All posts by BraddonM

Making Air Travel Safer

Braddon News, Travel

My 78-year-old father recently underwent an ordeal on the return leg of a round-trip he and my mom took to Cincinnati.  An airport security agent pulled him aside and strip-searched him in public, a procedure that included a double fisted anal probe, followed by a lengthy waterboarding in Crisco Oil.

Okay, so I exaggerate, but what really happened was probably only a tad less humiliating, as the inspector actually ran his gloved fingers underneath the elastic band of my dad’s underwear.  (What did he think he’d find, an exploding Fruit-of-the-Loom tag?) And yes, I know we all have to make sacrifices to assure the safety of everyone who flies.  But is punking an old guy really making travel safer?

There is a way to ensure air travelers are treated respectfully, while maintaining an even higher level of security.

Let’s rethink the entire security process, from the time the passenger arrives at the terminal, to the time they depart on their flight.

What if the security officer who screens the passengers was required to get on the plane and fly with them to the next destination? That officer would have the greatest incentive imaginable to make sure dangerous people are discovered before boarding: his or her life.

Here’s how it could work: Passengers would pass thought an initial x-ray screening on the way to their respective gates.  There would be no frisking, no profiling, no pulling passengers out of line unless something suspicious showed up on the x-ray.  It would be many times quicker than the current process.

When the passengers regroup at their respective boarding gates, they will be screened by a second security agent, the “Airline Chaperon” — the one that will accompany them on the plane.

The time a passenger spends at the gate is normally wasted anyway, as they sit and wait for the boarding call.  The Airline Chaperon would take advantage of this time to screen each passenger one-on-one, utilizing a hand-scanner when deemed appropriate. Signs would be posted, as in restaurants, advising passengers: “We reserve the right to refuse service to anyone.” The Airline Chaperon will have the authority to pull suspicious passengers aside for more thorough scrutiny or to deny them passage altogether.

After all the passengers have been interviewed and have boarded the flight, the Airline Chaperon will join them on the plane.  Once at the destination airport, the Airline Chaperon will then repeat the procedure with a new group of returning air travelers.

Requiring the person who screens the passengers to get on the plane with them will ensure that all passengers are scrutinized equally and increase the likelihood that suspicious ones will be weeded out before they become a threat in the air.

In case anyone asks,

Braddon

Lessons of Prop. 8

Culture

I need to thank ProtectMarriage.com for teaching my six-year-old son about gay marriage. 

One of the red herrings the Proposition 8 hucksters threw into the political mix was to scare families into thinking that the concept of same-sex couples getting married would be a required subject in our public schools (and that somehow, that was a bad thing) if the initiative didn’t pass. 

How ironic that while they were spreading these lies, they succeeded — through their repetitious, misleading and reprehensible television campaign — in exposing every school child in the state of California to that very concept in which they spent forty-million dollars to warn us against.

My son loves studying the universe.  He can tell you about all eight planets in our solar system, and why Pluto is no longer a planet, but may be a planet again someday.  He can tell you how volcanoes work and how clouds are formed.  Prior to the Proposition 8 campaign, he didn’t know the meaning of “straight” or “gay” in the context of human sexuality, but he had seen these television spots so often he finally asked me what gay marriage was all about. 

I explained that gay men or women are people who choose to love someone of the same sex.  It was a simple explanation, which he understood completely.  I told him gay people want the right to work and play and be happy just like anyone else, but there are some people who want to take away their right to marry one another. 

“Throughout history,” I said, “there have been times when one group of people passed laws restricting what another group of people could do, who they could associate with, even who they could marry.  Those laws have always been wrong.”

A few examples rolled off the top of my head:

Adolf Hitler made it illegal for Jews to marry blonde-haired, blue-eyed German people.  He also wouldn’t allow them to own businesses or openly practice their religion;

Not too long ago, it was illegal in parts of our country for black kids to go to the same schools as white kids;

And there was even a time when lawmakers in our own state of California made it illegal for black people and white people to marry one another.

Although he easily grasped the concept of gay marriage, he could not understand how one group of people could be so mean toward another.  “Why?” he asked.

I have no problem teaching my son about gay people; having to shave a little of his innocence off by explaining the hatred that exists in the world was a little tough.  “One group of people hates another group because of who they are or how they look,” I said. “As their hates festers and grows, they spread lies and fear to attract more followers, until they have enough power to force the other group to obey them.”

“I wish everyone was treated equally,” he said.

“Me, too,” I said.

So thank you, ProtectMarriage.com, for informing my son — and millions of his counterparts across the Golden State — not just about gay marriage, but how hatred can manifest itself into the most appalling abuses of one group against another.