Airport Security
Recently I flew out of Chicago with my wife and kids. As we went through security, the usual stupid rules applied, and I went first so I could wait for the youngsters. As my 10 year old daughter made her way through the metal detector a special light went off, and a code popped up. She was shifted aside into a plexiglass box while the security officer looked in his manual to see what it was she was being flagged for. I was getting upset and asked him what was happening, and he told me to relax, she was just picked randomly. They then took her flip-flops that had just been x-rayed and tested them for chemical weapons or radiation or whatever they look for with those round, oxyclear pads, while she stood in the plastic box, wide eyed and wondering.
The reason given for me to relax, was that she was chosen randomly. My reason for getting upset was that she was chosen randomly. Right before my kid was "boxed," a lady who looked to be about 70 and was on her way to visit grandkids was boxed and they did something to her. I mean, they didn't grope her like we heard about a few months ago, but she was given the test for whatever random code came up. The point is, this business of choosing people randomly is a waste of time and resources. 70 year old grandmothers on their way to Florida don't fit any terrorist profile I've ever seen, unless you consider leaving your shopping cart blocking the middle of the grocery store aisle when it contains only a few greeting cards a terrorist act. Look grams, your either with us or against us, right? And what can a 10 year old really do to terrorize anyone with a pair of $8 flip flops?
I'm not saying airport security isn't important, it is. However, we need to make a decision in this country about common sense. We need to decide what we are most afraid of: someone doing harm by taking down a plane, or offending someone by not being politically correct.
Do you really think that profiling is the answer? After all just because all that have hurt us, is from a middle-eastern background. Travels a lot overseas pays for their ticket in cash. Surely that is not enough to profile. It could be a 70 year old granny or a 7 year old kid. Can't be to sure. RIGHT.
Now I'm not defending all the methods used by security but there are some things people seem to forget. For one, when it comes to children, yes I understand the outrage, and is there going to be a militant child, no. But parents, yes. Unfortunately parents and guardians use children in the commission of a crime all the time, one of the biggest reasons is for not be suspicious.
And when it comes to profiling, just how do we profile when the most likely terrorist offender is going to look like the average American? Yes American because one of our biggest threats is not international terrorism but domestic terrorism, particularly violent right wing extremist groups and militias and white supremacist groups.
http://articles.cnn.com/2011-07-25/us/domestic.extremism_1_southern-pove...
http://m.democracynow.org/stories/6022
http://mdjonline.com/view/full_story/12738402/article--Lone-wolf--terror...
Our security systems in airports have little to do with security and everything to do with training the population to submit. The ultimate goal in all of this is to restrict the populations ability to move about freely, thus allowing for complete control.
Like all current plans it is the Boogie Man to fear. First it was ol’Ben and his band of jolly brothers, once it began to run out of gas it was replaced with “lone wolf” terror, because terror is so easy to manufacture and so illusive to define, the cloudy dark areas of the mind in which to grow control
To help us along we now have your friends and neighbors as junior Gmen, reporting suspicious activities like someone telling all about the security procedures at an Airport, involving their child and some irrelevant Granny, using specially designed phone apps to help capture all reporting information more easily.
http://12160.info/profiles/blogs/fbi-s-15-000-strong-army-of-agent-provo...
To help assure our “safety” these neighborly folks infiltrate all levels of our society, including churches, to report those who may question or talk to much against the state. Especially those who spout things like Liberty, freedom, The Constitution, etc.
http://whatreallyhappened.com/RANCHO/POLITICS/COINTELPRO/cointelpro-meth...
From the high intensity radiation scanners that dramatically increases you’re risk of cancer and is now causing high instances of cancer among staff operating them, to the “random” (activated by those watching via closed circuit video) all are profitable areas of enterprise as they train the population to “get in line”. Instances repeated thousands of times per day to untold millions.
These are all illusionary things, filtered information that can never be reported through regular media as it is owned by those in control. Information only available through this medium and it’s great power, that is now under attack as well, since it provides open empowerment on subjects such as 911
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbff_Ol-izY
Meanwhile our police become more and more brutal in their attempts to control. Arresting those who may try and video record their public activities and killing at will and getting away with it.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/08/million-dollars-not-enough-for-bruta...
Case after case, a pattern of unbelievable carnage.
http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/21/america-is-a-police-state-th...
