DHS Advisor Sez Allowing Lighters On Planes Doesn't Present Threat - Anymore
By Logan Murphy Saturday Jul 21, 2007 10:36am
On this morning's "Fox NEWS Sunday" Department of Homeland Security Advisor, Fran Townsend, defends the DHS decision to once again allow airline passengers to carry cigarette lighters. Chris Wallace actually makes a few good points, referring to Michael Chertoff's gut, the fact that passengers still can't take a bottle of water on board and then asks Townsned point blank if she really thinks that a lighter on board a plane isn't dangerous.
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Townsend maintains that their security decisions are based on "what we understand to be the tactical methods of Al Qaeda." Apparently the shoe bomb plot has fallen off their radar.
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I'm on guard against unjustified paranoia, but what the hell good reason can you have for allowing lighters on board?
Is the tobacco lobby behind this or something?
FRIST!
"Department of Homeland Security Advisor"?
Fran Townsend was also brought out last week to general laughter. Is she the strategy to "soften" DHS by taking Chertoff off the air? If so, they need another strategy (a valid statement in general)!
Are you guys actually for restricting lighters on airplanes?
America, land of the free, home of the brave!
Apparently the shoe bomb plot has fallen off their radar.
But, gee, enough bottled water on board, someone could be drowned. Or waterboarded even. =P
Hell, I accidentally got through airport security with two lighters and a can of pepper spray. TSA is a JOOOOOKE
Townsend maintains that their security decisions are based on “what we understand to be the tactical methods of Al Qaeda.” Apparently the shoe bomb plot has fallen off their radar.
I hope some Democrat with a sense of humor rips Townsend for her "pre-9/11 thinking."
Townsend, AKA 'Chertoff's Gut', knows that lighters are not a threat on aircraft since passengers cannot have bottles of water, which they could set afire with the lighters.
Your tax dollars at work. (Do you suppose she gets more than minimum wage?)
Her agent is trying to get her guest spots on lil' bush, Family Guy, and, ultimately, The Daily Show. Stewart said OK, but only if she wears a big round red rubber nose, and floppy shoes.
Breastmilk, don't forget the breastmilk!
Yes, tailoring our response to “what we understand to be the tactical methods of Al Qaeda” worked out so well for us on 9/11.
Maybe Chertof's "gut" was responding to the realization that he is surrounded by morons. That's enough to make anyone queasy.
According to Chertoff, lighters are 'a safety measure'.
'In case the power fails, the lights go off, and the plane fills with smoke, you'll need the lighters to find the emergency exits'.
Went through securty recently . . they took my hair gel and KY jelly, but 12 fluid OZ of contact lens solution was OK . . . I don't get it ? ? LOL
It's all bullshit anyhow. Lighters or no lighters, ground employees can walk into to a secured area with anything at most airports...
Now will the DOHS please check with Chertoff to get his gut reaction of what I am to do with all this #@$% duct tape?
Seriously, a lighter is not such a threat! I agree with Pound Foolish. These silly restrictions on liquids and lighters are all just designed to make us think we are safer. The threat posed by a bottle of water and a lighter are so minimal, yet if you ask the DHS guys, we should all be walking around in semi transparent sheets, carrying nothing but a credit card. Sure it would be safer, but jesus... Travel should not be so hard, when we give up so much for this illusion of safety. Even if we were moved thru naked like cattle, it still would not be a 100% guarantee of safety.
Open flames on aircraft, the same aircraft that carry those flatulent DHS sky marshalls?!
Disaster looms.
The lighter ban was stupid to begin with. I am a smoker and hardly a threat. Having to carry matches (never banned) and then buy a new lighter when I arrived was a real nuisance....which I would have happily put up with if I really thought that the ban made air travel safer. I never came to that conclusion. The water and breast milk bans are also stupid.
However, one of the reasons that the ban for lighters has been removed is that trying to enforce it took up too much time and deflected TSA resources from far more real dangers. It is about time that (maybe) they are getting more serious about dealing with real safety issues.
