Yet another reason not to fly on the airlines

The Department of Transportation has just implemented a new System of Records under the Privacy Act of 1974. Under this system, all airline passengers will be classified as terrorist suspects. They will be subject to the collection of their personal data, which otherwise would require a court order, and subject to revocation of their right to be hired or retain employment, the issuance of a security clearance, a license, contract, grant, or other benefit. Tthis process will be undertaken without their knowledge or consent.

To see a description of this system, http://www.disastercenter.com/tsa.pdfclick here.

For more on this subject, http://www.disastercenter.com/click here.

For an example of what is already happening to some airline passengers, http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/politics/ny-nybres243144609feb24,0,2135199.column?coll=ny-lipolitics-printclick here.

Of course, it may not be long before the same system is applied to GA…

There is something VERY wrong here. This is the sort of government behavior many Americans (and others) died to stop. Now we’re doing it ourselves. What’s even worse is that there doesn’t seem to be the outcry such an abuse of government power ought to bring.
I always thought that legitamite governments derived their rights through the consent of the governed. I guess we’re giving our consent by remaining silent. It’s disgraceful.

Does the public realize what is happening to their rights? It is all happening behind the saber rattling [:(][:(][:(]

Rodger, may I forward your posting to my email list?

It’s starting to get attention in mainstream media (CNN tonight at least). I’ll bet–hope–this one “doesn’t fly.”

A little fuel for the Fire…Profiling?

Please pause a moment, reflect back, and take the following Multiple Choice test.

(The events are actual cuts from past history. They actually happened! Do you remember?)

  1. In 1972 at the Munich Olympics, athletes were kidnapped and massacred by:
    a. Olga Corbett
    b. Sitting Bull
    c. Arnold Schwartzeneger
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  2. In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
    a. Lost Norwegians
    b. Elvis
    c. A tour bus full of 80-year-old women
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  3. During the 1980’s a number of Americans were kidnapped in Lebanon by:
    a. John Dillinger
    b. The King of Sweden
    c. The Boy Scouts
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  4. In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
    a. A pizza delivery boy
    b. Pee Wee Herman
    c. Geraldo Rivera
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  5. In 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70 year old American passenger was murdered and thrown overboard in his wheelchair by:
    a. The Smurfs
    b. Davy Jones
    c. The Little Mermaid
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  6. In 1985 TWA flight 847 was hijacked at Athens, and a U.S. Navy diver trying to rescue passengers was murdered by:
    a. Captain Kid
    b. Char
    c. The Lion King
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  7. In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
    a. Scooby Doo
    b. The Tooth Fairy
    c. Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  8. In 1993 the World Trade Center was bombed the first time by:
    a. Richard Simmons
    b. Grandma Moses
    c. Michael Jordan
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  9. In 1998, the U.S. embassies in Kenya and Tanzania were bombed by:
    a. Mr. Rogers
    b. Hillary, to distract attention from Wild Bill’s women problems
    c. The World Wrestling Federation
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  10. On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked; two were used as missiles to take
    out the World Trade Center and of the remaining two,one crashed into the
    US Pentagon and the other was diverted to a crash by the passengers.
    Thousands of people were killed by:
    a. Bugs Bunny, Wiley E. Coyote, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd
    b. The Supreme Court of Florida
    c. Mr. Bean
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  11. In 2002 the United States fought a war in Afghanistan against:
    a. Enron
    b. The Lutheran Church
    c. The NFL
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

  12. In 2002 reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and murdered by:
    a. Bonny and Clyde
    b. Captain Kangaroo
    c. Billy Graham
    d. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Nope, I really don’t see a pattern here to justify profiling, do you?

So, to ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly fanatics intent on killing us, airport security screeners will no longer be allowed to profile certain people. They must conduct random searches of 80-year-old women, little kids, airline pilots with proper identification, Secret Service agents who are members of the President’s security detail, 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips, and Medal of Honor winning former Governors.

Let’s send this to as many people as we can so that the Gloria Aldreds and other dunderheaded attorneys along with Federal Justices that want to thwart common sense feel doubly ashamed of themselves.

As the writer of the award winning story Forest Gump so aptly put it,
“Stupid is as stupid does!”

To (a) avoid the hassle and wasted time of current security screening, and (b) partake as often as possible of the joy of piloting one’s own craft, I avoid airline travel wherever possible. Even at 150 kt, it’s door-to-door time competitive out to at least 1000 nm, and a lot more fun.

My employer proscribes use of personal aircraft for business-related travel (liability exposure I guess), but my only personal use of the airlines in the past year and a half has been to pick up, or return home from dropping off, a GA plane.

Bob,

For one thing you can do to help, http://www.moveon.org/winwithoutwar/click here. If we can cut back on the saber-rattling, the other affronts to our liberty will have a chance to get people’s attention.

Cheers,
Roger

Dante,

Certainly! See also http://www.aero-news.net/news/commercial.cfm?ContentBlockID=8190http://www.aero-news.net/news/commercial.cfm?ContentBlockID=8190.

