Are We Free to Protest?

[Gene Scarborough]

The following is a personal report by a participant in "Occupy Wall Street":



He tells a horrifying story of harassment over his transportation divice and the TSA and Homeland Security treatment he got. It mattered not that he pointed out the law on his divice and the right to take it on board an aircraft or into a secured building.

Do we still have the Freedom of Assembly or not????

[Haruo]

Not sure it has anything directly to do with freedom to assemble and petition for redress of grievances. A few years ago I flew to an Esperanto convention in Texas with a companion who was using a walker. Most of the time that was no problem, but at the airport in Austin on the return flight, TSA required her to stand about 10 feet away from her walker while they fed the contents of her purse through a scanner which, in the case of her tampons, also acted as a shredder. She did not fall, but there was a real danger that she might have done so being forced AMA to stand for an extended period without the walker's support. The experience has soured us both on flying as a travel option, and I do not believe that the security of the United States was enhanced one iota by their treatment of her. Indeed, I think it was harmed just a bit.

[Gene Scarborough]

I think TSA stands for "Temporary Sensory Assholes."

They put on a big show to give you a false sense of security, but those who have purposely tested them for efficiency have easily slipped a bunch of dangerous stuff past them.

Let's face it: When a real terrorist wants to hurt us in a free society, it will only be stopped by infiltration of their unit using all the dirty tricks necessary for such! Current tactics just scratch the tip of the iceburg and give TSA agents a chance to see nude women as they pass through the scanner!!! I want a job!

After-analysis of 9/11 shows we were stupid / could have caught them several times over / failed to exercise the standing order of "intercept and force down" any hyjacked commercial airliner. They flew over the most heavily Air Forced part of the country for some 45 minutes without interception = they were told to "stand down!"

[Dave Roberts]

The problem on 9/11 was that we really didn't believe that anyone would use a loaded commercial airliner as a flying suicide weapon. It wasn't until the second plane hit the World Trade Center towers that anyone believed it could happen. Since that time, we have had some success, but TSA has not leaned how to act with reason in the face of difficult situation. I have seen the excesses almost every time I have flown including the time I watched a poor lady facing the hand scanner and trying to explain she was wearing an underwire bra. Poor lady was as red faced as you could get.

[Ed Pettibone]

[Gene Scarborough]

We can bet any amount of money it is not ended---and what they used in the past will not be used again immediately.

Some years ago I saw footage of a 20' wingspan B-52 model with jet engines and thought, "That would be a good terrorist tool!" They caught one in the last few weeks! The one I saw takes 3 people to fly it with their R/C boxes.

Another is a new home built amphibian now pressurized so it can fly above !0,000 feet. It is made of composite foam and should be virtually invisible on radar---another great tool for terrorists! The prototype is for sale at a most reasonable price and it comes out of Canada. About $100K each beats the heck out of a military jet. It can be equipped with a jet engine as well!

In Rocky Mount is a plain building with a minimal chain link fence protecting it. No other security is visible. It is the main hard line switching system for the entire East Coast. It is within truck bomb distance of the main north/south Amtrack rails running across the street from it. We have people of middle east discent all over Rocky Mount!

Is anyone thinking outside the box of airlines these days????

I suspect so!

[KeithE]

[Dave Roberts]

Keith, my editorial "we" was referring to the American public. I think there were numerous failures on 9/11, but I am not ready to buy into the conspiracy theories of it. Thank you for the links which I am reading.

[KeithE]

[Gene Scarborough]

Let's not turn a good question into another round on conspiracy theory over 9/11!

The purpose of this thread is to examine the current rise of protest and how it is being treated. In some instances I see shades of the 60's by people who are getting tired of financial abuse and favoritism toward the rich.

Remember how the "flower generation" only wanted love and peace and Eisenhower warned of the "military-industrial complex?" Has that same generation done EXACTLY what it hated about American then?

Was he a prophet of the early 2000's?????

[KeithE]

[Gene Scarborough]

We used to say, "The squeeking wheel gets the grease."

Now, it seems, "he who yells and screams the most gets the news crew coverage!"

What troubles me most about the Tea Party is their deception. By definition, their name should stand for "taxation without representation." That concept enticed me to Greenville, NC, for their first demonstration in our area. I even said a word from the platform!

What I found was a bunch of pissed off middle / upper-class whites railing against "most things Democratic Party." Now that they are in places of representation, there is no compromise nor statesmanship. The last 2 "budget crisis" times have boiled down to "whatever the President suggests, we will destroy and refuse to pass."

This most recent jobs proposal from the White House began with the President pointing out how Republican-friendly it is. To which he has gotten a "hell NO!"

Frankly, I'm tired of the bull and ready to hold a sign and stand in a crowd of protest. ENOUGH IS ENOUGH = TERM LIMITS!

[Ed Pettibone]

[Tim Bonney]

I don't have a definitive answer for this but, when do we cross the line with so much security that in essence we give the terrorists the victory by allowing them to change the way we live even to the point of curtailing our own freedoms for the sake of an illusion of security?

[Gene Scarborough]

Ed---

He said EXACTLY that in his jobs speech and his Cabinet is reflecting it. He is against a total block wall on cooperation. That is just politics and not statesmanship!!!

Republicans want to see economic failure continue thinking they have a better shot at 2012----meanwhile, us small businesses starve to death!

Smell the scent of politics and don't think it's nice these days!!!

We simply need TERM LIMITS to get the idiots back into the real world we are trying to master with wise moves on the part of our government. So far, it's been 4+ years of stupid!!! Preceeded by some 20 years of equal STUPID!

[Ed Pettibone]

[Gene Scarborough]

[Gene Scarborough]