Warren (raise my taxes) Buffet

[777 fixer]

It becomes obvious to me that this no longer the United States that my Uncle ran out onto the beaches of Normandy to preserve. This started with Viet Nam for me and came to a head when Obama got elected. Since his election I've not left the USA as I am embarrassed to admit I'm from the United States and that as a nation we could fall for such an incompetent President. We are the laughing stock of the world.

So you don't travel overseas becasue you are embarrassed to be an American. Well ther are lot of people who are willing to put it all on the line for the privelage of being embarrassed to be an American. the number of legal and illegal immigrants in the USA proves this. There's another group that's showing up here in the states, Chinese millionaires. They know if they run afoul of the communist government they can have everything taken away with no legal recourse. The list goes on but youn get the idea.

IMO the reason people make thse comparrisons to places like Nazi Germany or the USSR is that they really don't know the fear and terror the people who lived in that country really felt. Why, becasue they grew up here in the USA.

 

[777 fixer]

Did you read Lojeski v IRS? Get back to me when you do. I stated that the IRS is the CLOSEST thing we have.

Have you ever read a history book on Nazi Germany or the Gestapo? If you have then you would know it's not even CLOSE.

 

[delldude]

So you don't travel overseas becasue you are embarrassed to be an American. Well ther are lot of people who are willing to put it all on the line for the privelage of being embarrassed to be an American. the number of legal and illegal immigrants in the USA proves this. There's another group that's showing up here in the states, Chinese millionaires. They know if they run afoul of the communist government they can have everything taken away with no legal recourse. The list goes on but youn get the idea.

IMO the reason people make thse comparrisons to places like Nazi Germany or the USSR is that they really don't know the fear and terror the people who lived in that country really felt. Why, becasue they grew up here in the USA.

Dude....you faced?

 

[SparrowHawk]

So you don't travel overseas becasue you are embarrassed to be an American. Well ther are lot of people who are willing to put it all on the line for the privelage of being embarrassed to be an American. the number of legal and illegal immigrants in the USA proves this. There's another group that's showing up here in the states, Chinese millionaires. They know if they run afoul of the communist government they can have everything taken away with no legal recourse. The list goes on but youn get the idea.

IMO the reason people make thse comparrisons to places like Nazi Germany or the USSR is that they really don't know the fear and terror the people who lived in that country really felt. Why, becasue they grew up here in the USA.

Not any more I don't. Just because we have a better system doesn't mean it can be made even better or as is the current case being run into the ground by a back bench junior senator posing as POTUS. Where we are headed under the current regime is not a place I want to be.

I also have a very good friend who came from Russia with just the clothes on her back plus one small suitcase. Let me tell you that you've no idea what people went through in the USSR merely because they were Jewish as she was. I don't need a freakin' history book I heard it first hand from someone who lived it. Also don't lecture me about Germany either as I had relatives who were there during the war. Population starving and not just in the camps either. A GI could get laid for a chocolate bar.

Thomas Jefferson wrote, "When people fear their government there is tyranny, when government fears the people there is Liberty" Now then do you think your government fears the citizens or is it the other way around? We KNOW that in Germany, the USSR in the past and currently N Korea, China & Iranian citizens fear their government.

If we fear our government then what?

 

[777 fixer]

I also have a very good friend who came from Russia with just the clothes on her back plus one small suitcase. Let me tell you that you've no idea what people went through in the USSR merely because they were Jewish as she was. I don't need a freakin' history book I heard it first hand from someone who lived it. Also don't lecture me about Germany either as I had relatives who were there during the war. Population starving and not just in the camps either. A GI could get laid for a chocolate bar.

Since my family fled that part of the world I have a general idea what went on there so don't talk to me like I have no clue. And trust me, those stories carry more wieght coming from a grandparent than a "good freind".

 

[777 fixer]

I would to see the TSA abolished, right along with large portions of the FAA. Both ATC and gate screening would be privatized making both more efficient.

