Please, people, GET A GRIP!

[pnwmom]

They, the fearmongers of the Bush administration, have truly succeeded in making us SO paranoid.

They've got us worried about circuit-board-bombers, sneaker-bombers, toothpaste bombers, play-dough bombers, any-liquid-more-than-3-ounce bombers, pretty soon they're going to tell us we can't fly if we carry anything or wear any clothes at all.

Or maybe they won't, because now they have those special x-ray machines that can look under our clothes.

Welcome to the Brave New World.

[DemGa]

1. I'd rather see those extra precautions at airports

That's a lot of lives on an airplane.

[tabasco]

5. Me too.

I don't want security to be nonchalant about people with batteries, wires, and unknown homemade "somethings" hanging off their bodies.

[pnwmom]

10. I don't mind the precautions, but I don't think

people like the MIT student should be facing prison terms for misjudging the extent of our social paranoia these days.

[DemGa]

20. I agree...nt

[ourbluenation]

26. neither do I. n/t

[nadinbrzezinski]

30. Actually she would be facing a long prison termq

WELL BEFORE 9.11

Sorry... but there are some things you just don't do at an airport

but what she did was stupid, whether the year was 2000, or 2007 or 1990

[terisan]

31. She wore a pin that she made herself.It had a battery that lighted up her name.

It was not stupid. I don't see how it would be illegal.

Facing a long prison term for what?

There is a battery and circuit board in my laptop. Is that illegal?

[NuttyFluffers]

36. *gasp* awareness about modern electronics! you must be special! :D

you'd think people would've figured out that with the multitudes of iPods, laptops, cellphones, gameboys, and even current mass produced t-shirts with LED lights that security would be more sensible, not freak out, and deal with reasonable caution at the checkpoints. spastic freak outs don't do anyone a lick of good. but we're being repeatedly conditioned to accept this bullshit as if it's AOK.

hey, newsflash people, it was fucking box cutters used in 9/11. grow up already and get your heads outta your ass already, you're being used. fucking duh!

damn, people in DU can be such spazzes just like our meth tweakin' 24 news cable media. lead from one trumped up false crisis to the next, like a fuckin' bull with a ring in its nose...

[terisan]

37. What is scaring me is supposed anti-Bush people acting like fearful authoritaranism apologists.

If they think this arrest was a good thing, they should stay home and hide under their beds and leave airline travel to those of us who can tell the difference between a pin that lights up and an act of terrorism.

[NuttyFluffers]

39. i thought the "more than 3 oz of liquid" would have been more than enough

but apparently crazy is contagious and beyond all penetration. i think having a sense of humor helps; laughing at the world helps you see where the real dangers lie.

"3 oz of hand cream is not dangerous, but 4 oz is like having plastique on board!"
"but what if a few people brought 3 oz of danger per person and combined it on the plane?"
"oh, that's ok. but, wait, oh shit! all moisture off the plane, all moisture off the plane!"
"the media just said that water is corrosive and can rust a wing right off! (given time and no maintenance, your mileage may vary, offer not valid in some states, only in participating airports...)"
"oh shit, we're doomed! we all better pee before we board the plane! pee dammit, pee for freedom! you don't want us all to die do you!? think of the children!"

[Jed Dilligan]

40. And they still let us carry ballpoint pens.

You can take a life with a ballpoint pen just as easily as you can with a boxcutter.

I revel in the paranoia, actually. It's the death knell of the old world, in which he with the most expensive and complicated weapons always wins.

From January 22, 1879 until September 11, 2001, people without guns did not score a major victory over people with guns. But will history always be on our side?

[ourbluenation]

25. me three n/t

[PDJane]

2. The terrorists I fear most

are residing in the white house, the pentagon, and various think tanks.

[HCE SuiGeneris]

4. Me too. n/t

[uppityperson]

3. But we'd have to wear non-underwired bras you realize.

Can't have boobs out in the open so don't fear. Bras will be mandatory (womandatory?)

