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A Further Perspective
TSA’s Bait and Switch Airport Security Trap
The reasons why travelers are upset need to be examined.
As public outrage grows over the Transportation Security Agency’s new, more aggressive screening procedures — scanners that reveal body silhouettes, aggressive pat-downs touching intimate body parts — the reasons why travelers are upset need to be examined, and better ways found to protect us.
First let’s find the rules, or can we? TSA’s “For Travelers” website subpage shows no hint of what lies in store for passengers. TSA rules are in their “Research Center” subpage. Trolling through various headings and sub-menus yielded no guidance whatsoever. Not that you are safe being unable to find the rules. TSA has a standard line of defense available to any regulatory body: the ancient maxim that ignorance of the law is no excuse. It dates from when laws were rules everyone knew: do not kill the King, violate the Queen, desecrate the Church, steal your neighbor’s land or his cow. The modern regulatory state gives us tens of thousands of pages of statutes and regulations enacted pursuant to complex, barely readable laws. Not even attorneys general or Supreme Court justices can know more than a tiny fraction of the whole. Yet the maxim stands, a monument to how fiction trumps reality in today’s byzantine legal maze.
The original post-Sept. 11 bargain was this: a passenger may refuse security screening upon deciding not to board a plane. The position taken now by TSA is that once screening is started a passenger cannot refuse to complete the process. This is, put simply, bait and switch. It is a bureaucracy’s attempt to circumvent this fundamental rule adopted after 9/11; screeners frequently advise passengers step by step, so that the process gets started innocently and then turns ugly later. Threatening someone who demurs in midstream with a large fine plus prosecution is bad enough; holding someone after screening stops without legal cause to do so is false imprisonment, a tort (civil wrong) actionable in court. It is also a violation of federally created statutory civil rights, and creates a right to file a civil lawsuit against federal or state officers who violate civil rights.
Israeli security neither uses body scanners nor intimate cringe-inducing pat-downs. The former do not detect certain explosives and critics say radiation exposure is low only if they are properly operated, not a given with TSA drones who are hardly radiologists at Johns Hopkins. As for pat-downs, patting down a screaming infant or trembling mom or an embarrassed grandfather makes no one safe. Searching zero-risk passengers makes no one safer. Indeed, because the screener(s) doing the search cannot look for someone who actually might pose a threat, screening zero-risk fliers makes everyone else less safe.
I would take the scanner over having my privates patted; I pity anyone who gets jollies from seeing an outline of my dilapidated carcass on the threshold of my golden years. Are body-cavity searches next, with terrorists already emulating drug mules? Shall we deputize every screener as airport proctologist?
There is a far better way than TSA’s to deal with security threats: Israel’s way. Israeli security screeners are smart people who look courteously for terrorists, without political correctness; our screeners are dumb people who look, often rudely, for things and bow to political correctness. Israel profiles by behavior; we prattle on about equal treatment regardless of risk profile. News reports say that Homeland Insecurity Secretary Janet “the System Worked” Napolitano is on the verge of exempting Muslim women from certain screening and pat-down procedures, while Christian, Jewish, Buddhist and secular women must endure.
The Christmas 2009 underwear bomber with the unpronounceable name would never have gotten within a mile of an El Al plane. Nor would the 9/11 terrorists have made it on board in Israel — or gotten past an El Al desk in America. While America singles out Muslim sensibilities for special treatment — members of the very group from which most terrorists come (yes, we all know that most Muslims are not terrorists) — Israel singles out security threats by assessing individual risk.
Thursday night, former Bill Clinton flack Lanny Davis said on “Hannity” that he feels safer as a flier when he is searched: a noble proposition — and on its face a preposterous one. Put simply, Lanny Davis is a zero-risk passenger. Davis said he had watched the late Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan being patted down. The late Sen. Edward Kennedy was on a no-fly list for months, amusing Republicans surely, but hardly making us more secure.
How to fix this mess? First, look for people, not things. Second, throw out political correctness and begin profiling by behavior — not ethnicity. Third, hire people who have put their lives on the line — literally — evaluating suspect risk, and lived to tell their stories, not would-be bureaucrats who stare at screens and risk sore backsides. Soldiers and cops are good hires; paper pushers and janitors are not. Give specialty training to people who are smart, skilled, and willing to supplement rule guidelines with independent, intelligent, and instant on-the-spot judgment; do not waste time giving basic training to unskilled dolts who will mechanically apply rigid rules no matter how manifestly absurd the real-life situation. Oh, and please fire the jerks who reduce infants to tears, force a developmentally disabled child to shuck his leg braces and walk through unaided, shout at pregnant moms, etc.
Over the years, repeated tests by teams posing as passengers have shown that contraband, including weapons, can be successfully smuggled aboard aircraft, fooling metal detectors and TSA screeners. We fly safer today because cabin doors are locked and not to be opened, because the Todd Beamer “Let’s roll!” protocol is followed by passengers, because air marshals fly with us and because of far better luggage screening. Abusing the sensibilities of passengers is unnecessary, cruel and adds zero to security. And if my privates are to be touched, let it be by someone I choose, not in public and not by a drone at TSA.
About the Author
Letter to the Editor View all comments (98) | Leave a comment
More Articles by John C. Wohlstetter
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Booger | 11.22.10 @ 6:11AM
From the desk of Janet Napolitano:
Re: Recruitment and training of TSA airport screeners.
It has come to my attention that some of our TSA employees have expressed a certain amount of discomfort with the use of full-body scans and the accompanying "grope the rope" or "press the chest" searches that are mandatory for those opting out of our high-powered (but perfectly safe) X-ray machines. While I appreciate that the use of any new technology may be somewhat disconcerting at first, it is our obligation to make sure that we perform our assigned function flawlessly, without regard for our personal feelings for the manner in which we conduct ourselves on the job.
To expedite this flawless function, I am immediately implementing the following hiring and training policies for our personnel. Please be advised that Attorney General Eric Holder has reviewed these policies and assures me that they are both legal and Constitutional, and that President Obama has personally expressed to me his full support for these policies.
1) In all future background checks, we will now give preference to individuals who have arrest and/or conviction records for such offenses as indecent exposure, voyeurism and contributing to the delinquency of a minor. It is the finding of our psychology department that these individuals will be far less likely to flinch from performing their required duties while taking nude X-ray pictures and feeling up passengers. Additionally, any individual who has been successfully sued for sexual harassment should be given preference in the hiring process, especially if the harassment in question involved "inappropriate" touching. It is the finding of this office that such individuals have the moxie to do what needs to be done to accomplish our mission. Finally, extra preference should be given to any individual who meets the above criteria AND is sexually oriented towards members of his/her own gender. It is our belief that these individuals will be highly motivated to provide an extra-thorough touch to their job performance.
2) For those screeners who still blanch at doing their duty for their country due to "moral scruples" or other such nonsense, our psychologists have developed a training regimen which they assure me will bring them around in a hurry. These screeners will be required to view no fewer than four (4) consecutive hours of same-sex pornography (the gender of the performers will be the same as the gender of the TSA screener) at least twice a week. It is the view of our psychologists that repeated exposure to this material will, over time, break down these screeners reluctance to "get a grip" on their job duties, and thus improve their performance.
