What kind of idiot, you ask? The same kind who calls in totally bogus bomb threats, when they haven't been within 100 feet of a bomb in their entire lives. The reason is to get a reaction. It must be really exciting to see that your taped photo caused an airline terminal to be evacuated.

The people ordering the evacuations are the bigger idiots, in my opinion. What did they think the photo was going to do?

Bruce

THIS IS THE KEY...........IDIOTS (notice I didn't say ****ing idiots?--- I am cleaning up my act)

I would like to discourage everyone from using this euphemism/acronym. The air marshals are a complete different group of professionals from the not-so-brites working the airport checkpoints. I hope to god that I never need to depend on an air marshall, but if I do the ones I have seen so far have displayed a professionalism that I have confidence and appreciation for.

mikey, I believe that the news article said that there was an inscription from FDR on the back of the metal. The Not-So-Brights probably don't have a clue who FDR was.

Yet another prime opportunity for a lawsuit.

"What made you decide to empty the terminal?"

"A picture"

"An explosive picture?"

"Um, no just a cut out"

"So, you're a...."

"Big fat dumb@$$?"

"Exactly. Pay every passenger $100 and get the hell out of my courtroom. Idiot."

------------------
"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

Are you so sure about that???????

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/005589.html

http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/Forum21/HTML/005589.html

Please don't forget the Air Marshal who had everybody sit with their hands on their heads on that flight in to Salt Lake City. Now, that's professionalism!

Yes, the Air Marshall program. Sponsored by Depends for Adults. Lovely.



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"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

I'm on another mailing list, where this was sent out yesterday:

Quote:

---

<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">
Security training sessions held last
week by the Airline Pilots Association (ALPA) demonstrated how items like
compact disks, wine bottles, soda cans, and souvenirs could be used as
weapons on an aircraft. The message from the lecturers was that flying is
far less secure than pilots hoped, Congress promised, or the traveling
public believes. Additionally, pilots and government officials say a
program to put thousands of Federal Air Marshals on flights has been hobbled
by insufficient training and poor-quality agents on loan from other
agencies. Last week the Department of Transportation's Inspector General
delivered a report to Congress saying that, despite claims to the contrary,
the Transportation Security Administration would not acquire enough
explosive detection machines to screen every bag by Dec. 31, as Congress has
mandated. On 2 May, a House subcommittee will hold hearings on the training
and arming pilots to use weapons aboard aircraft.

---

Everything may not be so perfect in the ranks of Air Marshals.

So now they are going to tak away our Teenage Ninja Turtle CDs?????

Actually I saw the not-so-brights hasseling a Greek or Russian Orthodox priest about his big Cross.

From the New York Times, 4/30/02:

Delta Executives Get an Earful

By JOE SHARKEY

A shareholder activist, Evelyn Y. Davis, gave Delta Air Lines executives an earful about boorish airport security guards and how they are scaring air travelers away.

Mrs. Davis, a philanthropist who flies to dozens of corporate annual meetings a year to share critical observations with company brass, complained at Delta's meeting in Washington on Friday that "ridiculous" and rude airport security checks of passengers hurt airline profits. Well-dressed women are often singled out for aggressive searches by some guards, she said.

"They like to pick on women who have a few more bucks than themselves," she groused. Security problems are also hurting the Delta Shuttle, where "a lot of people, they go through this one time and they figure, `I don't need this; I can take the train,' " she said.

Leo F. Mullin, Delta's chairman, conceded there was a problem. Though passenger confidence in air safety is being rebuilt, he said, "the so-called hassle factor associated with air travel has unquestionably increased significantly."

"That may rate as the most significant obstacle to getting the full complement of passengers back on the plane," he said.

Today's New York Times has an article about Dan Quayle's traveling experiences, focusing on his two episodes of deep-vein thrombosis. The article also mentions security:

"By the way, don't think that the airport security bureaucracy is unduly impressed when a former vice president shows up at the gate. That fair-haired fellow you see at the checkpoint in his stocking feet with his arms outstretched while a guard wands him under the ever-watchful eye of a rifle-toting National Guard warrior in camouflaged fatigues could well be Dan Quayle.

"On his recent trip to Taipei, he was about to board the plane when a security guard told him to step aside.

"She says, `Random check go over there,' " Mr. Quayle said. "I go, `Pardon me? What random check? Check for what?' And she says, `Go over there!' "

"Over there was an airline employee who apologized politely for the intrusion, while searching the former vice president's briefcase thoroughly. "A very nice lady, just doing her job," Mr. Quayle said.

"On another recent trip, he was at Reagan National Airport when a security guard discovered a pair of toenail clippers in his carry-on bag.

"It was hilarious," Mr. Quayle said. At the airport, lots of fellow passengers recognized him, at least as a famous governmental face. "Half the people said `Hi, Mr. Vice President,' and the other half said `Hi, Senator,' and this guy is sitting there watching," with the toenail-clipper contraband in hand, he said.

"Finally, he says. `Well, do you want this with the metal file on the end of it?' And I said, `Well, what's my choice here?' And he said, 'I can break it off and give you your nail clippers back. Otherwise I have to keep these as nail clippers.' I said, `Well, I'd like to have my nail clippers back.' So he just broke off" the file, "and I was on my way," Mr. Quayle said.
______________________

I hate to see people so accepting of this nonsense. A guy as well-known as Quayle should object. It would help all of us. Instead, he chooses to be one of the sheeple. Maybe he really is stupid!

Bruce

&lt;whistling...&gt; http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



------------------
"Give me Liberty or give me Death." - Patrick Henry

I've got an ever better story about "zero tolerance" for you guys. The famous Indian film actor Kamal Hassan was flying from Toronto to Los Angeles where he was scheduled to film part of his latest movie "Panchathathiram". When the US INS folks at Toronto asked him the reason for his trip, he replied that he was heading to LA to "shoot a movie". They then denied him entry to the US based on his use of the word "shoot" and their "zero tolerance" policy.

Of course, the less said by me about the geniuses at US INS in Toronto, the better....

And god forbid, if he got in a discussion about the movie and said " I hope this one doesn't bomb like another one I did".

We would probably have to evacuate a few terminals.

How can we be so STUPID?