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Archive for December 11 2007

A War on Terror, or a War on Alcohol

The Buffalo News has reported that:

“Follow a maze of corridors through the basement at Buffalo Niagara International Airport, pass through several locked doors, and eventually you arrive at the door to a storage room under Gate 26.

There, a sign on the door announces: “Warning! This room contains hazardous materials.

”Unlock the door, and you find two bright yellow, double-wide metal lockers. On both, stark red capital letters warn: “FLAMMABLE — KEEP FIRE AWAY.” “FLAMMABLE GAS.” “FLAMMABLE LIQUID.”

The lockers are filled with covered white bins bearing even more warning stickers.

Open the bins, and you find the bottled hazards that lurk within: Hennessy cognac. McCormick vodka. Rite Aid nail polish remover. Napoleon brandy.These are the spoils of the U.S. war on terror, surrendered by airline passengers who realize, as they’re going through security, that they can’t take certain toiletries and beverages on the plane with them.”

With security measures like this one has to ask, are the authorities really afraid of terrorists or the drunkenness of the nation’s own citizens? Perhaps that NSA wiretapping program can get to the bottom of it all…

 

The Technology Liberation Front - An Interesting Website

Here is an interesting website called The Technology Liberation Front, which has as its catch phrase, “The real problem is not whether machines think but whether men do.” The short commentary entitled “Welcome to the United States, Criminal Suspect!” discussing the 2 to 10 fingerprint scan foreign visitors to the U.S. should now expect upon entering or leaving the country first drew us to the site, but further investigation revealed many articles worth a perusal.

The Foreign Policy List: The World’s Worst Places to Be a Kid

Foreign Policy has published its list of the “World’s Worst Places to Be a Kid”. Among them are the most obvious, including Iraq, Zimbabwe and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Perhaps surprisingly, but no less deserving of attention, was the addition of the United Kingdom, making the analysis more balanced than most “relativity” studies on who is better or worse. The list is definitely worth a quick read. For more information click here.

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