Saturday, January 19, 2002

Medal of Honor fails to impress airline security. "They just didn't know what it was but they acted like I shouldn't be carrying it on," retired Marine Corps Gen. Joseph J. Foss of Scottsdale, Ariz., said yesterday in a telephone interview. [Washington Times] This story made me sick to my stomach. General Foss also said, "I had to take off my cowboy boots three times [before boarding], as well as my belt and necktie. I compared the situation to bailing out to land in a foreign country." You were landing in a foreign country, General. comment () trackback ()  8:58:36 PM     John Delacour writes this about Taliban prisoners: They weren't in uniform, they didn't wear badges of rank, there wasn't any legally constituted chain of command... if anything, they most resemble mercenaries who, along with spies, are specifically excluded from the provisions of the Geneva Convention. That's exactly right, the Taliban were mercenaries. However, the US can't afford to recognize this in the current political situation. Mercenaries always have employers. If we recognize that the Taliban were mercenaries we might have to start asking awkward questions of our wonderful Pakistani allies, who were their employers. comment () trackback ()  7:26:11 PM     San Francisco Gate - Airport checks vulnerable to hackers, experts say. Terrorist hackers could exploit wireless networks used to check baggage at major airports -- including San Jose's -- according to network security experts. [Privacy Digest] I don't see why terrorists would go to so much trouble (if they could manage it at all), when they can just check their bomb and then get on the plane with it. comment () trackback ()  6:29:30 PM     I paid for Radio today. One week was enough of a trial period for me! comment () trackback ()  11:30:41 AM     Security blanket. Tracy W. Price at The Washington Times - Security blanket - now that airline pilots are allowed by law to have weapons in the cockpit, implementation of this law should move forward quickly, to prevent a repeat of 9/11. [kaba] Each day, I go through security screening just as my passengers do. My bag is X-rayed to ensure that I left my tweezers and nail clippers at home; I pass through the magnetometer to be certain that I don't have a weapon. Meanwhile, the potential onlooking terrorist smiles to himself, having been reassured that when he breaks into my cockpit with murder on his mind, I will be defenseless. I pass the National Guardsman, with his M-16 at the ready, in case somebody tries to hijack the airport and fly it into a building. Having successfully navigated the security labyrinth and convinced everyone that I am completely incapable of defending my passengers, crew and airplane, I am given complete and unencumbered access to an incredibly dangerous weapon: a large passenger airliner filled with fuel. [End the War on Freedom] comment () trackback ()  11:11:47 AM     The US as Third-World Nation. Bob Wallace at LewRockwell.com - The US as Third-World Nation - where our once-free country is headed. Thanks to an increasingly powerful state. [lew] As best as I can tell, under a free market two-thirds of the people are middle-class. When there isn't a free market, two-thirds of the people are dirt-poor, and a very small minority (those who have gained control of the State) are Scrooge McDuck-rich. That is what the Third World is: a handful of billionaires and everyone living in shacks. ... My paternal grandfather dropped out of school in the 8th-grade. He spent his life installing wooden-strip floors and finishing them. His wife did some sewing part-time in their home. They raised nine kids and lived a middle-class existence. This is now impossible in the United States. How did my grandfather do this? Because taxes and regulations were a fraction of what they are now. [End the War on Freedom] comment () trackback ()  11:01:53 AM     Thursday, January 17, 2002. Jerry Pournelle - good commentary on empire and republic. Will move here next week. [pournelle] Much of the bureaucracy today harasses the people with rules whose end purpose was long ago forgotten so that the rules sometimes actually get in the way of the purpose they were intended. Airport security falls in that category: the purpose is to get people flying safely again, not harass them to the point where they drive their cars rather than fly and thus put their lives at greater risk than they would be if there were no airport security whatever. comment () trackback ()  10:56:20 AM     Chinese leader's plane 'bugged'. China's relations with the US are again under strain after bugging devices were found in a Boeing airliner purchased for use by President Jiang Zemin. [BBC News: world] Considering the CIA's record, maybe they thought the plane was going to Saddam Hussein? comment () trackback ()  10:44:31 AM     Thought for the day: He that would make his own liberty secure must guard even his own enemy from oppression; for if he violates this duty, he establishes a precedent that will reach to himself. Thomas Paine comment () trackback ()  12:46:11 AM

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