On Fri, 23 Jul 2004 13:21:01 -0400, Monique Boea
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> ok that was way too analytical :)
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Jim Davis [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Sent: Friday, July 23, 2004 1:14 PM
> To: CF-Community
> Subject: RE: Have you seen this?
>
> There were a lot of oddities in the story to me:
>
> 1) This is clearly an opinion piece since it comes, clearly, from her single
> viewpoint. That's not a bad thing at all, but it surprised me that in her
> follow-up "investigation" she didn't attempt to contact any of the other
> passengers for corroboration. She may have been shaken up but any decent
> journalist would have been passing out and collecting cards and phone
> numbers the instant that plane hit the ground.
>
> 2) Assuming the facts are presented correctly then it strikes me as odd that
> the flight attendants didn't do anything. The first rule should be treat
> everybody the same. In other words treat everybody with that subtle
> superiority that comes from having chosen a crappy job that temporarily
> places you in a position of power over people who've made better life
> choices than you have. They should have asked them to sit down and flash
> them a phony smile.
>
> 3) She does quote Anne Coulter which just annoys me. It's impossible to
> stake a "I'm not an extremist" claim when you quote extremists to support
> it.
>
> 4) She made a big deal out of her trip to India which ended up sounding more
> like the bigot who's very proud "they treat the colored guy down at the
> office just like everybody else".
>
> 5) She was very specific that the group spoke "Arabic" the whole time. yet
> at the end she was very specific that the main mouthed "No" to his friends
> at the end. What Arabic word, when mouthed, looks like "No"? Did they
> switch to English just to make the climax of the story better?
>
> The inference at the end is that a terrorist organization could train its
> members in non-threatening jobs. Yes, and this is news to you? Ever hear
> of undercover cops, secret-service men posing as waiters or spies assuming
> innocent identities? Of course that's the case (which is exactly why that
> group of cheerleaders could definitely be suspect).
>
> I also question the idea that the toilet is the best place to construct a
> bomb. If you were able to smuggle enough small pieces on board to do that
> you'd have enough bodies to shield the activity of building it (you could
> simply pass the pieces to widow seated-compatriot for construction while
> others kept a look out for stewardesses). Where in the hell are you going
> to hide something in an airplane toilet, in the used razor blade slot?
>
> Also it strikes me odd that anybody thinks that terrorists are still going
> to buy one-way tickets. Are they really looking to save a few dollars when
> they know (as everybody does) that one-way tickets are much more suspect?
>
> My personal opinion is that air marshals should be present on all flights
> (something we could have easily afforded had we kept or asses out of Iraq).
> Terrorists will get their people on board planes if they want them there
> (even if they have to recruit caucasians to do it), they will get the parts
> need on board planes if they want to. We need people ON BOARD the plane
> ready to react when something like this happens.
>
> An air marshal on board with the sanction to question suspicious activity
> may have discovered, for example, that the band had spent the previous
> evening in a hotel room with bad water and several members of the group had
> diarrhea. Sitting down placed pressure on their bowels so most of them
> stood up as much as possible.
>
> The guy with the McDonald's bag thought he was feeling better when he bought
> it, but once he opened the bag and got a whiff he ended up flushing that
> double quarter-pounder (which cheese) and the fries. But he kept the apple
> pie: they stay good for a long time and he might want it later. The Air
> Marshal could have asked to look in the bag and would have been trained to
> check out the toilet himself.
>
> The man with the goatee also thought he was doing better at the beginning
> and was amused by the 4-year old with the carry-on. But halfway through the
> flight it hit him hard and as that child's mother smiled at him he was
> desperately holding back a flood waiting for the damn sitar-player to get
> out of the toilet. He was also a bit miffed that the singer, who was no big
> shot himself, got bumped to First Class.
>
> Near the end of the flight, knowing that they wouldn't get a chance for
> while there was a rush for toilet. The manager of the band, worried about
> transportation to the next gig, snuck into the toilet (which was none too
> fresh at this point) to make a quick cell phone call. (This was, in fact,
> the only crime committed on the flight by the way.) He found out that his
> contact at the hotel had not, in fact, sent the van he had promised. He was
> understandably angry when he mouthed this fact to the drummer and the
> trombonist (this was, by the way, a very odd sounding band).
>
> The fact is that any suspicious activity can have a perfectly legitimate
> reason until there's a crime committed. A security presence on board the
> plane can determine that much, much better than simple preventative measures
> on the ground.
>
> Jim Davis
> _____________________________________
>
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