Free Republic

November 22, 2011MINITER & MINITER: Optional government Innovative idea has sprung to life this presidential season By Brendan Miniter and Paulette Miniter Given the opportunity, what many Americans seem to want from Washington right now is an opt-out clause. From the prospect of coming tax increases to pay for a profligate federal government to a mandate to buy health insurance, we can see in approval ratings and the sustained support for the Tea Party movement that policies rolling off of Capitol Hill have been roiling voters who would rather just be left alone. So it’s interesting that a key idea...

The Welsh government says it plans to have a new law in place for presumed consent of organ donation by 2015. The legislation would require people to opt out of donating their organs when they die, rather than opting in by signing the donor register. A White Paper setting out a timetable is set to be published this week. Opponents say they do not believe it will work and it will hit trust in the system but supporters claim it will save more lives. The Welsh government has told the BBC Wales Politics Show that it is planning a system...

Cars fitted with OnStar's technology will be tracked even if the owners don't sign up to the service, in a change to the company's policy that will kick in come December. OnStar is a service offered by General Motors USA, which inserts a mobile phone, along with telemetry tracking kit, into cars sold by the company. Owners are then offered the option to sign up to the navigation and automatic crash reporting, but in a policy change the company will start collecting data from drivers even if they haven't signed up for the service. In the notice being sent out...

After being directed to create a SmartMeter opt-out proposal by the California Public Utilities Commission early last month, PG&E released a proposal that has angered customers who are frustrated with the high costs of disabling the meters, considering that they never gave their consent for installation. The opt-out proposal, which was released March 24, allows customers to disable the radios inside their gas or electric meters with the option of either paying a $135 up-front fee followed by a $20 monthly charge or a $270 up-front fee followed by a $14 monthly charge to cover the costs of implementing the...

Obama backtracks on health mandate, supports opt-out from start By Jason Millman - 02/28/11 11:31 AM ET President Obama came out in favor of a significant change to the healthcare reform law for the first time on Monday, backing a plan that could delay the implementation of the mandate to buy insurance. The president is supporting a plan that would allow states to receive waivers to pursue their own healthcare plans, a change that would let states opt out beginning in 2014 from the mandate to buy insurance — one of the law's most unpopular elements. Speaking to nation’s governors...

Like the harried traveler who made famous the expression, “Don’t touch my junk”, I have elected my own personal protest, California style. I have decided to OPT-OUT of California to protest my overgrown state government. I am tired of California legislators sticking their hands in my pants to pay for the European style social welfare state they have created. My work, my earnings and my taxes will go elsewhere. I am one of those evil “high-earners” in California with income over $200,000 per year. It is unimportant to state legislators that we high-earners pay most of California’s taxes. According to...

Patdowngate thrust this little-known agent-turned-bureaucrat into the glare of cable lights. Sitting down earlier this week, Mr. Pistole offers good and bad news for America's frequent travelers. The former first: There will be no additional tortures. Cavity searches or other more expansive body checks are out at least as long as terrorist body bombs require, as today, an external initiator or trigger. "As far as the intrusiveness and the invasiveness of the person, based on what we know, I don't see us going further than" current policy, he says. "I don't think we can, frankly. I think we've probably reached...

Freedom's Phoenix is reporting great interest in the TSA Opt-Out Bags they are handing out at Sky Harbor Airport - one of the first airports to "test" strip-search machines. The bags contain a clean pair of gloves for those inclined to a feel-up, so that the TSA agent won't give them whatever cooties are on the used gloves, but also a DVD of Rep. Dr. RON PAUL, the gentleman who introduced the Traveler Dignity Act in Congress, and the number of Marc Victor, esq., who will be happy to represent them in any false arrest or litigation stemming from the...

The latest controversy over Transportation Security Administration body scans and enhanced body pat-downs leaves no doubt: America truly is a nation of whiners. A CBS News poll found that 81 percent of Americans support full-body airport scanning. That reasonable view is being drowned out by elements on the left and the right who love nothing better than to proclaim that they are victims. First exhibit: Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who introduced the "American Traveler Dignity Act" to "protect Americans from physical and emotional abuse." Abuse? Have Americans become such babies that a pat-down designed to prevent another 9/11 causes adults...

