Letters to the Editor
msdiscus
Published Letters: 44
-
@ Weeping Pt 2
[Read the article: Obama "outraged" by Wright]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]You can characterize these people as uninformed, racist, sexist, rigid, backward, gun loving, Bible thumpers, you can characterize them however you want to but it doesn’t change the reality that these people vote in large numbers. What is “silly season” for progressives can be a core issue for Joe and Jane Voter. They aren’t impressed much by those huge, young chanting crowds, it doesn’t resonate with them. And to the Obama supporters who try to drown out anything and anyone who dare question their candidates bona fides, that won’t matter to them either.
For the general, we need these heartland voters and thinking that we can ignore them because they don‘t understand what Obama is trying to do is a fatal misconception. And such an attitude will do nothing but give us at least 4 more years of the Bush “legacy”.
-
Oversensitive? NOT
[Read the article: Miley Cyrus: Daddy's little hurl]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]No one should be attacking the RT until they have seen the video.... Maybe that photo with Dad combined with the photo shoot video are being conflated with news stories about a "religious" cult with 13 & 14 year old girls forced into a "marriage" with much older men, some of them relatives. I think not, though.
Maybe some of us are somewhat over sensitized by what we are hearing about the FLDS compound in TX, although I wonder if it is possible to be oversensitive to what amounts to the systematic rape of underage girls, while their mothers stand idly by, secure in the brainwashing of several generations.
Something about that video of the photo shoot and the pic of Miley/Billy Ray that prompts a visceral reaction from some of us, if we are honest with our selves. I tried to look at it dispassionately through my very open minded, liberal, well educated and broadly experienced eyes. It still hit my gag reflex.
-
@ Patrick Smith
[Read the article: Remember when it was fun to fly?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually, for a period of time the "no photo rule" came about as the result of how a regulation was being interpreted and "guidance" to the TSA Aviation Security Inspectors (formerly FAA Special Agents - not checkpoint screeners but Inspectors charged with enforcing the applicable regs).
When someone in DC finally got the message from the field how utterly ridiculous it was, the new guidance came down from DC that TSA really didn't have the authority to restrict photos everywhere in the airport, be it land side or airside so photos would be OK if they weren't directed toward the checkpoint.
Then, TSA hired an outside contractor to help them with their image. They realized they couldn't sell the public on all that "state of the art" equipment (yeah right) as well as certain checkpoint procedures without "visuals".
Plus, some of the Inspectors were in the mutiny phase of their TSA careers and decided that it was a damn silly interpretation of the reg, not to mention adding nothing to security. So it was quietly dropped altogether in late 2005 or early 2006. Hence the confusion.
I can speak with a small bit of authority on this as a former TSA Inspector who was part of the mutiny. But you have to realize those are decisions being made way above the field's pay grade by people who may have had a sterling career in the military or law enforcement but not so much when it came to civil aviation.
It was one of the most frustrating jobs of my life and I understand the frustration of other aviation professionals like yourself. But believe it or not TSA is evolving or at least was beginning to when I left the agency last year. It may be hard to see at the large Cat X airports, at Cat I airports it is generally more apparent. Love your column BTW.
-
@ Eric Free
[Read the article: Remember when it was fun to fly?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Actually some of those cases have made it through the court system in different jurisdictions. The courts have overwhelmingly ruled that air travel is not a "right" but a privilege. I am not defending any TSA officer who may have been rude to you but legally, if you don't want to be subjected to the screening procedures there is always Greyhound.
And the TSA Officers don't make the rules about removing shoes nor do they particularly like it, it makes their job more difficult. Fact of the matter is that with budget cuts and staffing shortages having everyone remove their shoes results in fewer metal detector alarms which result in the time & staff consuming "additional screening" that many people are so fond of. This also moves the que quicker, at least according to the metrics.