Hilarious satire on the TSA from Canada:

 

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/786.html

Awesome! Except that I experienced it on my way into the United States on Sunday. When I boarded my Newark-bound Lufthansa flight at Dusseldorf, Germany, I was subjected to a full-body pat-down and every item had to be removed my carry-on bag. My laptop had to be turned on and booted up, my video camera turned on, ditto with the cell phone. All pockets emptied. Etc. etc. etc. This had to be done for each of the nearly 400 people getting on the flight. It took forever.

 

And while the searches are going on, I was thinking of all the ways a terrorist could bypass the search. Problem is, these searches are always designed to look for the last attack. The next attack will be different and the search will change again to look for it.

A friend of mine e-mailed this idea to me. It was so creative that I just had to share it with all of you......

________________

 

Here's the solution to all the controversy over  full-body scanners at the

Airports:

 

Have a booth that you can step  into that will not x-ray you, but will

Detonate any explosive device you  may have on your body. It would be a

Win-win for everyone, and there would  be none of this crap about racial

Profiling and this method would eliminate  a long and expensive trial.

 

Justice would

Be quick and  swift.

 

This is so simple that it's brilliant. I can see it now. You're  in the

Airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion.

 

Shortly  thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system, "Attention

Standby  passengers. We now have a seat available on flight number 4665 ....

Paging  maintenance. Shop Vac needed in booth number 4."

Long before 9/11 I had determined to avoid air travel whenever possible, simply because it felt inhumane. Even then, screeners sometimes seemed deliberately arrogant and eager to enforce their authority. To avoid running my film through the x-ray scanner I'd open an empty camera for the screener and hand him/her the 35mm cassettes for visual examination, and they'd promptly dump them in a basket and send them through the scanner and give me a look that said "WTF are you gonna' do about it?"

 

Airport lounges were uncomfortable, and in the big airports there were only about half as many seats as the reasonably-expected number of waiting passengers. Maybe the poor ventilation and stuffiness were meant to get passengers acclimated to what they'd experience on board the aircraft. The boarding process reminded me of herding livestock onto a truck.

 

Once on the plane, I'd find my knees jammed against the back of the seat ahead, and had no choice but to brace myself and block any attempt by that passenger to recline. In most cases where food was served, the quality was an insult and it would have been better if they'd not served anything. Some passengers would stuff so much stuff into the overhead bins that it looked as if they were moving a household, and often it was difficult for the non-aggressive to find space even for a jacket or small bag. With  one single-file doorway and a lot of passengers, waiting in a long queue to exit the plane was aggravating. Airports are by necessity far from the downtowns that usually were my destination, and in all but the biggest cities no useful public transit was available, ensuring good business for the rental car agencies.

 

My answer to the current security phobia - Ship all luggage ahead by Fed Ex or UPS, strip search followed by naked x-ray scan followed by examination of body orifices by bomb dogs. Each passenger gets a hospital gown to wear in flight, and a mesh bag for clothing and valuables that will be returned to them when they turn in their gown upon exiting the plane at their destination.

 

It may create consternation at the outset, but it will make a lot of the negative aspects of air travel self-rectifying. People will fly only when critically necessary. Lines will be short, airports won't be congested, planes will be smaller and not cramped, and air crews won't be stressed because they'll have fewer passengers to attend to. Passengers won't be intractible with the cabin crew, because only adaptable individuals will elect to fly.

^Except, we don't have another good alternative for long-distance travel. We can expect to see a major rise in automobile traffic, or the enlargement of existing bus services until a high-speed rail plan is built.

 

I still have trouble swallowing what has happened in the past year. Man with a bladder bag was humiliated and had said contents spilled on himself while the TSA all but did nothing and point. An underage boy had to undergo something of a strip search (child porn? what if it was a female?). People having their breasts felt up. Di*ks and balls fondled. Prosthetics removed and inspected. Body scanners that increase your rate of getting cancer. Scanners whose images are NOT deleted and more vivid than what they detail. The list goes on and on.

 

Now, the TSA is wanting to implement these body scanners at subways and train stations. Where does it end?

