who continues to be educated by older, more cootish Ralph and Bob. His Cantankerosity is his own.

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