Not common sense and definitely not American

Muslim group: two imams pulled from plane bound for North Carolina

Atlantic Southeast Airlines removed 

two imams from a flight headed to North Carolina, ostensibly because passengers felt uncomfortable with their presence of the pair -- both clad in Islamic attire according

to CNN news.  Facts:

• Ostensibly the men made passengers "uncomfortable" according to the pilot.
• The men were screened twice prior to boarding
• After the men boarded and the flight left the gate, it returned and the pilot requested TSA to remove the men.  TSA did so.
• The men were screened again by TSA.
• Officials tried to get the men back on the plane but the pilot absolutely refused to fly with them aboard.
• Initial news reports said the TSA boarded the plane and asked the passengers if anyone was concerned.  No one responded.

Would this have happened to a rabi, orthodox jew, or Catholic priest?  Common Sense thinks not.  These men were singled out not because they posed any threat.  They clearly did not.  But because they were dressed differently, dressed as Muslim clerics. 

Common Sense is proud to be an American.  There are many many reasons for this pride, not the least is America's committment to human and civil rights.  Common Sense is disgusted by the behavior of the pilot and Atlantic Southeast Airlines.  Both should be ashamed and charged with civil rights abuses and held financially liable for what is clearly an abridgment of these men's civil rights.  The pilot ought to be fired.  America is better than this.  We need to start acting like it.

Related articles, courtesy of Zemanta:

• Tudor Bosman: Muslim group: two imams pulled from plane bound for North Carolina - CNN.com
• Muslim group: two imams pulled from plane bound for North Carolina - CNN International
• Muslim religious leaders told to leave U.S. domestic flight after pilot refuses to take off with them aboard
• Group: 2 Muslim men pulled from plane bound for North Carolina
• SMH: Pilot Kicks Two Muslim Men Off Flight On Their Way To Anti-Prejudice Conference

Gas prices spark partisan debate in Congress – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs

Gas prices spark partisan debate in Congress – CNN Political Ticker - CNN.com Blogs:

"The GOP bill, which passed 266-149, is named the 'Restarting American Offshore Leasing Now Act' and directs the Obama administration to move forward with leases for drilling in areas in the Gulf of Mexico and off the coast of Virginia that were already approved but were suspended after the BP oil disaster last year. 'Let's send a signal to the international markets that America is serious about becoming less dependent on foreign oil,' said Washington Rep. Doc Hastings, who sponsored the bill."

 

Crude Oil Falls Below $100 a Barrel - NYTimes.com:

"After four months of surging higher, oil prices plummeted by almost 9 percent as traders worried that American drivers were beginning to balk at paying nearly $4 a gallon of gasoline."

 

OK, lets try some common sense.

New leases and gas prices - How long does it take between signing of a new lease and oil production? Common Sense does not know. That said, it's not days or weeks but rather months or years. A new lease will have no effect on gas prices.

New leases as a signal - Someone needs to explain how increasing oil availability and thus consumption signals less dependence. Consider that the US consumes roughly 18 to 19 million barrels of oil per year. The US produces roughly 9 million barrels of oil per year. About half of consumption. Production has varied between 7 and 9 million barrels per year for the last 10 years. Over that same time US oil consumption has varied between 18 and 21 million barrels per year. The US consistently produces between 1/3 and 1/2 of consumption. The common sense point is that it's consistent. It doesn't much impact imports.

If the goal is to signal less dependence on foreign oil, perhaps reducing oil consumption and increasing renewal energy is worth a common sense thought!

Think not. Note that oil prices went down as oil consumption went down. Isn't there this common sense thing about supply and demand?

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OBL and NOT common sense

"Sen. Lindsey Graham calls the president's refusal to release bin Laden's photo a 'mistake.' AP Photo Close President Obama's refusal to show photos of Osama bin Laden's corpse will fuel skeptics around the world who .."

