"Homeland Security" in Iowa

In article , Rosspilot wrote:
We are terrorizing ourselves . . . check out Fox News--they have "Terror
Alert--HIGH" permanently on the lower left corner of the screen.

Sensationalist news 'sources' like Faux News are part of the problem.
Fox News is probably one of the worst I've seen.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Dennis O'Connor" wrote

The other reality is that as a nation we no longer have any
balls... We cower at the mere threat that someone may try to
hurt us... I am ashamed of my country....

Denny...a thought that we share!

Bob Moore

One reality is that in the hands of someone young, strong, and willing to
die, a Leatherman tool is a weapon when he is the only one so armed in an
enclosed cabin...

You have clearly never tried to open those damned sealed plastic packages!
;-)

I received a USB "Attaché" for Xmas. (It's a thingy you plug into your USB
port, and it acts like a hard-drive. Great for backing up your work, and
it's small enough to keep on a keychain!)

The stupid thing was sealed in a plastic container that defied ALL attempts
to open it -- until I actually fetched my TIN SNIPS. This is the kind of
stuff the Leatherman tool was sealed in!

*sigh* Sadly, I agree with the rest of your post. Our nation has become
wimps, all.
--
Jay Honeck
Iowa City, IA
Pathfinder N56993
www.AlexisParkInn.com
"Your Aviation Destination"

In article , Dennis O'Connor wrote:
One reality is that in the hands of someone young, strong, and willing to
die, a Leatherman tool is a weapon when he is the only one so armed in an
enclosed cabin...

It's so arbitrary though. Given the element of surprise, I'm sure my
leather belt could be used as a deadly weapon, especially as the belt
buckle is metal. Since it doesn't set off metal detectors, someone could
sharpen their belt buckle and make it into a rather nasty weapon when
swung on 40 inches or so of leather.

The point is that the terrorists are winning.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

In article , Dylan Smith
wrote:

It's so arbitrary though. Given the element of surprise, I'm sure my
leather belt could be used as a deadly weapon, especially as the belt
buckle is metal. Since it doesn't set off metal detectors, someone could
sharpen their belt buckle and make it into a rather nasty weapon when
swung on 40 inches or so of leather.

Weapons you can legally carry onto any airline flight:

- belts... (as mentioned above) can be used as garrots; with a
sufficiently heavy buckle may be used as a mace-like; the buckle may be
used as a puncture weapon; the belt itself may be wrapped around the
fingers to protect them when punching; may be used for binding

- shoelaces... may be used as a garrot, to trip and for binding

- heavy boots... can be worn on the hands and used like boxing gloves

- pens/pencils... can be used to inflict puncture wounds in the head,
neck, torso and extremities

- jacket/coat/shirt... can be used as garrots and to bind; can be use
as shield when wrapped around the hand and forearm

- elastic from bras and underwear... may be used as slingshot to propel
objects

Weapons found on the aircraft provided by the aircarrier:

- seat belts... can be removed with two fingers and used in a mace-like
manner

- serving pitchers... effective for clubbing

- soft drink cans (full)... projectiles

These are just a few of the items that come to mind. They are both
offensive and defensive. As a passenger, you have the right to defend
yourself by any means necessary.

In article , EDR wrote:
These are just a few of the items that come to mind. They are both
offensive and defensive. As a passenger, you have the right to defend
yourself by any means necessary.

IIRC, someone did use their belt against the Shoe Bomber.

--
Dylan Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Flying: http://www.dylansmith.net
Frontier Elite Universe: http://www.alioth.net
"Maintain thine airspeed, lest the ground come up and smite thee"

"Dylan Smith" wrote in message
...
In article , Dennis O'Connor wrote:
One reality is that in the hands of someone young, strong, and willing
to
die, a Leatherman tool is a weapon when he is the only one so armed in
an
enclosed cabin...

It's so arbitrary though. Given the element of surprise, I'm sure my
leather belt could be used as a deadly weapon, especially as the belt
buckle is metal. Since it doesn't set off metal detectors, someone could
sharpen their belt buckle and make it into a rather nasty weapon when
swung on 40 inches or so of leather.

The point is that the terrorists are winning.

The terrorists have won. They need do nothing more than send emails and make
telephone calls to feed the security services and let them cause chaos,
wastage of money and resources.

Politicians love terrorists. Bush and his cronies along with the governments
elsewhere in the world need terrorists to justify increasing their power and
taking steps which we would not accept otherwise.

Eg Imprisonment of people without evidence or trial. The rationalisation of
suspicion as evidence. Going to war.
There are so many contradictions in applying the policy.
If a flight poses such a risk than an armed guard is required then it should
either have the passengers assessed as being at risk taken off or be
cancelled. Cannot do that as big business (the airlines ) would lose money.
It would be almost better to cancel the flights and give the Security costs
money to the airlines.
There seems to be a contrick going on with the debate on sky marshals.

If I was a terrorist on a plane my weapon of choice would be a perfume spray
filled with an appropriate toxic substance. You could secretly disable a
couple of people to flush out any security measures and get on with your
task.

Governments have to be seen to be justifying their grab on power. Do they
think we are too stupid to realise this?

On the whole if you listen to the average talk radio show then the answer
must be yes. After all we voted them into office. Notice that there is
never a "non of these" on the ballot paper.

Yep, the terrorists have won. Its not about body count its about the change
in quality of life.

Dave

"Dave" writes:

If I was a terrorist on a plane my weapon of choice would be [...]

For quite awhile I've been musing about the possibility of a contest
like this. I recall seeing salvage airliners for sale and it made
me think that it would be interesting to have contestants pass
through a realistic security screening, then board an airliner body
to compete against animatronic passengers/security using only items
they smuggle and find on-board.

(It's the only way I imagine I'd get on an airliner.)

And, no, I'm not silly enough to think that "security measures" have
anything to do with "security" other than "job security." It's just
a fun exercise to consider.

--kyler

Jay Honeck wrote:
[...story about relative being searched by security personal]
Today my sister called, to drop the other shoe. Turns out my OTHER
sister (his aunt) had given my poor nephew a wrapped Xmas present, to
give to his Dad. Inside this present was a "Leatherman Multi-tool"
-- obviously something that could be used as a weapon! My poor
nephew had NO idea what was in this wrapped gift,

Then I guess your nephew lied when he was asked if he had packed the
suitcase himself and if anyone has given him anything to carry on the
airplane...

All in all I would call it a valuable lesson in why it is important to
answer questions truthfully.

jue

"Jürgen Exner" wrote in message
...
| Jay Honeck wrote:
| [...story about relative being searched by security personal]
| Today my sister called, to drop the other shoe. Turns out my OTHER
| sister (his aunt) had given my poor nephew a wrapped Xmas present, to
| give to his Dad. Inside this present was a "Leatherman Multi-tool"
| -- obviously something that could be used as a weapon! My poor
| nephew had NO idea what was in this wrapped gift,
|
| Then I guess your nephew lied when he was asked if he had packed the
| suitcase himself and if anyone has given him anything to carry on the
| airplane...
|
| All in all I would call it a valuable lesson in why it is important to
| answer questions truthfully.

And I would call it a valuable lesson in why it is nobody's damned business.