Security craziness; healthcare bill merging

We now find out that the father of the man who tried to blow up the plane in Detroit, a prominent Nigerian banker, had previously warned authorities that his son seemed to have become a dangerous radical. We should all be demanding to know why, with this advance warning, the passenger was allowed to board without being at least very carefully searched. I think some heads should roll (figuratively that is). See yesterday's blog.

And here's some more craziness (quoted from the Times):

“The system has worked really very, very smoothly over the course of the past several days,” Janet Napolitano, the Homeland Security secretary said, in an interview on “This Week” on ABC. Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, used nearly the same language on “Face the Nation” on CBS, , saying that “in many ways, this system has worked.”

To which I reply with the classical double positive: "Yeah, right."

Also, today's N.Y. Times editorial has a pretty reasonable account and recommendations on the coming merger of the House and Senate healthcare bills; the link is HERE.