What Caught My Eye Today

Let me begin by saying this is my favorite weekend of the year. Why you ask? Because is it the only weekend in the entire year that last 49 hours. That's right folks, Day Light Savings is over tonight. Don't forget to roll those clocks back a hour.

Federal Government - Just when you think the government cannot stoop any lower... The Federal Emergency Management Agency admitted that it staged a press conference on the Southern California wildfires last week, with FEMA employees posing as reporters. The agency had called the press conference with only 15 minutes' notice. When no reporters showed up at FEMA's Washington press room, stand-ins from the agency took their place. After the ruse was publicized, FEMA's public affairs chief resigned. Here's the thing. How many of us are really surprised at FEMA's antics any more. After the Hurricane Katrina fiasco, it was clear that this agency is managed by a bunch of half wits.

White House - This one scares the piss out of me. Earlier this year, the White House quietly issued National Security Presidential Directive 51, to ensure 'continuity of government' in the vente of what the document very vaguely calls a 'catastrophic emergency.' The directive, issued without any review by Congress or the Supreme Court, gives the president authority to decide when an emergency has occurred, and to do whatever he deems necessary to ensure continuity of government, whether it's to cancel upcoming elections, suspend the Constitution, or launch a nuclear attack on the enemy. Oh, where to begin on this one. Just out of curiosity, Mr. President, is the concept of checks and balances completely foreign to you or do you just not care? While we're on the subject, Bush has decided to give himself the power to suspend the Constitution? I was under the mistaken impression that the Constitution existed to prevent this sort of thing from happening.

Vatican - Pope Benedict XVI said that Catholic pharmacists should refuse to dispense drugs intended for controception, abortion or euthanasia. The issue has been attraction attention worldwide since the U.S. licensing of the 'morning after pill,' which can prevent implantation of a fertilized egg. In Chile, the government has threatened to shut down pharmacies that won't dispense the drug. A few U.S. states allow pharmacists to refuse to dispense drugs because of religious conviction. First of all, let me say that I am a Catholic--just not a very good one. I suppose the Pope is entitled to say what he wants, what with being infallible and all, but this treads on dangerous ground. Let's say that pharmacists do as the Pope says. What next? What happens if the Pope decides that AIDS medication shouldn't be dispensed to gays, because homosexuality is immoral?

Utah - This next item just goes to show that not all self-righteous whack jobs live in the Bible Belt. A state liquor official in Utah is calling for restaurants that serve alcohol to cover up the bottles because "some may be offended at the sight of alcohol." State law in the heavily Mormon state already mandates that bartenders work behind a glass partition. I'm all for freedom of religious belief, but let's not forget that these folks who are up in arms about booze practice the same religion that not too long ago looked the other way when it came to polygamy.

Airport Security - Security screeners at two major U.S. airports failed to detect fake bombs carried by undercover agents more than 60% of the time. At Chicago's O'Hare airport, screeners missed 60% of the bombs, while those at Los Angeles International missed the bombs in 75% of the tests. The head of the Transportation Security Administration said the results were somewhat misleading becaus the test have become increasingly difficult. Oh well, if that's the case, I guess there is no problem. That is, of course, assuming that would-be bombers are complete morons and try to get through security with easily identifiable bombs. What gets me is getting through security still takes forever and a day. What is it that these TSA agents are doing? From what I can gather from these tests, they aren't doing that great of a job keeping explosive devices from getting through.