 

On a comical note, I have an idea for a Halloween exhibit next year. Come to the "TSA House of Horrors"! Where you can relive the experience of walking through an American airline terminal!

On a comical note, I have an idea for a Halloween exhibit next year. Come to the "TSA House of Horrors"! Where you can relive the experience of walking through an American airline terminal!

 

Awesome. Problem is, no one would probably go because it would bring back too many bad memories for people.

But if you want to take the train instead, despite adding extra cars, Ohio's few Amtrak trains are all sold out for the holidays....

 

Fed-up fliers protest airport security measures

Online campaign urging travelers not to fly Nov. 24, refuse full-body scan

By Bill Briggs

msnbc.com contributor

updated 11/18/2010 3:44:13 PM ET 2010-11-18T20:44:13

 

For 30 years, Marcia Miller has flown across the country to Toledo, Ohio, to join four generations of her family for Thanksgiving dinner. But scared off by newly ramped-up airport security measures including full-body scans and, in some cases, enhanced pat-downs by TSA workers Miller has decided instead to dine alone in L.A.

 

She is opting out.

 

Am I really supposed to let a total stranger rub my private parts because I bought an airplane ticket? said Miller, who runs the jewelry and fashion website, ILoveAccessories.com. Would you allow your daughter to be patted down by a stranger and not feel like punching the person that did it? It leaves scars... just like a rape leaves scars.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40242420/ns/travel-news

This mass anger at the TSA procedures seems totally hyped up and overblown.  People need to get over themselves and let the TSA do whatever they can to keep air travel safe.  What they also need to do is utilize a little good old fashioned profiling.  There's no reason a young child should be subjected to a random enhanced scanning simply in the name of political correctness.  Let's exercise some common sense.  Shouldn't trained professionals be allowed to do that?

 

Here's a good article from CNN about how pleasent and accomodating travellers can be.  And I can say that her experience was very similar to my six-legs of flights I took about a month ago.

 

Airport odyssey reveals how awful and annoying we are

http://www.cnn.com/2010/TRAVEL/11/22/airports.holiday.travel/index.html?hpt=Sbin

 

Across America (CNN) -- A family tried to sneak a dead man, propped up in a wheelchair, through airport security in New York. A couple had to be stopped while having sex in the corner of a Phoenix, Arizona, airport terminal. A man flying out of Chicago, Illinois, set a rat free, insisting he had to do this for religious purposes.

 

These are just some of the tales gathered last week as I traveled 5,900 miles through six American airports just days before millions of travelers started the annual Thanksgiving pilgrimage, making this the busiest air travel week of the year.

 

What I saw wasn't very pretty. For all our bellyaching about airline and airport employees, watching us through their eyes was, well, eye-opening. And kind of embarrassing.

No doubt. The best line from that article....

 

"The weird part: Guess where she was going?" the supervisor said. "Jamaica. Who the hell smuggles marijuana into Jamaica?"

 

The worst line...

 

"Whatever keeps us safe."

 

Sorry, but there are personal intrusions I will not accept.

Am I really supposed to let a total stranger rub my private parts because I bought an airplane ticket? said Miller, who runs the jewelry and fashion website, ILoveAccessories.com. Would you allow your daughter to be patted down by a stranger and not feel like punching the person that did it? It leaves scars... just like a rape leaves scars.

 

READ MORE AT:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40242420/ns/travel-news

 

Sorry but comparing rape to an airport patdown might be the dumbest correlation ever posted here at urbanohio, and that's saying alot.

Except that people have had their testicles fondled, and breasts felt over. I don't know if that classifies as rape, but sexual misconduct comes to mind.

 

@Hootenany: You mean, we should be profiling people with turbans, of ethnic descent? I can see that going over well.

Except that people have had their testicles fondled, and breasts felt over. I don't know if that classifies as rape, but sexual misconduct comes to mind.

 

Fondled/felt up through your clothing for a few secs in a clinical manner by a trained security worker...

 

Funny, I don't hear people up in arms about getting fondled during breast exams or while checking for hernias, prostate cancer, etc?  Those are much more invasive, last longer, clothing removed....?

