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Ken, you obviously see that "unreasonableness" (I deliberately avoided saying "reasonableness" because the issue is whether the government is acting unreasonably) depends on the fact pattern. At no place on heaven or earth are we more vulnerable than the in the heavens in an airplane where a few ounces of explosive can bring catastrophe to hundreds of lives.

This is not the case, for example, in an open air football stadium so we might be more inclined to search backpacks and not crotches. The former is routinely done and is considered reasonable and the latter is not, because of the fact pattern. A pizzeria in Israel offers a fact pattern somewhere in between.

To deny the right to search crotches of people entering airplanes, where one could hide enough explosive there to bring down the airplane, is an entirely different matter. To deny fellow citizens that right is effectively to deny them the right to have their government search a backpack because either place could conceal enough explosive to kill everybody.

Please do not ask me what I think we have to do about cavity searches which is the logical extension of my position and for which I really do not have an answer. We better find better technology because I have no doubt the suicide murderers are prepared to go there next.

At no place on heaven or earth are we more vulnerable than the in the heavens in an airplane where a few ounces of explosive can bring catastrophe to hundreds of lives.

A large number of deaths, by car, slowly, is okay.

A amall number of deaths, by airplane, quickly, is unacceptable.

Got it.

Please do not ask me what I think we have to do about cavity searches which is the logical extension of my position and for which I really do not have an answer. We better find better technology

Yeah that's the extension of your position all right. Maybe Michael Chertoff can recommend something. I think you're scared. You're terrified of terrorism and it's clouding your judgment. You're panicking and throwing our nation and its rule of law away because you feel afraid. Meanwhile, your chance of getting killed on the way to the airport is far greater than that of getting killed by a terrorist on a plane. You act like if a bomb goes off on a plane, God forbid, it's going to be end the world. After 9/11, they actually had stop people from flying (everyone except the bin laden family of course) But as soon as the ban was over, people got right back on planes. Same after Pan 103 over lockerbie. People got on planes that day. Same with the Bus and Train line in London after 7/7. Those trains and buses are running right now. Picking up passengers. I bet someone is sitting in an israeli pizza place that was hit by a bomb in the past and they're having a slice of 'za. Life goes on. Not saying those aren't dreadful crimes. But as survivors we can't let anyone take away our nation from us - not unless we allow it. The solution to terrorism is to not be terrified.

The Statist and the Terrorist want to scare us for their own political ends. The terrorists want us out of their country. The government wants you to cede more power to them. But lucky for us our constitution doesn't flip a switch and panic every time some wackjob inserts a bomb in his booty hole. Or every time a policeman shines a flashlight in our eyes. The constitution is there, unchanging, to guide us as we face all threats foreign and domestic. And that's why it's worth fighting to protect.

I'm sorry if this post sounds like I'm attacking you or I'm being callous about peoples deaths, but I was offended when you said if I got on a plane with you, you want my child "inspected". Are you aware of what that entails? Never mind what you "want" so you can enjoy the illusion of safety. That's not what I want. And that's not what our founding fathers wanted for us either.

To deny the right to search crotches of people entering airplanes, where one could hide enough explosive there to bring down the airplane, is an entirely different matter. To deny fellow citizens that right is effectively to deny them the right to have their government search a backpack because either place could conceal enough explosive to kill everybody.

Pardon, but what version of the US Constitution do you have? I can seem to find the 'right to search' that you state is granted to governmental employees.