Posted on 06/15/2007 6:07:01 PM PDT by mack1998
I am with you. My son was supposed to fly to Wisconsin to be with his Dad (transfer) after school was out. The family is moving in early August, but he misses his Dad (we all do!). He is 17 so he can be on his own. However, I said no-Dad works for GM and has that two week break. Thus, my son will drive back with his Dad on July 14th.
They wouldn’t allow her to drink it-She offered. This was thuggery on display by our government. My husband would be in jail today...if it had been me. I have rarely seen him so angry when he saw the video of that poor,mistreated woman on her hands and knees with those nazi-like TSA people surrounding her and her baby about to wonder off-completely sickening. It does the TSA no good to publisize this video-it make them look both cruel and incompetent-not to mention while they tortured this woman-what about the real threats. I guess we were lucky, there were no bad people trying to get through at the same time.
They are supposed to be professional-I will not fly unless I have no option after seeing this video...I had some woman take my license in Atlanta and not give it back to me. When I told her she still had it and pointed to it. She looked me straight in the eye and told me if I said one more word, I would miss my plane-(threat). You have no idea how angry this makes people. My Mom was really sick so I had no choice. I couldn’t miss the plane. But I still have pleasant dreams when I climb over the counter and slap that smirk off her ugly face.
What now we can’t have ‘attitude’-you ever hear of free speech? When some officious moran is making your life miserable, maybe we should bow our heads submissively and say ‘yes massa’. I thought Lincoln freed the slaves. People who work with the public need to be able to deal with ‘attitude’ in a professional manner, or they need to seek new jobs-the sooner the better.
We need new security. These people are bozos.
That's the way it looked to me.
“Do they have a mythbusters for the photos of TSA people stealing items from luggage?”
I was going through security once, and the guy, just a few steps in front of me, dropped a 10 dollar bill. The TSA person picked it up and put it in her pocket. She knew who dropped it. I tapped him on the shoulder and told him she had it. When he asked her for it, she took it out of her pocket and gave it to him without saying anything.
“We need new security. These people are bozos.”
I remember when a pilot, going through security, had to call a supervisor because the TSA person confiscated his aviation headset because it had the 3/4 inch long (approx.) male adapter on the end of the cord, and that looked dangerous to the TSA people. True story...I’m a retired flight attendant.
nycose,
You are on the wrong side of the argument here, methinks.
For starters, you are assuming that the woman is telling the truth when she says she offered to drink the water. Personally, I don’t believe her. Why? Because we can plainly see from the video that she intentionally dumps the water on the ground. She claims the water spilled by accident. Since that is a BLATANT lie, EVERYTHING she says is suspect.
Did she offer to drink the water? I doubt it. That is probably further embellishment by this bold-faced liar.
So we are dealing with a liar. But, we can also conclude that we are dealing with an IDIOT, too.
Seriously - everyone knows that airports are under complete video surveillance. As a former secret service agent (”don’t you know who I *am*???”) she should *definitely* know that. And yet, she has all the time to think about how she wants to handle this situation and CHOOSES to lie about what actually happened. Only an IDIOT would make a big deal out of a situation and intentionally lie when they know that videographic evidence could easily prove them wrong.
So - you are defending a lying idiot and you won’t back down. This isn’t a case of jack-booted thugs and brownshirts abusing power. This is a case of one woman who thought she was above the rules and who threw a temper tantrum like the baby she was pushing. I think it’s absolutely right to have made her clean the floor and I would have waited until a mop and bucket arrived so they she could do it in a more humiliating fashion.
You act like a child, you get treated like a child.
Now - based upon how vehemently you want to support this woman, I can already guess what your next argument is going to be. “Restricting sippy cup water is STUPID anyway!”
Maybe, but listen to yourself for a second. You continually accuse these TSA screeners of being idiots. So your logical conclusion is to allow idiotic TSA screeners to start making judgment calls about when to let liquid through the gates and when not to. Um... don’t you realize that it is probably better to just say “no liquids” and leave it at that? There are three bad things that can happen when you start allowing TSA screeners to make judgments:
1. They make the wrong judgment and it costs lives. A terrorist manages to sneak binary components through as was originally planned and a plane goes boom. Maybe far fetched, but it was this sort of plan that led to the ban in the first place.
2. The use their option to make judgments to be lazy. Since you have such a low opinion of TSA screeners in the first place, what makes you think they won’t start letting all liquids through based on a “non-existent” judgment call?
3. They let some liquids through but stop the Flying Imams from bringing through theirs. More publicity and discrimination lawsuits from CAIR and their counterparts. Oh, yeah... that’s what I want!
Sometimes it’s just better to say “this is the standard, no exceptions.” If some idiotic liar can’t deal with that standard, maybe SHE shouldn’t be flying. Or let her fly, but only after she cleans up her mess.
