I do take care of myself Norm. If doctors depended on me for a living, they would go broke.

DaveH
Congratulations you (and I) have been blessed with good health so far. I hope for your sake your health remains good.

Joe H,

Well, at least you don’t have to worry about stumping your toe when you walk through the house at night!!!

Well said JC

j c…I can just imagine that you indeed have nothing to hide..

Sour Peach…I hate to tell you this,but Obama IS your president,if you live in my country. And,you sort of people have to show your true colors again and wish for the killing of Obama…disgusting,unpatriotic,and I hope the FBI is watching you! You are the very definition of a traitor for making that comment!

McVeigh was a perverted,evil,child killing,idiot who thought he was starting the next Am revolution to ‘free’ America from the evil gov’t,much like some people on this site think. What purpose would it have served the gov’t to blow up their own building?? Would a ‘gov’t agent’ have gone to his death willingly w/o blowing the whistle on his bosses?? It’s another absurd ‘theory’ among many others.

JC,

Your assertion might hold true if every person with a gun wanted to shoot someone. Unfortunately, every Muslim extremist with a bomb on his back would love nothing more than than to take you & me (the infidels) with them on their way to meet Allah.

What percentage of Muslims is that?
Unless you’re saying that every single Muslim is a threat…
My assertion holds true either way. The logic is the same Tinwarble.

PS, Who knows? Maybe they are.

JC,
Every Muslim coming from the middle east is a POTENTIAL threat!!! Do you want to take the chance when you fly?

JC,

I don’t know what percentage it is, but you could count them the next time that they show them on TV chanting “death to America, death to Israel”.

Pauline,

From what I can find out the “Body Scanner” doesn’t use radiation, but uses radio waves and works more like a MRI than a X-Ray machine. Here’s some information on one type that they have used in the airports:

http://www.dsxray.com/pdf/PV100_FAQJUN08.pdf

Oh, but I’m still not for it, because it’s not the best technology out there! I just thought that you might like more info on the matter.

Tinwarble,
I think there is a better chance he is basking in the glow of his own ignorance!!!

Joe H,

Yes, “obtuse reason” = “ignorance”.

John with all respect. We should all be taking a serious look at what our foreign policy is really doing out there, as opposed to what they “say” they are doing. It really is two different things.

As a combat vet m myself I saw first hand the results of ignorance on the part of foreign policy makers. They rarely have a clue about other cultures and how to deal with them. Accurate, real information is frequently ignored in favor of political expediency and many needlessly die on both sides.

Use Viet Nam as an example. We “bought” that war from the French who wanted their old colony back at our expense because we ignored the realities of Vietnamese culture and the aspirations of their people.

Now we can go there as tourists and buy things made there… we could have done this first and saved the lives of many of my friends whose names are inscribed on The Wall in Washington.

It’s not an issue of Republican of Democrat, liberal or conservative. Many people want to jump into war thinking they are being patriotic while all they are doing is appeasing the egos of stubborn politians in safe places.

Bush’s cowboy policies are a prime example of cultural arrogance at work. Let’s hope as a species we can move beyond and recognized that we all have to share our very unique planet.

Over reacting to terrorists lets them win. One jerk can force our entire society into fearful inconvenience. Just stop issuing viasa to people from terrorist countries.

Excellent Statement Arkham.

Hogwash.

Perhaps you shou;ld consult your doctor about the new surgical procedure, the plexiotomy.

This entails the surgical implantation in the abdomen of a plexiglass window so people whose heads are crammed in a dark cavity can see.

Arkham,
After being there for eighteen months I think I can say with ALL CERTAINTY that I don’t care to return to RVN unless it is to look for remains of our soldiers! Bring them ALL home or send us back!!!

Well put, and with some experience behind it too. And yes, if the goal of the terrorists is to destroy America, the terrorists are winning. They must just stand back and laugh everytime they see another piece of the Constitution go down in flames…because of some guy with flammable underwear. Their cost…1000.00? Our cost?
Something that can never be replaced, let alone the dollars involved.

