The American people have been reacting with outrage to the latest excesses of the TSA: sexual assaults of nuns, handicapped children, senior citizens and happy go lucky college kids--all explained away as "keeping us safe from terrorists." Bollocks!
The premise of our "security" system is that the risk of terrorism is evenly spread through the traveling public. Thus, young dudes from middle eastern countries wearing "Osama Rocks" tees are deemed as much of a threat as 3 year old girls. Why? Because we don't want to run the risk of being accused of "profiling" people based on their ethnicity or religion. Consequently, we've established protocols where you either have to pose for a nude picture or submit yourself to a sexual assault if you want to fly. This is madness, and more importantly, doesn't make us any safer.
The Israelis manage to provide the best security in the world for air travelers in their country, without this elaborate "security theatre." They profile passengers, and although ethnicity is part of the mix, it is not the only consideration in determining who may represent an unacceptable risk. They haven't had a single terrorist attempt on any of their flights to my knowledge.
By now I assume we've all seen the chilling footage of TSA women (who look surprisingly like the giant butch matron in the prison movie "Caged") fondling that kicking and screaming 3 year old girl. That was difficult to watch and even more difficult to reconcile with our values.
In recent days the stories of TSA outrages have flooded the internet: the cancer survivor lady forced to reveal her prosthetic breast, the cancer survivor gentleman whose urostomy tube was dislodged during a search (despite repeated efforts on his part to warn them) which caused him the humilitation of having to fly with his clothes made wet by his own urine because he didn't have time to clean himself up in the airport, the handicapped 14 year old wheelchair bound girl forced to undergo an exploration of her crotch. And on and on.
It's as if the federal government has turned loose 65 thousand Barney Fifes on the traveling public, all of whom have no fear or concern about crossing any line. Because, "we're here to combat terrorism, and any humiliating thing we can think up you have to submit to, period." Based on the ones I've encountered, the vast majority of these people aren't fit to be men's room attendants--"can I brush the dandruff off your shoulders, sir?'
The fact is, TSA has not stopped a single terrorist act, nor uncovered a single terrorist. They like to brag about the thousands of contraband nail clippers and bottles of Jack Daniels they've confiscated, but there's no evidence anybody carrying those items was planning a terrorist attack.
We are in a re-active mode: the 9/11 highjackers used box cutters--we scan for box cutters. Richard Reid tried to use a shoe bomb--we make passengers take off their shoes. Some potential terrorists were planning to use liquid explosives--now you can't take Lavoris on your flight. The "panty bomber" had explosives in his underwear--now you either submit to a nude photo session or get sexually assaulted. We're always one step behind, while they are always one step ahead. The record indicates they've never used the same method twice. They're always looking for new ways to kill us, while we are focusing on the previous ways they've tried to kill us.
And our leaders seem to think we're too stupid to see and understand what's going on here. Janet Napolitano pronounced the panty bomber episode as an example of the "system working." Really? He got the bomb on the plane and was attempting to detonate it when it failed to work and caught fire, rather than exploding. This is the "system working?" God help us all.
These new imaging machines can't (as I understand it) pick up explosives stored in body cavities. And notwithstanding assurances that the images can't be retained, we've already had US Marshalls busted for doing exactly that. Having nude images of well known people on the internet is inevitable.
We know who the terrorists are. We can pretty easily identify people who are far more likely to be terrorists than 3 year old girls. So why don't we start there instead of wasting the time and money treating everyone as a potential terrorist? It's expensive, inefficient, un-American and virtually ensures that we'll be victimized again, even as we pat ourselves on the back for our sensitivities. We cannot rely on luck much longer.
The premise of our "security" system is that the risk of terrorism is evenly spread through the traveling public. Thus, young dudes from middle eastern countries wearing "Osama Rocks" tees are deemed as much of a threat as 3 year old girls. Why? Because we don't want to run the risk of being accused of "profiling" people based on their ethnicity or religion. Consequently, we've established protocols where you either have to pose for a nude picture or submit yourself to a sexual assault if you want to fly. This is madness, and more importantly, doesn't make us any safer.
The Israelis manage to provide the best security in the world for air travelers in their country, without this elaborate "security theatre." They profile passengers, and although ethnicity is part of the mix, it is not the only consideration in determining who may represent an unacceptable risk. They haven't had a single terrorist attempt on any of their flights to my knowledge.
By now I assume we've all seen the chilling footage of TSA women (who look surprisingly like the giant butch matron in the prison movie "Caged") fondling that kicking and screaming 3 year old girl. That was difficult to watch and even more difficult to reconcile with our values.
In recent days the stories of TSA outrages have flooded the internet: the cancer survivor lady forced to reveal her prosthetic breast, the cancer survivor gentleman whose urostomy tube was dislodged during a search (despite repeated efforts on his part to warn them) which caused him the humilitation of having to fly with his clothes made wet by his own urine because he didn't have time to clean himself up in the airport, the handicapped 14 year old wheelchair bound girl forced to undergo an exploration of her crotch. And on and on.
It's as if the federal government has turned loose 65 thousand Barney Fifes on the traveling public, all of whom have no fear or concern about crossing any line. Because, "we're here to combat terrorism, and any humiliating thing we can think up you have to submit to, period." Based on the ones I've encountered, the vast majority of these people aren't fit to be men's room attendants--"can I brush the dandruff off your shoulders, sir?'
The fact is, TSA has not stopped a single terrorist act, nor uncovered a single terrorist. They like to brag about the thousands of contraband nail clippers and bottles of Jack Daniels they've confiscated, but there's no evidence anybody carrying those items was planning a terrorist attack.
We are in a re-active mode: the 9/11 highjackers used box cutters--we scan for box cutters. Richard Reid tried to use a shoe bomb--we make passengers take off their shoes. Some potential terrorists were planning to use liquid explosives--now you can't take Lavoris on your flight. The "panty bomber" had explosives in his underwear--now you either submit to a nude photo session or get sexually assaulted. We're always one step behind, while they are always one step ahead. The record indicates they've never used the same method twice. They're always looking for new ways to kill us, while we are focusing on the previous ways they've tried to kill us.
And our leaders seem to think we're too stupid to see and understand what's going on here. Janet Napolitano pronounced the panty bomber episode as an example of the "system working." Really? He got the bomb on the plane and was attempting to detonate it when it failed to work and caught fire, rather than exploding. This is the "system working?" God help us all.
These new imaging machines can't (as I understand it) pick up explosives stored in body cavities. And notwithstanding assurances that the images can't be retained, we've already had US Marshalls busted for doing exactly that. Having nude images of well known people on the internet is inevitable.
We know who the terrorists are. We can pretty easily identify people who are far more likely to be terrorists than 3 year old girls. So why don't we start there instead of wasting the time and money treating everyone as a potential terrorist? It's expensive, inefficient, un-American and virtually ensures that we'll be victimized again, even as we pat ourselves on the back for our sensitivities. We cannot rely on luck much longer.
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