Last, I never thought it was a great idea to disarm airline passengers, and I don't think that another 9/11 is a realistic threat anymore. They, whoever they are, will think of something else...time we started thinking out of the box, not closing the barn door after the horse has left.
So, what they're saying is, "We're just making it up as we go along."
Can anyone say "Tobacco Lobbyists?"
Of course, lighters aren't dangerous, silly. But if enough terrorists bring water on board, they might waterboard someone, and that is not a permissible civilian use..
DON'T THROW AWAY YOUR DUCT TAPE!
Use it to fasten your bedsheets to the floor, so Al Qaeda can't sneak in and hide under your bed at night.
So sayeth Fran, our National Department of Homeland Security Advisor.
Ruthless People @ 14:
“The only way you can protect yourself from a chemical @%$#^& attack with duct tape is if you buy enough to wrap yourself completely and suffocate before the chemicals #$%^&* kill you” — Lewis Black
You must be referring to the tweezer threats. And the threat posed by having .1 ounce of toothpaste in a 6 ounce tube instead of 3 ounces in a 3 ounce tube. This may be the only situation in which .1 ounce > 3 ounces.
Actually, I'm starting to think that besides the tobacco lobby, P&G and Glad are behind this. They must be making a fortune selling travel-size toiletries and ziploc bags. Perfectly transparent toiletry bags of the exact same size are not acceptable, you know.
Vicki @ 17:
Bush Bites @ 1:
I've heard this is the reason why.
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Townsend replacing Condi as the new lying scaremonger for the administration.
I'm expecting the terror threat level to be raised to red any day now. One thing we know from history based on 911 is Al Queda likes to strike right around the time the laziest presnit in US history takes his month long August vacation.
And the other thing we know from history is the GOP would immediately move to blame it all on Bill Clinton.
"Apparently the shoe bomb plot has fallen off their radar."
Actually, the shoe bomber used matches, which were never banned.
Good. Can I have my lighters back now?
It's nice to see that we have a head of Homeland Security, Chertoff, who plans ahead.
It's obvious that he has not only arranged all his burial plans in advance, but also signed up for the pre-mortem embalmment plan.
I wonder what they did with his bodily fluids?
either they're ridiculously stupid or they think we are.
difficult to decide which is more plausible.
Good thing we have the brilliant Fran Townsend advising this course of action.
Fran Townsend about failing to capture Bin Laden as Shrub promised on 2001:
Fran Townsend in response to a comment that Al Qaeda had no capability in Iraq before the war:
She's so clever she's trying to come across as more stupid than the Shrub, to deflect attention away from him so he can win the war on terror. ;)
I wonder how long it'll take for 'Genius' Rove to order that Townsend always appear as Bush's opening act, to make him appear a bit less stupid by comparison?
It's become nothing less than to embarrassed to an American.
I hear Germany caling...
Since Fran advised I keep all my empty food cans and sting them on the clothes lines around my house to prevent Al-Queda from sneaking into my yard in the middle of the night there has not been a terrorist attack on my house so it must be working!
I think most of us know by now that no serious consideration has been given to the real viable threats. Example - the ports are completely unsecured.
It's all and only about keeping Americans scared and cowed and malleable - and that is the criteria they use for manipulating threat levels, "terrorizing" the American public with bogeyman hype spewing from the television, and stupid procedures at airports designed to make us feel like there are terrorists lurking in every corner.
If a real attack occurs - with this level of responsibility being shown - I hope they know they will ultimately be blamed by the American Public. However, if there is an incident close enough to the election - so there isn't time to scrutinize/analyze how it happened - they undoubtedly think it would be to the GOP's advantage in an election. I would like to think they're wrong about that - that it would have the opposite effect.
