EDITORIAL: Guns on a plane (Obama secretly ends program....)

The Washington Times ^ | March 17 2009 | Washington Times Editorial

[RecallMoran]

After the September 11 attacks, commercial airline pilots were allowed to carry guns if they completed a federal-safety program. No longer would unarmed pilots be defenseless as remorseless hijackers seized control of aircraft and rammed them into buildings.

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

The Obama administration this past week diverted some $2 million from the pilot training program to hire more supervisory staff, who will engage in field inspections of pilots.

This looks like completely unnecessary harassment of the pilots. The 12,000 Federal Flight Deck Officers, the pilots who have been approved to carry guns, are reported to have the best behavior of any federal law enforcement agency. There are no cases where any of them has improperly brandished or used a gun. There are just a few cases where officers have improperly used their IDs.

Fewer than one percent of the officers have any administrative actions brought against them and, we are told, virtually all of those cases “are trumped up.”

[BigFinn]

911, 912, 913...

[mkjessup]

Bush really screwed the pooch on this one by letting Norm Mineta get away with dragging his feet.

That phucking idiot Norm Mineta along with George Tenant should have been fired by our former 'compassionate conservative' President.

Unfortunately, such actions might have been detrimental to GWB's promise to "change the tone in Washington".

We can see how that worked out.

[TYVets]

4 Glocks @ $500 would have stopped the box cutters.

On 911 3,000 died. With an out lay of $2,000 they might not have died.

Is your life worth $0.67 ?

[mkjessup]

Bush really screwed the pooch on this one by letting Norm Mineta get away with dragging his feet.
~~~~
Baseless BDS lunacy. Get a life.

Realllllly got them Bush kneepads strapped on tight don't ya?

[STARWISE]

LOL .... got your daggers and poison darts out?

[LibWhacker]

It’s a take on “The Twelve Days of Christmas:” The 1,481 Days of Jihad. That’s how long Hussein 0bama’s term is, 1,481 days. Looks like it’s going to be a new gift every day for Osama bin Laden and his pals. We won’t survive it. (I was going to say we’re going to be in bad shape at the end of this nightmare. But let’s face it, we can’t survive this.)

[mkjessup]

LOL .... got your daggers and poison darts out?

For you mindless BushBots? You bet, LOL

[HollyB]

She’s not alone. It doesn’t seem to be of importance to most to do a little research on an important topic. They just want to be handfed a bunch of BS.

[BARLF]

She’s not alone. It doesn’t seem to be of importance to most to do a little research on an important topic.

Research takes time and patience. More fun watching Oprah.

[LomanBill]

>>Wonder what the pilots think?

I’m not much on the idea of collectivized labor unions, but if ever there was a time for a strike - this is it.

Pilots should refuse to fly until Comrade Chairman recants.

[wardaddy]

“but I’m a democrat and a gunowner Barry!”

[MaxMax]

I remember the RAT’s were jealous because 9/11 didn't happen on their watch.

[Altera]

Sadly, I believe OB thinks as Pelosi with the “we won” mentality, and therefore feel compelled to push their agendas.

They can be restrained but it takes a lot of voices in opposition.

Obama is a rookie and we are paying for it.

[CitizenM]

If I were a pilot, knowing now that there was no way I would have protection, or would my passengers...I would refuse to fly anymore.

Guess since this administration is also proposing to rename the term "terrorism," to the new term "man made tragedy," they don't feel protecting the public is important if the words aren't as scary.

And this was done, secretly??? Again, what about Bambi's promise for "transparency?"

[AngieGal]

I’m sure he’ll never order his secret service agents to give up their guns protecting him, just everyone else who protects US!

[STARWISE]

And we’re as perfectly understood, credible and appreciated by our group as your vitriol and venom are to your pack of Bush haters.

[Eye of Unk]

Why not redesign aircraft? Dual cabins for redundancy with no connection to fuselage?

[AngelesCrestHighway]

Now President Obama is quietly ending the federal firearms program, risking public safety on airlines in the name of an anti-gun ideology.

Thanks for advertising you are ending a saftey feature that protected Americans flying!...But then again, you don’t have to worry about hijackers on Air Force One!.....YOU BIG DUMMY!

[lonevoice]

Sorry I didn’t put a sarcasm tag on my post. I didn’t think it needed it, but apparently it did.

[mkjessup]

And we’re as perfectly understood, credible and appreciated by our group as your vitriol and venom are to your pack of Bush haters.

You see that is where you are in error. I can't speak for anyone else except myself but I don't hate George W. Bush, far from it, I consider him a stark contrast to the depraved Emperor Billigula who stained and disgraced the Office of President during his eight year reign of amorality. I give GWB absolute and complete credit for restoring a sense of honor to the Office.

What I 'hate' is GWB's piss poor record of performance when it comes to fiscal responsibility, enforcement of our borders, and finishing that job defined as 'The War on Terror'. GWB is on the record as recent as last December 5th, proclaiming to the world that America would not permit Iran to develop a nuclear capability but here we are: Tehran has within it's reach it's first nuclear warhead and we can pretty much guess what the targeting coordinates are going to be when the device is assembled.

Ditto for North Korea. Those little runts have played us for suckers going all the way back to Clinton and his dancing midget Maddy Albright. And despite all of the hoo-haa about those vaunted 'Six Party Talks', North Korea has not abandoned it's nuclear program, far from it (as they are close to beginning the fueling process for their latest Taepodong 2 missile, aiming for an April launch).

On the domestic front? GWB proved himself the equal of any 'Rat big spender with his 'No Child Left Behind' nonsense, his 'Free Drugs for Geriatrics' scheme, and of course there is the one we won't ever forget, 'No Banker Left Behind'.

C'mon STAR, that joker couldn't even find his veto pen until 2006, and that was only because the bill in question had to do with embryonic cell research! He let the 'Rats (and his fellow RINOs) in Congress roll him on every single spending bill. That isn't 'compassionate conservatism', and it damn sure isn't 'conservatism', what it is, is LBJ-style, throw-money-at-it, LIBERAL domestic/fiscal policy!

But I do not hate George W. Bush. I don't even hate B'rack Insane 0bama-lama-ding-dong, I hate many of the things that happened under Bush's watch, and I'm not finding anything to feel good about under the illegal Usurper regime that has seized power despite our Constitution.

The fact is, the failure of GWB to effectively defend his record and his Administration over the past eight years has a direct correlation to the ease with which the 0bamunists achieved victory this past November.