There is a bit of difference, gottaplan, when you go in for a breast examination to determine if you have breast cancer (you know, the lump), than having some authoritative TSA official -- who is given vague instructions and training, to touch you up.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2010/11/22/michigan-bladder-cancer-survivor-says-tsa-search-left-covered-urine/

 

The TSA officials are not even remotely trained in how to handle people with medical devises or prosthetics.

It's quite simple.  Not comfortable with potentially going through a screening machine or pat down?  Don't fly.

 

I agree with the CNN piece - the main problem is so many people who just don't think about what they are doing.  Fly enough and you see them all the time.  Not noticing - despite every single person in front of you taking off their shoes - that they need to take off their shoes.  Not taking things out of their pockets.  Or generally coming to the airport in the first place in the least prepared fashion possible.

 

I would likely never fly again if I didn't have Elite Status.  I can at least skip some of the "dealing with the idiots" part.

Fly or die? According to a Cornell University study, roughly 130 travelers died every three months by substituting ground transportation for air transportation.

 

Here's the link to the full story, as well as to two others related to travel hassels and safety.

 

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/nov/22/body-screening-debate-continues-thanksgiving-appro-ar-299799/

 

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/nov/22/odot-unveils-plans-oh-16cherry-valley-road-ar-299769/ :  Note the statistics about congestion, but also the cost to build one interchange... twice the cost of one year of operation for a 250-mile passenger train route. 

 

http://www2.nbc4i.com/news/2010/nov/22/osp-stats-show-speeding-crash-hot-spots-ar-299754/ :

Note:  In the largest county, Franklin, the number of crashes investigated seems reasonable for its size, 534, but more than 10 percent of those crashes are fatal. In the last three months, fatalities in Franklin County have increased.

 

Body cavities are presumably next, even the TSA rep said they're not in the cards right now

 

Personally, I am boycotting the airlines (megabus and driving take me to where I need to go - Im sort of a 400 miles kind of guy) and I refuse to be molested for the sake of political correctness.

We're all aware of the guy who had his external bladder knocked loose by the security worker.  What's the point you're trying to make by quoting it?  I think the security worker probably felt/saw something out of place and was doing his job making sure it wasn't a threat.  Unfortunately it spilled all over the guy's pants.  These things will happen when tens of thousands are getting frisked.  What percentage of those are going to have some type of external medical device?  I ask the question because I would argue that it's probably less than 1% and therefore not worth training all your people in how to handle the situation. 

 

Given the current rapidly changing conditions, safety is #1 priority.  Urine soaked pants on a single guy are a bit further down the line of priorities.

It's quite simple.  Not comfortable with potentially going through a screening machine or pat down?  Don't fly.

 

I agree with the CNN piece - the main problem is so many people who just don't think about what they are doing.  Fly enough and you see them all the time. Not noticing - despite every single person in front of you taking off their shoes - that they need to take off their shoes.  Not taking things out of their pockets.  Or generally coming to the airport in the first place in the least prepared fashion possible.

 

I would likely never fly again if I didn't have Elite Status.  I can at least skip some of the "dealing with the idiots" part.

 

Exactly the majority of those complaining are leisure travelers.

 

I go to the airport so often it's like clock work.  Shoes, belt, accessories in one bin.  I throw my bag on the conveyor belt and bam!  I'm in and out in 2 minutes.  THANK GOD FOR ELITE LINES.

Body cavities are presumably next, even the TSA rep said they're not in the cards right now

 

Personally, I am boycotting the airlines (megabus and driving take me to where I need to go - Im sort of a 400 miles kind of guy) and I refuse to be molested for the sake of political correctness.

 

Afraid someone will touch your Vajaajaa??!

I still have trouble swallowing what has happened in the past year. Man with a bladder bag was humiliated and had said contents spilled on himself while the TSA all but did nothing and point. An underage boy had to undergo something of a strip search (child porn? what if it was a female?). People having their breasts felt up. Di*ks and balls fondled. Prosthetics removed and inspected. Body scanners that increase your rate of getting cancer. Scanners whose images are NOT deleted and more vivid than what they detail. The list goes on and on.

