“Shampoo, iPods and Starbucks lattes have suddenly become security threats. Terrorists could easily slip a few apparently innocuous items past airport security and assemble them into a lethal explosive once aloft, security experts said,” Matt Crenson reports for The Associated Press.
Crenson reports, “Some envision a group of two or three terrorists mixing up explosives in an airplane bathroom, perhaps even using commonplace materials such as hydrogen peroxide and detonating their bomb with the battery from a cellphone or some other small electronic device.”
“‘In mid-flight you could go into the toilet, attach the mobile phone to the explosives and, as the plane makes a final approach over a densely populated urban area, you detonate it,’ said Irish security analyst Tom Clonan. To puncture an aircraft’s fuselage would require an explosive charge ‘half the size of a cigarette packet,’ he said,” Crenson reports.
Full article here.
Related iPodDailyNews article:
Terrorist plot said to have involved Apple iPod as detonator – August 10, 2006
Religious fanatics may cause brief moments of local terrorism, but it takes the US media to amplify an event to the level of national or global terrorism for… wait for it… yes, their own GREED through advertising dollars!
There is no more of a “war” with terrorists as there is a war on drugs or a war on alcoholism or a war on [insert any emotional topic here]. It’s a very lame but emotional way for politicians to pretend to be actively doing something and a screamingly lame reason for them to spend tax dollars on their neighbor’s business… with some that money undoubtedly finding its way back over the fence.
Any 9 year old child can see that you will never eradicate all of the terrorists. The very best thing to do is to get the hell out of THEIR country and leave them to blow each other up in civil wars and riots. That same 9 year old knows that if you stop poking the bee hive, you probably won’t get stung. The terrorists aren’t going after Norway or Madagascar, can you guess why?
The religious-backed Republicans just can’t stop telling everyone else what they should do. Whether it’s Gays in marriage or radical Muslim fundamentalists. Liberty – something that was very real two hundred years ago, but today seems to have lost all meaning, along with its value to our society. Republicans hate the word, in fact they use it as a curse word to describe someone else that doesn’t see THEIR point of view. If you’re not in favor of supporting a liberal society, then you prefer everyone to be in a locked goose-step march to YOUR ways even though the things you want to regulate have absolutely no adverse effects upon anyone else. Stop making the rest of the world think, move and act just like you! THAT is what causes wars, it’s NOT the terrorists. It’s the inflexibility of two groups, and the Republicans are no less fanatical or zealous than any other group in the Middle East. The only fear is that they are willing to die for what they believe and the Republicans are cowards, they send their neighbor’s kids in to fight.
I’m a very proud Liberal and a very proud American, because America is all about LIBERTY, and not the Nazi-like bigotry and fanaticism of Republicans hiding behind “national patriotism” because they know their own real causes are as weak as a politician’s word.
…oh, by the way, iPods had NOTHING to do with the attack. It never did. That was media HYPE!! They were planning on using the high voltage from a disposable camera’s flash circuitry to ignite the explosive. That makes sense because the voltage from just a few batteries alone is not enough to generate the spark needed for a detonation.
When are they going to ban the REAL threat … SNAKES?!
“Those who know what’s best for us must rise and save us from ourselves.”
Or what Macromancer and Buonarroti said. Fear is a great means of control, aided and abetted by the media. It’s not (just) about making money. Remind me, when are those U.S. elections again?
M di L Buonarroti . . . .
There is a great little widget that has a dictionary combo/thesaurus; you should use one before making us read long posts like that. “Liberty” and “liberal” are not the same word, they are not synonymous.
You are obviously a liberal who hates republicans and love to poison minds and paint hate on your opposer.
The problem is . . . . it’s just not honest – despite your mouth full of spin.
You are just as bad as the people you point the finger at.
Isn’t it interesting how this “terror” plot was uncovered a few days after a couple of Bush’s buddies got bounced in the primaries??? And that the media was projecting a backlash against incumbents, i.e. Bush backers?
I expect the same thing to happen in the days leading up to the mid-term elections in November, thereby reinforcing the fact that we need to “stay the course” or some such bullshit.
Seems pretty clear-cut to me.
Yep, it is. You’re obviously a pussy who would shit his pants at the first hint of danger and is willing to use any piece of info to justify your cowardice.
When you have the Bush family and the Bin Laden family in bed together for years, things are bound to be allowed to spiral out of control. This isn’t the start of it, nor the end.
No conspiracy theories here–the US government had ZERO to do with planning any attacks of any kind, ever. That’s absurd. But they have been willfully lax and looked the other way–like point-blank refusing to chase Bin Laden after 9/11, when they actually knew where he was. And like ignoring intelligence reports unless they agree with the Republican agenda (WMDs in Iraq, anyone?).
Throw in a helping of arrogant, ignorant Republican foreign policy (how about a war that benefits Halliburton, oil companies, and Bush’s other corporate allies?) and you have a lovely one-two punch:
1. Rising tensions and anti-American sentiment that need never have gotten THIS bad.
2. Complete failure to respond appropriately and manage the situation with a good long-term plan.
The results of this will take decades to untangle, and will cost a lot more than flight delays and cavity searches. Look how many brave American soldiers’ lives it has cost already. The body count will pile up for decades. Some of the dead will be Americans, others will be civilians from other countries (like Iraq). And nothing generates anti-American sentiment better than killing off innocent families. Conclusion: the Republican yes-men are the best thing that ever happened for Al-Qaeda recruiting.
Hey- this dude “whoa”- I think it’s GW himself!
Just look at the speech style….
“…and love to poison minds and paint hate on your opposer”.
See, it’s him! (Picture Will Farrell doing his impression of GW, speaking those words.
