PHOTOS, PAGE 1

       Editor and prime reporter is Doug Terry, a veteran television and radio reporter in   Washington, DC, (details below)

Here is the latest: if you are traveling from overseas, you have to put everything away, nothing in your lap, for the last hour of the flight. Here is the report from the NY Times:

           “Among other steps being imposed, passengers on international flights coming to the United States will apparently have to remain in their seats for the last hour of a flight without any personal items on their laps. Overseas passengers will be restricted to only one carry-on item aboard the plane, and domestic passengers will probably face longer security lines.”

Okay, for me, that’s it. I’ve had enough. I won’t fly internationally for any reason other than absolute necessity. I had hoped to return to Italy and perhaps France next spring, but unless I have to go for business, the trip is off.

Most passengers might assume the airlines and the TSA have good reason for imposing such restrictions. I don’t. I believe, based on many years experience flying and years covering the government in Washington, DC, that they are merely upping the ante because they don’t know what else to do and because there is at least a tiny, tiny chance that they might stop someone from doing something bad. A .000001 per cent chance of stopping something is worth it to the government, it is not worth it to me.

Like, yeah, I’m sure if there is another leg bomber that he is going to wait until the plane is almost ready to land, as the guy in Detroit did, just because there are these restrictions. Yeah, sure. Then, pow!, he’ll find out he’s made a mistake, because the flight attendants won’t let him get his chemicals out of the overhead.

We can only hope that silly restrictions like this are short lived. Maybe the Obama clan will have some nerve and push back against the mentality of the Bush years. So far, they have shown no such courage. So far, all they have done is go along with what George Tenet, CIA Director and the Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld group imposed on America.

For me, I’m done. No vacations overseas as long as they intend to treat me like a criminal. I’ve had enough of that at the airports. We can find other places to go and other ways to get there. We might even see the USA in a Chevrolet. Or Ford.

Doug Terry, 12.26.09

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