Sarah Palin, on Twitter: @SarahPalinUSA Show photo as warning to others seeking America's destruction. No pussy-footing around, no politicking, no drama;it's part of the mission

Rep. Duncan Hunter, member of the House Armed Services Committee, in an interview with CNN: "I want to see them personally...I did three tours. I'm not talking as a Member of the Armed Services Committee – as a Marine who did three tours because of 9/11. As Americans we deserve to see them.

In an exclusive for TIME, former CIA head of counterterrorism Jose Rodriguez tells Massimo Calabresi that black site prison techniques on KSM and others led to OBL intel. (New York, May 4, 2011)-In his first public interview, former CIA head of ...Behind the widespread jubilation upon the news of Osama bin Laden's death rests an important policy question.

Can we now leave Afghanistan? After all, bin Laden is the reason we went there, 10 years ago. 

"National polls conducted since President Barack Obama's announcement Sunday night that Osama bin Laden had been killed don't agree on whether the president's poll numbers spiked due to the death of the man behind the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.

So Osama bin Laden is dead. Now it's open season on political posturing for gain. Really, Common Sense wonders what exactly has changed?

Will OBL be less dead if there's no photo of a corpse? Common Sense doesn't think so. Rather common sense dictates that 1) the photo would certainly inflame violent radical, and 2) no matter what is released there will be a wingnut conspiracy theory that he wasn't killed.

Would OBL still be dead without enhanced interrogation techniques? Common Sense doesn't know and neither does anyone else. The facts are that enhanced interrogation techniques were used. That they did yield intelligence. Was that intelligence useful? The people who really know say yes. The people that oppose enhanced interrogation techniques simply don't know. Comments in this space are about political posturing not reality.

Should we leave Afghanistan now?  Did we go to Afghanistan just to kill bin Laden?  Common Sense thinks not.  Bin Laden planned the 9/11 attacks but there was and is a real al Qaeda network that carried them out.  They had a protected home in Afghanistan.  Now they have semi protected homes in several countries.  While one can debate the merits of staying in Afghanistan leaving is almost certain to return the country as an Al Qaeda haven.

President Obama's poll bump.  Mr Obama didn't fire the shot that killed bin Laden.  He is president as was Mr Bush before him.  How good a president he is depends on his policies and actions.  His policy with respect to Al Qaeda and bin Laden largely parallel his predecessor Mr Bush.  Bin Laden's death doesn't change anything.  It doesn't make Mr Obama's policies better or worse.  It shouldn't change our opinions about him as a president.

Common Sense thinks that we should all get a grip about is real and what is not.  Posturing doesn't change reality.  Never has.  Never will.  That's just common sense.

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Wingnuts of the world unite

Osama bin Ladin isn't dead! Really!

• He was captured and is currently being interrogated.
• He escaped just like last time.
• It was a double that was killed and OBL is hiding elsewhere.
• He was killed many years ago. It's all a hoax to justify getting out of Afghanistan.
• He's been frozen and is in storage. It's all a hoax to give Obama a bump in the polls.
• He's really an alien and has returned home.

President Obama wasn't born in the US and his presidency is illegal! Really!

• The birth certificate was fake.
• He has dual citizenship.
• He was really born in Kenya.
• He's actually a citizen of Indonesia.

Elvis is still alive and in hiding! Really!

• He was an alien and has gone home.
• He's working as an agent of the DEA.
• Jon Cotner is really Elvis.
• Jesse is really Elvis.

Harry Hughes is really the son of Howard Hughes and Katherine Hepburn! Really!

I'm Howard Hughes real son! Really!

Three percent of Americans still believe Obama was not born in the US! Really! This time Common Sense really means it!! Common Sense has way more than 100 friends and really really wants to know which three are wingnuts! Really!

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Porn and the law

Court Says Porn on Work Computer Is Grounds for Firing | Threat Level | Wired.com - With that in mind, the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the firing of a Wisconsin high school biology teacher and union president for viewing thumbnail images of porn for one minute. Robert Zellner, an 11-year teacher, claimed his 2006 termination for typing “blonde” in the Google search bar was in retaliation for his constitutionally protected criticism of his employer.

