[Butch Cassidy Slept Here]

Pattis,

Judging from that rant you sent me, by e-mail, I'm begining to think you're about as thick-skinned as an aging matronly librarian. Accordingly, you may be in the wrong line of work. So, hopefully, this post will not send you into, yet, another, tantrum.

You may be shocked to hear me say that I think your comments, to Footwedge, were, entirely, appropriate. The same sentiment could have been expressed in, substantially, less crude language.

As to my "problem" with you, Pattis, is that your posts--intentionally, or unintentionally--seem to, consistently, project the image that all airline workers are something along the lines of innocent choir girls and boys. In your private message to me, you acknowledged this is not the case. So, why, do your posts not include the same kind of disclaimers??

In said private message you ranted-on, at length, about how I do not know you--as if my knowing what you eat for breakfast is, somehow, supposed to change how one reads your posts!

When I was flying on DC-9s, 40 years ago, there were a lot of people around like Footwedge. The difference then was airlines knew how to deal with these people without calling the cops all the time. Because 9-11 happened, and because airlines are, now, allowed to go bankrupt, airlines don't have the customer service staff, anymore, to deal with people like Footwedge. The pathetic "response" is, now, to declare people, like him, as a Category One security risk, and promptly summon the SWAT team.

So you don’t have a clue as to why people, like myself, have little to no respect for those who work for US-based airlines!