Season Liberally

I don't really mind all the stuff you have to go through at Airport Security--hell, I'll hop up and down on one foot and sing "My Sharona" (a song everyone knows I detest) if it will guarantee that my flight from Dulles to Oakland arrives in one piece. I've made a lot of changes in my routine, as have all Americans, to fly safely--I don't bring sharp objects in my carry-on, I throw away my Bic lighters before getting in the TSA line, and I take my shoes off ahead of time so I won't hold up my fellow passengers. Now, since the British kerfluffle, we are being asked to do even more: no liquids or gels, including toothpaste, bottled water, sodas, WINE!, bras with gel inserts (No Fakes! Fakes On A Plane!), cold medication, &c. Okay, I guess I can roll with this, too, as long as everyone has to do it. That's fair.

Wouldn't it be great, though, if the TSA folks had some sort of chemical scanner that could detect suspect liquids? Then we could take our harmless liquids onboard--including necessary medications--and not worry. But they don't--or do they?

Apparently they do. There are scanners in place at the White House than can "identify any of 2,500 different chemical compounds in about 15 seconds" according to AmericaBlog. So you're telling me that President Bush is safe, but the rest of us aren't? Why does that not surprise me?

Nothing surprises me anymore when it comes to Bush's "Me First" administration. The Republicans in charge of the White House and both houses of Congress bend over backwards every day to insure that they stay safer and wealthier and more privileged than average citizens. Their families are protected, but ours aren't. Their investments are protected while ours crumble into dust and memory. Their children skip off to Ivy League schools while ours go to Iraq. And now we discover that while we are all making sacrifices to insure our own safety and that of our fellow passengers, the Dept. of Homeland Security could make us as safe as the president, but won't because the administration needs the money to keep the occupation of Iraq going, to provide tax cuts for the wealthy, and to make sure that Cheney's Halliburton stock doesn't take a nosedive.

It's infuriating, but not surprising to anyone who's been sentient for the past five and a half years. Do whatever you can toward getting the greedy Republicans out of Congress and out of the White House--we'll all be safer for it.