i notice that gobear is quick to get pounced on for “being a jerk”, yet no one has disputed the accuracy of his comment.
Screw the sig.
Everybody calm down, OK? There’s a forum for everything, and it looks like gobear himself has already realised this. I suggest you follow him if you need to use this sort of tone.
Jus to give my opinion: gobear, you could at the very least have chosen your words a little more carefully. As far as accuracy goes, a Palestinian child smuggled aboard a plane as a living bomb would be a novelty to me. I’d say it’s quite a stretch from a 14 year old kid that grew up in a warzone, throwing stones at Isreali soldiers, to an innocent 4 year old being stuffed with semtex.
But hey, maybe I’m just too damn rational for this world.
I don’t dispute that terrorists (including, but not exclusively, Palestinian terrorists) have no qualms about killing children. However:
I dispute the accuracy of this comment. Vehemently. It looks like pure ignorance and racism.
That OK for ya, gatopescado?
Sorry, coldy - posted at the same time as your comments. Have gone to the pit to carry on.
gobear claimed that Palestinians have no qualms about killing children. Palestinians are varied and diverse group, and while it seems to be true that some Palestininas have no qualms about killing children, there is no evidence to suggest that Palestinians as a matter of groupthink feel this way.
Is that better?
I thought I had put in “terrorists” after Palestinians; on re-reading, I can see how my careless phrasing might have given you all cause to get riled.
Consider me unriled. 
Good! Now, get me a cigar and the evening paper, dammit. I’m tired.
gobear, I had a problem of your words in which you had said (among another things)
This sentence does give out the clear impression of bigotry on your part. However, you have since corrected yourself in saying
I have now no further objections…
Shibb, my eight-year-old son and his Captain Underpants activity book got a patdown before a flight from Atlanta to Chicago this past weekend, as did I. The cheese fries we were carrying got a close look too. So it ain’t just you or your sweet li’l younguns!
It’s all clear now: they’re singling out the Mexican - Norwegians for blatant discrimination! Since that’s clearly the only thing we have in common, other than being non-photogenic, and since both of my kids are clearly photogenic, it can only be this. We need a voice against this kind of rampant repression! Just for this, no more cheese fries or chocolate chip cookies for the Airline workers!
Not to deflate anybody’s amusement/annoyance over little kids being searched, but profiling, even the seeming “no brainer” of searching only adults doesn’t work, because those who would do us harm will take note and exploit it. If you profile and selectively search only young adult males of Middle-Eastern extraction, then the terrorists will chose bombers or hijackers from among those in their group who don’t fit the profile (women, older men, teenagers, non-Middle-Eastern-looking people, etc.)
If they observe that cherubic caucasian children below the age of 10 are not being searched, they probably won’t recruit 9-year-old suidcide bombers, of course, but they could resort to slipping a bomb into some kid’s backpack when nobody’s looking. (Remember the shoe-bomber . . . we’re not necessarily talking strategic geniuses, here . . . and they might get lucky.)
It may seem silly to search little kids, but searching random passengers is a sound policy.
Svics unite!
You aren’t lying about your children being photogenic, either. I saw those pictures you had up…man. They make my teeth hurt they’re so sweet. Oh, other people’s babies! I just love 'em!
I think you’re having a li’l of the ol’ difficulty in the understanding department Shibb.
See, the way I see it is this. Your six year old is probably carrying explosives. Most likely in the
Armed with this information, we can take it further. In the heads of the
are twenty six pounds of semtex. There are small light bulbs that run off an electrical switch at the rear of the doll (yeah, it’s ass, you can say it). These light bulbs can act as a resistance unit, carrying a voltage capacity of 12V (enough to set off a trigger). Say, for example, you place a battery (over 12V of course) in one of the instruments your little tyke is carrying, maybe
Now if you have a lead wire running up from one (or all) of these accessories to half-way inbetween the wire between the light bulbs and the trigger, you can ensure that when an adequate switch for the battery-power is turned on, the voltage running up the wire will travel through the top frame of the wire until it reaches the resistant light-bulbs.
The next part is essential if you want the rest of the trick to work. You must ensure that the switch that will be turned on via the electrical resistivity of the light bulbs are connected in a “loop” (for all the technically inclined amongst you) to the trigger that sets off the explosive reaction.
Once the voltatic energy reaches the electrostatically-resistive light bulbs, the cell will short circuit, causing the switch to be turned on which effectively “blows” the trigger, enabling the explosives to be set off.
WALA!!! See, simple isn’t it? Now do you see why they searched your children? Bear in mind I have used your own words to describe the scenario. Don’t be so judgmental of our national institutions. George Bush may make an ass out of himself occassionally, but he pulls through with great charisma in the end.
So the next time you feel like voting, remember this scenario, and think of what could happen, instead of what will happen. Life just isn’t that easy. Sometimes it’s difficult to forsee all these challenges.
All right, gobear, I see what you meant to say. I am officially un-riled. I would still, however, question why you singled out Palestinian terrorists. I don’t remember Timothy MvVeigh evacuating the day care center in the Murrah Building before he blew the place up.
Xavier, her Swiss Cow backpack is small child sized. It came filled with about 2 pounds of chocolate. Even allowing as perhaps Semtex is heavier than cheap Swiss chocolate, it couldn’t possibly hold more than 3 or 4 pounds. And my daughter is a bit of a lightweight, if her backpack weighed more than five pounds I would have been carrying it, and it would then never have been searched. But otherwise a cunning plot, obviously devised by the four year old, he’s obviously the ringleader. He’s already admitted that he’s a boy genius, though I have yet to find the entrance to his Secret Laboratory.
Gundy, thank you, it’s a good thing the anti-photogenic gene skips a generation. Which is good news for you, someday, but bad news for our grandkids.
Diceman, if you feel compelled to follow up with Senor gobear there is already a Pit thread dedicated to this. Do it there. I think Coldy posted a link somewhere above. Now let’s all join hands and sing Kumbaya.
ShibbOleth, a small amount of a powerful explosive is enough to blow a hole in the fuselage of a jet airliner. That’s nothing to sneeze at.
While I think it’s unfortunate that kids and grandmas in wheelchairs are being subjected to thorough scourings by the icy hands of poorly trained security personnel, I’m not sure what our options are. As Podkayne pointed out, the options are random checks which will occasionally pull unlikely suspects (like your precious munchkins) into the nets, or checking everyone. Which would you prefer?
What am I, your dog?
I dunno, would you like to be?
Eeeeasy, tiger.
You’re from Amsterdam. I’ve been there. Twice.
backs away slowly