Continue Profiling, End the Groping

In a perfect and peaceful world, racial profiling wouldn’t be an issue because there would be no reason for it to take place in regard to concerns for safety and security.

News Flash! This isn’t a perfect world and if profiling leads security and anti-terrorism organizations to individuals who are hell bent on causing death and destruction before they’re able to reach their targets, then how can that possibly be a bad thing?

I understand that not every Yemeni, Arab or Muslim person is a terrorist but they shouldn’t be focusing their blame for being singled out while travelling on the security people. They should be angry with their fellow citizens of the same nationality who continue to pose a threat to freedom loving people such as myself. That’s the reason why they’re being pulled aside for secondary checks, interviews, body scans and explosive detection screening by national security agents (CSIS) in Canada and other similar organizations around the world.

OK, it’s not fair I’ll admit but who said life was fair. If the shoe bomb were on the other foot and it was Caucasian individuals flying planes into buildings, slipping on to planes with bombs or blowing up subways and trains, then I would fully expect the same treatment. I would be the person being scrutinized and picked out of the crowd when I travel.

That isn’t to say it doesn’t happen already. Just after 9/11 I was in New Orleans and before boarding my flight home I was checked with the wand twice and had to remove my shoes. I also had my luggage, both inside and out, swabbed down and checked for explosives. They don’t come much whiter than me.

Was I upset? Hell no, I wasn’t upset. We’re told to be at the airport three hours before our flight. This should allow plenty of time for not just the “profiled” people to be checked thoroughly but everyone boarding a flight. If you have nothing to hide then who cares if you get checked.

Where I do have a problem, and it sounds like I’m not alone, is with the new screening process in the U.S. whereby high school dropouts working as TSA’s are allowed to sexually assault you with foreplay to be able to pass through security. That’s right, they get to grope, prod and fondle you in search of anything dangerous. You can’t even have a cigarette when they’re done. If you choose not to have your naughty bits and pieces man-handled by Bubba, you can always select to have someone else scan your body with a machine that provides a strip search, without the dinner and a movie first.

Oh but these security officers are “rigorously trained to maintain the highest levels of professionalism.” What this really means is if the uniform fits and you can speak English, you’re qualified. A sexual predator has more training.

The really scary part is that kids are not exempt from this. Parents teach their children that strangers should not be touching them in their “special” places but I guess that doesn’t count for government approved workers. I’m sorry, call it what you will, but that is “sexual assault” by definition and doing it in the name of security is still wrong.

Why aren’t the same groups of people and organizations who get up in arms over Muslims being centred out for extra security scrutiny just as upset over the sexual assault of all passengers? I guess if it doesn’t only affect the visible minority it’s just not worth the trouble.

I suppose this is one of those, “you’re damned if you do and you’re damned if you don’t” scenarios. If we cut out the invasive security measures, the terrorists win. If we keep things the same, then I know I can just head to the airport when I’m in the mood for some random action with strangers.

Terrorist Changes Mind

It sounds like a pretty good idea and if it works, maybe all of the inmates in our prisons will give it a try.

For those of you who don’t live in Canada and haven’t heard of the “Toronto 18”, I’ll give you a brief background. A group of 18 mostly young Islamic men decided to form a club. But it wasn’t like the “He-man Woman Haters Club” you might see on a black and white episode of The Little Rascals with Spanky and Alfalfa. They had picnics and camped in the woods and on the surface seemed like a harmless assembly of friends having a good time communing with nature.

However, things are not always as they appear to be and this group actually turned out to be and extremist Islamic terrorist group plotting amongst the evergreens to set off bombs in downtown Toronto, police stations, military bases and on Parliament Hill in Ottawa.

At any rate, the group wasn’t too bright and tried to purchase bomb making materials from the constabulary and eventually the majority of them were found guilty and sent to jail where the only attacks they’d be a part of would take place in the shower.

Now back to the pretty good idea I mentioned earlier. The 24 year old mastermind (I use that term loosely), Zakaria Amara, has now stated that he no longer believes in extremist Islamic ideology and therefore feels his life sentence should be reduced.

Of course to any freedom loving and educated individual who hears this idea, we have a good chuckle and then wish him an enjoyable and long stay at one of our better corrections complexes.

Under the often idiotic and perplexing Canadian legal system, this putz was actually allowed to argue this point in front of an appeals court. Luckily at least one of the three justices forced to listen to this crock of dog droppings took issue with the arguments.

Justice Michael Moldaver asked the most obvious question, “Why should we send a message to society that if you gave remorse we will forgive you? I’m hearing poor Mr. Amara but I’m thinking poor to the thousands of Canadians if his plot had worked.”

