Posted on 01/23/2012 12:12:45 PM PST by neverdem
No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!
Senator Rand Paul was on his way from his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky to Washington, D.C. Monday morning, when he caused some kind of “anomaly” in a body scanner at the airport in Nashville. Agents of the Transportation Security Agency declared that he would have to submit to one of those legendary full-body pat-downs, but before a single rubber glove had snapped into place, Senator Paul refused. He wanted a new scan instead, but the TSA agents really had their hearts set on that pat-down.
This ended with Senator Paul parked in a cubicle while his plane took off. The TSA insists he was not “detained,” according to a CBS News report. Perhaps Paul exclaimed that he wasn’t expecting the Spanish Inquisition, and the Comfy Chair had to be dragged out.
Coincidentally – it has to be a coincidence, right? – both Rand Paul and his father, congressman and Presidential candidate Ron Paul, have been very critical of the TSA, and enhanced pat-downs in particular, as CBS News notes:
In a June 2011 hearing, Paul told TSA administrator John Pistole, "I think you ought to get rid of the random pat-downs. The American public is unhappy with them, they're unhappy with the invasiveness of them."
After reports surfaced of young children getting intense, random pat-downs, Paul said in the hearing, "It just really just shows that no one is thinking... We need to be doing better police work and doing less of the universal giving up of our freedom to live our life the way we would like to live our life."
He suggested there should be a "trusted traveler" program in which people who travel frequently and are known to be not a threat, like congressmen, don't have to be searched...
(Excerpt) Read more at humanevents.com ...
And apparently the White House is siding with the TSA.:
“White House press secretary Jay Carney said Monday that he didn’t have any reaction to Paul’s “police state” comments.
But Carney sided with the TSA saying, “I think it is absolutely essential that we take necessary actions to ensure that air travel is safe.”
I guess that isn’t the first time the White House has failed to recognize the Constitution:
Article 1, Section 6:
The Senators and Representatives shall receive a Compensation for their Services, to be ascertained by Law, and paid out of the Treasury of the United States. They shall in all Cases, except Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace, be privileged from Arrest during their Attendance at the Session of their respective Houses, and in going to and returning from the same; and for any Speech or Debate in either House, they shall not be questioned in any other Place.
TSA would never have tried this crap with crazy Cindy McKinney. She would have jacked their asses up.
But most congressmen ARE a threat--not the bombing kind, but the taxing, regulating, spending kind who are destroying our country. I have no sympathy for any congresscritter who gets caught in the same trap inflicted on the rest of us.
Exactly - just guessing here but I think most of them didn't get the ironic lesson of "Animal Farm" in middle school. Perhaps it's time for a re-read...
Hell, the WH and DHS/Napolitano have probably put out a standing, secret order to harass GOP pols, particularly the alleged conservative ones.
Great. I’m scheduled to fly out of Nahville tomorrow. I expect the TSA to be on their best (worst) behavior in order to prove they were not engaged in Congressional profiing - they’ll treat everyone badly.
A second scan, or at most a private visual inspection of the problem spot, should have sufficed. As well as declaring all congressmen and the president to be trusted travelers anyhow. All this is being done to stretch out the pretense of supposed impartiality so they can’t be accused of concentrating at the only known threat thus far, i.e. Mooses.
The TSA and their boss in the White House could not possibly care less about the Constitution!
Exactly right. There should be "security" at each house/senate entrance thru which each congresscritter must pass. Before they enter, they must show a valid constitution, and sign a form stating that while in the day's session, they swear, under the penalty of perjury, to uphold every aspect of it.
Hey the Tennessee state troopers might get a bit uppity with DC cars like they do with New York staters right now. (Which even if it wasn’t asinine, it’s overkill because many New York staters have little or nothing to do with the policies of the Big Apple.)
There is. If you sign up for Global Entry (at the US Customs), you'll be eligible for the TSA's "pre-check" pilot.
Global Entry gives you the option to skip the lines at passport control and use a device similar to an ATM to enter the US on return. You also get expedited handling after you get your baggage. Note: this is for returning to the US on an international flight. But, if you enroll in that, you can now get some extra benefits:
Delta and American are currently participating in a TSA pilot to provide expedited screening for people that enter their Global Entry ID number in their traveler profile on the airline's website.
It's only at a few security checkpoints in Dallas, Miami, Atlanta, and Las Vegas (others are being added). If you pass the pre-check, you go through a separate security line that is essentially pre-9/11:
In both Global Entry and TSA pre-check, you still have the possibility to be randomly selected for the usual screening. So, it's not a permanent exemption.
Yes, it costs money: $100 every 5 years. But, for those of us that fly every week, it's priceless.
Have every one of them go through the system.
Those who set off the beepers get sent to a cloakroom for detention pending patdown.
This could take hours!
I like that idea!
Rand jumped the shark when he decided to actually back his nutcase father as a real candidate for POTUS.
He knows that Ru doesn’t have a bat’s chance in h*ll of winning and did it anyway.
Familial loyalty?
He could have “recused” himself and certainly didn’t have to appear on stage with him, clapping and cheering in the background. I’ve lost respect for Rand.
That’s a good idea.
There are also several supreme court decisions describing our right to travel. The fact is though, that ultimately, if you do not submit, they will kill you, and not have a rough nights sleep over it. FedGov long ago passed the point where this country could realistically be described as "free".
Paul got treated like everyone else and that upset him. Too bad.
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