Ongoing near riots over their brutality that is never seen on the evening news.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/08/23/bart-police-clamp-down-on-second-w...
So as we rapidly become a police state, spending all our public coffers to fund the death and destruction of others, China rises.
http://www.bushstole04.com/monetarysystem/america_rotting.htm
To assure that we keep everyone on edge and the boogieman alive we poke the sleeping giant just to make sure.
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/stealth-warships-to-test-chin...
So from children getting arrested selling lemonade.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=04MNf1YdNxI#!
To the new aerial civilian cattle prods.
http://singularityhub.com/2011/08/21/tased-from-above-new-robot-copter-t...
All is intended to make you sleep better at night.
Happy travels.
"Beware the leader who bangs the drums of war in order to whip the citizenry into a patriotic fervor, for patriotism is indeed a double-edged sword. It both emboldens the blood, just as it narrows the mind. And when the drums of war have reached a fever pitch and the blood boils with hate and the mind has closed, the leader will have no need in seizing the rights of the citizenry. Rather, the citizenry, infused with fear and blinded by patriotism, will offer up all of their rights unto their leader and gladly so. How do I know? For this is what I have done. And I am Caesar."
Most of the links you provided are great examples of government overreach. But none of them have anything to do with the topic at hand of airport security.
Airport security is not "training us to submit," it is about airplanes being secure. This is my frustration with you folks in a nutshell. You bring up very good points about government corruption, overreach, etc. but then take it too far by making absurd blanket statements such as those in the first two sentences of your post. Or, as in this case, you bring them up when they are not on-topic and then stretch them so that they fit the already established narrative of the conversation. A little self-editing is all it takes for you to be taken more seriously and to avoid much of the "crackpot" accusations and such that you are so prone to complaining about.
"I'm not saying airport security isn't important, it is. However, we need to make a decision in this country about common sense. We need to decide what we are most afraid of: someone doing harm by taking down a plane, or offending someone by not being politically correct."
Actually, airport security and the situation you described are not about political correctness, exactly. It's about not getting sued, and is a result not of political correctness but of our overly litigious society. If airports only pulled aside people who "looked Muslim," they would have a lawsuit on their hands in two seconds flat. In short, don't blame the airports or get testy with the low-paid lackey in charge of scanning you, because it really isn't their fault.
So, really, their two options other than what they currently do would be to pull everyone aside or to not pull anyone aside at all. Yeah, airport security sucks, but as far as invasion of your privacy is concerned, your worries are misplaced. Your privacy is much more egregiously violated every day when your movements, spending history, personal habits, etc. are monitored and analyzed by the government and by big business.
I'm also tired of hearing people complain about the "nude scans." Personally I find the outrageous costs of flying to be much more offensive than being asked to go through a scan to make sure I don't have weapons or explosives on my person. And if people complaining actually got rid of those scans and we just start letting people onto planes with the lax security policies that were in place before 9/11, they would then start blaming the airports for getting rid of the scans as soon as a terrorist attack on a plane occurred that could have been prevented by the scan. But hey, there always has to be something to complain about, right?
From an “OFFICIAL” news source (ABC Evening news just minutes ago).
The Germans have been testing one of those Microwave airport scanners that people here in America stand in to have their DNA shredded. Microwave frequencies that greatly increases the chances of Cancers, especially in children.
And what did one of the most technically advanced nations in the world find?
“That the machines are ineffective and are little more than Theatre.”
So you have a choice when traveling, either have your body microwaved, or you and your children molested by a nice stranger. Unless they cull you out of the herd to do both.
Alabaster
How does a Muslim look? Last I knew there was over a billion of them on the planet, from nearly every race and creed. And - are you saying that you find it acceptable that some governmental sub contractor employee is ogling naked children all day long? To say nothing of those who do a very personal pat down of them.
Cberg
”parents and guardians use children in the commission of a crime all the time”. Really? In all of my research on crime and socio-political constructs I’ve never seen this. Could you provide us with some possible links because this is most intriguing.
"The illusion of freedom (in America) will continue as long as it's profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." -- Frank Zappa
Interesting, but did the ABC report include the part about those scans "shredding DNA," or was that little tidbit thrown in by you?
I don't think you understood the point of my comments about people who look Muslim. Read them again.
And yes, I do find that acceptable, although obviously I do not view it in the same context that you do.
