Letters to the Editor
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Buy a fast car
Some of us are not complaining, we just quietly quit flying.
Buy a fast car, leave a day early, enjoy the ride.
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Got Milk?
The complete lack of logic behind the current ban on liquids hits very close to home for me. I am a nursing mother and a lawyer. I routinely travel for business with a breast pump in tow. Next week, I have to travel to Europe and I won't be able to pump milk, freeze it, and bring it back on the plane with me as I usually do. I will need to either go through the hassle and expense of shipping it internationally or "pump and dump." Meanwhile, it's the same milk that will be IN MY BREASTS while I am flying. That's right!! I will be carrying on two breasts full of milk in clear violation of the ban on liquids--Oh, the horror.
Ridiculous.
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I hate the new regulations
It's absolutely ridiculous that we have to be terrified of water and mascara. I've had enough chemistry to know that it isn't nearly as simple to make a bomb as the government seems to think it is. But what can we do other than acquiesce? I'm afraid to use the word "bomb" in an airport, even if I'm only talking quietly to my husband. People are being arrested for smuggled soda onto an airplane and threatened for wearing the wrong t-shirt. I hate not being able to take my own water on the plane - the little cans they give you aren't nearly enough to keep me hydrated. But what can anybody do except go along? I can't take the time to drive 2,000 miles this christmas, and I can't afford to charter a plane... so I'm stuck. Don't think that everybody is thrilled with these new developments - we just don't have any choices.
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Americans no longer have any fortitude
O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free and the home of the brave?How can anyone of us sing the verses of our National Anthem with a straight face anymore? We are fast becoming the land of the not-so-free and the home of the timid and fearful. Those who accept these irrational measures as a necessary price for security -- along with those who attack any effort to preserve our freedoms at home as treasonous and pro-terrorist -- deserve their fate. Just please don't take me down with you.
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It's worse than ridiculous...
... but what's the alternative?
I live in California. I need to be in DC this week for a conference and Memphis next week for a different conference. It's not like I can drive or take a train - even if there was a train connection, it wouldn't be on time.
So I fly. So I bend over and take it. So I carry on my empty water bottle and am told that I may not fill it on the plane ... at least, in part, to avoid spooking any of my fellow travellers who might think I have the makings of a bomb. After all, I am not interested in having my flight diverted, or ending up in handcuffs, or worse.
The terrorists must be so pleased.
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In every cloud, an opportunity
In the shoe store today, I found a pair labeled "Airport Friendly - No Steel Shank". At first I laughed, but then I realized this is an idea that could catch on... airport friendly clothing with plastic zippers, airport friendly computer bags made of see-through material, airport friendly baby formula with "certified, non-volatile ingredients." I can envision the internet storefronts and mail-order catalogs now, all hawking travel gear that's sure to pass inspection.
Of course we'll need a pre-certification agency, to set standards for all the Airport Friendly (TM) products that will be coming down the pike. Standards that guarantee that no two lipsticks can be pressed together and make a plastic explosive, that shoelaces and neckties will break if they are used as a garrote, that note paper is not sharp enough to slice an artery. The government could set that up, or better yet, outsource it to a private company. Maybe even to the airlines themselves.
It's a guaranteed sell... if your clothes and possessions are "AF-Listed", you're good to go.
Of course, there will be technical hurdles to overcome. We'll need sterile litmus paper that can be dipped into mother's milk to test for poison. And radation-free body-cavity scanners. Because if drug-runners can swallow plactic bags full of heroin and pass undetected, why can't two or three saboteurs swallow the components of a liquid explosive? (Safety tip: be very suspicioius of passengers chewing Ex-Lax just before boarding).
Yes, it's a new world full of new dangers. But cheer up - in every danger, an opportunity!
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Ridiculous
If liquids are the issue, why allow them any where near the airport? Why are liquids safe in the terminal up to the security screening and dangerous past there? When gate vendors have their supplies delivered are the liquids checked? The illogic of these restrictions are mind boggling. We have become a nation of fearful wimps.
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Nah
The only thing we are *really* afraid to do is to openly state the true nature of the threat.
So until then, it's ridiculous airport regulations for all.
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my thoughts
I just have to weigh in because I have had to fly a lot in the past month, both internationally and domectic, beginning with an international flight within several days of the London scare.
First of all, on the plus side, none of the six flights I boarded required a very long time for security. I always got there two hours ahead of time and always, always had an hour to wait around at the gate. This is including a recent flight out of NYC and another out of LA less than a week after the London stuff. So I am not so convinced that the wait time for security purposes has been that vastly increased. Passengers seem pretty organized and there are plenty of very clearly marked signs in all of the many airports I visited to let you know exactly WHAT you could and could not bring on. And I even got a bow from the security guy at Korea after I walked through the metal detector. What?!!
Saying that, the whole thing was so ridiculous. I mean, I smuggled toothpaste into LA. Toothpaste that had been given to me on a previous flight. I threw it away at the next airport and wondered, what does it mean that I successfully smuggled toothpaste into the U.S.? Absolutely nothing, I decided, and looked forward to my next in-flight semi-delicious meal which, by the way, was sure to include shiny, sharp metal forks!