Political Theatre category archive

No ADA for the TSA.

As my freshman roommate once said about some of the cadet officers in ROTC, “Give some people a flat hat and they think they rule the world.”

Via Down with Tyranny, which has commentary.

Steven D. asks a question.

Ripped from the headlines!

Indeed.

Republicanism, agin’ big guvmint except when for big guvmint.

The governor’s office has hired a consultant to study Virginia’s military assets as part of a growing effort to protect the state from future base closures.

(snip)

The Spectrum contract is the latest in a series of steps aimed at protecting the state from military downsizing. The governor’s office did not announce the agreement, but a copy of the contract is posted on the state’s website.

Jeez oh man! Words fail me.

Emphasis added:

Air traffic control facilities at three Pennsylvania and airports will close down as a result of budget cuts, the Federal Aviation Administration said Friday.

Capital City Airport in Harrisburg, Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe and Lancaster Airport in Lancaster were included on the FAA’s final list of 149 air traffic control facilities that will close nationwide starting early next month.

In New Jersey, the traffic control tower at Trenton-Mercer Airport will close.

The closures will not force the shutdown of any of those airports, but pilots will be left to coordinate takeoffs and landings among themselves over a shared radio frequency with no help from ground controllers under procedures that all pilots are trained to carry out (this should work out well–ed.)

“We are extremely disappointed with the Federal Aviation Administration’s decision to close the contract air traffic control tower … due to sequestration,” said Timothy Edwards, executive director of the Susquehanna Area Regional Airport Authority, owner and operator of Capital City.

And it’s happening elsewhere.

Have you noticed how, now the sequestrian waltz has started, everyone is shouting

NOOOOOOO! Cut the other guy’s stuff!

With acerbic commentary by Julianna Forlano.

Via the The Daily Banter.

Der Spiegel looks back at the Great and Glorious Patriotic War for a Lie in Iraq and attempts to learn something from it. Here are two of their conclusions:

6. It was the war of the neocons

(snip)

7. The neocons learned little from the war

Follow the link for the rest, including their reasoning.

Motivated by the popularity of the History Channel’s current biblical potboiler*, Chauncey Devega wades into the confluence of history, belief, and culture to wonder why, in the popular American imagination, Jesus is always imagined as white like me.

The historical figure known as Jesus of Nazareth was not “white.” He was not European. Based on the scholarly consensus, the historical Jesus would be a Middle Eastern Jew of medium, if not dark, complexion. He was certainly dark enough to have spent time in the Middle East and elsewhere, and to not have had his skin tone commented upon or noted.

This Jesus would be hounded and harassed by the TSA, looked at as a de facto “suspicious” person in post 9/11 America, and be racially profiled by the national security state. The historical Jesus would likely be subject to stop and frisk policies by the New York police and others. If it were too late at night, and the historical Jesus was trying to get a cab–especially if he were not attired “professionally”–he would be left standing curbside because brown folks in their twenties and thirties who look like him are presumed to be criminals.

Read it.

____________________

*Which I am industriously ignoring.

(Link fixed) Daniel Ruth on CPAC: “Get your programs here! You can’t tell the players without a program!”

There was Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who if he had his way would turn the federal government into Grand Duchy of Fenwick.

And there was Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who wowed the crowd by simply finding his way to Maryland.

Also there was Sen. Marco Rubio, who has been running for the presidency since he got former Florida House Speaker Johnnie Byrd his first cup of coffee. Rubio extolled the virtues of individual liberty. Who better to make that tea party argument than a guy who has been collecting a government paycheck for virtually his entire adult life?

More delightfulness at the link.

Via Bob Cesca’s Awesome Blog.

CPAC version.

PoliticalProf sees a long, long dance:

But it turns out Republicans aren’t the only ones to have made peace with the sequester cuts. While Democrats might offer Republicans a deal — end defense cuts to restore social welfare spending — it’s pretty clear the Democrats have decided that the Republicans couldn’t — or won’t –deliver on their end of such a deal. That is, given that it is likely Republicans in the Senate will filibuster the restoration of funds for social welfare spending even were the House to support such a plan, the Democrats have decided it’s better to cut defense some than it is to restore defense spending but cut social welfare. At least, Democrats can claim, defense got cut too … and it wasn’t going to get cut any other way.

Read the rest, then you can decide whether he’s on to something.