I’ve always been a bit of a traditionalist; it’s just that I like to create my own traditions. For example, when traveling, rather than the usual touristy shots, I liked to have my photo taken while throwing out trash in front of a famous monument.
Me throwing out trash in front of Notre Dame. Me throwing out trash in front of Anne Frank’s house. Me throwing out trash in front of the Tower of London. You get the idea.
It was particularly fun when traveling alone to try to explain to some non-English speaking native or fellow traveler why I wanted them to take a picture of me posed in front of say, the Acropolis, while throwing out trash. And quite accidentally, it also turned into a surprisingly interesting ethnographic study of trash receptacles from around the world.
Well, according to an email from an old traveling buddy, you can chalk up even this innocent tradition as yet another victim of the Islamo-Fascist war on our freedoms:
Goldy,
I was with the kids in London this past weekend. Planned on sending you a picture of them throwing away trash at some famous location. Sadly all the trash bins have been removed from central London. I guess they made good places to hide bombs.
Damn you Osama bin Laden!
Last time I was in London was back in 1991, during the early days of the first Gulf War (i.e., cheap airfare), at a time of heightened IRA activity (the enemy of my enemy, and all that). And while couple bombs and bomb threats disrupted rail service for a while, I didn’t notice any shortage of centrally located trash cans.
So it’s interesting that, after finally emerging from decades under the constant threat of IRA violence, the British authorities would take this drastic step in response to the odd Islamist attack. Kinda makes you long for the good old days, huh?
This is very interesting. There is a vicious circle happening here, of course:
1 The terrorists attack: 911, shoe bomber, etc.
2 The government seizes upon the fear to get people in line and protect itself: Iraq War, PATRIOT, GWOT, Total Information, Freedom Fries, TSA
3 The people (scared by terrorists, the media, and the govt) start generalizing and scapegoating: Glenn Beck, hate crimes, so-called “Ground Zero Mosque”^tm controversy
4 And, of course, 2-3 provide a perfect propaganda opportunity for the terrorists to recruit more terrorists and rationalize further senseless violence.
This is all a dangerous game. Who is going to stop playing?
Here is one answer:
Guns and Patriots!
some examples:
“How to Recognize and Fight a Terrorist on a Plane”
by Randy Plante
Simple and concrete advice from a former Air Force and commercial jet pilot on how to proactively defend yourself and your fellow air travel passengers against a terrorist threat.
“Gals and Gun Shops: First Gun Buy”
by Jennifer Kendall
Jennifer Kendall had a mission — buy a handgun for home defense with a budget of $500. She shares her experiences with gun dealers, their advice, and her final decision.
“Military Lab Rats”
by Oliver North
Lt. Col. North’s impassioned argument against subjecting the US military to the “radical social experiment” of repealing “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.”
“Duty, Honor, Country: Not for Obama”
by Susan Dale
With her unique blend of current affairs and historical understanding, Susan Dale reflects on how Obama cannot live up to the nobility of past American heroes.
Your brother in salvation,
Glenn
FWIW (very little), my father specialized in travel photos of meter maids, cops, whoever-in-uniform writing parking tickets.
Actually, when I was in London a couple of decades ago, there were no trash bins in the train/tube stations because of, yes, IRA bombing attacks.
re 2: Ever heard of Roger Ramjet?
Oh, and Oliver North is a convicted felon.
Oliver North is what Obama will never be .. a good, white, american christian who served his country.
Yeh, he was convicted, you know why? He took one in the GUT for Reagan!
Without heroes like Ollie we would ahev lost Nicaragua to the commies just like we will loose Arizona to Mexicans unless more Ollie Norths step up and do the right thing!
Your brother in salvation!
Huh????
Beckoner has been drinking the Reagan Kool Aid. And he knows nothing about the history of Nicaragua.
By the way, Oliver North had quite a few contacts with Manuel Noriega in Panama, before that strongman was overthrown in a U.S. invasion. The Senate investigation of Iran/Contra concluded that North was not only pursuing the Iranian Arms deals as a way of funding the Contras, but also using profits made by drug smuggling by the Contras. The first introduction of crack cocain into the U.S. may well have come via the logistics tail which was funding the Contras.
So… is Oliver North still a great hero????
I also know a few ways to fight a terrorist on an airplane. Those tactics are widely known by those in the airline and aerospace industry.
But I’m not going to give that information out over the internet, because it could also be used by a terrorist attempting to overcome a flight crew and U.S. Sky Marshals attempting to defend the plane.
I guess Plante didn’t have any such concerns, and was willing to make a buck instead. I guess he figures the average passenger could out-fight a trained terrorist, with both knowing the same tactics (but the passenger never having practiced them).
Actually, after 9/11 hijackings are pretty much a thing of the past. Before 9/11 airlines complied with a hijackers demands because passenger safety was considered paramount. Now the pilots sit behind locked and armored doors, with instructions to not let the terrorist take control of the plane under any circumstances, even if it results in the loss of the passengers and flight crew outside the cockpit.
That’s why all the attention is being placed on a suicide bomber. He can’t fly the airplane into a building, but he could blow one up mid-air, if he can sneek the right stuff on board.
@7
Beckoner’s posting satire.
Yeah, the IRA bombed Harrods a couple of times in the early 1990’s by leaving bombs in the trash cans in front of the store. The lack of trash cans is because of the IRA. So I guess you could say that the IRA “won” because the trash bins were removed. However, Northern Ireland is still not reunited with the rest of the island. So they haven’t won very much.
P.S. The IRA was much better at bombing than the extremist Muslims. And they were Christian!
Another way the terrorist won that saddens me. Remember when airports used to have paid lockers? When you had a layover of an hour or more till your flight, and you didn’t want to drag you damn carry on, gifts, etc through the airport for the next 4 hours…you could go to a bank of lockers and put your stuff in one for like $1 an hour or something. I LOVED that. Gone. Because WHAT IF the terrorist use them to hide a bomb! Forget that it’s ALREADY on the airplane side of security (*&!#&$) and that if they got a bomb THAT far they can ALREADY just walk onto the damn plane with it!!! I HATE dumb pointless useless security measures like this. Just like taking my 1″ pocketknife from me, then sitting me in 1st class on Alaska and handing me a F**KING METAL knife AND fork. COME ON! Can’t reason, logic and common sense EVER rule the day? Do all our laws and rules have to be based on fear, tradition or magic?
The terrorists didn’t win. The grand prize winners were the right-wing and their cohorts in espionage. They were able to milk the fear-teats of the American public completely dry.
The right-wing media, pundits, politicians, demagogues and other associated shysters have tasered the brains of the public into a state of complete deer-in-the-headlights ignorance.
These are the winners along with their CEO associates in the Military-Industrial complex. Life’s looking real swell for this cadre of charlatans.
“…all the trash bins have been removed from central London”??
I think your friend must have been around a different bit of central London to me. My family were happily throwing rubbish in the bins while we were walking around a couple of weeks ago. As someone said earlier, there haven’t been any bins on the underground for years, thanks to the IRA. Perhaps your travelling buddy was looking for a bin around the biggest tourist attractions but there are certainly plenty everywhere else.
I made a couple of trips to Paris in the mid to late 90s, and the same thing happened there. No public trash bins anywere. Any that couldn’t be taken out were bolted closed so you couldn’t use them. There were also soldiers in the airports and on street corners with uzis.