Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Quien es lo mas Loco?

People, who the craziest? Janet Napolitano or Al Queda?

Janet of course made her case by claiming that "the system worked" in the aftermath of the attempted Christmas firebombing of a commercial airliner full of people. I guess if "the system" she's refereeing to was to rely on an incompetent bombmaker and a gutsy Dutch guy, then she's right. Otherwise, not so much.

Al Queda made its case by claiming "credit" for the attack. Umm, fellas, you do realize that the attack totally failed, right? The guy only hurt himself, we have him in custody, and in all probability we will learn a bit about your training networks and operations. 

While it's close, I have to give the nod to Janet due to her amazingly smart ideas about how to combat this latest threat: no blankets and no bathrooms in the last hour of flights!

Aaaargh!

Yes, beloved government of mine, that's the appropriate lesson to be learned here. 

Blankets and bathrooms are the real enemy.



3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Handcuffing passengers to their seats for the duration of the flight is a fine idea whose time has come.

Can someone explain one thing to me? I don't understand this "last hour of flight" business. Can't people blow up planes before the last hour?

Anonymous said...

The attempt suceeded. Our system has now added 0.5 hours of delay to the 30 million people that will fly before this panic passes by. Time valued at 20 per hour that is $300 million in costs. I will crassly assign $6 million to the value of life. This dumb-dumb by applying the government stupidity multiplier has cost the US the value of 50 lives.

Michael Ward said...

"0.5 hours delay" per person? At most, an average of five minutes or nine lives at the high end. But the point is well taken that even failure to detonate causes substantial costs.

Al Queda operative #1: I bet I can make all infidel Americans remove their shoes.

Al Queda operative #2: He he he. Oh yeah, I will make them throw away tons of shampoo.

Al Queda operative #3: He he he. Oh yeah, watch this. I will deny them blankets and bathrooms.

Al Queda operative #4: Guys, what other silly things can we make these puppets do?