Airline Travel: More Than Meets the Eye

2006_08_throwingstar.jpgRepresentative and head of the Homeland Security committee Peter King of New York wants better airport security. How much better? Well, better enough to protect against shoulder-fired missiles. In fact, let's look at the transcript of what he said on Fox News (yeah, we know, Fox News...) since he mentioned a NYC neighborhood while talking to Chris Wallace:

Well, I'm not saying we should be targeting people, Chris, but I think we should put political correctness somewhat to the side and say that a screener or even an airline should have the right to factor in a person's national origin.

We know that the threat is coming from Islamic terrorism and from Islamic terrorists, and obviously you can have a Richard Reid. You could always have a Timothy McVeigh coming through.

But the fact is the overwhelming odds are that it is going to be someone of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent and of the Muslim faith. And I think a screener should be allowed to factor that in as one of many factors.

Like if we were told that the Ku Klux Klan was going to attack Harlem or Bedford Stuyvesant, I think we'd spend more time looking more closely at whites than we would at African-Americans. Or if it was the IRA, you'd look more closely at Irish Americans.

So I'm saying it's a factor that should be in there and a screener or an airline shouldn't be worried about being sued, or losing their job or being hit with a civil rights action if they factor that in as one of a number of other issues they look at.

We were at the airport this weekend and were impressed with how smoothly bag checks went - both travelers and screeners seemed very mellow and eager to cooperate. We even had our bags checked before we got to the terminal and then again before we boarded the plane. Luckily, we studied the Transportation Security Administration extensive list that spells out what we can and cannot bring as carry-on. For example, throwing stars and nuchukas are okay for checked baggage, but don't think about bringing them on as carry-on! (So we checked ours - along with our saber...but our Transformer was allowed to fly with us.)

And did you read that article about airports also screening people's facial expressions?

Email This Entry


Comments (25) [rss]

happy to see that 'personal' lubricant is exempt...

user-pic

Nice that he favors Ethnic profiling even though it pretty much doesn't work.

If even Atty. General Alberto "Trust us, It's Legal!" Gonzales finds it problematic: I guess that means Rep. king is once again pandering to the Radical Right. He's up for re-election in November so I imagine he's trying to act tough rather than clueless on Terrorism...

BTW: I flew to Toronto the night they arrested those people in London. Other than scaring the crap out of everyone, Could someone explain what was accomplished? Since the British arrested those people, I'm hoping this wasn't another "Miami 7" incident..

Could someone tell me what a Muslim looks like? Like S.D. said, ethnic profiling DOES NOT WORK! How stupid is this guy? And he's head of Homeland Security??? Lord help us all.
I guess he never heard of Lockerbie, when the terrorits somehow convinced an IRISH woman to bring a bomb aboard in her suitcase. And since (according to him) the "overwhelming odds" are that the terrorist will be Middle Eastern, we don't need to keep an eye out for the Tim McVeighs of the world? Meanwhile, the airlines with the safest flight records in the world profile their passengers PSYCOLOGICALLY without regard to race or religion and....
Oh, whatever. You can't argue with fools.

I wonder how much we do not hear since 9/11. There have been high levels of security and most definetly racial profiling, which to some degree is a good thing. Racial profiling is a good domestic tactic and does work, for the most part. People start crying about racism and blah blah blah, but if they had any clue at all, they'd be coming down hard on insurance companies that are the nations leaders in racial profiling.

racial profile away, in a time of war (WWIII), we need to be vigiilant. We may not stop every attack, but we can thwart more than we can't stop.

Where did he say we should ignore the Timothy McVeigh's? Seems like you're putting words in his mouth. Try sticking to one side of the argument.

user-pic

"Racial profiling is a good domestic tactic and does work, for the most part."?
And you know this How??? Do you know better than Ray Kelly or are you just parroting RNC talking points?

"ed lover's Ex", Care to share some facts? It's interesting that you mention WWII; Are you referring to the Internment of Japanese-American Citizens? How many Japanese spy's did that round up? Were German-American Citizens cleaned out in mass numbers of the East coast?

Say, you didn't read Michelle Malkin's "In Defense of Internment: The Case for 'Racial Profiling' in World War II and the War on Terror." by any chance?

I guess I made this part up then:

"We know that the threat is coming from Islamic terrorism and from Islamic terrorists, and obviously you can have a Richard Reid. You could always have a TIMOTHY MCVEIGH coming through [emphasis added]. But the fact is the overwhelming odds are that it is going to be someone of Middle Eastern or South Asian descent and of the Muslim faith. And I think a screener should be allowed to factor that in as one of many factors."

user-pic

Also Ignoring that there are light completion European Muslims too. It's a fairly diverse religion.

That (#7) was in response to #5, BTW. Ah, gotta love when the comments get crossed.

There is no such thing as Islamic Terrorism it is all an inside job by ex-CIA. And we arew not at war, you are war only when congress declares war...which they haven't.

user-pic

something for you brainwashed retards to contemplate:

"The total number of people killed since 9/11 by al Qaeda of al Qaeda-like operatives outside of Afghanistan and Iraq is not much higher than the number who drown in bathtubs in the U.S. in a single year.

