Sunday, November 14, 2010

More on the TSA

I was surfing around this morning and came to this link, which is a blogger who says that she was a screener for the TSA, and offers some telling insights into what the TSA thinks of the flying public. Read the whole thing and get angry.
Requirements can and are set up to ensure that everyone who flies is safe. If you don’t like it, then don’t fly. You may not be as concerned as the next guy about the safety or you may be more concerned. Point is the job of TSA is to ensure the entire traveling public is safe not just you. TSA officers don’t care what you as an individual want, they can’t, it just isn’t possible. You may be ok with lax security but what about the next passenger who wants thorough security?

Your right to privacy isn’t being violated at all. You always have the option to drive a car, take a train, grab the bus or start rowing a boat. You do not have to fly, you just want to fly. The minute you decide you want to fly then you have to accept that security is involved and you are going to have consent and submit to it period the end.
I love that last line. Let's read it again.
The minute you decide you want to fly then you have to accept that security is involved and you are going to have consent and submit to it period the end.
Except that we're The People and we don't have to consent. The Congress just learned about our consent.

The TSA needs to learn about our consent as well. I remember when President Bush formed the Homeland Security department and put it under the leadership of a crony named Tom Ridge. We professionals in law enforcement started calling TSA screeners "Ridge's Retards". Nowadays, under the tender ministrations of Janet Neapolitano, I suggest that we start referring to the screeners as "Janet's Jerk-Offs".

I'm renewing my objection to the TSA in general and calling on my Congressman and Senators to defund the TSA. Completely defund it.

7 comments:

Peripatetic Engineer said...

The TSA screener sounds like a Brown Shirt from the Nazi era. They mindlessly follow orders without a thought as to the legality of the order. Then they blame the victim. It is dangerous to put power into the hands of these robots and we need to resist them at every turn.

Their work does not protect the public because thay are ALWAYS one step behind the terrorists. They are searching for last years attack method.

Termite said...

While I do agree that the TSA is out of control, and needs to be disbanded, I have to agree with the author on a couple of things she said.

Such as: "I have seen 12 year old girls dressed like Tijuana whores with mommy right next to them dressed the same way."
And: "Oh and the way some of you dress when you come to the airport, well you might as well be naked. Your pants hanging down around your knees, skirts so short you put Sharon Stone to shame (put on some panties for goodness sakes). See through clothes, lingerie as dresses, tank tops that you are too big to be wearing. Short-shorts with your ass on display, clothes so tight they look painted on. The cleavage is on display so often even the guys barely notice it anymore."
Last time I flew from AEX to Houston and back, while I was in the Houston airport, the clothes I saw people wearing, especially women, were just plain ridiculous. Hey, I like seeing a pretty woman in a mini-skirt as much as any guy, but on a plane? And I damn sure don't want to see a man's hairy butt-crack.
I wear jeans or slacks when flying, not shorts. For footwear, either sneakers or chukkas/hiking shoes when flying. Mostly for the comfort and arch support, but I'm a former Army/Guard helicopter pilot, so it's also because if something happens, I want to be able to un-ass the plane in an emergency without cutting up my feet or twisting an ankle. Flip flops belong on the beach, not on an airplane. 4" spike heels are a bad idea too. Try to run in them......just try.
You can call me paranoid if you want, I don't care.

J said...

Pawpaw, it's hard to believe that you want people to fly on passenger planes with no screening of the passengers.

Pawpaw said...

I never said that J. What I've said is that the airlines should be responsible for the security on their aircraft. That should not be a government function, and wasn't until 9/11.

Until recently, the TSA was a laughable group. They've never stopped a single terrorist attack. They've just been a pain in the butt to everyone involved. Now, they want to do naked scans. In the nine years sine 9/11 they've gone from being a laughable group to simply being mean and overbearing.

It would be better if the airlines were responsible for the security of their aircraft.

Termite said...

J said...

Pawpaw, it's hard to believe that you want people to fly on passenger planes with no screening of the passengers.

Let me remind everyone that prior to 9/11, one could carry a pocket knife on most airlines, as long as the blade did not exceed 4 in. Hijackers were regarded as having political goals that they wished to live to see fulfilled, not as having suicide intentions. Passengers and crew were instructed to accommodate the hijackers, and all would generally end well for most. All that changed on that Sept morning. A few men, armed with nothing more than box cutters, took over 4 planes and stunned a nation with their murderous evil. The rules for hijacking had changed, and both passengers and crews took note, as evidenced by Flight 93.
There has not and will not be another mass hijacking of airliners using edged tools, because the passengers will not allow it. Since then, there have been several instances of violent passengers on flights, and each time it was other passengers who subdued the offender.

When the TSA rolled out their plans and guidelines for air security, officials from El Al and the Israeli government were asked their opinion. They dismissed the TSA's plans as poorly planned, other than the hardening of cockpit doors. As one Israeli security specialist stated: "You are looking for weapons, we look for certain people."
Until and unless we recognize that there is nothing bigoted about "profiling" certain ethnic and/or religious groups, we will continue to substitute technology for information, and the asininity that is TSA "security" will continue.
The vast majority of Islamic terrorists incidences are committed by males Muslims between the ages of 17 and 40; usually single males. Any cop knows that if the majority of convenience store robberies in an area are being committed by red-headed white males over 6' tall, they should not be focusing on 5'4" Oriental females. This is simple logic.

As for electronic strip searches of the pilots, this is stupidity beyond belief. With the advent of hardened cockpit doors, any pilot can, if he/she wishes, deliberately crash an airplane. They simply have to overpower the other pilot, if he/she is not part of the plot. Furthermore, I believe we should follow the Israeli model, and arm and train our pilots in pistol CQC. Issue Tazers to our flight attendants, and teach them how to use them properly. In fact, I thought we had started an armed pilot program; has something changed?

J said...

Requiring airlines to do their own security screening means the closure of every small to medium size airport in the USA. But maybe that's a way to save tax dollars. Back in the early 60s when my brother and I came home to Tullos on leave, we flew into New Orleans and took a Trailways bus to Tullos. Alas, Trailways is dead, and perhaps the Alexandria Airport is at least partially to blame.

Which brings up a question: are the Alexandria and Monroe airports cost effective taxwise? I bet not.

Old NFO said...

Paw, as you know I'm travelling 200+ days a year. I've opted out and got groped yesterday, and I 'know' janets-jerk-offs don't have a clue. Defunding them and putting in REAL security procedures like El Al has would work, and they don't grope people in the process... However they DO profile, gee, wonder why their procedures work!!!