Detroit BomberGate: Mystery Revealed

For the last few days, I've been speculating among friends that the real cause of last week's near disaster--the one invovling the "alleged" Nigerian terrorist who tried to blow up an American jet near Detroit--was a quiet snipping of the TSA budget by the resident Communists in the Obama administration. Turns out I was close, but didn't quite nail it. It was one of the usual scumbags in Congress who may very well have opened the airline in question to a terrorist attack. Yep, looks like Senator Tom "Irish Cottage" Dodd may have swiped TSA R&D $$ to pay off some union supporters:

Now that our attention is focused on airline security measures thanks to the failed airline attack on Christmas Day, it's worth mentioning that one senator took money away from aviation security to line the pockets of a constituency that supported his presidential campaign in a big way.

Back in July, Senator Chris Dodd, D-Conn., proposed an amendment reducing aviation security appropriations by $4.5 million in favor of firefighter grants -- a notoriously inneffective program. In fact, the money was specifically "for screening operations and the amount for explosives detection systems." The amendment was also sponsored by Sen. Lieberman, D-Conn., and Sen. Carper, D-Del., but Dodd deserves to be singled out here because the firefighters union is a pet constituency of his. In 2007 he campaigned all through Iowa with the firefighters union. It was one of the few distinguishable features of Dodd's ill-fated presidential bid.

Figures. Dodd's numbers look bad for the 2010 fall elections, due largely to negative publicity surrounding his sweetheart real estate machinations with the now-defunct criminal operation once known as Countrywide, a mortgage house that once held this writer's primary home mortgage before the company's forced merger with Bank of America. (See "Irish Cottage" above.) Connecticut voters have, for decades, been reliable, knee-jerk supporters of all things lefty, regardless of the consequences. Although I hope they'll wise up and do the right thing next fall--i.e., get rid of their criminal Senator--I still lack confidence that they can muster the intellectual independence to do so.

Meanwhile, Senator Dodd and his ilk are at least partially to blame for last week's security debacle. And guess what? Bush DIDN'T do it. Hat tip to Hot Air for the link.