Cheers,
Roger

Unfortunately, according to the newspaper this morning (Charlotte Observer, Charlotte, NC), its a done deal. Delta Airlines has already started the program at three unnamed “test airports”, and all airlines at all airports will be in the program by year’s end.

When asked about it on CNN last night, a TSA official said …its not an option and its not a temporary thing. Its a permanent change in the way we collect information about the flying public, the kinds of information we collect about the public, and with whom we share that information. We will go forward with this program until such time as Congress or the Supreme Court order us to quit.

From now on, I will only fly commercially if its an emergency and the flight range is such that I can not fly myself in time. If I DO fly commercially, I’ll pay by cash or money order and give only my passport as identification (no address to look up and no database information to link to my personal data[:)]). I know that will get me profiled by the screeners, but remember its an emergency and therefore rare, plus I can sit back and laugh at them as they waste their time with me.

Did we loose the war with the Soviets and someone forget to tell us about it ? It is all very drastic stuff.

Jaap

Agree 100%. We are wasting time and money searching 70 year old grandmothers at the checkpoints. The other day a lady being searched in front of me at the gate had an antique nail file taken from her…she could have been escorted out of the security area or have the file taken from her with ‘no way to get it back’. Ridiculous.

I could not disagree more strongly with you and Gary when you suggest that we should be singling out Arabs and/or Muslims for special screening.

Gary’s list of a bunch of terrorist actions left out many which were NOT commited by Arabs or Muslims. How about the Oklahoma City bombing? How about Ted Kaczynski (aka Unabomber)? How about the various bombs by the IRA in the UK? How about the Sarin gas attack in the Tokyo subway? Or the bombing in the Altana Olympics? I’m sure I could go on, but these are just ones off the top of my head.

To say that we should profile Muslims and Arabs because we can think of SOME terrorist acts performed by those groups is no more effective than saying we should detain all Japanese Americans because of Pearl Harbor.

Although I am starting to doubt it, I always thought (hoped?) that the United Stated of America thought highly of civil rights. It is completely unfair to treat the millions of law-abiding Arab and Muslim citizens, residents, and visitors to the US as potential suspects, which assuming that the millions of blonde-haired, blue-eyed white Americans are incapable of such horrible actions. That is the crux of the problem of racial profiling – you cannot justify treating such a large group of people poorly for an extended period of time, just because some miniscule percentage of that group may be bad apples.

Steve

The list was passed on to me because I was on someone’s distribution chain…I do not agree with singling out any group, by any measure for any reason. The irony, imho, relates to what our government (TSA, HomeLand Security) is doing on a daily basis to rein in a lot of freedoms we all take for granted. This is being done in the name of national security by people who can ignore due process when it suits their goals.

I submit that in a lot of ways, our government is reacting to real and imagined threats by mandating changes in the way we enjoy our liberties. Profiling is but one of the ugly tendrils that will further act to polarize the public and lead to divisveness.

As pilots, we are already subject to profiling at it’s worst. What other constituency has lost as many rights in the past 90 days.

Steve, I disagree with profiling all the more because I know what it now feels like to lose rights that are granted to all citizens, except of course those of us that need an Airman Certificate.

Steve:
For the most part I agree with you. We should not be profiling U.S. citizens of any race, culture, or religion. That is simply giving in to the terrorists. What they strive for is disruption of the gov’t through fear, unrest, and uncertainty. What our gov’t is doing is EXACTLY what the terrorists wanted them to do - generating fear and unrest among the citizenry. That fear and unrest will backlash on the gov’t, causing them to second-guess their prior decisions, and the whole system will bog down and grind to a halt.
However, you are right that terrorists come in all “flavors”. I disagree with what we should do about resident aliens and visitors. People seem to forget that, to have the “rights” guaranteed by our constitution for U.S. citizens, you have to BE one! I think each and every short-term visitor, long-term visa applicant, and naturalization applicant should be extensivley scrutinized and constantly monitored, regardless of country of origin. When determined to be non-threatening, they subsequently should be left alone. If there is ANY significant possiblity they are a threat, we should treat them like every other country treats undesirable Americans - they should be stripped of all documentation and U.S. acquired assests and tossed across the nearest international border, and never allowed to even request re-entry to the country. This includes members of the IRA, GreenPeace, etc, etc., not just muslim fanatics!

Steve: I agree with you, but I am internally divided on the issue. If I recall correctly, it was an American girl, or at least an adolescent of European descent, who actually unwittingly carried the bomb aboard Pan Am Flt. #103. No screening of Arab men would have caught her. But conversely, it really seems that there needs to be a better way than to strip search a couple of octagenerians on a flight from Omaha to Dallas.

Yes, it would seem true that perhaps the TSA should avoid enhanced screening measures of U.S. veterans, especially war veterans (like Tim McVeigh), U.S. born, American college professors (like Ted Kaczinski) or whatever. But the flip side is also true, if we are looking for Arab/muslim, Al Queda sympathizer terrorists, shouldn’t we pay extra attention to non-U.S citizens of arab descent?