Yeah, now we can all just be tourists in Viet Nam and buy stuff. Never mind the thousands upon thousands who died in the (predicted) blood bath when we pulled out, because the same rats who are now in charge of our government persuaded the Congress to sink its knife in the backs of our troops who were actually winning. I guess when John Kerry said 30 years later to our troops, “I’ve got your back …” he must’ve left out the rest of the sentence “… in my gunsights.” Thank God for Bush, for not letting him or them do that to us again a generation later in Iraq. Mr. Grundy, we could have stayed there and completed the victory that your friends on that wall gave their last to achieve, and at least they wouldn’t have died in vain.

Fred,

I think the number was about 3 million after we pulled out, that’s not counting the unknown number after that time or counting the one’s being starved to death now because the regime there wants to build a nuke.♠♠♠

Fred,
Amen brother and welcome home!!!

amen

amen to Arkham Grundy that is.

Arkham,

Thank you for your service, but as a Vet myself and having some experience in the matter of terrorism, I will have to respectfully disagree. This, unlike other wars we have been in, isn’t a matter of a war of nations, this is a war of ideals. Theirs being that they wish destroy or convert all who don’t share theirs.

The Muslim extremist don’t care what our foreign policies are, even though they have used it as an excuse to attack us, it is not their main concern. They believe that we are the infidels and all infidels have to be destroyed, because the Koran tells them to “slay & enslave the infidel”. There is no reasoning or understanding them, because you can do neither with someone who thinks that by there action of killing you (the infidel) they will win their place in heaven. You can no more reason with them than you could a hungry lion.

Ditto!

Mega Dittos!!!

Yes, we should profile, but weren’t the shoe bomber and underwear bombers Americans? How would you indentify them?

No, the ‘shoe bomber’ was a British citizen, and the ‘undie bomber’ was Nigerian.

Right, which is why you profile not merely (nor even mostly) by appearance, but by behavior. In another comment here by “Carl,” he points to the Israelis, and their much better record. So study what they do and adopt what can be adopted for US air travel. I believe an important part of that is the recognition of suspicious behavior, along with the ability to probe further into whoever is thought to be exhibiting it.

Lets face it, not all Muslims are bombers, but 98% of the terrorist bombers ARE Muslims!!!!!!

Just how much personal freedom and privacy are you willing to give up for a very small increase in security.

We have gone from a nation of rugged pioneers to a nation of cowering people in just a little over 230 years.

As usual, Dave H is right again. We need more Americans like him.

DaveH
Get real. What you say makes sense in the world of of the 1700′s. In case you missed it, we’ve had a few minor changes since Jefferson and Franklin died.

‘more Americans like DaveH’??? Please,no!! We would be inundated 24 hrs a day w/ the selling of the libertarian party to us. Take it back!!

i.t.,

First, I just want to say that I am no fan of the “Body Scanners”, I think that there are better technologies out there that could do a better job in a less evasive way.
With that said, I believe your argument about giving up freedom is an erroneous one. For someone to violate your freedom, you would first have no choice other than the one offered. The security measures in a Airport do not violate any of your freedoms, because you have the choice not to fly and therefore not participate in going through those security measures. And before someone says “But some people have to fly!!”, no, some people choose to fly, they also have the choice to drive, take a bus or go by train and even if they must, to take a boat. Flying is not a right, it is a convenience, the true violation of your freedom will be when they tell you that you have to fly & you have no other choice in the matter.
Also, for those that would say that they are being Unconstitutional by violating the 4th Amendment. I would remind you, that an unlawful search & seizure is when it is done without a warrant or your permission. When you buy your ticket to fly you are aware of the security measures that you will have go through to get on the plane. And because you are aware of those measures, & that certain items aren’t allowed, you have entered into a de-fact-o agreement that you will allow them to search you and seize anything not allowed. It is no different than if the police knocked on your door & asked to search your house and you agree to let them. That is not a 4th Amendment violation because you gave them your permission. And you can choose not to let them search you, you want be able to fly, but you are not made to go through the security. Now, if you are sitting in the Duty Free Shop and they come up and start frisking you without any cause, then that is against the 4th Amendment.
Now, if you want to make the argument that they are doing too many things to make people feel uncomfortable without making the security a whole lot better, then I can agree with you. But until they tell you that once you walk into an Airport that you can’t walk back out, know that you are still free.

