Security
It’s been eight years since 911 and more since Columbine. I hear that the security folks want to check around and make sure we ain’t forgot. I remember how we all rallied and set up procedures, locked the front door to the school house and buzzed everyone in. Recently I was in an urban area in another state where they had assessed the risk differently –their school house front doors were open ALL DAY! And this location was not far from one of our foreign borders, the liberal one to be exact.
Dick Cheney was on the news today testifying to the merits of water boarding, and what not, about how it kept us safe. Because you know every purported threat was deterred. And there is no compromise to terrorism.
Now Dick and Homeland may be correct, but three years ago was the last time I flew. I did not feel any safer then than I did in 1978 when I could smoke in the cabin and no one checked my backpack for the Coleman fuel I was transporting for my hiking stove.
I don’t fly any more. Mostly because I don’t have the patience to ride an hour in the traffic only to wait an hour for the plane –sitting on the runway, then only to wait another hour on the runway upon landing and an hour to get the luggage. All for a two hour flight to a location that I could have driven to in ten. Not to mention all the scenery I would see and the possible stay over night in a motel with a “cement pond”, damn!
The other reason I don’t fly is I can’t seem to get my cowboy boots off and on without missing the flight.
My point is not to take a side on the issue because I like being safe, but it is to recall a conversation many years before, one that occurred in 1977 and feuded by PBR and prediction. Yep, my engineering buddy, that would civil engineering buddy. They called me the construction paper engineering buddy since I was an elementary education major. He stated that Americans would gladly elect the first dictator if that dictator kept them safe.
The first test of this premise that I recall was the seat belt law. Mind you I have never driven a vehicle without wearing a seat belt. It always made since to me, especially when I was riding in Mr. Tenney’s open air jeep. I mean one fast turn and your were rolling out that baby.!
They said that not wearing a seat belt would cause our insurance claims to go up. So we passed this law cuz it made sense. My car insurance rate has not gone down, has yours? Instead the police have this click or ticket program that seems to be a good reason to pull people over and see what else is going on.
As stated before, I really don’t want to take a side on this, but it does sometimes to go too far. I mean it is out of control when you take a boot jack away from an 80 year old man trying to go through security at the airport.! For gawd sakes he knew he would have to take his cowboy boots off. He was just trying to do so with a little ease and comfort.
Dick Cheney was on the news today testifying to the merits of water boarding, and what not, about how it kept us safe. Because you know every purported threat was deterred. And there is no compromise to terrorism.
Now Dick and Homeland may be correct, but three years ago was the last time I flew. I did not feel any safer then than I did in 1978 when I could smoke in the cabin and no one checked my backpack for the Coleman fuel I was transporting for my hiking stove.
I don’t fly any more. Mostly because I don’t have the patience to ride an hour in the traffic only to wait an hour for the plane –sitting on the runway, then only to wait another hour on the runway upon landing and an hour to get the luggage. All for a two hour flight to a location that I could have driven to in ten. Not to mention all the scenery I would see and the possible stay over night in a motel with a “cement pond”, damn!
The other reason I don’t fly is I can’t seem to get my cowboy boots off and on without missing the flight.
My point is not to take a side on the issue because I like being safe, but it is to recall a conversation many years before, one that occurred in 1977 and feuded by PBR and prediction. Yep, my engineering buddy, that would civil engineering buddy. They called me the construction paper engineering buddy since I was an elementary education major. He stated that Americans would gladly elect the first dictator if that dictator kept them safe.
The first test of this premise that I recall was the seat belt law. Mind you I have never driven a vehicle without wearing a seat belt. It always made since to me, especially when I was riding in Mr. Tenney’s open air jeep. I mean one fast turn and your were rolling out that baby.!
They said that not wearing a seat belt would cause our insurance claims to go up. So we passed this law cuz it made sense. My car insurance rate has not gone down, has yours? Instead the police have this click or ticket program that seems to be a good reason to pull people over and see what else is going on.
As stated before, I really don’t want to take a side on this, but it does sometimes to go too far. I mean it is out of control when you take a boot jack away from an 80 year old man trying to go through security at the airport.! For gawd sakes he knew he would have to take his cowboy boots off. He was just trying to do so with a little ease and comfort.
posted by willi at 8:42 PM
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