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Happy independence Day.

Fourth of July!

Thanks Robert John! It's one of our most popular national holidays and it always reminds us of the sacrifices and travails of our founding fathers and the patriots from previous generations that made this day possible for us.
 
Boston was a bust...

Jagdflieger said:
It's one of our most popular national holidays and it always reminds us of the sacrifices and travails of our founding fathers and the patriots from previous generations that made this day possible for us.
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Jagdflieger,

I have to tell you, this was the first year I packed it in. The new restrictions in the wake of the Marathon bombing are so intense that for a family with young children, not being able to carry a backpack and having to put everything in clear plastic bags is a ludicrous proposition, especially with diapers, snacks, and other essentials you have to have if you're going to be in the sun virtually the entire day. We were trying to get through the security checkpoint for more than ninety minutes, and not only having to go through searches, but also metal detectors.

Plus, they would only let you carry in up to two liters of water, which is not enough when you have a wife and four small kids. You could always buy some, at $5 a liter. Food was the same way...no coolers! My wife and I told the security people that if this is what it's come to, it's just not worth it. If we really want to respond to the events in Boston and NYC properly, don't change the security, give the buzzards a giant middle finger, and go on with life as if nothing ever happened. Making us jump through flaming hoops proves their point, and makes Benjamin Franklin's words echo louder than ever.

We walked around and thanked all those in uniform we could see, said thanks to any military personnel we encountered, turned in our wristbands, and came home.

Plus, it was 90+ degrees, with a dewpoint near 75.
 
Rami said:
Jagdflieger,

I have to tell you, this was the first year I packed it in. The new restrictions in the wake of the Marathon bombing are so intense that for a family with young children, not being able to carry a backpack and having to put everything in clear plastic bags is a ludicrous proposition, especially with diapers, snacks, and other essentials you have to have if you're going to be in the sun virtually the entire day. We were trying to get through the security checkpoint for more than ninety minutes, and not only having to go through searches, but also metal detectors.

Plus, they would only let you carry in up to two liters of water, which is not enough when you have a wife and four small kids. You could always buy some, at $5 a liter. Food was the same way...no coolers! My wife and I told the security people that if this is what it's come to, it's just not worth it. If we really want to respond to the events in Boston and NYC properly, don't change the security, give the buzzards a giant middle finger, and go on with life as if nothing ever happened. Making us jump through flaming hoops proves their point, and makes Benjamin Franklin's words echo louder than ever.

We walked around and thanked all those in uniform we could see, said thanks to any military personnel we encountered, turned in our wristbands, and came home.

Plus, it was 90+ degrees, with a dewpoint near 75.
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Sorry for joining in this late, I had totally forgotten Independence Day.

I can't help but agreeing with you, Rami. One of the main targets in a terrorist's mind is to disrupt normal folks life, injecting the virus of fear.
Preventing you, and I am sure many others, from participating to the biggest holyday celebration in the US, made the Marathon bombers' day.

I know this is almost impossible for a security officer to accomplish, but a distinction should be made when applying security measures. You are and speak obvioulsly as a Bostonian, (yes, my friend: even if you were born in the N.Y. Great Lakes region, I could tell a trace of the Boston accent in your speech!) your background can be easily checked and you were there with your entire family, while your wife surely DID NOT wear a burka and walked behind all of you because she's the last of the family, as some faiths pretend to impose.

In other words, loads of intelligence and, why not, a certain degree of positive discrimination should be applied to separate the wheat from the weeds!

Don't get me wrong, I have the habit to thank airport security officers as well when they are strict, but if they insist in not allowing this or that, and do not understand I couldn't possibly hijack an airliner, I usually get mad and my Italian temper flares up like a phosphor incendiary bomb. I had a ferocious argument with INS officers in San Juan, Puertorico, airport back in Jan. 2002, when I went there to visit a very good friend of mine from the times I lived in the US, who was spending wintertime in a friendlier environment to her bones.

I still get annoyed when I think of the three useless hours spent in the INS office after I landed, answering to their idiotic questions, and risking to be thrown back into the same plane I arrived with, because I could not control my nerves anymore! Do you know why I was questioned by those "we are waging a war, sir!" guys so much? My friend forgot to write me her house address in Vieques, and I forgot to ask, used to going back and forth for so many times back in the 1980's with no problems! Thank God they let me call her, but she had to set her attourney in motion......In the meantime, I lost three connection flights from San Juan to Vieques, she had to fly over to pick me up with the last returning flight and we had to spend the night in San Juan! Thank you, INS!

JUST AS AN EXAMPLE, and now I can't help blurting it out, as I wanted to ask this for ages: "Who do you seriously think it's going to be so honest to declare, before arriving in any US territory, if he/she supported the Communist Party in their homeland, knowing damn' well this will cause an entry refusal to the US?" Just for the fun of leaving, landing and fly back again immediately thereafter? C'mon, let's be serious here!!
US Citizens probably never saw the entry application form an "alien" must fill before his/her aircraft lands: I recently heard the question about freely admitting one's a Commie or not is still there! It sure didn't stop the Twin Tower tragedy or the Boston Marathon bombing.
We use to say here that laws only stop honest citizens......

You are right: "Making us jump through flaming hoops proves their point, and makes Benjamin Franklin's words echo louder than ever." :USA-flag:

Hoping other friends there enjoyed their 4th of July better than you did, I can only wish all of your hangovers aren't that bad today...:isadizzy:

Cheers!
KH :ernae:
 
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