Let the rebuttals begin...

[CE402]

This senseless diatribe is brought to you by the fine editorial crew at PRAVDA. Oops, I'm sorry, I meant the Boston Globe. I'm always getting those two papers mixed up. (Apologies to the post-Cold War crowd for the obscure reference).

http://boston.com/dailyglobe/2002/01/09/editorial/security_for_small.html

I hope that came through as a link.

 

[Bluestreak]

Ted Kennedy's car has killed more people than my airplane.

 

[Timebuilder]

Thanks for the memory! Actually, the "Amerikan" newspaper most closely associated with Pravda was the New York Times, in a speech given, I believe, by Spiro Agnew in the late 60's. To this day, the Times is still the paper which most strongly supports legislation and regulation that seriously erodes our freedoms, including our freedom to squawk 1200 in a 172.

You won't find the Times or the Globe publishing an op-ed piece that calls for full implementation of our existing immigration laws, they will call instead for more restrictions on aviation.

 

[avbug]

Boston? Isn't that near Hungary?

 

[FL000]

Meanwhile, airfield owners have to look at all their operations, from flight schools to charters, with an acute awareness of how easily their planes can become destructive weapons

What about the 200 million registered vehicles in this country? I can do just as much damage with one of those, it's just going to be on the bottom floor! Not to mention the fact that almost every citiizen can operate one from about age 6. Compare McVeigh's damage with a Ryder truck to what a fully fueld King Air or Lear would do. I guarantee you the truck and explosives did more damage. Where's the outrage against panel trucks? CDL's? Tankers? Fertilizer manufacturers?

What is so special about airplanes? Is it just because the average Joe doesn't know anything about them? Are they mysterious? I'm sick and tired of the stupidity! I'm sick and tired of swimming upstream against all the morons! I talk to people all the time who are scared to die in a plane, so instead they DRIVE 750 miles!

I realize this editorial is about purposeful events, but it dovetails nicely with the general public's supreme idiocy concerning aviation. However, this liberal diatribe really shouldn't surprise me since it comes from Massachusetts.

 

[aero99]

Aircraft are mysterious and dangerous as far as most of the public looks at it and that is why acticles like this and the ball of crap Dateline reported on last night about the Tampa Kid will get printed and Ryder trucks and cars won't.

The media hypes anything aircraft related now. Last weekend in Dallas they had 5 different incidents to report from the SW flight with the drunk guy, to some Mooney in Ft.Worth that landed and had the gear collapse to some guy in a Cessna that didn't listen to ATIS. ( I made up the last one)

I'm sure we will start getting reports of prop strikes on NBC from here on out because it will somehow be related to terrorist acts.

Hating the media more and more every day.

 

[ksu_aviator]

Did anyone stop to think that this is just a copy cat crime, like the ones that followed Columbine (sp). Soon everyone in the media will forget about small airplanes and this will all be over. Remember, the media has an even shorter memory than the public.

 

[Jetscream32]

I agree totally with KSU. When was the last time you heard about Anthrax. That's right, it's all over and done with now because some kid wanted to kill himself in an airplane. If there is another attack it won't come in the form of an airplane, they have already been there and done that. Why do you think they used an airliner in the first place in the manner they did? Because it had not been done before. The media is way too quick to point out what we should have done. By the way, my New Year's Resolution is to not watch the news for a month and save the paper. That way I will really see how quickly they forget about the lates hype.

 

[learflyer]

I like how dateline last night tried to make it sound like
that sw airlines plane nearly hit the little cessna. I think they
said it was a miss of "only" one thousand feet. If only the media knew that that kind of thing happens everyday, and most of the time alot closer than one thousand feet!

 

[kilomike]

PRAVDA

I lived behind the Iron Curtain in Poland back in 1987 when I was a UNESCO volunteer. This garbage about comparing political liberalism with communism has GOT to stop. We are FREE in this country to be liberal or conservative. The Polish people did not have a choice in the matter. Communism denies people the opportunity to express their opinions, to run their own companies, and to develop their country to a better future. Liberalism does not do this. Liberals allow conservatives to express opinions, communists don't. Liberals aren't against free enterprise. It was a liberal labor leader in Poland who helped bring down communism there. (Lech Walesa, the leader of the Solidarity movement fought tooth and nail to end communism and later became Poland's President. Another former electrician runs the country now). Now in Poland, people are free to express themselves and own their own companies. I can say that the truth is probably found somewhere between liberal and conservative. I suggest to those who call the Globe and Times "PRAVDA" go spend a little time in Cuba or North Korea and you will realize that there is a BIG difference between liberalism and communism!

In most cases the truth lies somewhere in the middle and usually moderate ideas work best taking some ideas from liberalism such as working for a cleaner environment and from conservatism which include encouraging businesses with tax credits to create jobs. MODERATES RULE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!