Posted on 11/18/2010 12:55:19 PM PST by kingu
Airport passenger screening measures have become a touchy issue in the U.S. in the past week, but in the past year the controversial measures have detected more than 130 prohibited, illegal or dangerous items that otherwise would have made it onto airplanes, the Transportation Security Administration says.
The TSA now requires all passengers at some U.S. airports either to pass through a full-body scanning device, which reveals everything beneath their clothing, or to submit to a thorough pat-down inspection -- a choice that has some travelers livid about their loss of privacy.
But the TSA says keeping passengers safe is its top priority, and the new measures are necessary.
"This year alone, the use of advanced imaging technology has led to the detection of over 130 prohibited, illegal or dangerous items," TSA spokesman Greg Soule told FoxNews.com. The TSA would not disclose exactly what those items were, but it said they included weapons like ceramic knives and various drugs -- including a syringe filled with heroine hidden in a passenger’s underwear.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
wowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww that is really worth the billions we are spending and the personal humiliation of our citizens. They can not justify the expense or the assault on our bodies as well as our rights. This has to STOP NOW.
This is clearly gonna end up with everybody flying naked...
Are lighters still banned? They were at one time. After dumping out my briefcase recently I realized I’ve had at least one lighter in it on every flight taken since 9-11 (I fly three to four times per year).
“My nail clippers don’t count!”
Yes, but they probably do so long as they are a prohibited item. Last time I flew, my toothpaste was snagged by an alert TSA agent. It was a 7 oz. tube that was only 1/3 full, but before confiscating it, the agent helpfully pointed out that the 3 oz. maximum applies to the original commercial size of the tube, NOT the amount of toothpaste actually left.
Anyway, technically, this would count as a real-live example of where TSA intercepted a “prohibited” item to prevent its being carried on board my aircraft. Somehow I don’t think any of the passengers or pilot felt any more secure knowing my toothpaste had been left safely behind.
I got in trouble for getting served a bottle of water ON a plane and trying to take it OFF the plane.
Another occasion in Belgium while getting on the plane she took my Chapstick but let me keep my lipstick because she knew it was expensive. :) nice but ridiculous.
Flying out of Rochester 3 or 4 years ago, they confiscated my evil toothpaste. After we got in the air, the guy in our row gasped when he realized that he still had his huge knife in a sheath.
It didn’t bother us; we were feeling more hinky about the two swarthy, smarmy middle-eastern “gentlemen” across the aisle.
Nope, design to make the enviro-wacko’s happy by ending people flying.
Actually, Hubby found out this is a great way to get through TSA's screening really quick. Earlier this week, he was taking his mom's cremated remains back home to be interred next to his dad. Got up to the check point, this young lady looks at the cardboard box, says "I'm going to have to look in there, what do you have in that box?"
Hubby says, "My Mom."
He says the look on her face was priceless. She would barely touch the box after that and basically just waved him through the scan process. He laughed all the way to the plane.
The federal government does not fulfill the requirement they are under, so of course I've no answer to your questions. It is up to the government to demonstrate the threat, that the means being used to intercept this threat is justified, and that the actions taken has shown results.
This is just like police checkpoints - the police can't just set one up for no reason, they must demonstrate first that there is a threat (DUI rates, reckless driving rates, etc) in a particular stretch of road before they can put up a checkpoint, and then, they are subject to rules - the checkpoint can't be on the only road in an area, there must be signs up to permit drivers to avoid the checkpoint (HA), and may not prosecute anything that isn't in plain sight, or have a reasonable suspicion and permission to conduct a search.
The theory is that you, as a driver, chose to enter the checkpoint. The reality is that if you turn around from a checkpoint, you're going to get pulled over, but there's at least a modicum of attention paid to the 4th Amendment.
These airport checkpoints do not limit themselves to plain sight, use a search procedure that isn't permitted unless a person's actually arrested and processed into a jail facility, and they're spreading to courthouses. If they weren't prosecuting these minor crimes that are uncovered from illegal searches, I'd be less concerned, but they are prosecuting them, and enhancing them with vague 'secure area' regulations.
Just as Obama had to justify counting jobs saved that weren't saved, the TSA has to justify violating our rights each day. Along with the many courthouses and other public buildings these scanners are going to be installed in. Because after all, once you've sold to all the TSA checkpoints, you gotta keep selling your product, right?
Maybe they'll put one in your local school to 'counter gang fights.' I'm sure there's a pedo working on making an automatic colorization software for those images right now...
Yeah, the last time I flew, they "intercepted" a 3" Phillips-head screwdriver that I'd left in my laptop case.
Guy behind me dryly commented that "he felt safer already".
These Asinine rules don't protect anyone, they just harass people.
I am beginning to think that some of the TSA agents are too stupid to realize they could be on welfare and get paid to do nothing. Then again, this is the only job that these people could get with such authoritarian power.
This was the original intention - get contraband, not to catch terrorists.
I’ve got news for the TSA and the airlines. It’s gestapo tactics kept more than that off the planes.
It kept my wife and I off them too. Millions of Americans are now taking a pass on flying.
I will not subject my wife or myself to this barbaric behavior.
I’ve come to realize TSA stands for Touch Sh-t Americans.
Right back at you TSA. F U 2
I had a travel bag with some bathroom utensils in it, I used to toss in my suitcase when we would go on overnighters by car. One trip when we did fly, I tossed it in without thinking. Since the suitcase was more full than usual, I placed the bag in my carry on with shoes and other toiletries.
Sure enough, the TSA folks found a small pair of scissors inside a bag, inside another bag, inside my carry on bag.
You’d have thought my picture was posted on the wall with the other top nine most desperate criminals in the U. S. Sir, did you know you had these? We’ll have to take them.
Taking them wasn’t the problem. They were a nice pair of scissors I couldn’t replace.
Ah yes, but all the paper on the flight was safe.
My view of the TSA employee is a person making minimum wage who couldn’t handle a step above gopher job, all of a sudden given the power to fu_k with anyone they want on a whim.
What brain-trust thought this was going to work out well?
“Oh, look at that babe. I’ll be right back after I’ve felt her up, and had our machine determine what exact perfume she is wearing.”
This is about abuse, pure and simple. They are putting us in our place. More to come folks, there always is.
So, the previous security measures were ineffective and we therefore had all kinds of terrorists attacks? Can you name them, I am not familiar with those attacks.
That's the thing.. The TSA doesn't care if you fly or not. They get paid to be there no matter what, independent upon how many passengers are going to fly, if the airlines are dying, whatever, it doesn't matter. I mean, seriously, Boise International? I could possibly see a vague argument that there are some airports that are higher risk, but Boise?
The second genius moment is that the more draconian the actions by the TSA, and the more passengers who refuse to fly because of it, the more bailouts the airlines will get in subsidies, allowances, tax credits, and outright payouts. They'll still make money, else they'd be out in front of us screaming about this inane treatment. The employees will get laid off, of course, as fewer flights means fewer employees, but that's the little guy, and they can look forward to nearly 2 years of unemployment as their payoff...
Donate them to the USO. They are then given to servicemen in need of a flight.
A dose of herion will not bring a plane down. These people are insane.
EEEEEOOOOOW!
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