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Airport Security Experiencing Complete Turbulance!

No doubt that just about everyone in the world has heard about The Grinch who tried to blow himself up on an airplaine as it was landing in Detroit on Christmas.

Well, since then world wide airport security has taken steps…backward.

Whether it be passenger incompetence about things you can’t bring on board (NO EXCEPTIONS!), turning the plane around for one passenger whose name is similar to another person on the No-Fly List and doubling travel time and expenses, freaking out because some guy left LaGuardia Airport wasn’t on any of the aircraft but was on the No-Fly List so the airport had to be shut dhow for six hours, cancelling everyone’s flight over a jar of honey, or illegally seizing someone’s computer for being critical about current and new, rediculous security measures. If this is what you call an effective system, even if nothing is found (because it still costs way too much money to conduct any search), the system is in panic. And what happens when a person has anxiety attack, they become paranoid.

Even with terrorist threats picking up again, the TSA’s level of effectiveness is SLIPPING!

Terrorists are smart. We assume that these guys are people who live in caves and shout things in Arabic wearing scarves and toating AK-47s and C4 vests to blow themselves up. But this is wrong. To quote Keanu Reeves from the movie Speed, terrorists are “crazy, not stupid.”

The guy who stuck up the flight in Detroit this Christmas was the son of a wealthy Nigerian lawyer. Osama bin Ladin and much of his family and next of kin are wealth. Bin Ladin is the heir of a wealthy construction company. We thought that locking up his bank account would stop a guy who has enough money that he can pay for everything with cash.

Then their are all the other terrorists we have forgotten about. People who were part of the Irish Republican Army, Hezbollah, November 14th, E.T.A., Animal Liberation Front, and of course the domestic terrorists in our own country, some who may have been at the Town Hall Outbursts last year mearly to observe rather than engage in the madness.

We’ve spent the past eight years chasing ghosts, and locking up the wrong people, while suicide bombings and IEDs still go off on a daily basis, but the news media shugs it off like it is mearly a bug hitting a windshield.

Yet, you can’t enter or leave London anymore whout getting a full body high-power X-ray which is unsafe and illegal. You don’t go to the Airport anymore to travel, you go there to be herded, profiled, and treated like cattle only to have the airport shut down, flights cancelled, and planes turning around after nearly reaching their destination because of one passenger whose name matches some retired terrorists in Ireland.

People forget that terrorists are smart. They don’t need to fly commercially if they have their own private jet. They don’t even need to be at the airport to enter this country. They can hop a cargo ship, a train, or just WALK IN to the country from some port of entry no one thinks about. And what about the Domestic terrorists? Clearly, they have the ablity to drive to their destination, catch a train, or simply WALK where they want.

We are looking in the wrong direction. We have all this high technology to check someone at the airport, yet the terrorist don’t even need to use the Internet. They can be low tech and on the downlow. Look at Ted Kazenski, the Unibomber. The FBI was on a nation wide manhunt for him, yet their he was living in his little cabin in the woods, self susstaining, and off the grid.

This is why after nearly a decade, we still haven’t apprehended Osama Bin Ladin. Why shoes are taken off at the airport and strip searches are kicking in. Why an X-ray machines are being installed in airports.

Frequent exposure to X-rays in a place that really isn’t a hospital is VERY dangerous! Why in the world would when you go to the dentist, you have to wear a lead apron? So that your entire body isn’t exposed to X-Ray radiation. If you are a frequent flyer, you are about to have cancer, because the Airport is not the Hospital or the Dentist.

We worry that terrorists will set off a radiologically device, when the airport has several of them going off all the time, exposing everyone to radiation hazards daily. The guy at the TSA at the security gate is not the X-Ray Technician at the hospital.

We’ve lost at this point. The TSA is beating a dead horse hoping that it will live and still work and is lashing out at everyone who doesn’t believe that they have the ability to resurenct that horse to back to life and become Optimus Prime of the Transformers.

We need a new plan. We know what to look for. Adding security measure after security measure has been ineffective, expensive, a health hazard, and a hassle.

We assume that the enemy is stupid. So we treat everyone with indignation hoping that the terrorist will jump out and say “hey I’m over here!” We’ve been going at this all wrong!

We think that we won’t be treated terribly at the airport, but when you get there, “Surprise!”

If we want to catch people on the No-Fly List before they even enter the airport, why not put security guards at the front door of the airport rather than scattered throughout the terminals? This has been very effective at sports stadiums. They don’t inspect you when you are on the floor where your seats are at the stadium. They do it at the entrance. You can’t even get into the base ball stadium to buy anything unless you pass security. Why is this not the case at the airport?

