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Comic Artist Detained For Script Containing 9/11 Type Scenarios
Comics writer Mark Sable was detained by security at Los Angeles International Airport because he was carrying a script for a new issue of his comic miniseries, Unthinkable. Unthinkable follows members of a government think tank that was tasked with coming up with 9/11-type "unthinkable" terrorist scenarios that now are coming true. Sable wrote about his experience saying, "...I was flagged at the gate for 'extra screening.' I was subjected to not one, but two invasive searches of my person and belongings. TSA agents then 'discovered' the script for Unthinkable #3. They sat and read the script while I stood there, without any personal items, identification or ticket, which had all been confiscated. The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble. The first page of the Unthinkable script mentioned 9/11, terror plots, and the fact that the (fictional) world had become a police state. The TSA agents then proceeded to interrogate me, having a hard time understanding that a comic book could be about anything other than superheroes, let alone that anyone actually wrote scripts for comics. I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation. While Unthinkable blurs the line between fiction and reality, the story is based on a real-life government think tank where a writer was tasked to design worst-case terror scenarios. The fictional story of Unthinkable unfolds when the writer's scenarios come true, and he becomes a suspect in the terrorist attacks." It's too bad that the TSA can't protect us from summer blockbuster movies and not just graphic novels.
Any proof that he was detained and that this happened? Otherwise I'm tempted to believe that it is a stunt to advertise his comic.
Never try to explain an authority the "irony of the situation". Chances are they will lack the intellect to understand.
Unthinkable!
While it is sad that he'd have been forced to go through the humiliation and embarassment of being questioned/searched/etc.. but honestly.. who in their right mind would carry something like a terror script through airport screening? Comic book, hell.. it could've been a movie script and he would've received the same response. In short: He was asking for it. No.. he was begging.
-Troll, Flamebait, and Offtopic are NOT equivalent to disagreement.
9/11 conspiracy theories are so 2001
The 1991 movie "Closet Land", starring Madeleine Stowe and Alan Rickman paints a horrifying picture of just how far a government might go in tracking literary "subversives". Sounds like mr. comic book writer is a lot more "at risk" than the childrens' book author in this movie.
Step 1) Make graphic novel mentioning 9/11 /.
Step 2) Get detained by TSA, spread story over
Step 3) Profit!
I can see the grossly under-paid TSA Employees thinking: "Yay! We got one! We got a terrorist!" Too bad they don't go to school to learn the difference between Art and Terror Plans!
"I think you know what I'm talkin' about, Mr. President; We're gonna kill us a mummy!" - Bruce Campbell as Elvis Presley
This is just another chapter in the corrupt fascist Bushitler's regime to destroy freedom and democracy...
oh, right. Obama. What I mean is that this is perfectly acceptable, and is all part of The One's plan for when peace shall guide the planet and love will steer the stars. Yes we can! All hail Obama!
This is just insulting how thinly veiled it is.
One presumes they did - otherwise it would have been mentioned. In which case it's just a sorry tale of someone, one of many every day, who gets stopped. Nothing much to see here. Let's have another story please.
politicians are like babies' nappies: they should both be changed regularly and for the same reasons
It's too bad that the TSA can't protect us from summer blockbuster movies and not just graphic novels.
Personally I think they should stop Michael Bay from boarding any plane after seeing how disturbingly obsessed the man is with explosions.
My work here is dung.
This is absurd. Tom Clancy had a "9/11" scenario in one of his books...in the early 90s. Only, in the book, the bad guy flew the plane into the Capital...during a major event.
I don't even read comics but I'm damn sure gonna buy this series now.
From wikipedia:
Welcome to the era of Thought Crime.
Thinking about it is a crime.
Writing about it is a crime.
Drawing about it is a crime.
Last I check wasn't DOING a crime... well.. a crime?
Next thing you know Jessica Lansbury and company will be held and charged for all those terroristic threats and murder plans called "Murder She Wrote". They were so detailed! Lets not forget the Matlock, Columbo, Perry Mason, CSI, etc... All those murder plans!!! GET EM!!