 

"Am I really supposed to let a total stranger rub my private parts because I bought an airplane ticket?" said Miller, who runs the jewelry and fashion website, ILoveAccessories.com. "Would you allow your daughter to be patted down by a stranger and not feel like punching the person that did it? It leaves scars... just like a rape leaves scars."

 

Except that people have had their testicles fondled, and breasts felt over. I don't know if that classifies as rape, but sexual misconduct comes to mind.

 

Body cavities are presumably next, even the TSA rep said they're not in the cards right now

 

Personally, I am boycotting the airlines (megabus and driving take me to where I need to go - Im sort of a 400 miles kind of guy) and I refuse to be molested for the sake of political correctness.

 

So, let me get this straight. Getting a pat-down search from a TSA agent is akin to child porn (if done to a child), rape, sexual molestation, and sexual misconduct. I don't even know how to respond to that. Fact is that these people (TSA screeners) ARE trained professionals and they know how to do their job. If you don't believe that fact that's your problem. Let them do their job. Individual incidents of misconduct will be handled accordingly as they are in every line of work.

 

@Hootenany: You mean, we should be profiling people with turbans, of ethnic descent? I can see that going over well.

 

OK, that is not what I said. I said that the TSA screeners should be allowed to employ profiling to screen those that are deemed a higher risk. Profiling isn't just looking at a guy to see if he has a turbine or is of ethnic descent. It involves behavioral cues as well. Looking for the people that look uncomfortable, nervous, anxious, etc. You put people in or near the lines to walk around and talk with people that are waiting to try to identify potential risks. Profiling can be very useful, but because it's not politically correct TSA agents and police officers can't use it (openly).

No, it's borderline racism.

 

Here is what someone wrote today (a family member, sadly) on Facebook:

 

"We should be using the TSA not to pat down people who are white, but those who are of Arab descent. They are the ones who took down the towers and they should be the ones who have to pay!"

 

How is that any different than what you said? Profiling is profiling. If we profiled people because they looked like someone from Iran, or Afghanistan, then that is closeted racism veiled behind the guise of homeland security. Can we start profiling based on people's color of skin? Or what they wear? Your comment was in the same fashion as Juan Williams' who "got nervous" at the sight of "Muslim garb." Perhaps we should follow Rob's example -- make everyone as anonymous as possible. Put them in hospital gowns, attach feed bags to their mouths and give them a swift kick in the ass. :P

^I always most suspect those 90 year-old Icelandic grandmothers using walkers! They've got "terrorist" written all over their faces.

^^Here is what your relative said:

 

"We should be using the TSA not to pat down people who are white, but those who are of Arab descent. They are the ones who took down the towers and they should be the ones who have to pay!"

 

Here is what I said:

 

"I said that the TSA screeners should be allowed to employ profiling to screen those that are deemed a higher risk. Profiling isn't just looking at a guy to see if he has a turbine or is of ethnic descent. It involves behavioral cues as well. Looking for the people that look uncomfortable, nervous, anxious, etc. You put people in or near the lines to walk around and talk with people that are waiting to try to identify potential risks."

 

Can you not tell the difference? What your relative said IS borderline racist. Profiling is not racist. It's based on statistics and behavioral science.

 

Sherman, you seem to be against profiling AND against TSA screenings (both pat downs and body scanners). What is your solution to keeping the skies safe while simultaneously pleasing everyone and not making anyone uncomfortable for any amount of time? There seems to be no pleasing you. You're pissed because people have to be randomly patted down. I'm saying that profiling SHOULD be used to avoid situations where young children and elderly people are needlessly patted down or scanned. TSA screeners should be allowed to use discretion in these situations, but because people like you frown upon "profiling" they are required to do it randomly. If there is no reason to suspect someone is hiding something then they shouldn't be screened.

I don't know what the *future* of airline security holds, but I like this take on the *present*:

 

http://twitter.com/TSAgov

If you think it's bad now, just wait until some would-be terrorist tries to smuggle a bomb onto a plane via his rectum.

Isn't that the same as eating at most airport fast food restaurants before your flight??? ba-da-bump...

