Outside the Beltway

Those of us who think we’re overreacting to terrorism should remember that we’re in a tiny minority.

The Obama administration is banning hundreds of thousands of federal employees from calling up the WikiLeaks site on government computers because the leaked material is still formally regarded as classified.

The editors of the Washington Post want you to know that “Fair Game,” the new movie about the Valerie Plame affair, is “Hollywood myth making.” Propaganda and lies is more like it.

The commander-in-chief, secretary of defense, and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff all support removing the ban on gays in the military without further delay. A long-awaited Pentagon study showed no reason not to do so. But three of four Service chiefs disagree.

Michael Yon provides a digital copy of PFC Bradley Manning’s Charge Sheet, dated 29 May. It makes for interesting reading.

Despite the Defense Department releasing its study showing that the effects of allowing gays to serve openly would be minimal, Senator John McCain isn’t convinced.

The Pentagon could have taken down WikiLeaks but decided not to. Out of kindness, I suppose.

Is there really anyone who can credibly argue at this point that the policy regarding homosexuals openly serving in the armed services is anything other than basic discrimination?

The Pentagon has spoken. Repealing Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell would not cause any real harm to the military, they have said. Now, the ball is in the court of the United States Senate.

Sarah Palin has taken to her Facebook page to raise “Serious Questions about the Obama Administration’s Incompetence in the WikiLeaks Fiasco.” They’re more interesting than I’d expected.

A crippling, and technologically advanced, computer virus and attacks against Iranian nuclear scientists lead to only one conclusion; someone is doing everything they can short of military action to make sure Iran doesn’t develop nuclear weapons.

The choice is between a world in which officials can share information and carry out reasoned debates with one another and a world in which nothing can be written down.

The two English language newspapers who have been Julian Assange’s accomplices in disseminating stolen secrets defend themselves.

Another FBI sting operation results in the arrest of a “terrorist,” or did it create a crime where none existed before?

A new round of Wikileaks documents is out, and it opens the door on diplomatic correspondence previously hidden from the public.

McCain brings up “regime change” in re: the DKRP and China apparently isn’t doing enough.

Somali-born teenager plotted to carry out a car bomb attack at a crowded Christmas tree lighting ceremony in downtown Portland on Friday, but the bomb turned out to be a dud supplied by undercover agents as part of a sting.

Gate Rape: Sexual groping of one’s genitalia at airport security by agents after a traveler refuses full body x-ray search.

If some security “experts” get their way, the security procedures we encounter at airports could start showing up elsewhere. Will Americans stand for it?

Looking to avoid airport body scanners? You might not be able to do it on any form of public transit if Janet Napolitano gets her way.

Top administration and congressional officials can skip the indignities of airport screening, even when they fly commercial.

Gel shoe inserts are not permitted on airplanes, so save yourself the hassle and put your inserts in your checked baggage — that’s right, inserts are not even allowed in your carry-on. Shoes constructed with gel heels are allowed but like all other shoes, must be removed and screened.

Despite the recent media outrage over TSA search procedures, public attitudes on the subject remain largely supportive.

It’s not hypocritical or racist to support an aggressive pursuit of terrorists while getting outraged over abuses of Americans’ liberties.

Thomas Ricks laments that the combination of the all-volunteer military and lower top marginal rates mean that the wealthy have “checked out of America and moved into physical and mental gated communities.” To solve this problem, he proposed bringing back the draft.

President Obama’s response to the outrage that has accompanied new TSA screening procedures at America’s airports is incredibly non-responsive.

North Korea has unveiled to the world a new nuclear processing facility that puts back on the table the question of just what we should, or can, do about the fact that a rogue state possesses nuclear weapons and wants to build more.

A retired special education teacher was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers.

“It is not comfortable to come to work knowing full well that my hands will be feeling another man’s private parts, their butt, their inner thigh. Even worse is having to try and feel inside the flab rolls of obese passengers and we seem to get a lot of obese passengers!”

Conservative Republicans who are typically deferential to the military are ignoring the advice of the military leadership on the new START Treaty.

Ron Paul has introduced a law (the “American Traveler Dignity Act”) that would punish TSA agents for groping and x-raying Americans.