“To amend title 49, United States Code, to provide for a child safe viewing area within which covered air carriers shall not display violent in-flight programming. … This Act may be cited as the ‘Family Friendly Flights Act of 2007′.”

Basically what this act is aimed to do is create areas of the plane that will not be able to see the in-flight entertainment system or limit the rating of the in-flight movie being shown. Basically it is a safe viewing area. Here is the definition according to the proposed bill:

“CHILD SAFE VIEWING AREA.—The term ‘child safe viewing area’ means an area on an aircraft operated by a covered air carrier in which there are no publicly viewable entertainment screens displaying violent in-flight programming located within 10 rows of seating of such area.”

This whole thing just seems to be folly to try and legislate in a seating plan. It is going to be a pain. So does this mean that there will now be three or four areas in a plane. For example I fly quite a bit on United and there are typically three areas on domestic flights, First Class, Economy Plus, and Economy. So that now there would be a fourth area that would be a no movie zone. Well what happens if there are no kids on the plane? Does that area still not get a movie?

So I can just picture the seating process for a plane. It used to be people would ask for aisle seat, now it is going to be an aisle seat with entertainment. Kind of reminds me of back when smoking was allowed in airplanes, what would happen when one got seated in a smoking section?

I have lots of pet peeves and inconveniences when I fly, but I don’t expect the airlines or the Congress to do anything about them. Here are just a few:

• People who lean across me when I have the window seat to look out the window
  My solution, I just close the window
• People who want to make small talk when I want to sleep
  I put in my earphones
• People who do not tell their kids to use their inside voices
  I put in my earphones. I wonder if I can get Congress to enact legislation for a no kid zone
• People who sing along with their listening material
  I put in my earphones, or use my noise canceling headphones if I have them with me
• I typically can’t see the movie well and there are so many people walking up and down the aisle I can’t watch it
  I bring a book, a laptop, magazine, or other form of entertainment

So since my Congressional Representative is one of the sponsors of the bill, he even appeared on MSNBC to discuss it. I figure I have to write a letter to him and tell him to stop worrying about this issue and get to other more important ones.

The ones I am worried about are unfair search and seizure and the right to privacy. If you couple that with the whole domestic security thing it just gets to be a freaking idiotic cluster f*** of double talk and stupidity.

So first, why the hell does the government want to know or have the right to know who I am talking with. I believe that is basically the freedom to assemble and associate. So the federal government decides that it is going to track all the calls going around to try and figure out who is calling who and then get a search warrant (maybe) to listen to those calls to see what is going on with the terrorist threats.

Oh wait, maybe they won’t get a search warrant, they will just do some domestic spying in the interest of national security. So basically in the interest of security the government can figure out who you are calling and then if they want to decide to listen to your calls without any due process in effect. Hmmm that makes me feel good.

So now let’s look at immigration. One of the big fears is that the Government needs to know who is entering and exiting the country, especially to make sure that they are not terrorists. So the idea is that there are these no fly lists to keep people from using planes as weapons or otherwise entering the country to do bad things. However then there is the new “Visiting Worker” idea that would allow undocumented illegal aliens into the country to do some of the jobs that we can not get Americans to do. Hmm so if someone does not have any paper work we are going to say, sure come on it. But if they have paperwork, and perhaps it is fake, we are going to say sorry you can’t come in cause your name is on this list. We won’t show you the list or tell you why you are on the list or what to do to get off of it, but you are on it so you can’t come in. But this guy who does not have any documentation can come in and we have no way of knowing if he is on the list or not.

Makes perfect f***ing sense.

This is where it realy seems to get to be completely up to someone’s mood. I travel a lot by plane for work, so I keep an eye on what is allowed to be carried on and what is not allowed on. Here is a quote from the most recent list of what is allowed and not allowed on planes now from the TSA website (http://www.tsa.gov/public/display?theme=177) there is a word document and this is the part that I love…

“The prohibited and permitted items chart is not intended to be all-inclusive and is updated as necessary. To ensure everyone’s security, the TSO may determine that an item not on the prohibited items chart is prohibited. In addition, the TSO [transportation security officer – formerly a screener] may also determine that an item on the permitted chart is dangerous and therefore may not be brought through the security checkpoint.”

So what am I allowed to bring on and not allowed to bring on. Oh wait, someone can arbitrarily make a decision of what is allowed and not allowed. I guess I can always appeal it. Oh but to appeal it I need to surrender my item. So if I need it for a business trip, I would be screwed. So what am I allowed to bring on a plane? Hmm can I bring a Swiss Bit memory stick with a less then 1 inch blade onto a plane? Well according to the list of prohibited items, no. According to my last three trips, yes. Seems to give me a feeling of safety. But then again I can bring scissors on, that have a longer blade then the knife of the Swiss Bit. Or I could bring a pen on board or use a fork or do almost anything to injure someone.

So I don’t know what is allowed on a flight or feel like people are really checking. I also do not feel that people have any clue who is in the country. Here is the little reminder…

I walked across the border from Mexico to the US. I was simply asked am I a US citizen? Did I have anything to declare? I said Yes I am a US citizen, I have a bottle of liquor and my wife has a bottle of liquor. That was it. Straight through, no check of paper work or anything. So I wonder who else is coming across that should not be.

So if the government is doing all of this f***ing bs to keep us secure and safe, why the hell could I walk across the border without a single check. Why can I get a small knife on a plane? Seems to me that we are not getting our monies worth out of our Taxes.

So I wrote a question to the Indiana Bureau of Motor Vehicles to see what their answer is. This experience should be interesting.

At the moment I still have yet to start the vehicle as the battery is way dead, so I purchased a new one and now I am charging it. Such fun. It is more then 80% charged, but I want to wait until it is 100% charged to take it off the charger and try it.