Saturday, July 25, 2009

what is the government thinking?

cnn.com has a news of the weird section every week. these two stories caught my attention this week. i can't bring more than three ounces of liquid on a flight, but apparently suspected terrorists can buy explosives.

1. "A June Government Accountability Office report revealed that people on the U.S.'s suspected-terrorist list tried to buy guns or explosives on at least 1,000 occasions in the last five years and were successful 90 percent of the time. One suspect managed to buy 50 pounds of explosives. Federal law treats the suspected-terrorist list as "no-fly" and "no-visa" but not "no-gun." [New York Times, 6-21-09]"

and 2. "The normal way that the U.S. Bureau of Prisons transfers "low-risk" inmates between institutions is to buy them bus tickets and release them unescorted with an arrival deadline. In the last three years, reported the Las Vegas Sun in May, 90,000 inmates were transferred this way, and only about 180 absconded. Though supposedly carefully pre-screened for risk, one man still on the loose is Dwayne Fitzen, a gang-member/biker who was halfway through a 24-year sentence for cocaine-dealing. (Since the traveling inmates are never identified as prisoners, Greyhound is especially alarmed at the policy.) [San Jose Mercury News-Las Vegas Sun, 5-23-09]"

i admit, only 180 out of 90,000 is pretty good. but still. i bet you think twice next time you ride the bus.

1 comment:

Sophie said...

Scaaaaary. And that's another good reason not to ride buses, besides having to sit by creepy/smelly people.