 

Watching Internet Porn at NYC Libraries Protected by First Amendment, Officials Say - FoxNews.com: "New Yorkers can watch internet porn at the city's public libraries thanks to a policy of free speech protected by the First Amendment, the New York Post reported Monday."

OK, at work with adults your employer can fire you. In public with children around it's protected speech. So an employer's property rights trump a parent's rights to protect their child from porn. Employer property rights to a computer terminal also trumps the library's property rights to a state owned computer terminal. Common sense ... not.

When the law as interpreted by courts abridges parental rights and common sense then the law needs to be changed. That's just common sense.

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Cantor - no tax hikes

House's Cantor says tax hikes off the table | Reuters:

"(Reuters) - House Republican Leader Eric Cantor said he told bipartisan talks on the U.S. deficit that tax hikes were off the table as far as the Republican-run House of Representatives was concerned."

The foolishness just roles on and on when it comes to the budget and taxes. Some relevant facts:

• Total tax breaks in the US tax code are roughly $1 trillion per year
  
• US tax rates are at or near historic lows
• In the last 50 years the tax burden has been systematically shifted to individuals and away from business
  

Clearly in Mr Cantor's mind common sense need not apply to tax breaks, tax rates, or who pays. It's long past time to look at booth sides of the budget, both spending and revenue. That's just common sense.

Where do they come from: Graham worries over lack of proof | POLITICO 44

Graham worries over lack of proof | POLITICO 44:

"President Obama’s refusal to show photos of Osama bin Laden’s corpse will fuel skeptics around the world who think the Al Qaeda leader is still alive, Lindsey Graham says.

“The whole purpose of sending our soldiers into the compound, rather than an aerial bombardment, was to obtain indisputable proof of bin Laden’s death,” Graham, a Republican national security hawk in the Senate, said in a statement. “I know bin Laden is dead. But the best way to protect and defend our interests overseas is to prove that fact to the rest of the world.”

Graham, who called Obama’s move “a mistake,” added that “the decision made today by President Obama will unnecessarily prolong this debate.”"

Common Sense notes juxtaposed in the news:

(Reuters) - Computer hackers are exploiting the fascination with the death of Osama bin Laden to spread malicious software through scams that promise access to videos of the historic killing.

Fake Bin Laden Photos Fool Some Lawmakers

So what exactly is a photo suppose to prove? Not much it seems. Not even for our clearly above average elected representatives. Really folks, get a grip and a bit of common sense.

Update 5/6/2011

Greenville, South Carolina (CNN) – Former Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a likely candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, called on President Barack Obama to release photos of Osama bin Laden's body Friday.

Speaking to a group of reporters the morning after his appearance in the first GOP presidential debate, Pawlenty said Al Qaeda's admission that bin Laden is dead does not settle the debate over releasing the photographs.

"Beyond Al Qaeda, there may be others who question the claim that bin laden was killed," he said. "But that's not the only issue relating to the photographs. There is a public interest in the photographs."

"I don't think the president needs to be the censor-in-chief, absent a clear national security need for it to be secret or confidential," Pawlenty added. "He was the one who said he wanted to have the most open and transparent government in the modern history of the country.

Really? Lets try some common sense.

• Photos don't prove anything. If you doubt it just consider the fakes currently making the rounds.
• Those that believe in conspiracies believe in conspiracies independent of evidence or common sense.
• Such photos will doubtless serve as a rallying point for violent radical Muslims. Think not? Consider Che Guevara.
• Even Al Qaeda acknowledges his death.
  

There is no upside and considerable potential downside. Now Mr Pawlenty hopefully knows better or perhaps not. That makes him either yet another hack seeking advantage via distortion and manipulation or a wingnut. Neither is attractive in someone who wants to be president.