[pnwmom]

9. Well that's true. I've already bought special non-underwired ones for the airport.

And wear them ever since a bra made the metal detectors go off, so I got the full wanding. The most ridiculous part was that I already had bare feet, since I had slipped off my sandals. So the woman scanned my bare feet, then had me lift UP my feet so she could scan my BARE SOLE.

If I were hiding a weapon inside my bare foot, it wouldn't be very accessible, would it?

INSANITY.

[uppityperson]

17. oh too funny. What a joke it has become

[ourbluenation]

27. my underwire never made a security thing go off. weird. n/t

[pnwmom]

28. I understand that some of the machines are set at more sensitive levels

than others.

My husband's gold crowns have set off some detectors. Then he has to go through a full check, even though they can tell as soon as they start the wanding that his mouth is causing the problem.

[AlCzervik]

6. all that security and i still get through with a lighter in my pants pocket.

ain't it grand. to think i used to throw my lighter away at the airport, not anymore.

[Catchawave]

15. They lifted the ban on lighters Aug 6 :)

Just don't buy the bic lighters shaped like a switchblade handle, oy vey, that was interesting for them to see on the x-ray machine !

[AlCzervik]

18. i've gotten through with lighters for the past 3 years, the trick is putting it in

your pants pocket, i used to chuck mine or forget and leave it in my purse until another passenger told me to pocket and it so i figured why not and she was right.

[Warren DeMontague]

7. I said it before: I'd rather have the entire TSA see me nude than have to stand in a stupid line

fudging with my belt, cell phone, shoes, change in my pocket, etc.

Really, I don't care. Flying is already miserable, it's already invasive.

Fly me nude, I don't give a shit. Just don't stick me on the tarmac for 10 hours in a seat 5 times smaller than my body, with no water and nothing to look at but the Skymall and "Happy Feet".

[pnwmom]

12. Flying is torture these days, isn't it? And it should be a crime

when they kidnap people and force them to sit on the tarmac for hours.

[Snarkoleptic]

8. Don't forget the Wisconsin cheese bombers.

Turned out to be a cell phone charger packed next to some cheese and a frozen gel-pack.
The story never got retracted/edited.
I agree that the real terrorists are the neocons who've hijacked our democracy.

[pnwmom]

11. My daughter was told not to bring photographs in her carry-on baggage,

because the x-ray machine couldn't read them.

Alaska has a habit of losing her checked-in baggage, so she had brought the photographs on board with her.

[Cleita]

13. Well, it seems that we are tipping off the terrorists as to when

the best time to bomb airports is. From Greg Palast's "Armed Madhouse" about our color coded alert system.

Hmm. I asked an Israel security expert why his nation doesn't use these pretty color codes.

He asked me if when I woke up, I checked out the day's terror color.

"I can't say I ever have. I mean, who would?"

He smiled. "The terrorists."

America is the only nation on the planet that kindly informs bombers, hijackers and berserkers the days on which they won't be monitored. You've got to get up pretty early in the morning to get a jump on George Bush's team.

On a personal note, when I flew up to Seattle last month, I was warned that security in San Francisco was so terrible to get through that no flights ever left on time, sometimes even hours late. Well the airlines must have gotten a lot of passenger complaints because the day I went through, it was like the running of the bulls at Pamplona except the bulls were passengers. We couldn't get our shoes off fast enough and our stuff through the scanners. Some passengers were hopping on one foot trying to get the other shoe off while trying to keep up with their stuff on the belt. That was it. I don't think they were even looking at the scanners. My flight left on time and I noticed on the board they were all on time. So much for security.

[AuntPatsy]

14. The only thing I fear at the present time is the rat, huge huge rat that I just caught

and watched get away out of a glue trap with my son in law attempting to knock it senseless with a broom, I have heard that huge monster for a week now not quite sure what in the world it was, but now that I know its here, far too close for comfort while my husband sleeps and I don't dare waken my only fear is that I have to wait until tomorrow to get the exterminators out not tonight but hopefully tomorrow sometime....


I don't understand how things like that can get into my home? Silly as it may seem you just think rats only invade dirty areas which I would have assumed my area is not...you just never know..