"When is a man damned? When he is oblivious to it."
-=[ Who Is John Galt? ]=-
Hey, let's go and have a bunch of papers about blowing up airplanes and have them past people paid to guard them. The dude was retarded. I don't blame the guards for detaining him.
This is my sig.
The TSA folks were probably just bored, and jumped at the chance to play terrorist make-believe. Now they feel foolish, but while it was happening it was probably quite a thrill.
The guy was a moron. He paid a price of inconvenience. He wasn't harmed and he was on his way.
Christ all mighty. Americans have no idea what persecution really is... so they have to invent it.
What a bunch of pussies.
This is my sig.
Either everything is ok to say/write down or nothing is. You'll always find things people consider "objectionable" or "unsafe" whether they be objects, thought, or actions (such as speech). Unless you're actually trying to incite a riot or cause violence with your words (which would have to be proven in court beyond a reasonable doubt), we should be free to express ourselves however we please...
This reminds me of South Park 10.4 (Cartoon Wars II):
President Bush: Look, the fact of the matter is, the Family Guy writing staff is protected by something called the First Amendment. ...you know. Right to free speech.
Reporter 1: And what exactly is this First Amendment, Mr. President?
George W. Bush:
Many of the reporters groan loudly and begin yelling
Reporter 2: Mr. President, when your administration came up with this First Amendment, did it not foresee a problem like this might happen?
George W. Bush: Well, we didn't come up with the First Amendment. It was already in place.
Reporter 3: What do you intend to do about this First Amendment, Mr. President?
Reporter 4: Forgive me, Mr. President, but this First Amendment sounds like a lot of bureaucratic jibbery-jroo.
Damn constitution, always getting in our way.
"I cooperated politely and tried to explain to them the irony of the situation." Mr. Sable's ignorance or willful abdication of his 5th amendment rights caused him to perhaps waste a great opportunity to challenge TSA policies on search of personal belongings. Next time, maybe a better approach would be (disclaimer, IANAL): "Am I being detained?" followed by "I'd like you to tell me what laws you are accusing me of breaking," or "I won't make any statements until I have spoken to a lawyer," as the case may be. If Mr. Sable had actually been prosecuted simply for having exercised his 1st amendment rights, his case would have had a much more significant impact in our fear-prone society, causing perhaps some much needed "clarification" of what the federal government can/cannot do "for our own good" to "protect us from the evil terrorists." Perhaps even a re-evaluation of TSA policies, or at least application of punishment to over-zealous agents.
"The minute I saw the faces of the agents, I knew I was in trouble." You're not in trouble just because a government employee says so (or looks at you funny). We do have a bill of rights, you know.
From TFA: "In the end, I feel my privacy is a small price to pay for educating the government about the medium." No one of any importance was "educated." No policy is likely to be changed as a result of this incident; law-abiding citizens are still going to be stopped in airports for carrying 'strange' books, scripts, magazines, etc. All this shows is that TSA agents can act in an arbitrary manner with repercussions.
I have to ask: what led him to be flagged in the first place? Why did they search him twice and THEN find the script? Could this be "free publicity by TSA"? I think I'll patent it.
Step 1: write obscure work that might never see the light of day
Step 2: do something on purpose to draw suspicion of TSA and get handled in a way I can complain about
Step 3: complain to Slashdot
Step 4: profit! (and publicity)
...perhaps the TSA employees aren't the only ones incapable of detecting the irony...
There was a recent news item (can't recall if it was /. or FreeRepublic) noting that one of Ron Paul's people was detained by TSA for carrying $4700 cash (sales of T-shirts, stickers, etc. from a convention) and managed to record the whole incident. Sounds like Comic Book Guy needs to contact him and work on filing a joint suit.
Can we get a "-1 Wrong" moderation option?
So far, the larger part of the comments here have dealt with the fact that this might be a scam.
