This whole airport "false sense of security" thing is really starting to bug me. I haven't seen any coverage of the real problem, and see airports across the country doing several stupid things that have real financial and employment impact. I am in favor of real changes that result in improved security. I am sick of seeing "window dressing" and knee-jerk steps taken to create an appearance of improved security. We have done nothing about new weapons or technology, airport ramp IDs, secured area access, screener wages, screening technology, traveler behavior pattern-matching or many other areas which need review and repair.
First, as I've said before, the idea of lightly trained part-time soldiers with shiny automatic weapons in a crowded airport does NOT make me feel safer. It worries me every time I see them. I felt much safer before they were there.
Secondly, after entering several empty arrival concourses in various airports on recent trips, passing many many shuttered newsstands, food stores, souvenir stores and such, all closed due to the lack of greeter traffic and others passing thorough the airport, I am really annoyed. Because these airport concourse shops now generate much less revenue than they once did, they close much earlier; many workers are unemployed, and airport revenues are way down. Fundamentally this refusal to allow greeters and droppers-off to enter airport concourses means: "We don't trust our screening procedures enough to screen people waiting for arriving passengers or seeing them off." If they did, then visiting greeters and droppers-off could be screened as well, and would be able to spend time and money in the comfy public areas of airports specifically built for their use and enjoyment.
We banned curbside baggage check-in for a while as well right after 9/11. That was short-sighted and unnecessary too--it is now back at almost all airports. So should the ability to drop off and greet passengers on a concourse come back. It's silly, has no impact on security, and costs money and jobs. If delays are an issue, set off one screening line for non-travelers, allowing passengers screening priority. Let's not cripple airports with lost revenue and lost jobs.
Thirdly, screeners are still using the same old equipment, and being paid the same terrible wage, and this is NOT likely to change anytime soon, hence turnover is still high and the promise of Federalization still a ways off. (They ARE however being watched by National Guard troops with guns, something I am certain makes their job easier.) Screening, and behavioral pattern-checking HAS to improve. I carried two framed photos in my carry-on bag last trip. The same screeners who were confiscating nail clippers allowed two 8x10" sheets of glass on my plane. Glass is invisible to current X-ray equipment; nail clippers show up just fine. Richard Colvin Reid, aka Abdel Rahim, aka Tariq Raja, an itinerant multi-national ex-convict with a recently-issued passport obtained under fraudulent pretenses was allowed to travel on a one-way ticket to Miami (purchased with cash) with no luggage. Whew! Sure glad we have Guardsmen in the airports.
Lastly, with unemployment now at a six-year high, surely we can employ more screeners (at a living wage), and more people building better, faster screening equipment to deal with long lines and long delays at airports.
We need:
1. Better wages, training and equipment for screeners and screening. Federalization as long as is necessary, but no longer.
2. Open airport concourses, shops and stores to greeters and visitors with thorough screening.
3. Put National Guard troops on ramps, gates and controlled access areas of airports, they are not needed in concourses and create a greater potential danger than any they are trying to prevent.
4. Invalidate all airport ramp and secure area IDs. Re-Issue all ramp and secure area IDs with a distinctly different visual appearance after stringently reviewing EVERY current holder's background and record.
5. Institute behavioral profiling and traveler profiling to identify unusual patterns of behavior for closer scrutiny (for example, traveling on a newly-issued, incomplete passport, paying for international tickets with cash, one-way ticket purchase, unusual dress/footwear, personal behavior, etc.)
I was just talking to Veek about Clinton and how curiously absent he is in this time of national crisis. I know that Republicans don't want him around anymore, but he's a former President, he's young and intelligent, why isn't he taking a more leadership role in helping New York recover? He's a very lucky man - he got to be President during a time of economic recovery (my personal belief is that no one man, especially with a two term limit, can singlehandedly bring an economy around. He can, however, screw it up.), and he leaves office nine months before the worst tragedy in American history.
I guess part of it must be that he's sick of the scrutiny and attacks. God knows he brought most of it on himself (I can barely smoke a cigar anymore, and I'm not even gay...), but I'm still surprised that his hubris hasn't guided him to a very visible role in his post-Presidential years. I'm so sick of hearing about exPresidents going on the "rubber chicken circuit". Maybe Clinton is doing his speaking gigs to pay for all the lawyers. I don't know. But I'd like to see him step up and solve some of the problems we're having, like helping run the relief orgs or something.
Jimmy Carter is the only one who appears to have dedicated his post Presidential years to continued public service. And he does it on all scales - hammering nails for Habitat and monitoring elections in SA. Now that's an exPresident.
I find it unbelievable the lengths people will go to bash Bill Clinton even now. Here is an article on Salon about how the conservative rags / websites are positing that Buddy was killed to get the Clintons publicity and/or because he was no longer politically valuable. [Note: you have to have a Salon Premium subscription to read the whole article].
Here's a much happier story: Acting Massachusetts governor Jane Swift has selected former Melrose, Mass., mayor Patrick C. Guerriero – an openly gay man – as her choice for lieutenant governor...
Sad news from Chappaqua, NY as the Clintons’ Labrador, Buddy, dies in a car accident. Glad to hear Barley made it home Jack. The loss of a pet is a great loss, often harder than losing a friend or extended family member, perhaps because a pet's love is truly unconditional. Makes you stop and think doesn't it?
Lest we get too maudlin, can I point out what a total hunk CNN's Bill Hemmer is? This eligible bachelor has managed to still look gorgeous while broadcasting from Kanduhar, and looks even better without the shirt and tie he wore in Atlanta.
