Whither, mother wit?

[[email protected]]

Hear ye all! A female starts feeling claustrophobic at the end of a
long trans-Atlantic flight, starts to behave irritably and the next
thing we hear the 777 landing at Boston accompanied by fighter
aircraft. She apparently had with her a bottle of vaseline, matches and
a screwdriver, which can create a highly explosive device. Ok I made up
the final bit but don't be surprised if the line is parrotted by
authorities.

Commonsense has suddenly become very unattractive for law enforcement
agencies as flying has for common passengers, with terror threats
matched only by even more extreme knee-jerk reactions from authorities.

My wife and sons are due to fly out in just over a week from India on a
3-hour flight and I'm sure they won't even let her carry along a bottle
of milk or water for my 3-year old. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Ramapriya

[Peter Duniho]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> [...]
> Commonsense has suddenly become very unattractive for law enforcement
> agencies as flying has for common passengers, with terror threats
> matched only by even more extreme knee-jerk reactions from authorities.

What "suddenly"?

Common sense has been absent for a very long time, and that absence became
MUCH more apparent in the year 2001.

Especially here in the US, we have a government that is selling us terror,
as a way of ensuring their job security. Part of their marketing is to
imply that a) we are all in grave danger if not for their efforts, b) that
they are incapable of doing their jobs without treating *everyone* as a
terrorist, and c) that they are capable of keeping destructive items off of
airplanes (a most absurd premise if ever there was one).

Ironically, the recent "foiled plot" in the UK is a good example of why
airport security is overblown, and a good example of how terrorism
investigations should be carried out (at least with respect to where the
efforts should be focused...it remains to be seen whether the suspects were
ever any actual danger to us, but regardless at least the authorities were
focusing their efforts where they could actually accomplish something).

Pete

[GeorgeC]

I hear on the news last night, that they have relaxed the rules in the USA. You
can now carry on baby formula and up to 4 ounces of liquid medicine.

On 16 Aug 2006 08:27:14 -0700, wrote:


>My wife and sons are due to fly out in just over a week from India on a
>3-hour flight and I'm sure they won't even let her carry along a bottle
>of milk or water for my 3-year old. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr
>
>Ramapriya

GeorgeC

[Dan Luke]

> wrote:

> Hear ye all! A female starts feeling claustrophobic at the end of a
> long trans-Atlantic flight, starts to behave irritably and the next
> thing we hear the 777 landing at Boston accompanied by fighter
> aircraft.

Osama bin Laden must be laughing his ass off. With very little effort, he
and his fellow scum keep the entire Western world on the edge of hysteria.

What a bunch of sheep we are.

--
Dan
C-172RG at BFM

[Peter R.]

Dan Luke > wrote:

> With very little effort, he
> and his fellow scum keep the entire Western world on the edge of hysteria.

I am not sure I agree with your "very little effort" classification, but
the rest of your point was right on.

--
Peter

[Peter Duniho]

"Peter R." > wrote in message
...
> Dan Luke > wrote:
>
>> With very little effort, he
>> and his fellow scum keep the entire Western world on the edge of
>> hysteria.
>
> I am not sure I agree with your "very little effort" classification, but
> the rest of your point was right on.

I think that relative to the effort put in, the outcome was HUGE. Sure, it
did take some effort and planning to do what they did, but not only did they
knock down two of the tallest buildings around, they have cause most of the
free world to sacrifice their own freedoms, and spend ENORMOUS amounts of
money on ineffective security measures.

Maybe that's what Dan meant...not so much that the 9/11 attacks were trivial
to carry out, but simply that for the amount of work it did take, the
terrorists have furthered their own goals far beyond their wildest dreams,
mostly at the hands of our own government (which I am sure they find
especially hilarious, as you and Dan say).

Pete

[john smith]

> Maybe that's what Dan meant...not so much that the 9/11 attacks were trivial
> to carry out, but simply that for the amount of work it did take, the
> terrorists have furthered their own goals far beyond their wildest dreams,
> mostly at the hands of our own government (which I am sure they find
> especially hilarious, as you and Dan say).

.... and shown other malcontents how to copy them.

[Emily[_1_]]

wrote:
<snip>
>
> My wife and sons are due to fly out in just over a week from India on a
> 3-hour flight and I'm sure they won't even let her carry along a bottle
> of milk or water for my 3-year old. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Oh, babies are allowed drinks. It's us adults who are treated unfairly
and denied water, even on a five hour flight.

I hope people start dying of DVT and they realize how ridiculous these
rules are.

[Dave Stadt]

"Peter Duniho" > wrote in message
...
> "Peter R." > wrote in message
> ...
>> Dan Luke > wrote:
>>
>>> With very little effort, he
>>> and his fellow scum keep the entire Western world on the edge of
>>> hysteria.
>>
>> I am not sure I agree with your "very little effort" classification, but
>> the rest of your point was right on.
>
> I think that relative to the effort put in, the outcome was HUGE. Sure,
> it did take some effort and planning to do what they did, but not only did
> they knock down two of the tallest buildings around, they have cause most
> of the free world to sacrifice their own freedoms, and spend ENORMOUS
> amounts of money on ineffective security measures.
>
> Maybe that's what Dan meant...not so much that the 9/11 attacks were
> trivial to carry out, but simply that for the amount of work it did take,
> the terrorists have furthered their own goals far beyond their wildest
> dreams, mostly at the hands of our own government (which I am sure they
> find especially hilarious, as you and Dan say).
>
> Pete

The terrorist are using the same tactics we used to put the Soviet Union out
of business. Keep creating situations where more and more of the enemies
resources are used to slay windmills. Eventually they will spend themselves
into oblivion.

