on t.v. i saw a white lady complaining about being searched at the airport

[mopaul]

well, because she's a white lady i guess. they were talking to people in new york about the man in london who was shot 8 times and killed because they thought he looked suspicious and 'asian' although he was brazilian.

the white lady at the airport was complaining that she'd been searched randomly, but that she thought they shouldn't have searched her. she said something like 'i don't know why'd they'd bother searching someone like me'.

funny huh? then they talked about how lady suicide bombers in palestine began appearing when palestinian men were profiled as bombers. no one remembers little white timmy mcveigh and terry nichols and eric rudolph.

[MadMichDem]

1. Your picture of dumya is so funny!! Always enjoy them. n/t

[mopaul]

3. tanks!

[Pool Hall Ace]

2. Well of course not, silly !

Terrorists are icky brown people!
:sarcasm:

[Kerrytravelers]

4. Most likely. she has a sheet in her closet at home for those lovely

little cross burning get togethers... you know, as Pickering (*'s choice for a federal judgeship) said, the little frat-boy prank of burning crosses on the lawns of African-Americans and, in the 70's, liberals who believed in non-discriminatory laws in regards to homes/apartments.

[sakabatou]

5. Mopaul, you always have interesting stories

:yourock:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

6. I love it when privileged people complain about trivial things.

And by "privileged," I don't necessarily mean rich.

[Ladyhawk]

7. My mother told me last week they should only search Arabs.

Interesting.

[mopaul]

9. most folks think folks from india or brazil are arab muslim terrorists

they see someone with a turban or similar headgear and get all paranoid and xenophobic. it's so racist.

[seabeyond]

8. hey, i had airport security try to intimidate me, why......because i

wouldnt be intimidated. i dont think i should be searched. a mother 43 taking whole family on a plane. the odds of me blowing up a plane from history, is..................0

of course it is a waste of time. and when some 43 year old lady with a couple little kids off to florida blows up a plane, then, search me.

until then, no, i dont believe i should be.

then again, i think the whole searchin thing is stupid. i am not one of those that feel we need xray machines to see our naked body, looking for weapons. i dont believe we give up all our rights because of what happened 9/11. and i dont believe you pull out just middle east "lookin" people either. have they ever caught a terrorist the last 3 years doing this. NOT

[HawkerHurricane]

10. Of course, the moment you stop searching (insert ethnic type),

that's when you find out that there are terrorists of that type. For example: Chechen's look Northern European. So do some Iranians.
There are terrorists of every type there is. Little old lady terrorists? Sure. Want to bet your life there aren't? Want to bet the life of everyone else on the plane or the ground there aren't?

[LisaL]

11. I don't think Chechens look Northern European.

[seabeyond]

15. step into the shower you take a risk. scared of a little old lady terrori

no ....i am not....afraid of a little ole lady terrorist.

what to bet my life on it. ya, i would be willing to bet my life on it. for no other reason that it has never happened. i am willing to risk my life on it

your attitude along with many many others that say, you willing to risk your life on it.......

have created this fear environment that is allowing an abuse of all civil rights. it is progressively getting worst. all the way to the very bedrooms or pharmaceutical prescription we get.

yes

i am willing to risk my life on it that there are no little ole ladies that are going to blow me up

[HawkerHurricane]

17. So....

shall we search nobody entering the plane?

[seabeyond]

21. well now. you think pulling out every twenty is going to do it?

you tell me. you think it has been productive. you think it is useful. i am not seeing the arguement in it. i am not seeing we have caught a single terrorist, by a search. i would rather luggage checked. names checked and the u.s. spend their time actually doing investigative work to find out who are in these orginizations. instead of spending our military time, and wasting resources in iraq, to actually go after and into the orginizations.

tell me your factual information that shows it is worth searching the average passenger.

a sense of false comfort maybe for the afraid flyer. i am not willing to walk into a virtual prison system, losing all rights,.....to make a fellow passenger have a false sense of comfort.