 

If you think it's bad now, just wait until some would-be terrorist tries to smuggle a bomb onto a plane via his rectum.

 

Isn't that what the body scanners are for?  Don't riot against the body scanners people!  You may not like the alternative!

Well, a news article just revealed that those inspection gloves they use on the pat-downs may be contaminated and could be causing infections and STD's to spread...

http://bit.ly/gou1Fd

 

I can't wait for the real "cavity" search!

 

--

 

Thank you Fark for an even more clever headline!

 

"One other thing: the TSA creep who just got done rooting around the undercarriage of that sweaty waddling matron from Wisconsin won't be changing his gloves before it's your turn for the gate-rape"

The TSA is not imposing these pat-downs to combat terrorism; rather, it is a misguided attempt to be overly sensitive to Muslims and people with Arab descent.  From the perspective of the TSA and perhaps society in general these days, it's often better to ignore reality and pragmatism so that no single group can be offended without others being pissed too.  Better everyone is needless angry, right. 

 

TSA agents are not patting little kids or grannies in wheelchairs because of any legitimate fear of bombs; rather, it's the never ending concern that Muslims, super liberals, and other hypersensitive people will start chanting Racist or Bigot or Profiling if we start using common sense.  And because that fear of being perceived a racist/bigot is so strong, well, we have these stupid and unnecessary procedures.  We are not safer for it by any means - it's just a waste of time and proof that our country is blind to reality all too often.

 

 

 

^^The TSA agents aren't supposed to be searching in underwear.  There was at least one case of this happening and the TSA has made a statement on it.  This is supposed to be an outside of the clothing search as I understand it.

 

An ABC News employee said she was subject to a "demeaning" search at Newark Liberty International Airport Sunday morning.

 

"The woman who checked me reached her hands inside my underwear and felt her way around," she said. "It was basically worse than going to the gynecologist. It was embarrassing. It was demeaning. It was inappropriate."

 

The head of the Transportation Security Administration John Pistole today said that at least one airport passenger screening went too far when an officer reached inside a traveler's underwear, and said the agency is open to rethinking current protocols.

 

That search was against protocols and "never" should have happened, TSA administrator Pistole told "Good Morning America" today.

 

"There should never be a situation where that happens," Pistole said. "The security officers are there to protect the traveling public. There are specific standard operating protocols, which they are to follow."

 

http://abcnews.go.com/Travel/tsa-responds-passenger-outrages-underwear-search-happen/story?id=12208932

Well, a news article just revealed that those inspection gloves they use on the pat-downs may be contaminated and could be causing infections and STD's to spread...

http://bit.ly/gou1Fd

 

I can't wait for the real "cavity" search!

 

--

 

Thank you Fark for an even more clever headline!

 

"One other thing: the TSA creep who just got done rooting around the undercarriage of that sweaty waddling matron from Wisconsin won't be changing his gloves before it's your turn for the gate-rape"

 

OK, I think the opinions of hypochondriacs shouldn't be taken into consideration when discussing this topic. 

HERO.

 

Refusal to submit to scan, search wins Cincinnatian notoriety

By James Pilcher • [email protected] • November 23, 2010

 

What started as a self-proclaimed act of civil disobedience over the government's new aviation security screening procedures has turned a local 23-year-old into a celebrity on the Internet. And it got Matt Kernan through international security at the local airport without any screening whatsoever.

 

When returning Sunday from a business trip to Europe, Kernan refused to go through either the body-scanning machines or the alternate pat-down at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. Returning international passengers must be re-screened at CVG after clearing customs and before entering the main concourses.

 

--

 

HERO.

 

Arkansas man sues over new TSA full-body scans

The Associated Press, November 23, 2010

 

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- An Arkansas man has filed a federal lawsuit against the Transportation Security Administration, claiming that the agency's new screening rules are detrimental to his "emotional, psychological and mental well-being."

 

[...]

 

The lawsuit claims that the new practices violate Dean's civil rights and his Fourth Amendment right protecting against unlawful searches and seizures.

