At 11:08 AM 7/21/01, Adam C. Lipscomb wrote:
>Dean wrote:
> > Something that's been bothering me lately is how you
> > can be immediately detained in an airport for saying a
> > single word in jest. You can see it on the faces of
> > your fellow Americans when you'e going through the
> > x-ray/magnetic detector - 'all i have to do is say
> > *bomb* and i'll get arrested' - they're stunned. In a
> > way it's heartening for me, it makes people think
> > about how good they have it- because for those brief
> > moments they're being oppressed. The Secret Service
> > has much more sweeping powers. How is it that we've
> > let these bypass the 1st and 4th? And no, it's not
> > like yelling 'fire'- you're not harming anyone.
>
>Yelling "Fire" in a theatre doesn't directly harm anyone, either, but the
>resulting panic can.
>
>I'd hardly say that anyone is being "oppressed" when, for the few hours
>they're at the airport or riding in a plane, they can't talk about blowing
>things up.
Not only that, they would have to greet their actor friend who played The
Joker by saying "Hello, Mr. Nicholson" or risk being arrested . . .
--Ronn! :)
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I always knew that I would see the first man on the Moon.
I never dreamed that I would see the last.
--Dr. Jerry Pournelle
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