Posted on 12/06/2004 2:52:00 PM PST by Angry Republican
Helen Chenoweth-Hage had a simple request. The former Idaho Congressman had been pulled aside at the Boise Airport for secondary screening to include a physical pat-down. Chenoweth-Hage had sailed through the metal detector without problem, but TSA officials wanted to scrutinize her some more.
The former Congressman simply asked to see the regulations that permitted TSA officials to pat her down. They refused. And she refused to allow them to pat her down. So they booted her off her flight.
Incidents like this have happened so many times that it is beyond absurd. The regulations of TSA, which should stand for "Thousands Standing Around," are cloaked in secrecy. In this case, a 66-year old former Member of Congress is told to submit to further scrutiny for reasons of political correctness and to inflate inspection numbers.
According to aviation industry sources, the TSA intentionally targets individuals for further scrutiny not because they pose a threat, but because their profiles fit those the least likely to complain. Groups getting extra scrutiny include government employees and the military. Other national security threats reportedly requiring further scrutiny in the past include former Vice President Al Gore and longtime Congressman John Dingell.
The two-part problem is this. First, inspecting people who clearly do not pose a threat distracts attention from those who could pose a threat. Second, the notion that TSA can subject the public to regulations that are not made public is ludicrous. It's like citing a motorist for speeding with the speed limit signs all covered.
The Transportation Security Administration has not provided real and responsible security to our nation's airlines and airports. Playing hide and seek with the regulations and subjecting innocents to absurd inspections in the name of political correctness is simply a waste of time and money.
And that's the Point.
I'm Mark Hyman.
El Al is very professional about it, however. They do not go in for lewd and/or rude jerks. The scrutiny is not so much the objectionable factor for most American travelers as the crudeness.
A Free people have a Right to travel unmolested by agents of the state. And a Free people have a responsibility to provide for their own personal safety.
Most sheeple do not want this responsibility, so they willingly believe the lie that the state can protect them. And in doing so, allow their Rights to be trampled on.
The eventual result of such a widespread mindset will be a totalitarian government, along the lines of Soviet Russia or Nazi Germany.
At this point, I think it's inevitable (barring unforseen events). One of my desires is that those who allow this tyranny to develop, personally experience its jackboot on their throat, instead of getting off scot-free and letting the burden fall on their children and grandchildren.
There is a contingent of folks here that believes that anyone who actually tries to act like a Free citizen (instead of simply believing the propoganda about freedom) is somehow mentally defective (i.e., an "idiot" or "nitwit").
Those folks expect us peasants to not only know all the written edicts, but all the unwritten ones too.
The underlying premise being that the state is supreme and not to be questioned under any circumstance.
Don't give them any more ideas, Joe, although I'm sure that federalizing mall security will probably be a part of Patriot Act 3.
"Crazy bastards like me, of course, will still be arguing that those who fit the profile of those who are likely to commit such crimes ought to be the ones who suffer the indignity of a search, instead of just granting government the wide power to randomly invade anyone and everyone's privacy."
Add me to the crazy bastard list. I am still sickened by the sight of my 82 year old mother in law (in a wheelchair)being taken aside for a strip search on our last flight. She told me she was touched in places that should not have been allowed. Mind you, her husband was a WWII PBY pilot in the south pacific with commendations for rescuing down pilots. I know he rolled over in his grave.
Or how about when Max himself is "felt up"? Do they "feel up" the men? Or is that a privilege reserved only for the women? I don't fly, which is why I'm asking.
"How did you make the great leap from a pat down to strip searches?"
Women are being required to take off their shirts.
Because you obviously have some very strong perceptions on this issue backed, I am sure, by rational thought and perhaps experience, I've another question for you. As a teacher, I had criminal background checks along with fingerprinting each time I reapplied for certification. As a miltary spouse I had security clearance checks - not because of anything I was doing, but because of what my husband was doing. You'd think I'd be considered ok by now.