Amara’s lawyer is hoping to have the sentence reduced to 18-20 years citing the fact that his client is married, employed, has a child, went to college and is first-time offender. Honestly, does the lawyer really believe someone who appeared to have a pretty good life in this country should be given a break regardless of the fact that he had one moment of poor judgement? I mean come on! It’s not like he actually succeeded in killing thousands of people so he can’t be that bad! Right?

Maybe he has had second thoughts and finally come to realize what he thought was a worthy cause really wasn’t such a good thing and the life he had before having to rent out his body in exchange for cigarettes wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

What kind of precedence would this set if the appeals court falls for this baloney? Pretty soon the courts would be filled with rapists, murderers, pedophiles and every other scumbag behind bars confessing they’ve found God and changed their ways. Or maybe the ruling would only affect those losers who were just too stupid to get the job done. “I wanted to blow up the CN Tower but now I love everybody and know that killing all of those infidels, er, I mean wonderful fellow citizens was wrong.” To that I say, enjoy being the prison bitch you terrorist scum.

Where Were You?

There are events that take place during our lives that impact us in such a way that we remember where we were or what we were doing when they happened.

Perhaps you can distinctly remember in great detail the moment your first child was born, your wedding day or the proposal. More often than not, we tend to remember more tragic occasions such as where you were when you heard U.S. President’s Kennedy or Reagan was shot. If you’re old enough, perhaps you recall Pearl Harbor or when John Lennon was shot or the exact moment when you found out that Elvis Presley died.

Certainly personal tragedies will always be remembered with the passing of loved ones, family or friends. Those moments stay with you until your day comes.

The most recent major event, that I’m sure anyone old enough to remember, happened nine years ago this coming Saturday September 11th. Of course I’m speaking of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania.

I had no personal connection to these events. I didn’t lose a loved one on that day back in 2001 but any freedom loving person had to feel attacked indirectly. Several of my fellow Canadian citizens were killed that day along with people from many other countries so there was a connection in that regard.

Sitting in front of the television last night I watched not one but two documentaries about the events of that day. The myriad of emotions that I felt then came rushing back. Nine years after the attack I’m still as pissed off and shocked as I was when it all unfolded on the television screen I was watching back in 2001.

Watching the second plane go into the other tower as I did years ago felt just as fresh and sickening. Seeing the countless people choosing to plummet to their deaths after jumping from the tops of the buildings with the knowledge that they wouldn’t survive the fall was horrific. How unimaginably bad was it up there? Their fates were sealed when the planes hit but at that time they didn’t know the towers were going to fall. It’s hard to imagine the pain and terror that those people were facing when jumping to your death seemed like the better option.

These and other images from that day are seared into my memory. I often wonder if having memories like these that you can’t erase are similar in any way to the painful memories our war veterans take with them. Many don’t like to talk about them. As horrible as my memories are I think it would be much more painful to have experienced it in person rather than watching it from hundreds of miles away on a screen.

There were happy, heroic and inspiring stories from 9/11 as well. Firefighters found a man perched on top of the rubble sitting above a section of staircase still standing. As the second tower collapsed, he rode it all the way down and somehow survived. There were several firefighters buried in the rubble that were trapped and injured but they were found and pulled out alive. And of course the passengers of United 93 who attempted to regain control of their aircraft over Pennsylvania are heroes. They didn’t survive but they fought back and kept those terrorists from reaching their intended target.

Where were you that day when you heard the news? I was still working as a morning radio announcer at that time and was expecting to be on-air for another hour and a bit when one of the news guys poked his head into the studio and told me about the first plane hitting the World Trade Center. I rushed to the newsroom and the closest television to watch what was happening. I distinctly remember saying, “There’s no way that was an accident. It’s a clear day! They hit it on purpose.” A short time later everyone’s fears were realized as we watched the second plane enter the picture and slam into the other tower erupting into a giant fireball. The only question at that point was how many more had been hijacked and where were they going to hit?

I quickly got back on-air and brought my listeners up to speed on the events unfolding in New York. I found a live ABC news feed on one of the satellite channels and decided to dump all regular programming and broadcast that instead. We stayed with that most of the day.

The world I knew changed that day. Terrorism was always something that happened a long way away on the other side of the planet. Now we live with that fear every day. It reminds me of growing up during the Cold War and wondering every day if this was the day the missiles would fly. Now we wonder if this is the day the terrorists will blow up buildings, subways or vehicles. Most days I try not to think about it, but it’s always in the back of my mind.

So where were you on September 11, 2001 when you heard the news? Please feel free to leave a comment and share your 9/11 memories. I’d be fascinated to hear them.

I can't believe I have to add this but for those of you who are conspiracy theorists, you can keep those thoughts to yourself. I'm not a believer and won't allow those asinine thoughts into my blog.