[HawkerHurricane]

24. OK.

I agree that Iraq is a waste of time and resources.

I also think that ethnic profiling of passengers will just encourage our potential terrorists to pick someone who doesn't match the profile.

And I've seen some top notch makeup people make people look like whatever they wanted.

So...

Search the luggage? OK.
Including carryons? Sure.
Metal detectors? Yep.
Random searches? Well, there's the problem area. If it's truely random, sometimes you're going to get some wierd results. But is it random? Or are the security folks, mostly minimum wage types awaiting better employment, picking the people who'll create the least fuss? Or the ones 'most fun' to search/harrass?

We need to raise the quality of our security. And real security, not feel good stuff. Make our security persons well paid professionals. Which means pay them enough so they don't think taking a job at (insert menial position here) is a improvement. Train them properly. Not a 10 minute course on 'how to spot nervous people'.

I could go on.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[mopaul]

14. hee hee, yup

[B Calm]

13. My wife's sister just called tonight and was complaining too about

being searched at the Indianapolis airport. 55 year old white female with her white 58 year old husband and I guess someone thought she looked suspicious...

[HockeyMom]

16. My daughter and I both were pulled aside and searched,

along with an old lady with a walker. Not one man on that entire flight was searched.

Forgetting about me and my daughter, I felt so sorry for that little old lady. It was pathetic. We were right near her so I heard and saw everything. They wanted her to take off her sweater so they could pat her down. Of course, she couldn't do that standing up holding on to her walker. So they had to bring a chair over so she could sit down. Even then, she had a very hard time and security had to do it for her. Same with her shoes. She couldn't take them off herself either. Do you know how LONG all this took? They had searched both my daughter and I and the little old lady was still sitting there. As we left, I heard her crying out, "Where is my daughter?" "I want my daughter."

Before we boarded, I saw the old lady being wheeled in a wheelchair by her daughter. I told both of them how sorry I was that she had to go through this. Her daughter thanked me and said they had to give her Mom medication to calm her down because she was so upset.

I am sure this scenario has been played thousands of times.

[LisaL]

20. Pregnant women or women with little kids.

They are like magnet for searchers.
Seriously.

[seabeyond]

23. i had my kids put behind a table, 5 and 7

a security and police officer going thru their back pack of books and toys. youngest was afraid. i asked why the cop was there and she said, so you dont hurt the sec lady.

bunch of bullshit, suggesting all of us are so out of control, this mother is going to hurt this security person

told her, treat us all like animals, and we just might become the animals you are so afraid of

[PDX Bara]

25. Ninety-something Terrorist

Not too long after 9/11, I too saw such a thing happen - a lady who appeared to be in her 80's or 90's, quite frail looking and using a walker, who had been pulled over for the full body search - she wasn't using a wheelchair (perhaps she refused...I don't know) and couldn't bend over to remove her shoes. I don't know how true it is but someone told me that every fifth (or whatever the chosen number was) person was pulled over for the search, no exceptions. Seems to me that some good sense and empathy should prevail in such a case but I am perhaps a dreamer...

[TwilightZone]

18. The fact that you immediately made this a racial issue is interesting.

You assumed "I guess" that she felt that she shouldn't be searched solely because she was white. Or because she was a white woman. Apparently, you feel that her statement "someone like me" must be a statement about her race and/or gender.

Frankly, I think it's just as likely (or more so) that she felt that she shouldn't be searched because - right or wrong - she doesn't consider herself much of a threat. It may have nothing to do with race.

I watched airport security spend about 15 minutes on an 85-year-old guy, asking him questions, confiscating his fingernail clippers, etc. Personally, I didn't think he was much of a threat. Because he was white? Nope. Because he was 85.

[seabeyond]

22. she doesn't consider herself much of a threat

i agree with your accessment. i was bothered that it jumped on the because i am white

[murray hill farm]

19. love that picture..hahahahaha

i am a little old white lady..64...and they always search me..my ticket is always flagged...but i think it is the on line posts i keep doing here. it is time consuming...but it always makes my day.