Flying with Scissors and Swords

Running With Scissors #2

So this is the second Blog. Where to start? It has been a slow week for the talking heads on TV. Most of my regular hosts are on vacation and the guest hosts are doing a fine job filling in but it seems like I’ve seen a lot of repeats of past shows. That suggests that not a lot of news is happening during the holiday break but then maybe it is just quiet because Congress went home. I wish they would stay home and spend some time talking to the people they are supposed to represent. Better yet I want them to have to fly back to work on the same planes they expect us to fly on. No special privileges or passes but go to the airport an hour and a half early, take off their shoes and empty their pockets and remove all their belongings and then wait in the terminal and in the event of a delay during take off, sit in the plane forever.

I got to fly on my first airplane when I was eight. Back then it was fun. As a kid you got lots of neat junk, pins with wings, luggage bags, toys and all sorts of cool stuff. The food was good and the Stewardesses were beautiful and friendly. The bathrooms had free bottles of after shave and cologne (I still have a bottle of each I never opened). You were also allowed to take anything on board. When we were flying home from Kenya in 1968, we had a layover in Barcelona. My brother and I each bought real swords which we carried onto the planes. I remember the stewardess had to tell my brother to stop using his to turn the overhead light on and off. Can you imagine what would happen today? Top that one John McClain (no, not the senator, the guy from Die Hard).

I hate flying now and avoid it whenever possible. Granted I don’t have to very often but it makes me really mad when once again the American public is punished for the actions of a few. Just like everything else government does, in order to fix a problem they look to fix it for everyone.

Remember when school was hard and if you screwed up you got kicked out? The idea was to preserve the quality of education and to get rid of the kids that weren’t there to learn. Not any more.

Our congress is determined to do the same thing with health care. Penalize the majority for the failures of the few. The others have free health care already.

It is always the same. If someone kills a person with a gun, then regulate guns for everyone else. If there are too many car accidents, make seat belts mandatory for everyone. Instead of remedial driver education for traffic offenders lower the speed limit for all drivers.

When Natasha Richardson died following a skiing accident there was quickly a call for mandatory helmets for skiers and some slopes responded accordingly by requiring their employees to wear helmets. Of course a study emerged that suggested helmets encouraged more risky behavior but that won’t deter the believers. The Nov. 11, 2009 Wall Street Journal had an article that said it might be time to retire the football helmet because the helmets provide a false sense of security and thus players hit each other harder than they would if they did not have protection, like their Rugby counterparts.

A false sense of security….imagine that. This is exactly what we can expect once again after we implement all the new regulations the TSA has in store for the flying public. As long as Janet Napolitano says the system worked like it was supposed to and the President plays golf as usual you can rest assured the only one that will be inconvenienced will be you, the good and honest and loyal American.

I can not imagine flying frequently like so many business people do. Putting up with the nonsense, knowing all the while that they can’t really do a damn thing to keep you safe on your flight. Every time you go through the security gates you are on trial. Not the bad guys. They win every time you have to throw away some belonging that is not permitted and every time you take off your shoes and walk through the detectors (they should have a sterile foot bath like at public pools), the bad guys win.

Why are our service men and women not armed on their military base and subject to as much of a threat here in the US as when overseas? Haven’t they passed the test? Why would we allow these, the best of us all, to be at risk from an individual who was clearly a red flag. Once again punishing the majority rather than doing what should have been done.

It is time that we demand to be treated like the law abiding citizens we are. If you are one of the good guys you shouldn’t have to prove it over and over. When I became a cop, I passed a mighty stringent background check and was permitted the opportunity to carry a badge and to carry a gun even in the presence of the President of the United States. I took an oath to uphold the Constitution of the United States and of the State of Colorado. I’m retired from Law Enforcement now but I have never rescinded that oath and I am the same guy I was before. Aren’t we all, at least most of us, descent and trustworthy citizens of this great country?

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.

These words are inscribed on the Statue of Liberty’s Pedestal. They are attributed to Benjamin Franklin. We have given up a great deal of our Essential Liberty in exchange for very little safety. Congressman..........Are you listening?

Tim Woodsome
Running With Scissors
  (and a sword)