The TSA Took My Infant Away

[rb336]

Again, you say you never heard it as such, so it must be true [[in your mind).

I just said I never heard it. the rest is your own pitiful attempt to dismiss a simple statement.

I just heard a TSA mouthpiece on the radio this morning state that flying was a priveledge and not a right. So as far as the TSA [[T!tt!es, Scr0tum & A$$ grabbers) is concerned, flying is a priveledge.

ahh...but did you really hear him or her say that or did your brain just twist his words to fit what you thought would be said?

By the way, since you're being a grammar Nazi,

actually, i was being a spelling Nazi, not a grammar or typo Nazi

[gnome]

Can someone explain how person who is upset to the point of hyperventilating, can then accurately quote what theTSA people said? Bullshit meter is in the red on this lady.

That said, I'm no fan of this new policy. Personally, I'll moan in a suggestive manner the next time I fly those friendly skys.

[Detroitej72]

Can someone explain how person who is upset to the point of hyperventilating, can then accurately quote what theTSA people said? Bullshit meter is in the red on this lady.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that.

"Bullshit meter is in the red on this lady."

That was my first thought.

[Detroitej72]

Can someone explain how person who is upset to the point of hyperventilating, can then accurately quote what theTSA people said? Bullshit meter is in the red on this lady.

I thought I was the only one who noticed that.

"Bullshit meter is in the red on this lady..

That was my first thought.

[oladub]

rb336: thank you, I never read that law. BUT if you look at 40101:
[[d) Safety Considerations in Public Interest. - In carrying out
subpart III of this part and those provisions of subpart IV
applicable in carrying out subpart III, the Administrator shall
consider the following matters, among others, as being in the
public interest:
[[1) assigning, maintaining, and enhancing safety and security
as the highest priorities in air commerce.
[[2) regulating air commerce in a way that best promotes safety
and fulfills national defense requirements.

I flew into LA from Taiwan last December. I was not frisked, scanned, nor was my take on luggage looked at or x-rayed before boarding the plane. So from experience, foreign planes come into this country on completely different terms than planes taking off from this country. Yet you are cringing and suggesting that if the government can't stick it's agents' hands in your pants, you won't feel secure. When buses, trains, light rails and roadblocks are established will you then feel secure regarding the one imaginary problem that the government wants you to fixate on? Where do you draw the line and say 'enough is enough'. Will you next be demanding anal cavity searches?

Aren't you equally worried about car bombs blowing up next to lined up shoppers or pre-placed or plastic bombs exploding at football games? Even Hillary is worried about the lack of searching going on with imported cargoes. Why the obsession with Obama's naked body scans and gropes when the border is left open to the import of back pack nukes?

Let's not stop there. Terrorists killed 3,000 on 9/11. Compare that number to the 6,000 Americans who have since died in Afghanistan and Iraq, or the 150,000 who have died in homicides, or the 300,000 Americans who have died on government roads since 9/11. I mean, try to get some perspective on how relatively nutty this obsession with expanding nanny state police powers at airports is when trying to decide best how to keep Americans alive.

actually, I have never heard anyone talk about it as a privelege. It is not, hhowever, a constitutional right. Oh, and liars is spelled...

Thank you for the spell check. 'Hhowever' usually only requires on 'h' however. 'Privelege' is often spelled 'privilege'.

"Transportation Security Administration head John Pistole says he sees flying as a privilege." -CNN

Flying is not spelled out as a Constitutional right but the 4th Amendment has provisions against unreasonable searches of persons and requiring Warrants describing which person is to be searched.

Have you actually seen what those scans look like? they don't show your junk, your face, etc. it's like nothing more than one of those vague line drawings of the human body

Yes, I've seen pictures. It isn't high grade porn. Hair does not show for one thing. here are a couple of samples. They are more than the vague drawings as described in liberal talking points. And again, it's the libs who are advocating this expansion of police power and attack on personel liberty.
man
woman

[gnome]

For us oldsters, having someone take a revealing picture might notaa beabig deal. Do it and move on. Let's keep the line moving. However for a young person, this has all the markings of a tramatic event.

For xmple, a 12 yr old female is hyper aware of everything changing and for her to think that the first person to see her naked is some nameless person behind screen, er ... I don't think a ton of healthy emotions are cultivated under such circumstances.

Having one's first experience set in a public venue would be horror inducing. As male, and thinking back to those times, I can remember having the first sports physical and hernia check...the stupid line of guys all nervous over the turn your head and cough thing. The painfully public nature of that experience is tempered by the reality that you were with your pals and going through it together.

