It was announced yesterday that TSA employees are going to be allowed to Unionize. 

The question of whether unions can negotiate on behalf of airport security workers has been a repeated topic of partisan debate on Capitol Hill, at times threatening to hold up major pieces of legislation or even the Senate confirmation of the agency’s director.

So now the agency which disparages, disgraces, and abuses the law abiding American public as a bunch of children to be abused will now be allowed to collectively barging by disrupting air travel through out the United States.  They have created a monopoly by denying any new alternative private airport screening operations.  Now with a monopoly over the entire system, they can proceed to shut down commercial air-travel for the entire country.  This isn’t like a pilot strike where you can seek a ticket from an alternative airline, if the check point is shut down no one is moving anywhere.  I foresee when the first strike occurs, numerous lawsuits occurring because of the self imposed monopoly. 

Unions are a skid mark in the underwear of our country, they have long outlived their purpose, and have proceeded to create inflated wages for those who do not really deserve it.   People should be paid on the quality and amount of work they do, not because they have enough people working with them and can cause lost revenue for the company.  Anyone who goes on strike has abandoned their job, and a replacement can be hired immediately, there should be nothing outlawing this, however some states have.  In this economy there are many who could take that position, and economics then state your pay isn’t worth as much.  The supply of people capable of doing your job currently out weighs demand.  If you want a raise, earn it, do something unexpected, volunteer for a risky project, find a way to save the company money.  Doing it by extortion should result in your immediate termination. 

The union at this point is supposed to focus on working conditions.  If you don’t like the working conditions find another job.  Strikes will probably occur because they don’t like passengers talking back and would like laws past outlawing it.  Shutting down all the travel across the country is a quick way to achieve your objective is it not?  People stranded will be yelling to give them their demands.  Currently passengers are subjected to court for saying no, and they win; that will probably change. 

Who was the moron who though this would be good or beneficial for the American public? 

I talked the other day about the idiocy of the “internet kill switch.”  While browsing today I found out how bad their claim of necessity was.  It’s the ultimate in creating “FUD”.

The bill, one aide said, would give the president the power to force “the system that controls the floodgates to the Hoover Dam” to cut its connection to the net if the government detected an imminent cyber attack.

At which point I’m going oh, really now.  Here’s why:

Anyone who works around process control and automation knows that the computer networks used are separate and isolated from the internet.  Why would they already be isolated you ask, because the government isn’t as afraid of an attack as much as the business.  Utilities for instance very rarely lease lines or use communication paths they don’t own.  They have shielding cables that also have fiber optics in side.  They run communications at the same time they run the power lines. 

Why is a business more afraid of an attack than the government could be?  Lets say someone causes a protective system to fail to operate, at which point a fault is caused in the power grid.  The result is a transformer exceeding it’s rated voltages, ultimately ending in a failure of the transformer.  A transmission level transformer easily costs millions of dollars and can take 18 months to 2 years for delivery since they are no longer manufactured in the United States.  All that time, that transmission line is out of commission.  If this transformer is tied to a generator, that generator is now no longer able to produce and sell electricity from that generator for 2 years.  Not to mention utilities have to comply with NERC-CIP regarding infrastructure security.

More are also screaming that these claims are “FUD”.  Nevada’s Bureau of Reclamation, responsible for the dam, are extremely pissed as well.

“I’d like to point out that this is not a factual example, because Hoover Dam and important facilities like it are not connected to the internet,” Peter Soeth, a spokesman for the bureau, said in an e-mail. “These types of facilities are protected by multiple layers of security, including physical separation from the internet, that are in place because of multiple security mandates and good business practices.”

So the thought of someone hacking in like Live Free or Die Hard is completely unrealistic.  Seriously, that movie is like any other movie from Hollywood, leave your suspension of disbelief at the door.  Unsurprisingly the morons in Congress do not seem to understand that Hollywood is not Reality.  Of course though the statements from our Congress critters cause people to believe that the loss of their freedom is justified due to this possible catastrophe.  [snark]They are so much smarter and wiser than we are, we must need to surrender our freedoms if they ask us to[/snark].

So please, remember if a politician is asking for something, seriously question the motivations, and most importantly, question any “examples” of dangers they use.  TSA and DHS hasn’t caught any terrorists unless you include the domains they confiscated.  The FBI and the DOD followed political correctness so hard that they allowed Ft. Hood to occur.  So why the name of Zeus’s Butthole would we hand over the power to shut down the internet.  We have seen what governments really do with that power.  Anyone who supports this bill is a Tyrant, no doubt, because, “Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom, It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.”   Reject “FUD” for what it is.

“To reiterate, people are compelled to comply with the violation of their personhood, and even the degradation of passenger safety, because they are afraid of what will happen if they refuse. And coercion by fear, called by any other name, is nevertheless the very epitome of terrorism. Whereas politicians make promises in exchange for power, the leveraging of fear to control the actions and decisions of others in society is the work of tyrants.” –Michael Roberts

[Michael Roberts is the pilot who refused the whole body scanners and started the public awareness campaign.  I highly suggest reading his speech given at the The Stripping of Freedom conference.

There is no question that the TSA is illegal and should be annihilated out of existence.  Their abuse of law abiding citizens in unforgivable yet many consider it necessary.  I am given no option in this, and people have vacated my rights for me that weren’t their rights to vacate to begin with. I am astonished when I hear someone say that is the cost for wanting to travel.  This is beyond what was done in Soviet Russia, how is this acceptable?  To be willing to vacate your rights out of fear means you weren’t worthy of them to begin with.

As Mr. Roberts says many are still traveling because they have to.  They put up with it out of fear.  Fear that if they refuse to travel they may loose their job, and on the other side fear of jail should they speak out against the screenings, there by still loosing their employment.  I would rather have an airline check luggage for bombs, even this is futile for the most part, and allow anyone with a concealed weapon permit to carry on board an aircraft.  I flew numerous times prior to September 11th with a knife in my pocket.  America did change on September 11th, it changed because of a bunch of intellectual cowards in congress created the DHS and flushed our rights down the drain. –B]