I saw a good movie on video last nite: MADE. It's the latest by John Favreau, best known as the guy who made (and starred in) Swingers and also known as Monica's rich boyfriend on Friends for one season. The costar of Made is Vince Vaughn, who also costarred in Swingers.
It's a bit uneven, but Vince Vaughn's performance is reason enough to watch this. This is a kind of a buddy movie, not that different than "Midnight Run" or even "Of Mice and Men". It's got it's funny parts and serious parts. Not too much violence or sex (kind of like my life!).
Favreau must have some sort of connection to the makers of The Sopranos, because there are lots of parts in this movie played by Sopranos actors. Vincent Pastore (Big Pussy), Drea DeMatteo (Adriana, Christopher's girlfriend), Federico Castelliccio (Furio, the hitman from Italy) - even Favreau made a couple of Sopranos appearances as the "big time" Hollywood director who befriends and then screws over Christopher. If you like the acting in The Sopranos, you'll like the acting in this.
Last note about Made: It was coproduced by Peter Billingsley, who I believe is the kid from the movie "A Christmas Story".
Hey Leah, welcome to the noise. I think I saw the same program as you describe, just not this week. The one I saw featured the WTC building manager and architect quite a bit, and both are now missing and presumed dead. It was VERY CREEPY to hear them describe how the building could withstand multiple plane hits - how wrong they were. I will never forget the metaphor one of them used - he described a passenger jet hitting one of the towers as similar to a pencil being pushed thru a screen. "It would make a hole where it hit and leave the rest of the building intact." or some similar quote. Very chilling. I was also struck by the minutae of the building details, but kept thinking "none of that is there anymore". Bring on the new year, I say.
Our new year started off with quite a concern. On New Year's Eve, our two year old lab Barley got freaked out by the fireworks all around the neighborhood, and panicked and ran out of our yard. This happened last nite at about 11 p.m. By 6 p.m. this evening we had heard nothing, despite almost constant patrols around our neighborhood and every visible person being asked if they'd see a big yellow dog running loose. Our kids were very sad, especially since this is the year that we lost our beloved Tai after 15 wonderful years. Anyway, my optimism was waning when we got a call from some folks over three miles away, across a very busy road (Spicewood Springs @ 183), that they had him and he was none the worse for wear. Where he slept last nite, in this bitter cold, is beyond my imagination, but we sure are glad to have him home. I'm deciding to take it as an omen of a year of good fortune for us all.
In closing, I feel I must expose Steve Basile's "dirty little secret". Not only does this supposedly "gay" man watch professional football at my house most Sundays, this morning found him at a local golf course, playing golf on New Year's Day with a bunch of hard core golfers. I fear that Baze may lose his Union Card if he keeps this up - so far he's resisted buying any gaudy golf clothes or two tone saddle shoes, but I'm working on him. For the morbidly curious, there are pictures here.
Happy New Year everyone. Peace and good health to us all....
You can't make this stuff up. At a time when our resources ought to be focused full-bore on homeland security, Idiots Abound In the Treasury Department apparently, as our esteemed Secret Service is investigating PFLAG chapters for possible counterfeiting charges stemming from their ongoing Salvation Army protest in which small pieces of paper resembling currency are placed in donation buckets. Sheesh. Can't we find a foreign national to detain without benefit of an attorney or a terrorist organization to wiretap?
For what may be obvious reasons, I thought it might be useful to list some of the things that made me happiest this year.
OS/X and the iPod prove there are still some people who think different at One Infinite Loop. If the once-crazy idea of everyday people owning powerful computers continues, (doesn't seem to be in much danger despite a tough year) I hope it's future resembles OS/X more than anything else I'm aware of, including Linux.
Waking Life - I have dragged at least 6 people to see this, not just because it's a beautiful work of art, but because of the awesomely interesting conversations it seems to leave in it's wake...
The miracle of modern surgery let my buddy Baze continue his conversation with his dad Joe. And my dad Joe's chemotherapy has finally cured his smoking even if his battle with lung cancer continues to skirmish. He's gaining weight and has rallied his spirits and energy for the next round.
James Robert Baker's Tim and Pete is being published in a new edition, one of the few gay novels I've found worth criticizing.
The Stunt Man, Sullivan's Travels, and Salesman all made it to DVD.
Orbit #40 didn't seem to curtail my tendency to take risks (in multiple contexts) and live to whine about the consequences .
A few quotes that I hope will resonate beyond this year:
"Unless you get up near that very precipice where you're likely to make a fool of yourself, you're not showing much of how you feel..." - Ken Kesey, R.I.P.
"You don't reach Serendip by plotting a course for it. You have to set out in good faith for elsewhere and lose your bearings." - John Barth
"We're packing a suitcase for a place - none of us has been... - A place that has to be believed - to be seen..." -U2
Hello, Jerry! This is my first post anywhere ever and I'm really quite concerned about typos : ) I was watching The Learning Channel sometime this weekend and they had a special on the World Trade Center. It was produced this past January, and there were interviews with several people who died with the towers on September 11. The building manager, now one of the missing, was talking about air planes hitting the buildings. It was creepy and sad. What brings this up is that the program featured a lot of information and footage of how the towers were constructed, and how revolutionary and new the building techniques were. Even the window washing machines were innovations -- fully automated, the washers took five days to wash one side. The window washer guy they interviewed is missing too.
Thanks for the invitation, Jerry! My posts should be more cheerful than this in the future. Happy New Year to all!
Damn, I read too much. Was just browsing Slate and came across the most interesting article about the architecture of the World Trade Center and its connection to Islamic architecture and holy design. Thought you guys might find it as fascinating as I did.
