Welcome to the Police State of America:
I’ve decided (when the mood takes me) to make my statement about issues as I see them. Now, this doesn’t necessarily mean that I’m right or have all the facts. In fact, I encourage people to correct me when I get something wrong. I do not encourage people to call me names because they don’t like what I have to say.
That now out of the way…
I am happy that my LDR is no longer an LDR but an NDR. Translation: Long Distance Relationship, No Distance Relationship. Now, yes, there are all the happy, skippy reasons of being able to wake up next to the person and not worry when one or the other of us is going to have our vacation come to an end.
But it’s part of that ending of the vacation bit that bugs me. On the last time I took my S.O. to the airport for her to fly home I got the absolute subjection of where this country lives now. And in truth, it really pisses me off…
There was a time, oh so long ago… when one could drive to the airport, park, walk thru the metal scanner, and take one’s loved one to the gate. Equally, they could go to the gate early and meet them with signs, flowers, or balloons.
Granted, I’m also old enough to remember Vanguard, Eastern, and TWA. (yes two of those went away in the ancient year of 2002.
My last trip to the airport, well…
Heather was flying out of Burbank airport for Seattle. Far closer than the almost hour’s travel to LAX which is a horrendous 20 miles away. Burbank is 9 miles and only takes about 20 minutes. Such is L.A. traffic. or more properly… Suck is L.A. traffic.
I arrived at the airport and had to park in the cheap seats. We were at whatever def-con colour is, “We want you to stay paranoid” which meant not only did they get to ransack my belongings, but they got to look in my trunk, too.
I admit it. I live out of my car at times. I am a pack rat who lives in a <1000 sq. ft. apt in L.A. which means my camping equipment lives in my car. Well, they didn’t feel like unpacking my trunk and since it was all just too packed in… I wasn’t allowed to park in the grown-up lot next to the airport. I had to park in open air parking near the toll booth at the far end of the lot.
WHY?!?!?
Okay, I hear some of you saying… There may have been a bomb in the car. You could have pulled up to the curb and hurt lots of people. Okay… analysis time…
This was en-route to the parking garage. my car couldn’t make it to the curb from the check point. Not without barreling through a rather nasty set of cement jersey barriers. But, assuming I could… what about all those innocent lives. I could have killed.. 10s of people. That’s right… 10s. Looking at the area that I could have pulled up to and thinking of the average, terrorist bomb pictures that I’ve seen, I would (from the curb) take out at most 50 people. Now, I’m not saying I want to take out anyone… but in all honesty, if I’m going to go after an airport (which I have no intention as murder is an anathema to me.) 50 members of the human herd outside an airport… just doesn’t do it for me.
But let’s return not to the idea of preventing a bomb to the asinine belief that Jerry Trunkvoyeur will avert this issue. See, they don’t do the trunk check for a car going to the curb. only if it’s being parked in the garage. So, I could pull up and do my suicide run… hmmn, maybe they are afraid I’m packing something bigger that needs a timer! Yeah, that must be it. No, that can’t be right, because they don’t inspect the rather large heap of luggage that’s on my back seat.
That’s right, Mr and Mrs “It’s all for the common defense…” They don’t blink at a piece of luggage in the car. Also, they tend to not wander the garage once you are parked.
So let me get this straight. They want to look in your trunk for ‘something’ and yet, there seems to really be little reason to do so because that which potentially could be there, could be other places in the car that they don’t bother to look.
My translation: stay the f*$% out of my trunk.
Solution: Keep an empty trunk with something like a halloween cadaver in it. Maybe some sex toys. Make no comments, but make no apologies or excuses. They have no right to judge. Any comments they make… defimation of character, bring their asses down.
aight, you asked for it bro 😉
Here is the deal. I have worked ATI at LAX. I am in charge of 45 operatives when Im there.
Now. It’s easier to rig a device from a trunk than a piece of luggage….you can easily either set up approx 125 lbs of C-4 in the average american or japanese car trunk including the primer and a few other solutions to make the blast a lil more damaging. If you only have a piece of luggage with explosives, sure, you may only take out 20-50 people. 125 lbs of C-4 will cause an explosion in a covered concrete garage equivalent to approximately 400 lbs of Dynamite, and it will be rigged to the explosives layered inside and under the oil pan and in the interior of the chasis, straight from your car battery. That means, that after you have the initial blast, which should kill approximately 100 to 250 people or so depending on the time of day, the concrete, heated to such a degree, and accelerated to such a speed that it makes it as dangerous as a shotgun blast to the chest….well, lets figure you kill another 50 before the blast hits the terminal glass…still travelling faster than the speed of sound mind you.
Now glass….travelling at that speed….and depending on the size of the terminal, and the right time (OH…and god forbid terrorists scoping out the times, locations, and exact times to detonate)….now you have at least a few dozen more…keeping count yet?
Oh damn…did i forget that most car bombas are rigged with another layer of explosives under the car….maybe a few more dozen lbs…and maybe a few lbs of shrapnel just in case they have to detonate at a roadblock and do the most amount of damage possible if they get stopped…or wait!!!!! Just a few kilos of common chemicals to make it a lil more destructive….
Timers? who needs timers? A nice cell phone or a rolled newspaper are good enought to hide a “dead mans trigger”.
I guess that we are tracking over 175 active Al Qaeda members in los angeles, and we think we barely have the tip of the iceberg makes no difference…
Hey, but we have only recovered 18 lbs of C-4, shot and killed one Al Qaeda Terrorist, and beat another silly who had a chlorine bomb in a terminal….
I guess it’s not worth the trouble as long as the numbers are less than the WTC…..did ya keep count above?
Guess it isn’t worth the trouble eh?
