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Low-Downs On Pat-Downs (The Point)
News Central ^ | 12/05/2004 | Mark Hyman

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.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; US: Idaho
KEYWORDS: airplanes; airportsecurity; politicallycorrect; tsa
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To: durasell

She was my congressman, and she was never the type to say, "Do you know who I am?" She kept her promise to serve 6 years and then leave, and she is no RINO.


41 posted on 12/06/2004 3:38:40 PM PST by jps098
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To: Joe Hadenuf
"why they are searching ol ladies and little kids at the airport"

Because it was folks getting on planes who caused the carnage on 911, in case you did not notice.

The government is always reactive not proactive.
42 posted on 12/06/2004 3:39:30 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Joe Hadenuf

Oh, but it's worse than just the TIME spent searching them...think of the MONEY we now pay these federal union goons to fondle old ladies, where that could go instead of worthless TSA coffers.


43 posted on 12/06/2004 3:40:58 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: Ancesthntr

Common sense BUMP city.


44 posted on 12/06/2004 3:42:13 PM PST by LibertarianInExile (NO BLOOD FOR CHOCOLATE! Get the UN-ignoring, unilateralist Frogs out of Ivory Coast!)
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To: Max Combined
why they are searching ol ladies and little kids at the airport"

Because it was folks getting on planes who caused the carnage on 911, in case you did not notice.

Oh, I could have sworn it was foreigners, MEs with accents. I have no idea little kids, white ol ladies, a 80 year old men were responsible for 911. They must have withheld that info. Thanks for that update.

45 posted on 12/06/2004 3:43:26 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: durasell
...the worst are the coupon people.

Ditto that!

I was once in back of some geezer arguing about whether his expired coupons were good. I told the cashier I would pay the dollar or two that was in dispute to get the guy out of there. He (the geezer) didn't take very kindly to my offer!

ML/NJ ML/

46 posted on 12/06/2004 3:44:05 PM PST by ml/nj
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To: Shannon

How about the ones who must always use their credit card for a $5.00 purchase?;)


47 posted on 12/06/2004 3:44:35 PM PST by Frank_2001
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To: Max Combined

"May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."


48 posted on 12/06/2004 3:47:19 PM PST by Knitebane
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To: ml/nj

They are insane -- those coupon people -- there is no reasoning with them.


49 posted on 12/06/2004 3:47:21 PM PST by durasell (Friends are so alarming, My lover's never charming...)
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To: dalereed

I can't wait to watch Max Combined's view change when it is his wife that is felt up.


50 posted on 12/06/2004 3:47:32 PM PST by Petruchio (<===Looks Sexy in a flightsuit . . . Looks Silly in a french maid outfit)
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To: LibertarianInExile
"Right, because some TSA goon wanted to feel up a 66 year old lady who was a former Congresswoman and had ample opportunity to blow up flights a-plenty flying practically free during her tenure--SHE's being obstructionist and pro-terrorist."

I doubt anyone wanted to feel up an old lady. The powers that be decided they better pat down folks after the women in Russia blew up a couple of planes. The person who wanted to pat down the old lady was just doing her job. There is no reason to call anyone a goon.

The old was acting like a nitwit, but she is not necessarily being pro-terrorist.

Libertarian, eh? Perhaps that explains your peculiar slant on reality.
51 posted on 12/06/2004 3:48:41 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Max Combined
"If she wants to research the law and the regulations flowing from the law, she can so it on the Internet or file a law suit, if she thinks the law is being violated."

Then after conforming to your suggestion, I assume you then will have no objection if she exerts her rights and legal procedures gleened from those regulations when she is accosted in contradiction to the regulations at the airport.

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty or safety." Benjamin Franklin - 1759

52 posted on 12/06/2004 3:49:09 PM PST by tahiti
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To: LibertarianInExile
Oh, but it's worse than just the TIME spent searching them...think of the MONEY we now pay these federal union goons to fondle old ladies, where that could go instead of worthless TSA coffers.

It's costing us billions. Not only that, there are a lot of people out there that are now opting out of flying, and instead using their cars or just saying, F it.

I'd rather go to the dentist than have to deal with airport lines, getting sniffed, scanned, probed, groped, x-rayed, by some geek that used to work at Chucky Cheese.

53 posted on 12/06/2004 3:50:02 PM PST by Joe Hadenuf (I failed anger management class, they decided to give me a passing grade anyway)
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To: DLfromthedesert
"In support of groping? What are you, a pervert?"

No, I am not in support of groping. I am not a pervert. Are you? Or are you just hysterical with an over developed fantasy life?
54 posted on 12/06/2004 3:51:21 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Max Combined
"Perhaps this woman, who happened to be a former Congresscritter, didn't like the idea of being groped."

Fine. She is free to take a hike.

I see, it is OK for the security folks at the airport to grope anyone, so long as they say it is "a security matter." If you don't like it, then Eff You, you miss the plane.

Excuse me, who is working for whom? Have we sacrificed the 4th Amendment in the name of "security?" You, of course, think that this is fine. You're probably also in favor a a National ID Card, and having to show it at any time that someone in a uniform says "Papiren, bitte." Sorry, not me.

Law and order is just fine in my book - just so long as BOTH sides of the equation are treated equally. Order alone, no matter how desireable in the short term, is a recipe for dictatorship.

You might want to consider the following words from someone immeasureably wiser and more experienced in the ways of the world than you (or, for that matter, me):

"They that give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary security deserve neither liberty nor security."

--Benjamin Franklin, 1759

I'd say that old Ben had you in mind.

55 posted on 12/06/2004 3:52:16 PM PST by Ancesthntr
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To: Joe Hadenuf

I fly a LOT less than I used to. I fly now only when I have to. If I can drive there in a day, even a long day, I drive. The airlines have lost quite a bit of my business.


56 posted on 12/06/2004 3:53:01 PM PST by .38sw
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To: Joe Hadenuf

"Oh, I could have sworn it was foreigners, MEs with accents."

Once more with feeling.

Everyone potentially poses a danger. The terrorists are sneaky. I remember that a Palestinian terrorist gave his Irish girl friend a bomb to take on an El Al fight. It was a good thing that El Al checked that Irish lass or that plane would have been blown up.


57 posted on 12/06/2004 3:54:37 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Max Combined
"She shot her mouth off, slowing down the line and being a pain in the a$$, and was rightly kicked off the flight for being the nitwit she is."

Don't kid me!

The TSA goons just wanted to feel her tits!

58 posted on 12/06/2004 3:57:25 PM PST by nightdriver
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To: Knitebane
May you someday possess the wit to be able to different between a pat down and being in chains, although that is extremely unlikely.
59 posted on 12/06/2004 3:58:27 PM PST by Max Combined (Clinton is "the notorious Oval Office onanist")
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To: Angry Republican
Profile people like this>


60 posted on 12/06/2004 3:58:29 PM PST by petercooper (DEAN in '08!)
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