Bob McCarty Writes

Humor, Politics, Culture & Capitalism @BobMcCarty

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Potted Plant Detects Planted Bombs and More

January 27th, 2011 · 1 Comment

Now that the Department of Homeland Security has announced that its color-coded terror alert system will end by late April, can I still get away with making a “green thumb” joke about a Colorado State University biologist who has shown that plants can serve as highly specific detectors for explosives?  Sure I can — and [...]

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Serious Flaws in Homeland Security IT System

June 9th, 2010 · 2 Comments

Earlier this week, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano announced what was touted as a “major aviation security milestone”.  Specifically, she claimed in a news release that 100 percent of passengers traveling within the United States and its territories are now being checked against terrorist watchlists through the Transportation Security Administration’s Secure Flight program—a major step [...]

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CIA Deaths, Terrorism Could Have Been Prevented

January 11th, 2010 · 8 Comments

James Chapman was as distraught as any patriotic American about seven CIA operatives in Afghanistan being killed in an explosion set off by a double-agent Dec. 31. The 67-year-old Marine Corps veteran made it clear that he hated to see our nation’s security compromised the way it was Christmas Day when a 23-year-old Nigerian man, [...]

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Will Medical Tourism Industry Realize Benefits From Passage of Government-Run Health Care Bill?

November 23rd, 2009 · 3 Comments

Recently, a friend shared a prediction that prompted me to wonder whether or not the medical tourism industry will experience a boom if government-run health care becomes a reality in the United States. In case you’re not familiar with the concept of medical tourism, it typically involves people from one country traveling to an exotic [...]

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Report: U.S. Failing to Address Urgent Biothreat

October 22nd, 2009 · No Comments

The United States is failing to address its most urgent threat—biological proliferation and terrorism—concluded a report issued today by the bipartisan Commission on the Prevention of Weapons of Mass Destruction Proliferation and Terrorism. In a news release yesterday, the commission also felt the Obama Administration has given appropriate high-level attention to the nuclear threat but [...]

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An Arresting Tale: From Podium to Pokey in 10 Days

October 20th, 2009 · 4 Comments

On Oct. 2, Catherine Bleish was one of a handful of speakers who revved up a crowd of 2,000 at the St. Charles (Mo.) Tea Party.  Ten days later, she found herself in jail in the South St. Louis city of Maplewood. “I was standing in line outside,” the 25-year-old told me Monday afternoon during [...]

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Chemical Industry Leaders Object to Anti-Terror Bill

September 28th, 2009 · No Comments

Twenty-seven of the nation’s leading chemical and petrochemical manufacturers, purchasers, distributors and related organizations signed on to a letter sent to Rep. Henry Waxman (D-Calif.) and Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas), chair and ranking member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, respectively.  In the letter sent this morning, they expressed four major concerns about H.R. [...]

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