From the Open-Publishing Calendar
From the Open-Publishing Newswire
Indybay Feature
This Is Not America
Coffee, Tea, or Should We Feel Your Pregnant Wife’s Breasts Before Throwing You in a Cell at the Airport and Then Lying About Why We Put You There?
This morning I’ll be escorting my wife to the hospital, where the doctors will perform a caesarean section to remove our first child. She didn’t want to do it this way – neither of us did – but sometimes the Fates decide otherwise. The Fates or, in our case, government employees.
On the morning of October 26th Mary and I entered Portland International Airport, en route to the Las Vegas wedding of one of my best friends. Although we live in Los Angeles, we’d been in Oregon working on a film, and up to that point had had nothing but praise to shower on the city of Portland, a refreshing change of pace from our own suffocating metropolis.
At the security checkpoint I was led aside for the "inspection" that’s all the rage at airports these days. My shoes were removed. I was told to take off my sweater, then to fold over the waistband of my pants. My baseball hat, hastily jammed on my head at 5 AM, was removed and assiduously examined ("Anything could be in here, sir," I was told, after I asked what I could hide in a baseball hat. Yeah. Anything.) Soon I was standing on one foot, my arms stretched out, the other leg sticking out in front of me àla a DUI test. I began to get pissed off, as most normal people would. My anger increased when I realized that the newly knighted federal employees weren’t just examining me, but my 7½ months pregnant wife as well. I’d originally thought that I’d simply been randomly selected for the more excessive than normal search. You know, Number 50 or whatever. Apparently not though – it was both of us. These are your new threats, America: pregnant accountants and their sleepy husbands flying to weddings.
After some more grumbling on my part they eventually finished with me and I went to retrieve our luggage from the x-ray machine. Upon returning I found my wife sitting in a chair, crying. Mary rarely cries, and certainly not in public. When I asked her what was the matter, she tried to quell her tears and sobbed, "I’m sorry...it’s...they touched my breasts...and..." That’s all I heard. I marched up to the woman who’d been examining her and shouted, "What did you do to her?" Later I found out that in addition to touching her swollen breasts – to protect the American citizenry – the employee had asked that she lift up her shirt. Not behind a screen, not off to the side – no, right there, directly in front of the hundred or so passengers standing in line. And for you women who’ve been pregnant and worn maternity pants, you know how ridiculous those things look. "I felt like a clown," my wife told me later. "On display for all these people, with the cotton panel on my pants and my stomach sticking out. When I sat down I just lost my composure and began to cry. That’s when you walked up."
Of course when I say she "told me later," it’s because she wasn’t able to tell me at the time, because as soon as I demanded to know what the federal employee had done to make her cry, I was swarmed by Portland police officers. Instantly. Three of them, cinching my arms, locking me in handcuffs, and telling me I was under arrest. Now my wife really began to cry. As they led me away and she ran alongside, I implored her to calm down, to think of the baby, promising her that everything would turn out all right. She faded into the distance and I was shoved into an elevator, a cop holding each arm. After making me face the corner, the head honcho told that I was under arrest and that I wouldn’t be flying that day – that I was in fact a "menace."
It took me a while to regain my composure. I felt like I was one of those guys in The Gulag Archipelago who, because the proceedings all seem so unreal, doesn’t fully realize that he is in fact being arrested in a public place in front of crowds of people for...for what? I didn’t know what the crime was. Didn’t matter. Once upstairs, the officers made me remove my shoes and my hat and tossed me into a cell. Yes, your airports have prison cells, just like your amusement parks, train stations, universities, and national forests. Let freedom reign.
After a short time I received a visit from the arresting officer. "Mr. Monahan," he started, "Are you on drugs?"
Was this even real? "No, I’m not on drugs."
"Should you be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Should you be on any type of medication?"
"No."
"Then why’d you react that way back there?"
You see the thinking? You see what passes for reasoning among your domestic shock troops these days? Only "whackos" get angry over seeing the woman they’ve been with for ten years in tears because someone has touched her breasts. That kind of reaction – love, protection – it’s mind-boggling! "Mr. Monahan, are you on drugs?" His snide words rang inside my head. This is my wife, finally pregnant with our first child after months of failed attempts, after the depressing shock of the miscarriage last year, my wife who’d been walking on a cloud over having the opportunity to be a mother...and my anger is simply unfathomable to the guy standing in front of me, the guy who earns a living thanks to my taxes, the guy whose family I feed through my labor. What I did wasn’t normal. No, I reacted like a drug addict would’ve. I was so disgusted I felt like vomiting. But that was just the beginning.
An hour later, after I’d been gallantly assured by the officer that I wouldn’t be attending my friend’s wedding that day, I heard Mary’s voice outside my cell. The officer was speaking loudly, letting her know that he was planning on doing me a favor... which everyone knows is never a real favor. He wasn’t going to come over and help me work on my car or move some furniture. No, his "favor" was this: He’d decided not to charge me with a felony.
Think about that for a second. Rapes, car-jackings, murders, arsons – those are felonies. So is yelling in an airport now, apparently. I hadn’t realized, though I should have. Luckily, I was getting a favor, though. I was merely going to be slapped with a misdemeanor.
"Here’s your court date," he said as I was released from my cell. In addition, I was banned from Portland International for 90 days, and just in case I was thinking of coming over and hanging out around its perimeter, the officer gave me a map with the boundaries highlighted, sternly warning me against trespassing. Then he and a second officer escorted us off the grounds. Mary and I hurriedly drove two and a half hours in the rain to Seattle, where we eventually caught a flight to Vegas. But the officer was true to his word – we missed my friend’s wedding. The fact that he’d been in my own wedding party, the fact that a once in a lifetime event was stolen from us – well, who cares, right?
Upon our return to Portland (I’d had to fly into Seattle and drive back down), we immediately began contacting attorneys. We aren’t litigious people – we wanted no money. I’m not even sure what we fully wanted. An apology? A reprimand? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter though, because we couldn’t afford a lawyer, it turned out. $4,000 was the average figure bandied about as a retaining fee. Sorry, but I’ve got a new baby on the way. So we called the ACLU, figuring they existed for just such incidents as these. And they do apparently...but only if we were minorities. That’s what they told us.
In the meantime, I’d appealed my suspension from PDX. A week or so later I got a response from the Director of Aviation. After telling me how, in the aftermath of 9/11, most passengers not only accept additional airport screening but welcome it, he cut to the chase:
"After a review of the police report and my discussions with police staff, as well as a review of the TSA’s report on this incident, I concur with the officer’s decision to take you into custody and to issue a citation to you for disorderly conduct. That being said, because I also understand that you were upset and acted on your emotions, I am willing to lift the Airport Exclusion Order...."
Attached to this letter was the report the officer had filled out. I’d like to say I couldn’t believe it, but in a way, I could. It’s seemingly becoming the norm in America – lies and deliberate distortions on the part of those in power, no matter how much or how little power they actually wield.
The gist of his report was this: From the get go I wasn’t following the screener’s directions. I was "squinting my eyes" and talking to my wife in a "low, forced voice" while "excitedly swinging my arms." Twice I began to walk away from the screener, inhaling and exhaling forcefully. When I’d completed the physical exam, I walked to the luggage screening area, where a second screener took a pair of scissors from my suitcase. At this point I yelled, "What the %*&$% is going on? This is &*#&$%!" The officer, who’d already been called over by one of the screeners, became afraid for the TSA staff and the many travelers. He required the assistance of a second officer as he "struggled" to get me into handcuffs, then for "cover" called over a third as well. It was only at this point that my wife began to cry hysterically.
There was nothing poetic in my reaction to the arrest report. I didn’t crumple it in my fist and swear that justice would be served, promising to sacrifice my resources and time to see that it would. I simply stared. Clearly the officer didn’t have the guts to write down what had really happened. It might not look too good to see that stuff about the pregnant woman in tears because she’d been humiliated. Instead this was the official scenario being presented for the permanent record. It doesn’t even matter that it’s the most implausible sounding situation you can think of. "Hey, what the...godammit, they’re taking our scissors, honey!" Why didn’t he write in anything about a monkey wearing a fez?
True, the TSA staff had expropriated a pair of scissors from our toiletries kit – the story wasn’t entirely made up. Except that I’d been locked in airport jail at the time. I didn’t know anything about any scissors until Mary told me on our drive up to Seattle. They’d questioned her about them while I was in the bowels of the airport sitting in my cell.
So I wrote back, indignation and disgust flooding my brain.
"[W]hile I’m not sure, I’d guess that the entire incident is captured on video. Memory is imperfect on everyone’s part, but the footage won’t lie. I realize it might be procedurally difficult for you to view this, but if you could, I’d appreciate it. There’s no willful disregard of screening directions. No explosion over the discovery of a pair of scissors in a suitcase. No struggle to put handcuffs on. There’s a tired man, early in the morning, unhappily going through a rigorous procedure and then reacting to the tears of his pregnant wife."
Eventually we heard back from a different person, the guy in charge of the TSA airport screeners. One of his employees had made the damning statement about me exploding over her scissor discovery, and the officer had deftly incorporated that statement into his report. We asked the guy if he could find out why she’d said this – couldn’t she possibly be mistaken? "Oh, can’t do that, my hands are tied. It’s kind of like leading a witness – I could get in trouble, heh heh." Then what about the videotape? Why not watch that? That would exonerate me. "Oh, we destroy all video after three days."
Sure you do.
A few days later we heard from him again. He just wanted to inform us that he’d received corroboration of the officer’s report from the officer’s superior, a name we didn’t recognize. "But...he wasn’t even there," my wife said.
"Yeah, well, uh, he’s corroborated it though."
That’s how it works.
"Oh, and we did look at the videotape. Inconclusive."
But I thought it was destroyed?
On and on it went. Due to the tenacity of my wife in making phone calls and speaking with relevant persons, the "crime" was eventually lowered to a mere citation. Only she could have done that. I would’ve simply accepted what was being thrown at me, trumped up charges and all, simply because I’m wholly inadequate at performing the kowtow. There’s no way I could have contacted all the people Mary did and somehow pretend to be contrite. Besides, I speak in a low, forced voice, which doesn’t elicit sympathy. Just police suspicion.
