Article

2005-10-05 Down Under

Prince not so charming about being searched

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Posted by Phereger Unimble9361 2005-10-05 00:32|| || Front Page|| [4 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 kudos to the security personnel for standing up to these pompas asses. That's a hard situation to have to deal with. How dare they put themselves above the law.

Posted by Jan 2005-10-05 01:16|| 2005-10-05 01:16|| Front Page Top

#2 It really is telling, isn't it? I guess he's got the hang of being Royalty, now.

Posted by .com 2005-10-05 01:24|| 2005-10-05 01:24|| Front Page Top

#3 What's good for grandma is good for Royals.

Posted by Captain America 2005-10-05 02:04|| 2005-10-05 02:04|| Front Page Top

#4 He doesn't have a diplomatic passport?

Posted by gromky">gromky 2005-10-05 02:08|| http://communistposters.com/]">[http://communistposters.com/] 2005-10-05 02:08|| Front Page Top

#5 He clearly doesn't understand that the modern role of royalty is figure-heading, tourism promotion, and ribbon-cutting.

Posted by Darrell 2005-10-05 07:03|| 2005-10-05 07:03|| Front Page Top

#6 Wasted effort on a non threat. Shows how far we have to go on the learing curve.

Posted by Sock Puppet OÂ´ Doom 2005-10-05 07:11|| 2005-10-05 07:11|| Front Page Top

#7 Who does the Group 4 security worker think he is? Himmler? These pompous, useless, ineffective farts need to be gotten rid of, and guns made required equipment in the cockpit and optional in the passenger cabin. As the heros of Flight 93 demonstrated, this weapon can be denied our enemies.

Posted by Flosh Thins9351 2005-10-05 08:00|| 2005-10-05 08:00|| Front Page Top

#8 At first I am thinking âGood for the Security peopleâ but then I have to question what they expected? The man is Heir to the British throne and very unlikely to cause a security threat. Reminds me of the story of Al Gore and grandmothers getting screened, but I think a case can be made against the ex-VP. Common sense needs to take hold or we will lose the WOT. Little old ladies, former VPs, heads or state, and dare I say British Royalty shouldnât warrant as much scrutiny as some named Acmed, Ali, or Mumar. Since we donât have infinite resources lets try to focus them on the threat.

Posted by Cyber Sarge">Cyber Sarge 2005-10-05 10:34|| 2005-10-05 10:34|| Front Page Top

#9 e man is Heir to the British throne and very unlikely to cause a security threat.

*cough*DukeofHamilton*cough*

Posted by Mitch H.">Mitch H. 2005-10-05 10:44|| http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/]">[http://blogfonte.blogspot.com/] 2005-10-05 10:44|| Front Page Top

#10 Cyber,

But where does the "Royal" treatment end? Should we let the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia get through because he is personally not a know n threat? Kudos to the security folks. Terrorism is everyone's game...everybody plays by the rules..I'd much rather piss off a blue blood than be responsible for a lot of spilled red

Posted by Warthog 2005-10-05 11:50|| 2005-10-05 11:50|| Front Page Top

#11 There is a difference in reaction between what might be called an "unrevealed known" and the "true unknown".

For the former, say you walk into a room and see a revolver lying on a table. You know it can be dangerous; you also known its general parameters, that is, *how* it can be dangerous. So it, by itself, is not particularly menacing. It is an "unrevealed known". You are not threatened by it, you just don't know why it is there.

For the "true unknown", say you walk into a strange, pitch black room. The door slams shut behind you and locks. Then you hear the unfamiliar growl of a large, angry animal, of unknown type. Now *that* is scary, because you do not have enough information on which to act in any way.

So this makes *four* possibilities: the known, the unrevealed known, the true unknown, but also the unknowable. So, in the case of airplane security, you need to prioritize:

1) The known: HRH Andrew. Not a threat.
2) The unrevealed known: Drunk soccer fan. May be a threat, but not a terrorist threat.
3) The true unknown: Arab guy wearing a heavy coat in summer. Serious threat.
4) The unknowable: Allah himself, in disguise, planning to blow up the plane. Not a threat, since you can't see him coming anyway.

Posted by Anonymoose 2005-10-05 11:51|| 2005-10-05 11:51|| Front Page Top

#12 I get confused. Are these folks the Kennedy's of
Great Britain or are the Kennedy's the Royal Family of America?

Posted by tu3031 2005-10-05 11:55|| 2005-10-05 11:55|| Front Page Top

#13 The prince is obviously not a threat, but the security people did the right thing. We don't want them to have (and they propbably don't want) the authority to waive rules. Once they have that, the quality of security is dependent upon the discretion of the individual screeners.

Giving screeners the ability to grant exceptions reduces security and makes their jobs more difficult.

Posted by DoDo 2005-10-05 12:40|| 2005-10-05 12:40|| Front Page Top

#14 I travel a lot and I am very suspicious of everybody, particularly those that stick out as eastern or middle-eastern stock. If Al Gore and I were flying on the same plane I would have no problem with him bypassing security. If Osama Bin Butthead and I were on the same flight I would expect the security personnel to give Mr. Butthead some scrutiny before they let him fly. A little common sense is all it takes and we can stop terrorism. If the cops were given a description of crime suspect of White/Middle Age/6â2â/Mustache and they made a point to look for an equal amount of Hispanics or Blacks we would fire them for inefficiency, stupidity, or both.

Posted by Cyber Sarge">Cyber Sarge 2005-10-05 13:30|| 2005-10-05 13:30|| Front Page Top

#15 Uh, spoiled brat, prince, frog or toothfairy if you wish but at the end of the day he ain't nothing special outside of his imaginary kingdom and given that has no grounds for complaint and obstinancy.

Posted by MunkarKat 2005-10-05 13:34|| 2005-10-05 13:34|| Front Page Top

#16 Welcome...... ....to the real world.

Do they still give airlines a heavy fine if they search too many middle-eastern looking people?

Posted by CrazyFool 2005-10-05 13:44|| 2005-10-05 13:44|| Front Page Top

#17 Why isn't he flying Air RAF?

Posted by mojo">mojo 2005-10-05 14:23|| 2005-10-05 14:23|| Front Page Top

#18 Prince was carring drugs, his royal entourage negotiated a wand [singolo] test before he agreed.

Posted by Matt Drudge 2005-10-05 15:40|| 2005-10-05 15:40|| Front Page Top

#19 Ok, Cyber Sarge, but there may be another reason. The ever-popular CYA....as in, "No, we're not picking on you....we did the same bloody thing to Prince Andy...now shut up & spread 'em!"

Just in case the NZ version of CAIR gets their panties in a wad over the Kiwis searching a Mr. Osama bin Laddin who just flew in from Kabul....

Posted by Desert Blondie 2005-10-05 22:42|| http://azjetsetchick.blogspot.com]">[http://azjetsetchick.blogspot.com] 2005-10-05 22:42|| Front Page Top

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