[agitator]

I don't understand why anybody would *willingly* subject themselves to a TSA groping and pay for it. As far as I'm concerned, let the airlines go out of business.

[jwalsh07]

Surely, morons like Ms Steak Knife understand that her carelessness results in loss of productivity for all those standing behind and beside her. $300.00 sounds cheap.

[Izzy Dunne]

a recently released set of guidelines for assessing fines on airline passengers who violate security policies. They are part of a tough multi-layered approach to defending airports and planes from any potential terrorist threat

Hello?
Clear thinking, anyone?
Can someone explain how the fine helps to "defend the airport or plane"??

I'd be willing to bet that a terrorist, intent on hijacking the plane, is not going to care that a $300 fine will be mailed to his house in a few weeks.

Stop the knife if you have to, but don't pretend that the fine is "defending" anything...

[NYCVirago]

Who carries a steak knive in a purse, anyway? This isn't like busting this woman for tweezers or nail clippers. This woman should be embarrassed for being such an idiot as to try to go onto a plane with a steak knife in her shoulder bag; instead, it's the big bad government's fault.

[Bloody Sam Roberts]

she was unaware there were penalties for what she had done.

Ignorance of the ill-conceived, un-constitutional, totalitarian-istic laws are no excuse, Ma'am.

Now get out your wallet and pay your fine to the nice jack-booted thug at the window.
Thank you and have a nice day.

[NYCVirago]

The organization this woman works for has this mission statement on their website:

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low income immigrants and their family members.

This woman has an axe to grind already against the feds. This is just icing on the cake.

[NonValueAdded]

Hey lady, it is a stupidity tax. Next time check your carry on luggage to see what is in there before entering the security realm of a gubermint agency.

[Publius6961]

But a steak knife mistakenly left in her shoulder bag before a July flight from Baltimore thrust her in the position of defending herself to federal security officials

I hate it when that happens, leaving a steak knife in my purse. Happens all the time.
I ran out of kleenex out of infinite empathy for this obviously intelligent, conscious and thoughtful air traveler.

[Publius6961]

said Campbell, the deputy director of the National Immigration Law Center

Well!
This explains everything. She works in an office with a collective IQ of 120.

Laws are for other people. If I don't like a law I get to just do what I feel like.
Only a moron would be unaware, after almost 3 years, that a knife on an airline flight is a no-no.

[atomicpossum]

— Travelers who try to bring explosives on a plane, $10,000.

Ooooooooooookay.

[Ben Dover]

All this winter I've been flying and carrying one of those things you use to defrost the lock on a car. They are the size of a large chap stick. Hold a match in front of these and you can throw a flame about two feet long. No one has ever questioned it.

[kitkat]

If I were stupid enough to take a 4-inch knife on an airplane, I'd be too ashamed to admit it.

[WillL]

TSA

But the purpose of the TSA is to make people *feel* more secure about airline travel. Harrassing innocent people makes it look like the TSA is completely on the ball, running a bulletproof, zero-tolerance security operation.

It's all about perception.

[tahiti]

"Susan Brown Campbell doesn’t consider herself a threat to the friendly skies."

Neither can her government without following the "rules" of the 4th amendment:

"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, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

How do "free people" handle this issue of "security" while traveling on aircraft?

Not by using an unconstitutional judical dicta of "compelling state interest" and "public safety" as the justification for violating the covenants of the Constitution, particularily the 2nd amendment and the 4th amendment, as well as the 5th amendment.

Free people let the marketplace sort this issue out.

Airlines, private property owners, are to be in control of their property, who they will allow on their aircraft, for what reason they shall refuse to allow their customers on their aircraft, and to what degree they will allow their customers to participate in the defense of their private property.

Free people, living in a free land, under the true covenants of a document, such as the U.S. Constitution, would do the following:

Some airline(s) may say to their potential customer base, fly with my airline and you can bring your arm onto my aircraft to help me secure it against potential hijackers.

Another airline(s) may say to their potential customer base, fly with my airline and I have invested in x-ray equipment and security personnel to search all luggage and persons boarding the aircraft to help secure my airplane against potential hijackers.

Free people, would then have the "choice" to fly on the airline that offers to them the best method of security.

[tracer]

“The civil penalties really help TSA to ensure that individuals traveling with dangerous items think twice before approaching the security checkpoint,” said Yolanda Clark (search), spokeswoman for the TSA. “We are committed to keeping air travelers safe.”

It is clear from this incident that, in reality, they don't, Yolanda. And you would be amazed by the field-expedient weapons that can be and no doubt are brought onto aircraft every day.

You see, the trick is to be smarter and more creative than the tangos -- and the hundreds of unthinking yet harmless passengers you so love to harass.

But you and your band of under-trained, TV-fed underachievers aren't and never will be. And it shows, to the extent that it has become common knowledge among the traveling public who have become very sick and tired of you and your pals.

Notwithstanding your trying to make "examples" out of the likes of Susan Campbell while waving shady characters right on through and past quaking octogenarians with walkers and in wheelchairs......

[tracer]

"...Campbell, the deputy director of the National Immigration Law Center."

On second thought, it would appear that she is a deserving recipient of the hosing she received.....

[Ronaldus Magnus]

I have a jacket with a small hole in the pocket that seems to eat a small percentage of the ammunition I put in it. Any idea what the penalty would be for a 22lr shell lost in the lining of a coat? My guess is that it would involve free room and board in Club Fed!

[Reelect President Dubya]

I used to fly five or six times a year.

Last year I had to fly once.

This year I will not fly at all.

This way I won't trouble and TSA goons.

Lots cheaper too.

[af_vet_1981]

I’m no threat to the government,” said Campbell, the deputy director of the National Immigration Law Center

The National Immigration Law Center (NILC) is a national support center whose mission is to protect and promote the rights and opportunities of low income immigrants and their family members. NILC staff specialize in immigration law, and the employment and public benefits rights of immigrants. The Center conducts policy analysis and impact litigation and provides publications, technical advice, and trainings to a broad constituency of legal aid agencies, community groups, and pro bono attorneys. NILC maintains offices in Los Angeles, Oakland, and Washington, D.C. and operates the Sacramento policy office for the California Immigrant Welfare Collaborative.

Who is she trying to kid ?

[Doctor Stochastic]

Could have been worse. She could have been wearing her hat sideways.