Not sure if you've heard about this, but perhaps you'll look into it and write up a column. I'm sure all of us would like to hear about the latest TSA indignity/horror in the offing:

From Blaque's Blog of Horrors (http://jblaque.livejournal.com/):

A senior government official with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has expressed great interest in a so-called "safety bracelet" (http://www.boingboing.net/2008/03/20/air-safety-proposal.html) that would serve as a stun device, similar to that of a police Taser®.

According to this promotional video at the Lamperd Less Lethal website (http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/video_gallery.asp?video=http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/video/EMDsafetybracelet.flv&title=), the bracelet would be worn by all airline passengers, and would:

• Take the place of an airline boarding pass

• Contain personal information about the traveler

• Be able to monitor the whereabouts of each passenger and his/her luggage

• Shock the wearer on command, completely immobilizing him/her for several minutes

The Electronic ID Bracelet, as it’s referred to, would be worn by every traveler “until they disembark the flight at their destination.”

Yes, you read that correctly. Every airline passenger would be tracked by a government-funded GPS, containing personal, private and confidential information, and could be used to shock the wearer worse than an electronic dog collar if he/she got out of line, completely immobilizing him/her if they get "out of line."

So.. is the U.S. government really that interested in this device?

Yes. According to a letter from DHS official, Paul S. Ruwaldt of the Science and Technology Directorate (http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg2HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf), office of Research and Development, to the inventor (whom he had previously met with), he wrote, “To make it clear, we [the federal government] are interested in…the immobilizing security bracelet, and look forward to receiving a written proposal.”

The letterhead, in case you were wondering, came from the DHS office (http://www.faa.gov/about/office_org/headquarters_offices/ato/tc/) at the William J. Hughes Technical Center at the Atlantic City International Airport, or the Federal Aviation Administration headquarters.

In another part of the letter (http://www.lamperdlesslethal.com/news/upload/pg1HomelandSecurity7_06.pdf), Mr. Ruwaldt confirmed, “It is conceivable to envision a use to improve air security, on passenger planes.”

Would every paying airline passenger flying on a commercial airplane be mandated to wear one of these devices? I cringe at the thought. Not only could it be used as a physical restraining device, but also as a method of interrogation, according to the same aforementioned letter from Mr. Ruwaldt.

Any thoughts, Patrick?

That's all I have to say.

The "English only" movement is just Americans' way of legitimizing their own laziness in not wanting to learn any other language. This is one of the very few places in the world where the majority of the population is not only monolingual, but also completely uninterested in making an effort to understand anybody else. Chalk that up to our physical isolation from the rest of the world, which makes it possible for Americans to fool themselves that they are not part of the world, but occupy some special place where it's not necessary to give a flying fuck about what goes on outside our borders. Pretty much everywhere else you go, it's common to know more than one language - if you don't, there's somebody right next to you who does.

But not us. Oh no. We're too good for that. Let everybody else learn our language (the one we've flattened out, dumbed down and fucked up almost beyond recognition). We can't be bothered to make any effort.

Well, let's see how long that lasts. With the way things have been going, I don't think it'll be very long before the rest of the world doesn't give a flying fuck about us. Then we'll have to crack open the Berlitz PDQ, I'd say.

is how many of the ones crying "you're so mean!" are the folks who regularly point fingers and call others nasty names in these pages. They are themselves no strangers to the kind of ugly bigotry that Helms made popular, but let people who are different from them take a single opportunity to lambast a monster, and suddenly they're on the side of civility.

As Captain Buck Murdoch said, "I guess irony can be pretty ironic."

Economics or no economics, that should still be her choice.

And that is exactly what the anti-choice people object to, and why they fight so hard against it. In their view, it should not be her choice. Once a woman is pregnant, she no longer has the freedom to decide how her life should go. Her fate is sealed, and it's her damn fault for being such a slut in the first place.

It's just that sort of pseudo-slavery talk that's always made me glad I got pregnant back when it was not difficult to obtain an abortion. Planned Parenthood was still a respected organization, and the crazies had only just started to come out of the woodwork. I would not be a young woman now for any money.

A thousand years from now, will virulent hatred of one's own body be considered the most prominent legacy of American culture? Will plastic surgery, radical diets, and self-torturing "exercise" regimens be considered quaint, not to mention weird? Will food, physical activity, and the body human find their place as enjoyable realities, rather than enemies?

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Nah!