Thanks for the goon squad

Wed, 10 May 2006 08:46:42 +0100

Lew Rockwell considers whether Bush's prime legacy will be the Transportation Security Administration.

The main effect of the TSA? We could talk about the massive increase in theft from baggage.

We could draw attention to the loss of travel freedom, such that federal snoops have become the gatekeepers that allow us to fly from here to there.

But let us discuss something more practical: the incredible waste of time and the unrelenting frustration that flying has become since the TSA took over.

I remember the first time I flew to America under my own steam back in April 2000. I'd hopped a weekend flight to Cleveland to see my girlfriend who was on a training course.

I'm not sure how much this says about me but it was exciting to finally fly on my own like that and I was excited to go because America seemed such a great place (heck even Cleveland!) I can still remember the silly and excited feeling as I arrived and made my way downtown in a real yellow cab.

Now try to imagine how far my thoughts are from excitement as I ponder the prospect of future visits to the US. I think dread might not be too strong a word. Because what the TSA says to me is:

"Hey! Listen up bozo. If we're prepared to treat our own ordinary people like criminals imagine what we're prepared to do to you foreign bastards!"

So thank you America for your goon squad. It does you credit.

Jugular

Fri, 23 Jun 2006 21:20:27 +0100

I was reading a thread on Robert Scobles blog about the possible demise of Wi-Fi in planes. It's not a topic I am overly bothered about, even on a 10hr flight I can live without Wi-Fi and, as most pointed out, nobody has the batteries for it anyway.

No, what pricked my interest was the hideous idea, suggested by one of the commenters, that it may soon be possible to make cell-phone calls during a flight. Frankly I'm within Michiel on this one when he says:

What I need is a ban on the imminent irritation of in-flight cellphone calls: because that is going to cost lives. Not from technical malfunctions; but because I am going to have to kill the yapping idiot who needs to tell all his friends ‘I’m calling from a plane. What? No, a plane. What are you having for dinner?’. Salesmen beware: I accept your incessant yapping on the cell because I can move away. In a closed space at high altitude I will be going straight for the jugular.

I think even a breadroll could be made into a lethal weapon when faced with such a possibility.

Curiouser and Curiouser! on air-travel

Thanks for the goon squad

Jugular