From MSNBC.com Travel News:

I can relate to this man. Before he passed away last year, my father had two surgeries for colon cancer which left him with colostomies on two separate occasions. He was lucky enough to be eligible for two subsequent resections. In the meantime, he had to learn how to install his own bags, empty his bags, and deal with life. I also had to learn how to purchase the very specific bags he needed, the very specific seals/wafers he needed, and thence to install them over his stoma.

On Nov. 7, Sawyer said he went through the security scanner at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. “Evidently the scanner picked up on my urostomy bag, because I was chosen for a pat-down procedure.”

Due to his medical condition, Sawyer asked to be screened in private. “One officer looked at another, rolled his eyes and said that they really didn’t have any place to take me,” said Sawyer. “After I said again that I’d like privacy, they took me to an office.”

Sawyer wears pants two sizes too large in order to accommodate the medical equipment he wears. He’d taken off his belt to go through the scanner and once in the office with security personnel, his pants fell down around his ankles. “I had to ask twice if it was OK to pull up my shorts,” said Sawyer, “And every time I tried to tell them about my medical condition, they said they didn’t need to know about that.”

Completely wrong. Yes, they did need to know about that. And it just gets worse.

Before starting the enhanced pat-down procedure, a security officer did tell him what they were going to do and how they were going to it, but Sawyer said it wasn’t until they asked him to remove his sweatshirt and saw his urostomy bag that they asked any questions about his medical condition.

“One agent watched as the other used his flat hand to go slowly down my chest. I tried to warn him that he would hit the bag and break the seal on my bag, but he ignored me. Sure enough, the seal was broken and urine started dribbling down my shirt and my leg and into my pants.”

Come on, people. Please, just come on. Can’t anyone have a molecule of common sense here? Can’t anyone see the clear and plain results of their actions? Can’t anyone foresee the obvious results of their physical actions?

The security officer finished the pat-down, tested the gloves for any trace of explosives and then, Sawyer said, “He told me I could go. They never apologized. They never offered to help. They acted like they hadn’t seen what happened. But I know they saw it because I had a wet mark.”

Humiliated, upset and wet, Sawyer said he had to walk through the airport soaked in urine, board his plane and wait until after takeoff before he could clean up.

So, in order to make his flight in a timely fashion, Mr Sawyer had to forego stopping in an airport bathroom and managed to clean himself up only after boarding the plane he had to catch? He had to run down the terminals with piss-soaked pants in public?

Let me pause a moment to collect my thoughts, because I wish not to be misinterpreted.

To TSA and allied personnel and agencies:

You should be very glad that my father, during his times of duress and challenge, wasn’t forced to fly. Had I accompanied him or, later, had I learned of his being treated in a fashion similar to Mr Sawyer, there would have been some very serious problems.

Had these actions occurred in front of me — had my father been treated like that — searched and then forced to have his seal broken and his body resultingly soaked in not just piss but shit . . .

. . . I would be writing to you now from a federal prison.

Because, on the other hand, the individual who had treated my father in a way similar to Mr Sawyer would himself be shitting out of a bag, or attempting to learn his alphabet all over again after the brain swelling subsided following the encounter.

Those of my readers who know me personally — or those readers who have been accompanying me on this blog journey for a number of years — realize that I am not kidding. Not about my father.

My father is dead now. This will never happen. I can only thank God for that.

Ladies and gentlemen, you simply cannot treat human beings like this.

You simply cannot.

From Pitchpull, I introduce the Black Devil:

This individual is reminiscent of my prior PTE, Part III involving Europe’s “Ghost Rider.” With this caveat:

Black Devil is certifiably insane — incapable of understanding death or its consequences.

On the other hand, he must be a very young man at the absolute height of his visual acuity and physiological reaction times.

I have to tell you this: I stopped the video twice in order to gather my thoughts and senses. Visual stimuli cascaded past my brain at such a rate that I had to pause in order to process. And I look at videos like this differently than you; I examine driving lines, peripheral visual stimuli, body weight transfer, closure rate judgment and anticipatory entry and exit lines and corrections.

The Yamaha RZF-R1 ridden here is a 1,000-cc, six-speed sport model with 135 hp.

I really am a sucker for perspective-type videos of this kind.

BZ

There’s a little bug inside of me which wants to get the FCC to say to FOX and to MSNBC: ‘Out. Off. End. Goodbye.’ It would be a big favor to political discourse; our ability to do our work here in Congress, and to the American people, to be able to talk with each other and have some faith in their government and more importantly, in their future.”

How sad that free broadcast airwaves cause Mr Rockefeller (please call me ‘Senator’ Rockefeller, I’ve worked so hard to achieve that title) some difficulty in his “ability to do our work here in Congress.” Boo-damned-hoo, Mr Rockefeller; we feel so blazingly bad for you.

How sad, how reprehensible, how execrable that Mr Rockefeller and his fellow advantagists and exceptionalists should ever be challenged or, worse yet, disbelieved!

Heinous! Unacceptable! Disagreement = improper! We must stop it, stop it now. We’ve got to protect our phony-baloney jobs! Give the governor a ha-rumph!

As By Ryan G. Murphy, RTDNA Digital Media Editor wrote on November 18th:

As I’m reading this, Rockefeller is saying that the United States electorate will be better informed if we ELIMINATE two major media voices – that getting rid of them would essentially be addition by subtraction.

Put your own politics on FOX and MSNBC aside for a second and let’s just agree that they can both sometimes present potentially polarizing views.

What Rockefeller is suggesting with his statement is that the views presented on FOX and MSNBC have no place in the news consumers’ world and, because they are not “quality news,” the government should intervene. Simply put, that’s absolute censorship and undermines having a diverse flow of information in the market. It also destroys market-based competition among the networks. This is America, right?

Rockefeller failed to point out that the FCC does not have the authority to regulate either FOX or MSNBC. The channels are on cable – not broadcast airwaves. It’s frustrating to see that he would even THINK to have the government step in because of content.

So, as per normal, leave it to the Demorats to be the ones who would wish to silence your First Amendment rights.

How typical.

I’m certain they’re still collectively crowing amongst themselves how “they” managed to “show” the Demorats a thing or two.

But in truth, just who was shown what?

I submit the Republicans benefitted from the two following trends:

At the same time, the GOP — and we all know this — continues to look upon portions of the TEA Party with complete disdain.

And no, I’m still not donating cash to the RNC. I ship my checks to my Conservative candidates directly. Not to say they’ll win — just to say I place my quite hard-earned cash with targeted and specific intent.

Thomas Lifson recently wrote for The American Thinker:

I think a number of Republicans think the TEA Party is a “one time” gig.

I submit this: they couldn’t be further from the truth.

I’ll summarize:

Just keep thinking like this, Republicans.

You’ll soon find yourselves out of a job.

And, if you don’t heed the wishes of true Conservatives, you just might be the impetus behind the creation of a dreaded third party.

Care to cast a guess as to its possible name?

P.S.

And I hate Third Party spoilers.