The Transportation Safety Administration. Keeping us safe from 95-year-old terminal cancer patients in wheelchairs:
Seriously? You know from intelligence that terrorists are recruiting 95-year-old terminal leukemia patients in wheelchairs to smuggle explosives onto planes in their adult diapers? That has nothing to do with any definition of "intelligence." It's about the humiliation and degradation of another human being--just because you can.
It's time to do away with the TSA.
"A woman has filed a complaint with federal authorities over how her elderly mother was treated at Northwest Florida Regional Airport last weekend. Jean Weber of Destin filed a complaint with the Department of Homeland Security after her 95-year-old mother was detained and extensively searched last Saturday while trying to board a plane to fly to Michigan to be with family members during the final stages of her battle with leukemia. Her mother, who was in a wheelchair, was asked to remove an adult diaper in order to complete a pat-down search.
[H]er mother was first pulled aside into a glass-partitioned area and patted down. Then she was taken to another room to protect her privacy during a more extensive search, Weber said. She said security personnel then came out and told her they would need for her mother to remove her Depends diaper because it was soiled and was impeding their search. Weber wheeled her mother into a bathroom, removed her diaper and returned. Her mother did not have another clean diaper with her."
[...]
"Sari Koshetz, a spokeswoman for the Transportation Security Administration in Miami, said she could not comment on specific cases to protect the privacy of those involved. "The TSA works with passengers to resolve any security alarms in a respectful and sensitive manner," she said.
Koshetz said the procedures are the same for everyone to ensure national security. "TSA cannot exempt any group from screening because we know from intelligence that there are terrorists out there that would then exploit that vulnerability," she said."
Seriously? You know from intelligence that terrorists are recruiting 95-year-old terminal leukemia patients in wheelchairs to smuggle explosives onto planes in their adult diapers? That has nothing to do with any definition of "intelligence." It's about the humiliation and degradation of another human being--just because you can.
It's time to do away with the TSA.
My beloved grandmother was made to get out of her wheelchair, and then frisked (total body!!) by the TSA when she was 87 years old!! It made me cry. They are out of control...
"Do you think Norway has to worry about "terrorism"? How about Mali?"
"Three arrested in Norway terrorist plot."
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jul/08/world/la-fg-norway-terror-20100709
"Mauritanian army destroys al Qaeda camp in Mali."
http://www.france24.com/en/20110625-al-qaeda-camp-destroyed-mali-mauritania-aqim-terrorism#
"Mali: Terrorism Dampens Tourism to Timbuktu."
http://pulitzercenter.org/blog/untold-stories/timbuktu-black-market-manuscripts-and-missing-men
Yes.
"Stupid is as stupid does."
I'm not sure if Sarah Palin said that or if they were referring to her when they said it.
Doesn't really matter. But as Mark Twain said, "We descended from apes and have been descending ever since." THAT goes without saying.
Look at American in the 19th century and look at us NOW.
"We have met the enemy and he is us"...Pogo Possum.
Hey RHM,
I've always hated to fly, now I have many more reasons and your bus solution is one that I am going to take advantage of...
Doug,
some good points. I've been reading recently that Taras Bulba...aka Putin has been bragging to the world that he is developing new methods of mass destruction using 'the nuclear option'.
The fact is, the masters of this universe are insane!
Hi Carol,
Once I had a problem at the front gate of JSC...meaning I was swarmed by the resident swat team for 'running' the front gate.
I was taking my daughter to preschool with her mom in the front seat and they questioned her credentials.
We had been let through the day before with the very same type of documentation, so I blasted on thru. They didn't appreciate it.
Their argument was that someone could hold someone else hostage and force a child to wear a bomb...I don't know, it was a jacked up mess but they did change their protocols due to the incident.
I think you, and RHM, are doing what needs to be done:
Q: Who pays for TSA services?
A: TSA receives funding from three streams: 1) passengers pay a “9/11 Passenger Security Fee,” a ticket tax of $2.50 per flight segment with a maximum of $10 per round trip; 2) carriers pay an Aviation Security Infrastructure Fee, based on year 2000 domestic screening costs; and 3) TSA also receives direct taxpayer support. Of the sectors overseen by TSA (including rail and pipelines), however, only airlines and their customers pay special taxes for its support.
Starve them out. Force them to make cuts. We all know that money speaks much louder than votes, as Doug pointed out.
http://www.airlines.org/ATAResources/AirportsQA/pages/airportsqa.aspx
I catch your drift. And I think you're right. But the TSA/DHS is being being more stupid than prudent. When I was out of work I applied for the TSA. They wouldn't hire me. Probably a good thing though. I would have only done thorough body searches of hot chicks and super models. I thought this X-ray machine was going to eliminate a lot of body searches. Are lots of people refusing to go throuth that thing? I'll bet Des knows. These searches of people who are OBVIOUSLY NOT suspicious is ridiculous.