Oh, and Dave, unless you can point to a time during the “Pioneering Days” when people had to worry about “Dirty Bombs”, chemical attacks or perhaps and Indian riding into town on his horse with TNT strapped to him and killing 3000 people, I wouldn’t use that to call people cowards.

Also, if it sounds as though I am siding with “Big Government”, I’m not. But I am fairly sensitive about people getting blown up, mostly because someone tried to blow me up. And even though I would like to know how you were to feel about security after you experienced what I have, I wouldn’t wish it for anyone & hope that no one ever does.

Terrorism here is real,though a very minor risk for us here. Other parts of the world have been much more affected for decades. You are more likely to die in an auto wreck,random shooting,heart attack or victim of domestic violence…we are letting irrational fear push us into near panic and wrongly affect our daily lives. NO security is ever going to be perfect,and we should be congratulating the citizens on the plane who stopped the undie bomber…that part of ‘the system’ worked.

i agree

Does knowing how to spell “elite” make you one of the elites?

Excuse me for the misspelling, I guess the cat’s out of the bag, I am lacking at spelling. At least I’m not brainwashed.

Carl, good points. I hope your advice is getting really heard by whichever governments are consulting you. On your points:
Pt#1 — The Israelis undoubtedly do a superb job of this; they have to, their existence as a nation depends on it. I wish more of our folks would realize that we just might be in that boat, too. But I’m not at all sure that the Israeli model, with one airline (El Al), and a relatively small no. of flights and airports, could work in the US without slamming air travel here down to a trickle. Your key point, I think, is the constant vigilance by alert observers–this is essential! Just the awareness of odd behavior, along with the ability to follow up on concern about it, could do wonders.
Pt#2. I too once worked in radiation physics, and I’m sure you know that merely traveling on a commercial flight adds to your radiation dose, probably more than a full-body scan will do; that we all get a certain amount of natural background radiation; and that this bkgd varies greatly from place to place (Denver has a much higher bkgd than New York; parts of India have 10x the ave. bkgd of the US, with no greater cancer incidence). Still, your point about unnecessary exposure is valid–there needs to be strong justification, and I believe there is in this case. But here enters Pt#1, that we could do a much better job of choosing who to subject to further scrutiny.
Pt#3. I hadn’t heard this before, and having heard it now, I’m wondering why I haven’t? I hope it’s because it’s already being checked into quietly, or at least that it will now be.
And ditto on the so-called Health Care legislation. Our current war footing, as it has always done in the past, must lead to certain more intrusive government actions, but these must be tolerated only until we can come out of that wartime status, at which time they must be retracted, or strongly and forcibly rejected politically by the people. What is going on up on Capitol Hill in the name of health care insurance reform is much more sinister, because it would continue forever, regardless of anything as temporary as war.

Carl, you are absolutely on the mark. My son who at one time was Security Office for various airlines explained to me exactly what you just wrote. What I don’t understand is why it hasn’t happened yet as it doesn’t cost that much. Like the man said in one of these blogs, Obummer et al are just puppets and until we find out who is behind this, we really are defense less unless of course if they keep pushing our buttons because now we are irratted but watch out when we really get Mad and get organized – and before that happens, ever muslim better leave – we can confiscate all the properties owned by them also to pay the poor people who have lost loved ones because of them – Kinda like Saudia Arabia did on nationalizing the oil fields after the American companies had done all the work and spent all the money. HMMMMMMM

Sir. Having done airfreight and courier work some 25 years ago, I’ll bet I can still get into (and back out of) so-called “secure” areas at SFO, and most of the other major airports throughout the land without them even suspecting anything was amiss. There are just too many “couriers” in and around airports, especially near flight times, as consolidators are always trying to ship as much as possible at one time for cost control and customer convenience.

