TSA Going Soft?

[A.Nonymous]

Well, yes and no. They're certainly good at the cat and mouse game with security. Not so bright on the bigger picture stuff.

For example, Bin Laden had a personal fortune estimated to have been around $300 million in the mid-90s.

The total spend in the 96 US election was around $400 million.

With a little financial jiggery pokery - or by taking US citizenship, which he'd have easily gotten given the contacts his family had in all administrations - Bin Laden could have bought the president. With money to spare. The US system obliges it's politicians to be bought and paid for, so buy 'em!

Instead of blowing people up, he should have followed the supremely successful example of the Israeli / Jewish lobby and spent his $300 mil on ads and chicken dinners and he'd have had the US president eating out of his hand. Again, look at the Israeli example: the US is Israel's b*tch.

And it goes further: the Jewish lobby spends a few million dollars a year supporting politicians in the US. Israel gets $3 - or is it $4 - billion dollars a year in aide. If Bin Laden had spent his cash on lobbyists instead of Kalashnikovs, the places he purported to want to help would have gotten it back 10 fold.

Now tell me terrorists aren't dumb as bricks

1. You can't become a naturalized citizen and then run for President.

2. What's with the anti-semitic crap?

 

[SiempreTuna]

1. You can't become a naturalized citizen and then run for President.

I was suggesting he contribute to political campaigns, not run himself.

2. What's with the anti-semitic crap?

WHAT?!!

Are you freakin' kidding?

There was ABSOLULTELY NO ANTI-SEMITIC ANYTHING.

How dare you!

 

[A.Nonymous]

Um, Jewish lobby criticism all through the post?

 

[SiempreTuna]

What criticism?!

I said they do the job they proudly proclaim to do extremely well - I set them up as the gold standard of how to lobby.

In what conceivable way can that be construed as criticism?! IT'S A FREAKING COMPLIMENT!

I think Jon Stewart is awesome and Lady Gaga's a pop genius (though I wouldn't recognise any of her songs) - does that make me anti-semitic? (I think Lady Gaga's Jewish - may be wrong. Feel free to substitute with someone who is)

Use of the words "Jewish" or "Israeli" IS NOT ANTI-SEMITIC.

Really - enough making sh*t up!

 

[A.Nonymous]

Apologies. Tone and context sometimes doesn't come across on the Internet and especially when the reader is at the point of exhaustion and working on a day off.

 

[SiempreTuna]

That is true.

Apology gratefully accepted.

Apologies if I over reacted.

 

[A.Nonymous]

Ugh. I need to get off the Internet and deal with my personal crap instead of hiding from it. It's exhausting and not very effective.

 

[SiempreTuna]

Yeah, funny how some stuff just will not go away, no matter how hard you ignore it ..

 

[A.Nonymous]

My life is like a country song right now. It sucks. And when the common denominator in all your problems is you you can't run away from it.

 

[Speed Daemon]

I think Jon Stewart is awesome and Lady Gaga's a pop genius (though I wouldn't recognise any of her songs) - does that make me anti-semitic? (I think Lady Gaga's Jewish - may be wrong. Feel free to substitute with someone who is)

Stefani Germanotta a.k.a. Lady Gaga is an Italian-American. In the entertainment business, Italian and Jewish are interchangeable (Italians play the role of Jewish characters and Jews play Italians on TV all the time), so...

 

[SiempreTuna]

My life is like a country song right now. It sucks. And when the common denominator in all your problems is you you can't run away from it.

Bummer. Sorry to hear that.

Stefani Germanotta a.k.a. Lady Gaga is an Italian-American. In the entertainment business, Italian and Jewish are interchangeable (Italians play the role of Jewish characters and Jews play Italians on TV all the time), so...

Ah! I stand corrected. Again.

Could have sworn I'd seen an interview where she said she was Jewish. Of course, it could have been any pop star under 40 and I just thought it was Lady Gaga coz she's one of the few I've heard of .. I kinda lose track, at my advanced age

 

[Caleb L]

Iv'e thought it was stupid the tsa allowed cds onboard planes as you can just break them & they become sharp objects.....

 

[SiempreTuna]

OMG - a plane hijacked with a Barry Manilow CD ..


Hmm .. what's worse? The hijack's obviously grim .. but then, on the upside, the Barry Manilow CD is destroyed ..

