Flying Blind

by Michael A. Smerconish

Book Overview

Radio talk show host Michael Smerconish asks the question: In a post-9/11 world marked by constant threat of terrorism, why do the Department of Transportation and the Transportation Security... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0762423765
• ISBN13: 9780762423767
• Release Date: August 2004
• Publisher: Running Press Book Publishers
• Length: 232 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 5.8" x 8.3"

Customer Reviews

An eyebrow raiser!

This is quite a book, describing the effect of political correctness on our national security. Almost unbelievable! Fact: In early 1942, then-Governor of California, Earl Warren, who eventually became Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court, with the collusion of President of the United States, Franklin Delano Roosevelt (D), had all of the Japanese/American residents on the Pacific Coast and Hawaii, including U.S. Citizens, interred in what can only be accurately described as "concentration camps." Their property, in most cases, was confiscated and sold, including prime agricultural land. The reason?: It was thought that they represented a threat, and the U.S. government was fanning racial hatred in time of war against our enemy. We have since paid token reparations on an individual basis, a couple generations and many ruined lives later. How things have changed! Today, we are at war with Islamic Fundamentalist Terrorists. In 1979, the U.S. Embassy in Iran was attacked by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. In 1983, the U.S. Marine baracks in Beirut was blown up by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. in 1985 the cruise ship Achille Lauro was hijacked and a 70-year-old American passenger in a wheelcair was killed and thrown overboard by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. In 1988, Pan Am flight 103 was bombed over Scotland by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. On October 12, 2000, 17 U.S. Sailors lost their lives on the U.S.S. Cole, bombed by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. On September 11, 2001. four airliners were highjacked and flown into the World Trade Center and Pentagon by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. In December, 2001, a young Muslim male extremist tried to light a shoe bomb on a commercial jetliner. In 2002, reporter Daniel Pearl was kidnapped on murdered by young Muslim Male extremists mostly between the ages of 17-40. Since then, the scenario has been much repeated, with captives, including a woman humanitarian worker, in Iraq, being shot and beheaded, etc. The culprits, as you can see, are not hard to identify in this country, when they venture here to do their mischief. But this author tells us that if more than two members of the same ethnic group, or who appear to be of the same ethnic group, are stopped at the airline for secondary screening, the airline will be fined for "profiling." If, for example, you have four or five young Muslim Males mostly between the ages of 17-40, you may only stop two of them for further searching or questioning, or be fined for profiling. The world has changed, but not for the better. If police are aware that cocaine smuggling in South Florida is being carried out massively, and that 90 percent of the traffickers are black males in new, big shiny black Cadillacs, who would you expect them to keep an

A true wake up call for the airline industry!

I would have to say that if anyone starts touting this a "right-wing" book, then I accuse them of having not read the book at all. (Merely seeing the words doesn't count, just as hearing and listening are very different.) Michael Smerconish writes a great book about how silly and ineffective our airline security has become. Perhaps his only mistake was getting an endorsement from Rep. Sen. Arlen Specter before going to print. Had he added Dem. Sen. Joe Lieberman to the cover, all those left wing loonies would have been forced to shut their traps. This is not a Republican issue, this is not a Democratic issue. This book is also not an open invitation to use profiling as the only means of defense. Merely, the book tries to portray the fact that when it comes to dealing with terrorism, we are afraid of even whispeing the words "young arab males." A great read, for those who actually read.

Exposes the absurdities that pass for airline security

To put it bluntly, "political correctness" has made a chronic mess of post-911 efforts to secure our country from Islamic terrorist attacks on our airlines, on our seaports, on our borders, on our infrastructure, and on our cities. Flying Blind: How Political Correctness Continues To Compromise Airline Safety Post by radio talk show host Michael Smerconish focuses specifically upon our airports and airlines and how anti-profiling tactics (first developed during the Clinton Administration and perpetuated under the Bush Administration) put 590 million airline passengers at risk every year for the past three years and will continue to do so for the foreseeable future. Flying Blind exposes the absurdities that pass for airline security these days, but even more importantly, offers practical, effect, applicable solutions for fixing the problem of insecure airports, foolish nitpicking while the larger picture is ignored, and the shell game that's been going on (such as federalizing baggage inspector and airport security personnel by simply changing the color of their uniform jackets but providing little or no in service training to better do their jobs) to disguise just how vulnerable we continue to be. Flying Blind is a highly recommended wake up call -- especially in this time of a presidential politics charged atmosphere of posturing and disassembling by all sides.

A Strong Dose of non-PC Reality

Plain and simple, we all know who hijacks planes and commits acts of terror around the world. We know their region of origin, their religious views, and yes, what they look like. Michael lays out a compelling case that when it comes to airline safety, we need to profile NOW if we hope to identify these 1terrorists and keep them from ever taking down another American flight. Anyone tired of the pro-Muslim, pro-ACLU figureheads out there spewing PC venom will thoroughly enjoy this book. And if you hold the other point of view, give this one a read and see what you think.

Wake up America and read this book!

I fly because it's a necessity of my employment. I have been pulled aside in the secondary screening line while "Middle Eastern" males aged 18-35 just pass through. I can not be alone on this matter. When will we learn? First, start by reading this book. Michael Smerconish has taken the challenge and wrote an eye opening, informative testament to the issue of profiling in America's airports. The book details the debate regarding "political correctness" vs. the loss of civil liberties. The truth can not be disputed and Mr. Smerconish's book needs to be read by the decision makers of the DOT, TSA and Airlines.