Terrorist cell taking a dry run????

[sully]

a scary story, for sure, and i'm glad that nothing happened. i gotta agree with HT, though.

[Flametop]

If only we were the "United States". I say toughen up our borders and in/outs of all people. Then, don't just call your neighbor weird and suspect them. If everyone, everywhere got to know the hand full of people who live right next to and around them, we could root out those with bad intentions. Including the crank cookers, crack dealers, child molesters, and all of the rest. And to comment on the threads topic, those guys had no fucking reason to be on a bus full of kids. I will gladly sacrifice myself for the good of the country, but leave the kids alone or die the cruelest death I can cook for you is my motto. And you don't have to be an extremist to want to survive. Just my worthless 0.02.

[markD]

well as a school teacher in st. pete, this story caught my attention. i thought of the kids i am with everyday and the lack of safety that situation brought out. we already have the lumsford law. even the pepsi guy that comes to our school needed ot have a background check before he could enter campus. ANY person that comes into any contact with any student directly or possibly indirectly gets a background check now. granted that is to protect them from child molesters and kidnappers, but this issue with the bus SHOULD have attracted the attention of homeland security. these guys had NO reason to get on a school bus. sorry if they feel they were racially profiled....explain why you got on a yellow bus, and have the story be consistent.

[fr0sty]

One question I have is why did the bus driver let them on in the first place? The driver shouldn't let any adults on the bus willy nilly.

[RacerX]

They told him they were running away from a gator.

[St.James]

Who cares if it's racism? Who cares if it's racial profiling?

Personally I don't care who thinks I'm racist. I'm sure some of my views are indeed racist and I just don't care!

2 people who influenced my life and who I respected more than anyone outside my family were black men. I've dated Mexican and Asian chicks, I have had Jewish friends and so on... So figure that one out.

Even though I don't consider myself a racist I don't run around screaming racism every time someone of color or different nationality is questioned or even when people voice their opinions on it.

I'm so fucking sick and tired of the word racist being thrown around every damned time someone has something to say about someone else who isn't white. It's fucking ridiculous!

Middle Easterners attacked our country and continue to be a threat to this day. Our own government went ape shit over that dumbass Dubai deal. Why? Because we're at fucking war, the Mid East is a threat and we don't fucking know who our enemy is walking around in our own country!

If people want to get nervous and raise an eye brow when 2 middle eastern men gets on a school bus full of kids, so be it! I think Americans have earned the right to question and be suspicious Middle Easterners. It's only a matter of time before the mother fuckers are strapping dynamite or C4 to themselves and blowing up malls, schools and other shit.

I can't tell you how many times I've been pulled over by some dickhead cop who pulled up beside me, took a look at my long hair and decided it was a good idea to pull me over. Did I like it? Fuck no! It pissed me off to no end. Who was going to listen to me? Who was going to scream racial profiling? No-fucking-body, that's who!

But, do I agree with racial profiling? You bet your ass I do. Perhaps if gang activity wasn't way out of control, if we didn't have the mid east threat and their numbers growing in this country as we speak, I may feel differently about that.

Until real changes are made I say if you see anyone doing something stupid or suspicious, may they be white, black, Arabic, whatever, you question it and bring attention to it.

In this day and age I think it's your duty as an American to protect yourself, your family and your country and if that offends someone, who gives a shit?

[RobRR]

Amen St. James. Fuckin' a right, couldnt have said it better myself.

[SeventhSon]

If only we were the "United States". I say toughen up our boarders and in/outs of all people.

Amen. Problem is 11 million people have already crossed our borders through Mexico. Do you really think a terrorist with a WMD is going to have any problems getting into our country that way? It's also nice that we are considering beefing up port security. But what about fucking Mexico's port security? :ROTF:

Homeland security is a friggin joke if we can't secure our borders. Anything other than zero tolerance for illegal border crossings is an admission that terrorists can get into our country undetected.

And why do our politicians keep on telling us it's "impossible" to send the illegals back? If we were really nice and gave them a plane ride back to Mexico instead of a crowded bus, that'd be about $500 ticket. So that comes out to 5.5 billion dollars. Hell, we've already spent about $320 billion in Iraq. Oh, and ExxonMobil cleared over $7 billion in profits for the last *quarter*.

Seal the fucking borders for chrissakes. Who cares about a wall, just plant a minefield in a half mile wide strip. Or just say you are and save the money. It'll have the same effect.