Meanwhile, how about the people working the food concessions, janitorial services, and baggage handling in airports. Full background checks and security screening? How about the airplane cleaning teams? Remember those box cutters that were found concealed under airplane seats in the aftermath of 9/11? How about the catering outfits that supply the airplanes? Are all empoyees subjected to criminal background checks and security clearances? Full body searches each day they report to work? How do you do a criminal background check or security check on an immigrant who can barely speak English? How secure are we until everyone who is in any way associated with air travel is fully screened? That's where the danger lies at this point.
"or question the authority of the agents"
No one should dare do that. I say form a firing squad and shootem on sight.
I agree with the background checks for anyone with access to planes, etc. But how can you be against security checks at the gate? This is the best we have now, though it will probably go to backscatter or other technology in the future. And when that happens, I'm sure people will start complaining about that.
No real problem with security at gates...the problem is random screenings so random that they run the risk of letting the (most)likely perpetrator evade the net while we screen granny from Wenatchee with knitting needles. I've overall accepted the inevitable because I'm from a small city and screeners are friendly and courteous. It must be how a frog feels when he finds himself in a pot of water at a slowly increasing boil. Where is all this taking us?
Look, I'm from NY and fly out of all three airports all the time. Never had a problem with the screeners and neither have any of the women I fly with.
If the system is broke, then we need to fix it. Maybe little portable rooms off to the side for the security checks. Maybe through technology. But the reeality is, people --either randomly or by profile -- are going to have to be thoroughly screened in quantity.
Good show. I can deal with a little more realistic "terrorist" profiling and less random profiling, which just ends up irritating those who merit it least.
BTW, I ofeten wear my favorite hot red high heel sandals when I travel to a warmer clime. Off they come, because I know they have a steel shank. No objections there.
Look, I have no idea how to profile or not profile. Hopefully someone out there knows what they're doing.
But we've been at this whole business of airport security for less than 4 years, so I gotta believe that we'll get better at it.
Something must be working. Air travel has been pretty safe, although not so much fun, in the last 3 1/2 years.
Seriously.
Maybe it's because I am one of those people who are eyeing up the 'bleeper' gizmo's before I walk through, and half way down the line wonder if I'm wearing belt that will 'go off', or if my titanium enforced knickers are bullet proof...(well, I heard what you American men are like!!!! *L*)...will set the damn thing off!!!!
Seriously though, when I travel within Europe...I have no probs. When I go trans-Atlantic, I'm invariably picked out for security scrutinising.
Of course, they figure out they just got a nutty Paddy on their hands within seconds.
Yep. That's what I was talking about...A picture speaks louder than words.
Yet out in the real world, here in the hinterlands where joe and jane citizen are, this same government has allowed our borders, our first line of defense, to remain a complete free for all, where millions, from God knows where, continue to pour into our towns and cities, all but unabated.
And who is behind the undermining of our borders and our sovereignty? Who is actually aiding and abetting and pandering to those that pour into our country illegally?
It's the government, you know, the same government that has turned it's own offices and building into armed fortresses.
No matter how you chop this up, this picture is all screwed up. There is no security.
If you suspect people are entering your country/neighborhood, illegally, to do us all great harm, why would you leave the doors and windows wide open, and stand on the porch and egg them on and pander to them?
These planes fly overhead, with people on board that have been searched, scanned, groped, and sniffed, as they fly over millions on the ground that enter our country illegally, routinely, with little effort. This makes no sense whatsoever. This is lunacy.
There is no security. The king is naked.
No..I'm in Ireland, and I have check out girls saying..'Do you have a club card?', I say 'No'. They say, 'Would you like a club card?', I say 'No'. They say, 'Do you know the benefits of a club card?', I say..'If you don't shut the f*ck up, I'm going to ram this broccolli down yer pie-hole, got it? If I wanted a f*ckin' club card, I'd have one...now take my cash or turf me out' ;-)
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