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FAA: Cessna was Fine
A Boy, a Plane, a Skyscraper and Homeland Security

Well, duh! The FAA declared recently that there was no technical malfunction on the small plane that hit the building in downtown Tampa. You mean to tell me that the FAA didn’t know that from the get go. Who is running the show here, Joey from Friends?

How could something like this happen in this age of high of highest alerts and a Homeland Security director? I am sure Tom Ridge did not factored this in when he took the post a few months back. Do I feel safer now than I did pre September 11th? Hell no!

This is more like the kind of things you would expect out those wacky Airplane movies back in the 80’s, not our American reality. As crazy as it may sound, it is indeed the truth of today. How could Charles Bishop, steal a plane, fly by our commanding center on the "War on Terror" and hit the Bank of America building in downtown Tampa? Did I say; Bank of America?

At first, I was dumbfounded when I watched the news on the TV. I was thinking, how could this happen, yet again? It was really clear to me that this was definitely another act of terrorism for sure. It was after all the "Bank of America". The name said it all.

Serenity now, serenity now! It is not like its Ann Frank and the Nazi’s back in WWII. This little punk not only disappointed a grandmother on a Saturday afternoon, but he got by the cracks of our military, in our highest of alerts, and got away with it. That is wrong!

Are we a nation of idiots? I mean c-mon! A kid steals a plane from the National Aviation Flight School in Clearwater. Then he flies over restricted airspace over MacDill Air Force base and later crashes the stolen Cessna in the same fashion that the now infamous terrorists so graphically did in New York and Washington.

It’s really unbelievable! It’s a movie of the week if we add the Accutane factor into the story. The controversial drug was blamed to have acted in a supporting role to this tragedy. Anyone with an acne problem should have free reign to do whatever it is because the drug made them do it.

I am surprised they have not claimed it was Marilyn Manson’s music that made little Charlie do it. I think he could have been listening to Nine Inch Nails, Linkin Park or even Britney Spears and it would had not matter at all. Has Accutane become the new drug of choice of those wanting to be rebellious against the establishment?

An autopsy later showed no trace of the over documented drug. There was definitely something wrong with him but it was not Accutane. So, what made this Tampa Bay teenager do something as evil as this?

A suicide note was later found linking the act in support of, you guessed it, Osama bin Laden. In the note, Bishop gave his support to ObL and the attacks against America. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, so I guess, this was his "Ode to Mohammed Atta" and his crazy bunch of terror.

At any rate, the point here is that how could something like this happen? Are we really safer with a Homeland Security Director? How can a teenage boy could pull this off and get away with it?

The truth is that we will never really know. Are Tom Ridge and the Office of Homeland Security a joke? No, not really, but it had a very bad day in Tampa. I do realize that we have been under a lot of stress during the last few months since that September morning. There are a lot of other things that have happen and have prevented that most of us will never now about.

In the case of poor ol’ Charles Bishop, better parenting could have helped him a great deal. Ahh yes, the "P" word, a lot of adults with children are afraid to use. I do realize that ultimately, everyone is responsible for their own actions, but the one common denominator with all crazed criminals, freaks and maniacs is the fact that a parent or two are usually missing from the equation.

That’s right, it takes two, to make, and two, to maintain. Now that’s a concept we really need to get back to. Like I said a couple of years ago when the Columbine High School tragedy happened, bad parenting can go a long ways.

Don’t blame society, don’t blame the videogames, music or the movies your children watch. Take charge and ownership of what’s your own flesh and blood. Get involved in their lives. Don’t let them become mediocre citizens!

If we become better parents, perhaps better citizens will come out of the woodwork and our national security would not be in harms way, at least in the homegrown terrorism department. The September 11th attacks were acts of cowardliness. Charles Bishop’s act was one of unfortunate misguided desperation.

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