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Theater of the Absurd at the T.S.A. »
Posted by: Ousama 1 year, 8 months agoFOR theater on a grand scale, you can't do better than the audience-participation dramas performed at airports, under the direction of the Transportation Security Administration.
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Comments: 21
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berkeley
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:26 p.m.i have avoided air travel for five years, thanks to the idiots at tsa.
1. how many items in the luggage compartment of passenger jets are checked for bombs? almost none. they don't have the time or money to do so. so they pretend to protect passengers by making a big show of personal searches, but luggage is entirely vulnerable. what a farce.
2. who has ever seen the list of forbidden names maintained by tsa? no one knows. publicly, no one has seen it or the law that demands such a list. it's all secret, to protect us.
a case can be made for tsa being a training exercise for the population, to learn how much they will put up with when traveling. the depressing answer is, almost anything.
john gilmore and the e.f.f. have a pending lawsuit to challenge tsa's list. would that we were all as motivated as he is. details at
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CALABASH
Dec. 17, 2006, 6:01 p.m.So true. Just got back from Thailand for stem cell therapy (another story) but had to use a wheel chair through the airports. Ushered through everywhere without a sniff or a search as was the rest of my party. I can't even go through the metal detector due to a pacemaker but was I wanded, no. Whe I have gone through walking I have been checked quickly but not in the chair! They wer afraid to violate me or my rights or just afraid of my disability. I never had to prove my disability or show my pacemaker card. I was armed with a letter from my doctor stating that I had vast amounts of prescription meds needed for the long trip and foods that I also needed for traveling. Nothing was checked. Customs waved me through. Asked what the purpose of my business was I said stem cell therapy, waved me on. Taipei, Thailand same.Return trip all the same. No bags ever checked and were over weight so we had them until the very end. If you want to blow up an airport pretend to be disabled! Good grief!
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Ousama
Dec. 16, 2006, 11:35 p.m.Our own Wil Wheaton had his own run in with the TSA and blogged it
http://wilwheaton.typepad.com/wwdnbackup/2006/12/m
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IanFraigun
Dec. 17, 2006, 12:17 p.m.Here is another example of their stupidity. I was flying home from a business trip in New York. My airline cancelled my flight and booked me on another airlines flight. Please note I took no action this was done by the airlines.
All of a sudden since my arrangements changed the day of travel I became a 'terrorist' suspect. I was taken out of line and had to have my luggage all opened and inspected. Almost missed my flight because there was only 1 inspector and a large family with lots of luggage ahead of me. Pity the others on that flight behind me.
Once boarded I mentioned what happened to my seat mate. The cabin crew member happened to overhear this and threatened to remove me from the plane if I said anything else.
What good did all this do. ABSOLUTELY NOTHING. It was the airline not me who made the change. I was carping about stupidity not making threats.
Never mind though this incident detracted several people from possibly finding a real terrorist.
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el-jefe
Dec. 17, 2006, 12:30 p.m.But we were free once.
Now we are subjects, not citizens. Are we better off?
We will ALWAYS have this stupidity until people start writing their Congressman demanding a change, and voting that person out of office if they don't respond. ALWAYS. Is that the sort of country you want to pass along to your children?
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justron
Dec. 17, 2006, 12:31 p.m.I must admit, after 15 years in the nuclear industry, the same checks, the same (@^%$#^). But one trip,they checked my boarding pass and my driver lic. The TSA person did something that almost made me laugh and roll on the floor. Counting letters on my boarding pass and driver lic. This is very common with people that can not read. For a check to see if he was joking I asked him, what is my destination. He could not figure it out. O well thats the check and ballance of the normal goverment, job.
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Ousama
Dec. 17, 2006, 2:03 p.m.That is a great story and I am glad you shared it with us. I think many of us have had our own little story with TSA, my favorite is watching people argue with the TSA agents and forgeting that these people dont make the rules they just have to enforce them. If you wanna see a change do as El Jefe said write your local congressmen and senator and demand a change.
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wtagg
Dec. 17, 2006, 2 p.m.The other irony is that I can print up a boarding pass at home and get through security. I might not be able to get on a plane, but I can pass security. One of my favorite quotes from old Ben:
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
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ouzie-q
Dec. 17, 2006, 2:12 p.m.The TSA wand rape of grand mothers and other non-threatening individuals is all a product of todays PC, multi culture crowd and their refusal to address our enemies at any cost. The pandering, appeasement and resulting reverse discriminations are proof positive of a backwards slide to weakness.
To break the fallacy, one must realize that an enemy people have to be monitored. Internment worked well in WWII, although it seems quite harsh by todays standards. Sadly, the platinum fact here is, if you are unwilling to take strong actions against threats and enemies prepare for extinction, nature does not favor the weak.
Todays America is not veiwed as strong...our collective enemies know all they have to do is wait and hide. On the homefront, the crybabies, touchy feelies and other freaks come bubbling to the top to befriend any enemy peoples and denounce the homeland at every photo shoot.
An America divided cannot stand.
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mamasan
Dec. 17, 2006, 3:55 p.m.rah rah hiss booh bah.
Oh yeah right!!!
sometimes the naivety of the far right is laughable.
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amazed
Dec. 17, 2006, 2:43 p.m.my 84 year old mother is on crutches and has lots of metal in her hips due to multiple hip replacements. Each time she flies, they pat her down and feel her up and occasionally strip search her.
And god forbid you should wear an underwire bra to the airport!
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Teech
Dec. 17, 2006, 3:49 p.m.I may be mistaken, but I believe that there are still BILLIONS of dollars up in the air in thousands of already filed, but unresolved, lawsuits from 911 family members who claim that they are entitled to previously unheard of sums of money because the airlines, the FAA, the City of New York, etc. etc. et al, et al, FAILED TO TAKE ADEQUATE SECURITY MEASURES TO PROTECT THEM! Gubment money...uh, uh...these dollars come from your pockets, folks.
So, let's hear some practical solutions on what we, as a society, are willing to risk.......as a trade off for what TSA is required by law to do. I'll post my suggestions in a few more minutes.
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Teech
Dec. 17, 2006, 4:07 p.m.In California, driving is a privilege, not a right. Rights, by Constitution, are inalienable, but a privilege must be earned and may be revoked. FOR ME, (you may disagree), flying is also a privilege, not a right. Because I enjoy the privilege so much, I am willing to provide a lot of personal, and private, information, and carry a passport or some other BETTER form of "foolproof" identification that lets "security" know as much about me as they need in order to let me pass. Instant, live-scan, fingerprint or retinal scan is OK by me. I'll voluntarily accept a magnetic implant to use the "fastrack" line. Invasion of privacy? Then don't fly, that's your choice. Any information I may have to provide is ALREADY in countless, probably, unsecure data bases due to my military service, teacher status, and countless other applications I have made. I'll fly in a disposable paper suit, or nude, if necessary, to keep the PRIVILEGE.
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