More Crops Up On The National Front

That wascally Aussie wapscallion, Assange, claimed in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic to have set up kind of the ultimate "dead man switch":  if he's killed or otherwise goes away for a long period of time, he says, his organization will release files naming top officials in several Arab countries (who) have close links with the CIA.

The interviewer, Ahmed Mansour, said at the start of the interview which was a continuation of last week’s interface, that Assange had even shown him the files that contained the names of some top Arab officials with alleged links with the CIA.

Assange or Mansour, however, didn’t disclose the names of these officials. The WikiLeaks founder said he feared he could be killed but added that there were 2,000 websites that were ready to publish the remaining files that are in possession of WikiLeaks after “he has been done away with”.

Although his whistle-blowing has thus far proven little more than a gossipy embarrassment to diplomats, it's easy enough to see why they'd want to shut him up for a while.  Diplomats and high officials are sensitive folks, after all.

Here at the various airports under the domination of Big Sis , it looks as though a lot of folks have had just about enough of her crap: increasingly, airports are considering ditching her TSA in favor of private security firms:

Some of the nation's biggest airports are responding to recent public outrage over security screening by weighing whether they should hire private firms such as Covenant to replace the Transportation Security Administration. Sixteen airports, including San Francisco and Kansas City International Airport, have made the switch since 2002. One Orlando airport has approved the change but needs to select a contractor, and several others are seriously considering it.

The Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority, which governs Dulles International and Reagan National airports, is studying the option, spokeswoman Tara Hamilton said.

For airports, the change isn't about money. At issue, airport managers and security experts say, is the unwieldy size and bureaucracy of the federal aviation security system. Private firms may be able to do the job more efficiently and with a personal touch, they argue. 

As a government entity, it's unrealistic to expect TSA to perform efficiently - that's why the post office is having their shorts handed to them by private companies such as FedEx and UPS.

Undeterred, however, EPA "regulators" have met to discuss possible actions they can take to address the problem of "obesogens" in the environment.  There's little or no need for an individual to eat responsibly, nor to haul that lardy butt off the couch, because lardiness is beyond your control.  Thankfully, the EPA is moving to help.  They've done so much for you in the past.

Comments

[ZZMike]

Simple solution: hire whatever firm the Israelis use.

True, their area of responsibility is smaller than ours, but they do a really great job. (I was going to say "bang-up job", but figured that wouldn't be good.)

[Sam L.]

"Obesogens": What a GREAT word!

[Max]

ZZ, if you're talking security - don't the Israelis use military for that?

Sam: yes, it's positively supercalifragilisticexpialidocious.