Monday, 16 June, 2008

1. By MisDirection. Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @06:31pm:

   If you are not busy enough creating problems with passengers, after all they are all terrorists, then create problems with the local police, meaning they are next in line to be labeled terrorists. When you can't solve your own problems, create problems for someone else. Once the local police are also the enemy, it makes them easier to be swept aside by the state police (not state as in one of the 50 states but state as in the government in control; i.e. USSR type).
2. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @08:19pm:

   It's time for everyone to read "It Can't Happen Here", by Sinclair Lewis, written in 1935. http://www.squidoo.com/it-cant-happen-here-sinclair-lewis
   
   Through a combination of influences-his easy bearing chief among them -he wins the presidential election...Once in, he appoints his close personal friends and political advisers to high-level positions, stocks the Supreme Court with 'surprisingly unknown lawyers' who called him by his first name, takes away most of the power of Congress under the guise of national security, allows Big Business to dictate economic policy, consolidates the media to a few rich corrupt owners, and fills newspapers with syndicated gossip from Hollywood to keep everyone distracted.
   
   The book's new police force is exactly the TSA...marginalized cop wanabees with a chip on their shoulder, and shiny new badges.
3. By . Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @09:08pm:

   "Some of our officers aren't respected" -- where has this moron been. The TSA functionaries are totally disrespected, disregarded and disliked by just about everyone who travels. Not "some" of them, "all" of them.
4. By reddog. Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @09:37pm:

   The TSA officers at LAX are mostly 400lb, diabetic, ex-welfare recipients, with speech and neuropathic impediments. Most require an extensive network of trusses to remain on their feet for extended periods and any bending or stooping would result in hiatal hernia stenosis. They are very annoying to deal with and it's sometimes humiliating squatting in a crowded hallway, trying to put your shoes back on but they are in no way threatening. They aren't effective either. I've gone thru with lighters, liquor, various metal tools that include knife blades, you name it. I'm pretty sure you could put a fully loaded AK in the basket and tell them it was a laptop without a challenge. Let them have any uniform they want and I am not intimidated by badges. We don't need no stinking badges!
5. By . Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @09:53pm:

   Trouble is, Bisbonian, those who don't already see "It Can't Happen Here" happening all around them wouldn't see it or accept it or connect it or recognize it if they did read the book - they wouldn't start it in the first place, let alone finish it.
   
   Look at all the quotes that have been placed here from that book and others that so clearly describe the very situation we have right now in our government and these people flat out refuse to acknowledge any parallels at all. They're going to remain in their little boxed delusion with lots and lots of badges and military and govt presence around them because they think those things make them "safe" - and they must be safe - they don't even know from what half the time.
   
   A very special friend of mine is just certain that the Muslims are planning to take over this country, Obama is a closet Muslim and their leader, and the fact that one or two members of Congress are Muslims proves it.
6. By . Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @10:09pm:

   She's not the only one who believes that junk - and fervently. I read "It Can't Happen Here" again a couple of years ago and found the fit striking. The quote from Hermann Goebel about how all one has to do in order to manipulate the people is to make them afraid - that's another one that fits to a T - but again, the people who need the information won't read it.
   
   I can offer another excellent read about the people I'm talking about: Read The True Believer by Eric Hoffer. That's another old one that explains the locked-in-place mind, whether religious or political, and explains the role fear plays in every thought these people have.
   
   I see the new TSA badges and uniforms as just an extension of Bush's so-called "security" frenzy; they reinforce the idea that we aren't "safe".
7. By Andrey. Comment posted 16-Jun-2008 @11:53pm:

   I have the same opinion about the athority of the policemen!
8. By Dave (TDC). Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @01:16am:

   Mary & Bisbo
   
   There is another even older quote which pretty much summarizes the theme of that into book one sentence, it's from Edmund Burke (1729 to 1797) and goes:
   "All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."
   This is not his only appropriate quote, how about:
   "Whenever a separation is made between liberty and justice, neither, in my opinion, is safe."
   or
   "The people never give up their liberties but under some delusion."
   This is a good one:
   "Whoever undertakes to set himself up as a judge of Truth and Knowledge is shipwrecked by the laughter of the gods"
   
   Can’t help but think that Burke was a bit ahead of his time.
9. By Black Dog. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @02:18am:

   Another small step in the race to a fascist government. Give them a uniform, call them officers, then refer to them as "the authorities".
10. By wally the duck. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @05:53am:

    Catfight between bureaucracies.
11. By Snag. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @06:55am:

    The article makes a good point.
    These guys are NOT police, they are IMPERSONATING police !
    Doesn't your country have any Laws preclusing the latter ... ours does (although they are severely distorted lately).
12. By Snag. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @06:56am:

    "precluding" (must learn to type better)
13. By . Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @09:32am:

    By Mary:
    The quote from Hermann Goebel about how all one has to do in order to manipulate the people is to make them afraid - that's another one that fits to a T - but again, the people who need the information won't read it.
    
    Joseph Goebbels was the Nazi propaganda minister. Hermann Goering was the commander of the Luftwaffe, Hitler's air force.
14. By Volt. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @10:27am:

    "Some of our officers aren't respected"
    
    I guess they don't realize respect has to be earned, not seized, both by the collective group and by each individual.
    
    I have dealt with TSA officers I respect.
15. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @11:59am:

    You're right, of course, Mary; the idiots who haven't figured it out yet are not swayed by evidence, only by their own beliefs. Especially when parroted to them by someone else. Oh well; Americans get what they deserve, I guess.
    
    Next they'll issue guns to these "M&M's"
16. By wok. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @12:10pm:

    I have seen some TSA officers who don't look like the sharpest people in the world - but that's true about any group of people.
    
    I travel pretty often - and all I know is they're there doing a job that keeps me safe. I want them to do their job well. In that regard, I respect their authority and I do what they tell me to do. If some folks will respond to their wearing a badge? More power to the TSA for getting the job done.
17. By Bisbonian. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @12:46pm:

    They're keeping you safe? Wow, you're in bad shape, wok.
    
    I'm a pilot, wok, a Captain at a major airline. The TSA keeps you in line...I keep you safe. I also do my best to offset their ineptitude, and keep you on time.
18. By wok. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @01:20pm:

    Shoot, everybody at the airport keeps me safe. Because you're all dazzling professionals.
    
    
19. By Evil Klown. Comment posted 17-Jun-2008 @02:25pm:

    Maybe President Obama will do away with "Bush's so-called 'security' frenzy."
20. By Monty. Comment posted 21-Jun-2008 @05:11pm:

    I have to go with Benjerman Franklin on this one: "Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." Franklin also has several similar quotations. Good link to "It Can't Happen Here." It is really eerie how relevant that book is to the last few years.

Original content © 2010, John Walkenbach