Our safety and security is the GOP's political football ~~
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we'll never be secure until Cheney has been removed. he countermanded procedures that would have prevented an aircraft (of whatever type is was) from crashing into the Pentagon. He lied on Meet the Press about fighters being on alert at Andrews. That should be enough, but there's much more. He's by far the most dangerous person in America. I'd give my next paycheck to know what his best hunting bud had said to him immediately before Cheney shot him in the face.
andy @ 34:
I hear almost anywhere calling. We've told our kids to immigrate. I don't care where they decide to to - just get out of here and don't plan on coming back. When our foreign policy is no longer in control of the corporations they could consider coming back.
*
Is she f*#$!ing out of her mind?
Mikey @ 39:
Do you want the truth or more pablum?
*
...or either that the shoe bomber was never a threat to begin with. IIRC, the dumbass tried to light C4 plastic explosives. The problem with that is, C4 is not a thermal explosive: you can light it on fire and it'll just sit there and slowly burn off. You need an electrical charge to set it off.
I don't get it at all. Why would you let a flammable liquid and flame on a plane?
Why didn't they ban matches to begin with?
Does Israel allow flames on their planes?
TSA spends too much time looking for lighters? How?
Is this a deep plot to allow lighters so we can have another 9/11?
I'm sorry but the simple solution to me has always been to copy what Israel does.
My apologies, I caught one glimpse of that jacket and couldn't watch the vid. That's one for Watertiger.
no she's NOT out of her mind...but she thinks you're very, very stupid.
speaking of very, very stupid, just look at the prep-school smart-ass chimp's face that morning in the reading circle in Florida after he was told whatever he was told by Andy Card. Just check out the face. Seven minutes' worth of it.
That face tells you everything you need to know.
If you are not allowed to smoke on the plane why would you need a lighter or matches?
Just returned from Greece, did NOT have to take off my shoes for international travel BUT the EU has the fluid restrictions and on flights returning to the USA, they demand the 3.4 oz restriction and the quart baggie.
Lets see, we walk barefooted or in sox's through a security area that thousands walk everyday while they xray our shoes BUT let matches and lighters on board? At least my comments to TSA about the bio hazard of picking up something from the floor less is ensured compared to MY risk of an other shoe bomber by providing blue booties at some airports.
Due to the fluid restrictions demanded by US TSA, air travelers going through Athens Greece Airport due to their airport configuration do not have access to food or purchase fluids prior to flight as ALL concessionaires are outside security. Since this was an international flight, we arrived more than two hours early AND our flight was delayed just 10 minutes short of 4 hours. What a lovely almost 6hrs before a 11 hour flight!
yeh gilgamesh, the jacket's terrible, but the hair's worse.
Maybe I saw one too many Road Runner cartoons as a kid, but aren't lighters an integral part to an explosive device?
I'm afraid, no, I'm not afraid. I'm afraid, no, I'm not afraid. etc. etc. etc. This is ridiculous. The three components to make a fire would be an approved carryon but a resource to maintain hydration is considered taboo???? This admiinistration is in full "distract and hang on for two years" mode. This is our tax dollars at work.
Links aren't working.
Why a lighter, if you aren't allowed to smoke? These people are off their rocker!
Do you think maybe the administration is doing every thing in their power to help along another major attack on America. That way bush can call off the elections after he declares himself the ruler.
It sounds like they are dropping a heck of a lot of regulations all or a sudden. While they are denying Americans free access to cross over in Canada or Mexico. Are they afraid Americans will desert the "ship".
I've felt for YEARS that all of these so-called restrictions are a joke. Moreover the joke being played on by is us. Put all theories aside for the moment on any conspiracies of 9/11: the fact now a terrorist can get on an airliner and even fart in the general direction of the cockpit is unthinkable. Passengers and flight-crews are so hyper aware of anything unuaul that I know that unless there is a bomb secretly planted on a plane, nothing will happen inside of the cabin of an commercial airplane.
So to restate my previous thought: it's all smoke n' mirrors and a heaping pile of bullshit to make us scared little Amerikans to thank big-daddy Bush for protecting us from the mean ol' Osama hiding in the shadows.
