My Impossible Question

[King Rat]

Name one program the government has run where the taxpayers didn't get screwed.

[DarkenedSoul]

Is There one??

[King Rat]

I don't know, is there?

[King Rat]

Take this example of why the government is incapable of common-sense:

A couple's ill-concealed sexual play aboard a Southwest Airlines flight from Los Angeles got them charged with violating the Patriot Act, intended for terrorist acts, and could land them in jail for 20 years.
According to their indictment, Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell were allegedly snuggling and kissing inappropriately, "making other passengers uncomfortable," when a flight attendant asked them to stop.

"Persing was observed nuzzling or kissing Sewell on the neck, and ... with his face pressed against Sewell's girl thingyl area. During these actions, Sewell was observed smiling," reads the indictment filed by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

On a second warning from the flight attendant, Persing snapped back threatening the flight attendant with "serious consequences" if he did not leave them alone.

The comment was enough to have the couple, both in their early 40s, arrested when the plane reached its destination in Raleigh, North Carolina, and charged with obstructing a flight attendant and with criminal association.

They have been placed under legal surveillance until their trial on February 5. If found guilty, they both could be sent to jail for up to 20 years.

Persing's lawyer William Peregoy said his client was not feeling well when he placed his head on his companion's lap, and that he only threatened the flight attendant with reporting him to his superiors on landing.

[TF Admin]

I think you picked a bad example KR. I completely agree with what you are getting at, but that example doesn't work for me. The airlines are not taking any chances. They took their lumps once and the government along with the public pounded them about increasing safety. Is it fair? Probably not, but the airlines will be taking no chances. The perception of strict security is, by far, one of the biggest marketing ploys going for the airline industry right now.

So, if two passengers on a plane are making other passengers feel uncomfortable for whatever reason, and do not follow the flight attendants instructions, then you can bet there will be a swift response from the FAA and FBI...period. Call it what you will (nazi, fascist) it is all about perception and as we all know in most Americans minds...PERCEPTION IS REALITY....PERCEPTION IS KING!

TF

[King Rat]

But should they face 20 years in the pen? My reason for citing that example was to show that the government obviously can't distinguish between someone trying to blow up a plane and someone trying to blow up a dress.

[King Rat]

Jack (John) Murtha, the democrat about to become the #2 man in the House, and the man who called our soldiers in Iraq murderers and accused them of torture, is rated by a non-partisan watchdog group (if there is such an animal) as being in the top 20 most corrupt politicians in Washington.

Murtha last week called one of Nancy Pelosi's ethics plans as "bunk - pure hogwash" but said he would support it anyway. Now THAT is the kind of leaders we need in D.C. aye?

[rutrow]

While I agree with TF on this particular example, I understand what you are saying KR. The Patriot Act was touted as getting tough with terrorists when it was passed. We are seeing more and more americans being charged silly charges under the PA now. Just like this Military Commissions Act that was just passed a month or so ago, it is touted as only for terrorists, and not for citizens, but if we take a lesson from the PA, citizens may be declared enemy combatants by government and since habeus corpus was also taken away, citizens who are declared enemy combatants may never see a judge once they are "secretly" taken and thrown in jail.