The Mathematics of Flying (or not)
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Henry See
Signs of the Times
20 October 2006
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You have all heard of the notorious "No-Fly" list compiled by the American government. It is the list of suspected terrorists who are not permitted onto flights coming to, leaving, or flying within the United States. According to CBS News, the list includes 44,000 people not allowed to fly, along with another 75,000 who should be taken aside for "additional security screening", or, in layman's terms, "advanced humiliation techniques".
That's a heck of a lot of "suspected terrorists" and their "cronies"; but before you start to feel safe, snug, and secure knowing that the Department of Homeland Security is doing everything it can to protect you and your loved ones from crazed "Islamofascists", it appears that there is a slight problem with the list. It doesn't contain the names of any real "suspected terrorists" because those names are confidential. The CBS News report tells us:
What Kip Hawley wouldn't tell 60 Minutes is that some of the some of most dangerous terrorists never even end up on the No Fly List, because the intelligence agencies that supply the names don't want them circulated to airport employees in foreign countries for fear that they could end up in the hands of the terrorists.
Cathy Berrick, the Director of Homeland Security and Justice Issues for the General Accounting Office told Kroft that the lists that the airlines get have been sanitized of the most sensitive information.
"They're not given all of the names for security reasons because the government doesn't want to have that information outside of the government," Berrick says.
"But if the point of the system is to keep dangerous people from getting on airplanes, why would you leave some of the potentially most dangerous people off the list?" Kroft asks.
"Yeah, it's a concern. And I think if you talk with the Department of Homeland Security they would agree with that," Berrick says.
Uh, did you get that? Did you really understand what they are telling us openly and without any shame?
Let's run through this again. The no-fly list was created to keep potential Mohammed Atta's off of planes that could be used to create another 9/11, if one accepts the official US government conspiracy theory. However, the names of those suspected terrorists are too sensitive to be put on the lists because publishing them could tip off the terrorists that they are being watched, so they have been removed. Now, a normal person, using their normal intelligence and logical capacities would reason something like this:
If you have a list of suspected terrorists who are not allowed to fly, and then you remove the suspected terrorists from the list because their names are confidential, you would be left with no names. In mathematical terms, the formula for adding the names to the list would look like this:
0 + X = X
where 0 is the number of names before adding the list of suspected terrorists, and X is the number of suspected terrorists. So once the names of suspected terrorists have been added, you have X suspected terrorists on the list.
It isn't high level math.
Therefore we have established that there are X names of suspected terrorists on the list of suspected terrorists who are not allowed to fly. So the spooks in Washington and at the NSA look at the list and one says, "Yup, it's a good list." And the colleague says, "Damn right. I've never seen a better one! They're all there."
"OK. Mark it Way Above Top Secret." And the other guy pulls out his little rubber stamp and goes stamp, stamp, stamp on each of the pages.
"What do we do now?"
"Well, we have to release it to the airlines."
"What level security clearance do they have?"
Then they both get panic stricken looks on their faces when they realize that the employees of the airlines don't have the necessary security clearance.
"It's a damn fine list, but we can't release it to the public."
"Oh my god! You're right! It's classified information!"
So then they embark on the tedious process of undoing all the good work they have just finished. And there's a mathematical formula for that, too.
The next step, removing the names of suspected terrorists from the list of suspected terrorists because they are too sensitive to release, gives the following equation:
X - X = 0
Notice that last number in the equation. According to a top level mathematician I know, whose word on such finer things mathematical I trust 100%, it is a zero which is the empty set. It doesn't contain any elements. That means the list should have no names on it.
Yet there still remain on the American No Fly list 44,000 names of people who are not allowed to fly and another 75,000 who will be subjected to humiliating searches and delays.
So who is it that they are targeting and why, if it isn't the "terrorists"?
The American people, of course.
In fact, the no-fly list was never about protecting the US public. It was always about frightening people, because it is through fear that the population can be controlled and convinced to give up the rights and liberties their ancestors fought and died for.
We saw a text book case of that process in July when the 'bombing scare' in Britain tried to convince us that those damn terrorists could concoct a liquid bomb in the toilet of an airplane from carry-on materials. The fallout repressive measures forced people to remove their shoes, forbid the carrying on of any liquids, including bottled water, the placing of certain items in clear plastic bags, not to mention long lines in the airports.
Not in the name of protection and security, but in the name of the fear factor, of controlling the population, of taking away their rights and liberties, exactly those rights and liberties the Bush gang and the Blair poodle squad claim they are defending through their revocation.
George Orwell would be sick. We're sick.
Notice how the fine public servants who are implementing this policy talk about it openly. Notice how they don't see any problem or inherent contradiction in compiling a list of suspected terrorists that doesn't contain any suspected terrorists. They are aware that it is used for other purposes, to harass people who are vocal in their disdain and criticism of the fascism that is descending upon America, to create the impression among the sheeple that there is a real threat, to justify the loss of rights. They are aware that it is a front, a smokescreen, a ploy to get more power, but as they are part of the ploy, they can tell their stories with a straight face.
Time is running out, folks. It may already be too late. When the powers that be can tell whoppers like this one without even a delayed reaction from the media or the representatives who claim to be representing your interests and freedoms, the clock is running out of time. Sure, it was CBS who disclosed the story. But then what? What happens next?
If you leave it up to CBS or anyone else, you've handed over your responsibility. What does your conscience tell you to do? If you can't hear that voice, maybe you better start trying to find it.
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