Feds Admit Not A Terrorist!

"Only terrorists need to fear the USA Patriot Act..."
- John Ashcroft, US Attorney General, Sept 19, 2003


A man charged with temporarily blinding the pilot and co-pilot of an airplane with a laser beam claims he was simply using the device to look at stars with his 7-year-old daughter.

Federal authorities on Tuesday used the Patriot Act to charge David Banach, 38, with interfering with the operator of a mass transportation vehicle and making false statements to the FBI. He is the first person arrested after a recent rash of reports around the nation of lasers being beamed at airplanes.

If convicted, Banach could be sentenced to 25 years in prison and fined $500,000.

The FBI acknowledged the incident had no connection to terrorism but called Banach's actions "foolhardy and negligent."

Banach, of suburban Parsippany, admitted to federal agents that he pointed the light beam at a jet and a helicopter over his home near Teterboro Airport last week, authorities said. Initially, he claimed his daughter aimed the device at the helicopter, they said.

Banach's lawyer said his statements were given during several hours of questioning without an attorney present and that he was being harshly prosecuted because authorities were eager for an arrest.

"My client is in some ways a sacrificial lamb," attorney Gina Mendola-Longarzo said. "A message is being sent."

The jet, a chartered Cessna Citation, was landing Dec. 29 with six people aboard when a green light beam struck the windshield three times at about 3,000 feet, according to court documents. The pilot and co-pilot were temporarily blinded but were able to land the plane safely.

Two days later, a Port Authority police helicopter trying to pinpoint the origin of the beam was hit by a laser. A copter crew member then shined a spotlight on the house where the beam had originated so that officers on the ground could go there. Soon afterward, FBI agents came to Banach's house, authorities said.

Mendola-Longarzo said her client was simply using the hand-held device to look at stars with his daughter on the family's deck. She said Banach bought the device on the Internet for $100 for his job testing fiber-optic cable.

"He wasn't trying to harm any person, any aircraft or anything like that," she said.

Joseph Billy, agent in charge of the FBI's Newark bureau, said Banach's actions endangered not only the jet's crew and passengers but also "countless innocent civilians on the ground in this densely populated area."

Banach, who was released on $100,000 bail, is charged only in connection with the jet. According to the FBI, the Patriot Act does not describe helicopters as "mass transportation vehicles."

Similar incidents have been reported in Colorado Springs, Colo., Cleveland, Washington, Houston and Medford, Ore., raising fears that the light beams could temporarily blind cockpit crews and lead to accidents.

Last month, the FBI and the Homeland Security Department sent a memo to law enforcement agencies saying there is evidence that terrorists have explored using lasers as weapons. But federal officials have said there is no evidence any the current incidents were part of a terrorist plot.

un-American

San Antonio Express-News

The ghosts of Jefferson, Washington, Madison and Franklin have long ceased spinning in their tombs. Once word drifted up to them about the Pentagon and CIA's recent request of the White House they probably went looking for Paul Revere's horse so that they could ride back to Earth and haunt some bureaucrats back to their constitutional senses.

The request being made is for the government to plan to indefinitely imprison suspected terrorists even when there is insufficient evidence to charge them. Instead of setting the suspected terrorists free or turning them over to the courts of the United States or other countries they could remain in custody for their lifetimes.

It's ridiculous. It's frightening. It's un-American.

Indefinite imprisonment of someone you think might be a terrorist?

There are those, eager to round up and lock up the terrorists, who will passionately embrace this proposal and condemn those who oppose it as do-gooders "soft" on terrorism who want to "coddle" criminals.

But they should focus on one word: "suspected." It's one thing for the government to have legitimate reasons to detain those who may be terrorists or possess information that could prevent a terrorist attack. It is something else to label someone as a suspect on the flimsiest of evidence and proceed to deprive them of their freedom simply on the presumption that the government is infallible and knows best.

All suspects are not created equally. Some are guilty while others are innocent.

Ever since Sept. 11, 2001, the American people have been treated to breathless and self-congratulatory nationally televised news conferences in which Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft announced the crackdown on this or that terrorist or spy network.

All of which have turned out to be sound and fury signifying nothing.

Two of the government's more notable instances of backtracking were the cases of Capt. James Yee and Brandon Mayfield.

Capt. Yee, a Muslim Army chaplain, was charged with being a leader in a spy ring at Guantanamo Bay but the criminal charges were dropped.

Mayfield, an Oregon attorney and convert to Islam, was arrested as a material witness in last March's train bombings in Madrid. The FBI later admitted to making a mistake in matching fingerprints. Mayfield is now suing the U.S. government.

"Suspect" is an elastic label that can be arbitrarily applied to anyone. Technically, each of us are suspects whenever we fly or just go to the airport because of the security restrictions we must obey.

The indefinite detention of "suspects" with no recourse to a trial is what Sen. Richard Lugar (R-Ind.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee said it is: "A bad idea."

Even the wrongly accused, convicted and executed Joseph K. in Kafka's "The Trial" got a trial.

Fight the war on terror but don't slay civil liberties in the crossfire. Civil liberties aren't about being left or right or Republican or Democrat. They are about American ideals.

If those supporting this idea don't understand this, the ghosts of the Founding Fathers had best stay where they are. They may get detained and labeled as terrorist suspects and we'll never hear from them again.

I guarantee laser pointers will be banned by this time next year.

I think it is actually. They're coming out with more and more powerful ones lately.

Media whore Michelle Malkin says they should be banned. Cunt whore fishy bitch.

Damn you, I love Malkin. She is my type of chick

She looks like a twit, I would like to bend her over and beat her ass with a thin dowel.

Asians have no peripheral vision.

You ought to read what Vox Day has to say about her on the Vox Popoli blog.

There is just too much. Here is a result of a search of her name on the site. If you're interested, you could spend a lot of time persuing it. You have to scroll a bit, and scan for her name. Here is one example to get the flavor. I think he is being nice:

What little I know of Michelle Malkin does not suggest that she is a class person, unless class is demonstrated by intellectual charlatanship, cowardice and dishonesty. Al Franken is certainly a clown, but he was correct about both Sean Hannity's math skills and Bill O'Reilly's literary ability. If I am losing credibility with some conservatives because I am committed to the truth, however uncomfortable, I think that is more of a statement on the lack of integrity of those particular conservatives than anything else.

I agree with nearly every column I have read of Michelle's ( on world affairs and terrorism) so I guess we will have to agree to disagree. Daniel Pipes is another conservative writer who floats my boat so to speak.

This is a great example of why the Patriot Act is Evil. Between the Terrorists and the Governmentalistas we will have no freedom or safety.

Cool, I'm glad you liked it
I tend to love comedies and action movies so most are pleasing to me but Harold... and Napoleon were a cut above IMO.
Of couse Dagon still sucked, but at least I relized that Demons and the Church were not "true" Dario Argento flicks as I was under the impression- which totally loweres my opinion of his expertise as those were my favorite flicks of "his". Check out Demons if you haven't already dude if I remember correctly not only do I like it but I think I Jeff S. likes it a lot too.