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I Feel You
It's no big deal that they strap people onto boards, then pour water onto their faces, drowning them, more or less, in our name, but we don't make a big fuss until they nudge our nuts.
It's OK that they incinerate countless alien bodies, call it shock and awe (some), but we don't go berserk until they palm our inner thighs.
Go ahead and commit countless crimes, profit and murder with our tax money, destroy nations, including this one, be imperial, kick ass without mercy, kill into eternity with regular troops, part-timers or mercenaries, but don't mess with our junks!
Don't tinker with our jewels. Don't rearrange them. Unleash your frat boy or sadistic impulses on those you've detained through renditions. How polite are these verbs, to detain and to render, how artistic, even, much better than to kidnap, lock up then torture without trial, if not kill in secret. May I render you?
Big Brother must probe our crotches because Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab had 80 grams of PETN explosive in his underwear. Heading for Detroit, he could board an airliner in Amsterdam even without a passport. Unless there was intervention from higher up, from inside, this would not have been possible. Strange, but many 9/11 "terrorists" also managed to get into the U.S. without the proper paperwork. I didn't make that up, it's no conspiracy, but fact, as reported by National Review, of all places. Unless strings are pulled, there's simply no way you can get on a U.S. bound plane without a passport. No way, Abdul! More than a month before this attempted attack, Abdulmutallab's father had also gone to the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria to express, according to CBS News, "deep concerns to a CIA officer about his son's ties to extremists in Yemen," but nothing was ever done about it. Of course not.
Umar lost his bloody trousers. Judging from his Facebook musings, bloke wasn't terribly bright. With patsy burnt, literally, well toasted, seared, Homeland Security czar Michael Chertoff lost no time in pushing the newfangled, see-through-your-and-your-mama's-clothes X-ray machines. These are made by Rapiscan, a client of-guess who?-the Chertoff Group, a security consulting firm. In sum, Chertoff wanted American tax payers to stuff beaucoup cash into his pockets. Open corruption has become a hallmark of our croaking empire. It doesn't matter, since hardly anyone is paying attention these days. Hardly anyone is capable of paying attention.
Agence France Press quotes Dr. Michael Love, "They say the risk is minimal, but statistically someone is going to get skin cancer from these X-rays." Dr. Love runs an X-ray lab at the department of biophysics and biophysical chemistry at Johns Hopkins University. Representing 12,000 pilots, the American Pilots Association is also warning its members against these airport scanners.
On the other hand, the successor to Chertoff, Janet Napolitano, reassures us, "IT machines are safe, efficient, and protect passenger privacy. They have been independently evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, and the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who have all affirmed their safety." Wait a second, didn't a Dr. Love, of the same John Hopkins University, tell us that these machines aren't safe? Did Napolitano just lie? Would our government lie? Oh, come on, who would you trust, a French press agency, some know-nothing guy named "Love" and a (probably) Commie union, or the honorable Janet Napolitano, as published in USA Today?
But why this constant emphasis on airports? If I were a terrorist, I would hit ‘em where they ain't. Willie Keller must be in Al Qaeda. Dig him up and arrest him! Don't plant bombs where they're so guarded, wound up and uptight, they're groping all comers, whether co-eds or nuns. Hit ‘em where they ain't. That's the first rule of fighting, whether in boxing or war, hit ‘em where they ain't... defending. Manny Pacquiao must be a Taliban. Lock him up! This singular emphasis on airports makes little sense, unless nudie scanners are also destined for train and subway stations, shopping mall and church entrances. Don't think they haven't thought of it. Hey, I have an idea, why not require that each citizen be strapped to a portable scatter scanner, so Chertoff can really make a bundle, and Janet Napolitano and company can really get their rocks off?
47 Comments so far
Show AllTotally agree!
Thanks for making this connection between what we tolerate doing to others and what we resent being done to us.
Absolutely! We must be completely off our nuts (so to speak).
WOW! Linh Dinh, you really nailed it. It takes a guy from Philly to have a bullshit detector as sensitive and effective as yours. I too thought that the "underwear bomber" incident was a false flag incident. What really surprised me is that it was such a transparent attempt. The pigocracy has such contempt for the media and the general public that they would expect us to fall for that. Unfortunately most of us did.
