Have you noticed that flight attendants place stable-looking, able-bodied passengers at the emergency exits?

Why not have regular volunteer citizens who have been trained and are experienced with pistols get licensed with hard-to-dulicate photo IDs, have them identify themselves when they check in for their seat assignment, and have the airline put them in "certain" seats that carry loaded weapons? Maybe they could wear sleeve garters or something so the rest of the passengers would know who they are, and who to go to if they saw trouble.

Personally, I would feel better if I knew there were a few people on board who could actually DO something. Then the other stupid rules about carrying multitools and Bics could be cancelled.

Didn't someone once say something like "Only a fool takes a knife to a gun fight"?

Norad, if they HAVEN'T been trained to look for certain types of explosives, what is all this Homeland Security crap been about?

Sue

"if they HAVEN'T been trained to look for certain types of explosives, what is all this Homeland Security crap been about?"

In the case of the security on airplanes, it has all been about getting people to feel safe flying again. It is not about actually preventing terrorist attacks. That is accomplished by spying on potential terrorists, subjecting their entire lives to a full-blown FBI rectal examination, and then arresting them if warranted. (This seems to be working very well BTW.) The fact that the screeners have not been trained until now to find bomb-making materials should dispel any notion that they have been put there for security. They are there to make sure butts are in the seats when the plane takes off.

I hate TSA. They are bunch of dumb, uneducated, ignorant, newly acquired power happy and useless people. That's usually what happenes when gov't creates an agency for public image. Sometimes I like to think of TSA as FEMA (all smoke and no fire). I think the assumption that TSA has about typical bomber is what they read in spy novels. I can just imagine TSA training center since it must be such a joke. After spending last year at the airport as a medic I prefer dealings with private sector security because they are much better and more efficient since job security if you keep screwing up is not there. You do something retarded working for private company and you get axed. You do something retarded working for TSA and they relocate you to more sensitive area.

I think I will market "TSA kit" that you can purchase from the street vendor upon leaving the airport. It will consist of nail clipper, mini SAK and lighter. Upon departing back home you can trade your kit in and get a voucher that can be used upon arrival. By the time you are done with traveling during your life span you will eventually get your stuff back. Or if you spot somebody in your city using your lighter or SAK you can ask them to trade.

Good portion of my calls? People pissed of by TSA for no reason.

"I think I will market 'TSA kit' that you can purchase from the street vendor upon leaving the airport."

You can probably get a really good deal from the TSA! <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Norad, If all this TSA crap is just to "make people feel safe flying", I am even MORE PO'd than before I read that. All it takes is someone with more grey matter than a TSA agent (not difficult) to bring something on board that is instantly going to change the whole warm-&-fuzzy plans of our idiot politicians.

"It is not about actually preventing terrorist attacks. That is accomplished by spying on potential terrorists... and then arresting them if warranted."

A.The chances that the FBI even knows who a fraction of the terrorists in the U.S. are is extremely remote, &

B. I doubt they would know where to find them if they were living next door to them.

And your assurance that everything "seems to be working very well" leaves me open-mouthed with disbelief. <img src="/images/graemlins/shocked.gif" alt="" />

Sue

"If all this TSA crap is just to "make people feel safe flying", I am even MORE PO'd than before I read that."

Immediately after 9-11-2001 the airlines were hemmoraging money. Like it or not air travel drives a huge chunk of our economy. The prohibitions on blades and tools were implemented to give the impression that the government was responding to the continued threat of takeover--a threat which no longer existed. What that did was reduce some of the fear that people had and thus get them flying again. What it did not do was prevent any attacks. That's why the ridiculous rules are being relaxed.

"A.The chances that the FBI even knows who a fraction of the terrorists in the U.S. are is extremely remote, &
B. I doubt they would know where to find them if they were living next door to them."

Then I would invite you to speculate on why we have not been attacked here in the last 4-1/2 years. I can think of three possible reasons:

1. Our enemies have forgiven us and have decided to leave us be.
2. Our enemies have decided that the TSA is so formidable that they would surely be caught trying to get anything past them.
3. Our enemies are at Guantanamo, or in other jails, and the ones who are not have the FBI crawling up their backs, tapping their phones, infiltrating their places of worship, and reading their emails.

I'll take door # 3 Monty. <img src="/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

What about #4? That any remaining or newly recruited terrorists in this country are just biding their time and planning something else? A plane might not be hijacked again, but other types of attacks could be in the works.

I could be wrong about this, but I can't recall any potential disaster that the TSA single-handedly averted after 9-11. However, I can think of a few where ordinary citizens on a plane took matters into their own hands - like the instance where a mentally-unstable young man tried to storm the cockpit and was tackled by fellow passengers. I just don't entrust my personal safety with an unreliable organization, I figure that it's up to me to stand up for myself since I'm the one who is going to be on the plane, not the TSA.

"What about #4? That any remaining or newly recruited terrorists in this country are just biding their time and planning something else? A plane might not be hijacked again, but other types of attacks could be in the works."

That is always a possibility, but I think that #3 lessens that chance dramatically. I think you can just about bet that they will try though. It will be on a small scale: one loser with an AK47 who starts firing into the crowd in some small town pavilion. Everybody worries about bio, chemical, or nuclear weapons, but I think that the FBI covers that. The next attack, when it comes, will be small scale. Arm yourselves.

" I just don't entrust my personal safety with an unreliable organization, I figure that it's up to me to stand up for myself since I'm the one who is going to be on the plane, not the TSA."

Good for you. Wear two pairs of socks and carry a lot of change when you fly...

> Then I would invite you to speculate on why we have not been attacked here in the last 4-1/2 years.

We've been attacked here in the UK. As far as I can tell, the attack came as a surprise, partly because it did not originate from a global terrorist network but from a small group of self-starters. (I know you were talking about the USA rather than the UK, but I don't think they are that different in this.)

"Our enemies are at Guantanamo, or in other jails, and the ones who are not have the FBI crawling up their backs, tapping their phones, infiltrating their places of worship, and reading their emails."

Personally, I think that's just more feel-good mindlessness from the political PR dept. After all, weren't the FBI the ones who were supposed to be doing EXACTLY that kind of thing BEFORE 9/11? They did kind of a sloppy job, didn't they? What happened, did they just get religion and now they're actually doing their job?

Cynical Sue

True, we must not forget London, or Spain and Bali for that matter. I think that after those attacks the various intelligence services stepped up their surveillance as well.