Air travel rant #5 website of the month TSA Blog · Wednesday June 18, 2008 by colin newell
Terrorists Evolve. Threats Evolve. Security Must Stay Ahead. You Play A Part.
The TSA Blog deserves a metal for effort, an Oscar for the acting and some kind of of American online literary award for a stunning, brazen and breathtaking piece of fiction.
The TSA Blog is the mouth-piece of the TSA and has voluntarily opened itself up to the wrath of the American traveling public with its open-comment system:
In a blog entry Why is ID important for security? – the readership takes the TSA to a verbal slaughter and it is so stimulating to hear America speak that it gives me shivers…
If the security systems actually worked then there would be no need to check ID. This is just another attempt to control the American people and steal more and more of our rights. We need to take back some more essential liberty.
Wake me up when the TSA actually does something that actually increases airport security! (Although I still stand by the opinion that if someone ever tries to hijack an airplane ever again, every person on that plane will stand up and beat that hijacker into a bloody pulp.)
Too many holes in this feeble attempt to say that it enhances security. Show me just ONE terrorist that you have apprehended. Or maybe you can use the argument that they are scared away.
And on and on and on and on and on – read for yourself
Someone summed it up on the radio today with a new expression: The militarization of the Canadian airspace has led to a dilution of civil liberties and freedom… There are now 3000 Canadians on a no-fly list, for reasons that cannot be explained to them without any opportunity for exemption. Over one million Americans are now on the no-fly list many for the crime of having the same name of someone else on the no-fly list.
Millions of Americans are now eschewing air travel in favor of alternative means of getting around their country – However, fissures are appearing in the economy of travel leading to airline bankruptcies and other similar crises.
And no one knows where this will lead.
Air travel rant #4 way up in the sky in my beautiful balloon · Tuesday June 17, 2008 by colin newell
For those just joining us… who paid for their pleasure or business flights some months ago… relax, the sky is not falling.
For those pricing out that Christmas vacation or trans-continental business trip, hold onto to your in-flight queasy bag real tight because you are going to need it.
Because it is not like the sky is actually falling – it is just that everything about air travel (and I mean everything) is going up, up, up…
Buying your ticket is the easy part.
Thinking of a flight to Calgary from Vancouver? Ok, that is easy.
$300 for starters.
Fuel surcharge? Could be anything from $75 to $300 depending on how far you are going? Baggage? You may by paying $25 and up for each bag in the near future. Toss in a security charge, an airport improvement fee and a wild and cryptic assortment of mystery fees that would take one worried looking travel agent an hour to explain (and that could cost you by the minute if you call the 1-900 help line!)
It is like the perfect storm – a few thousand feet below the stratosphere… somewhere in the jet stream. Except in reality, the real trouble is on the ground – In America… where millions are fed up with the TSA shake-downs, the illogical levels of security and paranoia. 40 million fewer domestic air trips in America in the last 2 years. American visits to Canada are down 65% over the last 2 years. These people are scared to death and are staying at home where they are safe from the bogey man… and the in flight entertainment.
Sigh.
My wife and I just finished paying for our tickets away this Christmas – and we figured it would be ever so slightly more expensive just to be done with it and just buy the freaking Plane… or the airline which might be possible at the rate at which they are sinking…
Bon voyage.
Comment [3]
Feet don`t fail me now · Tuesday June 17, 2008 by colin newell
A human foot was discovered partially submerged in the water near Westham Island in Ladner, B.C., Delta police said Monday.
It’s the fifth human foot police have found in the province in less than a year.
I am prepared to make a declaration about this…
If you want to find out who belongs to the missing feet – simply do a head count of gangland types in Vancouver…
Or a show of hands…
“Uhm – We get it Colin!”
Yea. I figured.
Heron Rock Bistro #4-435 Simcoe Review · Sunday June 15, 2008 by colin newell
And now for something completely different…
Heron Rock Bistro, in the historic James Bay neighborhood of Victoria B.C. is one of a handful of 3rd wave restaurants focused on locally sourced meats, poultry, veg and creatures of the sea.
And where they succeed is – is taking great ingredients and carefully preparing them in an environment not so formal that it becomes a parody of itself.
The Heron Rock Bistro is anchored by sharp, attractive, attentive and informed staff – and in my books, this is always a reflection of what is happening in the kitchen.
My two female companions had the same thing – the steak fettuccine: It was perfectly prepared with the AAA Striploin attentively prepared to the gals discerning specifications.
I had Moules Frites – steamed Island mussels and hand-cut french fries in a cilantro curry cream – the fries served with a garlic aoli.
Overall – I would brazenly put the Heron Rock bistro in the same category as Victoria’s legendary Cafe Brio and Brasserie l’ecole. Still, I need to pop by a few more times to get a better feel for their consistency. Concluding, I hear from regulars who eat here almost weekly – and the rave never ends.