Mr. Linh Dinh said it ALL in one, the first, paragraph!
As for Mr. Dual-nationality Chertoff, but that money from Rapi(d)Scan is resting warmly next to his junk.
"The pigocracy has such contempt for the media and the general public that they would expect us to fall for that."
Americans, in general, are trusting of their institutions, and have been conditioned to be so. The truth of the "underwear bomber" episode hides in plain sight. On January 27, 2010, at a Congressional Hearing about the "underwear bomber" the following occurred: "Patrick F. Kennedy, an undersecretary for management at the State Department, said Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would’ve foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States.” (as reported in the Detroit News).
Note that spokespeople for the TSA are insisting that new security measures are necessary precisely because the "underwear bomber" foiled the system, but this is manifestly untrue. The fact that the man was deliberately allowed on the plane has been acknowledged by the government, and yet outrageous policies are being presented based on a false, and knowingly false, narrative.
The Detroit News has removed the story, but it has been saved at other sites. The transcript of the Congressional testimony is also available. Here is a mirror of the DN story.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=17505
" ... Abdulmutallab’s visa wasn’t taken away because intelligence officials asked his agency not to deny a visa to the suspected terrorist over concerns that a denial would’ve foiled a larger investigation into al-Qaida threats against the United States."
"Inttlligence officials" must have been greatly saddened that Abdulmutallab failed in his mission to blow up an airliner thus delaying their plans for an even tighter police state crackdown on American citizens. They purposely allowed a terrorist bomber onto an airliner. This is how your government protects you from terrorism.
>>Carl Cameron of Fox News reported in December of 2001 that the Israelis were aware of the "terrorists" plans on 9-11 and actually were running interference on behalf of the terrorists of American surveillance.<<
"911 was very good for Israel." -- "Bibi" Netanyahu
I m on a Tea Party list and they emailed an angry letter about how bad the TSA is yet when Bush was in power they were all for more searches, spying and yes torture. So dishonest and yet they claim to be the real patriots.
HUNGER HOTLINE
1-800-884-1136
What if we all just dropped trou at the checkpoint? Would that satisfy these perverts? Nah, forget it, we'd be arrested for indecent exposure.
Wear a g-string/thong type underwear. I know for me it wouldn't be pretty but it would be pretty funny.
Great article, as usual, and refreshing for someone to actually write that the "underwear bomber" as well as those 9/11 "terrorists" couldn't have gotten through security without help from higher up. Gotta have a scare now and then to keep the fear rolling!
The whole airport security thing reminds me of the games my big brother and I played when we were small, when I had to really struggle to imagine his power-crazy cowboy fantasies and pretend it was real.
I always enjoy Linh Dinh's satires...good to laugh even when the vultures are circling.
Well, the mighty USA already bombed the socks off of Mr. Dinh's original homeland so he's familiar with the wrong end of our humanitarian aid.
This is an experience that almost all Americans lack-- although you would think basic empathy might indicate that it would be unpleasant to be bombed and occupied by a foreign military.
It is gratifying to see Americans finally react to SOMETHING...
...even if it is just testicle massage for grannies.
Yes, I would imagine that they are eventually hoping to install these machines at train and bus stations once they get the cost per unit down... we can only hope the US will be bankrupt long before they can cash in on that little service.
Dinh has noticed those strange little oddities that seem to crop up in many of these terrorist attacks. The CIA receives warnings a month before from the FATHER of the TERRORIST and yet does absolutely nothing about it... instead the response is to install expensive, disruptive, and potentially harmful machines to scrutinize MILLIONS of people in order to foil a similar plot that has already failed... one begins to wonder about priorities.
Remember the incident where FBI agents such as Coleen Rowley futilely attempted to get a warrant to search Zacarias Moussaoui's laptop--only to have FBI HQ do everything possible to prevent any kind of sensible response to their concerns?
http://www.historycommons.org/entity.jsp?entity=coleen_rowley
And then it turns out a search might have prevented the 'official' conspiracy theory from taking place? Obviously, just a little incompetence at FBI HQ although the agents, such as Dave Frasca, who exercised due incompetence received promotions for their fine work.
http://www.globalresearch.ca/articles/MOO208B.html
And yes it would seem if there were all these terrorists lurking in the weeds that they might want to "hit em' where they ain't".
