APW Girl

Is everyone ready for the lithium battery thing that starts January 1st?

MrAndy1369

We technically don't - we actually are a republic.

But, yeah, I agree with peachfront. It's really sad that in our own country, some people are afraid to speak up against the government and be labelled as protestors because of some no-fly list.

chollie

I think that's your answer...they DON'T get treated the way we do. For starters, at the very least they will be in an elite line on most, if not all, occasions when they do fly commercial. If one of them is unfortunate enough to end up on the 'no-fly' list, somehow the 'system' works and they manage to get their name removed.

vesicle

Well I didn't feel I had to point out the obvious but apparently I should have...my point was the society/government is not democratic.

Geez

And I agree with Chollie...how APWgirl could even think lawmakers have the same irritations as us normal folks is funny. People in positions of power and wealth simply do not have the same experiences.

Points Scrounger

They can't do anything because this falls under the jurisdiction of DHS/TSA. They had a hard enough time getting This Administration to back off on the passport fiasco!

Chollie: The Congresspersons' staffers still have to go through security like the rest of us. They are well aware of how badly the system needs revision.

jcwoman

I think it's hard to get congressmen to do anything about this for the same reason they avoid tax increases at any cost, even if it's for a genuinely good issue. (Northern Virginia is currently having a huge amount of angst over traffic issues, struggling to find some solution that doesn't require tax increases to fund.) Politicians will twist and turn to avoid those items that they know will get them skewered in the media.

Or another example, many years ago a telemarketer called me selling lightbulbs to supposedly get money to help abused children. After the man finally took a breath I told him I wasn't interested (in anonymous light bulbs from some stupid telemarketer). His response was a shocked "you're not interested in helping abused children??" I hung up on him, I was so offended that he'd twisted my meaning around like that.

Those are the same people who will twist the security issue around on the politicians and print newspaper headlines that proclaim "Congressman Smith Not Interested in Safety of American Citizens!"

polonius

That's actually not true. Ted Kennedy famously ended up on the selectee list, and congressman Ted Stevens has repeatedly publicly voiced frustration over the repeated hassles his wife, Catherine, has endured because singer-songerwriter "Cat" Stevens has been put on the no-fly list.

lucky9876coins

Extremely well written article! WOW!!!^

bdschobel

...and just as famously called the Secretary of Homeland Security to have himself removed, which was done. That's not an option available to the average citizen.

Bruce