LAX shutdown
 

Anybody know what's going on down there?

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5915091/

My buddy lives right next to the airport....said people are just walking down the highways. Apparently everything is shut down.....

Misunderstandings and exploding flashlight batteries, or so they say.

A guy (late for a flight) ran up the down exit starcase to get into the secured area in Terminal 6. Unfortunately, it joins T5 and T7. All three were quarantined, and the pax sent out one exit to the street in order to pass in front of the guard sitting at the stair. Took three hours to find him hiding in a restroom, standing on a toilet. He missed his flight, and will spend the next 10 to 15 days to explain it to the judge, and figure a way to pay for the costs.

The second incident was in the International Terminal, when a passengers' metal flashlight (you know, the kind LAPD used to use), was opened, the TSA guard crossed the threads putting the cap back on, and shorted out the nicads. They exploded shortly after, and the shrapnel injured several people, most of them TSA.

LAPD closed every entrance to LAX more than a mile away from the airport, and chaos ensued.

I guess almost no one has departed even now, almost 6 hours later.

Am really glad I was only caught in the traffic mess trying to go from one marina to the other, and not having to fly today.

What a moron - the guy who ran up the down staircase.

As for the flashlight - I didn't even know you could bring a Mag-Lite type of flashlight onboard. The things are clubs that light - way more effective weapons than the needle-nose pliers TSA confiscated from me the last time I flew.

I had a funny one last week. I sold a 911 fan wrench on eBay. I had meant to stop on the way to work and mail it. You already know what happened. It was in my carry-on. Three TSA brains were trying to figure out what it was, and the many ways I could use it to take over my own plane.

Yep, you guessed it, they made me check the bag it was in, .... on my own plane.

I felt much better.

But at least they are doing their 'job'.

I recall taking a sample of steel reinforced concrete not so long ago...post 911 in my hand luggage.

Every one got a good laugh and let me take it with me...

And while our government is busy trying to do a half assed job of keeping tweezers and wrenches off air planes I am sure the terrorists will be working hard at going after the next soft target like the chechnian terrorists just did.

So when is the government going to get busy turning every shopping mall, school and any other public place into armed and impenitratable fortresses?

I've been catching up on some threads in the OT forum just now, I must say, 350HP, you sure are relentless in your crotchety ways!

Keep it up, I'm getting lots of good chuckles over here.

SmileWavy

he makes very good points though, admit it

I admit that the insanity I see in the world around me makes me a little crotchety at times.

Indeed, he brings a unique angle to political debates, an angle that helps bring a bell shaped balanced discussions. My comment was aimed more at his relentless expression of his conspiracy theories...I mean views. :D

No personal offense intended.

Hmm, I didn't know that reminding people that terrorists are likely to go after new and undefended targets due to our occupation of the middle east was another 'relentless expression of my conspiracy theories'. :rolleyes:

No no, the terror threat is real and the targets are infinite, agreed.

It's comments like this that make me laugh...

"And while our government is busy trying "

"So when is the government going to get busy "

"due to our occupation of the middle east"

Relentless.

SmileWavy

Well, I do try to make as many statements with as few words as possible.

For example, what in the hell were airport security officials thinking when tweezers and nail clippers were banned from aircraft yet cigarrette lighters are still allowed?

I guess the grooming lobby needs to get as much clout as the tobacco lobby has.

Its like our country and its institutions are being run by insane idiots.

U meAN i COULD FIT RIGHT IN?

The deterent against tweezers, pocket knives, Mag-Lites, high-heeled shoes, etc., is interesting. But c'mon; an enterprising terrorist could make a weapon out of anything - all he/she really needs is to instill fear - which is the ultimate weapon.

After that, their name will be in the lights - which is the ultimate outcome for a terrorist.