The idea of doing something even worse, without your buddies around, with just friendly TSA folk ... jeeze, it sounds like we are collectively creating a generation of people who will be tramatized, will feel exploited and betrayed. What affects these experiences will have on their future sexuality is anybody's guess.

[Gistok]

Good point Gnome... that may explain Oladub's borderline Xenophobic ramblings... he probably had someone named Brunhilda grappling at his "raisinettes"....

[Jimaz]

From Did TSA cave on scanners for Thanksgiving rush?:

'Noticeably subdued' airports suggest people opting out of flying altogether

News reports on Thursday declared the National Opt-Out Day protest against TSA screening procedures a bust, noting short wait times at airport security screening and TSA reports that there wasn't any spike in passengers opting out of body scanners.

But reports from travelers and local news sources suggest that at some of the busiest airports in the US the TSA has backed down and resorted to using the old screening procedures -- metal detectors and less-intrusive pat-downs.

And anecdotal reports from airports across the country suggest lighter-than-expected passenger traffic, suggesting that some travelers may have decided to "opt out" of the screening procedures by not flying at all....

Whether the opt-out protest was successful or not, it appears air travel officials and travelers alike were surprised by the lack of passenger traffic on what is typically the busiest flying day of the year.

A restaurant manager at Atlanta-Hartsfield said she'd never seen traffic so sparse on a holiday.

"Most of the tables on the restaurant's second floor were empty through lunchtime, and servers said on a day when they should have seen between 1,200 and 1,500 customers Tuesday, they served fewer than 500," the AJC reported.

I find it shocking that so few passengers wanted to be fondled. I know Americans are prudes but come on!

[gnome]

dtw had a single protester yesterday. sounds like the begining of a trend.

[Jimaz]

From Roger Ebert's Journal:

Are we doomed to submit to humiliation every time we fly? Perhaps you can argue that the terrorists have won a victory just because of the cost and nuisance of airport security. Not exactly. They have generated vast numbers of jobs for security agents, and inspired millions of dollars in contracts for scanning machines and so forth....

Once, some time ago, during another time of economic downturn, a president named Roosevelt created a federal program called the Works Progress Administration. It hired unemployed people to construct buildings, dams, roads, river works, ports, bridges and schools. Is there any possibility of a program like that today? Not a dream. That would be "socialism." You can't have the federal government spending our tax dollars to fund public works. But spending them to grope our genitals? Why, that's different. It's a matter of principle.

[Jimaz]

From The Nation: TSAstroturf: The Washington Lobbyists and Koch-Funded Libertarians Behind the TSA Scandal

While this issue is certainly important—and offensive—to Americans, we are nonetheless skeptical about how and why this story turned into a national movement....

Strangely enough, just a few days before Tyner's episode, another self-described "libertarian," Meg McLain, went online telling almost the exact same story of oppression and attempted sexual molestation at the hands of TSA agents. McLain is an occasional co-host of a libertarian radio show out of a libertarian quasi-commune located in Keene, New Hampshire. As reported in the Washington City Paper, the libertarian "Free Keene" movement where McLain makes her home is yet another libertarian project tied to the billionaire Koch brothers, the prime backers of the Tea Party campaign, through the Koch-funded Mercatus Center at George Mason University....

There was only one problem with McLain's story: she made it up. The TSA released video evidence showing that McLain wasn't molested, wasn't screamed at and wasn't attacked by a dozen cops and half a dozen TSA agents. In fact, other passengers don't seem to notice her, although a TSA agent does seem to be trying to comfort McLain, offering her tissues as the libertarian rebel breaks out crying.

The system's being gamed again.

[Pam]

Did you see this Jim? Questions about the Nation article.

http://journals.democraticundergroun...abrina%201/141

[oladub]

Did you see this Jim? Questions about the Nation article.

http://journals.democraticundergroun...abrina%201/141

Thank you Pam for providing the article making the point that there is still a segment of the left that continues to oppose a step by step imposition of police state policies; a segment of the left which is more focused on it's traditional values regarding privacy and civic rights than being the handmaidens of a possible emerging police state. Tea party activists don't have a lock on preserving liberty.

May I suggest, for anyone who hasn't seen this and has 48 minutes, a lecture by Naomi Wolfe presented during the Bush administration. Naomi Wolfe is a feminist who did vote for Obama. She discusses the transition of representative governments into police states and how fast the transition occurs. Remember that she laid this out during the Bush administration and none of it represents the hopes she had for Obama relative to Bush.

"Talk - Naomi Wolf - The End of America"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RjALf12PAWc