All you need is a magazine article...

W.Va. Mayor Uses Magazine to Prove ID January 28, 2008 CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) - Charleston Mayor Danny Jones had a problem as he tried to get through the security gate at a California airport: He had misplaced his driver's license, and the expired one in his wallet wouldn't do. (WTOP)

As funny as this article is, it points out two things that really need to be pointed out.

First, the regulations are fickle. If an expired driver's license is not acceptable proof if identification, why is an article in a magazine? The TSA and the Department of Homeland (In)security have been pounding into our heads the rules for the last six years. Any normal citizen would not be able to use a magazine article as proof if identity, why should the mayor?

Second, it comes back around to the concept of proof. If you are issued an ID that proves who you are and you loose it (a common occurrence for many), how do you proof who you are? And if you loose it on travel, you are destined to become a stranger in a strange land.

Yes, the rules are "there for our protection" but I am still awaiting instructions for what the rules are protecting me from.

Preparedness and the Real World Realities

Gen. Russel Honore wants backpacks with food, water, essential documents and medicine for your safety: Retiring general aims to create a culture of U.S. preparedness The Associated Press Tucson, Arizona | Published: 01.09.2008 FOREST PARK, Ga. The gruff, cigar-chomping general who led federal troops into New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina is convinced America hasn't learned its lesson from the storm. (AP (and others))

You know...

While his goals are honorable and desirable, he is facing an uphill battle. I hate to be defeatist about it, but the average American and the average American business is not going to "snap to" and do it just because he says so.

There are three things working against him: Time, Money and Desire.

Most Americans, while they might desire to be prepared, do not have the time or money to get there. Those that have the time, don't have the money or desire...you see where I am going with this. It is a rare combination of factors that put one in the "magical" place of having all three and then maintaining them.

Preparedness is a living, breathing animal. It takes more than just "packing" a go-kit to be ready. You have perishables, be they food or meds, expirables (checked your waistband lately? How about the elastics in your go kit? And those clothes you put in there a year ago...two years ago?) and other things to shuffle and if you are like me, steal, promising to replace them later and never doing it.

There are no incentives for people to be prepared and plenty of disincentives. The biggest is the media and their Chicken Little approach to events. How do you convince people to "always be ready" in areas where nothing happens (DC is a perfect example - we haven't even had a really good storm lately, much less a catastrophic "issue" to practice in). And then when there "might be" something, the media pounds it so hard that people tune out (bird flu anyone?).

When jurisdictions have trouble getting money for the basics of police and fire, where do we think they are going to get money for training their citizens. And even if they do get the money, one has only to look at the health of CERT in the area to know that you would be better off throwing the money into the wind as try and train the average resident.

I would like to hear more. I would be interested to know what sort of "pressure" he could bring to bear on the average American to get them to prepare. In the meantime, I have to go and put my multi-tool back in my go-kit and check the status of the pants and shirt that I keep in it.

Why do they get to choose?

Clinton, Romney on Offensive As Pivotal Contest Draws Near By Anne E. Kornblut and Shailagh Murray Washington Post Staff Writers Monday, January 7, 2008; Page A01 HAMPTON, N.H., Jan. 6 -- Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, slipping further behind her chief rival in the Democratic primary here, has taken direct control over her strategy and message as she scrambles to block the ascent of Sen. Barack Obama. (Washington Post)

Could someone please enlighten this poor, lost citizen, why a state with barely a million TOTAL people of voting age (US Census) is suddenly a pivotal state? Even when you add in Iowa, with a voting eligible population of 2 million (of which just slightly less than 10% participated in the vaunted caucuses), that is barely more than 0.1% of the total eligible US population.

So again, what gives? Yes, I understand the rational that if the "little guys" do not get their say so, they would be ignored in the entire process, but I am beginning to wonder if they do not have too much influence over the entire process.

The 2008 elections have been going on since the polls closed and the votes were counted on November 9, 2004. In all that time, the United States is going to select a Presidential candidate based on the opinions of LESS than the population of the Greater Washington Metro area? Neither state could be considered representative and while the primary in New Hampshire might actually be more scientific, statistically it is less important that April numbers are to Major League Baseball statistics. That is to say, nil. A blip on a VERY large chart, barely inside the margin of error, but the candidates are running as if it is the end of the world, and the media is not helping any.

New Hampshire and Iowa has a minimal impact on the Electoral College. Yet, by the time the votes are tallied and the Collage has ratified the results, both of these states will have had more influence than California, New York, Ohio and Florida combined. At some point, the citizens of the United States need to stand up and declare the system broken and begin to get it fixed, or we will continue to get the candidates we did not choose because by the time it got around to being "our turn" the choice had already been made for us.