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keeping us safe .....

The Editor,
Sydney Morning Herald.                                                             August 25, 2006.

Surely it’s a simple matter for airlines to resolve the dilemma of competing rights & interests of paranoid air crews, fearful members of the flying public & those unfortunate individuals not blessed with an anglo-celtic heritage (‘Police arrest 12 passengers after jet turns back’, Herald, August 25)?

To protect everyone’s rights, whilst “keeping them safe”, airlines should immediately introduce a security regime requiring cavity searches of everyone boarding an aircraft. Passengers should be issued with regulation jumpsuits: orange for economy & perhaps blue for those in the business & first class sections. All passengers should be shackled, manacled, hooded & sedated for the duration of their flight. Movies & music should be banned, so as to avoid the risk of arousing dangerous emotions, & no food or drink should be served, thereby minimising the risk of poisoning.

What better way is there to demonstrate our success in addressing the root causes of terrorism, whilst proving that we still have the upper hand?

Now about those pesky trains, buses & cars …..

that'll learn 'em .....

‘Muslim, Arab and South Asian passengers are being profiled by Homeland Security officers at Kennedy Airport, civil liberties groups said Wednesday, citing a New Jersey family that was detained and interrogated after a flight from Dubai last week.

The family, a mother and her 20-year-old twin daughters from Montclair, N.J., said they were plucked from the baggage area, held six hours without food or water by Customs and Border Protection agents and questioned about their views of Iraq.

Nahgam Alyaqoubi and her daughters, Arwa and Sumia Ibrahim, naturalized American citizens, said 200 other passengers of Arab, Muslim or South Asian backgrounds were detained on Aug. 15 in a roped-off area, days after the London bomb suspects were arrested.

The family joined officials from the American Civil Liberties Union and other rights groups at a news conference in the Manhattan office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations to condemn what they say has been an increase in racial profiling since the London plot was uncovered. They also criticized Rep. Peter King for what they said was profiling.’

JFK Illegally Targeting Muslims

keystone cops .....

‘Ryanair is suing the government for £3 million over "nonsensical and ineffective" security measures put in place at airports after alleged bomb plots.  

The budget airline's legal action marks a new low in government and aviation industry relations in the wake of the 10 August arrests of people the police say were planning to explode bombs on Transatlantic flights.’

Ryanair Seeks £3m Damages In Terrorism Security Suit

and we're worried about "terrarists" .....

‘Non-lethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield, the Air Force secretary said Tuesday.

Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns, said Secretary Michael Wynne.

"If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, then we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation," said Wynne. "(Because) if I hit somebody with a non-lethal weapon and they claim that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think that I would be vilified in the world press."

The Air Force has funded research into non-lethal weapons, but he said the service isn't likely to spend more money on development until injury issues are reviewed by medical experts and resolved.’

Official Touts Non-Lethal Weapons For Use