Archives for November, 2010
A presumption of guilt makes people angry
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 19, 2010 At The American Prospet, staff writer Adam Serwer ponders Why We Are Angry at the TSA: The amount of freedom Americans have handed over to their government in the years since the 9/11 attacks is difficult to convey. We’ve simply accepted the idea of the government secretly listening in on our phone calls and demanding…
Life’s little victories
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 18, 2010 At Wednesday’s TSA oversight hearing, chief administrator John Pistole did not break down and reverse the “gate rape” patdown policy. But he did make a generous offer: The head of the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) offered on Wednesday to have airport screeners come to Capitol Hill to give senators a pat-down so they could fully…
Sully: Don’t touch my wife’s junk
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 16, 2010 Via BoingBoing, hero of the Hudson Captain Sully Sullenberger expresses his disapproval of TSA’s insistence on photographing or groping the genitals of airline passengers and staff: I don’t want anybody but my wife and maybe my doctor touching me in the places these people are touching me. Exactly.
Even more election analysis
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 16, 2010 Nate Silver of 538 finds that votes for healthcare and TARP had a major effect on the election results, but votes for the climate bill and the stimulus didn’t have much impact, if any. Nate used another methodology than what others have used, and got the same basic result.
My comment for Barbara Boxer
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 16, 2010 Left at her online comment form: I fly regularly, both for work and to visit my family in New Jersey. I have probably taken at least one round trip flight every year of my life, and lately I fly several times a year. I am not a threat to aviation. Why does the TSA treat…
Senate TSA Oversight Hearing — Wed Nov 17
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 16, 2010 Via Cogitamus: The Senate Subcommittee on Aviation Operations, Safety, and Security will hold a Transportation Security Administration Oversight Hearing tomorrow. For more info: Jena Longo – Democratic Deputy Communications Director, (202) 224-8374 Nov 17 2010 – 10 AM Russell Senate Office Building – 253 The committee chair is Sen Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) phone (202) 224-6472.…
TSA Backlash week
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 16, 2010 I travel a lot for work, and to see my family on the East Coast. As such, I keep a fairly close eye on changes in TSA screening, and have always been a bit squicked by the backscatter machines (or porno scanners, as I’ve seen them called). My issue is mostly discomfort with some random…
Yet more election results statistics
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 15, 2010 Eric McGhee at The Monkey Cage ? a real political scientist who does these sorts of statistical analyses for a living ? has done a nice post looking at the 2010 election results, and the effects of the votes for TARP, healthcare, the stimulus, and climate change, on Democrat’s electoral prospects. McGhee correctly objects to…
Go see my brother-in-law Off-Broadway
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 15, 2010 The AP reviews my brother-in-law’s play: Campy aliens no drag in ‘Devil Boys From Beyond’: You can tell from the title that “Devil Boys From Beyond” intends to be fun, and the campy production that opened Saturday night at New World Stages does not disappoint. It’s a satiric, raunchy, all-male spoof of low-budget science-fiction films…
Cilantro
Posted by Josh Rosenau on November 11, 2010 Still awful. Update: Link fixed.
Joshua Rosenau spends his days defending the teaching of evolution at the