IMHO, it's probably not. If you've heard some of the stupid shit from cops and other government bureaus that I have, this is right up their alley. Remember - these guys by and large aren't really trying to do the job they say they're out to do. And they're nowhere near as competent and knowledgeable as they imagine they are. I've been told before that the fact that the devil chicks I have tattooed on my forearms have some meaning in these exact words : "Don't think we don't know what those horns mean! We're not stupid!". Uh, yes, you are. They're devil chicks. What, you expect them to be wearing garland wreaths on their heads? Get real. There is no hidden meaning behind that, and I know what most gang and prison-related tattoos in Texas mean.
If you're a chickenhawk bureaucrat on a power trip, who are you likely to pick out as a target? A comic book artist? Or someone who does have actual ties to known and dangerous terrorist organizations? Let me repeat that, just in case you missed it : known and dangerous. Despite all the spoon-fed drivel that gets funnelled straight into your living room, courtesy of your brand-new digital TV, these guys are bureaucrats. They don't want to break a sweat, let alone get their asses shot off or some other form of retaliation. They're not heroes, except the extremely rare exception (think about it - you hear ten times as many stories about cops shooting unarmed civilians as you do an armed civilian shooting a cop...yet the cop is always painted as the "hero who died in the line of duty"; generally through their own stupidity, like not searching someone they just antagonized and arrested...now if the supposedly unbiased news puts those figures forth, what do you think the real numbers are?). They don't go out of their way or risk their lives to protect citizens. They don't do anything other than collect their check, do as little as possible, and then go home to fuck their middle-class fat-arsed wives and scream at their subnormal children. If they can skip out on doing their "duty" for a few hours by harassing some artist whom they had to have known has no affiliation or even a tenuous connection within an hour, you bet your bottom dollar they will be doing just that for as long as they can.
And a cavity search? Oh, I'd love to see those fuckers try that one of me. You ain't getting my clothes off unless you've already arrested me and have me full restraints (which makes it pretty hard to get someone's clothes off without cutting them off). Because I can and will fight, and there's only so many people that can gang up on one man, and that is not enough to get my clothes off me without beating me unconscious, which is pretty hard to do. Oh, sure, I'll get some kind of charge slapped on me. But you know what - it's not resisting arrest or assault if there's nothing to arrest you for!
You, as a society, have become sheep. And you have chosen wolves to protect you. Is it any wonder that the herd gets culled by their so-called guardians quite often? Here's Tom with the weather...
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
They tricked him (dropped him early or whatever).
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Jessica Fletcher was played by Angela Lansbury.
Economist Steven Levitt also had an interesting story of how he almost got arrested because he bought a last min one-way flight, and that he carried research paper on terrorist activities:
I almost got sent to Guantanamo
By Steven D. Levitt
http://freakonomics.blogs.nytimes.com/2005/07/14/i-almost-got-sent-to-guantanamo/
Even if this guy was setting up a publicity stunt, the TSA agents were absolute idiots for even giving a commercial publication a second notice as evidence against the carrier.
Meanwhile, the real terrorists carried full tactical nukes in the carry on luggage.
Would require TSA agents to be literate.
"Offtopic" or "troll" would have been more appropriate.
Drill baby drill - on Mars
That's my first question. Of all the times I've been through security, they scan/x-ray/etc, but don't take the time to read notes...that'd take too much time, holding up others.
Keep in mind that these are the same folks that tried to take away a Congressional Medal of Honor 'cause its sharp and pointy...
Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos
... he had not started to write (and therefore would have been carrying around) his new comic story about a trio of bumbling TSA agents that are always screwing up everything.
now we need to go OSS in diesel cars
He got tagged for a more thorough search. It must've been the TSA's new un-American script radars. He got searched. They found a script. They read it. They let him go. Did I miss anything?
by Mike Buddha -- Someday the mountain might get him, but the law never will.
Anyone who thinks our Dear Leader would allow such things to go on is clearly racist.
Airport security workers work for about U.S. $ 7.50 per hour.
You pay for what you get: amateurs.
