Since 9/11 every year has brought us
new and more absurd regulations from the TSA. The one time I got on
an airplane and took a flight was Christmas 2005. The procedure than
was not nearly as harrowing and invasive as it is now, but I did get
to experience the royal treatment. After removing my shoes, belt and
jewelry, I placed my bags on the conveyor and stepped through the
metal detector. BEEP! Looked through my pockets and found a gum
wrapper and a dime. Tried it again. BEEP! I knew this was going to
get bad.
The security person told me to step
over to the side and another person came over and began to scan my
body with the wand. After a thorough 'wanding' I was allowed to put
back on my shoes and jacket; gathered my stuff and was on my way.
This took quite some time and I barely made it on to the flight. I do
have to say that the day did hold a small victory for me. After I
reached my destination and got to my hotel room, I began cleaning
out my luggage. Contained in my green backpack was a lighter, a pack
of matches and a small pocket knife. Since the miniscule container of
shampoo I had wasn't flammable, those things wouldn't have allowed my
to hijack a plane anyways.(Not that I was trying.)
Since then, a few new regulations have
cropped up, one of them caused a flurry when the 'secret' plans for
these new TSA
regulations were leaked to a couple of bloggers who got a visit
from the feds and had some explaining to do. As I looked over those
new regulations I started to realize there was a problem with all
these regulations. They don't address the problem at all. They are
broad reaching, and blind to the problem at hand. Scandinavian
grandmothers, circus performers, children, nor wheelchair bound
paraplegics have ever tried to hijack an airplane and fly it in to a
building. Yet they were subject to rigorous scrutiny by the ever
vigilant TSA.
I understand that it is unfashionable
to mention that it was, in fact, Muslim
males who did hijack airplanes and fly them into buildings, and
bombed the U.S.S. Cole, and dozens of American embassies around the
world, and subways in Britain and Spain. It was Muslim males who
attacked Mumbai, Paris,
Moscow, Turkey, and Argentina. There
have been a few isolated incidents involving Muslim women as well,
but few were as successful, or as widely publicized as the 9/11 or
Mumbai attacks. I'm not saying we shouldn't be on the lookout for
other threats to our airlines, but it seems prudent to be most aware
of the dominant group of people who wish to kill Americans.
Some on the left will of course counter my argument with a statement
condemning me for failing to mention 'Jihad Jane', Ted Kaczynski,
Olympic bomber Eric Robert Rudolph, or Oklahoma City bomber Timothy
McVeigh. While 'Jihad Jane' was a Muslim sympathizer she wasn't a
convert, and she was mentally unstable, as were the others on this
list. Individuals with broken minds who committed acts of violence
for their own reasons. The terrorists the TSA seek to stop are
adherents
of Islam, and they commit acts of violence in the name of their
God. There is no greater kind of illness, than killing in the name of
Religion.
Things
aren't always black and white. On Christmas day 2009, Umar Farouk
Abdulmutallab detonated a bomb in his underwear to destroy Northwest
Airlines Flight 253. The bomb malfunctioned and only succeeded in
burning Abdulmutallab's genital area. A Dutch passenger, Jasper
Schuringa
, witnessed the failed bomber's smoking
crotch and tackled him, sustaining burns himself in the process. This
should be cut and dry, but it isn't. Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab is not
the textbook definition of a Muslim. He wears no beard, and his skin
is very dark color. Umar is from Nigeria, and while there is plenty
of violence happening in Nigeria, most of it directed inward, so this
attack was a bit of a surprise.
In the wake of the 'crotch bomber' the
TSA enacted even more stringent regulations,even using more body
scanners, making life harder for all of us who use air travel. Many
people were incensed at the idea of more regulations, claiming that
we had more than sufficient methods at keeping the skies safe.
Political mouthpiece James
Carville had a slightly different take on the whole affair. He
said he had a novel idea on how we could make flying safer. He
suggested that he have his genitalia measured and than they could
simply use it a reference point every time he flies, thereby avoiding
a full body scan. Carville opined ““What I want is, let me pay
for something, give me a safe flyer card, and then y’know, go
measure my penis and let me get on the airplane.”
Now many months after Carville's unique
approach to flight safety, the TSA is restricting flight even more.
In addition to the ubiquitous metal detector, you now have to also
choose between full body scan, or full body pat down. The former
could conceivably allow TSA agents to see you naked, and the latter
would allow TSA agents to fondle your private parts. Neither sounds
the least bit amusing, and has started a flurry of news stories about
the horrors of airplane travel. This could be the breaking point for
many Americans. Perhaps AMTRAK might have a shot at being successful
after all.
The now viral cell phone video of John
Tyner, the 31 year old software programmer, whose now famous quote
“You touch my junk and I'm going to have you arrested.” started
an altercation with airport security that ended with the TSA
threatening to sue him, and fine him 10,000 dollars for NOT being
able to touch his proverbial 'junk'. He was ejected from the airport,
but not before being harassed some more by another agent of the
airline. I feel sorry for anyone who gets treated this way all
because they don't wish to be sexually molested in an airport by an
authorized government grope trooper.
I can assure you, the TSA are even more
vile than this. 3 year old daughter of a reporter is patted down by
an uncaring TSA agent as she screams in terror for help from her
parents, after she set off the metal detectors twice. A 6 year old
boy was brought to tears when he was patted down at Charlotte Douglas
International Airport. The boys father posted on the blog We
Won't Fly, “He was pleading for me to help him and I was
admonished for trying to comfort him,” “His genitals area was
groped. He walked down to the plane in tears." There are many
more horror stories like this one, more than enough to make any
parent weep.
This overreaching government nonsense
has even sparked a national “Opt
Out Day” There is little else we can do except to keep
informed, voice our dissent, and hopefully get this nonsense stopped.
Congressman Ron Paul has just introduced H.R.6416:
American Traveller Dignity Act of 2010. There is a wealth of
information on We Won't Fly and the Opt out Day websites. Please
feel free to check them out so you can tell everyone that you are
part of the “Informed Voter” coalition.
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