Why are we find out about terrorists getting on plains seconds after the plane doors are closed, when people’s names are printed on the tickets? Why aren’t we identifying people who buy thier tickets when they are being printed off? We can tell somone their credit card has been declined instantly, but we can’t tell some “sorry sir, you can’t fly on the plane, you are on the No-Fly List.” To which just like the credit card declination, you can go to someone and dispute that information to possibly clear your self, especially if it involves Identity fraud.

What are the chances that a terrorist with your name, has a credit card similar to your own? We are able to identify an identity theif all the time with the credit card, but why not with airline tickets?

And what about the guys who pay with cash? I mean, you need proof of identity to buy the ticket in the first place. If you are flying internationally, you need your passport. SO WHY ISN’T THE TSA LOOKING UP THIS INFORMATION BEFORE PEOPLE GET ON THE PLANE?!

It only makes the terrorists look so much smarter, and the TSA look so much more stupid. Sure the TSA can take the credit when they find someone, but when they fail, they want to blame something else.

Don’t we have a unified system to identify international terrorists? Clearly there isn’t or else that one guy would have been stopped in Amsterdam where he was chaning his underwear to Fruit of a Booms!

No improvements have been made at the airport. If there were, people wouldn’t be critical of the TSA, London wouldn’t be turing into an Orwellian nightmare, and terrorists wouldn’t even be able to get into the airport.

Preparations is more than just guarding the airport, but making sure that terrorists can’t even buy tickets to get on the plane in the first place!

Use your heads, for crying out loud, TSA!

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Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 Safety, censorship, crime, media, security, tourism No Comments

Got $25 to throw away? Go to the All Star Game Fanfest

People have been asking me “Why are you going to the All Star Game? You have no money.” True, my expenses have caugh up with me as of late. (Stupid, economy!) But when a really, really, really, really big event comes to town, don’t you just want to be part of it? To decend into the madness of the crowd and be part of something extraordinary?

The last time the All Star Game was in St. Louis was forty years ago. Perhaps the next time it will be here is forty years from now. Technically, the ASG is a once in a lifetime experience in St. Louis. Forty years from now, what would you want to say to your grandchildren. That you were atleast outside the stadium near the event, or at home?

I’ve been accused of wanting to hang out near the stadium because President Obama would be there. As much as I worked in the campaign and supported him last year, his visit is secondary compared to the ASG.

I’m not going to the ASG for the President. I’m going to it because the ASG is HERE in St. Louis.

But what I will say about the ASG Events is two things:

  1. I could care less about Sheryl Crow. Yes, I know. Everybody likes her. (Except Archbishop Leo Burke, but that guy is a jerk. Ask any Polish Catholic in the St. Louis Area.) But to be honest, the people at Major League Baseball, or whoever invited her, really have no taste in music out side of three artist on the radio. The other two being Dave Matthews and John Melloncamp. No Doubt would probably be included, especially if all the songs on their playlist were just Gwen Steffani during her stint as a solo artists. If you are going to listen to her, don’t listen to her bubble gum pop crap! Listen to here when she is part of No Doubt and only the Rock and Ska stuff. (Anyone who listens to Hollaback Girl needs their ass kicked!)
  2. Never go to the All Star Game Fanfest. EVER! Wasn’t that an unpleasant experience. It actually costed $30 to get in, but since there was a $5 discount if you used a Mastercard, I figured why the hell not. Well, now I know better.

Fanfest was awful. To be honest, I needed to take a trip to the library at 14th and Olive after going to that event so I could regain any intelegent thought after wasting $25 to see GM, XM, Sony, Reebok, Pepsi, and Taco Bell hawk their wares. (The library was awesome. Seriously. It was!)

GM had to be the worst! Let’s not show off any of our hybrid models, guys. It’s not like the President of the United States or his family will be stopping by the event to see if we’ve learned anything since the government takeover. Of which, GM has not learned anything except how to suck money out of the government like a former-Haliburton executive.

Chevrolet is suppost to be GM’s most popular brand. Just about every car there seemed to give off this Pontiac Aztek feel to it. Even the Malibu, which is suppost to be this aerodynamic machine looks like it has sharpe edges. Come on?! Did we suddenly forget how to cut steel into smooth Bézier surfaces?

Fortunately, the President won’t have to waste $25 to get into Fanfest, not because he is the President of the United States, but because the same exhibt is outside Busch Stadium at Broadway and Clark.

