Lounge Daddy Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) [url="http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-airline-felonies20-2009jan20,0,5468299.story?page=2"]The quotes are from an article in the LA Times.[/url] [indent]Freeman is one of at least 200 [since 2003, when data first became available] people on flights who have been convicted under the amended law. In most of the cases, there was no evidence that the passengers had attempted to hijack the airplane or physically attack any of the flight crew. Many have simply involved raised voices, foul language and drunken behavior. ... Justice Department spokesman Dean Boyd defended the prosecutions, saying that they have helped improve airline security. He added that the department has only pursued prosecution "when the facts and circumstances of a particular case warrant such action."[/indent] Ya, right. Now, in the following example, note that: #1) This mother was only disciplining her children. And it was more minor that many things I've seen in a grocery store. #2) She spent 3 months in prison BEFORE pleading to the FEDERAL "crime." #3) Note how broadly our Federal Government has spread policing powers by broadly defining terrorism. [indent]Reporting from Los Angeles and Oklahoma City -- Tamera Jo Freeman was on a Frontier Airlines flight to Denver in 2007 when her two children began to quarrel over the window shade and then spilled a Bloody Mary into her lap. She spanked each of them on the thigh with three swats. It was a small incident, but ... A flight attendant confronted Freeman, who responded by hurling a few profanities and throwing what remained of a can of tomato juice on the floor. The incident aboard the Frontier flight ultimately led to Freeman's arrest and conviction for a federal felony defined as an act of terrorism under the Patriot Act, the controversial federal law enacted after the 2001 attacks in New York and Washington. "I had no idea I was breaking the law," said Freeman, 40, who spent three months in jail before pleading guilty. After three months in jail, Freeman agreed to plead guilty in exchange for being released on probation. A court-appointed attorney told her that a plea deal would be the fastest way to see her children, who had been taken back to Hawaii and put into foster care. Her probation required her to stay in Oklahoma City, where she grew up, and prohibited her from flying. Meanwhile, legal proceedings in Hawaii have begun to allow the children's foster parents to adopt them. Freeman has been denied permission to attend custody hearings in Maui over the last six months, court records show. "I have cried. I have cried for my children every day," Freeman said. "I feel the system is failing me."[/indent] Now, here is an interesting comparison. Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell are a couple who were passing the time on the plane flight cuddling in their seats, talking, holding hands, and one fell asleep resting on the others lap. [indent]Last summer, a Boston man who took off his clothes and attempted to open an emergency exit during a flight to Los Angeles was not charged with a crime, even though the plane was forced to make an unscheduled landing in Oklahoma City. Such was not the case with Carl Persing and Dawn Sewell, a Lakewood couple who never left their seats during the 2006 incident aboard a Southwest flight to Raleigh, N.C., that led to their arrests and four days in jail. ... A flight attendant twice asked them to stop, according to the affidavit, and Persing responded, "Get out of my face," and later, "You and I are going to have a serious confrontation when we get off this plane." But he denied making a threat. He said he did not feel well because of a chemotherapy drug and had put his head in Sewell's lap. "We were kind of confused why he was waking us up, why he wouldn't let me sleep," he said in a recent interview. Charges were dropped against Sewell, but Persing, who had never been arrested before, was sentenced to 12 months' probation. He almost lost his job as a Port of Los Angeles mechanic, which requires a security clearance from the Department of Homeland Security. The department initially yanked the clearance but reinstated it after a review of the facts.[/indent] With the Federal Government, facts are incidental. President Washington warned "Government is not reason, it is not eloquence, it is force." [indent]The Justice Department does not keep data on how many such prosecutions or convictions have occurred, Boyd said. ... The single case of actual terrorism cited by Boyd involved Briton Richard Reid, who is serving three life sentences. Reid was subdued by passengers and flight attendants on a 2001 flight from Paris to Miami after he was seen trying to ignite explosives in his shoe.[/indent] Edited February 21, 2009 by Lounge Daddy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Selah Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Oh, for crying out loud Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Madame Vengier Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 Yes, anything to take the focus away from the real terrorists wreaking havoc all around the world: Islamic jihadists. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1787226' date='Feb 21 2009, 09:57 AM']Yes, anything to take the focus away from the real terrorists wreaking havoc all around the world: Islamic jihadists.[/quote] Ya. It just kills me how words can be so utterly abused, used so recklessly that they end up meaning anything or nothing at all. Terrorist, fascist, marriage, exorcism, love, cult, gnostic, socialism, sex... just a hand full of examples that immediately come to mind. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lounge Daddy Posted February 21, 2009 Author Share Posted February 21, 2009 ...so watch out, the Galactic Empire might charge you as a "separatist." Er, I mean the United (Socialist) States may charge you as a "terrorist." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 I'm sure these people are telling the honest truth. Yeah, not terrorism, but they should have behaved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 (edited) I saw this coming a long way off. I feel safe, being employed by the government. Yes, it is local government, but after Obama dissolves the Congress permanently, the regional governors will have direct control over their territories. Edited February 21, 2009 by Winchester Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CatherineM Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 If you've ever been on a flight with a nasty drunk, you will understand how frustrating they can make the job of the people that are on the plane for our safety (and not just as waitresses). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Apotheoun Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Winchester' post='1787247' date='Feb 21 2009, 08:48 AM']I saw this coming a long way off. I feel safe, being employed by the government. Yes, it is local government, but after Obama dissolves the Congress permanently, the regional governors will have direct control over their territories.[/quote] Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader would be happy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aloysius Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote]If you've ever been on a flight with a nasty drunk, you will understand how frustrating they can make the job of the people that are on the plane for our safety (and not just as waitresses).[/quote] yeah, but they're not TERRORISTS. they should be charged with some type of misdemeanor public drunkenness / disturbing the peace dealio, not with a major felony labeling them as a national secuirity threat! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Apotheoun' post='1787315' date='Feb 21 2009, 12:08 PM']Grand Moff Tarkin and Darth Vader would be happy.[/quote] I knew someone would catch it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeffpugh Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Lounge Daddy' post='1787235' date='Feb 21 2009, 09:40 AM']...so watch out, the Galactic Empire might charge you as a "separatist." Er, I mean the United (Socialist) States may charge you as a "terrorist."[/quote] heh... I got that one... [quote name='Winchester' post='1787245' date='Feb 21 2009, 10:43 AM']I'm sure these people are telling the honest truth. Yeah, not terrorism, but they should have behaved.[/quote] Yeah... but I don't get that one where the guy was falling asleep and was being woken up? wha? [quote name='Winchester' post='1787247' date='Feb 21 2009, 10:48 AM']I saw this coming a long way off. I feel safe, being employed by the government. Yes, it is local government, but after Obama dissolves the Congress permanently, the regional governors will have direct control over their territories.[/quote] Oh wait, you aren't kidding, aren't you. Looks like your founding fathers' project is potentially going to be de-railed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jesus_lol Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Madame Vengier' post='1787226' date='Feb 21 2009, 06:57 AM']Yes, anything to take the focus away from the real terrorists wreaking havoc all around the world: Islamic jihadists.[/quote] do you have a rock in your shoe? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winchester Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Sacred Music Man' post='1787348' date='Feb 21 2009, 01:25 PM']Yeah... but I don't get that one where the guy was falling asleep and was being woken up? wha?[/quote] He's probably lying. My money is usually on the supposed innocent lying. And everyone knows you don't tell the poeple on the plane you're going to have a serious confrontation when the plane lands. That [i]is [/i]a threat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hassan Posted February 21, 2009 Share Posted February 21, 2009 [quote name='Jesus_lol' post='1787414' date='Feb 21 2009, 04:30 PM']do you have a rock in your shoe?[/quote] lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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