Another example of the weird politics of the times: former Idaho Congresswoman Helen Chenoweth-Hage is taking the Transportation Security Administration to task for its refusal to disclose the federal regulations allowing it to stop and search passengers at US airports. Chenoweth-Hage belongs to the black helicopter wing of the Republican Party, with all its unhealthy paranoia about the Impending UN Takeover of the Republic, fluoride in the water system, etc. And by the sounds of it, she is more upset about the fact that a Godfearing Christian grandmother such as herself is liable to stop-and-search than she is about any more generalized principle. But credit where credit's due; other small-government Republicans have retained their skepticism about the benefits of a surveillance state regardless of the fact that a GOP-dominated administration in Washington is overseeing it, and have remained unmoved by that anaesthetizing phrase "National Security" which has been stencilled on all the new regulations.
Posted by Alan Allport at November 19, 2004 09:42 AMGiving black helicopter types credit for not trusting the government is a little like praising a hydrophobe for his good sense in avoiding shark bites.
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 19, 2004 11:13 AMWell, I guess I am giving (some of them) credit for not being hypocrites, even they're only right in the stopped-clock-tells-the-right-time-twice-a-day principle.
Posted by: Alan Allport at November 19, 2004 12:12 PMYou could say that they haven't "flip-flopped".
:)
Posted by: Alan Hogue at November 19, 2004 12:30 PMLooks to me like a foolish PR move on the part of the security folks. A regulation surely must exist somewhere with words to the effect of: "...security managers are allowed to determine screening policies and change them at will..." It wouldn't have done them any harm to disclose that much. Instead they had to get all un-American about it. Silly people.
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Ever heard of Wooley v. Maynard? Phenomenal case of official hypocrisy: a couple who were Jehovah's Witnesses covered the "Live Free or Die" slogan on their New Hampshire license plates because it went against their religious beliefs. The husband was prosecuted and served 15 days in jail for same. The Supremes, however, confirmed that the couple's First Amendment rights included the right to refuse to speak in this manner.