I know that the terrorists have not "won" in the traditional sense of the word. What I was referring to was the fact that it has become so ridiculously stupid in the way the we are treating other Americans (TSA vs Granny's diaper) or TSA vs fake boob)...like you said, it's time to tell them to do it differently.
But, when we change our travel plans BECAUSE of the way the TSA/DHS treat us in the zeal to root out terrorism, then in a small way the terrorists have "won".
And right now, many - if not most - people are not fighting back against this increasing intrusion into our lives.
Traditionally when the State puts these extreme security measures in place, it is meant to intimidate the citizentry, and to suppress dissent and freedom.
This is what States do, and I've got news for the flag waving patriots out there...the U.S. is no different. We have let this happen through measures such as the Patriot Act.
This week the U.S. Supreme Court made it much easier for companies to get you're personal medical information from pharmacies. Another brick in the wall of you're freedom and privacy being taken away from you. At what point do people stand up? Conservatives, liberals, everybody?
But know where to focus you're blame... Corporations, and the money they use to buy our politicians is almost singlehandedly responsible. Christian Fascists like Michelle Bachmann ARE the problem. Don't get fooled by her rhetoric, any right wingers reading this.
She is FOR the corporate dominance of you're Country, and the taking away of you're freedoms.
This could easily be resolved with four simple words....."USE SOME COMMON SENSE".
All Obama needs to do is to direct the DHS and TSA heads to instruct thei obviously poorly trained, misguided, and/or STOOOPID agents to use some common sense.
I understand these people are "probably" doing what they've beent old. TELL THEM DIFFERENTLY!!!
To answer Carol's question, the terrorists have not won. STUPIDITY has won.
F'**ing idiots running this country. OMG!!!!
Did you se what the IDIOTS in Iowa did to abortion clinics? The state legislature passed a law that abortion clinics must have certain size treatment rooms and exit doors and a whole list of other BUUSHIT ITEMS includimg, I think, 86 watt light bulbs. They don't even MAKE 86 watt light bulbs. Then they gave them 3 days to comply or get shut down.
FYI, MItch McConnell was on MTP again.........I need a new TV.
Offshore, you and I are in complete agreement. The freedoms we have lost, the indignities we are willing to suffer, the privacy we have relinquished, makes us far less safe.
The fact of the matter is that 9/11 happened because LOTS of Americans did not do their job, did not perform the responsibilities they were entrusted with long before Sept 11.
It really seems foolish to me that this TSA stuff is all aimed at "catching terrorists" at the last possible second.
I don't like to fly any more anyways. It seems all the airlines nowadays treat you like cattle and their personnel are almost always rude - to say nothing of how they handle your luggage! I decided long ago to make a "free market" decision and we always look for alternative methods. We traveled to Mexico several times the last couple of years by luxury bus. It was great - you board at night, have a snack, go to sleep and wake up in central Mexico! (and extremely inexpensive!) We have been looking at trains too. Haven't gone yet, but plan to. (Come on Powerball!)
You know all the Country has to do is go to the root of the problem, which is to get rid of, or secure weapons of mass destruction, or the materials that can be made from them. It will cost shockingly little to do this compared with all the effort we put into wars to defeat the people that supposedly have the ability to get these weapons in their hands. If the U.S. REALLY put a focus on getting rid of these weapons and materials, they could get other Countries on board as well.
Then, imagine how nice it would be for everybody, to be able to relax, and not worry who you let on planes e.t.c.. If the U.S. focused on getting rid of these weapons, and frankly got rid of our 700 military bases around the world, and got rid of our corporate presence around the World why would anybody want to attack us?? Most of the Countries in the world have military budgets that are next to nothing, and they don't get attacked. Hmmmmmm.....Why is that??
Do you think Norway has to worry about "terrorism"?. How about Mali?
Why is that?????
This Country has GOT to get over the notion that it is okay to profit from exploiting people around the World. This is a sickness. If we get rid of the sickness, we'll get rid of the disease.
Then we won't feel the need to check what's under 95 year old dying women's soiled diapers.
No, Carol, they have not. They win when we accept, without protest, that our dignity and liberty should be sacrificed for “security”.
Most of us put our lives in danger every time we leave our homes. Hell, there are plenty of things inside my home that could do me in. Yet, we all choose to live rather than survive, at least to some degree. I don’t see anything wrong with vigilance but our security measures have long past the point of ridiculousness.
I am so angry about this and so conflicted in my thoughts!
My mother was in this condition the last few years before she passed away and - as prim and proper as she was - would have been devastated if this had happened to her. That would not have been pleasant for her or the TSA agents, to say the least.
I have had a mastectomy and I wear a prosthesis. I understand that other women (a flight attendant comes to mind) have been forced to remove their prosthesis by the TSA. So now I prefer not to fly rather than be put through that kind of humiliation.
I am mad as hell, and then I read about terrorists giving an 8 year old girl a bomb to carry to a police station and she is blown up. What are we supposed to do?
Have the terrorists won? In some respects...I think so.