[Theodore R.]

Wouldn't 95 percent or more of the boarders have a "green" pass?

[gcruse]

At last the administration is making noises that hopefully mean we will be looking for terrorists instead of weapons. If that is totalitarian to you, Chuckie, so be it.

Comparing the sacrifices Americans made during WWII with what we are enduring now, I'd say we fall into two categories today.

The yellow ribbon brigade who think we will mourn and wail our way to victory.

The Fly the Flag brigade who were outraged by 9/11 and intend to make changes.

I'll put Chuck in with the yellows.

[discostu]

Wow, what a terrible job of trying to hook Madden into the new security systems. As an NFL team Oakland, like most teams, primarily flew charter, when you've got about 70 people to get from point A to point B commercial is a silly idea. And he didn't quit flying right after retiring, took him a few flights to realize he was afraid of flying (as a coach he was pre-occupied with games plans and the apprehension was kind of buried under the normal stresses of his job) at which point he swore off. It's all outlined in John's books.

As for the system at hand, this is what happens when people make unreasonable demands. They want a system that will only "hassle" bad guys but won't "profile" based on appearance. Careful what you ask for, you just might get it.

[MineralMan]

Ah, yes. Chuck Baldwin, who so rarely even mentions Jesus on his web site. What ministry?

Whether or not you agree with the TSA's new color-coding system, Chuck Baldwin is not a great spokesperson for any side.

[Mr. Bird]

here's an interesting (sad, really) column that discusses Madden's fear of flying. The whole column is very intersting, but the flying stuff is near the end.

http://espn.go.com/page2/s/toomay-maddeninfull.html

[realpatriot71]

I probably won't fly again, ever. I drive everywhere I need to go now.

Enjoy the friendly skies

[PetroniDE]

John Madden was a member of a college football team in the late 50's/early 60's that had a near fatal plane accident. I believe the college was Cal-Poly (someone check this).

Since that day, he has been reluctant to fly. I don't blame him. I don't like flying either and only fly when I have to.

[E. Pluribus Unum]

Never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever...

...fly.

[Aquinasfan]

Too many color schemes.

If I had a chauffered Winnebago, I wouldn't fly either.

[1L]

He had been forced to spend numerous hours flying commercial airliners with his NFL team, but upon retiring he said, "No more flying for me."

Actually, he flew with his team mostly on charters and was able to get up and walk around, which relaxed him a little.

When first approached to take a position as a professional sportscaster, Madden said he would only consider the offer if he could travel to games via a bus. The networks agreed, and Madden hasn't flown since.

This is inaccurate. When first approached, he had to fly, and he did fly. On one flight back from a game to the Bay area, he had a terrible experience and went to his doctor. The next week he flew to his game and had the same experience, but he wasn't concerned because he thought the prescribed medication hadn't taken affect. On the return flight, which stopped in Houston, he had the worst experience of his life and THEN decided to quit flying.

This isn't exactly the inaccuracy of the century, but it is sloppy enough that I don't care to read the rest of the article. What makes it sloppy is that he could have read about a third of a chapter of Madden's first book and gotten the correct information, but instead just made it up.

[Wacka]

I remember hearing Madden saying it was due to claustrophobia and not the flying itself. He was having panic attacks on the flights. The Maddencruiser is very nice. I saw it parked at the local Outback. He lives in the next town.

If you have nothing to hide, why be worried about the green-yellow-red system?

[Diddle E. Squat]

Why do you always post the garbage put out by this nutball who literally claims that President Bush is the Anti-Christ?

As a result, why should anyone take you seriously?

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Isn't flying on a commercial airline a privilege, and not a right?

[Timesink]

The solution to this is quite simple. Once CAPPS II is implemented, everyone should take a personal vow: If they are ever, even once, stopped for special screening or not permitted to board because some stupid computer falsely flags them, they will NEVER attempt to fly commercial airliners until CAPPS II is shut down, except when absolutely vital. No arguing with the TSA to get their "status" changed, just a simple decision to never fly again. Forbid your families to fly. If you own a small company where you have to travel a lot, use videoconferencing wherever possible. And send letters to all the major airlines (real paper letters via US Mail) informing them that you have just removed X number of people from the pool of potential airline customers.

Once the number of people that remove themselves from the traveling pool gets above a couple million, the airlines will start lobbying the government like hell to shut down CAPPS II, because they can barely afford to lose a single customer these days.

And if nobody is willing to make such a pledge, well then, we get what we deserve.

[armyboy]

No the system will be
red- U.S. military personel
yellow-most of everybody else
green-Arabs

[Graymatter]

>...once air travel has been completely Gestapoized, it's only a matter of time for ground travel. You can't crash into a govt building with a train. Security would never be that severe for trains, and terrorists wouldn't target them.

You think Bush is happy about all this? I don't.

Think of it as a credit check in the info age. Nowadays everyone you deal with in business can get your SS# and that gets them everything else they want to know. Why the fuss? If your privacy is that sensitive, take the train and kid yourself that your privacy is any safer. It's not.

[nightdriver]

Experience would say that the author is correct. The gubmint said "trust us" when some of us raised a similar alarm over the assignation of an individual number to every citizen to be used only for Social Security purposes. We were founded, after all, as a free people and, unlike Nazi Germany, weren't to be regimented like that.

Nowadays, our "trustworthy" gubmint has mandated that we turn over our SS numbers for everything from bank accounts to drivers' licenses.

We in America are like the old cliched frog in the pot of water that is slowly brought up to a boil.

[Mulder]

This system will be easily expanded as the funding increases.

Eventually they'll expand it to getting a driver's license, etc...

And then they'll just make it a crime to get classified as "red" or "yellow". Of course, they won't tell you the criteria for getting classified that way.

Living in a police state sucks.

[WaterDragon]

I have no problem flying 'the friendly skies.' And it's about dang time the feds start tracking who's on those planes. Most of us will be fine, but possible terrorists are much more likely to get stopped with these data bases. My 'privacy concerns' center mostly on a neighborhood nut who peeks into windows, with the police saying it's 'not a police matter.'