Thank God! Some genius from the FAA or DHS decided to keep air travelers from keeping blankets or jackets on their lap along with no laptops or electronic devices for – get this – the last hour of air travel! AND, they cannot go to the bathroom for the last hour of flight either. Don’t you feel safer? Listen, this kind of ingenuity only comes through government, because the private sector could never be that creative.

The Panty Bomb

This, of course is in RESPONSE to the latest terror attack from one Nigerian Muslim extremist named Umar Abdulmutallab. Mark Steyn has affectionately named him the panty-bomber due to his ingenious equipment of underwear explosives. Hiding an explosive powder in his crotch, Umar went into the bathroom and mixed his explosive concoction before returning to his seat and drawing a blanket over himself.

Hiding under his insidious blanket, he was able to start his explosive igniter and set his pants and the blanket on fire! Fortunately, the rest of the passengers clued into his smoking drawers and doused him quickly, subdued him and dragged him to the front of the aircraft where he was cuffed and held until landing.

God saved our nation from another tragedy by allowing the firing mechanism to fail. It could have been a horrific and tragic ending to an otherwise uneventful flight. Had Umar been able to follow through as planned, the plane could have had its fuel tanks compromised and gone up in flames.

My frustrations with this entire scenario comes from the ineptitude of our too-politically-correct government. Umar had no passport, but was allowed to fly. He was banned from the UK due to some suspicious connections he had developed while there. He also applied for his visa by claiming to have signed up for a college course that didn’t exist. His father had notified the US embassy that his son (Umar) may have become radicalized. His name appeared on a “watch list”, but not on the “no fly” list.

Can I just ask why the watch list and the no fly list aren’t the same thing for foreigners trying to gain entry to the US while we are at war? Or why the FBI can run sting operations in Phoenix to keep foreclosed home-owners from stripping their homes and selling the fixtures on Craig’s List, but can’t follow up on a father’s concern that his son may be a danger to the US?

And my FAVORITE response, the time-out for passengers during the last hour of flight. BRILLIANT. See, no terrorist would dare DREAM of exploding his bomb any earlier in the flight, so we are all safe right up until the last hour. Thank goodness that the FAA and DHS have narrowed their focus to that critical hour of danger, and that all the non-muslim extremist, not-on-terror-watchlist passengers will lose that hour of productivity.

God forbid we use common sense to PROFILE the kind of person who buys a ticket with CASH, has NO PASSPORT, whose father WARNED us about him, and is on a TERROR WATCH LIST. We can’t pull that kind of idiot out of line and strip-search him, but we CAN subject our wives and daughters to the screening machines that can see through our clothes, which is an inevitable next step. What will they do when the terrorists start having implants and prosthetics installed to smuggle their bombs?

The best we can do is respond, which is the law enforcement method fighting terror. It was the Bill Clinton lawyerly method that gave us 9-11. It’s this disconnect from common sense that profiles American conservatives, pro-lifers, and third-party supporters as ‘domestic terrorists’, and sends out the memo local police agencies to watch for these ‘extremists.’ However, while we are at war with Islamic extremists, we can’t ask any probing questions of any Muslims even when they have made threats against us. You know, like the Fort Hood shooter?

The brilliance of those who are charged to protect us means we have to spend as much time in the airport getting through security as we do flying on a plane. And while on the plane, we can’t be comfortable or productive, or relieve ourselves during the last hour, so there won’t be any attacks.

How about we STOP profiling people who hold jackets and blankets on their laps or who have to pee, and we START profiling muslims who are going to radical mosques, who are banned from our allies’ countries, who is listed on our own watch lists, and whose family has concerns about their motives. Can I get an ‘amen’?

I’m just sayin’………..