Weeks later at the courthouse I listened to a young DA awkwardly read the charges against me – "Mr. Monahan...umm...shouted obscenities at the airport staff...umm... umm...oh, they took some scissors from his suitcase and he became...umm...abusive at this point." If I was reading about it in Kafka I might have found something vaguely amusing in all of it. But I wasn’t. I was there. Living it.
I entered a plea of nolo contendere, explaining to the judge that if I’d been a resident of Oregon, I would have definitely pled "Not Guilty." However, when that happens, your case automatically goes to a jury trial, and since I lived a thousand miles away, and was slated to return home in seven days, with a newborn due in a matter of weeks...you get the picture. "No Contest" it was. Judgment: $250 fine.
Did I feel happy? Only $250, right? No, I wasn’t happy. I don’t care if it’s twelve cents, that’s money pulled right out of my baby’s mouth and fed to a disgusting legal system that will use it to propagate more incidents like this. But at the very least it was over, right? Wrong.
When we returned to Los Angeles there was an envelope waiting for me from the court. Inside wasn’t a receipt for the money we’d paid. No, it was a letter telling me that what I actually owed was $309 – state assessed court costs, you know. Wouldn’t you think your taxes pay for that – the state putting you on trial? No, taxes are used to hire more cops like the officer, because with our rising criminal population – people like me – hey, your average citizen demands more and more "security."
Finally I reach the piece de resistance. The week before we’d gone to the airport my wife had had her regular pre-natal checkup. The child had settled into the proper head down position for birth, continuing the remarkable pregnancy she’d been having. We returned to Portland on Sunday. On Mary’s Monday appointment she was suddenly told, "Looks like your baby’s gone breech." When she later spoke with her midwives in Los Angeles, they wanted to know if she’d experienced any type of trauma recently, as this often makes a child flip. "As a matter of fact..." she began, recounting the story, explaining how the child inside of her was going absolutely crazy when she was crying as the police were leading me away through the crowd.
My wife had been planning a natural childbirth. She’d read dozens of books, meticulously researched everything, and had finally decided that this was the way for her. No drugs, no numbing of sensations – just that ultimate combination of brute pain and sheer joy that belongs exclusively to mothers. But my wife is also a first-time mother, so she has what is called an "untested" pelvis. Essentially this means that a breech birth is too dangerous to attempt, for both mother and child. Therefore, she’s now relegated to a c-section – hospital stay, epidural, catheter, fetal monitoring, stitches – everything she didn’t want. Her natural birth has become a surgery.
We’ve tried everything to turn that baby. Acupuncture, chiropractic techniques, underwater handstands, elephant walking, moxibustion, bending backwards over pillows, herbs, external manipulation – all to no avail. When I walked into the living room the other night and saw her plaintively cooing with a flashlight turned onto her stomach, yet another suggested technique, my heart almost broke. It’s breaking now as I write these words.
I can never prove that my child went breech because of what happened to us at the airport. But I’ll always believe it. Wrongly or rightly, I’ll forever think of how this man, the personification of this system, has affected the lives of my family and me. When my wife is sliced open, I’ll be thinking of him. When they remove her uterus from her abdomen and lay it on her stomach, I’ll be thinking of him. When I visit her and my child in the hospital instead of having them with me here in our home, I’ll be thinking of him. When I assist her to the bathroom while the incision heals internally, I’ll be thinking of him.
There are plenty of stories like this these days. I don’t know how many I’ve read where the writer describes some breach of civil liberties by employees of the state, then wraps it all up with a dire warning about what we as a nation are becoming, and how if we don’t put an end to it now, then we’re in for heaps of trouble. Well you know what? Nothing’s going to stop the inevitable. There’s no policy change that’s going to save us. There’s no election that’s going to put a halt to the onslaught of tyranny. It’s here already – this country has changed for the worse and will continue to change for the worse. There is now a division between the citizenry and the state. When that state is used as a tool against me, there is no longer any reason why I should owe any allegiance to that state.
And that’s the first thing that child of ours is going to learn.
December 21, 2002
Nick Monahan works in the film industry. He writes out of Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and as of December 18th, his beautiful new son.
On the morning of October 26th Mary and I entered Portland International Airport, en route to the Las Vegas wedding of one of my best friends. Although we live in Los Angeles, we’d been in Oregon working on a film, and up to that point had had nothing but praise to shower on the city of Portland, a refreshing change of pace from our own suffocating metropolis.
At the security checkpoint I was led aside for the "inspection" that’s all the rage at airports these days. My shoes were removed. I was told to take off my sweater, then to fold over the waistband of my pants. My baseball hat, hastily jammed on my head at 5 AM, was removed and assiduously examined ("Anything could be in here, sir," I was told, after I asked what I could hide in a baseball hat. Yeah. Anything.) Soon I was standing on one foot, my arms stretched out, the other leg sticking out in front of me àla a DUI test. I began to get pissed off, as most normal people would. My anger increased when I realized that the newly knighted federal employees weren’t just examining me, but my 7½ months pregnant wife as well. I’d originally thought that I’d simply been randomly selected for the more excessive than normal search. You know, Number 50 or whatever. Apparently not though – it was both of us. These are your new threats, America: pregnant accountants and their sleepy husbands flying to weddings.
After some more grumbling on my part they eventually finished with me and I went to retrieve our luggage from the x-ray machine. Upon returning I found my wife sitting in a chair, crying. Mary rarely cries, and certainly not in public. When I asked her what was the matter, she tried to quell her tears and sobbed, "I’m sorry...it’s...they touched my breasts...and..." That’s all I heard. I marched up to the woman who’d been examining her and shouted, "What did you do to her?" Later I found out that in addition to touching her swollen breasts – to protect the American citizenry – the employee had asked that she lift up her shirt. Not behind a screen, not off to the side – no, right there, directly in front of the hundred or so passengers standing in line. And for you women who’ve been pregnant and worn maternity pants, you know how ridiculous those things look. "I felt like a clown," my wife told me later. "On display for all these people, with the cotton panel on my pants and my stomach sticking out. When I sat down I just lost my composure and began to cry. That’s when you walked up."
Of course when I say she "told me later," it’s because she wasn’t able to tell me at the time, because as soon as I demanded to know what the federal employee had done to make her cry, I was swarmed by Portland police officers. Instantly. Three of them, cinching my arms, locking me in handcuffs, and telling me I was under arrest. Now my wife really began to cry. As they led me away and she ran alongside, I implored her to calm down, to think of the baby, promising her that everything would turn out all right. She faded into the distance and I was shoved into an elevator, a cop holding each arm. After making me face the corner, the head honcho told that I was under arrest and that I wouldn’t be flying that day – that I was in fact a "menace."
It took me a while to regain my composure. I felt like I was one of those guys in The Gulag Archipelago who, because the proceedings all seem so unreal, doesn’t fully realize that he is in fact being arrested in a public place in front of crowds of people for...for what? I didn’t know what the crime was. Didn’t matter. Once upstairs, the officers made me remove my shoes and my hat and tossed me into a cell. Yes, your airports have prison cells, just like your amusement parks, train stations, universities, and national forests. Let freedom reign.
After a short time I received a visit from the arresting officer. "Mr. Monahan," he started, "Are you on drugs?"
Was this even real? "No, I’m not on drugs."
"Should you be?"
"What do you mean?"
"Should you be on any type of medication?"
"No."
"Then why’d you react that way back there?"
You see the thinking? You see what passes for reasoning among your domestic shock troops these days? Only "whackos" get angry over seeing the woman they’ve been with for ten years in tears because someone has touched her breasts. That kind of reaction – love, protection – it’s mind-boggling! "Mr. Monahan, are you on drugs?" His snide words rang inside my head. This is my wife, finally pregnant with our first child after months of failed attempts, after the depressing shock of the miscarriage last year, my wife who’d been walking on a cloud over having the opportunity to be a mother...and my anger is simply unfathomable to the guy standing in front of me, the guy who earns a living thanks to my taxes, the guy whose family I feed through my labor. What I did wasn’t normal. No, I reacted like a drug addict would’ve. I was so disgusted I felt like vomiting. But that was just the beginning.
An hour later, after I’d been gallantly assured by the officer that I wouldn’t be attending my friend’s wedding that day, I heard Mary’s voice outside my cell. The officer was speaking loudly, letting her know that he was planning on doing me a favor... which everyone knows is never a real favor. He wasn’t going to come over and help me work on my car or move some furniture. No, his "favor" was this: He’d decided not to charge me with a felony.
Think about that for a second. Rapes, car-jackings, murders, arsons – those are felonies. So is yelling in an airport now, apparently. I hadn’t realized, though I should have. Luckily, I was getting a favor, though. I was merely going to be slapped with a misdemeanor.
"Here’s your court date," he said as I was released from my cell. In addition, I was banned from Portland International for 90 days, and just in case I was thinking of coming over and hanging out around its perimeter, the officer gave me a map with the boundaries highlighted, sternly warning me against trespassing. Then he and a second officer escorted us off the grounds. Mary and I hurriedly drove two and a half hours in the rain to Seattle, where we eventually caught a flight to Vegas. But the officer was true to his word – we missed my friend’s wedding. The fact that he’d been in my own wedding party, the fact that a once in a lifetime event was stolen from us – well, who cares, right?
Upon our return to Portland (I’d had to fly into Seattle and drive back down), we immediately began contacting attorneys. We aren’t litigious people – we wanted no money. I’m not even sure what we fully wanted. An apology? A reprimand? I don’t know. It doesn’t matter though, because we couldn’t afford a lawyer, it turned out. $4,000 was the average figure bandied about as a retaining fee. Sorry, but I’ve got a new baby on the way. So we called the ACLU, figuring they existed for just such incidents as these. And they do apparently...but only if we were minorities. That’s what they told us.
In the meantime, I’d appealed my suspension from PDX. A week or so later I got a response from the Director of Aviation. After telling me how, in the aftermath of 9/11, most passengers not only accept additional airport screening but welcome it, he cut to the chase:
"After a review of the police report and my discussions with police staff, as well as a review of the TSA’s report on this incident, I concur with the officer’s decision to take you into custody and to issue a citation to you for disorderly conduct. That being said, because I also understand that you were upset and acted on your emotions, I am willing to lift the Airport Exclusion Order...."