Yours In Communism,
K. Trout, PatRIOT
when you figure out how to have a human society without the need for police, get back to us. until then, your rant speaks more to your psychological problems than any valid observation of reality
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
You don't need a think tank to come up with fantastic ideas, plans and scenarios. All you need is your brain and Creator Studio creative thinking software http://www.compxpressinc.com
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Yes, I know. I go on daily walks and inevitably, I pass a dog confined behind a fence all day. The dog barks at me, as if to say, "Wait! Wait! You're the most exciting thing that's happened here all day! Hey! Where are you going? Come back here!"
What you describe is that one man's inconvenience is another man's treasure, so to speak. It's kind of like that.
The diversity and expression of human opinion is essential to human survival.
If somebody was smuggling a bunch of documents onto airplane describing how to blow it up, wouldn't you, as an employee whose job it is to understand how people might blow up airplanes, want to have a look?
This is my sig.
This is his first ammendment right. We now completely ignore our heritage and founding, with our current government pushing us towards socialism. Isn't life grand these days?
He should have written them in another language so they couldnt read them..............Arabic for instance.
http://avaxhome.ws/magazines/comics/unthinkable_1_of_5_ongoing.html
then you frame your objections in terms of the need to clean things up, not rail against in general
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
Of'course, most disputes are isolated items of perview and don't exceed U$20 because that was back when the value of each dollar was a measure of gold grain; so the dispute would need to exceed the equivalent of Federal USD 25,000 and this writer of fiction is more qualified to be injurred by a thug stealing his work of art and transmitting it through many network'd devices to jeopardize the value. Maybe he should apply to the RIAA to uphold the rights to his art. Who knows, yet we shouldn't expect the Bill of Rights to be upheld by a corporation because this has nothing to do with the Countryside; there is a carrier and I would be more concerned with knowing whether the Captain over that vessel actually has any rules to what and how his or her Stevedores in the loading dock receive and process the effects and articles of property that has secured it's hold upon that vessel for movement to a disclosed destination.
Realy, who are we concerned with? The Captain has legal power to deploy baggage as chaft to divert the event of an enemy from his Airship. The same goes for sea-going vessels SHIPPING. I'm more concerned with a Federal U.S. Coastguard incorporated to the Department of Homeland Security, and that U.S. Coastguard aggravating prior agreements that are violated by it's incorporation and not changing its flag to reflect such.
TSA steals
without prejudice
Here's another unverified TSA horror story that made the rounds on the Internet last year. I first found the story on the L.A. Times website, and it was just copied from there a hundred times. Nobody's come up with any news report or documents from the timeframe when the incident was supposed to have taken place:
Zimerman has had problems in the United States in recent years. He travels with his own Steinway piano, which he has altered himself. But shortly after 9/11, the instrument was confiscated at JFK Airport when he landed in New York to give a recital at Carnegie Hall. "Thinking the glue smelled funny, the TSA decided to take no chances and destroyed the instrument."
Surely, everyone remembers that last story of the TSA back in Oct 2003 that I got posted to Slashdot, on how personell were caught stealing unrelated effects even after these were cleared for acceptance and the LOCKS-BROKEN? The recent minority is known as the individual. No rights of the people have ever been violated without just compensation. So, don't hesitate by becoming a gray-venue "individual" distinguished outside and without the people by... sign here. Thankyou, Mr... ah-uhm, we don't need to address you by any courteous chivalry and etiquete, please step on the weigh-station #235562346 of Seat 31C Pan Am Flight 667. Thankyou. The allowed effects of your carry-on are limited to List A, and that of the Belly of our Airship are here. If you have any requests to the captain, please complain to the steward... Nowhere in the seating arraingments is the TSA, except agents of the TSA known as -- you guessed it, the individual that endorsed the improvements from that service. I would look more into what the captain has allowed such bilateral contracts to incur onto his crew and passengers that might effect onto him. I know when I am shipping, I would look over every effect and article that was brought onto my vessel like a hawk. Nowhere has TSA ever been baggage handlers. They appear more as landing personell.
without prejudice
...I'm sure this will help the sale of his comic book. I'm calling BS on this one.
