Sherry Chandler

From today’s NYTimes:

The House measure, the Sept. 11 Commission Bill, is intended to write into law recommendations by the group that investigated the 2001 terror attacks. They include initiatives intended to disrupt global black markets for nuclear weapons technology and to enhance cargo inspection.

“Today marks a giant leap forward toward a safer and more secure America,” said Representative Bennie Thompson, Democrat of Mississippi, the new chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security, as he unveiled the bill Friday.

But the proposed legislation, which could come to a vote as early as Tuesday, goes beyond what the Sept. 11 commission recommended, taking up measures previously favored by Democratic lawmakers but opposed by the Department of Homeland Security.

The bill requires that within three years, all cargo on passenger jets be inspected for explosives, as checked baggage is now. The House bill also requires that within five years all ship cargo containers headed to the United States be scanned overseas for components of a nuclear bomb.

Homeland Security Department officials say there is no proven technology for such comprehensive cargo screening, at least at a reasonable cost or without causing worldwide bottlenecks in trade. The screening for air cargo is estimated to cost $3.6 billion over the next decade, and ship inspections could cost even more. “Inspecting every container could cause ports to literally shut down,” said Russ Knocke, a Homeland Security spokesman.

I’m not versed enough in any of this to have strong opinions about the details. Disruption of commerce may be a legitimate concern.

But this article raises these questions in my mind:

1. How much is it that our little fiasco in Iraq has cost/is costing us?
2. Is that expensive war keeping us secure?
3. Why should I give serious consideration at this point to anything the Department of Homeland Security has to say?

Via Geof Huth I have discovered a visual poetry group at YouTube. As of this writing, it has 13 members and 50 videos, so you should be able to have some fun exploring.

I’ve embedded “Unvention,” one of my favorites below. It’s also fairly short — at about a minute and a quarter, it should be within the download capabilities even of a modem. To quote Geof, it “teaches us the beauty of swirling ourselves.”