They might just want to board an early morning commuter bus and detonate the bomb as it crossed over, say something, like the Bay Bridge. That would cause some mayhem. Of course, I don't want to give the "terrorists" ideas but it's strange that they keep trying to sneak onto airplanes dressed as nuns and grannies with plastic explosives strapped to their crotch.
Or, they could hijack any one of thousands of rolling fuel air bombs, er, I mean, gasoline tankers on our highways. Maybe if 'we' don't kill so many innocent people worldwide the threat of terrorism would subside? Naahhhh... they like being bombed and strafed and maimed and their houses blown up. That's how 'we' win hearts and minds.
Nice, I've been waiting for a new Linh Dinh article.
He can still make me laugh while shining a light on the dark corners of our society and that is a very difficult thing to do.
For those that haven't seen it I recommend checking out his photo blog... he can also do in photos what he does in writing.
If I were a terrorist I'd take out a mall filled with shoppers. Then the government would require all shoppers to be groped before going into Walmart and other stores. People would stop going, and the economy would sink into the swamp even more.
There is no end of possible targets for terrorism, or ways to abuse citizens: football games, New Year's eve gatherings, megachurch rallies (or Glenn Beck rallies), city streets, banks and exchanges -- just recall the IRA and the new threats by the Real IRA.
But all of this 'security' is just a racket and a another way to try to manipulate people, and justify aggressive war and despotism. It's pretty obvious who the real terrorists are and where the real threats to the country are from.
Agreed, I have always found this hyper-emphasis on air travel, to the exclusion of... trains, subways, shopping malls, stores, corporate offices, media offices, federal buildings, churches on Sunday and especially synagogues on Saturday, to be more than a little peculiar.
And surely, if terrorism was really such a significant threat, we would have seen at least a few bombings of the above targets by now.
"And surely, if terrorism was really such a significant threat, we would have seen at least a few bombings of the above targets by now."
Exactly. Imagine the "collateral damage" a softball sized chunk of plastique explosive would do to a packed church, mosque or synagogue. Or a gallon of diesel fuel/fertilizer mix. Or a pipe bomb full of nails and ball bearings powered with cheaply and readily available gunpowder from any "sporting goods" store. Before anyone accuses me of "giving ideas" to "the terrorists" do you think they haven't already thought of this. Yet, it does not occur. Why not?
The hyper-vigilance of Homeland Security and TSA is all a big show.
Years ago my passport was stolen, so- as a good 'German'- I reported it and was given the runaround as if I were asking them for a favor. Nobody had a clue and they all sounded as if I'd interrupted their nice nap in the back office.
It's a game of fear and intimidation and we're all supposed to play along.
Who's the poster who signs off with "When fascism comes to America it'll be wrapped in the flag, etc"? Well, it came a long time ago.
"I feel your pain."
--Clinton
"I feel your junk."
--Obama
I just feel imposed upon, and not any safer. You might say that the terrorists have won, since we're now groping Grandma and making three year olds "spread 'em". What a way to celebrate our "freedom", huh? And somewhere, Osama bin Laden is laughing his ass off at us.
What a great, refreshing commentary. I wish everyone who reads it would print off a slew of copies and pass it around at your local airport -- leave a stack in the restrooms, put them on car windshields, leave them in restaurants.
I suspect that anyone doing that would be arrested for some trumped-up charge. Perhaps distuirbing the sanctity of the TSA. That may well be a crime.
Meanwhile in another part of the world, while the TSA is distracting us, from real issues, foreign money from Bin Landen is pouring into the secret Chamber Fund to totally control ALL of our food and water. As we all know, Corporations have no boundaries as money has become the World religion.
While the Chamber is aware of where the money comes from, it doesn't matter, as Ben Landen is an offical member of the Rich People of the World Club, so the argument against this "questionable money source," according to the Supreme Court is moot.