For those of us who watched 'The Lone Gunmen' live or on DVD, you may recall that the pilot episode has the government conspiring to fly a jet airliner in to the World Trade Center. One of the Lone Gunmen is on said plane while the other two are on a computer network trying to override the 'evil government agent's actions to remotely control the plane to crash in to the building. Whenever I watch this episode on DVD it is rather chill-instilling, so close to home (They don't crash, they *just* miss hitting the building).
The REAL irony of this is that this episode aired 6 months BEFORE 9/11. So, should the TSA / NSA / FBI / Secret Service / Homeland Security / NTSB or some 'Men in Black' group go and arrest and detain the writers and producers (perhaps even the evil actors?) of this episode for doing something that *clearly* influenced the terrorists to do the deed for real?
The thought police are here...think happy thoughts...think happy thoughts!
I'll sit in the peanut gallery at your trial for kicking and punching the cops while you were resisting arrest. I'll bring popcorn. You can't have any of it.
... you know, in retaliation for false charges of trying to blow up planes or fly them into buildings?
Think about it.
You are being detained.
You are not charged with a crime.
You are free to go.
Therefore, it is perfectly reasonable to use any force necessary to secure your freedom to go, including blowing up the airport... er the part you're not in... like maybe by remotely detonating the ANFO in the trunk of your parked car by not making the cell phone call to stop it.
Pity about the collateral damage, of course. Innocents getting killed and all. But, really, people should expect that sort of thing when they go somewhere where people are detained illegally.
Harassing law-abiding people since 2001.
Number of terrorists caught by TSA: 0
Number of people unlawfully detained, searched, and interrogated by TSA: thousands.
TSA: we purposely hire incompetent morons just to make your traveling experience a little more hellish.
"I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it." - Evelyn Beatrice Hall, re Voltaire
you don't believe that the situation can be improved
police abuse can be improved, and has improved historically. compare the bullshit cops in the 1800s got away with and what they get away with today. not that something like the abner louima case isn't modern and horrifying, but there aren't abner louimas happening every week
you have a nihilistic empty view of humanity. improvement is historically real. we have a long way to go, and its difficult, but that doesn't mean it isn't happening. admit to that simple truth, or follow your mindless pointlessness and hopelessness to its inevitable conclusion and go swallow a shotgun
i object to and categorically reject your attitude. its hysterical teenage bullshit. grow the fuck up, please
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
you are suspicious until proven harmless... THIS TIME. so you need to get on www.tsa.gov and find out what raises their neck hairs before you pack. anything you bring is subject to search.
could be worse. for over 30 years, you fly on El Al, it's a total hand search of everything, in the line. of course, the Israleis have reason to be that paranoid.
if this is supposed to be a new economy, how come they still want my old fashioned money?
... when employees of the TSA are allowed to be so completely full of themselves and their imagined importance that abuses like this routinely happen. There's nothing more malicious and mean-spirited than the BOTTOM RUNG of an authoritarian regime (like the TSA): the people on that lowest rung act out that authoritarian schtick in the worst possible way with people who are, if not completely innocent, certainly not deserving of the abuse of power.
What exactly will be the consequences of this abuse of power for the TSA employees involved? You already know the answer, don't you? NOTHING. No consequences at all... unless it becomes a huge public scandal and scapegoats must be habeas-corpused. That's a key tenet of a police state: the authorities and enforcers are not held to the same standards of behavior as those they are tasked to judge. We see the same thing in the corporate world as well in many cases.
So yeah, this really is the early stages of a police state. What are we gonna DO about it? Hint: electing a smooth talker like Obama isn't doing something about it.
or rather it's last page - I actually had the German translation of that issue since somewhere in the mid-nineties... :D
np: Whitetree - Tangerine (Cloudland)
"I'm not anti-anything, I'm anti-everything, it fits better." - Sole
I hate security theater as much as any of us. But what if this were the scenario:
TSA: Sorry, I need to check your bag. What's this? Hey, neat, a script! What're you writing about?