Attached to this letter was the report the officer had filled out. I’d like to say I couldn’t believe it, but in a way, I could. It’s seemingly becoming the norm in America – lies and deliberate distortions on the part of those in power, no matter how much or how little power they actually wield.
The gist of his report was this: From the get go I wasn’t following the screener’s directions. I was "squinting my eyes" and talking to my wife in a "low, forced voice" while "excitedly swinging my arms." Twice I began to walk away from the screener, inhaling and exhaling forcefully. When I’d completed the physical exam, I walked to the luggage screening area, where a second screener took a pair of scissors from my suitcase. At this point I yelled, "What the %*&$% is going on? This is &*#&$%!" The officer, who’d already been called over by one of the screeners, became afraid for the TSA staff and the many travelers. He required the assistance of a second officer as he "struggled" to get me into handcuffs, then for "cover" called over a third as well. It was only at this point that my wife began to cry hysterically.
There was nothing poetic in my reaction to the arrest report. I didn’t crumple it in my fist and swear that justice would be served, promising to sacrifice my resources and time to see that it would. I simply stared. Clearly the officer didn’t have the guts to write down what had really happened. It might not look too good to see that stuff about the pregnant woman in tears because she’d been humiliated. Instead this was the official scenario being presented for the permanent record. It doesn’t even matter that it’s the most implausible sounding situation you can think of. "Hey, what the...godammit, they’re taking our scissors, honey!" Why didn’t he write in anything about a monkey wearing a fez?
True, the TSA staff had expropriated a pair of scissors from our toiletries kit – the story wasn’t entirely made up. Except that I’d been locked in airport jail at the time. I didn’t know anything about any scissors until Mary told me on our drive up to Seattle. They’d questioned her about them while I was in the bowels of the airport sitting in my cell.
So I wrote back, indignation and disgust flooding my brain.
"[W]hile I’m not sure, I’d guess that the entire incident is captured on video. Memory is imperfect on everyone’s part, but the footage won’t lie. I realize it might be procedurally difficult for you to view this, but if you could, I’d appreciate it. There’s no willful disregard of screening directions. No explosion over the discovery of a pair of scissors in a suitcase. No struggle to put handcuffs on. There’s a tired man, early in the morning, unhappily going through a rigorous procedure and then reacting to the tears of his pregnant wife."
Eventually we heard back from a different person, the guy in charge of the TSA airport screeners. One of his employees had made the damning statement about me exploding over her scissor discovery, and the officer had deftly incorporated that statement into his report. We asked the guy if he could find out why she’d said this – couldn’t she possibly be mistaken? "Oh, can’t do that, my hands are tied. It’s kind of like leading a witness – I could get in trouble, heh heh." Then what about the videotape? Why not watch that? That would exonerate me. "Oh, we destroy all video after three days."
Sure you do.
A few days later we heard from him again. He just wanted to inform us that he’d received corroboration of the officer’s report from the officer’s superior, a name we didn’t recognize. "But...he wasn’t even there," my wife said.
"Yeah, well, uh, he’s corroborated it though."
That’s how it works.
"Oh, and we did look at the videotape. Inconclusive."
But I thought it was destroyed?
On and on it went. Due to the tenacity of my wife in making phone calls and speaking with relevant persons, the "crime" was eventually lowered to a mere citation. Only she could have done that. I would’ve simply accepted what was being thrown at me, trumped up charges and all, simply because I’m wholly inadequate at performing the kowtow. There’s no way I could have contacted all the people Mary did and somehow pretend to be contrite. Besides, I speak in a low, forced voice, which doesn’t elicit sympathy. Just police suspicion.
Weeks later at the courthouse I listened to a young DA awkwardly read the charges against me – "Mr. Monahan...umm...shouted obscenities at the airport staff...umm... umm...oh, they took some scissors from his suitcase and he became...umm...abusive at this point." If I was reading about it in Kafka I might have found something vaguely amusing in all of it. But I wasn’t. I was there. Living it.
I entered a plea of nolo contendere, explaining to the judge that if I’d been a resident of Oregon, I would have definitely pled "Not Guilty." However, when that happens, your case automatically goes to a jury trial, and since I lived a thousand miles away, and was slated to return home in seven days, with a newborn due in a matter of weeks...you get the picture. "No Contest" it was. Judgment: $250 fine.
Did I feel happy? Only $250, right? No, I wasn’t happy. I don’t care if it’s twelve cents, that’s money pulled right out of my baby’s mouth and fed to a disgusting legal system that will use it to propagate more incidents like this. But at the very least it was over, right? Wrong.
When we returned to Los Angeles there was an envelope waiting for me from the court. Inside wasn’t a receipt for the money we’d paid. No, it was a letter telling me that what I actually owed was $309 – state assessed court costs, you know. Wouldn’t you think your taxes pay for that – the state putting you on trial? No, taxes are used to hire more cops like the officer, because with our rising criminal population – people like me – hey, your average citizen demands more and more "security."
Finally I reach the piece de resistance. The week before we’d gone to the airport my wife had had her regular pre-natal checkup. The child had settled into the proper head down position for birth, continuing the remarkable pregnancy she’d been having. We returned to Portland on Sunday. On Mary’s Monday appointment she was suddenly told, "Looks like your baby’s gone breech." When she later spoke with her midwives in Los Angeles, they wanted to know if she’d experienced any type of trauma recently, as this often makes a child flip. "As a matter of fact..." she began, recounting the story, explaining how the child inside of her was going absolutely crazy when she was crying as the police were leading me away through the crowd.
My wife had been planning a natural childbirth. She’d read dozens of books, meticulously researched everything, and had finally decided that this was the way for her. No drugs, no numbing of sensations – just that ultimate combination of brute pain and sheer joy that belongs exclusively to mothers. But my wife is also a first-time mother, so she has what is called an "untested" pelvis. Essentially this means that a breech birth is too dangerous to attempt, for both mother and child. Therefore, she’s now relegated to a c-section – hospital stay, epidural, catheter, fetal monitoring, stitches – everything she didn’t want. Her natural birth has become a surgery.
We’ve tried everything to turn that baby. Acupuncture, chiropractic techniques, underwater handstands, elephant walking, moxibustion, bending backwards over pillows, herbs, external manipulation – all to no avail. When I walked into the living room the other night and saw her plaintively cooing with a flashlight turned onto her stomach, yet another suggested technique, my heart almost broke. It’s breaking now as I write these words.
I can never prove that my child went breech because of what happened to us at the airport. But I’ll always believe it. Wrongly or rightly, I’ll forever think of how this man, the personification of this system, has affected the lives of my family and me. When my wife is sliced open, I’ll be thinking of him. When they remove her uterus from her abdomen and lay it on her stomach, I’ll be thinking of him. When I visit her and my child in the hospital instead of having them with me here in our home, I’ll be thinking of him. When I assist her to the bathroom while the incision heals internally, I’ll be thinking of him.
There are plenty of stories like this these days. I don’t know how many I’ve read where the writer describes some breach of civil liberties by employees of the state, then wraps it all up with a dire warning about what we as a nation are becoming, and how if we don’t put an end to it now, then we’re in for heaps of trouble. Well you know what? Nothing’s going to stop the inevitable. There’s no policy change that’s going to save us. There’s no election that’s going to put a halt to the onslaught of tyranny. It’s here already – this country has changed for the worse and will continue to change for the worse. There is now a division between the citizenry and the state. When that state is used as a tool against me, there is no longer any reason why I should owe any allegiance to that state.
And that’s the first thing that child of ours is going to learn.
December 21, 2002
Nick Monahan works in the film industry. He writes out of Los Angeles where he lives with his wife and as of December 18th, his beautiful new son.
We are 100% volunteer and depend on your participation to sustain our efforts!
Get Involved
If you'd like to help with maintaining or developing the website, contact us.
Publish
Publish your stories and upcoming events on Indybay.
Topics
More
Search Indybay's Archives
Advanced Search
►
▼
IMC Network
http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/airport.htm
This is where it is now, this is where it will continue into the future. If it is not slowed nor stopped, the future generations of this country will never know what was lost.
It is a blessing to hear from this man, who has experienced so much heart ache over what should have been a simple trip to airport. Take his advice, and let the kids know what freedom is, or at least what it ought be.
Just because it is called "America" doesn't make it synonymous with "Freedom." Take heed of where this is going...totalitarianism is not a thing of drama. It is a reality that not long from now will be embraced, short of "We the people" getting back in the driver's seat. Will we?
You seem to gloss over how exactly you behaved when you "demanded to know" what the fed employee had done.
You ought to send a photo of your baby to the airport staff.
This is a perfect example of a job well done by airport security. Next time, take a train or something. I don't need uncontrollably behaving fellow passengers equipped with scissors at 30000 feet.
I found this story extremely amusing.
Then move to Cuba. I'm sure Fidel Castro's propaganda film industry could use your talents. America, however, doesn't need turncoats and traitors poisoning it from the inside.
America: love it or leave it.
2. However, you also botched that aspect of your case by admitting that your pregnant wife uses 'midwives', which are 99.9% female... thereby diluting her presumed horror and indignation by being sexually assulted by a female federal employee.
To the people who are taking the government side for a "Job well done", did you read this part of the story?
"the employee had asked that she lift up her shirt. Not behind a screen, not off to the side – no, right there, directly in front of the hundred or so passengers standing in line"
Yes, I love my country. But to paraphrase the bumper stickers, I have a healthy critical view of my government. I am certainly in favor of tighter screening at airports but I cringe at what might be the long term consequence of strangling freedom. History shows that this road often leads to dictatorhips - seldom benevolent.
Our state governments across the country are already overstepping their boundaries by telling us that the only safe place to birth is in a hospital. Hogwash, and the statistics about home birth prove this.
Great job on this article.
The recent case of Freida Miller in Holmes County, Ohio is an excellent example of this. She'd been jailed for six months for the great crime of refusing to tell a grand jury her source for the pitocin she used on a birthing mother whose birth had developed complications--one who had no health insurance or HMO plan, I might add.
