Reach for It!

…

Got a problem? Reach for more technology!

The recent fiasco over airline security is the latest in a troubling series of events. For me, the predictable reaction of Federal authorities shows just how far Washington has strayed from the reality enjoyed by the rest of America. “We need more funding [aka “your money”] to assure this never happens again!” They plead. Do not worry. There are so many bad things that can happen; most of them never get a chance to happen twice. It might even be smarter to try to avert things that have not happened already.

When a young Nigerian man boarded that plane in Amsterdam, his name was on “A” list but not “THE” list of possibly dangerous persons. The excuse given for not detecting the risky passenger was that “… there are over 500,000 names on that list.” How lame can you get? The explanation relies on the idea that it would be nearly impossible to find one name among so many. I guess they keep the list in a giant ring binder in a desk drawer at the TSA’s Washington office. Under those circumstances, it would be a Herculean chore to look up one name. If they keep the list on a computer, the chore is manageable. Connect that computer to the internet and the task is trivial. Anyone who has ever run a Google search knows you can query the entire planet and find millions of solutions in a fraction of a second. So could TSA or any Federal Agency with a trace of competence.

Instead of using the tools at hand in a responsible way, the cry is for yet more technology. Now, they want high-tech “Porno-Scans” of the passengers. I think I speak for many when I say “Yikes!” Why should we buy more toys, when the current ones are unused? The answer is simple. The citizens have fallen for this swindle for as long as there have been bureaucrats. A lack of technology gets the blame for a government that simply does not work.

Maybe there is an upside to this. If the Feds implement full body scans, I bet The Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders’ scans will be on U-Tube within a week.

…