I guess it’s nice to know that airlines are paying attention to the “no-fly” list, but hassling old people and preschoolers does seem a bit ridiculous. Four-year-old Edward Allen had trouble boarding planes last month because he apparently shares his name with a suspected terrorist. But putting up with some hassling at the ticket counter is nothing to what some people are willing to put up with in the name of fighting terror. Judging from Opinion Line comments, some are even willing to give the president unchecked power to go through the underwear drawers of whomever he wants. I’m baffled as to why people suddenly think that politicians can be trusted. Looking at the track records of lawmakers on both sides of the aisle, I think it’d be a better bet to give the unchecked powers to airline ticket agents.
Posted by Melissa Cooley
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28 Comments
Would the same people who are willing to give up all their privacy give it up to another president?
How would you feel letting Hillary Clinton go through your underwear drawer?
Personally, it’s my underwear and I dont’ need anyone going through mine.
Next the unchecked powers will tell us that because of the Iraq war we can’t change horses in the middle of the stream. We need to keep bush and all elections for president are off.
King George.
I think it’s fairly obvious that the inspectors at the airport are not using common sense, so giving either them or ticket agents carte blanc would servr no useful purpose in my book.
But if your a paranoid, as it seems many people are, then you can never go too far, unless it directly affects the paranoid one, then watch the fur fly.
“But I’m a red state solid Bush backing Republican!”
“Sorry, maam, drop yer drawers.”
Agreed, giving government unchecked power is always a bad idea. In fact, it’s _anti-American_ behavior of the first order.
Giving the Bush administration this power seems to be the pinnacle of this folly, too. I mean, talk about the gang that couldn’t shoot straight. It’s like rewarding A while hoping for B (e.g., Iraq, WMD in Iraq, reconstruction/occupation in/of Iraq by the CPA, signing pork-laden, deficit budgets while trumpeting the vigor of the economy, failing to exercise veto power over Congress, the collapse of international support for the US, Katrina, and continuing right up to the currently unfolding debacle of the new Medicare Part D implementation, which you can read about on page 12A of today’s Eagle)
That’s the same Medicare entitlement legislation wherein Medicare is expressly forbidden to use its buying power – the size of the Medicare spending itself – to leverage lower drug prices paid by US taxpayers for the new drug benefit. That’s right, the enacting legislation makes such bargaining, such dramatic savings of US taxpayer dollars, illegal. Do you think Jack Abramoff or his friends had anything to do with that? ;)
In short, the Bush administration just doesn’t do government very well. Their good ideas are often so dominated by inept execution and implementation that defeat is snatched out of the jaws of victory regularly.
Unchecked power is always a bad idea but it’s a REALLY bad idea when the recipient is President Bush. The only thing consistently demonstrated by this administration is that it deserves a very short leash.
At the risk of slightly hijacking Melissa’s point, I really liked Ben Huie’s comment the other day, something along the lines of “if you think dying for your rights at the hands of an enemy is stupid, then it’s obvious you do not value the sacrifice made by hundreds of thousands of US soldiers in the past century.”
There have been no attacks on US soil like 9/11 since, but it’s obvious that both the US constitution and future US taxpayers are under current siege anyway. If they believe that they have to gut the constitution just to keep us safe, then I say bring on smarter idiots asap, please.
its funny that its conseveratives who want small goverment, support umlimted govement intrusion into their lives.
Scary! They won’t let a 4 year old boy on board, but will let a sixteen year old go to Iraq with a one-way ticket and alone.
An out of control government is a nightmare. In another vein, I would be willing to bet a year’s pay that the same people screaming about 1 kid on a no-fly list will be the same people screaming the loudest about government ineptitude the next time there is a terrorist attack.The ‘Monday morning quarterbacks’ will sit in judgment, blaming the government for not doing more.. while today they scream and yell about one case out of millions.
Nope..the government is not perfect. One kid was placed on a no-fly list. Does anyone, anywhere care that true suspected terrorists have been caught because of that list? Nope. Scream bloody murder about one kid and assume the entire system is broken.
Then, scream louder when another attack happens. Must be nice to sit in the cheap seats and criticise constantly without EVER offering anything positive.
You may be correct, Ray, but I think you assume that people would blame the government NO MATTER WHAT.
And that’s not my point. If the Bush admininstration were operating at a very high level (if they demnonstrated competency), then I doubt anyone would blame government for a terrorist attack. Competency is NOT the same thing as breaking the constitution to keep us safe, however. That’s the height of American incompetency, in my opinion.
