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.
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.
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.
Common sense BUMP city.
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.
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/
How about the ones who must always use their credit card for a $5.00 purchase?;)
"May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that ye were our countrymen."
They are insane -- those coupon people -- there is no reasoning with them.
I can't wait to watch Max Combined's view change when it is his wife that is felt up.
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
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.
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.
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.
"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.
Don't kid me!
The TSA goons just wanted to feel her tits!
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