2739 Can you spell "overreaction"?

Friday, January 8, 2010

To know and not to do
is not to know.
-- Wang Yang Ming --

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I found two stories from Wednesday's newspaper amusing.

The Bakersfield airport in California was closed Tuesday when a passenger's suitcase showed traces of TNT during a routine exterior swabbing, and when TSA officials opened the bag, they found five Gatorade bottles filled with an amber fluid. The contents of a bottle were tested, and the resulting fumes nauseated the two TSA agents, sending them to a hospital for treatment.

The contents of the bottles was honey, and nothing but honey.

Can you spell "hysteria"?

Meanwhile, in Minneapolis, a bomb sniffer dog indicated a problem with a suitcase, and parts of the airport were shut down for over an hour while a bomb squad investigated.

The amusing part is that the bag didn't belong to a passenger. Baggage handlers use an old, empty, beat-up suitcase, called a "last bag", to indicate to other handlers that all luggage has been unloaded from a flight - hence, "the last bag". It's just a marker. There was nothing suspicious about it, and no explanation for the dog's reaction.

Can you say "lack of communication"?

In other news, Joan Rivers, of red carpet fame, was denied boarding on the last Continental flight out of Costa Rica last Sunday, because officials found her passport "fishy", because it had two names on it: "Joan Rosenberg AKA Joan Rivers". Rosenberg is her married name. Her daughter had flown out on an earlier flight, and Ms. Rivers was left with only $100, no credit cards or ATM card, and no place to stay. A friendly airport employee drove her 6.5 hours to another airport where she was able to catch a later flight.

Can we talk?

Journalist Michael Yon was handcuffed and arrested at the Seattle airport for refusing to answer questions having nothing to do with security, like how much money he makes. The authorities say he was not "arrested", but, uh, sorry guys, the legal definition of arrested is that you cannot leave when you want to. Some people (including commenters on his post) seem to think that arrest requires charges, but nope. Arrest is when you lose your freedom. Period.**

Can you spell "storm trooper"?

At dinner last evening, we all pretty much agreed that all these stupid, intrusive, sometimes embarrassing security procedures do not make us any safer. They are not designed to catch or deter terrorists - they are designed to make the sheeple THINK they're doing some good. The sole purpose is to make us think somebody is trying.

Michael Totten and I agree that the Israeli methods are the best (http://www.michaeltotten.com/2009/12/profile-me-if-you-must.php). It involves some degree of profiling, very little searching, and a lot of interviewing. And you can keep your shoes on, and nobody will be looking inside your underwear. I have flown El Al, I was interviewed, and it was not nearly as uncomfortable as the American methods, and much more effective. There has never been any kind of terrorist attempt on an Israeli plane, and you've got to admit they've been the biggest target for five decades, at least.

But, as the health care fiasco has proven, Americans aren't interested in real efficiency or effectiveness. They want superficial appearance.

Can you spell "nation of assholes"?

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**From http://legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com/arrest:

"An arrest may occur (1) by the touching or putting hands on the arrestee; (2) by any act that indicates an intention to take the arrestee into custody and that subjects the arrestee to the actual control and will of the person making the arrest; or (3) by the consent of the person to be arrested. There is no arrest where there is no restraint, and the restraint must be under real or pretended legal authority. However, the detention of a person need not be accompanied by formal words of arrest or a station house booking to constitute an arrest.

The test used to determine whether an arrest took place in a particular case is objective, and it turns on whether a reasonable person under these circumstances would believe he or she was restrained or free to go."

I figure handcuffs equals arrest, unless they don't mind if I leave and wear the handcuffs home.

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Update on the honey scare. There's a good article at http://ow.ly/T54w. The last paragraph, however, tickled me:

"Ramirez told investigators he didn’t know why his bag reacted positively to the swab. He is a gardener by trade, and one inspector speculated fertilizer chemicals might have some of the same components as explosives."

Uh, yeah. No shit, Sherlock. Isn't that what McVeigh used in Oklahoma? Aren't fertilizers full of nitrates/nitrites, and isn't that a major component of TNT? Isn't that what the "N" stands for? Duh?