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
TOBACCO LOBBY
Aren't rethugs. embarrassed at these unqualified blonde idiots that are making decisions that they don't understand.
WOW. This is the most retarded thing I have ever heard...restrict unflammable water on an airplane but allow flammable liquid in the form of a lighter... Does she not realize that there is "liquid" fuel for the flame...
sing to Elvira by the OakRidge Boys
AlQaeda......AlQaeda......My plane's on fire, AlQaeda...boom boppa boom boppa boom boppa bowwow...boom boppa boom boppa boom boppa bowwow...High Ho Lighters Awaaaaaaaaayyyyyy
What a joke. Boo. Look out for the boogeyman. Oh my goodness. Look, over there! And there's another one!! Be vigilante America! The entire muslim world hates us for our freedumbs!! YAWN......Same old, same old.....Those gullible Americans that fall for this spiel prove to the world they are idiots. So full of themselves in the MSM to think there is an eevil terrist around every corner, lurking on those poor innocent American do-gooders, that want nothing more than life, liberty, and the pursuit of freedumb and democracy. Hahahahahahaha.
[Edited. Closed tags-Sitemonitor]
What the fuck does anyone need a lighter for on a plane anyway? You can't smoke in the plane and you can't smoke in the airport. Why would anyone need a lighter?
TSA is a joke. I don't even bother with the regulations, just pack my bag and put it through, never have a problem. Take off your shoes, dump the water bottle, whatever. It just doesn't really matter, since it's all just a stage show anyway.
I could list a lot of things that won't show up on scanners but are plenty lethal. It isn't hard.
[Edited. Closed tags-Sitemonitor]
Sorry, my bad.
[No prob-Sitemonitor]
Simply don't fly if it isn't absolutely necessary. Fuck these clowns. Airline security is a straight up Marx Brothers routine, where the goal is to inconvinience the customers as much as possible in order to make them feel like they're being protected from something, which they aren't, while maximising profits for all concerned corporations. Nobody at the airport or airline makes any money when you bring bottled water from home. Airline Security is just like everything else in this day and age - follow the money.
Excercise a bit of control over your own schedule and take the train whenever possible. That's how civilized people roll. At least in the US, flying isn't civilized anymore. You are viewed as animals, and are treated as such. I prefer to be treated as a human being. The day that flying became more degrading than taking Greyhound, I stopped flying and started adjusting my schedule accordingly. I recommend that you try doing the same. Plus every time you buy a ticket for Amtrak, you make a Republican cry, and that's good too.
Further administration incompetence. To base your security measures on "what we understand to be the tactical methods" of a single potential attacker is about as incorrect a security posture as it is possible to have. In case it's not self-evident, a few of the more obvious objections...
- what if the next attacker's not Al Qaeda?
- what if they have plans we haven't heard about yet?
- what if they're feeding us misinformation to annoy travellers and make the TSA look even dumber?
Sure you adjust your security to respond to new threats, but you don't drop your security because "Al Qaeda doesn't want to attack us like that any more." That's patently absurd.
DHS sends out Miss Big Tits instead of Michael "the super dome" Jackoff in hope that you will forget the questions as well as the answers. Chis Wallace is a retard and a tool, but even he can ask the obvious question, "Water bad fire good?" Maybe it's because he's a closet homosexual that he didn't fall under the siren's spell, or maybe he is so stupid that he forgot he was on Fux and wasn't supposed to actually question the guest.
Links still aren't working.
[Both QT links work for me-I've emailed about the .wmv links-Sitemonitor]
[UPDATE: .wmv links are working now]
But...but... don't they know the terraists will just find a way to put water in their lighters?!!! oh my!
K. Signal Eingang @ 61:
Six years of propagating hysteria and potential threats at every street corner and now lighters are permitted. I don't get it. There is just no credibility.
timmm @ 65:
Sounds like a set up. Chertoff is willing to take the fall apparently.
