Madness

Flight Sim enquiry raises terror alert
By Andrew Orlowski in Las Vegas
Posted: 08/01/2004 at 22:39 GMT
A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her
ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state
trooper.

Julie Olearcek, a USAF Reserve pilot made the enquiry at a Staples
store in Massachusetts, home to an earlier bout of hysteria, during
the Salem witch trials.

So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old
learning to fly, that he informed the police, the Greenfield Recorder
reports. The authorities moved into action, leaving nothing to chance.
A few days later, Olearcek was alarmed to discover a state trooper
flashing a torch into to her home through a sliding glass door at 8:30
pm on a rainy night.

Olearcek is a regular Staples customer and schools her son at home.
The Staples manager simply explained that staff were obeying advice.
Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of
drivers with maps, or reference books.

At one time it was rare to find US citizens, in the safest and most
prosperous country in the world, jumping at their own shadows. Now we
only note how high.

"Jeb" wrote in message
om...
Flight Sim enquiry raises terror alert
By Andrew Orlowski in Las Vegas
Posted: 08/01/2004 at 22:39 GMT
A mother's enquiry about buying Microsoft Flight Simulator for her
ten-year-old son prompted a night-time visit to her home from a state
trooper.

Julie Olearcek, a USAF Reserve pilot made the enquiry at a Staples
store in Massachusetts, home to an earlier bout of hysteria, during
the Salem witch trials.

So alarmed was the Staples clerk at the prospect of the ten year old
learning to fly, that he informed the police, the Greenfield Recorder
reports. The authorities moved into action, leaving nothing to chance.
A few days later, Olearcek was alarmed to discover a state trooper
flashing a torch into to her home through a sliding glass door at 8:30
pm on a rainy night.

Olearcek is a regular Staples customer and schools her son at home.
The Staples manager simply explained that staff were obeying advice.
Shortly before Christmas, the FBI issued a terror alert to beware of
drivers with maps, or reference books.

At one time it was rare to find US citizens, in the safest and most
prosperous country in the world, jumping at their own shadows. Now we
only note how high.

It could also be noted that incidents like this are isolated rather than the
general norm. This specific incident was overplayed because the person
involved on the receiving end was a pilot. People are not jumping at their
own shadows in America. If anything, there's a huge problem with people
generally beginning to take on a "relaxed" attitude about the country being
hit again.
These incidents are going to happen, and they're going to happen again, so
you better get used to it. When you have retail store managers with good
intentions but absolutely no training in security matters at all calling
meetings and "briefing" young impressionable sales clerks on the importance
of reporting "anything suspicious" because they have received a flyer from
"headquarters" or seen something on the nightly news, this kind of thing is
going to happen.
The bottom line is that we're caught between what we should be doing to be
secure, and what we're actually doing to be secure. It's a mess out there.
There's some security, but not nearly enough has been done. We're caught
between our freedom and how much of that freedom we're willing to give up
for security. It's a HUGE problem that's filled with pot holes. We have
every faction with an agenda to grind flailing away at every attempt to make
the nation more secure. In fact, I think it's safe to say, from what I've
seen so far at least, that we're as afraid and suspicious of our own
government as we are of the terrorist situation, perhaps with reason,
perhaps not...who the hell knows?
The bottom line is that along with these security warnings going up and
down, and the agendas floating around trying to tear the country apart with
conspiracy theories, you're going to have little old ladies hassled at the
airport for their nail clippers; old men of 96 taken aside and made to strip
down to their shorts; clerks at Staples showing the boss that they are
"contributing" to the overall "concerns" of their employers; and young
middle eastern looking men passed by security because no one wants to look
like their profiling.
Hell, all you have to do is take a good look at the posts that might follow
mine here to see how absolutely divided we all are on this issue :-)))
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt

Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further, TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans, then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

The rumors you propagate below are false, as you could have discovered with
a quick web search. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp
provides documentation.

--Gary

"karl" wrote in message
...
Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further,
TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans, then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard
earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

"karl" wrote in message
...
Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further,
TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans, then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard
earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

I must be missing the correlation to a security issue here but I'll tell you
this much.
I heard the same thing about Target Stores recently and I'm in the process
of investigating it further as I write this. If this is true, it's going to
be an absolute nightmare for Target, and rightly so. I can only imagine the
absolute stupidity that would spawn such a corporate policy. It flies in the
face of anything even remotely resembling common sense more or less American
loyalty. Quite frankly, I'm sick to death of total morons who feel the need
to take their agendas out on the Vietnam vets. If they have a problem with
the Vietnam war, they should take that problem to the US Government and
leave the vets alone! The vets were NOT responsible for starting the damn
war and ANYONE or ANY COMPANY who takes it out on these people is a complete
idiot!
I would suggest that if Target can be verified as having the company policy
you have stated here, that every American should consider this seriously
when thinking of making a purchase from them. I know they will have seen MY
last dollar anyway!
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt

Sorry, Karl you were misled, that is one of those wonderful internet urban
legends
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp


karl wrote in message
...
Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further,
TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans, then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard
earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

Thank you. Just read the site. Problem solved!

Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt
"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:66%Lb.17297$5V2.29019@attbi_s53...
The rumors you propagate below are false, as you could have discovered
with
a quick web search. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp
provides documentation.

--Gary

"karl" wrote in message
...
Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and
their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their
stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further,
TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans,
then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard
earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
.net...
Thank you. Just read the site. Problem solved!