Hopefully, the President will see that a post-bankruptcy GM is no different than a pre-bankruptcy-GM. It really never was the unions that were hurting the government. Rather the guys in the office buildings who did nothing to change the car industry despite all the claims that they did. The only changes they made were moving the factories outside of the United States into Canada, Mexico, and China. (News flash guys: There are unions in those countries too.)

So while conservative will show up at the ASG to complain about everything from having to pay income taxes (which actually keep sales taxes down) to “Government Motor” (ignorant to the fact that GM still hasn’t learned anything about not stealing money from the government, jobs from Americans, or improving their products), everyone else will be there to enjoy baseball.

In the meantime, spend your $30 elsewhere. Like the Zoo or the Art Museum or something constructive.

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Welcome to St. Louis!

The following post is for the visitors of the Major League Baseball All-Star Game.

Welcome to St. Louis, Missouri! Home of the TEN TIME World Champion St. Louis Cardinals. (When we win more World Series titles than the New York Yankies, you can thank us for shutting down Major League Baseball. Believe us, once someone better whose not from New York out does the so-called “best team in baseball”, Bud Selig will have fire sale.)

Home of McDonnell Douglas, Trans World Airlines, GrandPa Pidgeon’s, May Department Stores, Peavely Dairy, Monsanto, Peabody Energy, Patriot Coal , Arch Coal (Don’t those last four companies just “love” the environment?) and our biggest hometown staple Anheuser-Busch. Home of an industrial workforce such as the Hazelwood Ford Plant where they make the Ford Explorer, the Fenton Chrysler Plant where they make the Dodge Ram, and the Wentzville GM Assembly Plant.

If you’ve come from out of town, you may be interested in visiting the Ballpark VillageEmpty Lot complements of our good friends at the Centene Corporation. Mayor Slay invites you to visit the new Ballpark VillageEmpty Lot before and after the All Star Game and the Home Run Derby. (Most of you who are visiting and going to the game have spent about a grand per baseball seat. I would hate to see it get rained out. Not to put a jinx on the event, but I’m just being honest.)

While in St. Louis, visit our many tourist attractions using our Metro Transit System which can take you to places such as the The Gateway Arch, The St. Louis Zoo (No service in this direction), The Missouri History Museum (to which is near the Forest Park Metrolink Station), The St. Louis Art Museum(No service), The Science Center(No service), The Muny(No service, from what I can tell), The Kiel Opera House(What opera house?), The Bevo Mill (Closed. You can thank Carlos Brito of InBev for this one.), The Delmar Loop (lofts), The Central West End (lofts), Washington Avenue (and more lofts), Union Station (assuming there are stores still there), Laclede’s Landing, The Missouri Bontanical Gardens (I might be wrong about this one), The Hill (this one is also a little iffy), Grant’s Farm (No service, and Carlos Brito reduced the hours.), The Magic House (This makes me sad that there are no busses. Your kids would have loved it!), The City Museum (I wish I could have crossed out this one), and Lambert-St. Louis International Airport (word of advice to Mr. Shaquille O’Neal or anyone over 7 feet, watch your head when entering the main terminal).

But St. Louis is not the only place in the area where the excitement is! Why not use Metro to visit our surrounding cities such as Clayton, Bridgeton Lambert-Airport W1W Runway, Kirkwood (nothing to write home about), Ferguson (I hope there is still service here), Chesterfield (No bus service), Florissant (you are better off using a bike!), St. Charles(They don’t want to pay taxes to support it, but mostly they don’t want “certain people” there. Why visit them anyway? New Town is in a SWAMP!), the Recplex and Mid Rivers Mall in St. Peters(More people who didn’t want to pay taxes. Never mind most of the people who they don’t want there have these things called “cars” so they can DRIVE out there and work.), O’Fallon (Another city that won’t pay taxes for bus service, though it’s urban development caused all sorts of controversy a couple of years ago. Did we metion it is also where good Christian women who think “hunger can be a positive motivator” come from to represent the state of Missouri but follow around an crazy ambulance chasing dentist/lawyer who will some day become the Crazy Cat Lady from The Simpsons?)

While in Downtown St. Louis enjoying the Ballpark Village Empty Lot be sure to visit the new City Garden, located between Chestnut and Market and 8th and 10th Streets across the street from the Peabody Energy Corporate Headquarters. Feel free to ask them how are things in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky. :D .

Don’t forget to try some Imo’s Pizza and some Ted Drewes’ Frozen Custard, Toasted Ravioli (though I personally prefer regular ravioli), Schlafly Beer and Fitz’s Root Beer and Gus’ Pretzels. Because the food alone is worth the trip out to our city.

So on behalf of the people of St. Louis: WELCOME!

September 2010
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