Sable: It's a story about how people like you are humiliating innocent travelers for your own petty power trips.
TSA: ...
I mean, I'm willing to give Mr. Sable the benefit of the doubt. I think it's unprofessional to respond to snipes and jabs. But this is the TSA we're talking about. Did he poke the bear?
Towards the Singularity.
if no one believes corruption can be fixed, corruption is the status quo
if people demand corruption be fixed, it tends to get a little more fixed
of course corruption is never going to go away. no fucking shit. this isn't a revelation. but to keep it at a minimum, it also must not be accepted
"Not everyone is on a crusade to improve reality. It is unreasonable to expect or demand everyone to work to improve reality."
you actually described everyone. we all have tolerance levels for certain levels of bullshit, then we get outraged. my assertion is that those with a high level of tolerance for bullshit ("they stuck a toilet plunger up his ass? oh well, whatever") are complicit with those who do real evil in this world. such heavy handed condemnation is of course not suitable for people who tolerate low level crime, but you need to draw the line somewhere. you do draw the line somewhere, right?
intellectual property law is philosophically incoherent. it is your moral duty to ignore it or sabotage it
If they have the power of arrest, they're government. Anyway, any of these theories will soon be tested in a suit brought by the ACLU and Campaign for Liberty staffer Steve Bierfeldt:
CNN Covers Unlawful Detention Of Steve Bierfeldt Of Campaign For Liberty
My God, it's Full of Source!
OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
Narrator: There are Pretenders among us.
Jarod: I was taken from my family ...I've spent every moment searching for my past.
[a child genius]
Young Sydney: Thirty-six hours and he's already demonstrating more talent than any of our others.
[exploited by the Centre]
Jarod: How many people died because of what I thought up?
Jarod: Since I broke out...
[escaped]
Jarod:
[title logo:] [the pretender]
Miss Parker: He's a Pretender, a genius who can become anyone that he wants to be.
Sydney: The Centre wants him alive.
Miss Parker: "Preferably".
Miss Parker: He defends the weak and abused....
Jarod: Life's a gift.
Hospital patient: Are you a doctor?
Jarod: I am today.
Oh, say does that Star-Spangled Banner entwine / The myrtle of Venus with Bacchus's vine?
The Reichstag fire occurred in a Germany that had seen years of continuous street battles, protests and political fracas between communist and fascist militias. Moreover, the Nazi's had preached for years about remaking Germany in a new fascist image. Top top it off, the crackdown following the fire was blunt and direct, and it would take the Nazi's years of gradual legislation to remould Germany completely.
By contrast, after September 11th, it took the US less than a month to invade another country. Within two months, the sweeping PATRIOT Act did more and lasting damage to US freedoms than any Reichstag decree. It took the Nazi's two months to open the Dachau concentration camp, but it only took the US 27 days to open Guantanamo.
The Reichstag fire took place in a time of political upheaval, economic depression, civil anarchy and with Germany utterly downtrodden after defeat in the first World War. September 11th took place in a climate of stable government, favorable economic climate, domestic calm and with the US in a historically unprecendented position of unipolar, worldwide supremacy. Yet the reaction of the US was faster, harsher and wider in scope than any of the early day Nazi crackdowns.
I stand by my point. Americans are tightly wound, and have and will embrace a mob mentality with a swiftness and zeal that is rarely, if ever, seen in other nations. Americans will of course be the first to deny this, but the irony is that their fervent belief in innate American freedom is exactly what has lead to their great complacency in the face of encroaching tyranny.
May the Maths Be with you!
tried to explain to them the irony of the situation.
Was this guy trying to make it harder on himself? People like that will rarely have the brains to understand the irony, and if they do, they're going to be even more ticked off for you having made them look silly or stupid.
mirrorshades radio -- darkwave, industrial, futurepop, ebm.
