I was over wary to fly since the post 9/11 security procedures done by Fedril Gummint types, but this pr0n imaging, or, if you choose, a good crotch grab has put me in a mood.
Which is a bit of a heartbreak, as I'd like to visit my Mom in Florida some times.
You know what the best part of the new screening procedure are? They are totally ineffective. Pure security theater. It's what you do instead of nothing. They have caught no one with the old 2002 methods, and they admit that they wouldn't have caught the Underoos Bomber with these new one. And they were put in place BECAUSE of the Underoos Bomber attempt. Add this to the demonstrated incompetence when known human intelligence about Mr. Underoos was not acted upon. Warned by the man's father that the boy intended to go Jihad and maybe smuggle a bomb in board, the Security types still let the man on the plane. Devote your resources toward tightening THAT stuff up rather than looking at nekkid people through their clothes, TSA. (Do people getting on El Al flights in Haifa Israel all have to routinely go through this humiliation? Has there been terrorist attempts on El Al flights in the past 2 decades or were they thwarted? Maybe we could emulate any successes El Al flights have had here in the gool ol' USA?)
The average public might have been more patient with intrusive security screening if they actually did anything to make people more secure. But they don't, so they aren't.
Where does it stop? Do you think that this is the ultimate in search procedures? Or can they go farther? Motivated terrorists can secrete explosives... uh... inside themselves (if I may be delicate) and vigorous frisking or xray machines are unable to detect it. I can't wait for THAT manual detection method to become routine procedure.
And I know the book cover image is a mockup. A bit of gallows humor. But for something to be funny it has to have a ring of truth. I am sure there are plenty of decent TSA folks that hate applying the new rules, too. It'd be heartening to know that there is pushback or resignations going on inside the department over this crap. Or maybe they violate the 4th Amendment on purpose.
It's just gone too far. Until there are rollbacks I won't be buying plane tickets. And I am not alone.
I had to push this post up in the queue, as the rest of the internet was posting on this topic and I was at risk of going on about after the moment was over.
ReplyDeleteHoly. Crap.
ReplyDeleteWhere'd you get that picture?
That's Weir-Cook, alright. I stood at that very spot while they checked my pistol case two weeks ago.
Yeah, I had to type one up too. Should be going out this morning...
ReplyDeleteThe business of making aircraft is one of the few manufacturing concerns in the US that makes money. US military superiority is based on the foundation of the civilian aircraft manufacture business. (Just as Britain's former naval superiority was based on their commercial ship building industry.) The attack on aircraft is an attack on our ability to defend the nation, amplified by the bad policies of those who support creation of Union jobs performing security theatre.
ReplyDeleteSecurity should be devolved to the aircraft operators, with competition for the best combination of security and convenience. I have flown thousands of flights without even going through a metal detector (on a company plane).
Frances Oldham Kelsey.
ReplyDeleteI got the picture from the internets. No citation there on where they got it.
ReplyDeleteRope.
ReplyDeleteWe're past the Tar And Feathers point.
I don't know where you are located, but...
ReplyDeleteI drive back and forth from Tampa Bay to Greater Chicagoland (yes, that is what they call in that Midwestern Mecca) all the time.
2 long days, if I have to rush. Otherwise I break out the camping gear and take my time.
Given the cost of rental cars in Chicago - thank you mayor dumbbell- it is cheaper to drive, unless you only have a short time to visit. Depends on your vehicle, and the price of gas.
Still, even when it costs me more, I won't submit to the degradation at the hands of the TSA.
This was the last straw for me... I will not fly! And I work for American!
ReplyDelete