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Old Mar 30, 2002 | 6:17 pm
  #1  
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profiling....

To ensure we Americans never offend anyone, particularly any fanatics intent on killing us, airport screeners are not allowed to profile people. They will, however, continue to perform 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, Retired Generals who have been awarded th Medal of Honor and 85-year old Congressmen with metal hips.

Let's pause a moment and take the following test...

In 1972, 11 Israeli athletes were killed at the Munich Olympics by:
(a) Grandma Moses;
(b) The night cleaning crew at Rockefeller Center;
(c) Invaders from Mars; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1979, the U.S. embassy in Iran was taken over by:
(a) Norwegians from the Lichen Herbarium of the University of Oslo;
(b) Elvis;
(c) A tour bus full of 80-year-old women; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1983, the U.S. Marine barracks in Beirut was blown up by:
(a) A pizza delivery boy;
(b) Crazed feminists complaining that having to throw a grenade beyond its own burst radius in basic training was an unfair and sexist job requirement;
(c) Geraldo Rivera making up for a slow news day; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1988, Pan Am Flight 103 was bombed by:
(a) Luca Brazzi, for not being given a part in "Godfather 2";
(b) The Tooth Fairy;
(c) Butch and Sundance, who had a few sticks of dynamite left over
from their train mission; or
d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

In 1993, the World Trade Center was bombed by:
(a) The entire cast of "Cats";
(b) Martha Stewart;
(c) Cheeze-crazed tourists from Wisconsin; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

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 to promote its next villain:
"Mustapha the Merciless"; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

On 9/11/01, four airliners were hijacked and destroyed by:
(a) Bugs Bunny, Wil E. Coyote, Daffy Duck, and Elmer Fudd.
(b) The US Supreme Court, trying to outdo their hijacking of the 2000 Presidential election;
(c) Barney; or
(d) Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40.

Hmmm...nope, ain't no patterns here. Darned if I know why we should ever even think about profiling....

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Old Mar 30, 2002 | 6:40 pm
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I agree with you one hundred percent! When Michael P. Jackson gets his head out of his rear...we might see some changes. Traveling through airports is not about being PC or about people's comfort zones anymore. It's about getting where you're going...alive. And, if the DOT doesn't stop imposing these ridiculous regulations (random searches, dump searching checked baggage at counters, etc), the U.S. Airlines will really suffer. Why? Because the majority of people who fall under the "random" search profile, are our frequent traveling business-folks whose companies bring in the highest revenues for the industry. And what will those high fare-paying business folks do when they get irritated enough by these absurd security requirements? Charter. People need to start writing their congressional reps. I watched Senator Jim Jeffords get "random" searched on his way out of our airport just a few weeks ago...he didn't look too thrilled.

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Old Mar 30, 2002 | 9:02 pm
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That same exact "quiz" was already discussed in OMNI.

As I said in that one, since you guys think we should spend 100% of our time looking at "Muslim males of Middle Eastern extraction between the ages of 17 and 40" what happens when the above group of people starts traveling with false credentials that suggest they're white or American citizens? Or younger or older than the above age range? Or gets their wife, grandmother or child to smuggle things past security?

How about the young Palestinian girl who blew herself up today or yesterday in Israel? The Palestinians pioneered airplane terrorism, they were responsible for the first major hijacking with worldwide media coverage. They can use women in their plots it would seem.

I guess we're also forgetting the fact that OKC was bombed by a white American, and John Walker is also a white American.

I was watching Vegas Week on the travel channel. They had a head of security at the Rio hotel talking; she said something along the lines of "We don't have a profile for who were're looking for. We have to watch everyone or we'd miss a lot of stuff."

d
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Old Mar 30, 2002 | 9:14 pm
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That person has nothing to worry about, a terrorist attack on the Rio would be a compliment to the establishment!!! (What self respecting terrorist would go after something off the strip??)
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Old Mar 31, 2002 | 5:35 am
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While no profiling system is going to be 100% accurate, and yes, we still need to be vigilant regardless of race, one must remember that the specific threats regarding the airlines came from the Middle East. If you had any access to FAA Information Circulars (which the airlines do), you would know that bin Laden has been warning the US of an attack such as the one on 09/11 for several years. The threats were specifically targeted at United States airlines, but no one wanted to "offend" or be "politically incorrect". Look what happened. Yes - security is lacking in many areas and as more sophisticated weapons come onto the market - it always will be. But, there is a group of people out there who hate everything to do with this country because of our foreign policy, who have hold no regard for innocent life, and we need to take those threats seriously.
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Old Mar 31, 2002 | 7:53 am
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Funny - so many have a problem with profiling. But, we have had ONE, count them one time in history that bad guys took over planes and used them as weapons. And based on this ONE incident,
we have CHOSEN to spend billions of dollars to guard against it happening again.
We have CHOSEN to see people go without jobs, go homeless, not feed or educate their children because of this one day.
We have CHOSEN to slow down the economy.
We have CHOSEN to do lots of silly things like not allow parking in parts of the airport parking garages.
We have CHOSEN to force people to drive and risk more injury than flying.

Are we STUPID or what?
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Old Mar 31, 2002 | 10:53 am
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<font face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" size="2">Originally posted by NoStressHere:


Are we STUPID or what?
</font>
1)The check iss in the mail.
2)Im from the government and Im here to help you.
3) I forgot what the 3rd one was
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Old Mar 31, 2002 | 6:34 pm
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Government doing profiling should be against the law. It leads to government tracking all citizens and monitoring their activities. It is too much power to give to the government.
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