Comments on: Why are there so many names on the U.S. government’s terrorist list? http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/2008/03/14/why-are-there-so-many-names-on-the-us-governments-terrorist-list/ Politics of the People Sat, 10 May 2008 17:48:57 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5.1 By: bushtool http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/2008/03/14/why-are-there-so-many-names-on-the-us-governments-terrorist-list/#comment-44010 bushtool Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:39:39 +0000 http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/2008/03/14/why-are-there-so-many-names-on-the-us-governments-terrorist-list/#comment-44010 This is all part of the fear tactics that work so well in keeping the people of our country believing they are being protected rather than brainwashed and enslaved. Many, many years ago when the then current airport security scare-fad was to not allow any liquids on board, the security agent took a big bottle of astringent out of my spouse's carry on, smelled it and asked what it was. We explained that it was a treatment for your skin. My spouse poured some out and smeared it on her face. "On no, you can't bring that on board. Please either throw it out or check it at the ticket counter." We didn't have a box handy and the ticket agent said that she would not let us check the bottle "as is". By now I was irate at this asinine nuisance. So I grabbed the bottle (and it was a big bottle, probably a quart or more of liquid) and walked back through the same security checkpoint with the same security personnel holding the bottle out in front of me for all to see and glaring at the security people with a look of "I dare you to stop me". They just looked at me and turned away and we sailed through the second time with no problem at all. Moral of the story = If you look like you will tolerate their hassling, then hassled you will be. But if you stand up for yourself because you know you have done nothing wrong, they will leave you alone. <strong>WARNING</strong>: Now this was pre-911 but after plane hijackings became frequent in the late 70's. The moral of story above most probably no longer applies because we no longer have much of any civil liberties with which to defend ourselves when falsely accused or harassed. Doing something like what I did may get you a prison sentence of indeterminable length with your right to counsel ignored and your loved ones not knowing anything about your whereabouts. This is all part of the fear tactics that work so well in keeping the people of our country believing they are being protected rather than brainwashed and enslaved.

Many, many years ago when the then current airport security scare-fad was to not allow any liquids on board, the security agent took a big bottle of astringent out of my spouse’s carry on, smelled it and asked what it was.

We explained that it was a treatment for your skin. My spouse poured some out and smeared it on her face. “On no, you can’t bring that on board. Please either throw it out or check it at the ticket counter.”

We didn’t have a box handy and the ticket agent said that she would not let us check the bottle “as is”.

By now I was irate at this asinine nuisance. So I grabbed the bottle (and it was a big bottle, probably a quart or more of liquid) and walked back through the same security checkpoint with the same security personnel holding the bottle out in front of me for all to see and glaring at the security people with a look of “I dare you to stop me”.

They just looked at me and turned away and we sailed through the second time with no problem at all.

Moral of the story = If you look like you will tolerate their hassling, then hassled you will be. But if you stand up for yourself because you know you have done nothing wrong, they will leave you alone.

WARNING: Now this was pre-911 but after plane hijackings became frequent in the late 70’s. The moral of story above most probably no longer applies because we no longer have much of any civil liberties with which to defend ourselves when falsely accused or harassed. Doing something like what I did may get you a prison sentence of indeterminable length with your right to counsel ignored and your loved ones not knowing anything about your whereabouts.

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]]> By: slim http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/2008/03/14/why-are-there-so-many-names-on-the-us-governments-terrorist-list/#comment-44009 slim Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:15:42 +0000 http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/2008/03/14/why-are-there-so-many-names-on-the-us-governments-terrorist-list/#comment-44009 When our son was 4, we spent an hour first negotiating with the ticket agent, then a TSA flunky, then the TSA flunky's boss (over the phone) - all about whether it was reasonable to assume that the "L.T." on the no-fly list was not the same "L.T." they saw before them. That he was barely past toddlerhood, and I had a copy of his birth certificate with me, meant nothing, at least until we were about to miss our flight. They still insisted on wanding him and patting him down, though. They sent out a call for a "BABY PATDOWN - BABY PATDOWN AT SECURITY NEEDED" over the PDX PA system (which was hilarious in itself), and a special female TSA agent came out of nowhere and did the deed. Afterwards, L. asked, "Why did that lady have to lint-roll me?" We had no trouble on the way home, so we don't know if they made a notation about L. in the TSA computer system, or if the folks at PDX were just officious morons. When our son was 4, we spent an hour first negotiating with the ticket agent, then a TSA flunky, then the TSA flunky’s boss (over the phone) - all about whether it was reasonable to assume that the “L.T.” on the no-fly list was not the same “L.T.” they saw before them. That he was barely past toddlerhood, and I had a copy of his birth certificate with me, meant nothing, at least until we were about to miss our flight.

They still insisted on wanding him and patting him down, though. They sent out a call for a “BABY PATDOWN - BABY PATDOWN AT SECURITY NEEDED” over the PDX PA system (which was hilarious in itself), and a special female TSA agent came out of nowhere and did the deed. Afterwards, L. asked, “Why did that lady have to lint-roll me?”

We had no trouble on the way home, so we don’t know if they made a notation about L. in the TSA computer system, or if the folks at PDX were just officious morons.

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