Due to the latest government warnings and intellligence airport security is begin tightened -- a factor The (bleery eyed) Moderate Voice will personally experience tomorow morning when he hops on a jet (he never got over doing those Kangaroo imitations as a kid) to wing his way from San Diego towards the East Coast.
According to the AP:
- The federal official in charge of the nation's airports said Friday security has been "stepped up a notch" in the face of renewed terror warnings this holiday weekend and said authorities are asking the public to be vigilant.
"If they see anything unusual, report it - an unattended package, something that just doesn't look right, even odd behavior in the terminal or on the aircraft," FAA Administrator Marion Blakey said on NBC's "Today" show.
She said photographs of seven suspected terrorists released Wednesday by the FBI "are everywhere" and that screeners have been redeployed to some of the busiest airports in anticipation of heavy Memorial Day holiday travel.
Our rule of thumb that we've shared with fellow travelers: leave plenty of time for check in. We've seen people miss flights who thought it was no big deal to show up an hour before their departure. Airline officials are very unsympathetic to those passengers' complaints and yelling since so much is at stake. We will arrive to 2 1/2 hours early for our flight.
UPDATE: The Homeland Security Department reportedly was surprised by Wednesday's announcement by Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert Mueller that a terrorist attack was increasingly likely in the coming months.
This will be read at least two ways: (1)Poor interagency communication, the exact thing the Homeland Security Department was established to eliminate, (2)Proof (government critics will say) that threats are being hyped for political purposes. Choose your theory according to your world belief...
UPDATE II: Real headline in the Denver Post:"2 suspected al-Qaeda agents dropped in for meal, says Denny's manager in Avon." The Moderate Voice's sources tell him that the two were turned away with a derisive, "Sorry. We don't serve merciless terrorists in here." They threatened to sue the company and Denny's settled...
UPDATE III: Another theory is they ran out of Sarin so they were trying to buy up huge quantities of Denny's Grand Slam breakfasts...
The tightened security would make me feel a lot better if the White House hadn't fought tooth and nail to prevent the federal gov't from taking over airport screening, so that airlines could continue to use overworked, minimum-wage employees. It was part of the giant corporate welfare package for the airline industry rammed through Congress in Nov/Dec 2001.
I also don't think you have to choose between "poor interagency communication" and "hyped for political purposes." They are not mutual exclusives, Joe. Why can't they BOTH be true?
Don, don't be such a socialist goober. The White House knew that if the Feds got stuck with screening, then the result would be overworked, minimum-wage losers who can't be fired. After all, they're civil service now. Crikey!
The TSA is one more nail in Liberty's coffin.
Casey, can we agree that overworked, minimum wage losers are NOT the best choice for airport screeners?
If so, how would you propose in improve the situation and attract better people?
Unregulated capitalism isn't the answer, since the profit motive dictates that the airlines will always do this in the cheapest possible way.
Of course, once somebody starts calling me socialist goober I can assume they've turned their brains off, but I'm really wondering if you have a better idea.