And first thing monday am I am going to the animal shelter and getting at least two felines, big ones if I can find them...my husband hates cats and would never let me have one, I would hope he changes his mind when I tell him what we caught and what easily got away while he sleeps like a baby and my daughter who is visiting with her family and I are scared to even close our eyes...

Funny how certain things become paramount in ones worries while so many other horrors are happening each moment that passes with the ticking of the clocks....for me right now its the sight and knowledge of what was definitely a rat...sheesh. Almost makes me feel stupid and guilty to worry about something like that when so many other people such as OMC and countless others worldwide are going through so so much more horrific events that I cannot even fathom

[pnwmom]

16. I'm with you there, AuntPatsy.

I wouldn't be sleeping well with a rat in my house either.

(It's hard enough with the rats in the White House.)

[Cleita]

19. Good luck with the cat.

I have had my cat snoozing while a mouse ran right by it. Mice and rats can compress themselves to being almost flat so that they can slide under doors and through cracks. When the exterminator takes care of your guest, go through your house and seal every crack you can find and make sure your doors window screens and other openings are flush to the floor and walls. Check everything for openings that no matter how small they are can provide an entrance. Being clean isn't enough. They eat other things than just food you might leave out.

[AuntPatsy]

23. Thank you for the advice, I will definitely keep it in mind, my luck I would

end up with a similar cat....

I have a four bedroom two story house, its going to take me forever to ensure that all entries into my home are sealed shut from outside predators...

[Cleita]

24. You don't really want to watch a cat kill it's prey anyway. It's

not pretty. The job isn't as daunting as it might seem. DH and I bought a restaurant and the Health Department made us seal up everything as well to keep out rodents. You just do what you can one day at a time and enlist the whole family to help you.

[Colorado Progressive]

22. Get females. IMO they are so much less likely to pee and ruin your stuff.

I had no idea a rat could get out of a glue trap! Lately we have caught two mice in those while the 17 pound cat slept in front of the fire or in the sun.

[Mz Pip]

21. Paranoid?

Maybe.

But BushCo has enraged a whole lot of people. Many of them would like nothing better than to take a few of us out. Granted, having to take off our shoes and put our lip gloss in plastic bags is a bit over the top. But that doesn't mean that we are safer than we were before 9/11.

Just because you're paranoid, it doesn't mean that there aren't people out there who would like to get you.

Mz Pip
:dem:

[pnwmom]

29. Paranoia is fine, except when

we start threatening innocent people with jail because it would make us feel safer.

The MIT student is facing 5 years in prison because people were afraid of a circuit board and a 9 volt battery. I'm glad that the security people were cautious, but the prosecutor has no business bringing charges. He's a grandstander.

[terisan]

32. Right you are. From the land of the free/home of the brave to brave new world.

Cowardly Americans go hide somewhere and let us bring in immigrants who know the value of of a Bill of Rights.

[Quixote1818]

33. Keep in mind, 'Meet the Parents' and the Bomb, Bomb, Bomb scene came out before 9/11

The fear of bombs in airports has been around for decades, it's just a little more intense now.

You don't where things that look like bombs in Airports period. You shouldn't do it now and you shouldn't have done it before 9/11. You don't scream bomb in an airport now or never either.

The only difference between now and before 9/11 is that you might get blown away today, so all the more reason not to where such a stupid shirt in places like airports.

[NuttyFluffers]

34. americans say "no fear but fear itself," wear 'No Fear' gear, but really just scared.

kinda like the RW coward next door who's all bluster, no spine (or sense). welcome to america the afraid....

oh, but i can assure you the excuses for fear are endless; they always were before in every age, there's no reason they shouldn't be again. the funny part is the image of bravery, self-reliance, gung-ho cowboy that we americans try to pass off onto the world. *snort* you'd think we'd have noticed the laughter at us by now.
:rofl:

[Mythsaje]

35. Give the girl a slap on the wrist

allow natural chagrin to admonish her, and let her go.

A five year prison sentence for something that was probably in no way deliberate (not from what I understand) is unnecessarily vicious.

It was a goddam geek gimmick and in no way intended to threaten anyone.

The prosecutor's a prick.

[Sugar Smack]

38. Close your eyes and think of Snoopy.