Personal patches

[Allan Bowhill]

On  0, Paul Robinson <paul at iconoplex.co.uk> wrote:
:Allan Bowhill wrote:
:
:>The area of genetic testing has signifcant merit, although you appear
:>not to accept this.
:>
:Oh it does, in establishing identity. I just don't think fingerprinting 
:or genetic testing at airports helps to eastablish identity any more 
:than the passport I carry.

Fingerprinting would probably offer better verification of your identity
for our purposes. I say probably, because it's better to have the
information in hand rather than to trust a 3rd party for the same thing.

:>The U.S. economy, when healthy, relies on %75 internal spending. 
:>If EU businessmen have a problem with this, they can go fish.
:>
:Yeah, 25% is so insignificant. You'd hardly notice it, eh? Despite the 
:dollar being at it's lowest point in decades due to a drop off in 
:investment somewhere around 5-8%, I hear.

I am hard-pressed to believe that the EU has control over
%25 of the U.S. economy.

The lower dollar is mainly due to the U.S. trade deficit with China, not
EU disinvestment, so I heard this morning.

:>I doubt the EU will impose trade sanctions, or sacrifice good business
:>for the sake of a few irate travelers.
:>
:They did for the sake of a few steel workers in the EU.

.. in response to trade sanctions.

Bush's idiocy with that particular gesture was only made more idiotic by
the fact that he backed out of it.

If you want to try sanctioning us for taking protective measures that
probably benefit your own security as well, be my guest. I'll be reading
the papers. We'll see how far that gets.

:>We are not new to this, as you seem to believe. Terrorism, Piracy and
:>Organized Crime are all intertwined. 
:>
:Hahahaha. Now I know you're trolling.

It may seem a troll to you, but it's the way things really are.

:OK, here's a 101 in Irish Republican Terrorism. Most people who aren't 
:from Britain have an innaccurate/skewed view of what happened. This is 
:obviously not comprehensive, but it'll suffice as an introduction to 
:understanding there were faults all round. But as it might give some 
:scope to your understanding...

Thanks for the background. Interesting and well-written.

:>:Right, so you think the FBI and CIA already have every terrorist's 
:>:fingerprint on file already do you? 
:>
:>They have some, 
:>
:Where from? How did they get those then?

Probably from EU (and other) intelligence agencies, interpol. Some
from U.S. military and intelligence operations overseas. Some from
domestic sources.

I would not be suprised if we already have access to fingerprints of UK
citizens, not to mention those in other EU member countries. If so, I
can understand why EU passport holders are exempted from the
fingerprinting procedure.

:>and will get more with the help of this system. If
:>
:How? You think they'll have "Terrorist" under "Occupation" on their 
:passport?

They won't have to. The system will make the connection.

:>the terrorists decide not to show up for their flights, fine. All
:>the better. They can stay home and blow themselves up.
:>
:
:Alas, the preferred method for using planes as missiles is to hijack a 
:plane outside of the US that is US-bound and then use it. So you'll 
:never catch them, or get their fingerprints, until the attack is over...

Actually, the "preferred method" is to highjack U.S. jets fully-loaded
with fuel that leave U.S. airports bound for other destinations in the
U.S. The fact they are loaded with fuel is what makes them a bomb rather
than a projectile, which is why it's the "preferred method".

I expect if an international flight was highjacked just before landing
we would force it to land somewhere else, or simply shoot it down. Not
a pleasant prospect, but within our right to do so.

Perhaps if you thought a little more about the unpleasant options
that terrorism presents government, you might see the benefit of
employing fingerprinting systems in EU airports as well.

:>Not trivial, but possible. All the more reason to go with genetic
:>sampling.
:
:Which is also not infalliable.

But a lot less fallible, and therefore a better method.

:>As far as national defense is concerned, it comes at a price. If it's
:>money rather than lives, let it be money.
:>
:You're forgetting to put liberty and freedom for innocent civilians into 
:that equation.

Already accounted for.

-- 
Allan Bowhill
abowhill at blarg.net

(Sung to the tune of "The Impossible Dream" from MAN OF LA MANCHA)

        To code the impossible code,
        To bring up a virgin machine,
        To pop out of endless recursion,
        To grok what appears on the screen,

        To right the unrightable bug,
        To endlessly twiddle and thrash,
        To mount the unmountable magtape,
        To stop the unstoppable crash!
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