By Here is an editorial posted on CNN about the body scanners and optional pat downs that are being conducted at US airports that is the subject of much recent controversy:
Body scanners that peer through clothes are deployed in airports across the country. Travelers who object are subject to “enhanced” pat-downs. Parents watch as their children are groped before boarding a plane.
The elderly are asked to raise their arms high above their heads so that the body scanners can capture a naked image of a 78-year-old man or an 81-year-old woman.
No other country in the world subjects its air travelers to the combination of screening procedures that Americans are being asked to endure.
“Although the constitutionality of airport screening searches is not dependent on consent, the scope of such searches is not limitless,” wrote a federal court not long ago.
That is the starting point for a case presented by my organization, the Electronic Privacy Information Center, or EPIC, that the Transportation Security Administration has crossed a line and the airport body scanner program should be halted.
The government contends that travelers are happy with the new procedures and there are hardly any complaints.
But those claims ring hollow in the face of Americans’ real experiences at the airport. In documents obtained by EPIC through the Freedom of Information Act, travelers routinely described the body scanner experience as embarrassing and humiliating. Pregnant women worry about the effects of radiation. Men and women liken the pat-downs to “sexual assault.” [CNN]
Read the rest at the link, but I don’t have a problem with body scanners and pat downs in the age of shoe and underwear bombers. Maybe if the underwear bomber was scanned or given a pat down he would have never been able to board the plane he nearly blew up? Anyway my problem with the TSA is that they are really rude and have bad attitudes. This is not all TSA personnel because there are plenty of them that are professional when doing their jobs, but there are some airports with my best example being LAX where they are totally rude. Lighten up and smile a bit, but then again when people are complaining at you all day about security scanners and pat downs I guess that would put you in a bad mood after awhile.
2:09 pm on November 22nd, 2010 1
The real problem lies in a lack of judgment which is typical of agenda-driven make-work government agencies that hire by quota rather than experience, training or capability.
The stated goals of the TSA can be accomplished by hiring quality people, instead of warm bodies, and training them with established procedures based on reality instead of everyone-is-equally-a-suspect-so-we-don't-offend-diversity ideology.
The Israelis, under a real and constant threat of terrorism, have been very successful without strip-searching children, feeling up old ladies, or buying expensive technology supplied by companies linked to bureaucrats who have unsurprisingly mandated their use.
TSA's security theater is just pushing the population one step closer to revolution… not one of mobs with pitchforks… but one of civil disobedience where the increasingly intrusive and micromanaging rule of law breaks down as the bloated number of enforcers can't keep up with the general population's defiance of petty laws, rules and regulations… resulting in the necessity of selective enforcement which further compounds the problem.
2:33 pm on November 22nd, 2010 2
If memory serves me correctly, after 9/11, all of airport or airline hired security screeners were replaced by the government cleared and trained employees under the new federal agency; the TSA. The reasoning was that the private sector wasn't doing an adequate job.
Should we be going back to the private sector and trust that they will go further than providing the minimum wage personnel they did in the past?
2:33 pm on November 22nd, 2010 3
I wonder if a passenger would be arrested if he or she started to moan during the pat down.
3:14 pm on November 22nd, 2010 4
CH a lot of people already realize what you are talking about but the race hustlers won't allow it. Any profiling is racist in their very loud opinions. One month after 9-11 I flew back to the US and had to take three flights. My demographic would be the last one on a profile of terrorist lists yet I was singled out at every pat down "randomly". I suspect this was to show anyone else patted down that they were being completely random.
4:03 pm on November 22nd, 2010 5
Would racial profiling have picked up Mr Headley? Maybe not. Nor Timothy McVeigh (who almost went free, but a Jordanian-American who had flown from OKC that day was tracked down in Jordan by our authorities, who assumed the attack could not have been anyone other than a swarthy, foreign-born, Muslim male). Nor Adam Gadahn. Nor Johnny Walker Lindh. Nor any IRA bomber, if we had them.
Al Qaeda has been actively seeking out "European-looking" sympathizers, with some success. I'd rather have no one go unscrutinized, thank you.
4:04 pm on November 22nd, 2010 6
But leave the 80-year-old nanas alone!
4:08 pm on November 22nd, 2010 7
Teadrinker #3, hilarious! I wonder what they would do if you shot your wad?
4:23 pm on November 22nd, 2010 8
I heard there is some group advocating wearing kilts and going commando.
