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Are you saying that the TSA smurfed up by allowing a known terrorist to carry a gun on a plane?

1) They are wasting valuable time and energy frisking 8-year olds because they share a name with someone who probably wrote a nasty piece about the TSA in the NY Times. A more useful program would include, say, a picture and some basic details like height, weight, approximate age, race, and gender - not just a name.

2) Once they are fully aware of a screwup, it shouldn't take 3 YEARS to fix the problem. Not only does it make matters worse for the victim, it adds to the list of data that has to be sorted. It's an issue for everyone.

The funniest talking clip-art video you'll watch today

( Get your war on! )

radarman wrote:

1) They are wasting valuable time and energy frisking 8-year olds because they share a name with someone who probably wrote a nasty piece about the TSA in the NY Times. A more useful program would include, say, a picture and some basic details like height, weight, approximate age, race, and gender - not just a name.

Are they frisking 8 year olds? It seems they'd make the 8 year old walk up to the counter, see that he's 8, and say "get on the plane," just like this pilot has to do. And they wouldn't need a list if they knew the height, weight, age, race and had a picture of every terrorist they need to stop from flying.

2) Once they are fully aware of a screwup, it shouldn't take 3 YEARS to fix the problem. Not only does it make matters worse for the victim, it adds to the list of data that has to be sorted. It's an issue for everyone.

There's no way to fix the problem of people having different names. The best they can do is streamline the process of rejecting the false positives.

It seems to be the terrorist watch list is merely a pretext for pulling over people they actually suspect of terrorism. It's not designed to inconvenience every-day travelers, and this guy's story doesn't strike me as all that inconvenienced. I think you should be a little bit more understanding... no one wants to be the guy on the lookout during the next terrorist attack. Even if there was nothing you could do, you'd probably feel responsible, or get blamed. When put in this position, they aren't going to look for ways to make it easier for threats to slip through.

mo' ron wrote:

radarman wrote:

1) They are wasting valuable time and energy frisking 8-year olds because they share a name with someone who probably wrote a nasty piece about the TSA in the NY Times. A more useful program would include, say, a picture and some basic details like height, weight, approximate age, race, and gender - not just a name.

Are they frisking 8 year olds? It seems they'd make the 8 year old walk up to the counter, see that he's 8, and say "get on the plane," just like this pilot has to do. And they wouldn't need a list if they knew the height, weight, age, race and had a picture of every terrorist they need to stop from flying.

2) Once they are fully aware of a screwup, it shouldn't take 3 YEARS to fix the problem. Not only does it make matters worse for the victim, it adds to the list of data that has to be sorted. It's an issue for everyone.

There's no way to fix the problem of people having different names. The best they can do is streamline the process of rejecting the false positives.

It seems to be the terrorist watch list is merely a pretext for pulling over people they actually suspect of terrorism. It's not designed to inconvenience every-day travelers, and this guy's story doesn't strike me as all that inconvenienced. I think you should be a little bit more understanding... no one wants to be the guy on the lookout during the next terrorist attack. Even if there was nothing you could do, you'd probably feel responsible, or get blamed. When put in this position, they aren't going to look for ways to make it easier for threats to slip through.

As the previous poster noted, it's all security theater - read: total unadulterated bullsmurf intended to convince the average idiot American that the government is doing something. I suppose they figure if it makes people "feel safer", it's worth the hassle.

A list of names is pointless without additional data. Even Dog the Bounty Hunter knows this. A list of names, especially one with common names, is worse than useless. Had something like a REAL terrorist database been instituted, none of the people in the article would have even been stopped, much less harassed. Of course, that might have involved some actual investigative work.

Sadly, the FBI and CIA probably have such a database, but for some reason, the TSA and DHS don't have access, so we see these retarded contortions instead.

mo' ron wrote:

D'Eyncourt wrote:

It's mere security theater--they are only actions that give some the impression that the government is actively doing something to combat terrorism when in reality it does NOTHING.

I'll grant you that the Iraq war has done nothing for terrorism, but I find it very hard to believe the gov. is ACTUALLY doing "NOTHING" about terrorism.

I'm sure they are. Otherwise, I suspect we would have seen another attack by now. However, the crap that they are doing in public is likely not actually part of the program. We are seeing the bullsmurf, while the terrorists are getting the real deal.

The trouble is, nothing is visibly happening, because it's all classified. So, were it not for the security theatre crap, we would think that they are doing nothing. Thus, the TSA is likely only around to keep us on our toes.

That clown probably picked "Robert Johnson" as an alias because he liked old blues music.

In related news, TSA inspector damages 9 regional airliners during a security check because he used sensitive instrument probes to climb onto the aircraft

Last edited by Chickenhawk (2008-08-20 12:49 pm)

A watch list seems a good way for a terrorist to find out if the authorities might be on to him. Kind of a "heads up" without tipping his hand.

Tallgeese wrote:

Chickenhawk wrote:

In related news, TSA inspector damages 9 regional airliners during a security check because he used sensitive instrument probes to climb onto the aircraft

"Our inspector was following routine procedure for securing the aircraft that were on the tarmac," Montenegro told ABCNews.com.

http://homepage.mac.com/oatmeal/MAF/maxes/bucktooth.gif

yeah, what the hell are they doing?

Hey, lets park all of the aircraft in a big bunch so they can be guarded!!!

It worked at Wickam Field!

The watch lists are useless, they don't have enough information on them to be useful. So I agree, this is a Nothing in the War on Terror.