“So your logical conclusion is to allow idiotic TSA screeners to start making judgment calls about when to let liquid through the gates and when not to. Um... don’t you realize that it is probably better to just say “no liquids” and leave it at that?”
http://www.tsa.gov/travelers/airtravel/prohibited/permitted-prohibited-items.shtm#10
She wasn’t treated like a child. She was treated abominably by these cretins. She was no danger to anyone. These fools knew it. They harrased a Mom traveling with a baby and endangered said baby in fact. I don’t care if she spilled/poured the water, exhibited ‘attitude’ (formerly known as free speech) or whatever. the fact is,she irritated them for whatever reason(s), and they used their power to pay her back (made her miss her plane, humiliated her etc). TSA employees who behave in this fashion should not have access to power...they did not conduct themselves as professionals and in fact behaved abusively to an innocent woman whom they knew was no threat. Thus, the TSA employees involved in this farce should be fired. We don’t want people who are prone to abuse their authority in important jobs-especially jobs dealing with the public. I would also say, while they taunted this woman, really bad guys might have made it through-so you can add dereliction of duty to reasons why these people should be out ASAP.
No - they escorted her to the middle of a public walkway and made her take her child out of the stroller and threatened her when the toddler wandered off.
And they DID NOT allow her to drink the water - She could have tipped it up and had it gone in less than 5 seconds. But no - it was far more of a power trip to argue with her, and escort her to another PUBLIC area to harass her.
Did this woman "cop an attitude"? Maybe - but as none of us here on the board were there to witness this event (and the video does NOT clear the TSA, despite some posters' here desire to deride the woman), none of us can say for certain what happened outside of what we can see and read.
Considering that the TSA has a reputation that is less than stellar (and I too have encountered some super folks in the TSA when I have traveled), and that this story is NOT out of character for well publicized problems with the TSA, I tend to at least try to see what point the woman might have had.
IF she indeed intentionally poured the water on the floor (which I still contend it does NOT appear she did), she was wrong. On the other hand - what brought her to that decision (hypothetically)?
I am a firm believer in picking my fights in the world. I'm running behind, my toddler has a sippy cup of water (or milk, or juice, or whatever). I get stopped at security for that sippy cup - OK fine I will comply, just let me drink it myself and be on my way (would take far longer than some of the semi-strip searches the TSA is known for) and won't hold the line up any further.
But wait- the TSA would rather make a scene by not allowing me to drink the water and move on. Instead, they want me to go dump it in a water fountain or sink, or whatever, thus escorting me out of a line I just spent significant time waiting in. Now I am running out of time to catch my flight...
Now - lets look at it from the TSA point of view. I am suppose to prevent liquids over a certain volume in containers over a certain size. Here comes a woman who is waiting with the rest of the cattle. She has a toddler with a liquid in a sippy cup. She informs me that it is water. I tell her that it is not allowed (for whatever reason - it is my job). She is frustrated, maybe even growing a bit argumentative, but she offers to just drink the water and pass one. Hmmm... what do I do? Do I let her drink it and move on - thus keeping the line moving, and preventing a scene (and in no way compromising safety), or do I pull her out of line, threaten to arrest her, continue to argue the point, but not let her drink the liquid (water), and then escalate the encounter by forcing her to leave the security line - while the woman is visibly growing more upset?
Someone is suppose to be the professional. IN this case, the TSA did not represent that position.
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And as a side - I guess I would have screwed up were I to have gone on a flight with my 3 yr. old and 19 month old in the last few weeks. As I posted, I was under the impression that the rules had been loosened a bit for children's drinks (like water, juice, etc.). I very well could have wound up in a similar situation as this woman - with a couple of sippy cups with drink in them.
And I have never seen a 3 oz sippy cup...
I am sorry- if a TSA employee can’t tell the difference between water (she offered to drink it) and liquid explosives, they need to seek new jobs. The whole thing was over the cup. She wanted the cup for the plane ride. The TSA officials behaved horribly. I can not believe you would defend their conduct.
Fianally- a perfectly logical well reasoned analysis. Good job!
I’m telling you-why is there such a lack of common sense these days-I am so tired of officious people fairly oozing rightous indignation over every little things.- The kid that reminded the teacher about homework when he/she forgot is running the world!
What some of the TSA critics don’t understand is that these TSA folks don’t know if any particular passenger is a QA/QC inspector ready to report breaches that will cost them their jobs.
Check out the time line and video.
Really, you think the way they behaved is what is expected of TSA employees? If this is the case, I sure don’t want to fly unless absolutely neccesary. I don’t know. I mourn the way America used to be...I am not certain security like this is really worth it. I can see bad guys getting around this system easily while millions of American are inconvenienced.
If you want to keep defending a PROVEN LIAR - taking her account as truthful when you can watch a video and plainly see that it is not - that is your choice.
And, finally...
“I am sorry- if a TSA employee can’t tell the difference between water (she offered to drink it) and liquid explosives, they need to seek new jobs.”
Get your high school chemistry book. There are plenty of incendiary combinations that include water as a component of the reaction.
I’m done. You have picked a side to come down on and won’t be deterred by inconveniences like “the truth.”
IMHO if you are going through security in an airport after 9-11, that is the wrong time to decide to follow your own rules, insist on “free speech” (which is restricted in certain circumstances/places for good reason), and try and pull rank (name-drop secret service).
I rarely if ever have a problem with the petty types at the airport or anywhere else, because I’m smart enough to defer to their territory and authority and I understand why alot of them act the way they do. Does it make them right? Not always. But I get want I want by being polite, respectful, knowing the rules and following them.
That woman could have avoided the whole thing by saying something like, “I am so sorry, what do you recommend I do with the cup?”.
A little tact goes a long way.
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