Were there not over 40 million Americans without any health insurance coverage whatsoever, I wouldn't be so critical of the attempts to outlaw non-hospital births. I suppose they just want the poor to quit having children, or something--they aren't willing to provide free medical care to the millions of Americans without coverage, but are eager to ban the right of these Americans to practise a normal and healthy thing like having a baby, and having a friend assist their birth.
Second question: In this new environment, where the government is trying to strike a balance between security for all and individual freedom, why did you get upset at the airport? Show some self-control. Use your indoor voice and don't get huffy with people who are already nervous. The reason your wife got your charges reduced was because she was polite. The "Jack-booted thugs" respond well to polite people.
Third question: Why are you complaining? Of course things are tight to the point of stupidity. That's how it's going to start. The rules will be relaxed more until the American public stops complaining. Then when we get hit with another terrorist strike, the hue and cry will be about not having had enough security. Make up your mind.
It's AIRPORT SECURITY, you don't HAVE to fly. You have proven that it's OK to risk an unborn child to drive to a wedding. Get a copy of the video and stay home.
Feel free to respond, I've got several more good points that would take entirely too long to write here.
TruDuck [at] yahoo.com
maybe one day it will be safe in America once again ...my apologies to you, your wife and child for all that you went through..(.I would probably still be in their holding cell right now!).I never have been able to resist resisting unbelievable things...
HE HAD BEEN IN AMERICA ON A STUDENT EXCHANGE PROGRAM IN THE 90'S AND DUE TO AN INJURY WHILE SKIING HAD TO OVERSTAY HIS ORIGINAL VISA IN AMERICA FOR AN EXTRA 2 WEEKS TO RECOVER BEFORE HE WAS FIT TO FLY HOME. THIS WAS REPORTED TO, AND OK'D BY US IMMIGRATION AT THE TIME.
ALL PASSENGERS TRANSITTING THE US NOW HAVE TO ENTER AMERICA AND THEN LEAVE AGAIN EVEN IF THEY ONLY HAVE A SHORT STOPPOVER OF A COUPLE OF HOURS . HE WAS ARRESTED ON ENTRY, HANDCUFFED, DRAGGED THROUGH THE AIRPORT, AND DETAINED FOR 36 HOURS IN A CELL AT THE AIRPORT FOR QUOTE" A SERIOUS VIOLATION OF US IMMIGRATION LAWS" AND HIS NEW BRIDE WAS ORDERED TO CARRY ON ALONE ON THE CONNECTING FLIGHT TO NEW ZEALAND.
THE IMMIGRATION PEOPLE EVENTUALLY SORTED OUT THEIR MISTAKE AND HE WAS ALLOWED TO TRAVEL HOME WITH NO APOLOGIES OFFERED.
EVEN IF THEY THOUGHT HE WAS IN VIOLATION FOR A 2 WEEK OVERSTAY ON A VISA WOULD IT NOT HAVE MADE MORE SENSE TO JUST MAKE SURE HE GOT ON HIS CONNECTING FLIGHT . THIS HEAVY HANDED APPROACH IS MAKING NO FRIENDS AROUND THE WORLD AND THE "LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT" BULLSHIT OF ONE OF THE OTHER CONTRIBUTORS ON THIS STORY MEANS NOTHING TO SOMEONE WHO HAD NO DESIRE TO ENTER THE THE US IN THE FIRST PLACE AND JUST WANTED TO CATCH HIS CONNECTING FLIGHT .
HERE IS A COMMON SENSE WAY TO SOLVE THE BIG BROTHER PROBLEMS WE ARE ALL FACING WORLD WIDE .
LIKE ALL DEMOCRACYS AROUND THE WORLD AT THE MOMENT THE DEMOCRATIC PROCESS HAS BEEN PERVERTED BY THE PARTY SYSTEM THE .ONLY WAY TO TAKE BACK SOME CONTROL OF OUR LIVES IS TO STOP VOTING FOR POLITICAL PARTIES AND START VOTING FOR INDEPENDENT, UNCOMPROMISED, GOOD QUALITY PEOPLE WITH ONLY THEIR COMMUNITIES AND COUNTRY'S INTERESTS AT HEART ,TO REPRESENT US AT THE NATIONAL LEVEL. ALL CANDIDATES FOR POLITICAL PARTIES MUST BE ENDORSED BY, AND PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE TO, THE HEIRACHY OF THOSE PARTIES . THEREFORE THEY ARE NO LONGER ABLE TO EXPRESS A TRUELY INDEPENDENT VEIW POINT AND MUST BE CONSIDERED COMPROMISED BEFORE THEY EVEN START.
I too agree that the above story has some weak points - particularly the "one-sideness". HOWEVER, let's not forget what the Government's interests REALLY are: taxing us by whichever means. If you happen to drive without a seat belt on, the officer who tickets you will access his computer and INSTANTLY know whether that's your first "no seat belt offense" or not. Of course, a "second offense" ticket brings a double fine. But if you are Mohammed Atta, you WILL GET YOUR U.S. VISA after six months! No accountability, of course.
There is your side of the story.
The cops side of the story.
The truth.
Neither of those are the same.
I'm glad I saw this thread, because it reveals how unprofessional those SNOPES.com folks are. Something should be deemed an urban legend when there's proof that is the case. Any rush to judgment (1 day response is a rush, period, end of report) should be considered highly suspect, and might point to motives less than savory
Their new mission seems to be aimed at making you so miserable that you will appreciate the airlines treating you like cattle. While airport security has traditionaly been a joke, I'm not laughing anymore. We have went from laxity mixed intermittently with stupidity in our airport security, to a worse mix of incompetence and sadism. In the end I do not believe we are more secure in our air travel.
Why can we not take a page from Israel? They are the proven experts in Airport security, and they have found that abusing people makes their airline LESS secure. Forcing a woman to lift her dress publicly for inspection? Frisking women openly at the front of a line? Not even the Iraqis would do that. In their culture it would mean a riot. Are we now less cultured than they?
As for dishonest presentation of facts, well, the current system under which they work encourages/allows the police to report facts in whatever way best advances their goals. There has always been and will always be some confusion between "Public Servants" and "Public Masters".
I'm sorry for what you and your wife were put through.
<p>You're a talented writer with great descriptive powers and it's a shame that you and your wife fell into the "Keystone Cops 2002" episode that eventually unfolded. The indignities she was subjected to, including your jail time & etc., are simply inexcusable behavior.
<p>So, that said... just why DID you act like a jackass over a pair of nail scissors and a hat, in the first place? Certainly, you KNEW they were banned - everyone knows it. How much easier might your day have gone if, at the first mention of the scissors, you had said to the security person, "Jeez, I'm so stupid - I didn't realize the scissors were there. Just throw 'em away! Do you need to look at anything else? Oh, my hat, too? Sure." And smiled sweetly.
<p>But, no, there instead ensued a "scene" - precipitated & encouraged by your own rude behavior. Had you not over-reacted in the first place, none of this might have occurred. And for what? "To prove a point - blablabla...rights... yadayada!"
<p>I got a point for ya right here - ya can't scream & throw temper tantrums at will in a U.S. (or most any other) airport in the year of our lord 2002. Or hadn't you heard? It's been in all the papers... .
<p>Really, it has ... even in L.A. But ... oh, wait - you're in the film business. Well, lemme 'splain it to ya, Ricky:
<p>When one enters an airport today, one enters a Federal armed camp. You wanted safety? You got it -
just like any Federal Courthouse or major government building. Those folks with badges aren't $5/hr rent-a-cops, either - they're Federal officers. They aren't inclined to humor personal hissy fits - because we pay them not to. That's their job.
<p>If one asks you to do something then you do it. Period. Quietly, politely, quickly. Don't question it, within reason, as long as it doesn't threaten your personal safety. Just shut the f%#k up, and do it. No tantrums, huffiness, red faces, weeping wives or breach babies should have ever been involved.
<p>And they would not have been but for your rude & boorish behavior in the first place. Had you simply smiled and handed the baseball hat to the guard w/o comment when asked for it, none of this would have occurred. Being asked to remove shoes, open bags, remove outer wear etc. is commonly accepted practice today - and everyone who's flown in the last year or so knows it. Even you.
<p>For the simple and uncalled for act of being snotty to some poor underpaid schlub who asked you simply to remove your hat (once the mark of all gentlemen indooors) and open a bag - a common enough occurance - you brought this all down upon yourself and your poor wife. And probably everyone within considerable earshot.
<p>And all this when a few smiles, a friendly aquiessence, and a polite response or two would have seen you quietly and safely onboard the plane & happily in Oregon without any of the ensuing drama.
<p>Time to grow up, Nick. Leave the tantrums to the kid & start acting like a polite & civilized adult. At least in public.
<p>And to your poor suffering wife: Congratulations on the birth of your child! Now that you have two to contend with, your work load must be immense. <p>Motherhood of any stripe requires discipline and an iron will to shape the future. A mother is every child's first and most important teacher. First, a teacher must establish discipline - always.
<p> The sooner you establish it, the better for all parties concerned. SOMEBODY HAS TO BE IN CHARGE. That's you.
<p>And this extends to any child within your purview. That's a part of your common duty to every child - of whatever stripe. Instill responsible behavior in your children at whatever cost until just "the look" & a couple of polite words (one of them being "no") are required to ensure swift compliance to your wishes. Or you won't stand a chance.
<p>In my youth (1950s-'60s) a mother's word was rarely questioned. And that was a good thing. It meant that almost any adult female's instructions for the benefit of a child - any child - received quick attention by any of whom it was required. And particularly by the children. Instant, polite, & quiet behaviour by pretty much all partys. Or else.
And if 'all else' fails, a quick slap with a wet open hand won't leave marks on the skin - I learned that from a teacher! Used sparingly and in emergencies that ain't necessarily a bad thing for a misbehaved kid. Or, sometimes, for an adult.
<p>Sorry about the "c" section, but hey, it happens all the time. Don't sweat it. Nobodys fault. You and the baby appear to be thriving, so all's well that ends well. Things happen, we smile, life goes on, and we all learn to "just go along to get along". It's a great story for the 50th anniversary party, particularly as it was brought on by your husband's uncalled for, pigheaded and arrogant behaviour.
