Wounded Soldier With Wired Jaw Prevented From Boarding Plane With Wire Clippers

FOXNews ^ | AP

[JCG]

It might be a good time for San Francisco security screeners to have some remedial training:

I've never read anything containing so much tragedy that was so downright gut-mangling funny. LOL!

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Download 8 Mb zip file here (60 minute video)

[Grut]

He could've vetoed the airport security bill.

Bush is a Republican and therefore spineless. He signed the bill because that was the easy thing to do, just as he snorted fire for most of last fall because everyone else was snorting fire.

Those who believe that all his recent wobbliness is part of some fiendish plot to surprise Saddam are probably still waiting for the Special Prosecutor to leap out at Clinton and shout "boo!" Sorry, folks, Ken Starr is Mr. Republican and Bush is following in his footsteps.

[kitkat]

***He could've vetoed the airport security bill. He chose not to. Hence why we're stuck with barney fife security guards at our airports and why he isn't getting my vote in 04 for one of many reasons.***

Bush COULDN'T veto this bill because if he had, there would have been NO BILL, which in turn would have held back security. (And I suspect you know that.)

[watchin]

Should have tucked it in a turban. He would have sailed right through the dare-not-profile screeners.

[marajade]

It would have been irresponsible for Bush to veto a bill with more security when the US was found to be at risk.

[marajade]

Ken Starr did what he was hired to do. Bush is acting responsibly in relation to a security threat. How you can link the two is beyond words...

[goody2shooz]

...This is what happens when we can't profile...Exacta-mundo!!

Dubya ought to dump his FBI Director AND his Secretary of Transportation, then get two real leaders who can whip those departments into shape.

[537 Votes]

Remember all the stories about good students being expelled because they had aspirin in their backpacks on school property and that violated the zero-tolerance anti-drug policies? Airline travel at this point is destined to go the way of railroad passenger travel; it'll be regulated into extinction.

[Jack Black]

Mineta is a disgrace, and should be fired.

[Johnny Crab]

Here's another one for the WANNABE SUPER SECURITY man at Savannah's Airport on 10 May 2002 when I was "treated like AL-the-Queer-DOH" should be treated:

X) NOTE: This question is for Savannah employees only:

On September 11, 2001 the World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon were hit by airplanes highjacked by:

a) Smokey Robinson and the Miracles

b) Jeff Gordon and the Rainbow Warriors

c) A 46 year old crew-cut-adorned white male who had just returned from Parris Island and was wearing a red cap with a USMC emblem and wearing a red shirt honoring the USMC 1st/Platoon 1033 and his son's graduating into the United States Marine Corp.

d) Muslim male extremists mostly between the ages of 17 and 40

Time limit for the question is two minutes, please take your time so as not to tax the two brain cells you still have.

[kellynla]

MARINE BUMP. Excellente'. Semper Fi

[Drango]

I hate multiple guess questions but I think I've got most of 'em right...is the answer to #4 Dan Rather?

[monday]

"It would have been irresponsible for Bush to veto a bill with more security when the US was found to be at risk."

The bill he signed offers less security not more. By Federalizing airport security he has guaranteed that it will be more costly and less efficient, just as everything that the Ferderal Government is involved in.

[monday]

"It would have been irresponsible for Bush to veto a bill with more security when the US was found to be at risk."

The bill he signed offers less security not more. By Federalizing airport security he has guaranteed that it will be more costly and less efficient, just as everything that the Federal Government is involved in.

[strela]

Let me get this out of the way first - I thank Lt. Miller for his service and have nothing but genuine admiration for him and all his comrades; they're doing an important job for all of us. Having said that, I'm not going to be one of those who is going to slam the airport security people who wouldn't let him take the wire cutters on board the plane.

The main reason I feel this way is that I can't figure out why Lt. Miller needed the wire cutters to begin with. Presumably, the cutters were intended to let Lt. Miller open his mouth if he choked on food in an emergency. However, since all he is eating is in liquid form, he wouldn't need to open his mouth to clear liquid out of it.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine had his jaw wired shut for 3 months to correct complications from TMJ surgery, and he was limited to liquid food for that entire time (and was not issued a pair of wire cutters, BTW). Whatever he ate had to be either liquid or processed along with enough water to make it liquid through a Cuisinart (and it was quite a sight watching a Big Mac and fries spinning around in a food processor, which he did more than once). I also know a couple of doctors and a registered nurse, and all have confirmed that they have never heard of any patient with their jaw wired shut being able to eat solid food of any kind, even Jello (which had to be in liquid form).

I think that Lt. Miller's doctor is the only one who might conceivably deserve any criticism in this case. All the doc had to do was write a note that Lt. Miller could show to airport security, and I don't believe that any of this would have happened (20-20 hindsight, I know). Also, with nerve damage, Lt. Miller probably wasn't able to clearly speak to the security people to explain his situation, therefore making a note of some kind doubly important. (The story did note that Lt. Miller telephoned the news media, so I guess he was able to communicate clearly enough, after a fashion).

If there are any doctors lurking, please correct me if I'm mistaken about any of my assumptions.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

In other words, one of the problems they're having is that most of the screeners have an IQ of about 80, and don't speak English.

It is not the IQ of the screeners that we have to worry about. It is that of the policy makers.

The Federal "airport security" measures, driven by pure PC nonsense, will go down in history as the most idiotic government initiative of all time, IMO.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

Mineta is a disgrace, and should be fired.

In the "good old days", he would be tarred and feathered. Justifiably so.

Whoops! Guess Ashcroft will be watching me now!

[Friedrich Hayek]

Everyone on the face of the Globe has known since 9/11 that these new regulations are in place, and yet this guy couldn't figure it out? Did he think the rules don't apply to him?

This reminds me of the Bush Secret Service agent who was rousted from a flight last fall. He didn't think the rules applied to important government employees such as himself either, just us peons in the general public.

Well, fellas, welcome to the real world. Air travel has changed forever, so get used to it.

[Dr. Scarpetta]

What happened to this soldier is a disgrace, and we can thank Democrats in Congress who argued vehemently against racial and ethnic profiling in airine security, even after 9/11.

[pray4liberty]

Airport spokesman Mike McCarron said a flight attendant or pilot would have held Miller's clippers if they had known their importance — if, for instance, he had presented a doctor's note.

For heaven's sake, all they had to do was ask the pilot. Too bad their "officials" were "too busy."

Fly USAirways next time, bud.