Slashdot Mirror
Defending The Skies Against Congress And The Elderly
theodp writes "After watching a burly airport screener search her lymphoma-stricken father, forcing the frail and faltering 78-year-old to hand over his oxygen meter, stand at attention with arms spread for a wand search, take off the Velcro strap shoes that he'd struggled to put on, and strain to keep his balance as his belt was tugged repeatedly, a Newsweek columnist wonders: have we lost our common sense when it comes to passenger screening?" An anonymous reader writes "CNN reported that Kennedy wasn't alone in being listed in the airport watch list as reported in a Slashdot article. Rep. John Lewis, D - Georgia, a nine-term congressman, has been stopped many times because his name appeared on an airline watch list as told to Senate Judiciary Committee hearing on border security. He contacted the Department of Transportation, the Department of Homeland Security and executives at various airlines in an effort to get his name off the list, but failed. Instead, he received a letter from the TSA indicating he has cleared an identity check with the agency even though he might still be subject to extra security checks."
Here's a link
linky link
[sig]www.masterslate.org[/sig]
Actually, I have heard that this was done due to safety concerns, as the airlines have the right to refuse service to anyone who would be "unable to aid in their own evacuation from the aircraft". This would be stated in the Terms of Carriage (a document that no one reads, much like a EULA). This is a safety issue, and although it may seem insensitive, there is a clear and good reason for it.
I knew the airport security system was doomed when they started searching 86 year old Medal of Honor recipients
Chip H.
I don't have an easy answer for you, but my SO (who works with disabled people) suggests contacting the NOD who might be able to direct you to someone who can help you out.
:) how it works.
At the least they might be able to put you in contact with disabled people who travel and might be willing to help out with a ride.
We live in an area with a high number of tourists, and there are a lot of them who are disabled and on the road and would no doubt be very willing to give whatever help they could.
Definitely agree with you wrt to the bus and train system, even for non-disabled they have become, to a fair amount, useless. I won't comment on the flying situation except to say it's unlikely I'll ever fly, being more than somewhat agoraphobic (def. wrt to crowds).
Given what airports and airplanes are like, it wasn't that easy for a disabled person to travel that way even before 9/11. Neither of us know for sure, but we both can't believe there isn't *someone* out there who can help. There are a a couple disabled internet gurus I know, who travel quite a bit, and who I will inquire of; if I find out anything from them I'll respond here.
Another person I know locally and just called suggested finding someone to escort you and deal with the airport authorities ahead of time and during the security checks. She's not sure as to how effective it would be, but she used to provide escort services at JFK so she at least knows (or used to, as she said
Keep on looking and good luck.
SB
It's old. The more humans I meet, the more I like my cats. At least they are honest.
http://www.thekcrachannel.com/news/3672459/detail
The report, compiled by the commission's staff, says 13 of the 19 hijackers applying for visas presented passports that were less than three weeks old, yet their visa applications were met with no increased scrutiny.
Two of the hijackers, the report said, lied on their applications "in detectable ways" but were not questioned about those lies. And all 19 of the hijackers' applications had data fields left blank, or were incomplete in some other way.
Three of the hijackers were carrying Saudi passports "containing a possible extremist indicator" present in the passports of many al-Qaida members, the report said. While it's not clear what that indicator was, the report added that it had not been analyzed by the CIA, FBI or border authorities for its significance.
The report is one of two staff addenda to the commission's final report, which was released last month.
The other report released Saturday analyzed the hijackers' financing.
It concluded:
- There is no evidence that anyone in the United States, or any other country, provided substantial funding to the hijackers. Most of the money came from al-Qaida.
- Gaps remain in the intelligence community's understanding of how the terrorist network moves its money. "Because of the complexity and variety of ways to collect and move small amounts of money in a vast worldwide financial system, gathering intelligence on al Qaeda financial flows will remain a hard target for the foreseeable future," the report said.
The commission officially disbanded Saturday, when its congressional mandate expired. The commissioners had not approved the final text of the reports.Ever heard of a company called, "Binladin Brothers for Contracting and Industry"? They're one of the largest corporations in Saudi Arabia. (Yes, the same Saudi Arabia that provides ~25% of the world's oil.) It just so happens that this corporation is owned by Osama Bin Laden's family. In fact, his family has strong ties to the Saudi Royal Family.
And while Osama was "living in a single-room rain-soaked mud-house with 8 family members and watching them die of hunger" (yeah, right), it seems he was also going to bars and nightclubs in Lebanon. In fact, "poor old Osama" seems to have inherited somewhere between 25-300 MILLION US DOLLARS after his father's death.
Poor Osama Bin Laden. He was so starved, hungry, and tired of death, that he asked the friendly US troops for help. Oh wait, no he didn't. He called them "infidels" and tried to kill every one of them in the name of Allah.
Don't believe me? Try reading for yourself. Maybe you'll learn something.
Javascript + Nintendo DSi = DSiCade
I recently took a trip to Scotland. On the return leg the woman at the check-in desk was convinced that I had already check in. I told her repeatedly no, that I had not check in. It turned out that they had mistakenly checked someone else in as me (both our last names have 'Van' in them, I commonly have this problem, everyone who is Van* is lumped together in the dim-witted minds that run the world's bureaucracies)
Eventually they sort out the problem, and my wife and I board the plane. We find our seats and get comfortable (well, as comfortable as one can be with 19 inches of leg room). A few minutes later a women stops at our row, and claims we are sitting in her seats. I profer my boarding pass, which shows me in the proper seat, she looks at hers - it has my name on it!
Now think about this. We were stopped and our IDs compared to our boarding passes at no less than 3 check points in the airport. This woman managed to get on the airplane with a boarding pass that not only didn't have her name on it, it had an obviously male name on it. She was quite obviously not male.
The entire system is badly broken. In my situation at least three different employees utterly failed to perform the most basic component of their job - validating ID. I have absolutely no confidence in our airline security systems. If they ever catch someone in the act, it will be purely accidental. My sole consolation is that, as others in the thread have noted, the 'evil-doers' of the world have most likely abandonned hijacking as means to whatever nefarious ends they seek, as the passengers are no longer likely to be so compliant as they were pre-9/11.
-josh