I had a similar experience when I was in high school. We lived in Zambia and I went to an American curriculum boarding school in Kenya. At the end of my school break, I went for what was supposed to be a 4 day backpacking trip by myself. The first night, I was accosted at my campsite by two drunk guys claiming to be police. After harassing them for a while (remember that I was young, cocky and naive) I asked to see their paperwork if they were actually police officers. Sure enough they were, and next thing I knew I was under arrest. They went through my belongings and saw that I had a camera with no film. They claimed I was a South African spy who was coming to take photos of a microwave station 4km away. They said I'd thrown away the film when I saw them coming. I tried to explain that the camera was broken and was my only clock, but they didn't believe me.
They took me to their commanding officer, who had no idea what to do with a 17 year old Canadian in the middle of nowhere in Zambia. He went through my belongings again, and discovered documentation explaining how quickly armies can move through a country, how far airplanes can do an airstrike, how many tanks it takes to overrun a batallion of soldiers, etc. I had been planning my war simulation video game for next term's computer science project and had all the paperwork with me. This was 1991 so the police officer had never seen, let alone used, a computer, so any explanation went completely over his head. My explanation about how if the South African government wanted photos of their stupid satellite dishes they'd just take them FROM a satellite went similarly over their head but did serve to prove to them that I was probably a spy since I knew so much about this sort of thing.
I was then shipped back to Lusaka, the capital city and thrown in jail. The jail consisted of 3 rooms. Two were crammed so full of people that there was not even space against the wall for everyone. The third was used as a toilet. There was no food or water provided, and no phone call allowed, so if nobody knew you were there and you didn't make friends you were in big trouble. Fortunately I had several days' worth of food with me in my backpack so I shared that around and made lots of friends.
Around 10:30 the next morning I was summoned again in front of some more important-looking people. They went through my belongings again, and grilled me for a long time about my "secret documents" and the extra damaging evidence of a filmless camera.
Fortunately, eventually common sense prevailed and they decided that a 17 year old Canadian was unlikely to be travelling alone through the bush to take pictures of some random satellite dishes for the South African government. They let me call someone up and sent me away.
My life these days is decidedly less exciting.
www.clarke.ca
Just as with Iran, North Korea, and that African state with that cruel leader (forgot his name).
Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
You see? Condoleeza Rice was right - nobody could have predicted that terrorists would fly planes into buildings. Well, except the scriptwriters on "The Lone Gunmen" . . .
Ask Me About... The 80's!
I carry a copy of 1984 in my backpack. It's always fun seeing how TSA employees react when they pull it out. I've gotten, "Ahhh, that's a good book" a few times.
While I agree that the TSA completely screwed this up.
The author is an idiot for bringing that kind of material along with him.
When traveling by air, which I do only when it's absolutely required, I ship my luggage ahead of time to my hotel.
All I carry with me is my wallet, passport, and keys.
My cellphone, pocket knife, and media player all stay at home where they can't be stolen, searched, or "lost".
Do I think it's reasonable to have to do this? Hell, no.
Do I think it's worth not being hassled? Hell, yes.
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_states_is_Fellatio_illegal_in
Unfortunately, dear sir, "fucking business" is their business too, even when it doesn't involve "fucking" per se, and if the goons in Florida hear you tell someone that you got a blowjob this morning, they are still LEGALLY within their rights to book your sorry, trendy-comic-book-writing ass down to the cells. Have fun while you're there.
The USA - land of the "free" and home of the "brave" - except when it comes to standing up for my own rights, in which case, I'll just roll over and play puppy so I can catch my flight. And they call ME an anonymous coward ....
Every computer contains rips and unauthorized software. Pencils are stolen from work. The book is overdue from the library. The ID card overstates height and understates weight. The airplane is a trysting place for mile high clubs for the unmarried or other married. It's a wonder that more of these criminal stories aren't reported.
...Writer detained for possessing "harmful materials" while real terrorist plans actual harm. Clueless TSA Agents FTL!
