anrkitec

Ahem...

BayArea.com

"Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu said Friday that no charges were filed because the belongings in the suitcase were not a fake bomb. If the couple had a fake bomb, they could have been sentenced to a maximum three years in prison if convicted."


Trenchant huh?

Thank God almighty we do not [yet anyway] live in Brian's Kafkaesque nightmare world where every misunderstanding or mistake on the part of the government and private citizens must per force be fought out in court. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif



[This message has been edited by anrkitec (edited 01-10-2003).]

Brian

Please try not to misquote me, if you can rise to that level.

I was incredibly clear in what I said... "they are subject to the decisions of the judicial system, who will assess the evidence in bringing charges or not, and ultimately finding them guilty or not. The purpose of a trial is to make these determinations."

If you intend to fabricate what I say or think, try to be a tiny bit more subtle about it. You would be more effective.

Since you asked, I do not believe in the existentialist philosophy of the world as a cold and inhospitable or indifferent place. I believe the world and people are basically good. I do believe in personal accountability, however, for the consequences of one's own choices. The choice this couple made led to the consequence of being removed from a plane and jailed while their actions and motives were studied. Excellent.

My viewpoints are strong and solid enough that they require no embellishment from you or anyone else.

Thank you.

Plato90s

For pulling an idiotic prank like this, being pulled off the flight and thrown in jail for at least overnight (possibly longer) seems like sufficient punishment.

Make political statements, but remember that civil protestors went to jail without a fight. Nobody who engaged in civil disobedience claimed to have been ignorant of the possible consequences.

So this Maine couple made their point.

The government made its point in return.

We'll see if any more "protestors" would like to be pulled from their flight, arrested, and thrown in jail.

Spiff

"Assistant District Attorney Karyn Sinunu said Friday that no charges were filed because the belongings in the suitcase were not a fake bomb. If the couple had a fake bomb, they could have been sentenced to a maximum three years in prison if convicted."

Sounds like tazi's suggestion of a fruitcake and a note will work just fine. I've now got a little message in my carryon for the occasional and very unwelcome random gate harassment.

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

SinJin

Personally, I hope they lock them for a long time!

bdschobel

Well, your hopes have been dashed. These people haven't even been CHARGED with a crime, let alone convicted. Does that tell you something? It should!

Bruce

anrkitec

I did not misquote you because I did not quote you. End of story.

I gave what clearly were my own feelings about your statements, nothing more than that. No further clarification was or is needed. You say that you disagree with my interpretation, fine.

Please.

Your notion that the thoughts, ideas, and opinions that you present here are somehow sacrosanct and therefore protected against additional comment by others is silly at best.

NoStressHere

Why do you want them locked up?

They did not have a bomb.
They did not have a fake bomb.
They did not have prohibited items.

They did make a statement which is covered under freedom of speech. By the way, that statement did NOT include bomb, or fire or anything like that.

If anyone gets thrown in jail, it should be the authorities that over reacted causing distress to not only these two people, but surely other travelers.

SinJin

NoStressHere, according to Spiff's post and quoting the CNN piece, the couple "rigged up a fake bomb in their checked luggage" and added a note.

Even a fake bomb is frowned upon by ALL law enforcement agencies and normal citizens.
Would like to get a fake one placed under your desk at work? Might cause your blood pressure to rise for a while...

[This message has been edited by SinJin (edited 01-11-2003).]

anrkitec

Funny thing.

When this 'story' broke it was plastered all over the headlines and homepages of all the news services.

Today the only retractions/clarifications I can find are buried within the various websites.

Hmmm.

flowerchild

Everything is viewed as potential terrorism. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/rolleyes.gif Will power strips be the next suspect/banned items? As silly as it seems, I need a strip plus a two prong plug when visiting family members who live in older homes with not enough outlets or those which will only accept thin, same size blades. I've started packing anything with an electrical cord in a big ZipLoc bag and putting it in a tray at *security*. Even then, when there's NO DOUBT about what's in plain view, the TSA**** still want to handle my hairdryer. "It might be concealling something since it has all those wires and stuff in there." The TSA's the REAL reason no one wants to fly.

Brian

The reason airlines are suffering a loss in revenue is a general business contraction, not the TSA, of course.

This contraction is caused by many, many reasons, most of which have nothing to do with flying itself, which is nothing more than a business tool, like a computer, or a phone system.

To the extent the airlines are suffering from revenue loss dur to industry related reasons, these are far more likely related to the 9/11 attacks than the TSA, which flys below the radar of attention of 99% of the general popuulation.

If we suffered another substantial air attack, however, it could well lead to the nationalization of the entire airline industry, which would be forced into general collapse by a lack of public confidence.

And if you don't like the amenities now, think of spending the next 20 years flying the US equivalent of Aeroflot, with a mandate of providing a transportation infrastructure to the country, nothing more and nothing less.

bdschobel

"Of course"??? Really, Brian, even you must realize that this is at best an over-simplification and a statement that you can't possibly support with evidence. Personally, I believe -- note "BELIEVE" -- that airport security really has driven away passengers. More importantly, airline executives have said the same thing on numerous occasions. They might have some basis for their statements.

At the same time, I will be the first to admit that things have gotten better under the TSA, but we aren't done yet!

Bruce

Kremmen

I would suggest that that's totally unlikely to be true. I suspect that the enormous extra delays the TSA is causing are killing short distance travel in the USA, since people are just renting cars instead. I would further suggest that the massive loss of international tourism to the USA is the TSA's fault as well.

If I didn't have specific reasons to visit the US, I would certainly avoid doing so while this inane opening of checked luggage is going on and I'd bet a large amount of money that the rest of the world's attitude to visiting the US is the same. The probability of coming into contact with a terrorist while visiting the US is less than the chance of being struck by lightning, while the probability of having ones luggage lock broken and belongings searched and potentially stolen or damaged is quite unreasonable high.

NoStressHere

It was originally "reported" to be a fake bomb. Further review indicated it was NOT a fake bomb and charges were dropped, yet you still wanted to lock them up.

As I said before, those that decided to cause these people trouble should be the ones locked up.