2009-12-30
Restricting Civil Liberties In The USA
It really is a shame that the TSA in the USA is losing its marbles. I just don't see the logic. Look at the picture. Look at it. Does this strike you as the work of people who are using their resources properly? Instead, as I mentioned in an earlier post, because officials refuse to focus on known variables (i.e. Arab-Muslims), we're treated to ridiculously draconian measures. And boy, Janet Reno, Robert Gibbs and Janet Napolitano have really shown they're on the ball with their outstandingly chumpish comments. All I know is if these people were working under Bush and were Republican, we'd hear about how foolish they are. Furthermore, why have there been two terrorist attacks on American soil in less than one year under the Obama administration?
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I can't believe all of this hysteria over this Richard Reid (2001) "shoe bomber" II copycat episode. He's arrested. Try him. Convict him. Put 'im in prison to rot away for the rest of his miserable life.
ReplyDeleteIn the meantime, let's just get with the terms of coping with, and living in, the 21st Century. Republicans, and maybe the ACLU, are against full-body scanners at airports. But I'm not.
I have a hard time following Republicans, they speak of freedom but pick and choose what they want from the state. At least we know that with Democrats it's all the state all the time.
ReplyDeleteYeah, been listening to that debate and I think you're right, the GOP may be against it.
My only question is: Is it safe? What kind of radiation and all that stuff, you know?
It seems to me your country is forever a battle ground between personal and state rights. What the founding fathers intended and how they fit in contemporary times.
ReplyDeleteYour country still clings on to some notion of liberty. But it's losing the game. Once it does, that curtain goes down and the world will be poorer.
The full body scan technology is what we have and need at this point. The alternatives are just not as effective and workable yet. Until then, we need to put these to extensive use.
ReplyDeleteThese guys declared war on us and considering the body count, we might want to remember that we are at war with religious nut jobs who make no distinction between Democrats and Republicans, liberals or conservatives. They just kill people in the name of their god and prophet.
Frankly, body scanner devices are not a panacea (we also need competent training and common sense, both lacking in the TSA arsenal), but they give us a tool to use to help keep people off of aircraft who want to blow up the aircraft. The machine doesn't make a distinction between religions and doesn't care about politics. Since more whack jobs than just Islamic extremists are likely to commit terrorist acts (Communists were known to do these sorts of things), the machine should not make religious and political distinctions anyway and neither should we.
As for my privacy, well I'm not too worried about a crowd of government yo-yo's looking at my body as much as I am concerned about my body being blown to bits by an idiot with a desire to get a bunch of after-life virgins.
I think the majority of people would concur with your final paragraph. In this instance, the choice between foregoing part of your liberties (possibly temporarily) and dying by the hand of a few lunatics is an easy one.
ReplyDeleteOh.
ReplyDeleteWelcome, Zeus.
I'll go along with Zeus. After all he was the my ancestor's main God.
ReplyDeleteI don't even see it as foregoing part of my liberties. Were I denied my 2nd Amendment rights I would be concerned. Were I denied my 1st Amendment rights, I'd be concerned. Were my right to vote denied, I'd be concerned. I just don't understand why walking through this machine takes my liberty away. Getting blown up does take my liberties away is a serious way.
ReplyDeleteAs for the machine, it scans for destructive devices. We don't want those on an airplane. I may have to arrive at the airport earlier, but I don't see how the irritation and inconvenience tallies up to a loss of my civil rights. I just don't get it.
Years ago privacy advocates were worried about caller ID being a violation of one's rights. So far, I'm not in the gulag but I know that the only guy who has had a problem with caller ID technology in his life lately has been Tiger Woods.
I know; the title stinks but it's a grabber. People, in a bad economy and in a war, don't really think about "liberty." Not that they're ready to drop them. It's called being realistic.
ReplyDelete