M
Re: aight, you asked for it bro 😉
I have to agree here. And with WOody. It is not convienence that we live in always. And I would much rather have them frisk my car and be safe. Besides, they make garages for that. Or storage units, or closets. Shrug. Travelling back and forth in DC where they are deadly serious about anything going into Reagan National taught me not to fuck with ‘the man.’
Security measures at the airport aren’t actually security measures at all. They’re there with the intention of making people feel safer while flying.
It defies basic human psychology, though. I mean, *I* do not feel safe when I walk past guys with loaded AK-47’s in a ready position, thank you very much.
and by the way
the US does not use Ak-47’s, russians and chinese use those…we use either M-16’s, AR’15’s or MP-5’s. And you are right up to a point, we have to make people feel safer, the nation would stop without it. But, did you know that most terrorist attacks in Israel are thwarted by roadblocks? Nearly 85% of attacks are not completed, but they just manage to blow the shit out of whoever is working the roadblock…which in this case…will be Me, my cousin, my OTO brother in arms, or my friends. We are willing to take that chance….are you willing to experience a lil of “the man putting you down” so you can get to the airport?
Love,
M
Re: and by the way
I totally agree with Lapig93 100%. I travel 37 weeks a year with my job, and if you think I mind a little inconvenience, while they check to make sure no guns, no knives etc are brought on to my plane you are dead wrong. You are also wrong if you think these measures are not working. It is NOT just about making me “feel” safe, it is about being safe.
I lived overseas for three years, and watched as airports in Germany had to deal with this kind of stuff as standard procedure. I was there when the nightclub blew up in Frankfort taking out American Soldiers. Get over it!!!
The alert statuses are not for us, they are for the people like Marco who protect us. The people who put their lives on the front lines, making sure that extra steps are in place. Tell those families of the people who were killed in Saudi last week that they didn’t need additional security. Perhaps better concrete walls, better security would have prevented that attack.
Terrorists, like burgulars etc, look for easy targets. Once upon a time our airports were easy targets. They aren’t now.
So to those who think we don’t need preventative measures, leave your house unlocked, leave your car unlocked, I mean if someone wants to take something they will right? So why take any preventative measures to protect your stuff? It’s the same principle.
When I go to the airport I always smile and say hi to the guy searching my car and say THANKS, I always smile at the people who have to endure the bitching from travelers at the security gates, and say thanks, and have a nice day. I always say thanks if they search my luggage and I never get offended. They are doing their jobs, so that I can go on and do mine.
Follow the rules and you don’t have to park in the far off parking lot and sorry brother but thanks to the guys who made you park there.
Re: and by the way
We are not Israel. Israel has antagonized most of their neighbors and have a lot of reason to be the way they are. We are friendly with our neighbors, and I’d rather not see us having a need to be the way Israel is.
I am not speaking of “the man putting us down”, I am speaking to basic human psychology. I am also speaking from the position of discussing the security measures with a friend who runs security at a major airport. I am also speaking from the position of having a (recently former, she’s gone to live with her husband) roommate who is a flight attendant, and I would very much hate to see her in any harm, so I’m not making statements that I believe would put her in any such position.
I am willing to risk myself for my freedom, and have, thank you very much. I just happen to believe in freedom, and I believe that freedom means risk. But my current statements have nothing to do with that sentiment, it is that the “security measures” we see at the airport have little to do with actually protecting us. We have had “roadblocks” at the airport; guys with M100’s, P1000’s, or whatever name the gun is aren’t additional benefits, they’re just scary.
And for the record, I applauded the measure having our pilots carrying weapons. That is honestly effective security.
Re: and by the way
Additional, by the way, as I forgot it.
I’m also speaking as someone who has worked security monitoring traffic through metal detectors.
Re: and by the way
Oh hell yeah!!!! Pilots carrying is a great thing!!!! It is one of the most effective ways I think to fight a threat on the air. But look at it this way, do you remember when the terrorist here at LAX started shooting people randomly? If there hadn’t been armed people in the area, he would have continued to shoot. Don’t get me wrong, there is not too much we can do about stopping most attacks. But most people at the airport said they were very happy to have the additional manpower there, especially the counter employees. We are not Israel, and we get along ok with our neighbors, but it isn’t our neighbors we are worried about. It’s all good, we can agree to disagree, but with my training in weapons and ATI, i believe that we need the larger weapons….handguns are a defensive close range weapon….look at what happened before we got them in the North hollywood bank shootout.
Love,
M
Frankly, if some freak wants to take out 10’s of people at the airport, he’s going to do it reagrdless of how many people are busy looking thru my personal belongings.
and if you’re carrying sex toys, please be aware of applicable laws, in texas, having more than 6 dildoes in your possession is a crime. How’s THAT for intrusive lawmaking…
And, with all due respect…
There is nothing in the Bill Of Rights which mandates convenience. Just because we live in a free society (translation: we live in a society which values political freedom, not necessarly freedom of movement; i.e., trespass in my home without my knowledge at your own perl) does not mean we live in a convenient society.
convenience?
I’m not so sure it ends with an easy “sacrifice convenience for safety” argument. It isn’t about convenience, it’s about privacy, freedom and civil liberty. I don’t care about the time it takes them to take apart my overnight bag at the airport. I *do* mind that my personal hygeine supplies and medications are opened and examined. I *do* mind removing my boots, not once, but THREE times at the airport. I *do* mind having my body touched and searched by strange officials, no matter how polite they are.
I know it’s been said a million times before but please remember the Reichstag fire of 1933 and Hitler’s Enabling Acts. Look it up….see anything familiar?
“Why of course the people don’t want war … But after all it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship … Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger.”
Hermann Goering, Nazi leader, at the Nuremberg Trials
Thought you might enjoy this:
http://www.livejournal.com/users/evil_bunny/35581.html