One Nation Under Fear

Posted on 01/03/2009 at 9:53 am by Bob Cesca

Chalk up another victory for fear and paranoia:

Officials ordered nine Muslim passengers, including three young children, off an AirTran flight headed to Orlando from Reagan National Airport yesterday afternoon after two other passengers overheard what they thought was a suspicious remark.

In his last HBO special, the late George Carlin said that “rights” — as in the Bill of Rights — aren’t rights at all. They’re privileges, because they can so easily be taken away on a whim.

All but one of these passengers were American citizens. And all they did was to comment about how close their parked airplane was to another airplane. It required FBI assistance in order to be booked onto another flight.

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  • thespacecowboy

    AirTran has since “apologized” and offered reimbursement for their missed flight and the cost to catch a flight on another carrier.I imagine that the lawsuits will fly soon despite their efforts.(oops, kind of made a pun there)It really sounds like some folks just need to mellow out. I understand the need for vigilance, but it’s getting borderline retarded out there.

  • MG

    In his last HBO special, the late George Carlin said that “rights” — as in the Bill of Rights — aren’t rights at all. They’re privileges, because they can so easily be taken away on a whim.Posted By Bob Cesca | January 3, 2009 09:53 AM_______I loved that statement. I even blogged about it when Democrats whined that Florida and Michigan had a “RIGHT” to revote during the ’08 primary.

  • http://nanotyrnns.blogspot.com/ Nanotyrannus

    I tried to find it but couldn’t, but there was a political cartoon right after 9/11 where a flight attendant asks some white passengers to leave because the other passengers were nervous due to their resemblance to Timothy McVeigh.This is absolutely absurd. What’s more scary is how someone associated with the airline said “they said something they shouldn’t have.” We’re apparently still at Homeland Security Level: Watch Your Mouth.

  • http://unrelatedcontent.com Travis D

    Airline security has been redonkulous since 9/11. The airlines love it though- I know people who have been denied their paid seats because they showed up less than an hour early. “Security reasons” indeed.

  • Redmond

    I’m surprised people are even worried about another airline attack. I mean, c’mon, George Bush is still in office and that guy deflects terrorists attacks with his sheer willpower. Has there been one since 9/11? Nope. He told them to “bring it on.” You don’t mess with that. To this day I still can’t watch the Kirsten Dunst movie of the same name without severe pants wetting.Now, if Obama were in office then they probably should’ve started a riot and ripped the planes off the wings just in case because has that guy stopped any terrorist attacks yet? Nope. He hasn’t even worn a cowboy hat! We’re doomed!Shit. I accidentally just wrote a whole year’s worth of FOX News narrative. Gotta stop doing that…

  • gypsysoul

    bob, one of the nine passengers stated they were trying to decide safest place to sit on the plane: away from engine, wing, etc. and it was two young girls that told the flight attendant about this. TWO YOUNG GIRLS! that pisses me off on multiple levels but the biggest is that “two young girls” have this stereotype in their head now!obama has worn his hat backwards redmond, that has to stand for something! now if it had been a kangol samuel l jackson style terrorism would be defined as the act of humidity f’ing up your hair! everybody knows the kangol trumps the cowboy hat in badassdom!

  • Redmond

    Vicious Circle of American Asshattery: A Two-Line PlayTWO YOUNG GIRLS: Hmm, everybody already treats us like terrorists. We might as well blow something up when we grow up.*KABOOM*BIGOT: See? We were right. Profiling wins again!Fin.

  • http://willpen.wordpress.com willpen

    Go ask Alice, when she’s ten feet tall….Damn…. I miss Grace Slick…

  • gypsysoul

    willpen…that song is so contagious. i get a contact high and think “the man” is coming to get me just by the sound!

  • http://willpen.wordpress.com willpen

    gypsy,You have no idea what that song has done for me and to me for over 40 years…. now that was music…

  • GItheJOE

    Wasn’t there a book written about this? Scarlet Letter? Young girls calling people witches(brown terrorist). I imagine there was a fire burning in the airport just in case the FBI thingy didn’t turn our the way the locals wanted it to. BURN THEIR BROWN BALLS OFF!!! GITMO FOR YOU!!! WHERE ARE MY JUMPER CABLES!!!God Bless American! These Colors Don’t Run! Support the Troops! McCain/Palin! Sorry, I got into bumper sticker mode.

  • http://www.broadwaycarl.blogspot.com Broadway Carl

    So apparently commenting on how close one plane is parked to another is a suspicious comment and “something they shouldn’t have” said. Now I know why I detest these TSA fuckers with every fiber of my being when I travel. I start off with a smile and a friendly hello, but the second I get attitude from someone with a 6th grade education, the snark pours right out of me.

    To this day I still can’t watch the Kirsten Dunst movie of the same name without severe pants wetting.

    @ Redmond – When I watch that movie, I wet my pants for an altogether different reason.

  • gypsysoul

    gi, you forgot…WWJD? i think a better bumper sticker is WJA? would jesus approve? let’s see…starting war? war that kills innocent civilians? judging others? damning people to hell based on culture/lifestyle? palin? i just took it to a “whole nutha level” with tha palin…sorry!

  • http://www.osborneink.com Matt Osborne

    Zero groundLook at your TVIn his faceThe nightmare we have seenThe terrorists are everywhereThey’re hidden in your mindThey’re calling you long distanceIt’s the reason for our neverending worryOccupyA random countryBomb them allFor your securityPatriotic secretsWill unfold behind the cloudsThe chamber of the echoHas answers to our neverending worry, worryShow no fearVictory’s at handThreatcon OrangeThe presidential standPatriotic secretsWill unfold behind the cloudsSomewhere over the rainbowIs the answer to a neverending worryNeverending Worry

  • http://jennydemilo.blogspot.com JennyDemilo

    @GItheJOE umm that was the Crucible -How dare they want a safe seat on a plane! Come on everyone knows, only terrorists want to be safe while flying.

  • GItheJOE

    Thanks Jen. But you get my point. We have come so far as a country that we don’t burn women in the middle of town. Now it is only hooking up car batteries to brown people’s balls.Did Cheney say something about,”No one has been rounded up into camps.” I am going to but this into that category.

  • SillyGit

    Jenny – Yes, The Crucible, which is a play for the stage. IIRC it was written by Arthur Miller and considered one of his best, although he wrote so many excellent plays.Carl – Kirsten does the same thing for me. I watch Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind just to see her jumping on the bed in her undies. DVDs are wonderful in their random access capability.

  • Redmond

    All My Sons is my personal favorite Arthur Miller play which is why I don’t even want to imagine what Katie Holmes is doing to it on Broadway.”No, Joe, it wasn’t you building those planes that killed our boys. IT WAS THE XENU!”

  • http://obamaproject.windonwater.net QueenTiye

    Pausing to thank Matt Osbourne for always contributing a bit of lyrical genius!QT

  • EL Mystico

    The Scarlet Letter was about something way worse than the consequences of wild accusations… ADULTERY?!?!?!?!