The Transportation Security Administration is announcing the implementation of "enhanced screening" for personnel coming in from nations that have been designated as terrorist havens. I wonder if "enhanced interrogation" comes with the package? Could they have picked a worse term?

Because effective aviation security must begin beyond our borders, and as a result of extraordinary cooperation from our global aviation partners, TSA is mandating that every individual flying into the U.S. from anywhere in the world traveling from or through nations that are state sponsors of terrorism or other countries of interest will be required to go through enhanced screening. The directive also increases the use of enhanced screening technologies and mandates threat-based and random screening for passengers on U.S. bound international flights.

File this under "things that would not have stopped Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab from flying from Nigeria through Amsterdam to the United States." Nor would it have stopped the feared "liquid bombers" from the United Kingdom. And it won't stop al Qaeda cells operating in Germany. So exactly how is this security theater meant to protect us? Short answer, it won't. It's just movie drama theater. It will, however, piss off a lot of normal travelers who will decide that flying to America just isn't worth it anymore. It will also cost the airports a great deal of money and slow down security checks even further. So overall, yeah, great news, TSA.

The NY Times has a list of countries who will be affected by this directive.

Citizens of Cuba, Iran, Sudan and Syria, countries that are considered “state sponsors of terrorism,” as well as those of “countries of interest” — including Afghanistan, Algeria, Lebanon, Libya, Iraq, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Somalia and Yemen — will face the special scrutiny, officials said.

But it still won't stop "non-state actors" from flying to America if and when they want.

This is the second "bad nurses" story we've seen out of ProPublica and the L.A. Times, and while the issue's worth examining, seems to me there's an element of class discrimination to their focus.

I used to work as a medical fraud investigator, and during that time, I was shocked to discover that it was quite literally almost impossible for a doctor to permanently lose his license. I mean, there were doctors with ongoing drug and alcohol problems, doctors with falsified credentials, doctors who'd killed people - and they rarely got more than a slap on the hand and a temporary suspension.

So while it's of course a good idea to examine nurses, I'd like to see a similar examination of physicians, too:

Firms that supply temporary nurses to the nation's hospitals are taking perilous shortcuts in their screening and supervision, sometimes putting seriously ill patients in the hands of incompetent or impaired caregivers.

Emboldened by a chronic nursing shortage and scant regulation, the firms vie for their share of a free-wheeling, $4-billion industry. Some have become havens for nurses who hopscotch from place to place to avoid the consequences of their misconduct.

A joint investigation with the Los Angeles Times found dozens of instances in which staffing agencies skimped on background checks or ignored warnings from hospitals about sub-par nurses on their payrolls. Some hired nurses sight unseen, without even conducting an interview.

As a result, fill-in nurses with documented histories of poor care have fallen asleep on the job, failed to perform critical tests or stolen drugs intended to ease patients' pain or anxiety.

"A lot of them are really bad nurses," said Sandra Thompson, a nursing supervisor at Northridge Hospital Medical Center and Sherman Oaks Hospital, both in the San Fernando Valley. "Sometimes I see them here [at Northridge] and think, 'I wonder how long before I see them over' " at Sherman Oaks?

Some agencies are diligent about checking nurses' records, said Joey Ridenour, executive director of the Arizona State Board of Nursing.

Others are not. As a result, if wayward nurses want to work, "I think it's easier to hide in the registries," Ridenour said. "Some just sign them up."

I assume the administration thinks they're doing the right thing by pouring billions into the banks, but things seem to be getting worse for everyone else, don't they?

A registered nurse came close to losing her $1,550-a-month apartment on the Upper East Side after being let go from two jobs in three months. A woman found herself dipping into a 401(k) to keep her $3,375 unit in Peter Cooper Village after her husband was laid off in February from his six-figure marketing job. A father of two with an M.B.A. and a law degree owed $5,400 in back rent in Stuyvesant Town after he struggled to find steady work and lent money to his wife’s family.

Lawyers, judges and tenant advocates say the staggering economy has sent an increasing number of middle-class renters across New York City to the brink of eviction, straining the legal and financial services of city agencies and charities. Suddenly, residents of middle-class havens like Rego Park in Queens and Riverdale in the Bronx are crowding into the city’s already burdened housing courts, long known as poor people’s court.

Even some affluent people in high-end places are finding themselves facing off with landlords. One man, laid off by Merrill Lynch, was forced to move out of his $5,700 apartment in TriBeCa, owing $20,000 in back rent. Todd Nahins, a lawyer who represents owners of luxury residential buildings, has been busy negotiating payment plans for tenants in arrears.

“There’s definitely an uptick of people who were basically very good rent payers until the economic downturn,” Mr. Nahins said. “There’s so many of them. People who at one point had made money are now not earning enough to pay their rent.”

Download | play Download | play (h/t BillW)

Actually, I don't know that the Bush administration ever thinks things through, come to that...

First up in our ongoing scandal rotation is the shameful way that soldiers and returning vets have not had their medical needs met by the Bush administration. The RAND group recently testified before Congress of yet another reason that may pique the interests of the Corporatists in office: providing medical treatment earlier significantly cuts the long term costs, not to mention the collateral costs of drug use, marital problems, unemployment and suicide.

So now will you take care of the wounded? There’s profit in it.

And then there is the ultimate card of the fear-mongering set: the Global War on Terror™. Unfortunately, for all their talk of wanting to combat terrorism, studies released this week have found that incidents of terrorism have remained unchanged from last year, although anti-American sentiment amongst terrorist safe havens in Somalia, Algeria, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Mauritania, Morocco, Niger, Chad, Mali, and Yemen increases, as does al Qaeda's ability to plan another attack on us, thanks to their undisturbed presence in Pakistan. Heckuva job, Bushie.

And finally, the pathetic No Fly List. It turns out that even the blatantly partisan Washington Times finds the No Fly List worthy of ridicule, not just because of the 9,000 false positives that occur daily, but especially with the news that several flights have gone out without the promised Federal Air Marshalls because these same FAMs have found their names (along with everyone who goes by Mohammed or Ali) on the list and have been refused entry onto the planes they've been charged to protect.

You heard me. Because of this always-growing, all-consuming terrorist no-fly list, some of the people that are supposed to be on the plane to stop the terrorists on the plane are getting mistaken for suspected terrorists and being kept from getting on the plane.

Our 'liberal media' ignores domestic terrorism, while trumpeting faux controversies, defending rank assholery, and winking at plain insanity. Meanwhile, ABC, CNN, FOX and the rest are all safe havens for belligerent bigots and pathological liars. I am heartily sick of the utter uselessness of the grotesquely dubbed Mainstream Media.

Pandagon: With another example of the slipshod sh*t that these poseurs print. Steve's reaction indicated he was also a bit annoyed

The Daily Background: "We're not going to outsource the business of handling the war in Iraq."

skippy the bush kangaroo: Press '1' if you'd like to punch someone in the face

Daily Darfur: Friend Blue Gal told me about this valuable site.

HOLY CRAP: Surprise!...fags are damned...Newest Religious Right tactic--sue to get Civil Servant dough and block gay rights...Interview with Jonathan Hutson, the man who exposed the sub-Christian nature of the Left Behind" Eternal Forces video game...and a look at the average anti-gay bigot