<p>When I was a kid, we always had wooden rulers with the "Golden Rule" inscribed - do unto others, etc. Damned good advice, that. Always.
<p>And Nick: Sorry it happened, buddy - but it was your fault and no one else's that it did. If you don't practice courtesy and good manners, where will your son acquire these? Learn to act like a gentleman and not a spoiled brat. We're at war.
Once again, congratulations, and many peaceful returns.
Happy holidays,
Mike Conner
THE DOC
Polce should be strictly controlled and surveyed and disciplined by civilians at any time People should have 'total information awareness' over police.
Police should be arrested in the same way humans are.
"Shouted"... whatever the right and wrongs of the situation, shouting at anyone with more immediate 'power' than you have is just plain stupid.
I'm getting a distinct feeling that a lot of your troubles were self induced by your own lack of control.
Your comment “this country has changed for the worse and will continue to change for the worse. There is now a division between the citizenry and the state. When that state is used as a tool against me, there is no longer any reason why I should owe any allegiance to that state.” shows your ignorance. Try living in the Middle East, or even Mexico for that matter. There they have very little freedom and rights.
I am glad to hear that your son is in excellent health. I wish the best for him.
Now, the author almost admits he went nutsy. So, his charges DO have merit. However, it would also seem that what drove him nutty was at least non-american, if not illegal. So, thats almost a vigilante' thang. You handeled it all wrong brother. Suck that part up already.
Just as the charges against him have merit, so do those against the "show me your panties in public" staff demands. Security is job 1, but, you have to do it in a way that does not MOLEST the pubic.
She was publically molested. That needs to go. Along with checking your words my friend.
I thank our islamic friends everytime it takes for fuckin ever to get through lga. get a belt with a plastic buckle, fly in tennis shoes, check all your shit and its a breeze..
Someone squeezing your wife's tit is worth my life..
Is this a mantra?
Tell me what you know about this because from what I’ve seen there isn’t ANY good evidence to support this claim. Do you have new information?
Or do you want to believe in the wacko theory that the current criminal enterprise in the White House wants us to believe? Magic paper and stories about goats. Get real or we will believe you are clueless and treat you as such.
(" I began to get pissed off, as most normal people would. My anger increased "
"After some more grumbling on my part they eventually finished with me " )
and ran into a situation that would not tolerate your emotionally charged behavior. You could have simply been a diversion to distract the screeners while some authentic breach of security was made. I commend those who quickly put an end to your tirade and let the other passengers continue on to board their planes. News flash- If you yell 'fire' in a theater, you'll go to jail...
Funny because I was reading an article the other day about how even a conservative in the Bush Admin was coming out against SUVs because of how dangerous they are and she was saying that this new mentality of "I protect me and mine at the expense of the lives of others," is really ugly.
While I appreciate that you're trying to make a point, saying phrases like the above one makes you sound like a mouthpiece for the CIA.
We're all human beings and need to spend more time trying to GOOD THINGS rather than letting the most moronic government in history scare you into hating and fearing the world.
I've heard tape of arabs on the air stating they have a bomb. Dumb fuckers didn't know they were broadcasting. You can say it was the mossad, cia, kgb, or fuckin space aliens. When the CVRs are released I'm sure they will have some babbling arab shitheads on them.
oh, if this is the same guy from the other post I'm still curious what branch and unit you were with.
As for the airport guy who gives a fuck, he should have showed up 2 hrs early. I fly all the time and have no pity for him. whiny bastard..
Ah...the joys of freedom. Oh what's that? You want me to spy on my neighbor? What? You're investigating my brother-in-law though his college records on "suspicions" of being connected to terrorists ? (Check it out on Cnn.com: The FBI is asking U.S. colleges and universities to provide personal information about foreign students and teachers so the government can determine whether they have ties to known or suspected members of terror groups, The Washington Post reported Wednesday.)
HEY WHILE YOU'RE AT IT WHY NOT JUST ARREST ME BECAUSE I LISTEN TO ANTI-AUTHORITY MUSIC AND HAVE A FREE MIND.
Yeah that's correct folks, our rights are being RAPED by the goverment. I'll admit it, I voted for Bush, thinking he was the lesser of two evils. What I didn't count on though was the fact that he would be a puppet for the shadow government that is slowly taking away our rights and our freedoms.
It's kind of like this: If you put a frog in boiling water he'll jump out. But, if you place the frog in calm, cool water, then slowly turn up the heat, the frog will sit patiently as he boils alive, without even knowing what's going on. That's exactly what has happened and is happening in America, RIGHT NOW.
For decades, the government has used psychological tactics to desensitize the American public. We no longer shudder when we read about murders in the paper or see them unfold in gory detail in movies. The youth of today see violence as a pixelated picture on TV. I should know, I'm right there with them. From playing games like Grand Theft Auto III I've realized I like running over cops when they chase me. Problem is, if I was to confuse that with real life I could kiss my ass goodbye.
I have high hopes for my future, and I hope against all hope that my children and my children's children don't have to grow up in a society of "zero tolerance" and abuse of power. But sadly, I do realize that this is only a dream, a slowly dying American dream.
Even though I'm only 20 I can remember how different things were when I was a kid. First they took away my Saturday morning cartoons....bastards..I'm still getting over that one. But then things started to change in school. No longer could I have a personal opinion about another person. It was "politically incorrect." I now have to accept everyone: drug addict, child molester, fat people, skinny people, short people, tall people, black/white/yellow/olive/green/purple/blue people....There is no individualism anymore. We are one big, happy, comatose nation that cries for "fries with that" and our commercial Christmases.
Don't get me wrong...I'm no anti-US terrorist intent on blowing up the nearest water plant. I'm just your average middle-class white guy that sees the inevitable peeking around the corner. (don't even get me started about being the average middle-class white guy.....we don't get shit)
I love America....but I hate what our government is doing to us. They're stealing our future...MY FUTURE! And even if there was a way I could stop it, I'd be dead before I even started.
The ball has started rolling and no one knows where it will end. We'll have a one-world-government someday, possibly soon, possibly not.
Welcome to the New World Order.....dont forget to tip your waitress.
I've heard tape of arabs on the air stating they have a bomb. Dumb fuckers didn't know they were broadcasting. You can say it was the mossad, cia, kgb, or fuckin space aliens. When the CVRs are released I'm sure they will have some babbling arab shitheads on them.
oh, if this is the same guy from the other post I'm still curious what branch and unit you were with.
As for the airport guy who gives a fuck, he should have showed up 2 hrs early. I fly all the time and have no pity for him. whiny bastard..
I don't give a fuck about what you or your collective we think of my opinion.
I've heard tape of arabs on the air stating they have a bomb. Dumb fuckers didn't know they were broadcasting. You can say it was the mossad, cia, kgb, or fuckin space aliens. When the CVRs are released I'm sure they will have some babbling arab shitheads on them.
oh, if this is the same guy from the other post I'm still curious what branch and unit you were with.
As for the airport guy who gives a fuck, he should have showed up 2 hrs early. I fly all the time and have no pity for him. whiny bastard..
In reading it, I found an interesting set of both similarities and differences. In reference to September 11th and the things that the "patriot" act has done, I found the chapter named "The Reichstag Burns - February 27, 1933" of particular interest.
Because of everything that is happening with our government, I have been doing a lot of reading and thinking lately. A lot of learning about world history, world current events, and government that I have not really been exposed to before. I am coming to believe that America is, honestly and truly, in deep shit. I think that it is worse than most people realize, and there are a lot of things that contribute to that. Among the bad things are:
* most Americans happily and entirely get their news from American news sources, and American news appears, to me, to be biased (Don't ask me how or by whom, this is just my opinion from having read news from a variety of sources). Even good people cannot make good decisions when given distorted information.
* American culture minimizes the importance of the knowledge of world history, both in our educational system and society itself. We are led to believe that this country is named America and is therefore special; the bad things that happened in Europe cannot possibly happen to us because we are a 'Free Country' and we elect our leaders -- so, who cares about world history? I have only recently come to understand how extremely dangerous this is. As just one example, Germany was democratic at the point where they *elected* the Nazi Party into power.
* American culture propogates the concept of 'conspiracy theories' being laughable ideas that come forth out of laughable people. This is so dangerous as to be sickening. In reality, it is our responsibility to be constantly suspicious of people and organizations within our government who may be doing things for their own agendas and not what would be in the American people's interest. We have been taught not to give a shit and to read about 'conspiracy theories' as humor. This is a formula for disaster. Lets not forget that this government is in control of ICBMs, every weapon of 'mass destruction' you can imagine, and possibly the worlds most powerful singular military force. The danger of the American people not actually being in control of this awesome power, the power being directed and controlled through a misinformation campaign, should be something we are all looking out for, but instead, it is a laughable 'conspiracy theory'.
* We are taught, both through the laws that have been cropping up since about 1920 and the popular culture, that 'the authorities' are there to make the rules and be obeyed, not to be questioned. We can't change anything, we're just Joe Blow. Most people don't understand the totalitarian nature of many of the things that have already been incorporated into our society. Imagine if in the 1860's there had been laws against riding or driving horses anywhere, unless you obtained government permission and registered your name, address, and a universal identifying number with a huge government database. I can guarantee you that that shit would not have flown, and it should not now... but it is here. There are so many things in our lives that are similar, I could go on for a long time with examples.
People who feel as I do can pretty much expect to be laughed at and ridiculed by the majority of americans, primarily because of the culture problems that encourage it. I'm being paranoid and creating conspiracy theories, right? ha ha ha, yer dum, move to cuba if you don't like it here, blah blah. Ignorance compounded with insolence. It's best to ignore the people who come off like that, as they do not add knowledge or insight with their blind insults.
This airport story is just sickening. It is similar to what has been happening to many low class (especially blacks) and young people for at least 10 years now, frequently under the guise of the 'war on drugs' (those of you who think the 'war on drugs' was real should read '1984' by George Orwell - - http://www.online-literature.com/orwell/1984/ , the chapter index is on the left). The bullshit 'war on drugs' essentially legalized the raiding of the poor people's houses, and encouraged a host of other abuses and bred a number of dangerous cultural expectations regarding who makes the laws and who has no say.