3) As per our previous guidelines, please be aware that the following groups are considered especially dangerous, and should receive extra attention from our new screening procedures:
a) U.S. military personnel returning from war zones or headed to war zones.
b) Individuals wearing garb readily identifiable as christian clergy.
c) Individuals sporting any button, decal, t-shirt, hat, logo, etc. identifying themselves as members of the "Tea Party" movement.
d) Elderly or disabled persons using metallic walkers, canes or braces of any sort.
e) Boy Scouts.
4) As per previous guidelines, please be aware that any individual wearing readily identifiable Muslim garb is NOT to be subjected to this screening process for ANY reason. This process is, of course, highly objectionable to practitioners of the peaceable religion of Islam, and could well be construed as profiling. Any TSA screener found to have coerced or attempted to coerce any Muslim to submit to these screening procedures is subject to immediate termination and criminal prosecution.
I hope and expect these new recruitment tools and training tips will be of the utmost value in carrying out our ongoing mission. Remember, only you can prevent profiling.
Sincerely,
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano
http://beautifulletters-bls.blogspot.com/
Petronius| 11.22.10 @ 8:00AM
B
Your a little late on this one. Clinton forced the airlines to hire convicts for baggage and ramp personnel back in '93 so they could systematically rob passengers because they "have it too good".
Same old, same old. Use the crisis to waste the citizens they hold in utter contempt.
ZOSO| 11.22.10 @ 12:37PM
THIS HAS GOTTEN OUT OF hAND IN TODAYS LINE OF DEFENSE. YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THAT IN OUR NOIDED OUT STATE AT AIRPORTS I GOTTA GET FELT UP WITHOUT EVEN BEING BOUGHT A DRINK FIRST. PRE FLIGHT BLUE BALLS FROM A MEDICAL STAND POINT GETS WORSE WITH ELEVATION. AGGRESSIVE SUTO-MOLESTATION TO ENSURE SAFETY OF FLIGHTS AND ITS PASSENGERS IS THE BRIGHTEST IDEA SINCE JUST SAY NO. THERE HAS GOT TO BE A BETTER WAY MS. HOMELAND SECURITY. DO YOU HAVE A CLAUSSE IN YOUR POLICY THAT HAS A SYSTEMATIC WAY TO CHECK THE FOLDS OF ONES FAT FOR OUR HEFTIER FLYERS. JANET, JANET, JANET... DO YOU LET TSA AGENTS GET A PEAK WHEN YOU FLY. YOU DIRTY GIRL. OH WAIT YOU DONT' FLY LIKE THE REST OF US COMMON FOLK DO. BUT ON A SERIOUS NOTE CHANGE THE POLICY OR YOUR GONNA HAVE A LOT OF WORKMANS COMP ISSUES BECAUSE OF FIRST DEGREE ASSAULT CHARGES ON TSA PERSONNEL.
LonestarM| 11.23.10 @ 9:56AM
This would be a lot funnier if we were sure it was a joke.
Gunner Asch| 11.22.10 @ 6:25AM
I'm stationed overseas and I don't often get a chance to fly home. We were considering it this year, but this fiasco has us reevaluating our plans. The last time I was home, a surely, almost sarcastic "welcome home" from a TSA guy in Chicago had me wondering how they'd treat my foreign-born, foreign accented wife. I think this year we'll just stay in place and avoid the "welcome."
The Shadow| 11.22.10 @ 9:31AM
I can tell you exactly how they treat a foreign-born, foreign accented wife. In 2006 travelling through San Francisco from the Orient, my blonde-haired, blue-eyed, good figured, wife was the only person pulled out of line for "additional"security checks. I got the TSA "shut-up" glare when I asked how many blonde blue eyed female terrosits there'd been in the last 30 years.
The Shadow| 11.22.10 @ 9:43AM
We have not traveled home to the states since and have no plans to do so in the near future.
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:00PM
Where in the Orient? Sometimes I think of leaving here. Do you like it where you live?
CalMark| 11.22.10 @ 3:58PM
I constantly see the same thing.
Amazing, how many young, good-looking women are security risks. This means they have to be taken aside, given lots of flirtatious personal attention and have their belongings pawed through (with gusto and enthusiasm, from what I've seen) by the overweight, mouth-breathing moron troglodyte running the security line.
But I guess that's just life in the ol' police state.
DaveS| 11.22.10 @ 8:19PM
The hypocrisy of the Left on 4th Amendment protections is astounding.
Eric Cartman| 11.22.10 @ 6:40AM
Let's see here . . . Can this be true? Our first line of defense against lunatic Muslims from the Middle East who have no compunction of blowing themselves up are people who have sought out jobs where they stand next to large, radiation spewing devices half the day and feel up toddlers, nuns and grandmas from Iowa the other half. Am I getting this right? This is the best we can do? We're in trouble.
JFGalt| 11.22.10 @ 7:50AM
This says it all.
Appleby| 11.22.10 @ 6:40AM
It is not my place to humiliate myself in order to convince airlines to sell me their product; it is their place to woo me to purchase same. I do not need their product; they do need my business.
Until they provide a service I am willing to buy, I will not buy their service. We shall see who blinks.
Deborah D | 11.22.10 @ 8:40AM
If I were a conspiracy theorist, I'd say that's what the almighty "they" want us to do...boycott the airlines. Then they'll say -- oh, Amtrak and high speed rail are divine. Who cares if the airlines go out of business?
My first thoughts on this whole creepy escapade is that Obama rolled this out right after the election to punish the American people for voting wrong! Did any of you hear anything about these sickening changes until that guy videoed himself saying "don't touch my junk"? I sure don't remember anything of the like. They certainly wouldn't have advertised the changes before the election -- and now they are humiliating Americans right as the heavy flying begins for Thanksgiving and Christmas. There's something going on here, but it's certainly NOT protection of Americans. When did Obama ever put the country before politics? I say follow the money -- some Democrat somewhere is making big bucks off of this technology -- and now they want to unionize TSA workers. Ain't life in Obama's America grand?
Sam Vaughn`| 11.22.10 @ 8:57AM
Let's take it one step further. Does the "regime" want to push ordinary Americans to "react' and then criminalize ordinary behaviour. I can tell you if someone groped my wife in a restaurant the reaction would be swift and immediate.
Skippy| 11.22.10 @ 6:55PM
Right on Miss Appleby.
Hey TSA Obamazombies! Pat this!
gran torino| 11.22.10 @ 7:19AM
It will be interesting when a group of burqa/niqab donned group gets wafted past all this while toddlers get, excuse the expression, finger-f*cked. Because that is on its way: don't think militant muslims haven't figured out how to apply Shari'a law (women past puberty can be intimately seen/touched only by a very close fe/male relative/spouse). If Shari'a law is applied to one it will be applied to all. Then it's all over but the shouting.
Let's see what that does to holiday lines...brace yourselves folks.
Abdul Bin Hussein| 11.22.10 @ 7:39AM
Our plan is working out perfectly. My contacts at CAIR are close to getting waivers for all Muslims concerning screening at airports. It amuses me and my fellow Muslims to see "innocent" infidels humiliated and violated by the very people who are supposed to protect them. You infidels are such sheep. It is very encouaraging to see you submissive you rally are. It will make implementing Sharia all that easier.
LaTundra el Saad bin Achmed| 11.22.10 @ 9:21AM
Alalu Akbar to you this morning, my phlegm-speaking friend. Indeed, these politically-correct infidels are falling for our devious plan like a 7-yr old boy submits to our Prophet! We shall all be exempt from these searches once our law-suit reaches the California 9th circuit.
Though some Americans say they will wear burkas to sneak through security like only us believers should, we will discover these infidels, and stone them with mountain-dew cans in coach class.
Indeed, most of these Americans are sheep, my friend. In fact, I am getting a boner thinking of this, as I miss my sheep back in the old country. Until we perfect our plan to walk innocently through security, we must be strong and think of these large infidels-in-blue at the airport as the sheep they are. Close your eyes and think of the Empty Quarter, my hairy-handed friend.
Eric talks to Ali bin Soapless| 11.22.10 @ 11:01AM
Good Morning. Eric Cartman here for AM South Park. I'm speaking to radical Muslim and U of C College professor, Ali bin Soapless. Good morning, Mr. bin Soapless. Go Buffaloes !
BS: Praise Allah, the slayer of the infidel, may he make them look like the fools they are with their hands down their pants. Peace be upon him. Good morning Eric. Go Buffaloes.
EC: Yeah. Thanks. Let's jump right in here. How did you get here?
BS: I flew on El Al. Why, you think I would fly Delta or something? I'm not stupid.
EC: Well, as you know, the Obama administration . .
BS: Peace be upon him
EC: has issued . . . Um . . . Who?
BS: Obama. He has devised this system of what are calling Grope or Fry that you are suffering under as we speak, praise Allah. Either fry by radiation, or get groped by your old gym teacher. Your choice.
EC: Yeah, well . . . . what are you Muslims going to do when some Saudi-in-a-Sac k comes sashaying up to the check points and has some high school dropout reach under her Burka and get a feel of . . .
BS: No, no, no, Cartman. You see, we have asked for and received a special dispensation for Muslim woman and Muslims in general.
EC: WHAT?!
BS: Yes, your president Obama understands the delicate feelings of Muslims about having to undergo these embarrassing exams. So we get to board without this terrible groping and fondling. It is only one-legged Army veterans, 3-year old babies, grandmothers and everyone else who will get them. But if it ever comes to be, we Muslims have the Limburger Cheese defense.
EC: What . . . the hell . . . is that?
BS: Well, if you look at the pictures of these TSA agents, they have their heads almost up the butts of the passengers. We Muslims never wash or bathe - well, our feet, because you never know when you're going to grab a quick bite. Anyway, it's been a few years for me. I wouldn't know what the inside of a shower looks like if I was standing in one. So when the TSA agent bends down to grab OUR junk, he comes away with the smell of a thousand camels passing Limburger Cheese through their rumps stuck in his nose.
EC: God, that's brilliant! You mind if I try that?
BS: Yes, it is effective. And be my guest. Just take some of my crotch sweat as starter spores and you'll be set for life in a day or two.
EC: Thanks! Well, what about the Muslim women?
BS: Oh, they are much worse! Don't even go there, my friend. Have you ever stuck your nose in the rotting carcass of a skunk that fell into the sewers of hell?
EC: Wow! No. That's just amazing. I almost threw up just thinking about it.
BS: Well, it's a gift from Muhammad. He never bathed, either. All he had to do was stand upwind from his enemies and they would surrender. Genius, no? I must get back to my government funded job teaching your stupid, infidel college students how evil their own country is. Hee hee. You know, sometimes I feel bad for you Americans. That your own children would be so stupid as to listen to the non-sense I spew and accept it is a monument to the Liberal Camel Asses that run your country and control your media. It's too easy! You are destroying yourselves! I don't even know why us Muslims are expending so much energy trying to do what your Liberal Camel Asses are doing for free. Well, gotta go. See you later, my fried.
EC: Yeah, adios, you stinky bastard. Well, that's all from AM South Park. Some great tips from Soapless there. Just slather yourself up with Limburger Cheese and let them pat ya down till they keel over. Good day!
Todd S| 11.22.10 @ 4:57PM
As they say, good satire is always based on truth so this hits the mark.
PCC| 11.22.10 @ 7:47AM
I do not live in the US. Unless it is a matter of life and death, or something closely approximating it, neither I nor any of my family will travel to the US for business or for pleasure while this stupid, ineffective and humiliating practice is in force. What has gone wrong in the US?!
Doctor Right| 11.22.10 @ 10:50AM
What has gone wrong in the USA?
Simple. Half the country had a nervous breakdown in 2008 and elected an utterly inexperienced fool as President.
GavInTucson| 11.23.10 @ 10:37PM
And then that fool appointed an incompetent, mannish, wookie-woman as the head of the DHS.
matthew s harrison| 11.22.10 @ 12:32PM
EVERYTHING!
Career Soldier| 11.22.10 @ 7:48AM
While I agree with your premise, I cannot abide by your insulting name calling of TSA personnel. Veteran's do get preferential hiring for TSA positions and many are former soldiers. To call all TSA employees nation wide "drones" and "dumb" is the sort of generalization that bigots subscribe to and has no place in an intelligent discussion.
Sure there must be some "jerks" working as TSA screeners who abuse the little power they've been given. But surely no more so than bloggers, authors or senior fellows who write condescending articles about working class Americans. They don't make the rules, the "ruling class" does!
JFGlat| 11.22.10 @ 7:56AM
They may not make the rules but they follow them regardless of how they affect our freedoms and rights. Just following orders. Wasn't that William Calley's defense at My Lai or the guards at the Nazi prison camps? It all started innocently enough but it has put us on a slippery slope that we can't get off of. Its true that the real problem here is at the top and I'm sure most TSA workers are alright folks but as long as people line up to do the dirty work it will continue. Be it TSA personnel or military personnel enforcing martial law. When did protecting the government and its continuity become more important than protecting the people and their rights. What's the point?
WilliamInWien| 11.22.10 @ 8:41AM
Career Soldier, I agree with you about using a blanket description on all TSA personnel. I have winessed a "few" truly professional screeners in my travels, however, the feds tried to do this on the cheap. Lower educational standards, lower pay, part-time screeners, contracted personnel all added to no authority to make independent decisions, such as a real case example had a ICE special agent carrying a US diplomatic passport subject to a extensive search. From my own experience in border control procedures, and as a passenger, I generally find TSA to be poorly trained, such as using American slang to instruct foreign passengers and raising their voices when they do not get compliance. I have seen screeners with their eyes closed in front of a console and although they utilize radiation * in the screening process, have no idea what a radiation detection device is. I could go on... I suspect that veterans, for the most part, who take employment with TSA will soon be looking elsewhere. * Who in TSA sets the level of radiation to be applied and are they capable of reading and calibrating such equipment?
Stormzeye| 11.22.10 @ 9:44AM
Whenever I've flown (about six times per year) over the last ten years I've been saddened by seeing many fine-looking young people working for TSA. What a waste. They should be in productive jobs or training for meaningful work in any number of fields. Over the years they have, and will continue, to get fat, lazy, calloused, stupid and bored by this repetitive and mindless work dealing with hostile, tired and angry travelers.
GreginOkinawa| 11.22.10 @ 10:12AM
Military personnel know that they have a right, and a moral duty to disregard unlawful orders.
Retired Navy in Wisconsin| 11.23.10 @ 8:42PM
I agree wholeheartedly. That was the way I was taught and that was the way I taught my crew. "Just say no to unlawful orders"!
Doctor Right| 11.22.10 @ 10:52AM
Being a veteran does NOT make one immune to being a fool...or a "drone".
Just look at Colin Powell.
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:06PM
Excellent observation there, Doctor Right.
matthew s harrison| 11.22.10 @ 12:36PM
Carreer Soldier(Thank you for your service)....but, as a career soldier, did you ever follow an illegal order? I doubt it. So the TSA groping children and nuns-and you think we are off base calling any/all TSA screeners scum for doing it?
Nope-wrong tree army dog! If you follow an illegal order, you are guilty as the O who gives it. PERIOD!
Need I go through for you the long list of enlisted men/women who have been thrown to the dogs as scape goats so that officers didn't take the blame for those illegal orders? Or are you such a career soldier you give those illegal orders only to have some E4 take the fall for your digressions?
It is time for Americans to stand up-and say no more of the obama/left bullshit. They are succeeding in turning us into a demoralized people, at each others' throats, rather than addressing the problem-our total lack of leadership in the WH, congress, and pentagon!
Time for a revolution!
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:07PM
You rock, msh.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.22.10 @ 7:53AM
Folks,
There is a genre of fiction called “future history”. These books all begin with the proposition…”what if?”
Each of us read columns…or articles…or essays…from the country’s best writers almost every day concerning bits and pieces of our literal “World War” with Islam. I do hope each of you has connected some of the dots in order to realize that said World War has already been declared against our very civilization by Islam.
OKOK, you say, but the “war” is taking place two streets over, and I would rather just “lay back and relax” until the war comes down my street.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I have gathered 4 decades of first-hand knowledge of that war and placed it in a “future history” context. Yes, it is fiction by necessity. The story is only one branch of history as it may play out.
Nevertheless, in my heart of hearts, I believe each of you need and will appreciate an opportunity to “live it” in advance for when the war comes down your street… from whatever direction.
Below is a “book-review” by a stockholder who just happens to be one of the most respected financial advisors in our country for many years.
Your attention please …
For weeks now I have not been able to stop thinking about a haunting book I recently read. In fact, this book left such a lasting impression that I just read it again.
The title of this Masterpiece is "Texas Said NO!" It was published about a month before the November elections, and it was written by a noted author who this time appropriately chose not to disclose his identity, but who obviously has decades of chief executive experience within the international Oil & Gas industries.
Not too far into the story, which begins in late 2010 just as winter begins taking hold, America’s energy industries are severely disrupted by an orchestrated and state-sponsored terrorist attack. And what transpires from that moment on takes the reader on a riveting ride through the harsh realities of what this nation’s citizenry would endure if this were to happen.
With notable precision, the author manages to the weave predictable aspects of human nature, the country's many political weaknesses, and the current complexities of foreign affairs, into an adventure-packed tale that you simply will not be able to put down.
Readers will be shocked not only at how time-sensitive developments now unfolding around the world tie neatly into this novel, but also how ingeniously the author makes election-related issues now plaguing Obama’s Administration so very vital to the story.
So, if you are looking for entertainment and are not afraid of being jolted, I highly recommend "Texas Said NO!" This book will swiftly capture you’re attention, it will teach you some basics of survival in such an event, and it is available in digital format for only $ 10 at
www.texassaidno.com
Sincerely,
XXXXX
Franco| 11.22.10 @ 12:42PM
Could you please stop hawking your book at every opportunity without regard to the topic at hand? Non-sequitur hour doesn't start until 5PM.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.22.10 @ 3:08PM
Franco
In a word; NO!
I consider it a public service announcement. If somehow you cannot figure out the relationship between our War declared by the Islamists and the airport strip-downs, you are an idiot.
You more than most need to spend the ten dollars.
Franco| 11.22.10 @ 3:38PM
Tex,
I am perfectly aware of said relationship. Just think your constant shilling of your particular piece of mind is tacky.
Ken (Old Texican)| 11.22.10 @ 4:56PM
Franco,
for old farts like me, one of the most joyful things we have to offer is a life-time of rich experience to pass along to folks.
I don't mind a bit being tacky....for the right reasons.
Of course I do not know where you live, but I have already received hundreds of thank yous through
sales@texassaidno.com from people all over the country.
One question. Have you gone to the website and read the foreword and chapter one yet?
Gunsmoke| 11.22.10 @ 8:07AM
Great article. Every line you wrote is the exact things I have said during my discussions on this (and who's not discussing it) except for the last paragraph when you mentioned air marshals.
As the focus is on the screeners, another part of TSA has been forgotten--the air marshals. Do not forget the problems that have arose from them. They had their share of hiring those with criminal backgrounds, and breaking laws from DUI's to trafficking drugs to raping prostitutes in their hotel. It's an indicator of how the leadership and organization of the air marshals need to be re-evaluated just as much as the screeners. A reason why you don't hear about their problems very often is because like the screeners, they over-use the claim that certain practices (like how they will pat search us) is classified information which cannot be discussed to the public due to matters of security (even though they will show us that practice when they pat search us). But because of their covertness, the air marshals can do a better job at sealing transparency from the public. So when we do see those occasional air marshal failures hit the newspaper, I have to ask myself, is that's just a small sample of a much bigger, hidden problem?
Keep in mind that every terrorist since 911 who tried to bring down an airplane in flight was subdued by passengers and flight attendants--not air marshals. The only ones the air marshals stopped were uncooperative passengers who were mentally ill (even shooting one dead) or breaking laws. But not The Shoe Bomber or the Underwear Bomber. The passengers got them. Is there really a need for them to work undercover? I can understand having air marshals work undercover as long as there isn't enough air marshals to cover all flights. But TSA should push to hire enough air marshals so that all flights can be covered, then switch them to wearing uniforms. Do they work undercover because it makes their job easier than the uniformed screeners who have to keep saying, "we don't talk to the public about anything because it's security matters?"
Or, would air marshals be more effective walking the aisles in uniform watching passengers' behavior and interacting with them? I'm sure any security expert will say that no security screening checkpoint will catch 100% of the terrorists 100% of the time, especially when millions travel each day. So if an undetected terrorist does make it onto an airplane, why would you want an undercover officer sitting and waiting for that terrorist to expose himself by trying to act out his terror plot when the plane is in flight? Wouldn't you rather the officer maintain a high visibility and let any undetected terrorist see him in uniform in order to control his behavior until the plane lands? Imagine if every policeman in your city patrolled undercover. If they did that, they'd be able to catch more bad guys, but that's because the bad guys would be acting out and hurting people more often. But when police maintain high visibility, the bad guys tend to behave themselves. When the cats away, the rats will play.
Lets' not forget about transparency, being people friendly to get thier cooperation, and allowing the tax-paying public to be watchdogs over them. A uniformed air marshal won't dare to sleep on duty, read magazines or watch movies with headphones because the people they serve are watching. I'm not accusing them of doing these type of things on duty. I don't know because they work undercover. But the news snippets that come in now and then makes me wonder.
The TSA needs to start reaching out to the public and interact un-rudely with passengers. Only when they can do that will they be able to look courteously for terrorists, without political correctness. Isn't this they way cops interact with residents in your neighborhood? But the entire TSA needs to be shaken down from the top to bottom. It has become a huge, bureaucratic, cumbersome monster that is roaming out of control. Or, like replacing TSA screeners with private screeners, should we allow airlines to hire thier own securty personnell to replace air marshals? I'm sure most private airlines would strive to exceed government standards on airline security in order to gain customers.
Stormzeye| 11.22.10 @ 9:53AM
With all due respect, uniformed air marshals is a dumb idea. All I need is to see another example of armed Federal Authority haunting me as I fly across the country. I'm reminded of the old saw: "When you give an usher a flashlight he'll tell you to take your feet off the seat."
chris haynes| 11.22.10 @ 8:31AM
We are at war.
And this is what you always get. Soaring debts, crushing taxes, rationing, the draft, killing, death. The TSA is thin beer by comparison.
So why are we at war? Does anyone know? To make the president look tough? to bring abortion to the moslems? to get low cost oil? to avenge 9-11? to justify our military?
Look at Brazil. They dont have TSA nonsense. Why? Perhaps becuase they mind their business. They not waging wars 8000 miles from Rio. Look at teh eurpoeans. They dont have this nonsense. Why? Perhaps because they found a sucker to carry their load.
Neanderthal| 11.22.10 @ 10:42AM
We are at war because Muslims want to kill us and/or force us to submit to Sharia. They will keep on trying to kill us until we surrender, or we kill enough of them so that even somebody educated in a Madrassa can calculate that the cost/benefit isn't worth it.
L. Ross| 11.22.10 @ 10:59AM
Chris.
Sadly, if there are two parties, and one side craves a fight while the other side only craves another beer, guess what? You have a fight. islam is a death cult founded by a child molesting warlord who was most likely schizophrenic. At a minimum, he was an intesely evil man who visited an evil on the earth as virulent as Naziism. He divided the world into two houses. The "house of war" and the "house of islam". His followers are commanded to make war upon the unbeliever until all submit to islam. It is just that simple.
Mark| 11.22.10 @ 11:42AM
Unfortunately, we are not at war. More specifically, we are not waging war. We have enemies who chant of our demise and we play war games. Since “Desert Storm” the American public never had the stomach to get the job done with those who want to murder us. If we had to slaughter our own meat, most of us would become vegan or starve for a week until we grew some bullocks. Instead we cower and offer up our private parts (and the private parts of our children) for the TSA to ogle and grope. Congratulations terrorists!
A quick poll here… if you found out your child was engaged to marry a TSA worker, how happy would you be on a scale from 1 to 10 with 1 being the least happy? I’m not a frequent flyer, but the ones I met are a step above Mc Donald’s employees (if that).
Quartermaster| 11.22.10 @ 8:06PM
Don't be ridiculous! People go to McDonalds because McDonalds sells a product they want. People are forced to endure the idiocy of TSA because some government drone can't see what theya re doing is an utter waste of time.
TSA drones are more than a few steps below McDonalds employees.
GW| 11.22.10 @ 7:04PM
Yah, cuz we were certainly waging wars on 9/11. [crickets]
If we use more intelligent security techniques, i.e. profiling and the restriction of immigrants/travelers from Islamic countries, then we will be safer and freer.
Louis Jenkins| 11.22.10 @ 8:35AM
I believe the Israelis screen about 100 million passengers a year, whereas the US screens about 600 million. Yes I was astounded to by the figures. Unfortunately, the Israeli way of screening takes brains, something the USA couldn't care about. I am waiting for the first Burqua clad female to make something of the USA's techniques, and watch the TSA back down really fast. Make no mistake people, we are at war with the Muslims, and if you don't believe it, well, just hang around and watch. A plane, or worse, will soon be falling again. As Ken has said, it may be two streets over, but it will soon be here.
Stormy| 11.22.10 @ 8:41AM
Does this improve after the TSA gets unionized, which will happen soon?
Auldsailor| 11.22.10 @ 8:52AM
I can't speak to today, but when TSA was formed it was, by direction of Chertoff, a minority hiring program. Its success can be viewed at almost any large airport, ones I have passed through recently are Miami, Newark, O'Hare, Mpls-St. Paul and St. Louis, as well as Cleveland. Though supervision is generally older and wiser, the line inspectors are for the most part young, probably high school at best and more likely dropouts, and who love to have authority. Its time we insisted on profileing, we will never get this under control otherwise and the airline industry better get on board, soon no one will fly, I know I wont.
RAMIII| 11.22.10 @ 9:27AM
Federal Govmt run amok -- loss of liberty for everyone! Thank you George W. Bush. I will do everything in my power to avoid flying due to this insanity!
Nunya| 11.22.10 @ 11:53AM
RAM, blaming George Bush??? Um...he's been out of office now for 2 years, I don't think he's running things any more. Yes, he started the DHS and TSA, but Obozo's minions are the ones that have started this latest round of BS.
GW| 11.22.10 @ 7:07PM
But this shows you the problems with increasing government for any reason. Even tho, under Bush, we didn't have the invasive searches, it only takes a regime change to instantaneously lose some of our freedom.
If Reagan had abolished the DOE instead of trying to reform education "his way", we would have less problems with centralized public education. Unfortunately, Repubs often feel *they* can run gov't more efficiently than Dems, and that big-government conservatism works. It doesn't.
WindOfFreedom| 11.22.10 @ 10:12AM
Mom,
I am very, very proud of you that at 96 you are still flying, alone, across country. And I understand that you want to be in Virginia for Ali’s wedding this June. But I need to give you a heads-up here.
The drill has changed. No longer will struggling to remove your shoes be enough. No longer will surrendering your nutritional yogurt, because it’s a liquid, be enough. No longer will it be sufficient to give them your nice diamond nail file because you might threaten the flight crew with it.
This time you have a choice: you can submit to x-ray screening of your full body, or you can submit to a finger check of your breasts and genitals. I am not making this up.
Now, I know that you have a history of skin cancers on your face, but I still recommend that you go through the x-ray machine. Because if you choose the alternative, they WILL go through your panties, and they WILL object—trust me, I know these people—if you ask them to at least use a new glove, not the one they used for the 20-something hottie right ahead of you. Herpes you don’t need; at least basal cell carcinoma is curable with surgery.
There’s no plea bargaining on this one. They don’t care that our whole family was under the security microscope back when Dad was Research Group Leader at Cal-Tech, developing a part of the Manhattan Project. They don’t care that more than one member of our family still works for a highly responsible branch of the government. They don’t care that you are a 96-year-old great-grandmother simply trying to see your loved ones.
You will submit or you won’t fly. Pistole has said so. Napolitano has said so.
But it will get worse, I guarantee you. Wait until some swarthy stranger decides to blow himself up, mid-air, with a bomb up his rear.
Your loving and concerned daughter.
Wayne | 11.22.10 @ 1:02PM
I went through security with my 90 year old mother. They spent 10 minutes patting her down (pre-screening), but completely ignored me. I was only in the area to see my mother to the gate. I was by far more dangerous.
justasimplepatriot| 11.22.10 @ 10:16AM
Searching zero-risk passengers makes no one safer. Well Said!
And asking me to abandon common sense while you grope grandmas and children isn't going to happen!!
Keep it up and you will see an non-pyrotechnic explosion - America style
P.Smith| 11.22.10 @ 10:24AM
Actually from some of the stuff I’ve read about Ted Kennedy he probably should have been on a no-fly list,… or at least some kind of list that would allow him to fly out of the country, but then not be able to fly back in.
albert constantine jr.| 11.22.10 @ 7:50PM
I don't know about the late Teddy's position on the "no fly" list, but I certainly hope he remained on the "no drive" list.
BobSledd| 11.22.10 @ 10:26AM
TSA:
Tub
Stackers
of
America
JohnD| 11.22.10 @ 11:32AM
How about "Testicle Squeezing Authority"
They have added new meaning to the term "check your bag"
michigander_sandusky| 11.22.10 @ 1:36PM
JohnD: Your post made my day!
Bob Miller| 11.22.10 @ 10:27AM
If enough passengers resist by not making reservations in the first place, the airlines will have to push hard for a better alternative.
Paul from SA| 11.22.10 @ 10:30AM
Talking points were distributed -- all media outlets are following Fox News and conservative talk-radio on this one.
Please stop. This issue has been over-reported.
Neanderthal| 11.22.10 @ 10:57AM
When the Bush admin set up a program to listen in on people who made calls to the cell phones of known foreign terrorists and the MSM howled, that was over-reported. When the Bush admin listened in on calls from one foreign terrorist to another foreign terrorist that were routed through US servers and the MSM howled "warrantless domestic wiretapping", that was over-reported.
When the US government requires me to submit to radiation or sexual assualt in order to travel, that is a violation of the fourth amendment, i.e. "the right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures shall not be violated". It doesn't get much clearer than that. The real story is that so many people are okay with it.
George S| 11.22.10 @ 10:37AM
Solution is simple. Immunize airlines from civil rights lawsuits and allow them to set their own security policy. Only US born citizens on international flights or refusing to sell a ticket to anyone for whatever reason without explanation, for example. The immunity would be necessary to protect the airline from charges of racial profiling or disrespecting certain customs and traditions of a certain religion. Which they will most certainly do, which will most certainly bring on a demand to travel with them.
This will work -- and work well. But unfortunately, when it comes to violations of rights, losing your dignity to being radiated and groped is okay, but to be discriminated against being sold a ticket because of your race or religion... well that's just not what America is about.
Welcome to tyranny. It has arrived. The TSA is not going to get smaller, only bigger; it will then need more workers and then the need to unionize. It will move on to other 'security concerns' at cruise ship terminal, bus stops and train stations. Then it won't be fair that private airplane owner or charter aircraft are immune. It won't be fair that private boat owners are not harassed. There is no such thing as private railroads... so what's left? Only private cars, I guess. Surely, they'll leave those alone... right?
Tom Osterman | 11.22.10 @ 10:39AM
What we have now is a worst-of-all-worlds scenario. The Israelis say the scanners are ineffective. The American people are furious. The US counterterrorism apparatus is a joke (didn't catch the underwear bomber). The current Secretary of Homeland Security is also a joke.
We're in this mess because our leaders found it politically expedient to cater to political correctness than to do what works. And I mean both parties, or does anyone want to blame Obama for undoing Bush 43's good work? We can blame Obama for Napolitano, but the scanners were in the pipeline before 2008.
Nunya| 11.22.10 @ 11:58AM
Tom, well said. Our "Ruling Class" leadership is the source of these problems. Nobody makes millions training bomb-sniffing dogs, follow the money.
This administration is the most corrupt in the history of this country.
The Bishop| 11.22.10 @ 10:45AM
This whole issue has become an obscene absurdity. If the fact that the "underpants bomber" had a father who called authorities about his son's terrorist proclivities and that did not prevent him from gaining access to his flight, what is the rationale for all of the ensuing inspection? I agree with the term "dolts" in reference to many of these TSA clowns. A year ago in September, while going through the Orlando airport, I observed two of these (a male and female) in uniform exchanging kisses and sexual playfulness. And now we are to have confidence in their respectful treatment for screening passengers? Sorry, I don't see any safety benefit in this idiocy. But, like sheep, we keep marching through the gates. God help us!
The Bishop| 11.22.10 @ 10:47AM
And, by the way, who received the benefit of the lucrative contracts to provide these scanners? Anyone from a prior Adminstration? I've heard rumors that it's so. God help us again!
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:32PM
I'm not marching through any gates, not until they abandon scan and grope and instead adopt profiling. And also, not until they remove the scanners to the southern border where they belong.
L. Ross| 11.22.10 @ 11:17AM
For everyone who is so upset about the TSA screening and their ridiculous penchant for screening non-threatening passengers, I have three words for you. John Walker Lind. The American Taliban captured on the filed of combat in Afghanistan, born and raised in Northern California. Put some tint and some gel in this kid's hair and he would look like a zero threat. All American, all evil. Trust me, there are more like him out there. The challenge facing us is that the enemy can fail time after time after time, but they only need to succeed once. The TSA, on the other hand, is trying to find the lottery ticket of death.
And to all the people who want the US to adopt the Israeli system of screening passengers, here is another perspective.
Virtually all flights in Israel are international. The country isn't large enough to fly inside. Kind of like flying from L.A. to San Diego. Why do it?
That said, on international flights, you expect big delays with customs and agricultural inspections. You know you are in for a long day. Showing up another hour early so you can be interrogated by El Al security screeners (most likely retired mossad) is not that big a deal. But imagine if you are expected to arrive at the airport an additional hour early so you can be interrogated by security. (Don't kid yourself about the nature of these conversations. Yes, they are frequently short and friendly, but anything out of the ordinary "Oh, a one way ticket", "My, you certainly have a great deal of baggage", "You seem to have purchased your ticket recently" and you are in for an extended period of fun with a group of very, very serious men. Frankly, as much military flying as I do, and I almost always meet one or all three of the above mentioned "flags", I would just as soon stick with the system we have.
Nunya| 11.22.10 @ 12:07PM
Mr. Ross, with all due respect: Our current system is set up with Political Correctness at its heart. Fondling grandma is not making us any safer, nor is forcing some 4-year old to undress. What we need is common sense measures--and yes, I mean profiling--because it works. It's not perfect, but I can assure you what is going on now is not making us any safer, whatsoever. It's a ruse.
If we had bomb-sniffing dogs, well trained personnel who were looking for specific character traits, a good system of tracking and following up with suspicious purchases, etc., we'd all be safer. In my experience with the airlines we have poorly trained, power hungry dolts that are running things, and I think that's the way the powerst that be want it. I recognize there are some good people doing these jobs, but in my experience they are few and far between.
Wayne | 11.22.10 @ 12:59PM
John Walker Lind could be wearing a suicide belt and blow it up in the line and kill hundreds of people and shut down the airport. How does the screening procedure help?
Mark| 11.22.10 @ 1:05PM
There should be a balance and I think it’s gone too far with these scans. The questions is quality of life vs quantity of life. We shouldn’t give up that much freedom even if this were the greatest threat. It makes more sense to scan and cavity search employees who have access to our water supply to protect human life, and employees who have access to the Internet backbone to protect our financial infrastructure. This is just mania over the latest vogue threat and not what any good strategist would emphasize on if they were focusing on National Security. Sadly, I think this is more about big government and political power than anything else.
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:35PM
Come on, people.
Dogs are good but pigs are even better. If we want to keep the army of Islam crazies off our planes, we need to keep them out of the airports. CAIR can go grope itself if it doesn't like it.
chris haynes| 11.22.10 @ 12:01PM
Islam is a death cult? How about the USA?
Legal abortion. A 9-11 every day. Biggest holcaust in history.
Supported by all our elite. Courts. press Univeristies. All Democrats. Leading republicans.
But Saudi Arabia, Iran. Abortion is illegal. These Moslem governments, they respect innocent life. Ours certainly doesnt. You want a death cultist, try Joe Lieberman.
Nunya| 11.22.10 @ 12:11PM
Chris, so you're saying that all of the beheadings, bombings, murders, etc., that are done in the name of Islam--those are all OK, because we have abortions here in the US? That's ridiculous.
How many "innocent" lives were taken on 9-11? How many "innocent" lives are taken every time a cafe in Israel gets bombed? Please.....
While I don't support abortion, saying that Muslims "respect innocent life" is absolute BS.
Tard| 11.22.10 @ 12:48PM
I really only have to fly one more time in my life: when I move out.
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:38PM
If only it were that simple.
Radioman777| 11.22.10 @ 12:48PM
TSA is a colossal waste of money, populated by colossal wastes of human flesh. As far as I'm concerned, they're all a bunch of scumbags that got dredged up from some cesspool somewhere to serve at the command of Janet Napolitano, the female version of Ernst Roehm.
Wayne | 11.22.10 @ 12:56PM
Well said. I have always felt safe flying. The odds of some terrorist attack on any flight is extremely small. I worry more about the taxi ride to the airport.
But for a grope-loving friends I ask this. What happens when the next terrorist attack is on the people waiting in the security line? Then what do we do? The danger is not a stray knife getting on board, but the danger is the terrorist bent on creating havoc. So that terrorist looks for a soft spot, and that line is certainly that. The best defense is to target suspicious people as soon as possible.
Achmed Bin Faisal| 11.22.10 @ 12:57PM
My friends in Beruit say that it only costs $50,000 for the Mexican Cartels to get Muslims across the Arizona and New Mexico borders. For another $25000, American Muslim women will marry these illegals, get them IDs and then divorce them. Before INS knows what happened, these Muslim illegals are gone. Rumors have it that over 3000 of them have inflitrated the US in this manner since 2001.
Muslims are to the Americans what the Goths were to the Romans.
darcy| 11.22.10 @ 5:40PM
True. And liberal commies are to America what the Trojan Horse was to Troy.
Ned the Red| 11.22.10 @ 1:47PM
I just hope this whole "Pat Down" thing resolves itself with a happy ending.
Andrew Keirns| 11.22.10 @ 2:05PM
The American travelling public is upset because we are not the terrorists. In fact, we are -- at least the Danish traveller was -- best situated to stop a terrorist that has boarded a flight (even after being on a NO FLY list!). The enhanced security upsets the American traveller because it is more evidence in a growing string that the government ISN'T doing its job: the Feds do nothing to help us when it comes to Immigration, taxation -- and now security.
Pat| 11.22.10 @ 2:06PM
Maybe most of us are weird, but getting off the plane with all our parts in the same places isn’t exactly the greatest thrill in the world, but it’s a much more gratifying feeling today than it was a short 10 years ago. To experience that delicious feeling of relief after each flight, many of us will accept far more humiliation than we would have previously thought possible. And possible only so long as the “official” humiliation is applied equally to all citizens in the spirit and practice of true American democracy. Therefore, it seems only logical we demand, as a gesture toward equality, that Hillary Clinton, Janet Napolitano and Michelle Obama be required to pass through the airport body scanners while they expose, but only to duly constituted authority, the lack of time they’ve spent on the treadmill or their secret addiction to half pound bags of Godiva chocolates.
To us, It appears suitably democratic our high government VIP’s should be expertly humiliated in exactly the same manner as we are. Of course, in our saner moments, such demands seem rather petty or even childishly vindictive – and, in response to such emotional demands, Washington recently announced that due to “undisclosed” reasons of national security neither Hillary, Michelle nor Janet will be showing their chalupas to the body scanner manned by the TSA’s very own Mr. Burt “the Eye” Ogguler any time soon. These women are important to our government, you only have to ask them to receive confirmation of that fact, and, besides, “it’s about your safety” - a TSA spokesperson said yesterday – “and not about invading your privacy for the purpose of cheap thrills”.
That announcement raised beer mugs and a loud cheer down at that Washington D. C. bar where TSA security guards hang out after work – coincidentally enough, a watering hole also with the curious name of “Cheap Thrills”. Burt “the Eye” led the cheers because, while he appreciates young female bodies framed in his scanner, he’s never been fond of viewing middle aged women, naked or otherwise. And while it’s quite true that, after several rounds, hilarious stories about really funny shaped chalupas seen recently in the scanner - or the often amazingly crooked bends observed on certain male “zapatas” – and these funny stories are always repeated amid loud laughter on everyone’s part - when sobriety eventually returns, the TSA guards will collectively swear your safety is their first and only concern.
If you still won’t believe that, drop by Cheap Thrills some night after end of shift out at Dulles International. Burt “the Eye” will explain how TSA guards are really professionals, exactly like your wife’s doctor during a physical exam except that, on their measly $85,000 per year government salaries, they can’t afford those expensive BMW sports sedans – and go ahead, try suing them for “professional malpractice” after an overly aggressive “pat” down of your wife – if you do, and unlike the case with your wife’s doctor, it‘s a foregone conclusion you’re gonna lose.
Intelligent Design| 11.22.10 @ 3:49PM
This invasion of our rights has come about as a result of the government's own incompetence ---- On Christmas day in 2009 the terrorist on the flight landing in Detroit was only discovered when his "underwear" bomb failed to function as he intended. He was allowed to get on a flight to the U.S. from Amsterdam (where the TSA has representatives) despite at least five huge red flags: 1) his trip originated in Yemen; 2) he bought a one-way ticket to Detroit; 3) he paid cash amounting to about $2,500 for the ticket; 4) he had no luggage; and 5) he is a Muslim. Even an amateur sleuth could figure out how to use this PROFILE to keep the terrorist off the plane.
But instead of admitting its incompetence, the Department of Homeland Security (a joke) decided to violate the rights of over 300 million American citizens, and millions of other fliers.
Every time any of us stands in line at the airport, we should "thank" Obama, Napolitano, and Islam. Over the past few decades, Muslims have been responsible for 99.9% of all terrorist attacks. They continue on a daily basis. A comprehensive list can be viewed at www.thereligionofpeace.com
PROFILING should be used to screen airline passengers.
It is time for American citizens to put an end to this idiocy. Write to your congressmen and airline executives, and tell them you plan to vote with you wallet. Unless they start using sophisticated PROFILING, unless they get rid of the long lines and outrageous violations of your rights, you won't be buying airline tickets. And unless the new batch in Congress listens to our outrage, tell them they will be voted out in two years.
Obama is waging war against American citizens at airports, while at the same time waging war against us by encouraging illegals to walk across the Mexican border. How many of the millions who have infiltrated the U.S. are actually terrorists? Several hundred, at least. Obama says Arizona and other states do not have the right to ask suspected illegal immigrants for proof of citizenship, while at the same time those of us who actually are citizens have to provide ID, and we are treated like convicts at the airport.
DaveS| 11.22.10 @ 8:26PM
I invite anyone to give me an example of a conditional lifetime on a government action: i.e. show success or dump the method. Government persists against all evidence to the contrary. The changes in these expensive but obsolete mousetraps have already been measured by our enemies and they are looking for another way in. Ifa trap doesn't catch one early on, it is less likely tocatch anything other than a stooge. DO NOT BE SURPRISED if a staged find occurs quite soon.
Dixie Pixie| 11.22.10 @ 3:55PM
Unless the American public puts their foot down and say enough is enough then the TSA will increase the security measures to the illogical maximum.
One day an air traveler will spend the flight naked with strangers watched over by armed TSA guards.
Mark| 11.22.10 @ 4:16PM
Rewind back a couple months before this search was instituted and consider this scenario:
There is a custody battle in family court and one parent files an ex-parte (emergency hearing) because the other parent repeatedly exposes their children to an environment where they may possibly be groped around the chest, buttocks and genital areas. That parent would lose whatever custody/visitation they had and would be labeled a child sex-offender for the rest of their life. Future would-be employers would find that information on a background check. Neighbors who visited their local megan's law website would see their names and it would state that they were guilty of a sexual offense involving a minor under (whatever age fits).
So, this subjecting a child to being felt around their genitals is so bad that we would punish a person to that extent, but the government needs to do it for our safety?
Tell me again how many successful terrorist attacks there have been since 9-11 without the molestations?
chris haynes| 11.22.10 @ 5:16PM
Saying that Muslims "respect innocent life" is absolute BS.
No it's the absolute truth.
Compared to the USA
Lets look at the Moslem establishment, not their Charles amnsons.
Saudi Arabia. They have a moslem government. They respect innocent human life. Abortion is illegal. So is terrorism. Punished severely.
The USA. No respect for human life. Legal abortion, 45,000,000. The biggest holocaust in history. A 9-11 every day. Weve had 330 9-11's this year.
What do you think of holocaust enablers?
Let me list some:
Gulianni. 500,000 iunnocent children killed in New York city, on his watch, with his okay.
Lieberman. 400,000 in Connecticut, with his okay.
Reagan appointee O'Connor.
Bush's friends Chafee, Spector
Karl Roves friends Kirk, Castle Scott Brown.
the Clintons, Obama, Condeleeza Rice, Powell, our business elite. our academic elite, our press elite. our courts.
Holocaust enablers. All of them. Worse than Goebbels.
GW| 11.22.10 @ 7:12PM
Actually, in Sharia-run countries women are often stoned for adultery without due process, drinking alcohol can carry the death penalty, and any religious belief outside of Islam is prosecuted.
Although I agree abortion is a serious problem, politicians cannot be completely blamed. Even if abortion were illegal in all 50 states, abortions would still occur--resulting in still many murders. The best thing to do is convince people to *choose* life, as it is the right thing to do.
DaveS| 11.22.10 @ 8:16PM
I advise against submitting to a private room pat-down if you cannot bring your own witness. Some TSA agent would pull a 'device' out of his pants pocket and claim it came from searching you. There is not guard against mischief: you are at their mercy - especially if show anything other than complete passive posture and speech.
BackToBasics| 11.22.10 @ 11:10PM
Look how many autocratic policies have been implemented only since Obam came in that have to be turned back. To turn back the TSA nonsense and the other policies will take much political will and then we will only be at the place we were 2 years ago. A lot of prayer and perseverance will be needed. A conservative Senate and very tough conservative president will be needed in 2012 as well. We still have a chance but 2012 may be the last chance politically to change things in a peaceful atmosphere.
Bob Menzies| 11.23.10 @ 6:58AM
You lot sound like a bunch of cry babies. So what if we have to get felt up for our well being.
So what if some stranger fondles you nuts? Humiliation you say, then how humiliating would it be to have your bloody nuts blown off?
Seesh last time I got felt up was in China by the a really sweet (and very efficient) security officer. She was a honey; now what red blooded man wouldn't want a piece of that?
Many of the above comments sound like they have been written by people from the sooky left - tickle me and I'll tell mommy etc.
Come on guys, surely this is only small potatoes in the big bad world of terrorism.
So let's all look on the bright side - you'd probably have to pay heaps at Madame Lash's for a session like the TSA dish out. Hell, we should be paying them, oh we already are - then we should at least give them a generous tip....
chester arthur| 11.23.10 @ 9:39AM
Lanny Davis said he 'saw' Daniel Patrick Moynihan patted down.Since Moynihan has been dead for several years,and the intrusive pat downs are a recent phenomenon,that must have been a weird thing to see.
chris| 11.23.10 @ 1:24PM
Excuse me. Aren't the majority terrorists, if not all, Muslim? Yet TSA waives screening of the very people who are most potentially terrorists, while harrassing the zero-risk people? Think the teachers should focus on deciplining the obedient students but waive all diciplines for the trouble-makers? Police should search the least likely offenders but give free passes to all the habitual offenders?
Way to go, idiots!