Monday, December 28, 2009

On Mad Bombers

...The day the Nigerian groin-bomber flamed out, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano fatuously proclaimed, "The system worked." Interviewed by network news this morning, she backed away from that statement, saying she was -- and I paraphrase -- referring to the system of inconveniencing air travelers even more in the interest of security theatre, which kicked in almost immediately. Yay, hooray, air travel will suck even more and even fewer people will bother to fly.

Yet in a way, she was right. A "system" no bureaucrat -- certainly no DHS secret policeman -- would notice did work. While official reaction to the intel stage was weak, it should be noted the nitwit's own father (and, presumably, co-religionist) thought his son was lookin' a little jihadist around the gills and wrote to his government and to ours in warning. (Stop and think about that'n for a moment; it's a good sign). The active-intervention stage worked very well -- seeing something out of the ordinary, Dutch tourist Jasper Schuringa said his first thought wasn't to signal a flight attendant or wait for an air marshal to break cover, but rather, "He's trying to blow up the plane."

"I basically reacted directly," Schuringa said Saturday in an interview with CNN. "I didn't think. I just jumped. I just went over there and tried to save the plane."


Best line I've seen so far: "Aggressive intervention [in commercial air travel] has become the new societal norm." Air Marshals? Ms. Napolitano, we're all Air Marshals now.

The official attempts at protection failed; the amateur efforts, thanks to a very large dollop of luck, succeeded.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

I really feel sorry for people that still have to fly. But this was a good example that they will take the offense position.

When will our chicken shit government deceide to kill them when they catch them? Only then will they stop trying. The best defense is offense.

See Ya

Stranger said...

Yep, I just called my Left Coast supplier and told her I would not be out to look her new lines over.

I cannot be sure I can comfortably stay in my seat for the last hour of a transcon flight - so I cancelled. If she finds another SE distributor, so be it.

And I will not fly again as long as the Government frowns on passengers defending themselves against terrorists. That is altogether too much like Britain's idiotic policies.

Stranger

Frank W. James said...

Let's face it with the general trend of public opinion;i.e. their lack of righteous indignation and outrage and our present whimpy political make-up in Washington, THE AIRLINE INDUSTRY AND COMMERCIAL AIR TRAVEL IS DOOMED!

Only those who are really INTO personal humiliation will be flying under the latest TSA guidelines.

Ignore it or not, the bottom line is the Bad Guys have achieved a major victory with these latest guidelines, inconveniences and humiliations that a majority of the American Public DEMANDS.

Complete Lunacy...

All The Best,
Frank W. James

Anonymous said...

"Aggressive intervention [in commercial air travel] has become the new societal norm."

Perhaps we can re-awaken that sense in people in general, and take the fight to the enemies, rip their guts out, and use them to grease the treads of our tanks.

Ahem.

Jim

Ed Skinner said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QclVGUHvRvE&feature=player_embedded

Scott said...

I was listening to Future Tense this morning on MPR and a security consultant said the only two things that have increased airplane security were the reinforcing of the cockpit doors and passengers now know they have to take an active role in their safety. This was on public radio, my head almost exploded.
I drove to FL and back last week just to avoid having to partake in the TSA farce. On the plus side I stopped in Indy and met some cool people and then saw a bunch of countryside. Beats the heck out of supporting stupid.