Pound Foolish @ 4:
If lighters and water bottles were the only freedoms the Bushies had stolen from us, we'd still be the land of the free, home of the brave...
I think it's the symbolism of this whole decision - the Bushies have proved once again that little they do makes any sense. They are The Gang That Couldn't Shoot Straight or maybe Beavis and Butthead - not sure which.
"What the fuck does anyone need a lighter for on a plane anyway? You can’t smoke in the plane and you can’t smoke in the airport. Why would anyone need a lighter?"
?
Like I said, land of the free, home of the brave! (void where prohibited, some restrictions apply, see Homeland Security for details)
Condoms. Restrict condoms. A terr-ist can snag a pilot from behind by slipping a slicked-up condom over the pilot's head bringing down any full-passenger jet flight full-bore into the Whitehouse.....
Strawberry @ 9:
Aw man, you know it. BillO is going to bring up molotov breastmilk cocktails. you know him.
wait, breastmilk isn't flammable.
Tunafish. Tunafish salad and/or sandwiches can bring down the first line of defense agains terr-ists gaining access to the cockpit by being thrown with baseball force into the faces of stewardesses which fill all sensory orifices, and by the time the "weapon" is towelled off, the pilot has been overcome with a celery stalk to the ear and the plane crashes full-bore into the Whitehouse...
Dear Ms Fran "The Tool" Townsend
Any idiot knows that if you want to blow something up, you need a source of ignition. NEWS FLASH: LIGHTERS ARE POSSIBLE SOURCES OF IGNITION. If you were carrying water for the tobacco companies any more obviously, you would have worn a "marlboro tee shirt" to the interview.
Thank you
Who is this woman and how did she become a security advisor?
And what's the deal with duty-free alcohol. Are you still allowed to take that on a plane?
Yep, it is the tobacco lobby... When the post 9/11 new restrictions were first drawn up, lighters and matches were near the top of the list. Then the tobacco companies freaked out and got them removed. They had to cave in after the shoe bomber, but it looks like that was only temporary...
No - the point is this:
Lighters are obviously more of a threat to security than shampoo, water bottles and breastmilk. YET, lighters are allowed and these other more harmless things aren't. Therefore, it appears that something other than national security is actually driving this decision. Something, you know... like the TOBACCO LOBBY. Surprise surprise! Our government and government agencies are actually doing something driven by LOBBYISTS more than they are NATIONAL SECURITY. Wow. Now THAT'S never happened before, has it? Hmmmmmmm?
Why would the tobacco lobby care about lighters? Because they will argue that it inconveinces their customers who can bring cigarettes on a plane, but who cannot bring lighters on a plane. Because, they will argue, their customers need to be able to smoke (i.e. use THEIR PRODUCT) as soon as possible once they get off the plane.
Well there goes my idea for a lighter kiosk outside LAX.
Dammit!
This makes no sense.
I hope the water lobby gets back on the stick because I really like to take my water on the plane and I don't like paying $4 for an 89 cent bottle of water. Where is that water lobby when we need them?
Do you have to put your lighter in the baggy with your chapstick and hand lotion?
Che's Lounge @ 78:
How about a breastmilk/bottled water/shampoo kiosk?
Did the lighter lobbyists get their donation$ to the Department of Homeland Security?
Too bad Mother's with breast milk don't have lobbyist that can make donation$ too.
DHS would love a bidding war. Bottom line... money talks.
I think Fran Townshend is actually Michael Chertoff in a wig, to make him more "human" to the public.
Seriously, you can't smoke on a plane, so why let them on? Personally, I don't want some guy lighting a notebook on fire or something and smoking up the plane.
I agree -- tobacco lobby at work. So when people connect on multiple segment flights, they can go to the designated smoking area and consume some of the tobacco product.
Shame on these incompetent boobs.
Bush Bites @ 1:
Yes. I wouldn't be surprised if it were. By the way, isn't Fran Townsend the bimbo who once said, and I'm quoting from memory here, that the failure to capture Saddam wasn't really a failure but rather "a success that hasn't happened yet"? Another example of a loyal bushie at work.
