Once again, is it just me?

[callmeslick]

....I'm driving to work this morning, the news is discussing the new, rigorous search procedures at airports,
targeting people who come from specific countries. So, I hear: Syria, Iraq, Yemen, Pakistan....cool!. Then,
Nigeria...well, some folks might get pissed, but the last guy WAS from Nigeria. Then, I hear Cuba, and damn near drive off the road. Cuba? I mean, freaking CUBA???!!!!! The last time I looked, Cubans were either defecting to the US from baseball teams or rigging '62 Buicks to empty 50-gallon drums to make them seaworthy enough to get to the US shores. When the hell has any Cuban, in the past 30 years, lit off anything other than a top-notch cigar on a US bound flight?? I know, I know, Cuba somehow, for politically correct purposes, gets onto every "state-sponsor of Terrorism" list, but it makes us, as a nation, look like loons, and makes the whole list(which seems otherwise sound) suspect.

[Reservoir_Dog]

How can they put Cuba on the list and not add Florida or New Jersey? That's just fucked!

[ruggbutt]

Cuba is a communist nation (officially) so that's most likely why they're on the list. Cuba has been punished for decades for reasons that just don't matter any more. That being said maybe the government knows something regarding Cuba that we're not privy to. At least they're looking closely at someone. We had no domestic terrorism after GW went to war. Hopefully the same will be true under Obama's watch, although with Napolitano at the helm of Homeland Security I think we're all in danger.

[callmeslick]

Cuba is, and has been, on the watch list for purely political reasons. It goes like this: Florida has a lot of electoral college clout. It is about a 50/50 split between the Dems and the GOP. The swing voters are heavily Cuban-American. Thus, no matter whether it be Clinton, the Bushes or Obama, no one wishes to anger the
anti-Castro Cubans by turning back a policy that has utterly no basis in reality. Hell, I'd like to visit just for the fishing and the cigars!

[ruggbutt]

Your boy JFK started all of this.

[callmeslick]

"my boy"?? I'm not THAT old, Ruggie.......

[nicolas10]

http://biggovernment.com/2009/12/27/sho ... more-52758

Some gems in the comments

Forget the European model. Let's see our public servants model themselves after the Japanese when it comes to taking responsibility when things don't work right.

I can barely stand to even watch ole Janet for more than 8 seconds but to have to also listen to her tell us the system worked is just adding insult to her horsey face.

Not even additional screening in spite of the fact that his own father warned us about him, and the administration says everything worked? I have been pulled out for additional screening just on domestic travel, and after the 20 min body cavity search, when the federal rent a guard gave me my boarding pass back with a mint, and what appeared to be a phone number written on it, I was told that this is only routine and for everyone's security. Now new procedures will be put in place that will inconvenience everyone, but it will still be up to the passengers to stop the terrorist. I now show up to the airport in nothing but a bathrobe, and get dressed after going through the screening, but my guess is that now we will have to ship our baggage with UPS, bring no carry-on luggage, will not be able to eat or drink anything on board, pillows and blankets will be banned, and the only bathroom available will be the adult depends that will be passed out at the gate. Also, to make sure that the US does not offend, I can envision MRI's set up, and forensic handwriting specialists to verify that the "titanium hip" and 45 pages of medical disclosures that grandma is traveling with are both legit, meanwhile, young Arab men traveling from Yemin with no luggage, walking as though they have something shoved where the sun doesn't shine, and a red cord with printing on the side that says "ACME quick burning detonation fuse" hanging out their pant leg will be able to sail right through. We need as a country to get back to the point where we take terrorism seriously, and I hope for all our sakes that it is sooner, rather than later.

[callmeslick]

interesting story, nic.
The responses are even better. I love the guy who cites hidden ties to the Ft. Hood Shooter and Obama.
It's early in the year, but that might be a tinfoil hat award winner!!! Geez, it is clear that the system needs severe tightening, and problems have been cropping up for 7 or 8 years(frisking grandmas, guards asleep at surveillance cameras, investigators sneaking fake bombs past luggage screeners, etc, etc), but look at those responses. Very few rational suggestions or comments, just a bunch of loony "I hate Obama" nonsense, and severe paranoia('stock up on guns and ammo'.....nice). Our nation is in deep shit so long as we have a big chunk of the citizenry operating at that low an intellectual level.

[nicolas10]

quite a few tinfoil hat wearers in the replies, from all sides

http://af.reuters.com/article/worldNews ... 4I20091228

Nic

[callmeslick]

look at this shit:
http://www.captivatingcuba.com/cuba/dee ... index.html

CUC=$1.10 US.....dammit, I couldn't even get my cousin to take me out for marlin that cheap! Plus, we're only making a 40 mile run to the canyons from Wachaprague, so it's comparable distance, I figure. And, last I noticed, he isn't running a 41 foot yacht, either. Don't get me going on the Rum or Cigars!!