[Misanthrope189]

Is it wrong to say that the terrorists created racial profiling themselves? An entire group of muslim radicals have stated that their intentions are to kill us. I think it's only natural that our reaction is to be suspicious of that group of people. I don't care if I'm profiled for the safety of others, because I know that I'm not doing any wrong. Say it were around WWII time again, and I got on a bus full of Jewish kids, and was profiled because I look 25, have blonde hair, blue eyes, and don't belong on a kid's bus? So what? I realize the jewish people feel sensitive to the plight against them, and understand their extra security measures. Cooperation with our hightened awareness of terrorists would do more to lessen our suspicion than getting pissed at us, I think. If you have nothing to hide, then why get angry?

[Tashtego]

They could have been just stupid kids goofing around. They are probably not Islamo-facists themselves. They probably crapped their pants when the cops were waiting for them at the end of the ride because in the shit-hole society they come from when the cops take you away you don't come back. The bus driver did not make a racist judgement but he did make a disciminatory one. It would be mal-adaptive to not discriminate based on knowledge we have. BTW there never were wide-spread attacks on Moslems here in the US in the wake of 9/11. I can only remember one in fact, a guy tried to run over someone in a sari at mall somewhere if I'm remembering correctly. I do clearly remember Moslems all over the world dancing in the streets and celebrating the mass murder commited by their co-religionists in their name. The total absence of mob and/or retaliatory violence is the most powerful testimony to how tolerant and civilized US citizens are. Compare it to how American and other non-Moslem civilians in moslem countries are treated with or without bombing attacks by us.

[hippietim]

white males not understanding the dangers of racism - imagine that.

st. james - i've been singled out for long hair as well - whether it's stares (all the time), hassles from the cops, or not getting a job because of it. i hate it. sure, i'm used to it after 20 years. but i'd prefer people were tolerant of me. you say you hate being hassled for it yet you still think it's acceptable at some form or another. wow.

intolerance sucks.

[dd3keegs]

white males not understanding the dangers of racism - imagine that.



intolerance sucks.

Hippietim...My son was in class at the School these guys were trying to access. Do you have kids? I would love to be in a World where we just trust everyone. Or believe all is well, and nobody will get hurt. But we don't. These two- 20 something Saudi Nationals aren't the clueless idiots the American-Islamic Relations claim they are. I've gone to school with Muslims from Pakistan, Africa, Saudi Arabia etc... Some were very good friends. And they are very intelligent people. They know what a School Bus is. They knew what they were doing, and had conflicting answer for why the did it. They lied about where they were from when first asked. I'm not suggesting we pounce on all people of Middle Eastern descent. Hell, if I were a Leader of a terrorist cell, I'd send Malaysian or Russian Muslims for the next attack cause we wouldn't expect it. But shouldn't we have some kind of way to track all the Muslim visitors? "Report anything suspicious" the Terror Alert is Elevated today. Isn't that what were are supposed to do. When I was in the Army, these guys would have been caleed Forward Observers. One of their jobs would be to look for weak points in the enemies territory.

[Ralph E.]

Here's the problem HT...

If we would seal the f*n borders like we should and only let in people with full background checks and credentials we wouldn't be in a position to have to racial profile.

But because our borders flow more than an 87 year olds bladder (thanks to our GREEDY f*n politicians) we don't know who the f*ck is in this country or what their doing. So I have to look around and be suspicious of every arab I see. You can have them over for tea, they ain't coming to my house.

[~K~]

white males not understanding the dangers of racism - imagine that.

st. james - i've been singled out for long hair as well - whether it's stares (all the time), hassles from the cops, or not getting a job because of it. i hate it. sure, i'm used to it after 20 years. but i'd prefer people were tolerant of me. you say you hate being hassled for it yet you still think it's acceptable at some form or another. wow.

intolerance sucks.

+1

When I moved to NH my daughter was 7 years old and starting a new school in a new area. I got out of work and went to the bus stop to pick her up. I wasn't there 5-10 mintues when the police came screaming around the corner. Someone saw my appearance and called the police saying I was stalking the buses.

While I am happy they were maintaining the safety of the kids I was bothered by the fact that the police specifically stopped based upon the length of my hair .. yes he admitted that ..

"You have long hair and you are in conservative NH now"

I understand wanting to protect the security of our country but there has to be a point where safety does not impede someones civil rights.. Every right in this country you give up in the name of safety is a right you will NEVER get back without massive Govt change

How many of you guys automatically get labelled dirtbags because of tattoos? Does it make it right? Because you have Tats does that make you a criminal by virtue of appearance?

Tim hit the nail on the head here ...

[Ralph E.]

I still disagree Kev,

like I said, if the government actually maintained our borders then there would be no excuse to look over my shoulder and profile in this case. But considering ANYONE can get in the US how is it not reasonable for me to worry (and thus profile)?

And (to me anyway) there is a difference between profiling and racism (although the media would have you believe differently).