"No - the point is this:
Lighters are obviously more of a threat to security than shampoo, water bottles and breastmilk. YET, lighters are allowed and these other more harmless things aren’t."
That may be your point, but some posters on here seem convinced that allowing lighters on airplanes is a bad idea.
Looks to me like the "terrorists" have already won.
TDoff @ 29:
I'm sure Chertoff took precautions to protect his bodily fluids. After all, he has to stop the terrorist infiltration, Al-Quaeda indoctrination, Muslim subversion and the international Islamo-Fascist conspiracy to sap and impurify all of our precious bodily fluids.
It all goes back to 1946 when they started fluoridating water...
This is unbelievable - what a bunch of morons at DHS.
Water - not allowed!
Open flame - allowed!
Can't even put out the f**king fire with water when the lighter starts it.
These guys just never learned their high school chemistry. Oh that's right - chemistry classes are replaced with bible classes when one is home schooled!
TDoff @ 11:
It will be quite bright once the flame hits all that jet fuel.
She has no lips.
How about a breastmilk/bottled water/shampoo kiosk?
Too much overhead. But I'll make concessions for the milk suppliers.
I don't know about this....
I just don't think it's a good iead.
After all, it's a known fact, lighters hate us for our freedoms.
I'm sorry townsend, but if you drop your drawers, place a lit lighter to your ass and fart long and hard, you can actually shoot a flame out of your ass that could threaten the airplane crew into running inside the cockpit.
They are wrong. It is STILL extremely dangerous!!
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LOL
Here's the kicker. While cigarrette lighters are no longer banned, cigar lighters are still banned.
So, if I light my cigar with a bic, a cigarrette lighter, does it then become a cigar lighter?
OR...
What has been done to make cigarrette lighters safer to bring on board a plane?
OR...
Why were they dangerous before they weren't dangerous?
.
j @ 23:
Exactly!
The profit margin is much higher on a three ounce tube or bottle (made in China poison) than the six, eight or twelve ounce sizes.
Imagine it, three ounces both trips to and from = double the profits.
FOLLOWING THE MONEY!
TSA and all these "prohibited items" were dreamt up by the same people who claim that the 19 hijackers used box cutters to hijack the planes. Yet, despite all the security measures, airlines will still sell you a glass bottle of wine. Apparently, broken bottles are less of a threat than box cutters. Go figure. It's an enigma, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in a paradox.
Otay @ 31:
VietVet67 @ 89:
That's what happens when you spend your entire adult life sucking Satan's cock !!!
trevjr @ 41:
Two things I'd like to point out about "Israel".
1. Israeli security isn't what it's hyped up to be. They rely mostly on racial profiling, which you really don't want in a country like the US. In Israel, the Jewish majority enjoys a quick and easy boarding process, while the Muslim/Christian minority is subjected to extreme scrutiny and often strip searches. As if the Arab (Muslim/Christian) minority in Israel wasn't alienated enough and segregated and treated as second class, their "special" treatment at airports in Israel further drives the wedge between them, the Israeli government and the Jewish majority as a whole. These people are Israeli citizens by the way. I'm not talking about Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
If you want to be safe and secure in the United States, you need to treat people as equals and NOT alienate one segment of your society. You need to make everyone in your society a partner to your predicament, instead of fueling the proverbial fire by alienating them.
So racial profiling is NOT a good strategy.
2. The only reason Israel needs all these so called security measures is because Israel has, over the years, managed to create for itself many enemies. You can't violate basic human rights and shoot innocent civilians or enslave an entire population and then expect there to be peace and quiet. By the way, the Muslim and Christian citizens of Israel have never carried out any attacks against the state or against Jews, but they are profiled and discrimintaed against because of their ethnicity, because they are "Arabs".