November 23, 2010

 

Politicizing Airport Security

 

In their eagerness to pin every problem in America on President Obama, prominent Republicans are now blaming his administration for the use of full-body scanners and intrusive pat-downs at airports. Those gloved fingers feeling inside your belt? The hand of big government, once again poking around where it should not go.

 

Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas and a Republican presidential hopeful, called the scanners and the pat-downs a “humiliating and degrading, totally unconstitutional intrusion,” in an interview on Fox News. If the president thinks such searches are appropriate, Mr. Huckabee said, he should subject his wife, two daughters and mother-in-law to them. Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said the Transportation Security Administration had gone too far, and Gov. Rick Perry of Texas suggested T.S.A. agents be sent to the Mexican border, where he said, absurdly, that “we need security substantially more than in our airports.”

 

Seeing conservative Republicans accuse the Obama administration of trying too hard to protect America from terrorists is a remarkable spectacle of contortion. But many of them are making a far more pernicious point. They want the government to start “profiling” passengers on the basis of ethnicity or nationality or personal history to single out those most likely to commit terrorism. That would spare decent people from the indignity of a backscatter machine.

 

Full editorial at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/24/opinion/24wed2.html?_r=1&nl=todaysheadlines&adxnnl=1&emc=a211&adxnnlx=1290607306-GWvzHhew0nmET1KbL60SDA

It's totally been a political issue.

 

Publically, Democrats - those same ones against all of the Bush anti-terrorist measures - are in support of it.  Meanwhile Republicans - the sames ones who supported anti-terrorist measure under a "do whatever is necessary" mantra - have been critical of it.  In the TSA issue, the roles have reversed.

 

Personally I am for it.  First, I have no problem with the full body scanners.  I don't really care what some security guard sees of me.  Second, I've been patted down and yeah, they get right up your leg.  But it's far from groping or invasive, IMO.  The "grabbing" is really over blown.  I've never seen any pat downs that aren't involving the back of someones hand...not sure how you grab anything with the back of your hand.

 

Finally, the "profiling" issue is getting ridiculous.  Profiling does not mean look at the Arab looking guy and single him out.  It means know more about each passenger - criminal record, where they are going, where they are coming from, who they are travelling with, citizenship, etc. 

 

The Middle Eastern looking man who is a US citizen travelling from Cleveland to St Louis with no criminal record...you can let him go by.

 

The Pakistani citizen travelling alone from the UAE to Los Angeles via Toronto who has a prior criminal background...might want to check him out.

 

It's funny how quickly we move past the objective of what we are doing.  I'm pretty sure the families of people flying on 9/11 would have wished the guys with box cutters had gone through this type of screening.

^Perfectly stated and I agree 100%.  This debate makes my head hurt with the way the political roles have been reversed.  Just goes to show you that most politicians are lying sacks of sh!t that will do anything for a vote.

@shs96: Back of the hand? Not since this month. New "enhancements" allows TSA officials to literally feel around with the front.

^You mean like a normal pat down any police officer would administer?  Oh the humanity...

 

Most reports I've read of recent pat downs have been the standard back of the hand, up the inner thigh check.  Just because the TSA now allows their agents to administer pat downs with their palms doesn't mean they are required to cup your balls.  What are you so afraid of anyway, Sherman?

Amtrak Sees Increase in Ridership Due to TSA Screenings

 

Full story at: http://www.wwltv.com/news/Amtrak-sees-jump-in-traffic-with-new-TSA-screenings-110253089.html#

I've been through one of these pat downs. (about a month ago, there was no line to get patted down, but the scanner was being rebooted so there were a couple people in line to get scanned). It was about as personal as the way a doctor has touched me, and the guy doing it seemed about as disgusted at having to handle "my junk" as I was at having it handled. I thought about making a smart ass remark to lighten the mood, (something like "So how many guys get turned on when you do that?") but TSA agents sometimes don't have a sense of humor so I decided not to.

 

It wasn't the first time I've ever been patted down, in the 90's in some third world countries not all airports had metal detectors, and I don't think what they're doing is worse than what I expected. I suppose if you've never been patted down before it would seem weird to be handled like that, but I think people need to get over it.

