Were airplanes really in imminent danger last week?

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by Agamemnon

I typed his name into Amazon... for a bacteriologist, he sure writes a lot about plutonium.

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/search/ref=n...ywords=chomsky

Yes he does. Nice to see him take time away from his real talent (Liguistics and linguistic theory) to play with his hobby.

He is a professor of Linguistics at MIT not Middle East PoliSci.

[Iowa_Flames_Fan]

Originally Posted by HOZ

Yes he does. Nice to see him take time away from his real talent (Liguistics and linguistic theory) to play with his hobby.

He is a professor of Linguistics at MIT not Middle East PoliSci.

I'm no fan of Chomsky's--and in any case, the fact that this discussion has become Chomsky vs. O'Reilly is a bit weird.

Nevertheless, in the spirit of the thread: if Bill O'Reilly stuck to topics in which he is an expert, the silence on the airwaves would be deafening.

[HOZ]

Originally Posted by Iowa_Flames_Fan

Nevertheless, in the spirit of the thread: if Bill O'Reilly stuck to topics in which he is an expert, the silence on the airwaves would be deafening.

We'd still have Cherry...

[Flashpoint]

I have a relation who works for Transport Canada. This morning she forwarded me the following. Sounds like the airlines are finally getting tired of watching their industry go down the tubes for no real reason.

> -----Original Message-----
> Subject: British Pilots Lose Patience
>
> Meanwhile, across the pond, airline officials and pilots are fed up with security measures and delays. RyanAir CEO Michael O'Leary said last week that measures such as banning shampoo and lipstick in carry-on bags are "farcical, Keystone Cops-like and completely insane and ineffectual.... We are not in danger of dying at the hands of toiletries." He said he would sue the government if security is not restored to normal levels within a week. His airline lost about £2 million during the latest security crisis.

Pilots also have been banned from taking contact-lens solution into the cockpit, The Mirror http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/tm_obje...name_page.html
reported. "There is no logic at all in this," said Capt Mervyn Granshaw.

Another pilot told the Sunday Herald
http://www.sundayherald.com/57460 it was ironic that his glasses were taken away for security reasons. "While my glasses were deemed potentially deadly dangerous items, I once again took my seat at the controls of 185,000 kilos of aeroplane, people and fuel and managed to restrain myself from taking the crash axe to all and sundry prior to rolling, inverted and diving, into the Channel," he said.

Another pilot said: "It's high time BALPA http://www.balpa.org [the British pilot's union] and our representatives exposed these shameful rules for what they are -- some half-witted mandarins making up petty and useless rules to justify their existence, with equally inept and stupid people interpreting the rules."

>

Bookends quite nicely with FurniceFace's linked article on how you probably couldn't take down a plane with liquid explosives.
(http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/08...t_terror_labs/)

[Lanny_MacDonald]

Ah yes, but the dittoheads will tell you that there was a massive threat! A threat so huge that they didn't even notify airports, military or law enforcement until after the threat was supposedly over. Can you tell an election is around the corner?

[Flashpoint]

Originally Posted by Lanny_MacDonald

Ah yes, but the dittoheads will tell you that there was a massive threat! A threat so huge that they didn't even notify airports, military or law enforcement until after the threat was supposedly over. Can you tell an election is around the corner?

Why take toothpaste away from a pilot...

...and then hand him the controls to an airplane?

DUH!