Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

Are we THAT paranoid?

A sad story on how paranoid we're becoming:

http://www.citypaper.net/articles/1...s.godfrey.shtml

We're rapidly turning into a nation of idiots.

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location:
Posts: 347

OH MY GOD...

If that would have been me I would have raised such hell that people in Afghanistan would have heard me. It's freaking bad enough they wouldn't allow me to take my backpack into the football game last weekend, now they're preventing people from flying just because of a book?

HOLY SHNIKES

Don't people realize that if someone wanted to blow up another plane or building it would be simple?

Registered: Aug 2001
Location: Los Angeles, CA
Posts: 58

All "This is what the terrorists want" rhetoric aside, these yahoos strike me as the same people who suspend schoolchildren for having silverware ("weapons") packed in their school lunches, or for taking Aspirin or Sudafed.

I understand the need for heightened security at our airports, but a committee of police and national guardsmen examining a guy's Harry Potter book for 20 minutes is uncalled for. Were they looking for encoded messages from Osama Bin Laden in it, or what?

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Registered: May 2000
Location: St. Paul, MN
Posts: 1429

This makes me want to cry. This is sick. omg -

I grew up learning about the bill of rights, america's founding, FREEDOM. Freedom to think. Freedom to talk. Freedom to learn. Freedom to be yourself, as long as it doesn't harm others.

When you say somebody can't board a plane becuase he has a book with a bomb on the cover - damnit, how many fscking books are there that are about violence?!?! WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO?

He brings Harry Potter - and gets scrutinized?!?! you have to be kdding me. Harry Potter is the biggest (mayeb not best ) thing that has happened to books for a long time, and somebody doens't - I don't even want to talk.

What has the world come to, and how the hell am I going to be able to change it so I get back my freedoms.

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-miradu

Registered: Sep 2000
Location: Rochester, NY
Posts: 284

Re: Are we THAT paranoid?

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
We're rapidly turning into a nation of idiots.

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Rapidly turning? I think it's been happening for at least 2 decades
now.

quote:

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Originally posted by usonian2001
I understand the need for heightened security at our airports, but a committee of police and national guardsmen examining a guy's Harry Potter book for 20 minutes is uncalled for. Were they looking for encoded messages from Osama Bin Laden in it, or what?

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The problem is, by the time he came back with the Harry Potter book,
he had already made "the list". Since he was scrutinized for carrying subversive material before (I'm assuming that's what security would call it), he might be carrying it again, only disguised this time.

Personally, I think the guys got a good lawsuit in the making here.

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by miradu2000
He brings Harry Potter - and gets scrutinized?!?!

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Jeff

Registered: Apr 2001
Location: Atlanta, GA
Posts: 708

quote:

---

Originally posted by miradu2000
This makes me want to cry. This is sick. omg -

I grew up learning about the bill of rights, america's founding, FREEDOM. Freedom to think. Freedom to talk. Freedom to learn. Freedom to be yourself, as long as it doesn't harm others.

When you say somebody can't board a plane becuase he has a book with a bomb on the cover - damnit, how many fscking books are there that are about violence?!?! WHAT HAS THIS WORLD COME TO?

He brings Harry Potter - and gets scrutinized?!?! you have to be kdding me. Harry Potter is the biggest (mayeb not best ) thing that has happened to books for a long time, and somebody doens't - I don't even want to talk.

What has the world come to, and how the hell am I going to be able to change it so I get back my freedoms.

---

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

Re: Re: Are we THAT paranoid?

quote:

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Originally posted by sowens
Personally, I think the guys got a good lawsuit in the making here.

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Jeff

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

We're allowed to sue for anything we want to in this country. That's not necessarily a good thing, but it's something we can do.

In this particular case, I certainly think he has a right to sue. He was harassed for no real reason. He was denied access twice for no real reason.

It may not be a civil case, but it is certainly something that the Attorney General in the state should be involved with.

Also note that United is about to go bankrupt and is begging the governement for bailout money. Any industry that relies continously on government bailouts can NOT arbitrarily discriminate. That's just not right. (Granted having the government financing private industry just isn't right either, but it happens all the time...)

I personally believe that our country protects the rights of corporations MUCH more than it protects the rights of consumers. At this point, suing is the only real recourse most of us have in seeking even just an apology from ruthless corporations.

This crap wouldn't be happening if Nader was involved in some way.

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location: Elkins Park, Pa
Posts: 577

You're all saying "What has America come to?" It's not America, it's Philly. The security at Philadelphia International is a joke. Let me tell you a story (no, don't leave now!).