Wow, circle, I missed this post. You almost prove my points here, in your naive and insulting manner (telling people who disagree with you that they're full of teenage bullshit and need to grow the fuck up suggests to me that they are not the ones who need to grow up). Also, capital letters, punctuation, and proper grammar would go a long way towards establishing your credentials as a cognizant adult.
Let's address each of these statements, in a slightly different light.
if no one believes corruption can be fixed, corruption is the status quo
And what exactly are you doing to fix it? I have already stated what I am doing to fix it. I can't change the world, but I can choose how I live. If everyone else stood by their principles, then corruption would not be the status quo!
if people demand corruption be fixed, it tends to get a little more fixed
And when those demands are ignored? What will you do then? When you ask the wolves to not take your child to jail because he or she wanted to smoke a joint while out on a date, or because they missed a court appearance, or because the "officer" in question just didn't like the way they looked, do you think that demand will be heeded? If you do, then you are the fool here. You can demand all you want, but if you lack the courage to stand up and do something, if you cannot live your life in such a way that you provide an example for others, what good do your feeble demands actually do?
It took nothing short of the ACLU, NAACP, and a few other organizations suing the shit out of Harris County, Texas (which Houston is in, my home town) just to get the county to clean and disinfect the jail about 3-4 years ago (it was so filthy and overcrowded that half the inmates had staph infections, people were dying from improper medical treatment, and even if you were bonded out in 24 hours, you more than likely caught staph just from sitting on the concrete waiting for the lazy bastards to handle your paperwork). Yet when I was falsely arrested (all charges dismissed, but I still had to spend over 7000 USD on bail and a lawyer) about 9 months ago, the same conditions had returned. Luckily, I didn't catch staph that time. But I did get to watch another inmate in my holding tank go into convulsions and die after repeatedly informing the guards that he had a medical condition that required treatment, and they refused to even let him talk to a nurse. I was one of the people who dragged him off the table he fell onto when he seized up, so I was asked my name (probably because I was one of the few White guys in the tank, and heavily tattooed to boot, so it was easy for them to remember me). Needless to say, I made it clear that if they wanted me to give a statement, I would tell anyone exactly what happened, including their negligence. Also needless to say, I haven't heard from them yet, nor do I expect to. Guilty until proven innocent, right? Except this fellow got the death penalty before he even got a bond hearing. How you like them apples? I picked up the paper and read an article about the rising number of inmate deaths due to improper medical conditions and "accidents" just last month.
So much for corruption being a "little more fixed", eh?
of course corruption is never going to go away...it also must not be accepted
Oh, really? I gave you the answer to the first part of this statement above. The second part of this statement...well, in Texas, we call that "crawfishing". Back-pedalling. While I would sincerely like to believe that you magically grew a spine in a few hours, I think you're just conceding defeat in the best manner possible. Saving face.
So, I ask you again : what are you going to do about it?
we all have tolerance levels for certain levels of bullshit, then we get outraged
Well, yours must be remarkably high. Eithe
PC moderators can suck my White pierced, tattooed dick. If you think pride == hate, s/dick/Aryan meat mallet/g.
Never flying to the USA I can understand, assuming that Work was planning to send me there. But I don't understand why you'd object to flying to Iran (apart from the fact that it's a Gulf state with Gulf-state-shitty weather along the Gulf-coast) or North Korea (too hot in summer, too dreich in winter) if the opportunity to work there arose.
I can't work out which African state you're referring to. Could you narrow it down to a couple of dozen possibilities? Actually, excluding those that don't have a clear leader ... nope I still can't narrow it down enough.
I wouldn't consider any of them for a holiday destination though. Why would you go through the hell of flying unless someone was paying you good money? Well, actually ... Tanzania wasn't that bad. And no further than the Gulf. But I still wouldn't seriously consider going there for a break - too stressful.
Birds are not dinosaur descendants;birds are dinosaurs, for all useful meanings of "birds", "are" and "dinosaurs"