New Airport Scanners Raise Concerns

New scanners at airports which permit security officers to virtually strip search passengers are raising concerns among many in the flying public.

Budgettravel.com senior editor Sean O’Neill was my guest on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com to discuss the scanners. He says they were put into place as an alternative to patting down passengers in several airports because tests have shown that TSA personnel have missed contraband during those one-on-one searches.

Some people find both the pat-downs and the scanners intrusive, including a Muslim woman who called the show who believed both to be affront to the modesty dictated by her religion.
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Virtual Airport Body Searches Topic On Paltalk

New body scanning technology slowly being introduced into airports in the United States and elsewhere in the world is causing some to raise concerns of privacy. And once again the issue of how to balance security and civil liberties is being raised.

Publications such as Germany’s Der Spiegel have published photographs depicting what security officers see as people pass through the scanners. Virtually everyone I’ve shown those pictures to say the scanners, which clearly show genitalia and even details of a person’s buttocks is way too intrusive.

In the United States, the technology, which basically is tantamount to virtual body searches, is being employed at airports in New York, Los Angeles, Washington, Miami and elsewhere.

Reporter Sean O’Neill, who has reported about the full-body scanners for Newsweek’s Budget Travel site will be my guest on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com tomorrow, November 7.

O’Neill’s article questions if the TSA is violating the privacy rights of those who go through the scanners.

O’Neill reports that Germany has banned the scanners because of privacy concerns. But the TSA argues that they aren’t invasive at all. Here in the United States, the American Civil Liberties Union opposes their use.

On its Evolution of Security website, the TSA says the millimeter wave devices produce a, “three-dimensional image of the body, with facial features blurred for privacy” which is displayed on a remote monitor for analysis.

“The image,” the TSA says, “is not saved – once it’s off the screen it’s gone forever.”

To talk to O’Neill about the virtual strip searches at 5 PM New York time tomorrow, Friday November 7 CLICK HERE. There is no charge.

Paltalk is the largest multimedia interactive program on the Internet with more than 4 million unique users.

News Talk Online is also syndicated by CRN Digital Talk Radio to an additional 12 million households.

Hamas Comments On Obama Win

The Hamas terror group believes the election of Barack Obama is an “historic victory” for the world and an opportunity to change U.S. foreign policy toward engagement with America’s foes.

Ahmed Yousef, Hamas’ chief political adviser in the Gaza Strip, made those comments in an interview with World Net Daily’s Jerusalem bureau chief Aaron Klein.

Yousef, speaking to Klein by cell phone from Gaza, said Hamas is drafting a letter of congratulations to be sent tomorrow directly to Obama. He disclosed the current draft of the letter praises the president-elect as “another John F. Kennedy, or great Roosevelt.”

“We want to be one of the first to congratulate him,” Yousef said. “This is an historic day, a turning point. I think this is the very first time in history that one country’s election concerned everyone everywhere all over world,” said Yousef.

“Everybody is looking forward to Obama’s change, for a change in the U.S. policy, particularly in the Israeli-Palestinian equation, which is the mother of all conflicts.” Yousef told Klein he believes an Obama administration will be more willing to engage in dialogue with Hamas.

Today on News Talk Online on Paltalk.com, Elizabeth Bagley, who served as special assistant to Ambassador Sol Linowitz for the Camp David Accords, said she believed Obama would make as one of his first priorities re-engaging in peace talks in the Middle East.

Obama has named as chief of staff Congressman Rahm Emanuel (D-IL), who was born in Israel and whose father was a member of the Irgun.

Terrorism Threat Remains Real

McConnell

There are those who argue that the United States will be less secure if Barack Obama is elected president of the United States because our enemies will view him as weak and vulnerable and exploit that.

Others argue that the possibility of renewed terrorist attacks on U.S. soil is minimized with an Obama presidency because he understands diplomacy and will take steps to lower the anger level against the United States around the world. They say that John McCain is more likely to provoke a terrorist attack.

Then there are those who believe that, despite his other failings and his low approval ratings, one thing Pres. Bush has done for us is keep the fight “over there.” There have been no additional terrorist attacks (though some plots have been thwarted) they argue since September 11, 2001. Whoever is the next president, they say, needs to continue that policy of taking the fight to the terrorists.

But the nation’s intel chief says, it doesn’t really matter who the next president of the United States is. He is going to be tested by terrorists. Tested, very likely, on home soil.

In a Nashville speech, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell projects the next president, whether he be Barack Obama or John McCain, faces a volatile future. Sounding a bit like Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe Biden, McConnell, noted that the attacks on New York and Washington D.C. came early in the George W. Bush administration. He predicts whoever is elected on Tuesday will face an early surprise. During what he calls a “period of most vulnerability.”

Little Difference Between Obama And McCain

I may have alienated both Barack Obama and John McCain supporters during today’s News Talk Online on Paltalk.com. But I concluded that, not only are the claims that Obama’s tax plan makes him a socialist overblown, but there’s relatively little difference between his and McCain’s.

We played Obama’s discussion with “Joe The Plumber.” Then we went back to what McCain was saying in 2000 about taxation. I didn’t hear much of a difference between them.

So that begs the question. Which plan does McCain really support? The one he proposed eight years ago? Or the one that’s become a staple of this campaign?

