Posted on 11/23/2010 11:10:29 AM PST by Captain Peter Blood
In the last few weeks the United States Government through the Department of Homeland Security and it’s extension ,the TSA, have decided to put into force a new set of rules for air travel that are causing a great deal of consternation, to put it mildly.
This country since 9-11 has been led to believe that all manner of enhanced security for air travel is necessary if not mandatory under the auspicious control of the Federal Government.
While I believe that a certain amount of precautions are necessary such as carry on and checked bag screening. I call into question the necessity of full body scanners and aggressive “Pat Downs” to board commercial flights.
Our aggressive and enhanced Intelligence Operations in all likelihood have prevented and stopped a number of air sabotage operations from happening. This is much more likely than most ,if not all, screening being done in major international airports worldwide.
Our government has been selling us a bill of goods since 9-11 that all this screening and security is needed and indeed must be done to guarantee a safe flying environment. But is that really true?
I decided to look into a few statistics about flying and this is what I found:
I was fortunate to find a website called PlanCashInfo.com
http://www.planecrashinfo.com/index.html
This site is run by Mr. Richard Kebabjian that has information on Civilian and Commercial Air Plane Crashes going back to 1920.
I started with a random base year, 1960, which I used as that marked a 50 period in aviation history as well as a good timeline for modern jet travel.
I e-mailed Mr. Kebabjian some questions about airplane crash fatalities, airplane sabotage and estimates of the number of people who have flown. The numbers I got back were for the most part amazing.
Since January 1, 1960 there have been 74,065 people killed in all accidents involving commercial, non-military, non-private, non-charter aircraft carrying at least 10 passengers. That works out to approximately 1481 people a year killed flying.
Using the same criteria we have 6,676 people killed involving Sabotage. That works out to approximately 133 people killed a year involving Sabotage and Terrorism.
Now to put all that in perspective we have had approximately 5 Billion people who have flown since 1960. The statistical odds of being killed in a random crash or an Act of Sabotage/Terrorism is Infinitesimal.
Compare those statistics to the fact that on average we have 30,000 plus traffic fatalities a year, approximately 1.5 Million people killed in traffic related deaths since 1960.
So who is fooling whom with all this enhanced security at the airports?
The bottom line is that these TSA policies are more about control of us rather than keeping us safer. We need more hard questions asked by our Senators and Congressmen and more accountability by The U.S. Government, and The Department of Homeland Security.
“Do you worship Allah?”
“Yes!”
“Do you think Mohammad was a kook?”
“No!”
“Bend over.”
We need to be screening for Islamics seeking martyrdom and leftists wanting to go to Cuba.
White guys looking for ransom too.
Please advise then.
This is a dupe reply (mine) from another thread.
In July, USA Today had a story about Pistole
in which he says that TSA ought to be a national
security and anti-terrorism force throughout the
land at all kinds of places, and fully integrated
in the US Govt.
Is this a prelude to get us used to having
our own brown shirts?
link to article:
http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2010-07-16-tsa16_ST_N.htm
The big unasked question: How many PETN or other explosives have been intercepted by this new procedure compared to the number of passengers screened.
Odumbi,the LeftWingCommieCocaineHomoClosetFreak-DemonratPresident -
.... is treating the American People like the terrorists should be treated
AND
.... the terroristS are being treated like the American People should be treated.
Thats the Problem.
There needs to be screening at airports. That screening must be for ALL passengers, and must not automatically excuse some passengers because they belong to the Religion of Peace.
In addition, that screening must not violate unreasonable rights to privacy and must not be applied as a means of controlling the flying public. The passenger’s belongings must be kept clearly visible to the passenger at all times. Parents of minors must be with their children at all times. Passengers born in, or traveling to or from countries that harbor jihadis must have additional screening and questioning.
Answer may be none but who really knows. PETN explosives can be the size of an aspirin and blow a hole in the fuselage. They probably would not be detectable in a scanner.
We never hear of the successes only failures.
But let me pose this to you. If terrorists wanted to get a bomb on a plane, any plane, it could be done without someone gong through screening.
Counterterrorism is not about statistics. “Yeah, they’ll try to bomb ... but, really, what’re the odds they’ll get me?” is not a security strategy.
Body-counts and statistics are not a particularly effective way of measuring the threat when just a few deaths can have a profound effect. Security is necessary. The methodology is all wrong, but don’t make the mistake of minimizing the threat itself.
SnakeDoc
If I were in favor of this unconstitutional and illegal grope-and-porn scheme, I’d reply something like this:
You’re taking this too broadly.
When we talk about safety, we mean “safety from attacks”, not prevention of accidents. Sure, the government oversees the safety of aircraft themselves - and of automobiles as well. But the primary responsibility for such things belongs to the airlines and automakers.
We have been threatened and attacked by groups seeking to cause terror and disrupt our ability to carry on as Americans. That is the specific target for our security measures. So your statistics on other dangers are irrelevant to this subject.
Every airport employee (other than pilots and flight attendants at some airports) BY-PASSES security. Nothing. Nada. In other words the ENTIRE TSA workforce is for show. And it isn’t for show to the terrorists. They know the truth. It is show for the sheeple.
Intimate Pat-Downs Raise Risk of Infection at Airports
Has ever one forgotten about http://history1900s.about.com/od/1900s/a/typhoidmary.htm Typhoid Mary?
My employer and I will have to have a discussion about this.
Speaking of statistics, in 2001 there were 2,416,425 deaths in the United States. That works out to an average of 6,620 a day, or more than twice the number killed by the terrorists on September 11 of that year.
I agree with most everything in your post #18. However,...
Let’s say the Chinese government ordered a deliberate attack on several buses full of American tourists, killing 300. Should we ignore it because, after all, more Americans are killed on our highways every year?
Or if the Mexican federales started sniping at our soldiers guarding the border, killing 14, should we ignore it because, after all, more Americans die falling off ladders cleaning the leaves out of their rain gutters?
Numbers don’t make decisions for us, nor should they. And, as Mark Twain was telling us, trying to make decisions based on numbers alone is the worst of the worst.
I don’t like these illegal “security measures” any more than you do. But we’ve got to be smart, and not hand the tyrants an easy defense for their tyranny.
If I had the chance to ask Janet Neapolitan a question on live TV, it would be this: “Is it possible to make air travel safe AND abide by the Constitution? Or are you asking the American people to choose between the Constitution and the protection you offer?”
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