You're welcome Dudley!

It was immediately obvious to me when I read the post that it describes a
right-winger's fantasy of what liberals are like, and that it was almost
certainly a hoax. It took about 30 seconds of searching to confirm my
suspicion.

--Gary


Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt
"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:66%Lb.17297$5V2.29019@attbi_s53...
The rumors you propagate below are false, as you could have discovered
with
a quick web search. http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/target.asp
provides documentation.

--Gary

"karl" wrote in message
...
Allong a similar note:

By: Dick Forrey of the Vietnam Veterans Association

Recently we asked the local TARGET store to be a proud sponsor of the
Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall during our spring recognition event.
We received the following reply from the local TARGET management:

"Veterans do not meet our area of giving. We only
donate to the arts, social action groups, gay & lesbian causes, and
education."

So I'm thinking, if the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Wall and veterans
in
general do not meet their donation criteria, then something is really
wrong
at this particular TARGET store. We were not asking for thousands of
dollars, not even hundreds, just a small sponsorship for a memorial
remembrance
As a follow-up, I e-mailed the TARGET US corporate headquarters and
their
response was the same. That's their national policy.

Then I looked into the company further. They will not allow the
United
States Marine Corps to collect for 'Toys for Tots' at any of their
stores.
And during the recent Iraq deployment, they would not allow families
of
employees who were called up for active duty to continue their
insurance
coverage while they were on military service. Then as I dig further,
TARGET
is a French-owned corporation.

Now, I'm thinking again. If TARGET cannot support American Veterans,
then
why should I and my family support their stores by spending our hard
earned
American dollars and to have their profits sent to France.

Without the American Vets, where would France be today?
Speaking German and eating weinershnitzel perhaps.

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:Sw%Lb.17545$sv6.52969@attbi_s52...
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
.net...
Thank you. Just read the site. Problem solved!

You're welcome Dudley!

It was immediately obvious to me when I read the post that it describes a
right-winger's fantasy of what liberals are like, and that it was almost
certainly a hoax. It took about 30 seconds of searching to confirm my
suspicion.

--Gary

Actually, you might have spent 45 seconds instead of 30. :-)))
It doesn't look like a hoax at all. I'm reading it as an actual event that
got out of control because the vet and the store employee weren't on the
same page when the vet made the initial request. It looks like the store
employee didn't have the sense to realize the volatility of a situation like
this and allowed the vet to leave feeling his cause was slighted. Then the
vet in turn went over board with his telling of the tale, steering it way
past what it actually was by generalizing it to make it appear worse than it
was in reality. All in all, I'd grade this as a bad performance by BOTH
sides. Hardly a hoax though!
Glad it's getting straightened out for Target's sake. They could have
avoided this whole thing by handling this vet's request better at the point
of sale. Obviously someone didn't know their job. I'm glad whoever that
person was never worked for me. It's a no brainer really. When things like
this walk into a large company, someone who knows what the hell they're
doing should immediately be assigned to handle it....correctly........with
respect.......and so that there is NO misunderstanding that could lead to a
veteran leaving with the impression this one did. Obviously, if the request
was handled properly at the store, and the vet started a totally false
rumor, this would be a different scenario entirely, but from what Target has
said, this doesn't seen to be the case; not to me anyway.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt

"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
nk.net...

"Gary Drescher" wrote in message
news:Sw%Lb.17545$sv6.52969@attbi_s52...
"Dudley Henriques" wrote in message
.net...
Thank you. Just read the site. Problem solved!

You're welcome Dudley!

It was immediately obvious to me when I read the post that it describes
a
right-winger's fantasy of what liberals are like, and that it was almost
certainly a hoax. It took about 30 seconds of searching to confirm my
suspicion.

--Gary

Actually, you might have spent 45 seconds instead of 30. :-)))
It doesn't look like a hoax at all. I'm reading it as an actual event that
got out of control because the vet and the store employee weren't on the
same page when the vet made the initial request.

Yes, it seems to have begun as an honest misunderstanding. But if you read
for 60 seconds instead of 45 :-)), you'll see that many inflammatory details
were added to the vet's letter as it circulated around the 'net. So that
added portion, at least, is a hoax.

Regards,
Gary

It looks like the store
employee didn't have the sense to realize the volatility of a situation
like
this and allowed the vet to leave feeling his cause was slighted. Then the
vet in turn went over board with his telling of the tale, steering it way
past what it actually was by generalizing it to make it appear worse than
it
was in reality. All in all, I'd grade this as a bad performance by BOTH
sides. Hardly a hoax though!
Glad it's getting straightened out for Target's sake. They could have
avoided this whole thing by handling this vet's request better at the
point
of sale. Obviously someone didn't know their job. I'm glad whoever that
person was never worked for me. It's a no brainer really. When things like
this walk into a large company, someone who knows what the hell they're
doing should immediately be assigned to handle it....correctly........with
respect.......and so that there is NO misunderstanding that could lead to
a
veteran leaving with the impression this one did. Obviously, if the
request
was handled properly at the store, and the vet started a totally false
rumor, this would be a different scenario entirely, but from what Target
has
said, this doesn't seen to be the case; not to me anyway.
Dudley Henriques
International Fighter Pilots Fellowship
Commercial Pilot/ CFI Retired
For personal email, please replace
the z's with e's.
dhenriquesATzarthlinkDOTnzt