Yup. It’s him alright).
So, GW is a secret poster here. Wow! He’d probably go on….
“….and love to poison minds and paint hate on your opposer. I’m a Uniter, not a Divider.
A Masterbater, not a Fornicater……”.
BTW, while we have you here, George, can you pull some weight there, and get the G’ubment to switch from Winblows to Mac>
Soon it’ll get to the point where we just show up at the airport with the clothes on our backs and then have to buy all what we need for vacation when we get to our destination. Then donate what we buy at the end of the trip.
Or, ship all of our things to our destination and then ship it home when we’re done.
Yes, I know it sounds crazy but it almost seems easier to do it that way.
We may even learn how to just be quiet and think. What a novel thought!
All I hear from young people these days is, “I’m bored”. I swear I have never used those words in my life. I’m over 70.
Reminds me of Operation Greif of Otto Skorzeny, where only about 28 English-speaking Germans crossed deep into Allied territory mostly to hold some bridges and sow confusion. Skorzeny entertained the rumor that his group of commandos were about to snatch Eisenhower from Cafe de la Paix in Paris in order to maintain the secrecy of his objectives.
Paranoia swept the Allies. No matter what rank or uniform you used, you couldn’t go anywhere without being stopped and quizzed about trivial American or British facts to prove your nationality. Even Eisenhower reluctantly submitted to being confined to headquarters. Since the threat spoke English and wore American or British uniforms, no one could be trusted, and a number of accented-speakers were jailed briefly.
That so few people could sow such fear….
to ban ipods without banning cell phones, doesn’t provide fully effective security.
They call this a war… The last big war ended pretty soon after a couple of big bombs… End of war!
Ron,
I always appreciate a good, crotchety rant, but what the hell are you talking about?
“In my day, we had to sit at the DMV for 8 hours and we weren’t bored. We were thankful” LOL
I have the solution! We all must fly naked, with your passport bar code tatooed onto your neck. That way there is no issue of explosives.
Unless, of course, you hide them prison-style. With an iPod shuffle. Ouch.
I can hardly move my ass in a airplane bathroom.
Don’t you think it looks very suspicious with three of my buddies there.
With only one pair of earbuds!
Thorin,
I’ll tell you what Ron is talking about. He’s talking about a society that is so addicted to entertainment that it is incapable of discerning the difference between fact and fiction. A society which mistakes blantant government propaganda for the truth. People so ignorant of anything outside of their circle of friends that it causes any slight non-conformity in an individual to seem like a freak. A voting public that is so enthralled by divisive issues like abortion and gay marriage that the very things that will run this country into the ground can be completely ignored by corporate bought elected television personalities posing as politicians.
And you will continue to debate the opposite of anything that is important while you argue about a War On Terrorism that doesn’t even exist. That’s right. There’s a war but it has 0% to do with war and 100% about making money. Which is what this country was founded for, mercantilism. That’s your purpose and mine. To make money and buy things. At least I know this. Some of you don’t.
To all of you people that claim not to know what the enemy potentially looks like, Google airline terrorism, high jacking and explosions since the 80’s and see who did 98% of them.
Just so you know; it wasn’t the Danes…
Also, you have to be kidding. When a restaurant, hotel or night club blows up (almost weekly these days) your true first thought is that it may be a Boy Scout troop somewhere doing this? Disgruntled Buddhist maybe, how about some catholic monks?
No…me either. I usually have a good idea what “type” of group and “type” of people did it. Though admittedly I was stumped on the Oklahoma bombing.
So out of 50 bombings and suicide attacks and plane crashes in the last 10 years we would have been wrong once. Seems like good enough odds to profile to me.
But, Now here come all the political correct crowd, to let you have it.
QUOTATION: “Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.”
ATTRIBUTION: BENJAMIN FRANKLIN (1706–90), Pennsylvania Assembly: Reply to the Governor, November 11, 1755.—The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, ed. Leonard W. Labaree, vol. 6, p. 242 (1963). This quotation, slightly altered, is inscribed on a plaque in the stairwell of the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty: “They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”
To allow our authorities to limit our liberties at the “expense of security” or to allow the media to induce fear as to force us to rethink our choices, GIVES THE TERRORISTS THEIR SUCCESS!
Fear is fear. Terrorists do not need to actually blow up a plane if the media and government are willing to amplify the threat so the same level of fear results.
Just visited TSA.gov. Don’t believe the hype, you can still take your iPod and laptop on your flight. More alarmist media BS and MDN always buys into it.
Funny, the top of my browser window says MacDailyNews, not Half-Informed, Useless Commentary from Reactionary Dimwits Who Think They Have All the Answers.
Anyone want to go back to talking about Macs? We can leave all the political commentary to … oh, I don’t know … sites that deal with …
— wait for it —
… politics.
Yeah, it’s a radical thought, I know.
tHE dUDE,
Fair enough, I acknowledge your opinion.
Have a good weekend.
Thought this was a Mac site-
Ok.
Let’s petition GW to have the “Gub’ment” switch to Mac.
How’s that?
Back on track?
maclover – “to ban ipods without banning cell phones, doesn’t provide fully effective security.”
Of course cell phones are banned. Anything with a battery is banned, even a key fob with a remote control, it has to travel in your checked luggage.
Virtually nothing is currently allowed to be carried onto a plane leaving the UK and such limited things that you are permitted to carry have to be in a transparent plastic bag. Your pockets must be completely empty. Purses and handbags are not allowed.
The UK authorities are taking security very seriously indeed. Obviously it’s extremely inconvenient, but that’s nothing compared to the inconvenience of being in a plane that gets blown up.
If you want to find out more about the restrictions, try looking at http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4778771.stm