A respected British journalist arrives in the United States to cover the Austin Grand Prix.

I couldn't feel prouder... or safer....

A comment in Crid's linked tweets got me to thinkin. When I was a little kid and my dad explained to me the meaning of "Kilroy was here" I was elated with pride of being an American. Today, with the government hands in men and women shorts, not so much.

Because very few people are speaking up about the TSA.

Yes, there are.

There's just a limit to the outrage unless you're professionally outraged, and well, there's just fatigue. Sad. Shortsighted.

But some of us - you included - have been beating the drum for a long time, and it's gotten us... Where?

Right.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/11/mom-wants-oak-trees-cut-down-for-kids-with-allergies/

Donna Giustizia, an Ontario mother of two, says the oak trees near her teenager’s school are a health hazard, and even though the school is nut-free, she says administrators aren’t protecting their students.

“A false sense of security is putting a sign on the door that says nut-free, and there’s nuts all over the place,” Giustizia told The Star.

Giustizia says the trees around St. Stephen Catholic Elementary School are a deadly threat for kids with anaphylactic food allergies — allergies that cause shock.

Yeah, those oak nuts are just terrible, aren't they? Maple nuts too. Maybe we need to resurect alt.pave.the.earth.

Here's the deal. You've got authoritarian elite, the entitlement-class majority, and the libertarians. The authoritarian elite likes the TSA for obvious reasons. The libertarians know that the TSA is the American KGB (well, KGB-in-training; they aren't quite there yet but they're working on it). They know that it when the browshirts start making their lists, it pays to have kept your mouth shut and not left any evidence all over the Internet.

The entitlement-class? They like the TSA. Why? Because they're children, and the TSA feels to them like doting parents. "They care about people like us!" Safe in the embrace of Big Brother.

F-1 weekend here. No heading south for me the next few days! Millionaires shelling out big bucks to go hang out in the absolute worst and ugliest part of town (I know, I lived 2 miles from the site)-it's hilarious. Hovels are renting out for $1500 a week right now. More power tot hem, I wish I'd thought to rent our place out!

Any allergy can cause shock. You can never have had a reaction to something before in your life, and then boom-big allergic reaction one day. Some people are allergic to concrete. Really-what DO these idiots want done? Is oak furniture a no-no?

Had a fascinating lecture tue in Human Phys about immune allergic response. Turns out there is good evidence that the allergy epidemic is caused by lack of parasitic worms in Americans' lives. The eosinophils (which handle worm infections and allergies) get bored and make up their own work to do. I"m not about to go find myself some roundworms or anything, but the problematic side of sanitation is interesting.

Side question on same topic-do antivaccers get tetanus vacs?