Are these private screeners not going to serarch your luggage, have you walk through metal detectors and/or body scanners, ask you questions if they feel it is warranted? What is going to be the difference between them and the TSA from a "liberty" standpoint? Who is going to make the rules governing it?

 

[SparrowHawk]

Since my family fled that part of the world I have a general idea what went on there so don't talk to me like I have no clue. And trust me, those stories carry more wieght coming from a grandparent than a "good freind".

FYI, It was from my Uncle and several of his war time comrades in an American Legion Hall back in the early 1970's. Some were in the 90th Division and a guy I worked with was in the 89th all served under Patton. I was a very lucky little Boy having my Grandmother around when I was growing up. The woman should have been a teacher as she educated me on everything about WWII since her sons were in it. Amelia Earhart was her number one hero and she's in my top five someplace behind Patton.

 

[SparrowHawk]

Are these private screeners not going to serarch your luggage, have you walk through metal detectors and/or body scanners, ask you questions if they feel it is warranted? What is going to be the difference between them and the TSA from a "liberty" standpoint? Who is going to make the rules governing it?

There is no way the public will sit still for airports without a security checkpoint. The difference is that a company like say Wackenhut doesn't have the full weight of the Federal Government behind them. They would be limited in their scope.

 

[Ms Tree]

You mean like Blackwater did not have the full weighting the government behind them? Ill pass.

 

[SparrowHawk]

You mean like Blackwater did not have the full weighting the government behind them? Ill pass.

I think it's a big stretch from a paramilitary organization operating in a zone of conflict (no declared war can't call it one) where the fog of battle often clouds judgement by civilian standards to an outsource contractor providing a glorified mall security guard function.

We are broke! we need to slash the cost of government and getting rid of the TSA and ATC by privatizing them allows the USA to reduce cost with little to no reduction in security with an increase in civil liberties. A win win situation.

 

[Ms Tree]

Your assuming that the FBI will run the security according to a separate set.of rules. I suspect the She rules.will be used with the only change being the faces at the airports. I also belive the FBI would create a separate department to over see the security so any savings would be minimal at best.

 

[SparrowHawk]

Your assuming that the FBI will run the security according to a separate set.of rules. I suspect the She rules.will be used with the only change being the faces at the airports. I also belive the FBI would create a separate department to over see the security so any savings would be minimal at best.

If it's cheaper then that's good enough. It would still be under DHS not the FBI. Cost would be borne as it was before by the airlines and this time add in the airport authority. No cost whatsoever to the feds except for the existing command and control functions of DHS/TSA. All of the labor cost goes away.

 

[777 fixer]

There is no way the public will sit still for airports without a security checkpoint. The difference is that a company like say Wackenhut doesn't have the full weight of the Federal Government behind them. They would be limited in their scope.

Waht exactly does that mean, limited in their scope? What would they be limited to?

 

[SparrowHawk]

Waht exactly does that mean, limited in their scope? What would they be limited to?

The "model" I have in mind would be similar to the screening process I've been through several times when visiting Amsterdam. AMS uses private contractors and the process is very similar to the pre 9/11 screening. On international flights you are screened again at the gate and admitted to a secure boarding area and presenting your pass port and having it scanned into a laptop, a member of the staff questions you, asking about 3 to 6 questions that are reasonable questions to ask and not everyone gets asked the same questions. The key IMO is the guard violates your personal space just a little so if you're up to something it will likely show.

In order for the above to work here you'd have to do the Q & A prior to going through metal detectors, etc. There security is at least as good if not better than TSA and way less intrusive. No enhanced pat downs. No nude-o-scopes, no rudeness and no 89 year old women being groped. Although I think Dutch law may play a part in the way they do things. IIRC the dutch can arrest your arse and throw you in jail for 30 while they investigate. I also doesn't hurt having about 3 dozen Royal Dutch Marines on patrol. I don't want airline customers subjected to radiation and molestation. The Dutch seem to maintain security without doing those things

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[delldude]

Is Warren Buffet buying TSA?
Did I miss something?