He’s not the only one who has “flipped” or “evolved” on the issues, of course. The first and only goal is to get elected. Say whatever you think will propel you into office. Figure out the rest after Election Day.

As we went to air, the news of the plot to kill Obama and more than 100 black Americans broke. So I’d like to make mention of the fine job the ATF did in thwarting the plot.

It reminds us, as we were in 1995 when the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building was bombed in Oklahoma City that not all terrorists are foreign born.

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Hero Dog Dies

Bravo

On September 11, 2007, during Paltalk and 1010WINS.com’s joint extensive coverage of the anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, NYPD Officer Joseph Caputo and his dog, Bravo, came on set.

 

 

Caputo told heart-rendering stories about how he and Bravo searched the pile at Ground Zero for the remains of those who died that tragic day.

 

 

Now, Bravo has died at the age of 12.

 

 

The story of Officer Caputo and his partner, Bravo, is recalled on the 1010WINS website.

New Timetable For World Trade Center Redevelopment

Wall Street Not The Only Crisis Spot

Gen. McKiernan

While the nation is concentrated on the proposed bailout of Wall Street its attention is diverted from another crisis that has been brewing for some time. This one, on the battlegrounds of Afghanistan.

There has been a renewed insurgency in Afghanistan. The safe haven the Taliban and al Qaeda has found in northern Pakistan has proven problematic as well.

Many of us feel that the war in Iraq diverted the military’s attention from the real enemy, concentrated in Afghanistan. Now the top U.S. military commander there is, in essence, echoing those concerns.

Gen. David McKiernan is making an urgent public plea for more troops and resources in Afghanistan. His comments came during a briefing with Pentagon reporters.

How sad it is that the top U.S. commander in Afghanistan, responsible for the prosecution of the war against the true terrorists who attacked the United States on September 11, 2001, responsible for the safety and well being of U.S. and, by extension, NATO troops in country, has to resort to a public plea for help.

His commander-in-chief, President Bush, has, obviously, been asleep at the switch here. It’s increasingly clear that Bush has no vision of his own. That there are others in the administration, most likely led by the elusive Vice-President Dick Cheney, who are telling him what to do and what to say.

Apparently, Cheney and his cronies are far more concerned with Iraq than they are with the true battle ground – Afghanistan.

No Movement On 9/11 Health Bill

Congress is doing a fine job quickly getting a bill through the process to bailout the ailing financial system in the United States. It’s too bad it can’t put a little bit of that effort toward helping those who were sickened as a result of the 9/11 attacks.

After all, it’s “only” been seven years since the terrorists hit New York, Shanksville and Washington.

Today, four members of Congress from New York, two Republicans and two Democrats, are expressing “regret” that HR 7174, the revised bipartisan 9/11 Health and Compensation Act, will not be able to move to passage in these, the waning days of the current House session.

Democrats Carolyn Maloney and Jerrold Nadler, and Republicans Vito Fossella and Peter King, have issued a joint statement pledging to renew their efforts to get legislation passed during the next session.

The $11 billion bill would assure treatment of firefighters, medics, police officers, construction workers, clean-up crews, residents, people who work near Ground Zero and school children who are now sick as a result of exposure to toxins from the World Trade Center site. Although most live in the New York/New Jersey area, some 10,000 people from all 50 states responded to Ground Zero to assist in the search and rescue, recovery and clean up of the site. Many are sick. Others are concerned they will still fall ill.

In addition, more than 400,000 people are believed to have been exposed to toxins from the World Trade Center site. The Congress members say nearly 16,000 responders and at least 2,700 residents or people working in lower Manhattan are sick and receiving treatment. More than 40,000 responders are currently in medical monitoring; 71,000 more are enrolled in the WTC Health Registry.

The bill would have assured compensation for those who suffered economic losses as a result of their WTC-related illnesses.

Who Won The Debate? Perhaps The Voters

The first 2008 presidential debate is over and, the morning after the night before finds a raging secondary debate being conducted. Over who “won” last night’s verbal dual.

In The McCain Obama 2008 Debate Room in Paltalk Studio A on Paltalk.com, voters were given the opportunity to share their own reactions. The lively discussion lasted into the wee hours of Saturday morning.

“Obama wiped the floor with McCain,” one Democratic said.

“Everyone is saying McCain won,” was the comment of a Republican.

But does it really matter who “won” the debate? Was that the purpose? To determine who is the better debater? Or is reason they debate to clarify their positions to the American people?

In some areas, the two, naturally, disagreed. In a few, there was agreement. And in several, what they agreed upon was that they “fundamentally disagreed.”

There was also opportunity for each candidate to correct or clarify accusations made by the other.

If one was listening closely, one heard that John McCain and Barack Obama both basically favor a bailout of Wall Street and checks and balances to prevent a recurrence of the financial mess the nation faces. Details remained elusive. So they settled on differing over the reason for the crisis.

McCain made the most dramatic suggestion about how to better prioritize the federal budget as a result of the nation’s financial woes, by cutting out huge amounts of spending … a “spending freeze” is what he called it. Obama countered that would be “using a sledge hammer when you need a scalpel.” This is the kind of fundamental difference that could help someone who is undecided determine who to vote for.