Close call ..

 

[A.Nonymous]

Inmates have proven over and over again that you can get sharp objects made out of plastic and kill people with them and it's not that hard to do.

 

[SiempreTuna]

I defy anyone to cut anything with plastic airplane cutlery

 

[Bob Maxey]

I defy anyone to cut anything with plastic airplane cutlery

You would be amazed at what can be done with a cheap plastic knife. Just sayin'. I am glad they do not know what can be done with a lovely classic fountain pen. Or are pens also banned these days?

 

[Bob Maxey]

OMG - a plane hijacked with a Barry Manilow CD ..


Hmm .. what's worse? The hijack's obviously grim .. but then, on the upside, the Barry Manilow CD is destroyed ..

Close call ..

HEY NOW! No Barry bashing. He is a grand talent. He has an amazing voice and he actually knows a little something about tempo, scales, and music. We must preserve the talent because it is getting harder to find these days.

Leave Barry Alone!

 

[JohnLaird]

I defy anyone to cut anything with plastic airplane cutlery

Hmm...not cut but stab. file the handle of a plastic spoon into a point...and you've got a single-use stiletto. Good enough to stick someone in the neck with, if you can get behind them.

 

[MoodyBlues]

I'm glad to see that flight attendants and 9/11 families agree with me.

 

[Speed Daemon]

Hmm...not cut but stab. file the handle of a plastic spoon into a point...and you've got a single-use stiletto. Good enough to stick someone in the neck with, if you can get behind them.

I'd think that the other passengers would get more than a little suspicious if someone was sharpening their plastic cutlery aboard a plane.

Let's take to its logical end. Let's suppose that the TSA banned everything, and herded naked passengers onto the airplane, didn't feed them or give them anything that might be used as a weapon. At least in theory someone under the influence of religious zeal might find a way to break his own arm, and use the splintered bone from a compound fracture as a weapon to attack others. It's possible.

What does the TSA do then? Ban all vertebrates from flying? Insist that all passengers must be trussed up so they can't move a muscle? Put them under general anesthesia?

How far is too far?

 

[Bob Maxey]

I'm glad to see that flight attendants and 9/11 families agree with me.

Well, at least they are using the families of the dead to push their anti-knife agenda; not much different from the likely BS the TSA uses to restrict tiny knives in the first place.

I am not so sure a suffering family member or a flight attendant knows what is best for me and you.

Three compounds - one in the left pocket and one in the right pocket and the third in my shirt pocket when mixed, is all I need to bring chaos to a knife and shoe free plane filled with people. I can cause damage with a fountain pen or a cotton sweater soaked in something interesting.

We need to rewrite the rules, get rid of the TSA and hire someone smart to find a smart balance.

BTW, the TSA is here in SLC, Utah looking over TRAX. I half-expect we won't be wearing shoes when we take the train. God forbid there is a tragedy, then we might not be allowed knives or pens or shoes or underwear on the train.

 

[ItnStln511]

I just found out that soon, the TSA will allow us to carry a knife aboard aircraft. Perhaps it is TSA going soft or perhaps they are tired of the backlash and ticked off passengers.

TSA to allow pocketknives, some sports equipment - CNN.com

I don't see pocket knives being a big issue.

No way, really?

 

[ItnStln511]

Your sound like you want to put a handcuffs on every passanger just to make sure the flight is safe. "and don't forget, handcuffs are for your own safety"

Isn't there some DOT rule against that?

 

[Bob Maxey]

Um, Jewish lobby criticism all through the post?

I do not know what the Jewish Lobby is and I suspect most people that talk of it are guessing, misinformed or the Jewish Lobby does not exist in a form many would think to be nefarious in nature.

Actually, every major religion has some lobbyist working for them, including the Catholics which likely spend far more than 300 million, here and worldwide. This is not necessarily bad, either.

Chances are, this so-called Jewish Lobby is a minor player because lobbying is huge business. You can find lists of who spent what lobbying.

If I wanted to build a plant here in Utah, I would hire a lobbyist if I met with problems. Nothing wrong with a lobby--Jewish or otherwise.

 

[MoodyBlues]

Thank goodness the decision was made today that the stupid, moronic, imbecilic plan to allow knives back on planes will NOT happen.