Kodiak, that’s what I’ve been saying, the whole thing started in a foreign airport. Why is our CIA on the carpet for this?

Mega DITTO.

By the way if someone really wants to take an air plane down, there are at least ten things I can think of off the top of my head that almost every person takes on a plane daily, the the rest are on the plane already.
So when they ban {{all carry on’s}} Combined with everyone who flys should just be nude.

When you give your {FREEDOMS} away you never get them back.
As well; anyone can fit the “PROFILE of the moment.”

The intelligence community needs to be called on the carpet for not picking up on way too many clues before this guy got on that plane. But as far as the whole thing starting in a foreign airport — as I understand it, nowadays we have US border/immigration agents at foreign airports checking everyone traveling from foreign territory to the US. So that particular failure does not fall on the Dutch.

realbigal
Beter a live “sheeple” than a dead idiot who was afraid someone might have seen the outline of their genitals. OOOH!

Thanks I’ll pass on being “irradiated”. The metal sacnner and pat down are sufficient.

Imagine what this world would be like if Thomas Jefferson, George Wshington, etc thought that way.

realbigal
Unfortunatly the founding fathers, as astute as they were, could never had imagined the world that we now live in. They had no plumbing, no transportation system other than horses, no communications or data processing, no medical knowledge, crude military hardware etc..

Al, Norm’s right that the founding father’s couldn’t have imagined the world as it is. After all they advocated non-intervenionism.

Real,
ah yes the old reliable horse- bomb!!!!!

If people are worried about airport security or being blown up in a plane,then don’t fly!! No one is forced to fly,other than biz people working for a boss. Drive,take the train or don’t go..how many air trips are really necessary anyway? We could stop global warming overnight if we quit flying.

Exactly!
Don’t fly. Besides, it is bad enough on the ground.

Don’t forget that just riding on a commercial flight adds to your radiation dose by taking you above most of the atmosphere, which at sea level protects you from a good deal of cosmic and solar charged-particle radiation. Airline flight crew members get this exposure all the time on their jobs. I suspect that with modern x-ray imaging technology, the dose from these scans will turn out to be miniscule compared with what you’re getting just flying across country.

I’m much more concerned with the kind of failure to pick up on obvious red flags that is illustrated by the “Fruit-of-KaBoom” bomber. Do we, as a last line of defense against such failures, need to fill planes with Dutch film producers?

Fred,
We need to play up the idea that the Muslims tried to punish the non-believers and instead God punished the crotch bomber!!! I don’t even want to guess thepain levels he’s going through right now!!!! ooooh!!!

I hope the crotch bomber is never the same again, I hope he has ruined his you-know-what!!! Hopefully he is a eunich now.

Don’t worry, the government will tell us it’s perfectly safe and that the danger is minimal. In my book on what’s really going to happen in the coming financial crisis I mention the several hundred people in Mexico who have implanted RFID microchips that can open security doors and such but no studies have been done on the effects on human of having such implants. (In dogs they often cause cancer or speed it up – not all of course). I’m sure it will be many years before any studies are done on humans for such powerful devices as these scanners. Even CAT scanners have been known to increase cancer risk! Incidentally, simply flying through a powerful lightning storm can be the equivalent of 400 chest X-rays due to a newly discovered phenomena known as terrestrial gamma rays caused by the storms themselves (apparently). To bad El Al Airlines (of Israel) doesn’t fly all over the US. Then we would be really safe. Instead Obama is trying to unionize all TSA people and then forget it. I’ll drive or stay home. We need experts at the helm, not amateurs or political appointees no matter how nice or smart they are.

Be careful when you assume these scanners will protect you. Have an article for you – Full body scanners used on Air Passengers may damage human DNA – at fourwinds10.com. “These machines emit terehertz photons-high frequency energy particles….”.

There are also better & less evasive technology’s to detect explosive material. “Explosive sniffers” can detect an explosives & materials that can be used as explosives, where the body scanners can only see what is visible and wouldn’t shown anything that was inserted anywhere on someone’s body. They also have a lower “false negative” and “false positive” rate than most other technology.