I was listening to the radio about an hour ago, and NPR's All Things Considered did a puff piece on how holiday travel is expected to be down by 2% this holiday season, but TSA is doing its best to make travel less onerous.

They discussed the new 'express' screening for elite travelers, and then they went on to discuss the new "chatdowns". The quote was something like this:

NPR: The new chatdowns haven't caught any terrorists, but they have led to several arrests.
TSA: "We've caught people with warrants, illegal drugs,...

And this was all portrayed as fine and dandy. I fired off an email to All Things Considered, and I'm waiting for them to post the audio clip of this story, which should be up later tonight.

Here's the link:


I, too, was really disappointed by the piece when I heard it on the radio this afternoon.

NPR is a lapdog for this administration. If it were the (pregnant pause) Republicans (pregnant pause), then it would be a much different story.

And yes, that's exactly the way they expressed it in another story NPR did this week that only touched peripherally on travel security.

And this is what makes me sick. I always hear from liberals and Democrats about how wonderful Obama is, but they say nothing of the abuses that have continued and grown under this administration. This is not controlled by an act of congress or some legacy from the Bush administration. The executive branch has direct control over DHS and all operations under it. NoS and groping could end tomorrow with a single order from Dear Leader. Yet not a peep. While I have no love for Republicans either, one side has their head firmly planted in the sand(or somewhere else) in regards to what is really going on in this country.

For what its worth, you can contact the NPR Ombudsman Edward Schumacher-Matos via this link:

NPR - "Contact "Us Page

In the "I Want to" box, scroll down to the "Contact the Ombudsman" option.

I've submitted a polite complaint, expressed my disappointment and explained why I did not feel that the piece was up to NPR's usual high standards.

Submitting a comment will get you an autogenerated email from NPR, which will say that every message is read by the Ombudsman or his staff and that the message is then forwarded to the appropriate journalist or manager.

Errr, where exactly do you hear that? I'm hearing a lot of the contrary, that his base is disappointed. Not closing Guantanamo Bay, continuing drone strikes, not lifting the embargo on Cuba, rolling back environmental regulations, no immigration reform, and so on and so on. He's compromising with the GOP so much that he's more conservative than some previous Republican presidents, yet he still gets labeled by the right as socialist. It would be funny if this wasn't our reality.

I have been disappointed by how the media has handled TSA abuses under both Republican and Democrat administrations. I honestly have to say this is apolitical. Every story I've ever heard about TSA quotes at least one person with an "It's not that bad, anything for security" statement.

Agreed. It confounds me that the Patriot Act still gets extended term after term without much discussion.

I'm liberal and a Democrat and I've pretty much never said anything good about Obama. He's been a bad leader and pretty much punted on all the promises that got him elected. If he loses to one of the clowns running against him, he's only got himself to blame.
Can't say I've heard many people like myself calling him wonderful.

I've never heard this either. In fact, in the NY Times today there is an interesting piece on how he very possibly won't get elected.

I love one of the comments -- "Is this National Propaganda Radio?"

I still hear it daily, especially in the media. The reason is that they'll still vote for Obama not matter what. I'm sure Obama has lost a lot of support from the middle, but no liberal is going to turn around and vote of Cain or even Romney. Not vote? Maybe, but never switch sides. That is the problem with our so called democracy. It's usually a choice between bad and worse. Eliminate ballot access laws then it might improve.

I think it's more because of the two party system, where all congressmen are elected directly. In other countries, only half of the house representatives are elected directly, and the other half comes from party lists in proportion to the popular vote. While that's not a perfect system either, at least it ensures that even small parties that only get a few percent of the vote will be represented in the house, and that in turn makes voting for a smaller party worthwhile. Ralph Nader for example would be a viable alternative to Obama for many, but in the current system, a vote for Nader is the same as not voting at all, and it would actually help the Republicans, as it did in 2000.

It's because in the event of any kind of attack on domestic soil, no politician wants to be accused of being "soft on terrorism". The majority of people in this country are in the "anything for security" crowd.

The partisan nominating process rewards extremism and generates candidates that repulse the moderate / independent middle in general elections.

Concur that Obama's lackadaisical attitude to civil rights issues and constitutional protections has been shocking and saddening.

It's funny. I hadn't really thought of it that way, but it's true. At least in terms of civil rights Obama basically is a Republican. And are we out of Iraq or even Afghanistan yet? It's all so pathetic. I wonder what his positions are on abortion, prayer in schools, flag burning, and death camps for homosexuals. We Libertarians have been saying for years how the two major parties are so similar, but Obama is truly a new low. The parties have become identical on certain issues like civil rights. Pretty much everyone seems to be in agreement that we don't have any.

There are still some subtle differences in economic policies of course. Although both parties are completely in bed with the corporations. Democratic candidates still talk about class warfare and Republican candidates still talk about small government and reducing not raising taxes, but once they get into office they just do as they please. At that point they don't really care. It's not like they ever really had any principles to begin with.

At least Obama has some charisma. It's been a while since we've had a president with any of that. When it comes to charisma our presidents tend to be indistinguishable from chimpanzees. The British seem to get much better leaders. They may not all be Winston Churchill, but they at least seem to be members of the right species. The last election I even remotely cared about was Reagan vs. Carter. Say what you will about Reagan, but he was a fun president. At least until senility set in and he couldn't remember who he was or what he was doing in front of a microphone. I don't think he even started a war with anyone. That's a major accomplishment for a Republican president. Why can't we get a president who genuinely believes the slogan "Make Love Not War"? Or, hell. I'd settle for someone who genuinely believes in anything at all besides Jesus.