TSA Backlash Week: How Much Is Too Much?

Let us now quote Michael Aguilar, chief of the TSA in San Diego. He says:

"“Let me paraphrase our new administrator, John Pistole,” said Aguilar. “It really is irresponsible to encourage anyone to opt out of a technology that is there in place specifically to protect the public.”"

Nobody disputes the TSA is intending to "protect the public" by putting the body scans in place. But here's a question: What level of intrusiveness is too intrusive to justify security measures? That's a question that hasn't been answered, but it certainly appears to the public as though there is no bright line the government won't cross in the name of making our airplanes safe. It's looking at us naked and feeling us up. What's left?

Cold Medicine Backlash Week: Coming Soon

Seems to me if you're going to require people to get a prescription for cold medicine, you might as well ban cold medicines containing pseudoephedrine outright. How many people are going to go to a doctor -- and incur the cost and lost work time -- just to pick up a package of Sudafed? If you're going to raise the bar that high, might as well raise it all the way.

The Party of Fiscal Conservatism

A chart at James Fallows' blog:

Now: Maybe the current crop of Republicans will end up walking the walk they've only ever talked. History doesn't bode well.

Sitting Bull: Original Tea Partier

Fox News is raising some hackles with its "Obama Praises Indian Chief Who Killed U.S. General" headline, but that's what Fox does. It seems to me, though, that Sitting Bull would actually be a Tea Party hero. This is a movement, after all, that not-infrequently raises the specter of "Second Amendment remedies" to government overreach and trots out the now-tired "tree of liberty must be refreshed by the blood of tyrants" quote (I'm paraphrasing) at every opportunity.

Well, Sitting Bull was somebody who actually walked the walk. He took arms against a literally encroaching federal government that, by any rational standard, was robbing his people of their property rights. From an ideological standpoint, this guy should be a Fox News hero! What makes him different, I wonder...

The Beatles Are Already On My iPod

Apparently Apple's big announcement today is that they'll finally be selling Beatles' songs through iTunes. Hard for me to get excited about. I've had the Beatles on my iPod ever since I've had an iPod. Legally, of course: the digital files back up physical CDs that are in my storage closet somewhere. It's nice that the music is now available for legal download, but given the nature of 21st century music consumption, I doubt many people who wanted to listen to the Beatles on an mp3 player have been unable to do so.

TSA Backlash Week: New Jersey!

Inky:

"TRENTON - The use of full-body scanners at airports should be reconsidered because the machines are ineffective, are overly intrusive, and open the door to further invasions of privacy depending on how the images are retained, New Jersey lawmakers said Monday as they announced a resolution urging Congress to review the program.

The effort brought together members of both political parties and both houses of the state Legislature as well as the American Civil Liberties Union. The resolution calls the scans a 'gross violation' of the Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure and says the machines' effectiveness has not been sufficiently proven."

TSA Backlash Week: Twitter Edition

#TSASlogans is trending on Twitter right now. A couple of favorites: