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The War on Terror Spectator
Dial TSA for Murder
Time for it to investigate the bigger threat.
The public furor over enhanced security screening policies implemented by the Transportation Security Administration has its roots in the September 11 terrorist attacks. On that date, 19 Muslim foreigners who were terrorist sleeper cells boarded four jetliners, overpowered the aircrew, and attempted to use the aircraft as deadly missiles. Three of the four hijacked jetliners reached their destinations of the Twin Towers and the Pentagon. The fourth crashed in rural Pennsylvania as passengers fought to retake control of the plane.
The federal government’s immediate response was to sack all of the private security screeners at the nation’s airports who were diligently following government inspection protocols and replace them with an agency of more than 43,000 employees. TSA has since grown by more than 55% to 67,000 employees.
Washington, D.C. decision-makers obviously believe TSA is doing a great job. Its employees received more than $98 million in bonuses and pay raises in 2008 due to superior performance. Moreover, the percentage of TSA employees receiving bonuses exceeded the average of the entire federal workforce.
As has been well-documented, a number of terrorism-related incidents have occurred since 9/11 that have forced the TSA to increase its invasive security screening of elderly widows in walkers, toddlers traveling on family vacations, servicemen on R&R from Afghanistan, firefighters traveling to weddings, the disabled wearing prosthetic devices, longtime airline crewmembers and anyone else who poses a threat identical to those who have actually attempted or carried-out a terrorist attack. How anyone believes he could differentiate between Great Grandma, three-year old Jimmy, and a Muslim would-be bomber is beyond me.
Major U.S. air travel terrorism attempts since 9/11 include the following.
A British national, Richard Reid was in and out British prison since his teen years for a variety of crimes. Upon the advice of his immigrant father he converted to Islam. One reason was that he would allegedly receive better food in prison than would non-Muslim inmates.
After his conversion Reid aligned himself with Al Qaeda and traveled to Afghanistan where he received terrorism training and a pair of shoes laden with explosives. The plan was to detonate his shoes on a U.S.-bound flight.
In December 2001, Reid failed in his first attempt to board a Miami-destined flight as Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport security screeners thought it odd the scruffy Reid had not checked any luggage for an international flight. Undeterred, Reid boarded a flight the following day and was overpowered by passengers when he attempted to light the fuse protruding from one shoe.
As a result of this overseas-originated terrorism attempt, new U.S. airport rules demand all travelers on flights originating in the U.S. remove their shoes for x-ray screening. This is a security measure that is not employed at foreign airports.
In August 2006, British law enforcement arrested a dozen Muslim men who were in the final stages of a plot to simultaneously blow-up seven U.S. and Canada-bound airliners using explosives contained in sports bottles that were to be carried onboard the flights.
Most of the plotters knew one another from their association with a London Islamic charity. Several of the men had traveled frequently between the UK and Pakistan and some had ongoing contact with Pakistanis under terror surveillance.
British intelligence officials became aware of the plotters about two months before their arrests and began surveillance of their activities. Law enforcement moved in when they thought carrying-out the plot was imminent.
The elaborate plan, concocted overseas, called for adding gel explosives to sports bottles with the explosive material colored orange to appear as a sports drink and to mask the detonating mechanism inserted in each bomb.
As a consequence, the TSA banned all drinks from being transported through the airport screening process. All remaining liquids and gels must be in 3-ounce or smaller containers and collectively all containers must fit into a quart-sized plastic bag that must be screened separately from the rest of carry-on baggage. The hotel industry has yet to report an increase in guests demanding extra miniature bottles of shampoo and conditioner.
Twenty-three-year-old Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab was a devout Muslim born into a wealthy Nigerian family. He attended college in the UK where he obtained a bachelors degree and also engaged in various Islamic activities. He left the UK after graduation and he was subsequently denied a follow-on visa to return as British authorities became suspicious of him. About the same time, U.S. authorities issued Abdulmutallab a multiple-entry visa to enter America.
About the Author
Mark Hyman hosts “Behind the Headlines,” a commentary program for Sinclair Broadcast Group. You can follow him on Twitter at @markhyman.
Letter to the Editor View all comments (77) | Leave a comment
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Ken (Old Texican)| 12.8.10 @ 6:46AM
Mr. Hyman,
Hush your pen!
If you haven't figured out yet that TSA just might be the core of Obama's "civilian national police force", (Gestapo),
.....Then you had better get another cup of strong coffee.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 11:07AM
Want a laugh? the great Democracy of Nigeria is suing Cheney! watch out, they might invade America someday.
Keep your powder dry.
RCV| 12.8.10 @ 12:21PM
Anyone who would equate the Gestapo with our hapless TSA employees has no grasp of historical fact, or indeed, of reality.
George S| 12.8.10 @ 12:56PM
The only difference between the Gestapo and the TSA is the length of the law's leash. Ten years ago, any TSA employee (or police officer) who gave a 2010 pat down would have been charged with aggravated sexual assault. Today, it is "procedure". Isn't that another term for "following orders"?
Occam's Tool| 12.8.10 @ 12:57PM
No, RCV, Ken is worried that TSA might be used as a core of an extra-legal homeland security agency. Remember the origins of the Gestapo---the Weimar Equivalent of the FBI.
That being said, profiling is the only sane way to go. Myself, I would ask every person if they were an ACLU lawyer and then aggresively groin frisk them if the answer is "yes."
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 1:11PM
"Weimar Equivalent of the FBI"
Say, this brings up COINTELPRO; however that's only for libertarians to get all indignant about.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 1:14PM
... I mean you guys brought it up; you mentioned GESTAPO, which went out of business 65 years ago.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 5:11PM
...although I'm still alive, but I switched sides. Didn't see any difference.
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 1:24PM
Uh Oh ! A Groin Frisking Fetish.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 1:34PM
But it only bothers you if it's someone like Liberace or Rock Hudson frisking you.
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 1:57PM
You Bother Me Too.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 2:07PM
I'm not gay, unless I'm in bed with Justin Bieber-- and we should both be so lucky.
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 2:09PM
Like I Said, You Bother Me.
Attendants, Get The Net.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 2:16PM
Admit it, you like Justin, too,
Clint.
All Those People Can't Be Wrong!
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 2:19PM
...Clint,
answer this:
who is purchasing all those Bieber CDs with the full-color photos on the jackets? Old Ladies? the blind?
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 2:31PM
TSA Groin Honkers & You
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 2:41PM
Well, yes. When you are older you will know this is not a "nice" world. "Nice" is from a greeting card, the brady bunch.
But best you find out the hard way, because then you really find out.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 5:35PM
...and I love the "hard" way, if you get my drift...
Shamus| 12.8.10 @ 6:54PM
TSA: Your privates are in our hands.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 5:14PM
Clint, I'm asking because I'm a flamboyant fag! I wish I could join the army and betray my country.
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 6:09PM
You sound like a Chickenhawk Wuz giving a poor imitation of Alan Brooks.
Carry On Wuz Job.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 6:21PM
Getting close to the truth, Clint. Just do likewise and we'll get rid of those 2 idiots in no time.
Clint| 12.8.10 @ 6:48PM
The Truth Is You're An Israel Firster Chickenhawk Posseur Wuz.
Get Clucked !
RCV| 12.8.10 @ 2:44PM
Occam (or Ockham, to be truer to the original): As I have said before, the whole "war on terror" response to the WTC attack was ill-conceived and exactly what that miserable little band of plotters were looking for. I too, would favor adopting the Israeli approach to security rather than the inconvenience everyone on an equal basis approach. As for ACLU lawyers, I admire them greatly for the tireless work they do on behalf of all our constitutional liberties, but if groping their groins is your thing, that's between you and your therapist. Be well.
solipslip| 12.8.10 @ 4:22PM
"..the tireless work they do on behalf of all our constitutional liberties,..."
That's a good one! I love satire!
Appleby| 12.8.10 @ 7:11AM
Send them into Black neighbourhoods to pat down and nekkid-scan the Crips and the Bloods. Put it on PPV and solve two problems in one: eliminate the TSA and retire the National Debt.
Anne| 12.8.10 @ 11:35AM
Finally! This is the most practical idea I have heard.
RCV| 12.8.10 @ 12:22PM
Ah, the white hoods are off...
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 1:16PM
Yes, they don't hate blacks at AS, but they don't have much use for them.
Curtis Rasmussen| 12.8.10 @ 3:46PM
Yes, the hoods are off and all I see are Alan Brooks and RCV, 2 trolls with way too much time on their hands.
Please do all the readers of AS a favor and go away.
RCV| 12.8.10 @ 5:00PM
Ah, but Curtis, who will bring enlightenment to those in the Dark? Someone has to the missionary work among the uneducated.
Alan Brooks| 12.8.10 @ 5:07PM
...and at the same time , we accuse them of being slave owners! Come to think of it, the Klansmen exclusively voted Democrat! I voted Obama, does this mean that I, Alan Brookenstein, am a Klansman? We libturds are pretty messed up. We're lozels.
Intelligent Design| 12.8.10 @ 7:36AM
This is a good article which demonstrates the absurdity of the TSA's 67,000 employees and its "equal searching" of 310 million Americans plus millions of other travelers. The solution is profiling and sophisticated screening. For example, I would be happy to register in advance with the airlines, giving them info such as my DOB, SSN, home address, driver license, military service, criminal record (if any), fingerprints, and an iris scan. Then when I go to the airport, I would simply look into a screen to be be confirmed as the owner of these eyes, and cleared for takeoff. There's more, but I don't want to write a book :)
Tom| 12.8.10 @ 7:47AM
ID,
No problem solving please.
Point security measures, such as terminal screening, is the most inefficient form of security. It really should only be done when we are presented with a new technique to buy time for real and effective security measures to catch up. The time to stop a terrorism attack is long before the terrorist shows up at the airport. I am still shocked no one has blown themself up in one of the busier airports. A suicide bomber in JFK or Midway could probably kill as many people as downing an airline.
Intelligent Design| 12.8.10 @ 9:04AM
Do you think the current procedures are efficient? Should there be no passenger screening at all? Yikes!
We really need both: before the airport and at the airport.
I wonder how many terrorists have walked across the Mexican border? I am also surprised that terrorists have not detonated suicide bombs inside airports. A few of them would seriously impact air travel, and a significant portion of our economy is linked to air travel in some manner.
Tom| 12.8.10 @ 10:58AM
No, the current procedures are not efficient. They are a waste of resources. When you arrive at the airport you should have already been screened. There should be a small list of people who would be subject to further screening, some random checking (random is better for many reasons, the most important of reach is those conducting the screening are more thorough than if they are screening everyone), and some agents scattered around trained in how to spot terrorists. The most important aspect should be pre-screening, followed by behavioral analysis, and then final point security.
Mel Torme| 12.8.10 @ 11:33AM
No, Tom, I guess you and many other commenters, have not really understood what freedom is (maybe you are too young to remember). The US gov't has no right to screen any passengers, unless there is probable cause.
No, I don't want to be screened from home, and, no, I don't have anything to hide. I just remember what living in a free country is like. You apparently don't.
We got along pretty damn well for the first 100 years of air travel, oh, and car travel, and bicycling and walking, without any of this illegal searching of our bodies and property.
That, at least to me, was the point of Mr. Hyman's superb tongue-in-cheek article here, Tom. If we are to ruin the US Constitution in order to prevent 0, zilch, nada, nunca, and squat, deaths per year, respectively, then why don't we just do the same outside the airport, day-in and day-out, on account of the 13 to 14 thousand murders that occur every year.
That was the point, but correct me if I'm wrong, Mr. Hyman. (maybe it wasn't tongue-in-cheek; in the case I'm about ready to GTFO of here ;-)
George S| 12.8.10 @ 1:12PM
Would you fly on a plane where no one is screened? I would, in a heartbeat. After all, I do not hesitate walking into a stadium, theater or shopping mall filled with unscreened people. Why is an airliner different? Who in their right mind would joke "Allahu Akbar" in a crowded plane today? The same type who would point a toy gun at a uniformed cop and say "stick 'em up".
Mel Torme| 12.8.10 @ 2:11PM
You get it, George S. What you said, exactly. I guess that makes 3 of us.
In fact, screening of law-abiding passengers on 9/11/2001 was a major contributing factor in the deaths of those 3,000 people and the permanent injuries to many more. I don't say "cause", as obviously, the 19 visa-expired Moslem men were the cause. By "major contributing factor", I mean the death and injury would never have happened had it not been for this (and other) contributing factors.
It'd have only take one or two armed passengers to stop the takeover of any of the 4 aircraft. A country defeated by men with box-cutters - now that's downright pathetic in the annals of history, when you think about it.
Occam's Tool| 12.8.10 @ 1:02PM
I have managed to avoid invasive screening at airports where I've watched LOLs get frisked (Little Old Ladies). I'm Jewish, but look Lebanese. I evaluate an airport's security based on whether they frisk me. I should be frisked everytime. Not bloody often.
RCV| 12.8.10 @ 2:46PM
No, you shouldn't. The Israelis don't frisk everyone who looks middle-eastern. What they profile is behavior and other things that we could go into in detail, but they don't simply racially profile.
Robert| 12.8.10 @ 10:17AM
...ahhh, but not without the excitement of downing one of those evil Boeing Kapitalist Flugzeugs!
What's the glamor of slaughtering 100 Americans on an airport floor? We Islamic Freedom Fighters deserve better!
Nancy in NC| 12.8.10 @ 7:57AM
Our government is reactive rather than proactive. One can't help but wonder if any of them had ever had a creative thought.
God help us when the terrorist brings something through in his anal cavity.
JFGalt| 12.8.10 @ 7:59AM
It's all part of the plan to control Americans. The TSA's response would be that because they were in place that no attempts are made to penetrate their security. This even though when tested they routinely fail to detect anything. But then again we know that this is not the real purpose behind the TSA-this is actually the front line of controlling Americans. After all, why let a good crisis go to waste as they have shown time and time again.
Anne| 12.8.10 @ 11:37AM
You are correct.
RAMIII| 12.8.10 @ 1:38PM
Yes this is the real travesty. It won't be long before Govt Motor's "ONSTAR" becomes more of the same. Kiss the 4th Amendment good bye folks.
"The RIGHT of the PEOPLE to be secure IN THEIR PERSONS, houses, papers, and effects, against UNREASONABLE searches and seizures, SHALL NOT BE VIOLATED, and no Warrants shall issue, BUT UPON PROBABLE CAUSE, . . . "
Read it and weep, 'cause it ain't no more.
Melvin| 12.8.10 @ 8:06AM
There are at least 50,000 MS13 terrorists wandering around various US cities, making a very comfortable living on torturing, murdering, raping, prostitution, the drug trade, and all forms in the fine art of terrorism.
Does anyone in our beloved government view MS13 as a threat? No, they just give them in state tuition at the local community college.
More Americans have been murdered by gang members of MS13 than any grandma with a walker going through airport security. But who gets the anal check?
Homeland Security is an abysmal failure that is run by the very people that we are supposed to be protected from. It is a waste of taxpayers money, it is a waste of resources, and is completely devoid of any professionalize associated with security.
People, our government has failed us. We can no longer abide by fascist rouge elements that masquerade in the guise of protecting us from ourselves.
Americans will need to first open up the front of their trousers and reach down if they have a pair. All to often Americans protray themselves as terrorized Chicken Littles. Stop being scared little chicken shits arm and protect yourselves and your families.
We cannot count on government for anything, we must count upon ourselves and our neighbors. You know who you can trust, and government isn't one of them. I thought I would never ever utter these words. Our government has become the enemy of the people. We must revoke our consent to be governed.
The vast majority here at American Spectator are keenly aware of what is being transpired, but there are millions upon millions of Americans that are completely ignorant to what is swirling about them, for I fear they will be lost, through their blind faith and trust in the government.
Louis Jenkins| 12.8.10 @ 8:32AM
Unfortunately, Melvin and Old Texican, you are correct again. We can no longer trust, if we ever could, Big GovCo.
Stephanie| 12.8.10 @ 8:49AM
Top down, bottom up, inside out.
Brian Mc| 12.8.10 @ 8:51AM
A few years back I was called into the store manager's office to witness video of one of the store's employees acting suspicously. We had recently had optics merchandise come up missing in excess of what could have been accomplished by a customer due to security measures in place and I was shocked by what the video inferred. Problem was, it was not cut and dry...but his deceptive movements were a serious red flag.
A few days later the individual stated that he was leaving the employ of the store to go work for the federal government. We all breathed a sigh of relief. Measures were implemented to keep better track of future high dollar items and life went on.
A year, or so later, the wife and I were in line for a flight to Florida. Who did I chance to see, standing aside in his uniform chatting with one of his cronies, trying to appear as official as a Joseph Goebbels look-a-like but that same associate who we had been one theft away from catching red-handed. He gave me a dead-pan stare of shocked annoyance and turned his back to me. I shuddered at the thought that he was now part of the security efforts on my supposed behalf. Who knows, he may rise to more prominent positions in our bureaucracy and I will sleep oh, so much better in the knowledge of same. Might be the TSA should implement brown shirts in their arsenal. They can have at it; I doubt I will ever fly again.
Melvin| 12.8.10 @ 9:49AM
He had the power to make your life a living hell. Remember Heinrich Himmler was an unsuccessful chicken farmer before he signed on the the Nazi's version of the TSA.
MikeBee| 12.8.10 @ 10:44AM
Brian Mc,
With respect to this particular ex-employee, now working for the TSA: you can rest in peace, knowing that the only thing he can possibly steal now is one of the family jewels!
PzKfw| 12.8.10 @ 9:00AM
I am absolutely astounded that the TSA hands out bonuses! Since when does a federal employee work toward a bonus? Incredible that a person serving in the military (for basically minimum wage) gets groped as a suspect by some fool who should be cleaning offices, and fool earns more.
We have met the problem...and they are us!
Sam Vaughn| 12.8.10 @ 9:46AM
PzKfw, they get bonuses based on the number of complaints, the more complaints the bigger the bonus ..... ;)
KyMouse| 12.8.10 @ 10:08AM
Every time I see an airliner coming in low and slow to our airport, I marvel (and thank God) that no one is trying to use shoulder-fired missles, or even high-powered rifles, against aircraft. Someone with a vehicle like the kind used by the D.C. sniper, or concealed on a rooftop, could take a shot and be long gone before anyone could react. I'm sure this kind of thing has occurred to terrorists.
How would airlines respond? How would TSA? How would it affect air travel and commerce?
Seems to me it is only a matter of time, but I pray that I'm wrong.
Yes we can| 12.8.10 @ 12:03PM
They would issue parachutes to every passenger and force everyone to evacuate the plane 10 miles fromthe airport. That way, if the scenario you mention happens, only the pilots would be killed, saving hundred of lives in the meantime. Problem solved. Did I mention I work for the government, I have submitted this proposal to the suggestion program and will await my bonus. Thank you for the idea.
Melvin| 12.8.10 @ 10:16AM
Something to think about. Who says it's the Middle Eastern terrorists doing the terrorizing?
David Gonzalez| 12.8.10 @ 10:18AM
I will never forget the day at O'Hare International when I witnessed about a dozen fresh-faced Navy
recruits (both sexes, in uniform) being subjected to "secondary screening" at the gate. A few minutes later, an entire family of Muslims (the women were in traditional garb) being escorted to the gate by [what I assumed to be] a TSA official. The official addressed the "patriarch" of the family as "Mr. Moussaoui" (those who don't recognize the name might try Googling it), thanking him for his understanding and cooperation. Even if we assume that the recruits were being "wanded" just to show how impartial we are---while the Moussaoui family had been strip-searched in a private room prior to being frog-marched to the gate, I thought that it lent new meaning to the term "ironic".
tdiinva| 12.8.10 @ 10:39AM
Once again I will make my pitch for canine security agents. Not only are dogs more effective screeners for explosive materials then humans, they are nicer and more intelligent then your average TSA screener.