[Bob Noel]

In article >,
"Dave Stadt" > wrote:

> The terrorist are using the same tactics we used to put the Soviet Union out
> of business. Keep creating situations where more and more of the enemies
> resources are used to slay windmills. Eventually they will spend themselves
> into oblivion.

or a clue-bird will land...

--
Bob Noel
Looking for a sig the
lawyers will hate

[Crash Lander[_1_]]

> wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hear ye all! A female starts feeling claustrophobic at the end of a
> long trans-Atlantic flight, starts to behave irritably and the next
> thing we hear the 777 landing at Boston accompanied by fighter
> aircraft. She apparently had with her a bottle of vaseline, matches and
> a screwdriver, which can create a highly explosive device. Ok I made up
> the final bit but don't be surprised if the line is parrotted by
> authorities.
>
> Commonsense has suddenly become very unattractive for law enforcement
> agencies as flying has for common passengers, with terror threats
> matched only by even more extreme knee-jerk reactions from authorities.
>
> My wife and sons are due to fly out in just over a week from India on a
> 3-hour flight and I'm sure they won't even let her carry along a bottle
> of milk or water for my 3-year old. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr
>
> Ramapriya
>

I have heard here in Australia, that baby formula and milk is allowed,
provided the carer or parent drinks a portion in from of the security
personnel.
Not sure how true it is though.
Crash Lander

[Jose[_1_]]

> and spend ENORMOUS amounts of
> money on ineffective security measures.

That is ultimately how we beat Russia. It's our own trick and we don't
know it from the business end.

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[Jon Woellhaf]

"Crash Lander" wrote
> I have heard here in Australia, that baby formula and milk is allowed,
> provided the carer or parent drinks a portion in [front] of the security
> personnel. Not sure how true it is though.

This very effectively prevents terrorist A from carrying on board deadly
poisonous (but slow acting) and highly explosive component A and terrorist B
from doing the same with similar component B. After all, who would drink a
deadly poison?

[Jose[_1_]]

>>I have heard here in Australia, that baby formula and milk is allowed,
>> provided the carer or parent drinks a portion in [front] of the security
>> personnel. Not sure how true it is though.
>
> This very effectively prevents terrorist A from carrying on board deadly
> poisonous (but slow acting) and highly explosive component A and terrorist B
> from doing the same with similar component B. After all, who would drink a
> deadly poison?

I presume this is in jest, though I suspect not all readers here would
figure it out. Even if the poison were fast acting, it is quite easy to
design a bottle that dispenses one thing while showing another.

For years I carried a luggable computer. I didn't have a laptop, but
they were not uncommon. They wanted me to turn it on. It took five
minutes to boot up; once they saw the C prompt they were happy. I could
have carried a bomb =and= a laptop inside the luggable, it would have
booted fine from the laptop, and the bomb would have been quite effective.

I suppose nowadays I'd have to program the laptop to go off in the cargo
hold. I'd need some long-lasting batteries - now who makes them for
laptops?

Jose
--
The monkey turns the crank and thinks he's making the music.
for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

[[email protected]]

Jon Woellhaf wrote:
> "Crash Lander" wrote
> > I have heard here in Australia, that baby formula and milk is allowed,
> > provided the carer or parent drinks a portion in [front] of the security
> > personnel. Not sure how true it is though.
>
> This very effectively prevents terrorist A from carrying on board deadly poisonous (but slow
> acting) and highly explosive component A and terrorist B from doing the same with similar
> component B. After all, who would drink a deadly poison?

Good one :))

Ramapriya

[[email protected]]

Jose wrote:
>
> For years I carried a luggable computer. I didn't have a laptop, but
> they were not uncommon. They wanted me to turn it on. It took five
> minutes to boot up; once they saw the C prompt they were happy. I could
> have carried a bomb =and= a laptop inside the luggable, it would have
> booted fine from the laptop, and the bomb would have been quite effective.


You needn't have tried anything at all if only you had a proper Dell
laptop with a Sony battery :p

Ramapriya

[Grumman-581[_1_]]

On 16 Aug 2006 08:27:14 -0700, wrote:
> My wife and sons are due to fly out in just over a week from India on a
> 3-hour flight and I'm sure they won't even let her carry along a bottle
> of milk or water for my 3-year old. Grrrrrrrrrrrrr

Well, you could ship them via a boat and shipping container... Use one
of the refrigerated ones and keep it at around 75F for comfort... Fix
it up real nice so it's basically a 40 ft RV... With all the TSA
delays at the airports these days, 'ell, it *might* be faster...

[Peter Duniho]

"Jose" > wrote in message
...
>> and spend ENORMOUS amounts of money on ineffective security measures.
>
> That is ultimately how we beat Russia. It's our own trick and we don't
> know it from the business end.

We will, soon enough.

[Rolf Blom G (AS/EAB)]

On 2006-08-16 21:22, GeorgeC wrote:
> I hear on the news last night, that they have relaxed the rules in the USA. You
> can now carry on baby formula and up to 4 ounces of liquid medicine.
>

Now, how much is 4 ounces in D-cups again?