My dad was coming back from a trip from LA. This was a few years ago. He's a lawyer and was at some law meeting, coming home to meet with a judge downtown. After the airplane landed, it taxied to a seperate corner of the airport, and was surrounded by Philadelphia police. Some police came on the plane and walked down the aisle, looking at each passenger. They were obviously looking for somebody. My dad was sitting in the last row, and when the police didn't find who they were looking for, they took him, so they could say they got somebody. They took him out of the plane, didn't tell him anything, and put him in a police car. A little while later, and FBI agent got into the car. "Do you know why you're here?"
"No! I have no idea why I'm here! Would you tell me? I have to meet with a federal judge in half an hour! Is there anyway I call and tell him I'm going to be late?"
"Sure. Here's a cell phone."
This would be a good time to mention that my dad had drinks with the head of the FBI the night before in LA. My dad dialed. "Hello, is Judge Soandso there? No? Can you tell him that I'm being detained by the FBI at Philadelphia International Airport? Yeah. Thank you."
The guy got out. My dad watched him screaming at the police saying something like "YOU IDOITS! WHAT THE HELL DID YOU TAKE HIM OFF THE PLANE FOR? HE'S MEETING WITH A FEDERAL JUDGE DOWNTOWN IN HALF AN HOUR!" and so on. He got back in the car. "There's been a mistake." Well, duh. "Somebody ran through the checkpoint at LA, and you, um, fit his description. We'll get your bags and take you to your car." In the end, my dad actually got to the judge early.

I also want to note that after the election, that newspaper, City Paper, ran the headline "NADAR LOSES!"

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"One word sums up probably the responsibility of any vice president, and that one word is 'to be prepared'.
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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by homer
We're allowed to sue for anything we want to in this country. That's not necessarily a good thing, but it's something we can do.

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Of course, but frivolous lawsuits make everything more expensive because companies need more lawyers. People should use discretion.

quote:

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...I certainly think he has a right to sue.

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Of course. As you said, for better or for worse, we always have that right.

quote:

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He was denied access twice for no real reason.

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As I said, the airlines are entitled to be arbitrary in their refusals. Now, if he was a member of a protected class (race, religion, sex) and subjected to discrimination as a result of that class, he'd have something. I don't see any evidence that he was. Maybe there's a case for harrassment - I'm not clear in my mind about what that legally entails.

quote:

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...it is certainly something that the Attorney General in the state should be involved with.

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I agree.

quote:

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...arbitrarily discriminate...

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An oxymoron - either they were arbitrary or they discriminated on the basis of something. Not all discrimination is even constitutionally prohibited, for instance weight or looks.

quote:

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I personally believe that our country protects the rights of corporations MUCH more than it protects the rights of consumers.

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Absolutely.

quote:

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At this point, suing is the only real recourse most of us have in seeking even just an apology from ruthless corporations.[QUOTE]Perhaps, for a given occurrance. But to protect all of us from similar events, grass-roots pressure on the legislature, while long term, seems like a better idea to me.

[QUOTE]This crap wouldn't be happening if Nader was involved in some way.

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So now that he's not running for office, why isn't he doing something about this?

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Jeff

Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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I also want to note that after the election, that newspaper, City Paper, ran the headline "NADAR LOSES!"

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__________________
We're all naked if you turn us inside out.
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Registered: Jan 2000
Location: Twin Cities, MN
Posts: 1683

quote:

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So now that he's not running for office, why isn't he doing something about this?

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Registered: Jul 2000
Location:
Posts: 3034

quote:

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Originally posted by GSR13
[...] When you purchase an Airline Ticket you open yourself up to restrictions, as governed by the airline. [...]

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Registered: Dec 2000
Location:
Posts: 175

Without addressing any of the substance here, and definitely not the legal questions because they're way too involved for a casual conversation, but did anybody notice that the guy's brother is the webmaster of that "newspaper?"

Registered: Mar 2001
Location: San Diego, California
Posts: 441

quote:

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Originally posted by Anomaly
Without addressing any of the substance here, and definitely not the legal questions because they're way too involved for a casual conversation, but did anybody notice that the guy's brother is the webmaster of that "newspaper?"

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Registered: Dec 1999
Location: "Children are a gift from God, they are a reward"
Posts: 1049

"I also want to note that after the election, that newspaper, City Paper, ran the headline "NADAR LOSES!

Who's NADAR? What are you responding to?"

Was he pointing out the mispelling of Nader's name?

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Registered: Mar 2001
Location: Out of my skull, back in five minutes
Posts: 1435

quote:

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Originally posted by miradu2000
What has the world come to, and how the hell am I going to be able to change it so I get back my freedoms.

---

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Registered: Nov 1999
Location: Ann Arbor, Michigan USA
Posts: 790

quote:

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Originally posted by Anomaly
Without addressing any of the substance here, and definitely not the legal questions because they're way too involved for a casual conversation, but did anybody notice that the guy's brother is the webmaster of that "newspaper?"

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Jeff