sanctions

“Get back to normal” has become Bush’s non-stop rallying cry. “Get back on the airplanes!” Yet, he and the GOP are fighting tooth and nail to keep airline security in the private sector, while releasing vague terrorist threats on what is becoming a weekly basis. Obviously, our safety is not high on their priority list, but keeping us ‘on guard’ and on edge, is. National security is apparently not as important as the interests of the airlines and all the money that they can contribute to the GOP. We can’t have all that money wasted on security staff making a living wage when it can go into GOP campaign coffers instead, now can we? “Get back to normal, get back to work, get back to the malls, spend money” is the other ridiculous cheer that is repeated over and over. Yet unemployment continues to grow, last month reaching twenty-year highs, and there is no sign of it leveling off, let alone reversing. But George can’t wait to give the most successful multi-billion dollar corporations even more cash in not only big money tax bonuses, but also tax refunds for the last 15 years. Why give money to people who need it least? Evidently, payback for his big money contributors is also far more important in this Time of War than food or medicine for US citizens that have suddenly found themselves without a paycheck. What do these pathetic bleatings have in common? Money.

This week Subash Gurung, a 27 year-old man from Nepal, here in the US on an expired student visa, who shares the same West Hollywood Chicago address as one of the 9/11 material witnesses that were arrested on 9/12 on that Amtrak train heading to San Antonio, (you remember, the ones with the box cutters, multiple passport photos, $5500 cash, and hair dye that were on a flight on 9/11, that was forced to land in St Louis when the FAA closed the skies to commercial aircraft), attempted to board a United flight to Omaha. While passing through a metal detector on his way to the aircraft, it was discovered that he had two knives in his pockets. Ok, I don’t know about the security staff at O’Hare, but for most people on the planet, this would be a red flag big enough to cause a huge uproar. Never mind that x-ray screeners missed the fact that he had seven knives, a can of pepper spray, and a stun gun in his carry on bag! (How do you miss seven knives and a stun gun? Even hair spray is getting confiscated!)Yet, the dimwitted security personnel, who Bush thinks are perfectly capable of doing this job because the lobbyists from Argenbright Security have given him large amounts of money to say so, didn’t even search his carry on bag at that point! It wasn’t until he got to the gate area, and was randomly searched, that the rest of the arsenal was discovered. According to CNN, “ [his] belongings were searched at the gate because he was red-flagged by what is called the Computer Assisted Passenger Profiling [CAPP] system, which calls for further scrutiny of some passengers for a variety of reasons….including those whose names are on a watch list and those who buy one-way tickets, pay cash, or travel frequently to certain destinations.” So this guy was suspected by software! A computer had more common sense than anyone else he had come into contact by that point, even though he had two knives in his pockets! To top this unfathomable breach, according to CNN, “A spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office said later there was "no nefarious or suspicious purpose" related to the man's intended flight from Chicago to Omaha, Nebraska.” WHAAAAAT? Is he serious? How many knives do warrant suspicion? Nine? Ten? What, seven doesn’t hit the “suspicion quota”? But wait! There’s MORE! (Now what would you pay?!) "There is no allegation that this incident involves any suspected terrorist activity," the FBI said in a statement.” Well maybe the FBI needs to start suspecting. Just because this hasn’t hit their own “terror list” yet, doesn‘t mean this guy is innocent, nor does it mean he’s guilty, and I am certainly against what some have called an “anti-immigrant witch hunt”, but how many people do you know normally carry around seven knives, a stun gun and pepper spray in a bag for “protection”, much less try to board an airplane with it??? Protection from what? Was he planning on fighting hijackers? I think anyone with that level of paranoia wouldn’t be flying right about now, do you? Yet at first, this guy was released on bond, and told to appear in court on Dec 19th! Ok, but what about his expired visa!? Does that mean he can still stay in the country for another month just to appear in court? (Why does all of this have a hard time fitting into my head at this point?) When he went back to claim his checked baggage he was rearrested. Why did it take that long for the ‘authorities’ to decide this wasn’t all copasetic? Are we really in the hands of such ineptness? What if he hadn’t come back to claim his bag? Perhaps all the law enforcement personnel that came into contact with this incident, from the police, to FBI and CIA, all need to be retrained! To my way of thinking, giving this guy the benefit of the doubt is just downright irresponsible. Has this man been living under a rock? Or is he just stupid? His “I was in a hurry” excuse to why he didn’t check his weapon collection just doesn’t wash with me since he had packed another knife in his checked baggage. Either way, he deserves to be in jail, stupid or not, for his own, and the rest of the public’s protection. How can anyone be that thought-free when the media has been reporting 24/7 the fact that the airlines have been confiscating items as trivial as tweezers now for over a month? It is almost the same as running through the airport terminal, screaming, BOMB! BOMB! BOMB! Airport personnel do not take that lightly and someone who does such a thing can be prosecuted; yet at first, this guy is given nowhere near that kind of scrutiny, and he had a CACHE OF WEAPONS in his carry on!

What is even more outrageous than this, is the audacity of Argenbright Security Inc., who said its airport employees "acted according to FAA guidelines and internal company procedures." Well, myself, and it appears everyone else in this country except Bush and his few House minions, think that these “guidelines” and “procedures” SUCK, and they certainly aren’t good enough for the national security and safety of the citizens of any country, let alone The United States of America. And why is our airline security, which anyone with an IQ of 19 can see is also national security, in the hands of a European-owned company? Yes, Aregenbright is a European held firm. That’s right, national security at 17 of the nation’s 20 busiest airports, is in the hands of a FOREIGN ENTITY, and that’s okay with the president!

In spite of all of this, Tom DeLay (R-I have a price) in all his pathetic transparent smugness said on Meet the Press, that he “saw no reason to pay people who screen bags a federal wage.” Well, maybe, just maybe Tom, if you are at all capable of seeing outside your dark little slimy box, the federal security staff that the Congress unanimously wants to put into place, not to mention the majority of people in this country, will be trained to do more than just screen bags more effectively! Maybe, since they’ll be trained law enforcement personnel, they will be able to see that huge light bulb go off when someone gets busted for trying to smuggle not one but two knives through a metal detector, and act appropriately. Maybe they’ll have the wherewithal and not wait for software to tell them, to go beyond screening his carry on, by not only hand checking, but perhaps, just perhaps, they’ll be able to psychologically profile these people as well. I think THAT warrants a living wage and federal employee status, much less having a smaller turnover rate than 100 to 400 percent!

Why on Earth should I get on an airplane right now? To help out the airline industry? Screw them. After getting a no-strings attached bailout from the government, they will also likely receive even more from Bush’s new economic stimulus corporate kiss ass payback package, yet they continue to lay off thousands of employees without a dime of severance pay. They also don’t think my safety is worth a security upgrade, but all the while they are keeping their multi-million dollar retirement packages in place. No, they don’t deserve my business until they stop being the greedy monsters they have become and manage to morph back into an industry remotely human, intelligent, responsible, compassionate, and find something resembling integrity. How about because it’s the “patriotic” thing to do? Screw that too. If my own president, illegally selected or not, and anyone else, puts the needs of the country at the bottom of their priority list, and by doing so places the country in danger, then they should be tried for, and found guilty of, sedition and treason. And if the Congress can’t see it’s way past this horrific lapse in policy and take action to protect the country, then they are guilty as well.

Words are cheap “Mr. President”. Baseball season is over. It’s time for action.