More box cutters!

All those folks who sent me scolding messages about how Nathaniel Heatwole, the 20-year-old college student who bragged about bringing box cutters aboard an aircraft, is really a hero whistleblower, should be hanging their heads in shame. I declared that law enforcement authorities should throw the book at him because if they didn’t, others would soon copy him to get their 15 minutes of fame.

Well, here we go. More box cutters were found on board two US Airways airplanes in Boston and Philadelphia, according to law enforcement authorities. The FBI and Transportation Security Administration are investigating how the box cutters were brought on board. So far they don’t have a clue.

I have a notion about how the box cutters got there. I think we are seeing the front edge of a wave of copycat smugglers who liked how Heatwole was treated by the media – as a celebrity – and reasoned that if he was able to get his face on the front page, then maybe they could too!

When Heatwole appeared before a federal judge, he was released on his own recognizance with a limp warning that he should not fly around on airplanes for awhile. Maybe this judge was influenced by Heatwole’s baby-face looks, but those who are in charge of security are not so enamored. You know, it’s just possible that TSA and the FBI have better things to do than chase ridiculous pranksters through the airports.

There are dozens of warnings posted at the airport ordering passengers to rid themselves of prohibited devices before they come through the security monitors. Yet, they still bring the prohibited material anyway. Why? Because they forget, that’s why. And you know that some of these devices managed to end up on the plane where they remained hidden while the passenger prayed that his lapse was never discovered.

So, what are we going to do about this? What do we expect TSA to do? According to my source at the TSA, screeners are doing a pretty good job catching most of this stuff. “Since February 2002, TSA screeners have found and confiscated 1.4 million knives, 2.4 million sharp objects, 1,101 guns, 15,666 clubs, more than 125,000 incendiary items and nearly 40,000 box cutters.”

Do some of my critics still think Heatwole’s stupid prank amounted to something important? I would submit that just the opposite has happened. Not only has the positive reaction from citizens and media made this moron out to be some kind of hero, thereby encouraging others to follow in his footsteps, but attention has been taken away from more serious security problems TSA should be forced to repair.

For example, the witless process of selecting out people at random for further screening. How many terrorists who flew airplanes into buildings in 2001 were little old ladies in wheelchairs? How many were ladies? How many were toddlers? For that matter, how many were white males? The answer? None.

And yet, TSA – to maintain “political correctness” – has a system that could actually ignore a man who could clearly be a terrorist by his appearance, in favor of hassling a toe-headed little boy terrified by the procedures at the airport. What should be an exciting adventure for a little boy or girl has become something of a terror – all in the name of “PC.” This insanity must end!

TSA has thought of a solution, “The screeners noticed the security processes overwhelmed children and sometimes caused them to cry, so the screeners began using hand-puppets and stickers to put the children at ease.” Swell.

Does anybody besides me think we are way off the track on screening the passengers at our nation’s airports? Forget about the box cutters! Arm the pilots like we said we were going to, and you have instantly solved the problem of box cutters. But it is the passengers, not the box cutters, who are the dangerous components that must be stopped at the gate. An 80-year old woman with a box cutter does not scare me. Right now, “PC” TSA screeners are what scare me.

But it is the passengers, not the box cutters, who are the dangerous components that must be stopped at the gate. An 80-year old woman with a box cutter does not scare me. Right now, “PC” TSA screeners are what scare me.

Oh, no! Common sense! We can't have that! < /sarcasm >

I don't understand this guy's vehement condemnation of the kid who showed just how utterly nonexistent airport security really is.

Ignorance is NOT bliss when it comes to security. Rest assured that if a 20-year-old can break security on a lark, a terrorist with hate in his heart will slice through said illusory "security" like a hot knife through butter.

I presume the author of this claptrap would prefer that everyone be good little sheeple and not buck the system so he can express uninhibited outrage when (not if) the nonexistent security is breached by another suicide hijacker crew.

Me, I'd rather have 100 penetration testers expose the flaws in airline security than 1 genuine terrorist.

Fools who put box cutters on airplanes are not normal. This is like excusing flashers who go on to rape. This guy should be put away for some years.

And you know that some of these devices managed to end up on the plane where they remained hidden while the passenger prayed that his lapse was never discovered.

I just can't imagine a box cutter being an item carried around by the average person. I haven't seen box cutters on chains around necks as fashion accessories. I can't imagine that many grocery "stock boys" going directly from their job to the airport with the box cutter still in their posession.

So, the question is, why the surge of hidden box cutters on aircraft all of a sudden? I don't buy the "memory lapse" BS at all.

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