The
Fire Pelosi Bus Tour
- Republicans are, I think, holding their breath in regard to the
upcoming election. That they will do well is not in doubt.
But, with control of both the House and the Senate, the stakes are
pretty high. So, GOP chairman, Michael Steele, is on a
cross-country bus trip (which is all the rage these days!) to
"Fire Pelosi." That is, to take control of the House
and get a Republican Speaker. And, once again, our location at
the intersection of two interstate highways puts us on their
itinerary. [We had visits by the
Ending
Earmarks Express a few years back, and the Tea
Party Express a year ago.]
So, on a pleasant October day - a bit cool in the shade, but still
t-shirt weather - the "Fire Pelosi" bus tour rolled into our
fair burg, sometimes derisively referred to as "The People's
Republic of Flagstaff." But, this blue island is surrounded
by a decidedly red state. And, the GOP candidate for the House -
Paul Gosar - has, I
think, a decent chance of winning this November.
The event was held at Gosar's headquarters. There was a BBQ from
noon until 2 p.m. I pulled in around 1:15, and got one of the
last burgers, and still had to wait about a half hour until the bus
arrived. It was a small, but decent crowd. There were some
protesting Dems on the street, but they kept their distance.
Well, except for one person, but so it goes. Steele worked the
crowd, shaking hands, taking pictures with folks, and autographing
protest signs. He was quite personable and gave a pretty good
pep talk. Here's a snippet I got on my phone video:
I was able to snap a few photos as
well . . .
Click on any
photo to see a larger image.
The crowd
wasn't enormous, but big enough in the People's Republic!
GOP Chairman
Steele felt right at home meeting the folks in the crowd.
Lots
of the people here wanted to get a photo in front of the bus.
I'm
thinking that the days of Flagstaff being on these itineraries is not
likely to last. Someday, the highway from Phoenix to Kingman (US
93) will be expanded into a four lane divided highway. In fact,
I am quite sure I read that there is some effort to make this a part
of the interstate system. Then, going from Phoenix to Las Vegas
will pass us by.
TSA
- The Stupid Agency
- The recent hullabaloo over the
full
body scanners
and the
invasive
pat downs at airports is a classic example of the insanity we
should come to expect from government bureaucrats who are given the
power to make decisions that affect our lives. They refuse to
see the situation in its entirety. They want
to
frame the issue only in a way that allows them to exert more power
over us. There are at least these three important points to make
in this "debate:"
We
know how to defeat terrorists. When
faced with a new threat, we learn and adapt. Following the plane
hijacking of 9/11, the passengers on Flight
93 acted to prevent a recurrence of what had happened in New York
and in Washington. It didn't take years of study to come up with
a plan of action. The lesson here is to rely on the individual
action of the passengers themselves to prevent terrorist
actions. Given a suitable level of screening, to detect guns and
knives, it is virtually impossible today for a group of men to take
over an airplane "armed" with box cutters. Indeed, the
threat today is not that someone will find a way to take over a plane
and use it as a weapon. Instead, it is that a terrorist will do
something to blow up the plane. So, how do we stop that?
Simple - rely on the passengers to self-monitor their own
behavior. That is how the shoe
bomber
was stopped. That's how the underwear
bomber
was stopped as well. The solution to this problem is
not to waste ever-growing amounts of money on these ridiculous
scanners and a bloated government agency. Instead, it is to scan
for the big stuff, keep the pilots safe, and let the passengers and
flight attendants use common sense curb any hostile actions.
Market
solutions are better. This
is yet another example of why markets are better than
government. There have been plenty of people saying that they'd
rather be safe than sorry (or, dead!). That, of course, ignores
the relative danger we'd face in the absence of these so-called
security measures. Let's keep the procedures in place to avoid a
repeat of 9/11 style attack. But, since only the individual
plane is now at risk, let individual airlines decide on whether to use
"enhanced" screening techniques. If passengers demand
these procedures, airlines will provide them. If they don't,
then airlines won't. The market can better cater to our wide
variety of tastes and preferences (even for risk) than can the
government with its one-size-fits-all solution.
Why
only airline passengers? Noting
that it is only the planes that are at risk, why is it that only
airline passengers are subject to these searches? Well, simply
because they can, even if it creates an obvious disparity in how
different people are treated differently. That is, why not do
similar screenings for people boarding a subway, or a bus, or a
train? Clearly, the inconvenience far outweighs the
benefit. Does anybody remember the Madrid
bombings or the bombings in London?
These terrorist actions show that targets are fungible. Who,
after all, could possibly stop a suicide bomber from running into an
elementary school and wreaking havoc? Well, when it happens I am
sure that we will then spend an inordinate amount of time, energy, and
money on turning schools into fortresses. [Although, mass
shootings on college campuses hasn't resulted in that outcome . .
. yet.] There are an almost infinite supply of terrorist
targets. We can't body scan everyone engaged in everyday
activities. Let's just do more to allow for individuals to act
rationally. And, get rid of these scanners, pat downs, and,
while we're at it, the TSA!
Getting
to Kolb Natural Bridge
-
In the fall of 2010, I had the good fortune of participating in the
fourth
Grand
Canyon Hikers & Backpackers Association
hikers' symposium,
titled, "Echoes
& Reflections."
I had chosen to tell the story of a
day hike I took up to Kolb Natural Bridge while on a six day solo loop
hike through Nankoweap and Kwagunt canyons, at the eastern/northern
corner of the main part of Grand Canyon. Since I have pulled
together photos from that trip and scanned them into my computer, I
figure I should add a hiking page to my site with this story...
symposium,
titled, "