IOC Needs Reforming
Don't normally comment on matters other than municipal, but the International Olympic Committee's snit about our hockey gals' gold medal celebration has really got up my nose.
So some champagne was consumed and some cigars were smoked -- on the sacred Olympic ice surface ! Shame ! Shame ! Couldn't have been worse if the audience had still been in their eats -- which they weren't as they were all out on Vancouver streets cavorting in public places with beer cans in hand !
Guess that in the special world populated by Jacques Rogge, Dick Pound and the rest of the geriatric sexist pigs who dominate the IOC, champagne and cigars are reserved for men only.
But what should we expect from a bunch of has-beens and never-weres who don't think women's ski jumping should be an Olympic event and who now have set their sights on getting rid of women's hockey -- for one reason and one reason only -- it's not considered a seemly sport for women in European countries ! Wonder what the Chinese will have to say about that ?
Paying For Punishment
When was the last time a 70-year-old granny stormed an airplane cockpit, took over the controls and crashed it into a tall building ? Or tried to ignite a shoe bomb or an underwear bomb on a plane for that matter ?
Perhaps Citizen Ellie can be forgiven for thinking that the Canadian Air Traffic Safety Agency believes 70-year-old grannies are a danger to the travelling public --
but her recent experience (not to mention that of several of her elderly friends) travelling to the U-S might suggest otherwise.
Departing Ottawa on her recent travels to the Southwest, Citizen Ellie was pulled out of the security line for the infamous (and very invasive) pat down. As she was at the front of the line waiting in the holding area for U-S Customs and Immigration to open shop at 5 a.m., she had the opportunity to watch the screening of other passengers heading south of the border. Many grey-haired ladies, including a couple in wheelchairs, were pulled over for the pat-down.
Later, on her travels, she encountered other senior ladies from Canada who had similar stories to tell about their experiences with security at other Canadian airports. Two of her Calgary friends were heading to Portland, Ore. for an Anglican Church event. One was given the pat-down and the other was given the pat-down plus had her hands scanned for traces of explosives.
In Citizen Ellie's opinion, this is nothing more than political correctness gone mad. In order not to be accused of racial profiling, innocent people are being subjected to all sorts of indignities at airports in the name of security. Apparently we all have to suffer because some useless twit allowed the underwear bomber to get on a flight in Amsterdam with no luggage and no return ticket.
The Israelis have it right. Shortly after the underwear bomber's failed attempt, while airport security was being ramped up in North America, an Israeli security official told CNN that in his country, they knew who the terrorists were and they were not, as he put it, "holocaust survivors" -- in other words, they were not elderly people. And what's more, as they know who to single out for extreme security measures, he said these suspect individuals don't even get into the airport building !
Yesterday Transport Minister John Baird announced new "taxes" to pay for increased airport security in Canada. That, along with the knowledge that all 70-year-old grannies have been put through the pat-down just in case they might be up to no good makes Citizen Ellie really feel comfortable about flying.
A word to the wise: if you want to avoid having the bells and whistles go off when you walk through the scanner, don't wear the underwire bra while travelling. No underwear means more joy during the pat-down !
New posts usually on Fridays
