View Full Version : This panic won't create air safety
Carchar
08-23-2006, 04:08 PM
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ate_air_safety/ (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/23/this_panic_wont_create_air_safety/)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Carchar @ Aug 23 2006, 04:08 PM) 35298</div>
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ate_air_safety/ (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/23/this_panic_wont_create_air_safety/)
[/b]
Carrie, thanks for posting that article. I think it sums up most of the nonsense we're seeing today quite well.
REDJIM
08-23-2006, 04:58 PM
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(Carchar @ Aug 23 2006, 04:08 PM) 35298</div>
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ate_air_safety/ (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/23/this_panic_wont_create_air_safety/)
[/b]
"The moment we bring intelligence rather than hysteria to the difficult task of airport security, the more protected we will be." - Alan Wolfe
How very true!
The energy and intelligence of the nation is out there waiting to be tapped. The question will always remain tho, "when will the "solons" inside the beltway choose to act responsibly?"
lyngengr
08-25-2006, 01:02 PM
There is another editorial from the Boston Globe that talks about El Al security. How come nobody at the TSA is reading this stuff?
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...could_teach_us/ (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/23/what_israeli_security_could_teach_us/)
<div class='quotetop'>QUOTE(lyngengr @ Aug 25 2006, 01:02 PM) 35561</div>
There is another editorial from the Boston Globe that talks about El Al security. How come nobody at the TSA is reading this stuff?
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...could_teach_us/ (http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2006/08/23/what_israeli_security_could_teach_us/)
[/b]
I., thanks for the post. Jeff Jacoby is pointing out what I have been saying for years about TSA and security at US Airports. I'd like to display a short quote from the article.
Originally posted by Boston Globe by Jeff Jacoby - August 23 2006
But because federal policy still bans ethnic or religious profiling, US passengers continue to be singled out for special scrutiny mostly on a random basis. Countless hours have been spent patting down elderly women in wheelchairs, toddlers with pacifiers, even former US vice presidents -- time that could have been used instead to concentrate on passengers with a greater likelihood of being terrorists.
No sensible person imagines that ethnic or religious profiling alone can stop every terrorist plot. But it is illogical and potentially suicidal not to take account of the fact that so far every suicide-terrorist plotting to take down an American plane has been a radical Muslim man. It is not racism or bigotry to argue that the prevention of Islamist terrorism necessitates a special focus on Muslim travelers, just as it is not racism or bigotry when police trying to prevent a Mafia killing pay closer attention to Italians.
Of course most Muslims are not violent jihadis, but all violent jihadis are Muslim. ``This nation," President Bush has said, ``is at war with Islamic fascists." How much longer will we tolerate an aviation security system that pretends, for reasons of political correctness, not to know that?
While we shouldn't abandon our inspection of baggage, we need to expand our inspection to the passengers themselves using intelligent scrutiny instead of random wastefulness!
In answer to your specific question I., I think TSA and homeland security are reading this stuff. I think they're well aware of what El Al does and other countries as well. I think the problem is that this administration continues to be unwilling to question itself, seems to be unwilling to ever admit they don't know everything, seems to be unwilling to admit they need to change because they view all of that as a sign of weakness, not a sign of growth. You see this every day in what the say and what they do.
ARTraveler
08-25-2006, 05:19 PM
There seems to be a real "NIMBY" (not in my backyard) attitude out there when it comes to our rights/freedoms vs our need for security.
For a very long time we've had the freedom to go and come as we please with very little documentation, and very little attention paid to the sorts of things we must (or think we must) take with us. I remember when the first security gates went up in the 70's. Now, we must realize to protect the very freedoms we cherish, we have to be more protective of those freedoms.
I know that sounds like a contradiction, but if I want to fly safely, I'm ready to be racially profiled, psychoanalized, x-rayed, MRI-ed, and FBI/CIA scan of my files, which I'm sure they will find overall boring - whatever they feel must be done.
On a 2nd note - the recent flap over wire taps on telephones. My question is how can you be in a flap over your phone being tapped, especially if you stop and take a look around - How many people do you see everyday out and about with a cell phone up to their ear and engaged in conversation? ANYBODY can listen to these conversations, most of the time whether they want to or not!
Okay, next up to the soapbox, please!