The lifetime chance of an American (not just in the U.S., but an American anywhere in thw world) being killed by an act of International Terrorism = 0.0000125 or 1 in 80,000 - about the same chance of being killed by a comet or meteor. If (that's a big if, but anyways) there were a 9/11-scale attack every three months for the next five years, the likelihood than an individual American would die is 1 in 5000."

- John Mueller

holy crap,
Michelle Malkin really did write that book mentioned by S.D.!

Hey #7, that quote doesn't say ignore domestics. It says the odds are higher it would be a foreigner. Why you would interpret that as the odds of a domestic white guy being zero is baffling. Your reading comp skills suck.

also, profiling includes the walkup all cash purchase, one way tickets, etc. etc. etc. A white guy can trip the alarm.

Also ignoring: by looking for a profile Police and Security get tunnel vision. That is, Instead of looking for suspicious behavior: They look for suspicious Muslim behavior only. Oh Yeah, that'll work just great...

Like I said: He's up for re-election and needs to look "Tough" on Terror...

#13,
Yeah, whatever. If you can't understand that Rep. King is basically saying that people who fit his idea of a "Muslim" or "Middle Eastern" prototype (whatever that is) will be subject to more scrutiny than a potential "Timothy McVeigh," then I suppose my last words in comment #3 pretty much stand.

Note PK's mention of IRA at the end of that paragraph.

See Wayne Madsen Report's (waynemadsenreport.com) archives for more information on Peter King's links to IRA weapon smuggling and money laundering. He sounds like a homsec threat to me.

Of course profiling works. Not by itself, it is one way to improve our odds of cathing potential bombers. Left wingers can't win this argument so they create straw men. But nobody is suggesting that profiling alone works, just that it should be one part of the process.

Fortunately very few liberals go into law enforcement so we don't have to rely on knuckleheads like SD to keep us safe.

user-pic

In 1986, who attempted to smuggle three pounds of explosives onto an El Al jetliner bound from London to Tel Aviv?
a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
b. Michael Smerconish
c. Bob Mould
d. A pregnant Irishwoman named Anne Murphy
In 1962, in the first-ever successful sabotage of a commercial jet, a Continental Airlines 707 was blown up with dynamite over Missouri by:
a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
b. Ann Coulter
c. Henry Rollins
# d. Thomas Doty, a 34-year-old American passenger, as part of an insurance scam

In 1994, who nearly succeeding in skyjacking a DC-10 and crashing it into the Federal Express Corp. headquarters?
a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
b. Michelle Malkin
c. Charlie Rose
# d. Auburn Calloway, an off-duty FedEx employee and resident of Memphis, Tenn.

In 1974, who stormed a Delta Air Lines DC-9 at Baltimore-Washington Airport, intending to crash it into the White House, and shot both pilots?
a. Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40
b. Joe Scarborough
c. Spalding Gray
d. Samuel Byck, an unemployed tire salesman from Philadelphia

user-pic

here's the whole article for you right wing loonies who think racial profiling is effective at anything other than making people more angry, encumbering daily life and commerce, eroding our civil rights, and distracting law enforcment and intelligence forces from doing real work to prevent criminal acts:

http://www.salon.com/tech/col/smith/2006/06/16/askthepilot190/print.html

"knuckleheads like SD"?
Nola, You little Devilish Troll, It's been so long! I'm touched, You Missed Me!

So, Bash any "Liberals" lately? C'mon, Let's hear more of your Great meaningless Labels! Is "Left wingers" really the best you could come up with? Don't you want to quote from Michell Malkins Book?

I'd bet good money your copy is right next to Ann Coulter's "Godless" and "Treason".

How about they stop writing a big S on your boarding pass so the screeners know to give you & your bags a good search (and see if they can't break something while they're at it)?

My friends & I regularly take the big bags off the one who got an S, so they don't get held up quite so long.

I presume the terrorists do this too, with their bombs and exploding shoes.

This is what you get when security is run by minimum-wage, police rejects: the kind of security a child could break through.

Perhaps there can be a Republicans-only airline, that only searches non-whites. Let's see how long that one lasts. Seriously, I want to see them try.

If only we could trust law enforcement to apply such subtle methods of investigation. The truth is they're not trained for such skillful deduction, underpaid and disgruntled which only results in looking for easy targets. And abusing them.

Meaningless labels? I guess calling everyone a troll who disagrees with you is meaningful? And your obsession with Malkin and Coulter is interesting. I see you are still posting at a high rate - keep it up, maybe someone will visit your lonely website someday.

A very nice website !! Very well Done !!! nokia6630

Post a comment (Comment Policy)

Tips

Get your daily dose of New York first thing in the morning from our weekday newsletter, now in beta.

About Gothamist

Gothamist is a website about New York. More

Editor: Jen Chung
Publisher: Jake Dobkin

Newsmap

newsmap.jpg

Contribute

Latest Tip:

years of isiah thomas stories in chant form http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/college/2009/11/14/20
[more]

Latest Photo:

Subscribe

Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.

All Our RSS