Arne Paul| 12.8.10 @ 10:55AM
Watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mfq15gTSt64
The genius and timeliness of Monty Python is amazing, even from nearly 40 years ago.
The TSA, like any expanding police force must show that they are "needed" and "new threats" are "out there"; hence, the need to humiliate and search grandma, little babies, etc. Much like the cops who tazer little children and the elderly: they're issued the tazer, so they find excuses to use them.
We've come a long way since Norman Rockwell's America. Can you imagine the horrific images he would paint if he were trying to capture modern, average America? George Orwell was spot on, only 1984 is happening just a few decades later than he expected.
ezsolutions| 12.8.10 @ 11:00AM
There needs to be a call to the Muslim hierarchy to condemn suicide attacks. The Religion of Peace is the sponsor and cause of terrorist attacks. IT SUPPORTS YOUNG MEN STRAPPING ON EXPLOSIVES AND LOOKING FOR INNOCENT VICTIMS. In order to force the Muslim religion to correct this, the only pressure they will respond to is church members, subjected to targetted profiling, who tell them to pronounce jihad attacks in public places. A simple statement making it clear that any muslim killing innocents will be subject to eternal damnation should be a good beginning. Absent that, Muslims cannot claim peaceful intent, and they should be condemned in mass. As long as muslim leadership sponsors suicides and declares martyrs, they must be held responsible for all the consequences - TSA groping, profiling (if it occurs) and the tying up of innocent people at airports required to pass through checkpoints and scanners. This is muslim responsibility. The tsa is only reacting to the situation, ineffectually, obviously, but muslim leaders need to feel some pressure, more than the TSA. Let's deal with the religious causes forst, and then reduce the security measures later.
NJK| 12.8.10 @ 11:06AM
The TSA needs to be abolished. We can see now what it becomes in the wrong hands. I agree that Obama is grooming them to be his Civilian National Security Force. "The Blueshirts" as opposed to Hitler's "Brown Shirts." And please don't anyone say, do not compare Obama with Hitler. He will kill if he can get away with it. I think at this point considering what he's gotten away with, not being a natural born US citizen and be able to sit in the White House, it's below 50/50 anyone would stop him. Our military is so used to taking orders, I think they are incapable of telling lawful orders against unlawful anymore. I don't even feel confident, they would protect the American people, but may turn against them, at Obama's request. Look at Gates and Mullen. They are political stooges. They aren't military leaders.
GreyLion| 12.8.10 @ 11:45AM
Get serious.
The United States Military protects the people of America every day 24 hours a day AND they lay their lives down to do it. A little gratitude from folks like you might go a long way to make 'em feel better.
As for Obama being like Hitler, he isn't smart enough, and there are too many irritable old rednecks around to let it happen.
Jose| 12.8.10 @ 12:40PM
If you watch TSA employees at any airport, you will see more of them than any other transportation workers for any and all airlines. Some of the TSAs appear to be disoriented or disinterested and are there just to collect a paycheck. The over zealous ones make up for the slackers. We can do without all of them!!!
WilliamInWien| 12.8.10 @ 12:48PM
The immediate results of 9/11 was the terrible loss of life, families dismembered and property loss. The lasting result of 9/11 is FEAR. And this FEAR is continually perpetrated on the flying public by the DHS and the TSA!
Daniel| 12.8.10 @ 1:10PM
GreyLion...You get serious! Yes, the United States Military protects the people of America everyday 24 hours a day AND they lay their lives down to do it. However, their orders can be changed at anytime for some of them to render service to protect Big Government from anti-Big Government protests. I doubt very much, they would be used to protect the American people from crimes and assaults from Big Government upon the American people. In fact, the U.S. Military could be used to support the TSA or any National Security Force to conquer and enslave the American people when, tyrannical Big Government feels it can get away with giving the command.
