Posted on 03/05/2002 10:48:25 AM PST by RoughDobermann
The whole thing is absurd. All they should have done was a massive round-up and deportation of un-naturalized middle-easterners, and arm the pilots. Life could then have returned to normal. But nooo, we must shakedown and harass Americans, old ladies, little girls, put goon squads in the airport with unlimited authority and virtually no common sense.
It appears to be a slick way to get the sheep used to being patted down-IDed-interrogated by feds.
I won't fly. Period.
It's the end of the Freedom to travel, at least without being treated like a criminal.
Look for state border check-points next. Then counties....
Lemmings.
Thanks for making me laugh for the first time today.
Doesn't anyone think that someone slipped those scissors through screening as a test? I'd be worried.
Please, please please, tell me this was a joke on your part...
Efficient. Yeah, right. He could've easily hid a ton of nonmetal weapons inside his coat.
Every seat will have a bowie knife behind it, with at least a twelve inch blade. All passengers will be briefed that they are expected to apprehend anybody attempting to hijack any airplane. The aircraft themselves will be souped up, revamped Stealth Bombers, and I'll get you to your destination at speeds greater than mach 1.5.
There will be no federal employees working in or around Lumberjack Airline aircraft or airports. The only restrictions on ticket sales will be that no government employees, outside of military personel, will be allowed to fly on Lumberjack Airlines.
And I bet I'd have the best airline safety record in history, from a hijacking perspective.
A society without scissors. This might have some future impact on the construction paper and white glue crowd.
As long as this insanity continues, I absolutely refuse to travel by air for any reason. If this is the best these morons can do, I don't care if the whole airline industry goes belly-up. It's like some sort of perverse test to see just how much BS the sheeple will take.
With this sort of crazed overreaction ever time a metal object of any sort is found, the fedgov is going the terrorist's work for them.
I know the security procedures can still be pretty stiff, but I'm looking forward to taking the train the next time I have to travel across country on personal business. Screw the airlines and the FAA. As far as I'm concerned, their socialistic response to 9/11 handed al Queada exactly what it was looking for.
Traveling by train can be very nice. Bar cars, plenty of room, nice scenery, sleeper cars, fresh air, decent food in a dining car....
The 24,500-mile Amtrak rail system is nearing bankruptcy, which might actually pave the way for improvement in the nation's rail passenger service. The main problems for the system are pork barrel politics and labor union featherbedding, which have never been successfully addressed in the 25 years since it was established in 1970. Among the problems facing the system:
The Washington to Boston corridor is the only Amtrak route which even approaches the breakeven point financially.
Amtrak cannot drop all other money-losing routes because Congress won't let it.
21,300 employees, belonging to 13 different unions, are entitled by law to six years' severance pay if they are laid off because of discontinuation of their route - as much as $5 billion.
In 1983, Amtrak carried 19 million passengers with 18,500 employees; 10 years later it carried 22 million riders using 24,000 workers.
Bankruptcy could be a way out for Amtrak, provided Congress repeals the six-year severance payout. Assets could be leased or sold to private freight or passenger service companies.
Hearings on Amtrak's liquidation are planned before the House Transportation Committee during the second week of September.
Source: James R. Norman, "The Featherbed Express," Forbes, August 28, 1995.
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