YAL has put together an activism guide for you to do exactly that, complete with flyer templates and other online resources. Many students will be flying home for Thanksgiving within the next few days, so quick action is key.

With the recent decision by the TSA to impose privacy-invading security measures such as x-ray scanning and physical pat-downs, there has no doubt been a wave of resistance by the jet-setting public. So what exactly has been going down? Why has the TSA taken such a highly controversial way to “keep people safe” while flying? Let’s take a look at the infographic by the people at criminal justice degree:

Another participating organization called "We Won't Fly" features a blurb at the top of its website that says, "Jam TSA checkpoints by opting out until they remove the porno-scanners." Organizer James Babb of Eagleville, Pa., agreed many travelers would see the pat-down as equally intrusive or more so. But he's still recommending the pat-down because, he says, it would create more disruption and send a stronger message. "They won't have the manpower to reach into everyone's crotch," he said.

WASHINGTON (AP) - With one of the year's busiest traveling days fast approaching, the Obama administration's top transportation security official on Monday urged passengers angry over safety procedures not to boycott airport body scans. John Pistole said in nationally broadcast interviews he understands public concerns about privacy in the wake of the Transportation Security Administration's tough new airline boarding security checks. But at the same time, he said a relatively small proportion of the 34 million people who have flown since the new procedures went into effect have had the body pat downs that have come under withering criticism in...

What do you think about "opt out" day? Discuss this story I support it. TSA needs to hear an angry public's concerns. I'm against it. Disrupting holiday travel is irresponsible, not helpful. I don't care. I just want to make my flight without disruptions

<p>Grammy-winning musician Steve Vaus has used an Oceanside man's experience with airline security as inspiration for a new parody he released Friday, "Help You Make It to Your Flight."</p> <p>Like the classic country song "Help Me Make It Through the Night" the song starts off romantic.</p>

Poking back at the TSA

The body scanners—385 of them now deployed at 68 airports—have raised privacy and radiation-exposure concerns. And the pat-downs, which started Nov. 1, have drawn fire from travel groups, lawmakers, civil-rights advocates, and pilot and flight-attendant unions. The fear is that Thanksgiving travelers—many of them students, families and older people who fly once or twice a year—will be unfamiliar with TSA procedures and slow to get through checkpoints. Full-body scanners require removal of wallets, belts, jewelry and everything inside pockets. "With people getting partially molested at checkpoints, all that is going to be a real shock for them," said Greg Wells,...

In a climate of Internet campaigns to shun airport pat-downs and veteran pilots suing over their treatment by government screeners, some airports are considering another way to show dissatisfaction: Ditching TSA agents altogether. Federal law allows airports to opt for screeners from the private sector instead. The push is being led by a powerful Florida congressman who's a longtime critic of the Transportation Security Administration and counts among his campaign contributors some of the companies who might take the TSA's place. Furor over airline passenger checks has grown as more airports have installed scanners that produce digital images of the...

Need to travel, particularly for the upcoming holidays? Is flying the only way to get there? Are you OK with TSA subjecting you to a full-body scan? If the answer is no -- you can participate in a protest Nov. 24 during National Opt-Out Day. Brian Sodegren wants travelers to pass on the scan at airports everywhere. He urges fliers instead to go for TSA's upgraded body pat down in full view of other people. Is the TSA going too far with invasive screening? Just Say No to TSA Groping

HAWTHORNE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- OSI Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ:OSIS - News), a vertically-integrated provider of specialized electronic products for critical applications in the Security and Healthcare industries, today announced that Deepak Chopra, Chairman and CEO, was selected to accompany US President, Barack Obama, to Mumbai and attended the US India Business Entrepreneurship meeting, which was held by the US India Business Council (US IBC). The goal of the meeting was to promote further trade between US and India. Deepak Chopra, OSI Systems President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, “I am honored to be selected to play a role in this very important...