America - Land of the Free?

Experience hath shewn, that even under the best forms of government those entrusted with power have, in time, and by slow operations, perverted it into tyranny. Thomas Jefferson

Thus it is then that we now have in these United States the following:

car czar
energy czar
health czar
education czar
welfare czar
drug czar
food czar
security czar
finance czar
etc, ad nauseaum...

Plus all the assorted "Wars on This or That"

Am I the only one that is appalled at the fact that in these United States we have the existence of these departments, and, am I the only one that is appalled, and indeed frightened, that the term "czar" is so universally used in conjunction with discussions of them?

To me, the very fact,

a) that these positions exist,
b) that they are called "czars",
c) that "the people" are not appalled by the existence of these entities, and,
d) that the people, doubly, are not appalled at the use of the term "czar" in connection with them,

is proof of the tyranny that has spread, like a cancer, through these States. States, I might add, that united so as to overcome what was billed then as the tyranny of King George and the intrusion of his government into every aspect to the lives of the colonists.

Furthermore, I pause to point out the most Orwellian of terms "Homeland Security", the indifference of the people to both the existence of such an apparatus, and an indifference to the use of such appellation, indicating to me that the only thing necessary to complete the conversion to the collectivist despotism is the speaking of Russian.

Next thing you know we will have Bill O'Riley talking about how the government needs to "... do something about the economy". But wait ... that has already happened!

~Seneca

________________
PS - No, my dear reader - "the economy" is not the function of the Federal Government, and those of you that buy into such pap may as well enroll in Russian language class, for it is exactly that kind of uncritical thinking that leads to a government system that controls everything you do.

On Low Flying Planes In NYC

• Plane flies low over New York City
  Also in photo op were some military "jets"
  Talking Heads all have panties in wad
  Citizens Afraid and now Angry
  Government Says 'Oops. It was a photo -op for Air Force One."
  

My take - The best way to prepare is to prepare in conditions as close to real as can be managed/staged, and this was very likely not a photo op for a publicity campaign. Come on, my peeps! Regardless of how clueless you think of the Obama administration, it is hard to think that they are this clueless.

My answer is that perhaps they are not clueless at all and that instead, this "photo-op" could very well have been an exercise to evaluate the condition of our military and civilian threat response, and an assessment of the reaction of citizens in an urban setting.

In this vein, it is of limited use to notify everybody and his brother that there is going to be a test of the military's ability to intercept a large low-flying airliner, or to tell them the time and place of the "party". If such advance notification is done, then all the intercept crews would be standing at the ready, and the citizens would behave differently than if the exercise happens out of the blue with only those at the highest level in the know.


Thus, if I were the dude in charge (aka El Presidente), I would want to know some of the following:

• How long would it take for FAA or the military nets to alert on an aircraft flying off course? Would they alert at 400 miles out, 100 miles out, or would they be staring at their navels even as the plane was penetrating the New York City limits?
  
• How long would it take for the military jets to be scrambled and to intercept? Would the commanders take decisive action, or would they be paralyzed in fear and take no action because they were waiting for somebody else to tell them to act. (This is especially important in light of the interference of the Office of the President in the Somali pirate incident. )
  
• How alert are the civilians? For example, if we fly this big-ass jet over a cornfield in Iowa as it proceeds on its way to NYC, how many civilians, if any would report the incident? If we got 5,000 calls to 911, that would mean one thing, if we got none, then that would mean another.
  
• If people in NYC see a big plane flying around "low", would they start to evacuate buildings or would they just go about their business? If they got panicky, how did their panic play out? Was it orderly, or was it disorganized? Did they clog the streets, etc. such that emergency crews would be gridlocked?

Also, if I was the dude in charge, I would know that people would get their panties in a wad and excoriate me as being a dunce, but I would also know that the answers to these national preparedness questions outweighs the venom that would be directed my way, and would I know that I would never be able to tell the people what was really going on.

Now, of course, if it was just a photo-shoot then they are indeed clueless, not only because doing such a thing without universal notice is bone-headed, but also because of the very fact that it was just a photo shoot instead of a military preparedness exercise.