What She Wrote

Test post.

Fri, 11 Jun 2004 22:08:14 +0000

This is just a test post for checking stuff. Like trackbacks. I needed a short post in here!

[update] I changed the code that was causing the problem in the sidebar. I’ve also added a link to an outside site here, as someone mentioned it was links in posts that caused him the problem on the front page.

Ethnic Profiling?

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

I read Ann Coulter’s article in the Jewish World Review with both eyebrows trying to climb past my forehead and hang waggling in midair. She advocates ethnic profiling because:

In every one of these attacks by Muslim extremists, there appears to be one or more Muslim extremists involved. This ought to help the airlines engage in more accurate risk assessment.

She then goes on to give an impressive list of attacks by Muslim extremists. I’ll grant she’s quite right, these all were attacks by Muslim extremists. So far, I’ve seen no case for ethnic profiling. She goes on to state (and I’ll admit she is quite witty, albeit illogical):

So naturally, it took the airlines completely by surprise last week when the passenger who tried to detonate a sneaker bomb on a passenger jet turned out to be a Muslim extremist. Doggedly imitating an Alzheimer’s joke, the airlines instantly began ever more intrusive examinations of elderly black men, cowboys and Asian women with small children.

I suspect she must have seen my blond cousin and his Asian wife and their (4 year old) daughter get searched. However, I’m still not seeing what good ethnic profiling will do. Richard Reid, John Walker and David Hicks (the Australian) are not Arabs. She finishes up with this blast:

But on another front – the commercial aircraft war-zone opened by al-Qaida – bin Laden is right: We refuse to fight. Bedraggled smelly men who make Talibanist John Walker look like Beaver Cleaver are getting on airplanes with C4 explosive material, and we commend ourselves for being so “civilized.”

I see now. Ann thinks that searching bedraggled smelly men is “ethnic profiling". The definition of ethnic must surely have changed since I last looked it up. Also, the 911 hijackers were probably neither smelly nor bedraggled.

I suspect that what she is trying to say is “religious profiling". Unfortunately, religious profiling is a bit of a problem. I just double-checked my passport and drivers license, and neither has anything about religion anywhere on it. I suppose you could have people fill out a questionaire but I suspect suicide bombers and would-be hijackers would simply lie.

The best bet for Airport security is to search everyone they think may be suspicious, or search absolutely everyone (yes, I realise what a problem that would be). It would help if they’d get more dogs and better technology for examining bags and passengers. But the best security is still with suspicious passengers and crew members who don’t hesitate to keep an eye on someone and stop them if they try something. As Peggy Noonan said a while back, “we’re all soldiers now”.

False security

Wed, 31 Dec 1969 15:59:59 +0000

I got a link to an article by Chris Matthews about a tv interview with Tom Ridge (thanks to an InstaPundit reader). I saw the actual show. During the interview, Tom Ridge said, “I think every single able-bodied man or woman, from this point forward, looks at themselves as a potential air marshal.” Chris Matthews neglects to mention that Tom Ridge emphasized the words “or women", probably in reaction to a certain amount of “men… men… men… men…” rhetoric coming out of Chris’ mouth (don’t mind me, I just don’t like Matthews). I got the impression, while watching the interview, that Chris was a bit perturbed by the idea that the government could not protect everyone absolutely–or he was upset that Mr Ridge admitted that inconvenient little fact.

What I’ve noticed with most government officials since September 11 has me a bit worried. They don’t seem to have noticed that most of us would really like to know what we can do (other than spend money). They are still trying to make us think they can “take care” of us…but it is all smoke and mirrors. Federalizing airport security will just give those bored people higher wages, but the government hopes it will make everyone “feel safe". National ID cards have been proposed, in fact, international ID cards have even been proposed. ID cards would make us even less safe, because there is nothing that cannot be copied or forged. Those ID cards would invite trust and decreased alertness; terrorists would take advantage.

The only way we will ever get total security on airplanes is to ground the planes and lock them. I know I have a few readers among “gov” and “mil” organizations, so the rest is an open letter to the US government and military (pass it on):
Tom Ridge is right, we “the people” are all Air Marshals. There will never again be a successful hijacking of any plane that has American passengers unless the hijackers kill us all. The airlines who are confiscating tweezers and nail clippers are just being silly. Have your “federalized force” worry about guns with bullets that can puncture windows and cause decompression. Search checked luggage for bombs rather than grabbing nail files.

You should quit trying to make us “feel safe", and start telling us what we can do to help make ourselves safe. We aren’t stupid. We know that the only way to make each individual in the US safe is to have an army guard for each civilian. You in the government don’t realize that you have a good portion of the population volunteering for the job. The increase in gun purchases and requests for concealed weapons permits should give you at least a little clue. Give us some concrete suggestions, and you’ll have an army of over 100 million to defend the home front. We’ve been trusting you, despite our worries, and it’s long past time for you to trust us!