Make no mistake...Obama is a ruthless tyrant and will do whatever he thinks he can get away with in his efforts to destroy American Liberty and become dictator over our remains.
DRed| 12.8.10 @ 1:48PM
I know! Did you see the way he ruthlessly compromised with the congressional republicans on the Bush tax cuts! Just like Pol Pot used to do!
Dan Ragon| 12.8.10 @ 1:44PM
In ten years, the TSA has managed to come up with zero people killed. They say this is proof they are doing a good job. This is reminiscent of the joke about the guy standing in Times Square waving his arms. Somebody asks what he's doing. He says keeping the elephants away. The questioner says "There aren't any elephants in a thousand miles from here." The arm waver says: "Doing a good job aren't I?"
TSA is an expensive, wasteful, and ineffective blister on the butt of air travel and an insult to citizens of this nation.
Mojo Risin| 12.8.10 @ 2:27PM
This is all brought to you by the insane leftists, who no matter whether in or out of power control the PC mentality.
Yah know, there are sensibilities just waiting to be offended and they are just the folks to see Americans will die to keep that from happening...
opal| 12.8.10 @ 6:45PM
I am a Devout Catholic mother of many. We only wear ankle length skirts or dresses and buttoned collar shirts that are buttoned all the way up for modesty. The entire screening process is a violation of my religious rights. We will unfortunately never fly again due to violation of privacy and modesty that is occuring in the airports. I plan on suing the TSA on the day that my parents die and we can not make it home to funeral on time because we have to drive and not fly. I can not in good conscience allow my girls to be so publically violated. I am genuinely surprised that no one in the Evangelical camp has sued yet for the same reason.
Novice Bladesmith| 12.8.10 @ 9:40PM
Several of you have pointed out that to date no terrorists have attempted to blow up airport terminals, but have you asked yourselves why? They have no need, because they have us where they want us.
This enemy doesn't want us unified and hunting them, but divided and fighting amongst ourselves. They prod just enough to provoke an overreaction from the authorities, which in turn provokes hostility towards the authorities from us.
I'm predicting that within a month of our having forced the authorities to remove scanners from the airports, there will be another major attack.
Paul Revere II| 12.9.10 @ 12:23AM
Constantly badger your Senators & Congressmen/women with quote of the IV Amendment and urging them to disband the TSA and replace it with probability analysis/personal interrogation ("profiling"). There are possibly two problems to this solution: meager qualified labor pool, sharp increase in unemployed former 7-11 dropouts.
Paul in Colorado| 12.10.10 @ 1:15PM
Certainly is CAIR is far from being the honest advocates they pretend to be, as their suggestion that Muslims should be allowed to self inspect makes abundantly clear. Lewis Carroll could hardly make a more ridiculous proposal. But we should be quick to acknowledge and thank the Muslim community of Portland for doing the right thing. They handed their problem child over to the FBI, and make no apologies for doing so. Theirs is the example to which we should point with pride - that they are Americans first and will not tolerate or protect criminals who hide their community.
Dale Cord| 12.12.10 @ 10:30AM
Discuss it now my friends and fellow Americans, for any subject mentioned about the second rise of the Third Reich, in the concentration camps of America, your future captive residents. Will be a violation of the law."Those who do not remember the past are condemned to relive it"!Hitler was the fate of Germany. Obama is the fate of America,and this fate could not be stayed.
Dale Cord| 12.28.10 @ 1:13PM
2011 a year that will live in Infamy. Future school history books will read: The year the Muslims conquered the United States of America. With not so much as a whimper from its cowardly military leaders, and name calling armchair patriots. Disgraceful,Shameful there are no words to adequately describe her defeat. As the 300 Spartans strength and ingenuity conquered all of those who challenged them, so a small band of renegades conquered the greatest country the world has known. When Davids rock slued Goliath. It also foretold a warning. "The bigger they are,the harder they Fall." Our country lost its battle of survival when it became intoxicated with its deceptive mentality, that it did not need its Creator anymore, and wisdom no longer was apart of its citizens physiology to survive