As Scalia has noted, this country was started by rich guys, so as Chief Justice, he is merely following the intent of the text of the original document. ( which , by the way, has been deemed a fictional person also. Like OZ, the Constitution now speaks from behind a curtain. ( which looks suspiciously like a black Supreme Court robe.)
The American government, in order to create more jobs, will require each family, or single person to hire an official food taster to make sure that no food/ water terrorism happens.
However, no one applies for that job, so the unemployment benefits are then made contingent on taking this job. John Boehner takes full credit and declares that the GOP has solved the unemployment problem.
As the official food tasters die off, the unemployment goes down! The sickest, and about to die, food tasters are shipped off to Haiti, which has become a pauper graveyard for the United States. and the EU.
The frisky TSA people find that no one can afford to fly on commercial jets, so the jets are converted into sub -standard housing for those food tasters that have somehow survived. However, in order to keep some employment, the government has approved a 24/7 strip poker study so that those loyal TSA employees may continue on with their jobs, and yes, they do titer while they work in that titilating environment.
At the same time, WalMart and China have discovered a new energy source, which is that burning corpses does create an energy source. Crematoriums replace nuclear plants, while at the same time, the House of Dior has created a many flavored parfume which masks any of that pesky crematorium odor.
AH, the sweet smell of SUCCESS, and isn't that what America is all about!
*********** If I've offended anyone, I'm glad. You know , it never rains in L.A., but it is pouring down, and my peculiar thoughts are pouring along too. Happy Saturday, and may the FORCE, wherever the hell it is, be with us, SOON!***
It is truly bizarre that quasi sexual offenses take much higher precedence in the mind of the average American than offenses to the integrity of our bodies through orifices that never existed until metal fragments or debris penetrate us.
Death and mayhem from Predator drones, cluster bombs and officially sanctified torture is generally acceptable... We'll even accept that the president can order an American executed, or that 2 wars for oil were necessary,
but force us to confront our nude bodies, or to be touched by strangers... this is beyond the pale.
It is beyond the pale, but so has most everything we've been doing for the last 35 years.
Again, truly bizarre.
I can only imagine the stress a sexual abuse survivor will now feel whenever she needs to fly. Maybe she'll feel the need to stay home.
As for me - I don't want to have some stranger feeling me ANYWHERE. I find the TSA videos to be nothing but creepy. Maybe the next time I need to fly, I'll pack my travel clothes in a carry-on, and wear only a coat and a bathing suit when pass through security. People might laugh or be surprised, but I will feel much less violated. Maybe this will also keep me from having a naked photo taken of me.
It's disgusting.
bin Laden has won. He not only created great fear and paranoia in our country, he managed to take our right to privacy away, and cost us a fortune.
I couldn't care less about having my fat ugly body displayed nude in front of some eighth grade educated pervoid TSA drone, but I will NOT step into one of those damnable radiation fields that they promise us are safe. I know, I know, the government would never lie to me, but still, I don't trust those infernal Auschwitzian radiation shower machines.
No, dear. Osama bin Laden didn't take your freedoms away. If you persist in believing that he was responsible for 9/11, at least be reasonable enough to note that, as Linh Dinh writes, many of the 9/11 "terrorists" (I like that he puts that in quotation marks) were allowed through without passports, as was the "underwear bomber." But you are obviously so soaked in propaganda that you won't let facts get in the way.
Hi dianere and Elizabeth,
Fifteen of the 19 alleged hijackers were given U.S. visas although their visa applications were deeply flawed, even nonsensical. That's what I meant by them being allowed in without the proper paperwork. Also, Common Dreams does not share all of my doubts about the official version of 9/11, so if you want my basic take on 9/11, please go here:
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article26350.htm
As for National Review's examination of the alledged hijackers' visas, please go here:
http://old.nationalreview.com/mowbray/mowbray100902.asp
Visas that Should Have Been Denied
A look at 9/11 terrorists’ visa applications.
The cover story in National Review's October 28th issue (out Friday) details how at least 15 of the 19 September 11 hijackers should have been denied visas — an assessment based on expert analyses of 15 of the terrorists' visa-application forms, obtained exclusively by NR.