The lying by certain kinds of police about situations and subsequent support of the liars by their departments is not new. The biggest difference between what was done to Nicholas Monahan and his wife, and what is done to the the poor people, is that the name of the 'war' is different. The biggest similarity is that some outside force has stolen the civil rights of both classes of people.
Big question here. What the fuck to do? I think it is a little more like The Matrix than people would care to acknowledge. I can only see two things to do. Thing #1 has two steps - - Step one being getting people to WAKE THE FUCK UP, and step two being people electing in a government that actually represents our interests. Whether or not such a government can exist within the existing framework of the Democratic or Republican parties would make an interesting discussion. Thing #2 would be what to do if Thing #1 fails. Get out, while you still can. I wouldnt recommend Cuba, but there are many other choices for those who will put a little bit of time into researching the rest of the world. This America is definately not the America that my grandparents moved to; in fact, it is a lot like the countries that they left.
Please, be patient. Only hit <publish> once.
Try writing to snopes and asking why they selectively edited and screened the pentagon witness reports..
..see how they respond!
quote:
===================
Acting hostile with airport security, yelling at them, and ignoring instructions to calm down are actions guaranteed to get one taken into custody, NO MATTER WHAT THE CIRCUMSTANCES, as a matter of standard procedure. AND WE'RE SUPPOSED TO BE SHOCKED AND OUTRAGED that this man got arrested? WE SUSPECT there's a lot more to this story than we're hearing, especially the part about bearing responsibility for one's own actions.
===========================
See-it was there own fault!
Nothing to see here folks
--trust us--we're the authority on Urban Legends!
move along.....
Drug laws are a waste of time and money. Just like prohabition. Police still have to have a warrant, even for poor people's homes. However stupid they are no one forces people to buy/sell/posess drugs, take a risk you may get burned.
I should be able to go in the ABC store and buy whatever chemical I wan't for my own personal consumption. If I kill myself it will be my own fault. Kinda line riding a motorcycle, personal risk.
quote:
===============
He should have shut the fuck up
===============
Let's keep reflecting our resident nazi's fascist policies back at him.
Shut the fuck up, radian, you hate-filled naziboy.
If you raise hell at an airport in the US you will have a unpleasant response. The guy is a bitching moron. I've been through dozens of airports with and without my wife since 9/11, never happened to me. Of course i never flipped out when people dumped my bags, searched under my hat, etc.
If you raise hell at an airport in singapore you will have your skull cracked with a rifle butt and wake up in your own piss and in cuffs. To bad he was in the US or he may have learned som manners.
I'm an abortionist, zionist, communist, sado-masochist for the record, bitch..
"The guy is a bitching fucking moron! I've been herded through dozens of airports like an obedient sheep - with and without my wife since 9/11, never happened to me. Of course i never flipped out when people dumped my bags, searched under my hat, fondled my wife's breast, stuck a jackhammer up my arse, etc, etc..
..you just have to do what authority figures tell you to do.
That's what fascism is for!"
Turn on your speakers, press play, and have an eagle, naziboy.
And as I already told you-- shut the fuck up!
The point it tries to make is still bullshit.
If you don't want to be searched drive.
Rather than posting cute pictures maybe you have a better idea of how to avoid this terrible system. You can fly on the company jet i guess. I've flown all over and it was like this during the gulf war, in england during the IRA days, etc. It was just a matter of time before it came here.
Being herded with the evil proleteriat masses through security still beats hanging from a tree missing limbs.
got a point or just feel like fuckin with me?
hempstead
hempfield
canvas (cannabis)
bang.la.desh (marijuana land people)
The law has a way of fucking you when you don't expect it. Get hurt at work, first thing the hospital does is check for drugs. Test positive your fucked. Did you read what I posted or just decide to put some stupid shit up that has nothing to do with what is being discussed.
Unless you consider yourself to be **special**?
A little 'uber' perhaps?
Are you an ubermensh?
Have you taken your medication today?
Did you *listen* to the eagles of deity? (it's not just a pretty picture)
Don't answer-- I have zero interst in your response--just shut the fuck up.
Goat.
<p>Neither has the official September 11 narrative--quite the opposite in fact----<br>
********************<br>
<object classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,29,0" width="200" height="228">
<param name="movie" value="http://dc.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/emergencyresponse.swf"> <param name="quality" value="high">
<embed src="http://dc.indymedia.org/local/webcast/uploads/emergencyresponse.swf" quality="high" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/go/getflashplayer" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" width="200" height="228"></embed></object>
<br>
--Naziboy Bush, September 11, 2001 (press for audio)<br>
********************</p>
<p>--but you seem more interested in promoting and defending fascism.....so shut the fuck up.</p>
"This story has never been verified as true"
Neither has the official September 11 narrative--quite the opposite in fact----
********************
--Naziboy Bush, September 11, 2001 (press for audio)
********************
--but you seem more interested in promoting and defending fascism.....so shut the fuck up.
I'm sure the mossad recruited some islamists and encouraged them to do it.
Maybe the cia or chevron did it..
But it will make Bush richer and oppress the average american.
All that so we can take the oil from the arabs. Amazing plan. I hope the cia doesn't come by house to kill me for posting this. You didn't hear this from me.
Evolutionary psychology and the cognitive science of **intentional systems** are my specialty....
Psychoanalysis is just folksy and meaningless psychobabble.
PS: shut the fuck up.
thanks!
An edumacated ad hominem arguement. No logic for you guys? ha.
Do you have to get a different degree for unintentional systems?
We'll see if simply adding an end-italic tag will do the trick
xyz
test
No -the hostile ad hominem nazi abuse came from YOU, radian!!
Yes, YOU!
I'm just here to throw it back in your face until you shut the fuck up!
Not every keystroke is intentional--any more so than the habit if indicating to turn while driving is--but every typed word and every composed sentence that is *written* IS intentional..
....just like the destruction of critical infrastructure and sanctions designed to MURDER hundreds upon hunders of thousands of Iraqi civilians over the last decade was INTENTIONAL
(Nazi intentions are like that)
Push the history buttons--and shut the fuck up, naziboy.
Regular type face will do fine. It may not have the striking impact of slanty letters but does convey the point.
Feeding people doesn't have the same effect as letting them starve. Guess he should have followed the rules he agreed to after getting his ass kicked out of kuwait. He was so nice to starve them rather than use mustard gas this time.
How does your intentional systems correlate with complex logic systems and divergent systems, choas. What about something produced by groups of people? I see more than the sum of parts but that seems kind of narrow in application.
No Sadaam didn't starve ANYONE, naziboy.
Our nazi governments did --but demostrating this FACT to nazis supporters like you won't make a difference, will it?
==========================================
1. Selected indicators before the sanctions
Selected indicators for Iraq in 1988-1989, before the Gulf Crisis of 1990 reveal a country that enjoyed a fairly good standard of living.
The data in Table 1 reflect a modern urban society, in which the wealth it obtained from exporting its oil, was channelled, for the most part, into improving the quality of life of the Iraqi people, which at that period of time (1988-1989) was at a relatively "satisfactory" level, with indications of further improvement. At that time, Iraq reportedly had a good health surveillance and reporting system, hence, official data reported during this period are considered to be fairly reliable.
However, since 1991 the quality of data collected have greatly deteriorated owing to disruption in the communication and transportation networks in the country, which even now have not been fully restored to their original state, because of financial constraints. The data collected since 1991, through presumably this defective or damaged system, in all probability, are underestimates, and this specifically applies to mortality and morbidity data.
The gradual erosion in the credibility of the public health care system for its inability to provide medicines and other vital supplies to the general public, forcing them to go to the private sector for better health care, is another reason why morbidity and mortality data have become unreliable. Moreover, the private sector, in most cases, does not report morbidity data to the official reporting system.
Table 1. Selected indicators in Iraq before sanctions, 1988-1989
**********************************
Health indicators:
**********************************
- Birth rate 43 per l 000 population
- Crude death rate 8.0 per l 000 population
- Infant mortality rate 52 per l 000 live births
- Under 5 mortality rate 94 per l 000 live births
- Maternal mortality rate l60 per l00 000 live births
- Low birth weight 5% (below 2.5 kg)
- Life expectancy 66 years
**********************************
Socioeconomic indicators:
**********************************
- GNP per capita (US$) US$ 2 800
- % female literacy 85%
- % population with health care 93%
- % population with safe water 90%
- % pregnant women with maternity care 78%
- % pregnant women with trained
birth attendant during delivery 86%
**********************************
2. Impact on the gross national product
The per capita gross national product (GNP) is an indication of the economic status of a country. In 1989, before the 1991 Gulf war, Iraq had a GNP of about US$ 2 800. The effect of the six-week 1991 Gulf war and conditions surrounding the sanctions that were imposed on the country in 1990, is reflected by the GNP rapidly declining from US$ 2 800 in 1989 to US$ l 500 in l99l. More recent official figures are not available. The situation has deteriorated during the past four years, as reflected by the exchange rate of U.S. dollar to the Iraqi dinar, which in December l995 was US$ 1 = 3 000 Iraqi dinars. The monthly salary of a mid-level civil servant during this same period was 5 000 Iraqi dinars (FAO, 1995).
3. Impact on the food situation
In the pre-war years in Iraq, local food production was supplying only 30% of the country's food requirements. The total value of Iraqi food imports in l989 exceeded US$ 2 000 million (FAO, l 994). Calorie availability was l20% OF ACTUAL REQUIREMENTS, NUTRITIONAL DEFICIENCIES WERE AT VERY LOW LEVELS, while clinical disorders due to EXCESSIVE and unbalanced consumption of foods were increasingly encountered. Table 2 reflects estimated food production, requirements and shortfalls in 1995.
In pre-war years, food marketing was strictly controlled by the Government and prices of most food items were largely subsidized. Private trade on the free market was mostly for red meat, fresh milk and cheese, vegetables and fruits. EVERY CITIZEN WAS ASSURED AN ADEQUATE SUPPLY OF FOOD AT AFFORDABLE PRICES. The results of a l988 survey of a sample of l l00 primary school children in two selected areas of Baghdad, conducted by Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in collaboration with the Nutrition Research Institute of Iraq, revealed that under nutrition was no longer a public health problem in Iraq at that time, and that at least 7% of children had childhood OBESITY.