The Bush administration gets the blame because they’re incompetent, not because Americans Bitch, Period or because government can’t be effective.
In other words, government is broken because the administration breaks it, not because it won’t work. Case in point: the new Medicare drug benefit. Great idea, horrible law, lousy execution. It does not follow that government can’t work; it follows that the GOP doesn’t work.
You can’t judge the efficacy of good government until you see good government. President Bush has consistently demonstrated that his administration – and by extension the GOP – can’t govern at the highest standards of American excellence.
“Children are to be seen and not heard.”
Ignore their howls of fear as they’re dragged away by the SS.
Bravo, Flike!
Sorry, Ray, but if you think the problem is just a few anecdotes, you haven’t been paying attention.
How can somebody be on a “no fly list” but not on a “can’t buy gun” list or a “can’t drive car” list?
It seems to me that the government either has evidence that somebody is involved in terrorism, in which case that somebody should be in jail, or they don’t.
The only people I ever hear about on a “no fly list” are political opponents of the Bush administration.
Off Topic–
Here’s Howard Dean debunking the GOP’s “it’s a bipartisan scandal” spin on CNN: this is PRICELESS.
http://www.canofun.com/blog/videos/2006/DeanAbramoffDemocrats.asx
As a computer geek, what I particularly disturbing is the sloppiness of the “no-fly” lists. It’s one thing to have incomplete information; data-matching is an acquired skill. But having only a name and nothing else is equivalent to having nothing at all. Absent another piece of data to triangulate, how to know for sure that you’ve got the right Kareem Abdul-Jamar–or that EVEN THE PERSON YOUR’RE LOOKING FOR has done anything wrong, for that matter?
Quite apart from abuses against political opponents (which we’ve seen repeatedly from this administration), shooting in the dark actually makes us LESS safe, and wastes precious time and resources.
Question, Rage.Garden variety computer geek, or do you work in the industry?
Ray, 2200 American soldiers have been killed in Iraq because “gov’t is not perfect.”
Saying that the Bush gov’t is “not perfect” is like saying BTK had “issues.”
XXX,I have worked both in and outside of the industry. University-trained, but a couple semesters shy of the vital piece of paper (they’d re-enroll me in a minute–though I suspect I may have lost credit for some courses by now–but I can’t fit it into my life at present).
Always enjoy talking to another Geek, Rage. I learned the hard way, but I have access to ALL the toys. I run equipment here at home you wouldn’t believe. Believe it or not, Walker taught me the basics years ago.
I’m not certain there is a connection… It’s really just an odd bit of coincidence. Did anyone read how David Rosenbaum (a NYT editor/reporter) was murdered in his upscale neighborhood while he was out for a walk this weekend?Yes, I know I’m paranoid, but you have to admit it is a little odd.
43 6F 6F 6C 21 20 54 68 61 6E 6B 73 2C 20 58 58 58 21
Hey, ain’t that the black helicopter code?!?!
YIKES!!! HELP!!!!
:0)
4E 6F 2E
I think the above is HEX. Not spells, but a base-16 number system that computers find easy to use.
My 13 yr old computer geek son tells me this any way. He and his asian friends are wanting to start a business of building super fast muscle computer which are desired items for internet games. Being a successful businessman will be his act of protest against his former-hippie father.
ASC II no questions, I’ll tell you no lies!
You lost me, Rage. I’m a tech freak. I build monster machines. My language skills don’t go beyond basic.(But I got the hottest system of anybody here, lol)
Gotcha, dude. I’m software, you’re hardware (I know the essentials of putting systems together–within reason–but it’s not my favorite thing to do).
If you’re interested, you can look at the above as a cryptogram. Here’s the key (Steven E. was right; it’s just Hex values):
http://www.asciitable.com/
So tell me about your monster system.
Multi processor, 9.6 billion cycles per second (Xeons), storage measured in terabytes….That’s before I turn everything on.When it all comes on….
The neighbors complain about brown-out, lol.
Rage,I can attest to XXX’s prowess as a monster builder. The man knows more about SCSI than the manufacturers. After I taught him windows was something other than having to be opened in the summer and closed in the winter, he rolled right passed me like a freight train. I ask him for advice now.
Kewl! I’ll keep that in mind.
Thanks Walker. coming from “the Master”, that carries some weight, lol. One of these days I’ll pay you back for all those trips out to the house to show me how to “reboot”.