In the year after 9/11, the hand-wringing mostly centered on the FBI and CIA's failure to "connect the dots." But that would not have been a fatal blow if the "dots" had not been here in the first place. If the U.S. State Department had followed the law, at least 15 of the 19 "dots" should have been denied visas — and they likely wouldn't have been in the United States on September 11, 2001.
According to expert analyses of the visa-application forms of 15 of the 9/11 terrorists (the other four applications could not be obtained), all the applicants among the 15 reviewed should have been denied visas under then-existing law. Six separate experts who analyzed the simple, two-page forms came to the same conclusion: All of the visa applications they reviewed should have been denied on their face.
9/11 Terrorist Visa Applications
Even to the untrained eye, it is easy to see why many of the visas should have been denied. Consider, for example, the U.S. destinations most of them listed. Only one of the 15 provided an actual address — and that was only because his first application was refused — and the rest listed only general locations — including "California," "New York," "Hotel D.C.," and "Hotel." One terrorist amazingly listed his U.S. destination as simply "No." Even more amazingly, he got a visa.
The experts — who scrutinized the applications of 14 Saudis and one from the United Arab Emirates — include four former consular officers, a current consular officer stationed in Latin America, and a senior official at Consular Affairs (CA) — the division within the State Department that oversees consulates and visa issuance — who has extensive consular experience.
All six experts strongly agreed that even allowing for human error, no more than a handful of the visa applications should have managed to slip through the cracks. Making the visa lapses even more inexplicable, the State Department claims that at least 11 of the 15 were interviewed by consular officers. Nikolai Wenzel, one of the former consular officers who analyzed the forms, declares that State's issuance of the visas "amounts to criminal negligence."
[...]
I don't understand how comments I made on being disgusted and creeped out about being violated when I fly got turned into insults and discussions about how I don't understand what happened with the 9/11 perpetrators' Visas. If it's only a Visa issue, then all of this physical intrusion at the airports is even less necessary.
I hate it when people make connections between what I've written and their own unrelated agenda.
Really. I feel your pain. You're merely trying to express a knee-jerk reaction, void of any facts, which just happens to support a bogus official account that has killed millions, and people are dissing you! How rude!
LUNCH TIME TALK PRESENTED BY LINH DINH
NOVEMBER 23RD 11:45 A.M. TO 1:00 P.M.
PENNSYLVANIA ACADEMY OF THE FINE ARTS
128 N. BROAD STREET, PHILADELPHIA PA
I live in Mechanicsburg about a hundred miles west and I plan to be there. Look for the old, fat bald-headed guy in the ridiculous orange and red tye-dye t-shirt. I will be welcoming compliments, criticisms, insults and ad hominem attacks regarding any commentary I have posted on CD recently or in past months. I can't wait to hear him speak.
The type of explosive the underwear bomber had in his pants is the type that can only be set off with a blasting cap - setting it on fire will not cause it to explode.
Anyone who watches Myth Busters on TV knows this but somehow, we are to believe Al Queda, the masterminds who nailed the pentagon and took out the twin towers do not.
Draw your own conclusions.
Exactly. And just about any explosive powerful enough to bring a plane down in a quality small enough to be concealable would require a blasting cap - which is metal cased and easily detectable.
The brilliance of the Sept 11 actions is that they required no bombs or even much in the way of a "mastermind", only a willingness to commit suicide, some flying lessons, small knives, and an understanding that the SOP for hijackings in the US was to obey the hijacker and keep a low profile - no Air Force intercepts unless the airline or FBI requests them.
With upgraded cockpit doors and security procedures, the Sept 11 trick won't work again. And the absence of any terrorist bombing of any sort in the 9 years since Sept ii tell me that the terrorist "threat" is wildly overblown. The bumbling weather underground in the 1960's-70's produced more real threats than these "Islamic terrorists" have.
I'll leave it to others to explain why the US public is being subjected to so much scaremongering.
Linh Dinh has pretty well summed it up.
Perhaps we need to re-think Lincoln's words;
"...The mystic chords of memory, stretching from every battlefield, and patriot grave, to every living heart and hearthstone, all over this broad land, will yet swell the chorus of the union,
when again touched,
as surely they will be,
by the better angels of our nature" ?
born in Vietnam eh?
this must be commie propaganda!