So, what the US should do, is seek to extinguish the flame that causes terrorism while at the same time treating ALL its citizens as equal and avoid isolating Muslims or Arabs because of their ethnicity or religion, not to mention that it's illegal. Now, If the US's foreign policies were just and fair we wouldn't have to build a wall, a mote, and a fence to protect ourselves from outsiders who want to attack us.
On a personal level:
As an Israeli Palestinian (I don't call myself Israeli Arab. the Israeli government has come up with that label to divide and concur. The last thing they want is for 20% of their population to be called Israeli Palestinian) who has dual citizenship (Israeli and American) I feel more loyalty towards the United States than I do towards Israel, mostly because I am treated as an equal human being here in the states, whereas in Israel I am treated as a criminal by default.
Lighters and terrorist on a plane was never a real concern,,,, But the drunks flying the planes and the out of control stewardesses are.
This lighter flap is just one more example of why Repugs can't be trusted.
A fucking bottle of water is banned, but a lighter is less dangerous? Absurd.
All this phony baloney security is just harrassment to remind us of how scared we should be of the terrorist luvin' Demoncrats.
So when can we start keeping our shoes on?
...which means they were LYING when they said lighters DID present a threat! Duh!!!
Seems to me the lighter was a "component" of Richard Reid's shoe plot. Explosives in the shoes. Lighter to light fuse that would detonate said explosive.
What is with the ridiculous "Fox Femme-anchor" suits the Bushies are wearing.
I design explosive detection software for the nation's airports, and I'll try to explain this as best I can without talking about screening procedures that are need-to-know. I'm fairly sure I'm not saying anything that hasn't been said before.
First and foremost, I can't say that I'm surprised to see people up in arms about the screening procedures and prohibited items. Most information about the screening process is listed as Sensitive Security Information, and passengers generally don't understand why we do the things we do. Checkpoints look silly and idiotic, but in actuality, there is a lot of private, academic, and governmental security research that's gone into the screening process.
But as for lighters -
Lighters did not suddenly become safe. That said, lighters are not the only things that can set off an IED. By prohibiting lighters you're not really solving the problem. We've known this for a long time.
Yet, that's not why the TSA is easing-up on lighters. Quite simply, a massive amount of people don't remember to take lighters out of their bags, and TSA agents are really good at finding lighters. Bag searches for lighters occupy a massive amount of screening time. That time could be used to look for more dangerous threats. More specifically, all of that time could be spent using the new tools we have to search for explosives.
My apologies if that's vague or rehashed, but I might be able to answer general questions if anyone has them.
1. Bottles of water are not banned on aircraft. Bottles of water brought through TSA security are banned. Buy food and drinks in the secure area of the airport to take it on the aircraft.
2. Look upon the "Liberation of Lighters" as an extremely rare occurrence of the repeal of a prior senseless expropriation of a small but real freedom. May we be so fortuitous that circumstances conspire for such events to happen many more times?
Pat @ 104:
Your response was enlightening and your lack of use of dirty words was refreshing after reading some comments.
Had an english teacher once who opined that the reason people use foul language is their lack of proper vocabulary of the english language. Guess she was smarter than I gave he credit for at the time.
so let me get this straight; C&L thinks lighters should be banned from planes. Hahaha, this site is a joke
Who is this Frannie Townshend spokesliar anyway? She just started turning up and I'm already sick of her. She has the thinnest, cruelest lips I have ever seen on a "human being". Her eyes are soulless, her face is hardened - she's like the she-beast on last week's Late Late Thriller Theater.
I'll be glad when they find someone else to lie for them. This one's a stinker.
Is this really the time to lessen security restrictions? I dont quite get this. Also, its just plain funny when you inconvenience a smoker. Back in the 70s they were such fire-breathing asses that its just fun to see them complain now.
[...] So… have the terrorists won? [...]
Where in the Hell do the dig up these moronic, stupid Rethugs??
[...] posted the following on a thread in Crooks & Liars that discussed the issue. It took off on the usual argument that TSA should be stricter and more [...]
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