Table 2. Shortage of food in Iraq, 1995/1996 (000 tons)
*******************************************************
Commodity - % shortage of total requirements
Cereals - 61.1%
Pulses - 57.7%
Vegetable oil - 66.4%
Red/Poultry meat - 74.9%
Fish - 91.9%
Eggs - 92.4%
Milk - 59.9%
Tea - 100.0%
Sugar - 90.0%
Baby milk - 100.00 % <<<<<
=========================
according to the WORLD HEALTH ORGANISATION
http://www.who.int/disasters/repo/5249.html
We killed them.
Shut the fuck up, radian.
You lost control of yourself after the situation was already over. I am amazed at how stupid people are. We know what happens now when we do ANYTHING at an airport, yet people continue to have words with cops and baggage screeners, continue to make jokes about bombs, continue to try to sneak past security. Suck up and deal with it.
Of course it's not fair, of course their behaviour is probably illegal. And if pointing that out at the time or reacting as you did is worth missing a flight, or worse as you experienced, just continue.
Why are you writing this article? Shouldn't you be taking care of your wife? Also, how do we know this really happened?
Keep you propoganda. People have been suffering for melenia. Have you seen the pictures of the mustard gas kills.
Saddam gasses kurds, and is presently starving his own people. Food flows in but doesn't seem to get to the people. That wouldn't make good press. Blame the zionist nazi oppressors who want to steal our oil.
Why make it more complicated. Saddam invades kuwait, gets tens of thousands of people killed, wasting my tax money, gives up after getting his ass kicked, signs agreement, breaks agreement, people suffer, saddam builds nice homes and goes on a pity hunt.
"Have you seen the pictures of the mustard gas kills."
Have you shut the fuck up yet, naziboy?
Consider that an order - not a question.
Second of all, I would like to let you that air travel is not safe. It never has been and never will be. That is the unvarnished truth.
I don't know what plane of existence you live on, but in reality, there are laws and policies in place to protect the populous as a whole. Further more, anyone who travels aboard an aircraft these days, or ever, ESPECIALLY WITH A PREGNANT WIFE should be EXTREMELY grateful to get from point A to point B in one piece.
As for your wifes hurt feelings about having her breasts SUPPOSEDLY touched, I'm sure you would prefer having whoever is picking through the wreckage of your aircraft touch whatever remains of your wifes remains.
BOTTOM LINE? GROW UP!!!!!!
This is america, we enjoy way too many freedoms as it is, and I'm sure your type doesn't even know them all. You just think you do.
Lance hasn't figured out the basics of when he's getting sold a bridge yet.
Thats a nice pic psych boy. Circa 78 -84 what's your point?
Radian has spoken. Guess we all better not read it or something.
Sounds to me that if you believe all this LAND OF THE FREE stuff, you got a great deal on the bridge.
People that whine non-stop about their liberties, and how their rights are being trampled on make me ill.
Stop being a bunch of pussies and take a bite of the shit sandwich we were served on 9-11.
Then go be ill somewhere else. We don't ned to spend out time cleaning up your messes.
scroll up and read. more than one person flagged it as urban legend. The fact that it doesn't say reuters, ap, or the like makes it unverified.
If it isn't bullshit the guy could have gotten tape from tsa, however since it smells like bullshit "he" won't do a thing ecepth get your knees to jerk.
I'm Adam and I know what's right for everyone else in the world! If anyone complains they go to jail! And they deserve to go to jail! I think any complainers ought to be flown directly out of fascism central and into the land beyond! And then hang them for anti-partiotic complaining! It isn't right, it just isn't. If I don't complain, why should anyone else get to? Wahhhh
After requesting a hand search for several very expensive camera and film equipment cases two hours in advance of my flights departure, I was made to wait for 1 hour and 45 minutes as they did nothing, then 15 minutes before the flight was to depart, the untrained, rude, 19 year old "security expert", tried to dissassemble a $20,000 camera, I protested that she was doing her best to break it and that I woulod be happy to take it apart for her, at that point I was taken to a separate room, asked to strip to my underwear while I answered questions about who I was, why I had 5 cameras, a compass, a gps and a directors loop.
( As a film director and photographer, I find these things useful ) I explained that I was leaving a scouting trip to KY and was going home ( getting there was not a problem). After making my entire plane wait for me, I was told that I could leave, so much for being honest, asking for a hand search two hours in advance and offering " highly trained experts" assistance on equipment they have never touched before.
We should be afraid, idiots are in charge.
Even if it is fiction, which I seriously doubt, it illustrates how broadly destructive abuses of power are. The types of experiences where you feel so outraged, yet so powerless.
That's what this spoiled country is allowing. The types of terror and repression we've supported overseas, "out of sight, out of mind", are coming "home" to the (nazi term) "homeland".
Thank you to the writer for capturing so diligently what happens to so many who have no voice. No not the exact experience, but the effect of abuse of power. Such a "minor incident" creating so much harm.
People are having their lives destroyed in this country. The skyrocketing prison population, filled with new slaves inducted for newly created victimless crimes, proves that to anyone remotely aware in life.
guess you better get back in the time machine then - I don't think you'll do too well in today's world.
Not my hero - I was hoping someone would have taken him out by now, but I've heard that the psychics say it won't be until '03. Only a few more days to go, anyways.
Still, I'd be glad for it to not be America - shove the idiot flags into the exhaust pipes of the SUVs. America out of America.
I would hazard a guess that those of you doing the majority of the complaining have nothing better to do with your time.
I am a police officer in a midsized pacific city, and having been through the trying WTO riots, Mardi Gras, and other such incidents, I can honestly say that stupidiy is running rampant in this country.
If your wife was assaulted then by all means lodge a complaint. To verbally assault the screener that you feel did that to your wife, well then, your not helping the situation. You inflame the situation with open hostility. Someone's brilliant suggestion that they would be in jail because they punched or kicked some teeth out is just plain ludicrous. That would not only leave you in jail for commiting an assault on a federal employee, but probably without a job, a fresh entry on your criminal record, and most certainly not on the aircraft on your way to your destination.
Sir, I would tell you from experience that as a police officer I would be more willing to listen to you and render an impartial decision if you are not yelling or resisting.
As for those of you who feel your precious rights are being trampled upon, and that you are living under a big brother type of rule. HELLOOOO!!!!! What took you so long to figure that out.
Despite lawyers, and bleeding heart liberals crying out about trees with more rights than victims, this is AMERICA! We are one of the few countries where we CAN complain about these types of things, without retribution, except being called an idiot for travelling with a wife that far along. You should have been comforting her, instead of pouring gas on the fire.
Wake up citizens of america, and grow up. Conduct yourselves in public in an adult fashion and just maybe you will not have to endure so many problems.
So let's knock out the teeth of anyone who disagrees with our flag and our WAY! Civil liberties left a century ago and don't waste our time talking about them!
Bleeding heart liberals need to find their own country! They aren't needed here!
If we have to blow up *every* country on this planet, we'll do it! We'll burn it to a crisp before we'll put up with complainers and non-patriots! We'll even blow ourselves up. whether we mean to or not!
We're AMERICA!
Perhaps the story isn't true:
Urban Legend
Perhaps the author lacks some awareness:
Unskilled and Unaware
Maybe the story has some merit, in that personnel cross into illegal territory (dated link, but it should give any reasonable person a starting point--searches by federal officials are regulated by law in the United States):
Reasonable Search Standard
Perhaps the story isn't true:
Urban Legend
Perhaps the author lacks some awareness:
Unskilled and Unaware
Maybe the story has some merit, in that personnel cross into illegal territory (dated link, but it should give any reasonable person a starting point--searches by federal officials are regulated by law in the United States):
Reasonable Search Standard
Perhaps the story isn't true:
Urban Legend
Perhaps the author lacks some awareness:
Unskilled and Unaware
Maybe the story has some merit, in that personnel cross into illegal territory (dated link, but it should give any reasonable person a starting point--searches by federal officials are regulated by law in the United States):
Reasonable Search Standard
Perhaps the story isn't true:
Urban Legend
Perhaps the author lacks some awareness:
Unskilled and Unaware
Maybe the story has some merit, in that personnel cross into illegal territory (dated link, but it should give any reasonable person a starting point--searches by federal officials are regulated by law in the United States):
Reasonable Search Standard
Perhaps the story isn't true:
Urban Legend
Perhaps the author lacks some awareness:
Unskilled and Unaware
Maybe the story has some merit, in that personnel cross into illegal territory (dated link, but it should give any reasonable person a starting point--searches by federal officials are regulated by law in the United States):
Reasonable Search Standard
I am greatful for everyone in the military (and their families) that go to war and protects us. Don't let their lives be in vain. The minute we don't question our government and depand the answers to our question we are nolonger a great country.
Since you've been in the military you'll approve of these stoies:
http://www.indybay.org/news/2002/12/1554653.php
"Terroris is caused primarily by a few persons of Middle Eastern origin, "
Look, people that commit suicide by flying into buildings for no reason (except for being from the Middle East) are defined as psychopaths. These people - as we can clearly see from the outcome - were not psychopathic, but had a message and intent as indicated by bin Laden - US out of the middle east, out of Palestine, out of Saudi Arabia. Now what part of that request do you not understand? They' were willing to die for their goals, not unlike many many other people in this world, even you if you served.
"so polarized between extreme conservatives and equally radical liberals there appears to be no room for reason"
Uh . . . Jess, the pResident is the one declaring war all over the place and threatening nuke first strikes, not the left. The pResident and AssKkroft are the ones taking civil liberties away, not the left. If you're okay with nukes and the loss of our freedoms, you really shouldn't be talking about both sides being too extreme - since you're a part of one of them.
Lastly, are you sorry you voted for a Moron?
We have all heard the rumors and while some are over exagerated, some are right on. For example, certain people, who lack any type of law enforcement training such as truck drivers and people who work at news stands, have been asked to report suspicious activity to the police or FBI. This seems like a good idea but think about the mix of people we have in this country and how little it would take to make the more uppity ones think you are a terrorist. For example, the christian right believes that Satan is alive and well in Hollywood. Do I want these people watching me as I walk out of a library carrying a copy of the Quoran that I have checked out to broaden my awareness?