 

I will agree though, that profiling people based on criminal background, nationality, international flights would make more sense than picking people randomly.

Columbia Radiation Expert: TSA Scans 'Likely To Cause Cancer'

By Phil Villarreal on November 24, 2010

 

A Columbia University radiation expert says the Transportation Security Administration's airport body scans are "likely" to cause cancer in passengers. The expert also said Department of Homeland Security-commissioned research, which found that the exposure to radiation is minimal, is suspect because it has not been peer reviewed.

 

WorldNetDaily reports the expert, from Columbia's Center for Radiological Research harshly condemns the body scanners, citing a peer-reviewed paper that was published in October in the Oxford Journal of Radiation Protection Dosimetry.

@shs96: Back of the hand? Not since this month. New "enhancements" allows TSA officials to literally feel around with the front.

 

Again - hasn't happened to me, nor have I seen it.

 

Still...are you suggesting these TSA agents are masking as sexual offenders who really just want the jump at the chance to touch someone's privates legally?  I mean, front, back whatever...you're getting searched.  It's not inappropriate touching.  Have you ever been to a Doctor?  Had a physical?  Do you know any women? 

 

Now you think it causes cancer...again, I'll suggest you just don't fly.

Hey, they are the experts, not you. If it produces a level of radiation that is higher than should be warranted, and/or you travel frequently and are subject to the screenings... well, I'll let you draw your own conclusion.

 

--

 

More shame by our very own government.

 

Prosthetics Become Source of Shame at Airport Screenings

TSA Administrator Apologizes to Cancer Survivor After Pat-Down Broke Seal on Urine Bag

By JANE E. ALLEN, ABC News Medical Unit, Nov. 24, 2010

 

Prosthetic devices were designed to help men and women move on with their lives despite potentially stigmatizing medical conditions, yet they've become a source of distress and humiliation during the new pat-downs by airport security agents.

 

There's already been outrage over the TSA agent who asked a Charlotte, N.C., woman who survived breast cancer to remove a prosthetic from inside her bra. There was also a bladder cancer survivor from Lansing, Mich., who said he was soaked in his own urine when a TSA agent's pat-down ruptured the seal on his urostomy bag.

Sherman... with all do respect, you're going to make me lose my mind. Prosthetics MUST be checked. There is no other option! If we didn't check them then a prosthetic arm, leg, hand, breast, etc. would be the perfect place to put an explosive device or some other weapon.  Yes, it's inconvenient and possibly embarassing but it must be done.  They should be offered a private room for this type of search though.

 

I'll ask you again, what do you suggest the TSA do? If you don't agree with body scanners and pat downs then what do you suggest the TSA do to ensure our safety in the skies?

 

And on the radiation front... give me a break.

 

Radiation Risk from Flying Dwarfs Body Scanners

Given the amount of radiation passengers are exposed to in flight, concerns over the safety of the body scanners may be misguided.

 

Amidst protests and rallies over airport security procedures, what's often overlooked is that flying itself dwarfs the radiation doses delivered by the new body scanners.

 

"Most people are unaware about the fact that there is significant radiation exposure associated with air travel because they are well above the Earth's atmosphere," said Robert J. Barish, a radiological and health physicist in New York City. "You'd get as much radiation in a whole-body scanner as you'd get in two minutes at 30,000 feet."

 

Read more: http://news.discovery.com/human/travel-body-scanners-radiation.html

Woman: TSA Agents Singled Me Out For My Breasts

Travelers Plan To Boycott TSA's Latest Security Measure Aiming To Clog Security Lines

WKMG, November 23, 2010

 

ORLANDO, Fla. -- The head of the Transportation Security Administration said the agency will look further into allegations that two male TSA workers picked a woman for additional screening because of her breasts.

 

Eliana Sutherland recently flew from Orlando International Airport and told Local 6 she felt the two male TSA workers were staring at her breasts and chose her for additional screening because of their size.

 

"It was pretty obvious. One of the guys that was staring me up and down was the one who pulled me over," said Sutherland. "Not a comfortable feeling."

Some of these people are ridiculous!

