The old version of the law only allowed prosecution if you physically placed hands on the flight attendant.
The new, Patriot Act version allows you to be arrested if you threaten, talk about, imply, or even joke about "interfering", which now means absolutely anything, including having your foot in the isle. So, it is the Patriot Act changes that allow the law to be invoked in a trivial case like this. Which I am all for, as long as it is used for things that are truly THREATS. It should not be invoked for things like this, because it CHEAPENS the meaning and intent of the law, which was to take tough measures against people trying or planning to bring down another plane, even if they didn't actually get far along their plans. We gave law enforcement unprecidented license, and were assured by them they would only use it where truly appropriate. Saying "I will get you fired" is an asshole move. It should get the person shunned and tsked by the rest of the passengers, cut off from all service by the staff, forbidden to fly with that carrier again, and maybe even prosecuted for threatening (if the flight attendant heard the "You'll be sorry after we land" as a physical threat) Never at any time, from what I have read, did _anyone_ think the guy was going to try to bring down the plane. Not the stewardess, not the pilots who radioed ahead, not the passengers sitting next to them and complaining. A little common sense needs to be put back into all of this, in my mind. Draconian handling (or even the possilibility) is, to me, silly, and reduces the true intention and deterant of the law. In my mind, if a stewardess invokes the "Interfering" law, then the passenger involved should immediately be subdued by everyone within reach, pummeled into submission, and tied up and restrained until the plane lands. It is a SERIOUS charge. On 11/16/06, G Money <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > 20 years is the maximum punishment allowed by law. > > After these people get off with a slap on the wrist and some community > service, this will be a non-issue. The potential punishments are there to > make it VERY CLEAR that you really shouldn't phuck with flight attendants. > > You also need to get this whole Patriot Act thing out of your mind...it has > NOTHING to do with this, if the amendment that Hatton is posting is > accurate. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Introducing the Fusion Authority Quarterly Update. 80 pages of hard-hitting, up-to-date ColdFusion information by your peers, delivered to your door four times a year. http://www.fusionauthority.com/quarterly Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:220851 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