4:27 pm on November 22nd, 2010 9
Kushibo, profiling isn't perfect but the first step is to not make it racial but characterist dependent. I think each of the gems on your list were detectable or at least someone who would be on a watch list.
Johnny Walker Lindh: Muslim convert, traveled to war zone, known to have trained with Taliban forces.
Adam Gadahn, convert to Islam, known Jihad supporter and propagandist.
Timothy McVeigh, chaptered out of the US military, unfit for military service, known militia member.
David Coleman Headley aka Daood Gilani was in his mid-40s when he traveled to a Lashkar training camp in Pakistan
Hamilton, US Army Vet, no traffic warrants, never arrested for anything ever, no known assocations with any anti-american groups no subversive activities. No ties to any known religious or political groups.
I know, lets search Hamilton every time! Those other dudes will sue us.
Seriously though, McVeigh could have traveled, but should have been searched. His MO wasn't sucide or carrying bombs. He drove a rental truck. Some guys you will not be able to detect, but they might give themselves away with their behaviour.
4:48 pm on November 22nd, 2010 10
#9
Apparently, some of that type of background information is already part of what makes up the No-Fly list. But since it puts out catchall, by-name lists, it's become practically useless.
4:58 pm on November 22nd, 2010 11
Hamilton wrote:
Woulda coulda shoulda, even with diligent compiling of the list and diligent checking for names from that list, I'd like everyone on my flight to go unscrutinized.
And might I add, looking for Muslim terrorists is a good way to miss some other group that might decide they don't like us or our government. Timothy McVeigh and his cohorts were not Muslims.
5:13 pm on November 22nd, 2010 12
"Timothy McVeigh and his cohorts were not Muslims."
Correct, but neither is Hamilton and he gets the pat down nearly every time. There's something wrong with this system.
5:29 pm on November 22nd, 2010 13
#9 Hamilton – "Kushibo, profiling isn’t perfect but the first step is to not make it racial but characterist dependent."
I believe I understand what you are saying, but this could never work as a cleaned up, nice suit wearing terrorist could potentially pass through. Only a complete moron terrorist would walk into a western airport with Middle Eastern traditional garb and a towel wrapped around his/her head. Verbal accent, too dificult, as many non-English speaking countries have somewhat similar accents. False documents to by-pass background information and no-fly lists. The list goes on and on.
I believe Kushibo's correct. There are just too many variables as to "who" might constitute a potential thread. It sucks, but it has to be all.
6:19 pm on November 22nd, 2010 14
Speaking of threats, North Korea has been shelling a South Korean island.
6:52 pm on November 22nd, 2010 15
Kushibo, Tom has already made light of the incident on another thread. Evidently this ghoul has no concern for the death of Koreans. Again and Again it is clear that he is neither Korean nor likely a human being by any classical definition.
7:13 pm on November 22nd, 2010 16
Hamilton, he very well could be a sociopath.
This whole thing has me feeling sick. The loss of life and injuries on the island, plus the sheer fright and anxiety everyone is going through… my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone there. And for all of you ROK Drop commenters who are in South Korea, I pray this doesn't escalate in any way that puts you in harm's way.
8:02 pm on November 22nd, 2010 17
Kushibo – "And for all of you ROK Drop commenters who are in South Korea, I pray this doesn’t escalate in any way that puts you in harm’s way."
Well, if it does, It seems we will have very little time to adjust and come to a conclusion as to what is the best course of action.
Is there some standard procedure as to a possible course of action if all mayhem does break loose? I can swim, but all possible distances seem a bit too far. Japan, China, Philippines and Australia are too far for me.
8:42 pm on November 22nd, 2010 18
Zilchy, take a trip to Busan. Book yourself on a ferry and visit Japan if things look bad. Good luck and safe travels.
9:01 pm on November 22nd, 2010 19
#18 Hamilton
Thanks! I'm not one to jump the gun and it seems like this latest event is just another episode of a long running show. I will however gladly follow your advice if I get the feeling that the show is finally coming to an end. I don't want to act hastily, but efficiently.
9:33 pm on November 22nd, 2010 20
Heck! I keep a pile of rocks stacked. I'll stand and fight.
11:42 pm on November 22nd, 2010 21
"Teadrinker #3, hilarious! I wonder what they would do if you shot your wad?"
Stop fantasizing about me. I'm straight.