On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 10:58:15 -0400, Gene Kearns wrote:

On Sat, 16 Aug 2003 09:24:13 -0400, JohnH
wrote:

On Fri, 15 Aug 2003 22:05:52 -0400, Gene Kearns wrote:


I have seen no statement to the effect that the Office of Homeland Defense
desires to spend irresponsibly. In my opinion, the Democrats would do so if they
could. I firmly believe they would post a guard for every container that enters
the country, as long as the guards could be members of the AFGE.


Check out http://www.whitehouse.gov/homeland/ and see if you think
your 2 Billion Dollars is being well spent.....

My personal views are colored by the fact that I work at an airport
and I see the fruits of the money spent. I am totally underwhelmed...

Gene,

Hell no I don't think the money is well spent. I think the Democrats and their
whining about the "lack of security" have caused money to be wasted, big-time.
My attitude about securing an airplane from being used as a weapon is simple:
Keep the damn cockpit doors closed. Amen. Airplane cannot be used as a weapon
without cockpit access.


You say, "I have seen no statement to the effect that the Office of
Homeland Defense desires to spend irresponsibly. In my opinion, the
Democrats would do so if they could."

And then you say, "Hell no I don't think the money is well spent. I
think the Democrats and their whining about the "lack of security"
have caused money to be wasted, big-time."

You need to adopt a position other than: Democrats, BAD...
Republicans, GOOD and stick with it.....

You can't blame the Democrats for what the Republicans control. (Not
that they didn't get some of the things they would have wanted,
anyhow.)

You can't keep the cockpit doors closed all of the time... not the way
aircraft are designed. El Al does a pretty good job keeping their
passengers safe.... maybe we could model THEM...... if the modeling
was prevented, then you could pounce on liberal views and gun control
nuts....

The emphasis on finding personal weapons, e.g. knives, box cutters, etc., seems
a waste of time and money. I could do significant damage with a Cross ballpoint
pen up a nose or through an ear drum. Yet, these are not removed from
passengers.


Amen... fingernail clippers, 3/4 inch long nail files, other WMD.....

It goes MUCH deeper than this.... even to the people that are most
frequently "screened"..... the pilots, who, if they want to keep
their jobs must remain mum.....

I think federalizing the security folks was a Democrat-pushed idea that the
administration caved under. Why? Heat of the moment, decisions based on urgency
and pressure rather than objective analysis. The Dems love the idea of thousands
of new AFGE members, and a bigger government.



The situation was fairly stupid, anyway. The Airlines were tasked
with providing security. They bought the cheapest equipment and
personnel they could find to get the job done.... usually through
contractors They did, after all, have a profit motive. With 9/11,
the Federal Government required them to buy equipment and hire
personnel that they simply could not afford to purchase.....
certainly, with nobody flying, fuel prices skyrocketing, and no
revenue being generated.

We already had the FAA which was starved for money. Why didn't we
give *them* the money and personnel to get the job done. During the
Clinton Administration they were cut back so severely that they didn't
have travel budgets sufficient to do adequate routine surveillance.
Mark them as victims, too.... during "orange" alerts, they can't even
let people into the FAA building to transact normal business.....
ever conducted business in a parking lot?

Looking at the whole picture, I see nothing that indicates to me that
the Republicans have done anything different than the Democrats in
taking over another part of American life because they know what is
best for my safety and THEY can do it better because, after all, they
ARE the government..... and don't question ANY of this because it is
a matter of National Security.

Down side of this is that the previous workers have been replaced by
minimum wage types and wholesale firings of these new "affordable"
workers for unsuitability and illegal behavior has been the oft
repeated result.

You've never lived until you have been screened for any threat you
might pose to America and the American people by a guy that doesn't
quite have a grasp of the American Language. He want's to see my
underwear and I want to see his Green Card..... This is especially
aggravating to me, when I know some of the competent, experienced, and
articulate people that this guy replaced.... because he would work
cheaper and was selected by the government over the more experienced
and qualified.

Please don't couch all of this in Democrats, BAD... Republicans, GOOD
rhetoric. Thus far, other that giving me a better sounding reason why
this is "good" for me (and I'm speaking VERY generally) I feel just as
violated by this Republican administration as I did by the Democrats.
I'm not sure Algore would have done things significantly different.
Frankly, that scares and unsettles me.

Amen. They both screwed the pooch on this one. But, I think the Dems pushed in a
little deeper.

Respectfully,

John
On the 'Poco Loco' out of Deale, MD