Let's put this into perspective. How many of you remember the "red threat"...you know when communism was alive and well in the Soviet Union and we heard the horrifying stories about people that disappeared because their neighbors called the KGB after overhearing comments on government criticism.
How far are we from that.
I don't want to censor my speech, ever. In an airport, in the nation's capitol, in my neigborhood deli, or in my home I want to be free to say what is on my mind no matter what it is. If it means that our airways are less safe then so be it. I would rather fall from the sky in flame then live my life fearing my government.
You've come to right place. But you can lessen the chances of that happening by voting, marching, writing emails and letters, making phone calls to your congressperson, etc.
Visiting Polish priest is charged with sexual assault of girl
By MASHA HERBST
Associated Press
NEW BRITAIN, Conn. -- A Roman Catholic priest visiting from Poland was arraigned Thursday on charges that he sexually assaulted a teenage girl while counseling her about a previous sexual assault.
The Rev. Roman Kramek, 40, who had been serving at Sacred Heart Church, is accused of having sex with the 17-year-old on Dec. 18, prosecutors said.
Kramek confessed to the crime in a sworn statement to authorities, prosecutors said.
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/nation/1716421
I wish you had gone more in to detail about what you did to get that kind of treatment. I'm quite sure there was a bit more to it that what you have indicated.
There are two sides to every story, and I seriously doubt your story is complete.
I work for the Port of Seattle Police, and from what I have heard of your incident, you cried like a bitch when they took you to jail. Once your wife was out of site.
Your kind makes me wish for the times when your type was stoned to death.
Not another Bushmoronloving pig from the time machine again!
Quick, shut the door and arrest him! He'll be someone's bitch in no time.
For your sake, I'm glad those rights are there, otherwise I would so enjoy picking your teeth out of my knuckles.
Ahh, another patriot. These are the types that seem to have PATRIOTISM confused with VIOLENT THREATS and FIRST STRIKE AGGRESSION. They think that now that flags are flying they can attack anyone they please.
Coppie here would go to jail if he touched me. Guess that's what he wants - more jail time so he can take it in . . . . and naturally he thinks he's above the law, like all good patrtiots - the law only applies to who they THINK it should apply to, not the real law. That's for other people who don't know about smashing things with their bare knuckles, and how that's the Patriotic Law.
Hey, let's all revert to cave-dwelling laws! Coppies will love that! Just club anyone you don't like! It's easy! Plus, it's not confusing for the Patriots!
THIS IS OUR AMERICA
It's the freedom to like and dislike those around me. SIMPLE AS THAT!
I have never met you, but I know that I would not like you, and your stupidity that you wrap yourself in.
It's funny, you don't like 'COPPIES', yet you would expect a 'COPPIE' to throw me in jail for cracking your head. You are certainly a very complex individual arent you? I bet you have no job, or are collecting unemployment because you lack the personal skills to compete in the job market. You probably enjoy jerking off while looking at pics of naked children, and are completely inacapable of a real relationship with a woman, or man.
What is it that makes you dislike police? Tried to be one and got turned down?
You only see what you want to. Police do many things, other than arrest pedophiles, and uncooperative men from airports. We help citizens during the course of their daily lives, from finding lost children, to taking mundane reports about someones angry ex making their lives miserable, to just being their to show the citizenry that they are being taken care of, and that the laws are being upheld.
As for me cracking your skull, thats just personal because I dislike you. It has nothing to do with being a 'COPPIE'.
- - - Charlie King
Americans always try to do the right thing -- after they've tried everything else.
- - - Winston Churchill
Thanks be to luck and my parents that I have the good fortune to live in Canada. They were considering California.
- - - Max Vincent
Come and do my job for a night! I can tell you it not all the fun it looks to be.
What we have here is a breakdown of the system. Airport screeners are charged with the task of searching bags, and people for items that are deemed a risk to passengers and crew. You may not like standing in lines and being searched, but do you prefer the alternative?
Incognito, what do you do for a living? Does it make everyone that you come into contact with happy.
If everyone would just stop whining about how the system works and just do their best to stop holding things up, things will run smoother. My god their are over a hundred million people in this country, all with different views, wants, and desires. try pleasing them all. I think things work fairly well, considering the people that this government serves. Everyone wants protection from robbers, rapists, fraud, and everything else, but no one wants to ante up and pay for the protection. Everyone wants laws that safegaurd their families, yet everyone thinks those laws are meaningless when they apply to them. Everyone wants prisons to house dangerous criminals, but no one wants them in their backyards, and no one wants to pay for them.
The system is NOT perfect, but it is all we have for now, unless.........Incognito, YOU want to take the helm? I'm sure you would do an amazing job! Just who would you like GOD to damn to hell? Me? Or all police? I don't think God does requests, cause if he did you wouldn't be here on this planet.
you mean . . . the moron government?
It would be too difficult for you to actually contribute to society something positive, rather than your undeucated, anarchist rhetoric.
America does not need turncoats and traitors on the inside-eh! If historical records are correct, that is how the USA was formed, by traitors and turncoats, what a dumbass fuck you are,
From your best friends-the English
To go with this story my cousin had been drinking heavily one night and he passed out behind the wheel of his truck, the funny thing was he woke up in jail and was there for a week. But heres the kicker, when the police officers arested him, he was charged with a DUI, but what makes this funny is the fact that he was passed out in the parking lot with the keys to his vihicle in his POCKET.
This country is becoming more and more a totalitarium ragime. Americans are blind to this fact not because they simply dont see the facts in front of them but because they CHOOSE not to do anything about it, and this is just how it is. Sad isnt it.
I am only 21, and I can remember when my Saturday morning cartoons where taken away from me, and like Young American I'm really pissed off about that so now I watch Adult Swim.
But I can sit down and thing of all the laws that where passed to help americans, but all they do is hurt us as a whole. I have a 6month old daughter, who I would protect from anything and anyone. My wife is oblivious to the outside world but means well, her to I would protect with the same tanasisty.
One can look at "OUR" government and see that they do not have the control that we as a voting public have supposidly endowed them with. Instead what we have done and have done for the past 100 years is consistantly vote in squabiling, inept polititions that are not there for the benefit of their constituants, but for their own personal gain.
Youve all seent that Eddie Murphy movie A Distinguished Gentleman, when at the end of a movie he makes that speech about what is going on. Its the same thing in reality, but the only differance is we lock up the dirty criminal and elect clean ones to power.
But while there in office squabiling about how there going to get a peace of the "Pie," someone else is running the "Big Show," but who is it. It could very well be that "Shadow Government" that Young was talking about, it could also be one of those "SECRET SOCIETIES" that you never hear about, does it all really seem that far fetched?
But BahdKo is right if you feel you need to get out, then do it while you can. Thats my plan, because I really want my daughter to grow up as free as can be and that simply cannot be done here in the "United in Fucking Joe Blow States of Amerika."
thanks!
Keep an eye on the government, because it has an eye on you!
It is a civil rights issue, Radian.
Especially when it concerns your rights as a civilian.
No, he shouldn't have shouted at the guard. Shouting at authority figureheads will only give them an excuse to single you out.
He should have just calmly asked for a pen and recorded the TSA screener's name and ID number. Afterwards, he should have proceeded with his flight and filed charges with the TSA.
His mistake was simple. He chose to act like a rebel though he was not prepared to be one.
If you aren't willing to accept the consequences of fighting the system from the outside, you must learn to fight it from within.
Mr. Monahan was basically treated like most people of color have been treated for years and he couldn't handle it. Not that I blame him...wrong is wrong. He's just lucky that he didn't get his head bashed in. Fortunately, the airport security systems are still under nationwide scrutiny and such things aren't likely to happen...just yet.
And as for poor little Radian?
Well all I can do is to badly paraphrase a quote from a Holocaust survivor:
"...and when they finally came for me, nobody could speak up for me, because there was nobody left...."
And from a song by the group Pop Will Eat Itself:
"...And when they come to ethinically cleanse me, will you stand up, will you defend me?"
And they will come for you, Radian...because you aren't one of them either. In one way or another, you will fall short of whatever imagined mark that they will draw on the door as you walk through and then you will be sent to the "other room" and "dealt with."
And the worse part of it all...there is nowhere left to run to. America was supposed to be the last bastion of freedom and decency, but even it was built on a lie...built on the backs of African slaves...and to this day, they refuse to truly admit their wrongdoing.
No, these are the endtimes, and the best thing that you can do is to learn how to survive and garner some economic security for yourself...the future will be built on guns and money...just as the past was.
Solodan Khan,
Arch Precentor Chicago Prefecture
Vivat Grendel
There is no civil right that says you can act like a fuckhead at an airport. It is common sense. You can argue you have a civil right to point a plastic gun at a police officer, but for the "collective" good, common sense dictates you can't.
If this person even existed, they were a moron.
If you'd like a little scary reading material, look up "Skull and Bones Group" on a search engine. You will get excerpts from books and academic websites, describing an international terrorist organization, that also happens to be a secret college fraternity at Yale, where the Bushes went. Both of them are confirmed members. They have been around for a very, very long time. Think about them when you think about the farce that was our last election.
One last thing. When I paraphrased thaet section of the constitution, it wasn't for the purpose of suggesting revolution. It was a rebuttal to that idiot's "America: Love it or Leave it" propaganda. When the American Constitution justifies the right to complain about such atrocities as the ones being committed in the wake of 9?11 ( and definately before 9/11), America: Lover it or Leave it sounds positively un-American. So read more carefully next time.
Good Grief! There is no way to prevent a determined terrorist. Now that its more difficult to smuggle metal knives etc on board an airplane, they will most likely resort to fashioning weapons of death and distruction from some other material and find someway of concealing it.
What happened here was a gross abuse of power and it was completely uncalled for.
You are a stupid, insipid, pathetic reprobate. Also you are a sheep and probably have never had an original thought cross that itsy bitsy teeny tiny itty bitty sized ( have you had a lobotomy recently?) brain of yours.
It's people like you that are destroying everything our forefathers stood for. I for one am proud to be an American. But, if this keeps up, I think life under the Ayatollah would be so much more pleasant.
Cameras everywhere, police who answer to no one, Sounds rather Orwellian.