Tuesday, October 03, 2006

Dreaming

I'm going to start my own airline. With my own airports. And people will be allowed to see their family members off at the gate, and you will only have to go through one set of metal detectors, which will be looking solely for guns. And you will be allowed to bring your own bottled water and hand cream. And kiss your boyfriend. And speak in your native language. And we can't guarantee there will be no terrorists, but we'll at least build our planes so that the cockpit unlocks from the pilot's side only. And really, for the tiny chance that someone will build a bomb out of hair gel, I bet a lot of people would rather fly with their freedoms intact.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Actually, you're allowed to bring small bottles of things on the plane again. They determined that the amount of liquid explosive in a small bottle (I forgot what size they said) wouldn't be enough to blow up a plane, so its allowed. You have to put all small bottles into a ziplock bag, and have it out to be inspected at security checkpoint.

That language thing is crazy!!! Are they really going to flip out over foreign languages? If I was in an airport and spoke Korean, would they question me for it? Its insane. I don't trust our President.

However, I'm not against torture. I think, though, that there should be very, very SPECIFIC rules about who and what and where... not just "whoever the president decides" because that's giving dictor-like power to the president...no checks and balances and all that. I just think that a creepy person willing to kill hundreds of people, who is NOT willing to identify others involved in similar evil plans, and will thus endanger however many more lives, shold be forced to give up that identity. They are willing, after all, to DIE to kill people. If they're willing to do that... then they should have no choice in the punishment.

And I always thought about the fact that in the Bible, Jesus was never against capital punishment and physical punishment. He did admonish those who were doing bad things to "sin no more" and offered them forgiveness, but did nothing to stop their punishments. He supported the government (give to Caesar and all that). He did speak of mercy, but at the same time, those who were cruel and most hateful,such as pharisees, he had no pity on, and spared nothing.

In that case, that's just my thoughts. But I will admit freely that its been a few years since I even saw a Bible, and I'm a lot more cynical than I used to be.

Anonymous said...

i am actually for specific types of torture

I vote we legalize "junior high" style torture.

Allowed types of "striking" include: ear-flicking, towel-snapping, pink bellies, dead-arms, charlie-horses, bloody knuckles (and its slapping variation), spanking (with a bare hand - we're not animals, you know), and one-sided pillow fights.

Allowed types of "physical stress inducers" include: wedgies, swirlies, noogees, indian burns, merciless tickling (to the point of passing gas or urinating), and purple nurples.

Allowed types of "mental stress inducers" include: repeating the victim's words, calling the victim names that mock physical shortcomings (e.g. - "four-eyes," "lard-butt," "dog-breath," etc.), calling the victim a "fag" or a "retard," dutch ovens, slapping the victim with his own hand and asking him why he keeps hitting himself, and - my personal favorite - holding the victim in a headlock while lightly tapping him in the middle of the forehead.

Of course, while most "junior high" rules state that torture ends (at least temporarily) when the victim starts crying, but these are trying times, and we find ourselves compelled to occasionally use "prison" rules subset. Accordingly torture can continue up until 5 minutes after the victim starts crying. After which, the victim should be called "a wuss" and left alone to wallow in his "wussiness." Of course, even in prison rules, bleeding or noticeable bruising causes an immediate end to the torture session.

And i'm not joking. I would totally do those things if i think it would lead to useful intelligence (or "intel" as we in the biz like to call it).

Anonymous said...

How do you know torture doesn't work? Are you an experienced torturer? Have you witnessed torture? Have you been tortured and only told torturers whatever you think they want to hear and not the truth?
AND there is a big difference between torture and proven useful interrogation techniques.
What you call evil and wrong and inexcusable are hard decisions made by people who are our neighbors and classmates, who have stepped up to doing an important and necessary job, making difficult choices in their attempt to protect and serve their country and it's people like you and me.
Just ordinary Unitd States citizens.
Where do you think the men and women who are in our Armed Forces and in our leadership and decision making positions come from? They come from among the people of The United States of America.
Do you really believe that they all have some evil plan to hurt people as much as they possible can and that somehow it is all one great big conspiracy?

Anonymous said...

Okay, you know what, there are people that are capable of torture and those that aren't. It's just a matter of personality and desensitizing. Maybe I've just allowed my faith to cloud my judgement, because I believe that every single person in the world carries the image of God and deserve a few basic human dignities. But seperation of church and state, silly me, I should think of our enemies as animals. And yet, they would put you in jail if you treated a puppy the way they treated the prisoners in Abu Grav.

Rocket Surgeon, Phd said...

Just a little, itty secret from the inside of the Industry....if you ask for a special Gate access pass they will print one off for you.

So you can, indeed, see your loved ones off.
We don't broadcast it because it tends to slow security down.

I've done it before...for a soldier's wife.

But I would fly JuleAir 8 days a week just cuz