@shs96: Back of the hand? Not since this month. New "enhancements" allows TSA officials to literally feel around with the front.

 

Again - hasn't happened to me, nor have I seen it.

 

Still...are you suggesting these TSA agents are masking as sexual offenders who really just want the jump at the chance to touch someone's privates legally? I mean, front, back whatever...you're getting searched. It's not inappropriate touching. Have you ever been to a Doctor? Had a physical? Do you know any women?

 

Now you think it causes cancer...again, I'll suggest you just don't fly.

 

It's inappropriate because it's an illegal search, or at least should be if anyone cared for the Constitution anymore.  If you go to the doctor, you have the expectation of having a trained medical expert examine you with purpose.  If you have a woman around, there's an even greater purpose to have her down there.  If you're trying to get on an airplane, it's inappropriate. 

 

The whole thing is absurd. You could carry a suitcase full of explosives onto any train, pack your car full of explosives and park it anywhere, hell just walk into a crowded place with a backpack and kill just as many people as you could on a plane.  There are other measures in place to make sure commercial flights aren't used as weapons as they were on 9/11, and measures in place already are preventative enough.

 

Overall this is just a giant clusterf*** of misplaced resources.  If there is ever another large scale terrorist attack it'd be on a subway in New York, or via a car like the attempt at Times Square.  The onslaught of security measures since 9/11 along with heightened alertness by common passengers do a good enough job, pat downs and naked image scanners are unnecessary, aside from being unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy and personal space.

^I disagree that it's unconstitutional.  If people were busting down your door and searching your home I would agree, but in this case I think the public interest in preventing a terrorist attack is more compelling than any privacy argument.  I really don't think an airport security check point pat down is an "unreasonable search" given recent terrorist actions.

good column:

 

Thomas Sowell

Airport "Security"?

 

http://townhall.com/columnists/ThomasSowell/2010/11/23/airport_security/page/full/

 

"...this administration is so hung up on political correctness that they have turned "profiling" into a bugaboo. They would rather have electronic scanners look under the clothes of nuns than to detain a Jihadist imam for some questioning."

how many people complaining are business/frequent travelers?

 

This is sooo stupid!

It's inappropriate because it's an illegal search, or at least should be if anyone cared for the Constitution anymore. If you go to the doctor, you have the expectation of having a trained medical expert examine you with purpose. If you have a woman around, there's an even greater purpose to have her down there. If you're trying to get on an airplane, it's inappropriate.

 

The whole thing is absurd. You could carry a suitcase full of explosives onto any train, pack your car full of explosives and park it anywhere, hell just walk into a crowded place with a backpack and kill just as many people as you could on a plane. There are other measures in place to make sure commercial flights aren't used as weapons as they were on 9/11, and measures in place already are preventative enough.

 

Overall this is just a giant clusterf*** of misplaced resources. If there is ever another large scale terrorist attack it'd be on a subway in New York, or via a car like the attempt at Times Square. The onslaught of security measures since 9/11 along with heightened alertness by common passengers do a good enough job, pat downs and naked image scanners are unnecessary, aside from being unconstitutional and an invasion of privacy and personal space.

 

I'm more scared of the people who are willing to give up liberty for security more than anything. We can't prevent another terrorist attack; all we can do is to devote untold amount of resources to try to prevent an attack that happened in the past. They change their tactics so frequently that it is impossible for us to play catch-up. What is next? A ban on all liquids? Batteries? Mobile phones? Because all three can be used to create a bomb.

 

They are now speaking of banning lithium-ion batteries, which would be catastrophic for anyone who shoots photographs. And installing these body and orifice scanners in subways, train stations and now reportedly in boat terminals! Should we be subjected to such government intrusion that the moment we step out of the door and onto any form of transit, we are subject to random searches, feel-good guards, and full-body scanners?

 

If there is a reason to continue to drive, this is it.

 

--

 

FYI, MTS, your comments have not been helpful in this entire thread. Sorry that we don't have these platinum flying cards that allows us to bypass these security measures. Sorry we don't fly enough to justify our comments here. It would be better if you would simply shut up or allow others to have a conversation on a subject that really concerns us.