IMO, there is a very thin line between responsible police procedures and discrimination. I would hope that “profiling,” unfortunately a very dirty word, would be able to walk that line. Nothing is perfect, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try.

We all complain when our government blindly follows guidelines regardless of the lack of thought in enforcement actions, but those are the very guidelines that were instituted to take the potential for prejudice, arbitrariness and capriciousness out of the process. Sometimes, we have to choose the lesser of evils, not an idealistic goal. It becomes a very tough line when in order to protect “our rights” it is those very rights that get trampled.

Whenever selected for additional searches at the airport, I always thank the security guards, especially when they apologize. I understand that the inconvenience is for my safety. As long as the inspections are not demeaning, then let’s swallow a little pride.

Speaking of security, my publicly owned airport with well over 400 based planes has for years had no fences or gates. I’ve complained about this ever since I’ve been there. I’ve seen people smoking (between above ground self fueling tanks, and sitting on airplane watching events at the airport. Finally, they are installing gates, no fences, just gates. Well, it’s a start.

Marty

In reply to:


As pilots, we are already subject to profiling at it’s worst. What other constituency has lost as many rights in the past 90 days.

Steve, I disagree with profiling all the more because I know what it now feels like to lose rights that are granted to all citizens, except of course those of us that need an Airman Certificate.


Gary,
Sorry if I misunderstood your post; I had thought that you were advocating profiling.
I agree that pilots seem to be unfairly targeted; probably because we are a fairly small portion of the electorate.
I would humbly suggest, however, that we are not the most affected by the Administration’s reactions to 9/11. I can think of other groups (non-citizen residents of our country who now have to ‘register’ their whereabouts with the INS and who are subject to indefinite detainment with no charges and no lawyers; US citizens who, for any reason and without any review, are branded ‘enemy combatants’ by our Government and thus lose whatever rights are normally afforded to them by the Constitution; the prisoners being held in Guantanamo Bay and around the world without any trials or charges or Geneva-Convention-prescribed treatment; etc.)

Steve

Steve , do you suggest we let the people at G. Bay out? Great idea! How about we just open the gates and let Castro deal with them. I give 'em about 2 days before they are on a leakey boat to God knows where or dead. Better yet, lets give them all a green card make them eligable for social security, set up gov. funded housing, tell them we are very sorry for any hardship we may have caused ,and throw in a couple of grand for their trouble. Oh yea one more thing, all those new houses the feds are going to build with your tax money are just down the street from you home. I say profil away coming back for Salt Lake City after a ski trip last year my 8yr old son was forced to take off his shoes and socks and be humiliated while a dishelved 17-40 yr old Arabic male with absolutly no use of English and a full length buttoned up coat was allowed to pass without a second look! The same man was arrested in a SW state 1 day later. And set to guess where, G. Bay!! I hope he stays there for a very long time.

In reply to:


Steve , do you suggest we let the people at G. Bay out?


Mike, no I am not saying that we should just open the gates and let them all out. I’m saying that as human beings, they are entitled to know WHY they are being held (i.e. receive charges), and have a chance to confront their accusers, present evidence and be heard (i.e. receive a trial). I reject the notion that some all-seeing and all-knowing Government can arbitrarily decide that these people present a danger, and can be locked up indefinitely, in violation of the Geneva convention.

In reply to:


I say profil away coming back for Salt Lake City after a ski trip last year my 8yr old son was forced to take off his shoes and socks and be humiliated while a dishelved 17-40 yr old Arabic male with absolutly no use of English and a full length buttoned up coat was allowed to pass without a second look!


I hope you agree that ANY PERSON, regardless of race, ability to speak or understand English, or how disheleved they may appear, has the right to not be captured and locked up indefinitely with no right to a trial, or charges.

I know that I sometimes (always?) appear disheleved and have not always had a good grasp of the native language of countries that I have visited. I am glad, however, that these countries’ police forces have not taken these qualities and determined that I was to be locked up because of them, or that I was any more of a threat to their national security than anyone else.

As for searches on commercial flights, I am not sure it does much good (i.e. I don’t necessarily support TSA’s approach to searching) but I can tell you that I’d MUCH rather have to undergo occasional searches than to somehow be immune to them because of my race, appearance, or grasp of English, whereas others would always be subject to them because they are Arabic.

Steve

P.S. (this section added after my original post) For those of you who support profiling, consider this. I believe most of the Sept 11th hijackers possessed SOME kind of FAA certificate, from Student to Commercial. One could argue that the increased restrictions being placed on the GA community after Sept 11th is very reasonable. After all, since most of the hijackers held pilots certificates, and did all of their actual flying prior to 9/11 in GA aircraft, it’s only reasonable to assume then that ALL GA pilots are a risk and thus restrict all of them.

To be clear, I reject GA pilot profiling as much as racial profiling; just pointing out that I can’t understand being pro-racial profiling but anti-GA-pilot profiling.

In reply to:


My employer proscribes use of personal aircraft for business-related travel


Kevin, you should come and work for me. I require it!