If you where a terrorists and you wanted to recreate the horrific events of 9/11 – what one thing would most advance you cause? That would probably be the shutdown of the very list that would keep you off of the plane in the first place.

That is exactly what the ACLU is trying to do.

From the ACLU press release:

The American Civil Liberties Union called today for the government to shut down its current, fatally flawed aviation watch lists and instead focus on known threats to aviation. The call came in response to a “60 Minutes” report on the matter scheduled to be aired on CBS this Sunday.

“Aggrieved citizens have been complaining about these problems for half a decade now, and the government still has not found a way to make these lists effective and fair,” said Barry Steinhardt, Director of the ACLU’s Technology and Liberty Project. “Enough is enough. Until the government can figure out a way to create a real list of genuine terrorists, they are hurting Americans instead of protecting them.”

I agree that the list is need of a serious review and overhaul, and I feel bad for the legitimate citizens who are on the list by mistake. However, shutting down such a list is a recipe for disaster. That list is critical to ensure known dangerous people do not get on board a plane. So what if the list has dead people on it – they should not be inconvenienced if denied boarding a plane.

“60 Minutes” actually obtained a copy of the secret aviation watch list and was able to examine it. According to a CBS written report and excerpts from the upcoming “60 Minutes” broadcast, the list:

• includes numerous names of people who are dead, in prison, or are international dignitaries, such as the president of Bolivia;

• includes numerous common names such as “Robert Johnson;”
• contains 119,000 names (44,000 on the “no-fly” list and 75,000 on a “selectee” list of people who are given extra security); and
• has resulted in many ordinary, innocent individuals being pulled aside and interrogated, sometimes for hours, nearly every time they go to the airport.

First, how did 60 Minutes obtain a copy of this secret report, and why is our government allowing secret reports to be broadcast by news outlets without severe repercussions? That 60 Minutes would continue to news medias disregard for items of national security is of little surprise, but should be dealt with severely; especially before something truly critical to national security is released.

Secondly, lets assume the data provided by 60 Minutes above is 100% correct. When comparing the 119,000 names to the 740 Million domestic passengers who, per the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, travel each year, that comes out to less that 2 tenths of one percent or 0.016% per year. That is assuming all of the 119,000 attempt to fly, and are actually law abiding citizens.

More people miss their flights each year, and over 10 times as many people have lost baggage issues.

In the light of the minimal impact, and high gain of such a list, asking for its removal is unreasonable and dangerous. The convenience gained by that 0.02% of air passengers is far, far outweighed by the increased risk and danger to the entire system.

I support the need to overhaul the list, and improve it, but not by taking it offline while we work on the problem. There is to much as stake to allow the needs of the very few to endanger so many.

It is just not safe to be a kid anymore, and it is getting worse not better. As a father of a 6 month old son I can honestly say raising him in this world becomes more and more intimidating as the days move on. Unless you have been locked in a dungeon someplace, you should know exactly what I am referring too.

The overt attacks are a piece of it. We have a couple of recent stark examples such as the sexual assault of six girls, and the fatal shooting of another in Bailey Co, the brutal murder of six Amish girls in Lancaster PA, and the Columbine shooting.

Here are some other quick examples, just in our schools, from the last 20 years or so.

• Montreal Canada 1989 – 14 dead
• Stockton California 1989 – 6 dead
• Jonesboro Arkansas, 1998 – 6 dead
• Columbine Colorado, 1999 – 15 dead
• Red Lake Minnesota, 2005 – 10 dead
• Dawson Canada, 2005 – 2 dead

Even more frightening are the results of a study done by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The study found that more than 53% of children between 3 and 17 had been the subject of a physical assault in the past year, 27% had experience a property offence, 14% victimized by child maltreatment, 8% has been sexually assaulted, and 36% has been witness to a violent crime.

Statistically our children are more at risk that ever before. Occurrences of Child Molestation are on the rise. In 1997 about 2% of Children have been molested (source), but in 2005, per the above UNC study, that number has quadrupled to 8%.

Yet that is only the overt attacks against our children, there is a much more disturbing undercurrent which speaks volumes for the future of our children. While the number of convicted pedophiles increases, organizations like the ACLU continue to fight for fewer and fewer restrictions on those pedophiles (reference), continue to defend the existence of organizations such as the North American Man Boy Love Association (NAMBLA), and defends child pornography as “freedom of speech”.

Worse yet, the values we teach at home are being undermined at many schools. Public schools are actively teaching homosexuality as an accepted lifestyle (reference), and there seems little we can do about it. Yet if they try and read the Bible in school, it inevitably leads to litigation (reference).

The examples I have referenced are just a few in hundreds, and they are growing. Any parent, even those who follow no religion, should be concerned over the physical and moral wellbeing of their children.

Why are our children so at risk? We know they are manifestly ill prepared for a dark world early on, and they need adult protection. Is it that more and more adults see them as an opportunity to be snatched rather than a value to be protected?

More importantly, where do we go from here? We need to protect our children in their homes, in their neighborhoods, and in their schools. And we need to teach them morality, ethics, and sound judgment. The children of today are the adults of tomorrow, they can be no better than we enable them to be.

We, the parents, need to redouble our efforts against organizations like the ACLU, NAMBLA, and the gay rights groups who seek to harm our children physically or morally. We need to elect officials who share those values, and hold them accountable when they do not act in our best interest.

We need to elect strong judges where we can, and lobby our leaders when judges are appointed rather than elected.

Filly, we the parents need to take an active interest and role in raising our children. We are there best and last defense. If we raise them up in the way they should go, when they are older they will not stray far from it.