Your research obviously missed the News Gazette (and most other newspapers) a couple days ago. Afghan president Hamid Karzai released eight children from prison. These children, reported to be as young as seven, were trained as suicide bombers, and were captured while being prepared for their suicide missions. I have also read where the Irish Republican Army used children as couriers to carry bombs onto London busses.
I fly all the time. Otherwise, I wouldn't care a lick about this post. My blood boils when someone in line ahead of me bungles through security as though they've never been on an airplane before in their lives. However, getting patted down or having my bag examined doesn't bother me, nor does it seem to bother anyone else. If someone on the other end of a body scanner sees my bare ... likeness ... on a screen in Alexandria Virginia, or wherever it is, well I guess he or she is entitled to a good laugh once in a while. I'll take caution over Political Correctness. I'll take common sense over PC. In fact, I'll take a tooth extraction over PC anytime.
I was in SeaTac (that's Seattle Tacoma Int'l Airport for non-travelers) the morning when the limits on liquids and gels was imposed. That delayed passengers for hours. There was discussion about how late we were going to be. There was little or no complaining about this new policy. Know this: travelers are fine with security measures!
I assume you're referring to TSA personnel ogling naked children all day, as opposed to governmental subcontractors. There is a difference. Whatever. Have you ever witnessed airport security personnel ogling naked children all day? The next time you do, would you please call the police immediately. In fact, one may wonder why you've been watching naked children getting ogled "all day" without taking action yourself. Or, if you really haven't, lose the melodrama. It's very unbecoming.
And, if you and I are ever in an airport at the same time, please move briskly through security and don't get wrapped up in some long winded philosophical discourse about restricting freedom of movement or making citizens submissive. Or, ogling naked children.
The story of training young jihadists for suicide missions was first reported by NPR many months back and since then has been re-constituted in other publications. What is interesting about this story is that although we have been told this is taking place, there has yet to ever be a known occurrence of their carrying out such a mission.
What peeks my curiosity about all of this, is just how sloppy the whole process was. A group of young boys were coerced from their family’s, allegedly trained for suicide missions and basically sent off to perform a mission that virtually none of them wanted to do. In none of this is there a thumbprint of the usual Al-Qaeda MO and seems terribly fishy to me. Either a very stupid local-yokel or just another boogieman creation.
Focused ionized radiation on any living creature can produce DNA mutations. Much less the intense Compton-Scattering radiation generated by machines that have never been tested or reviewed by any research group for the possible long term health effects.
http://www.naturalnews.com/030607_naked_body_scanners_radiation.html
Health effects that may already be showing up among those who work around the machines every day.
http://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&cd=9&ved=0CFcQFjAI&url=http%3A...
Yes the Irish Republican Army used teenagers to steal cars that were used in bombings and there are child soldiers in some African countries. By and large though, there are few instances of children being used to commit crimes, especially in America.
Tom, you know what was implied and just because I’ve hit some sensitive points for you, there is no need to lower yourself to such depths. From the contractors who install, train and maintain the system and the TSA personnel who run them, everyone going through the irradiation is fully viewed, regardless of their age. Which I find highly problematic.
You may have no problem with everyone seeing your nakedness, nor do I, but my family is another matter. The thought of having to make a decision between having one of my grandchildren being irradiated and physically damaged or choosing to submit them for a very personal inspection and thus mental damage is more than I want to contemplate.
Yes we have threats against us and although we need vigilance and processes to help assure our safety, perhaps we should look to other countries and their obvious successful methods. Already Germany has rejected the radiation devices, even though our country has been pushing that they begin using them.
As for Constitutional conversations in Airports, it’s as much allowed as live outside news feeds on the monitors. And since security personnel are trained to listen for individuals talking about Constitutional Rights, who are to be considered a person of interest, one must shut up, get in line and do as they’re told like all the other sheeple.
"The past 10 years were mostly wasted by consistently holding to the idea that we can solve the problem by technological screening only,"
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/09/02/9.11.airline.passenger.screening/
Always wondered about the radiation I got when walking past a machine with a conveyor belt slowing running items passed a radiation source that was constantly on. Bet there is a highly disproportionate rate of cancer among TSA operators.
Meanwhile countries that pay for all their citizens health at half the cost that American spends to cover only a portion of the population, has decided to pull the plug on these radiation devices.
http://www.activistpost.com/2011/11/tsa-claims-x-ray-scanners-are-safe-as.html
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