Here we go again. The American authorities, in their never-ending mission to strip me of my personal liberty and dignity, have imposed new regulations for flying into the US in the wake of the recent bombing attempt.
As if stripping my belt and shoes off scores of times since 9-11 hasn't been enough harassment, I will now have to be subjected to a full pat-down prior to boarding, and I will be denied blankets or pillows during the last 60 minutes of flight. And no peeing 1 hour prior to landing either...flying with my small children just got more interesting.
All this in the name of the 'ILLUSION' of security. Never mind the fact that:
- Umar Farouk Abdul Mutallab was on an FBI so-called 'watch list'
- he was on a Banned from Entry list in the UK for months now
- his father recently contacted the U.S. Embassy in Nigeria with concerns his son had "become radicalized" and was planning something!
- he boarded a flight with a ticket paid in cash, and with NO LUGGAGE!!!
Of course, I feel much better after seeing Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on TV saying "While we continue to investigate the source of this incident, the traveling public should be very confident of what we're doing now."
NOW? NOW? WTF! You couldn't set up a system to make sure a passenger agent properly signaled the authorities when a guy checked in for a flight from Nigeria to Detroit with NO LUGGAGE?
I see all the news sources calling this a "botched attack" but the only thing that was botched was the basic common sense of every individual that came in contact with Umar during those last 24 hours before he tried to light his pants on fire...
And even more botched, is the basic thinking that all this so-called security makes us safer.
Fighting terrorism can be done only one way - getting on with our lives and not letting them get to us. Because every time my Yankee friends panic and decide to start checking my underwear, the terrorists win.
