Did you ever stop to consider that procedures are put in place for a reason? Do you think that all of this is just for fun? There are actual threats being made on this country. Let's stop placing the blame on TSA and start putting where it belongs: ON THE TERRORISTS!
The TSA's process would not have caught the underwear bomber. It would not have stopped the terrorists that took over the planes on 9/11. Does the process prevent unauthorized products making it on to the plane? Sure it does. But you can't ban everything that can potentially cause harm, because damn near anything can cause harm. Refusing to let me carry shampoo on the plane does a whole lot less for safety than proper personnel screening for
actual terrorists.
Procedures are put in place to combat threats, and the government doesn't broadcast all of the latest intelligence on CNN just to boost their public approval rating. They also don't broadcast every time they stop a practice run.
So, would you say that in Israel, their international airport faces more or less threats from violence/terrorism than any airport in the US? Call me crazy, but I'd hazard a guess to say that terrorists are a far bigger threat for them than Americans. Yet somehow, Israeli's Ben Gurion Airport has not had a breach of security since 2002 (
link).
Some idiots suck at their job. Some idiots suck at their job in every field. Most people that work for TSA (and I know a lot of them personally) are good, honest people trying to do their very best to protect the people of this country. Lines have to be drawn somewhere and unfortunately, right now, they are more limiting. Sometimes restrictions are lessened because threats are lower, but you never hear about that on the news.
Actually you do. I heard about
this on the news, as I did about the relaxed liquid restrictions. Lines do need to be drawn somewhere, that's what all-encompassing legal documents such as the little known constitution is there for, to draw those lines. And get s*** on by money grubbing assholes like
Chertoff - former head of DHS (see - person who instituted rules regarding scanners), who now works on behalf of OSI (the company who manufactures the scanners) as a lobbyist through a consulting company. The person who made the law is personally profiting from it.
HOW DOES THIS NOT BOTHER YOU PEOPLE???
Did you know that the metal detector was put into place in the 1960's? I don't want 50 year old technology being the one thing that protects me from 2010 terrorists. TSA is working with the best they have right now. Soon, there will be better technology available. New technologies are being developed all the time. The technology isn't quite ready for the "paper doll image" body scanner, but it's on the way. I have a friend whose company has been working on a facial recognition software that will also be able to recognize unusual nervousness. These aren't ready yet, but they will be. So don't tell me that Brian should quit his job just because the technology isn't there yet. That's just ridiculous.
Again I make mention of the Israelis, they seem to be doing a pretty damn good job without all this "technology." Facial recognition software?
Training people on this isn't working, why are we trying to train a computer to do it?
But hey, lets take a different stance on things. We're forcing people to be exposed to X-rays, yet unlike every other place where X-ray machines are used, the TSA agents are
banned from wearing dosimeter badges (to warn if they've received a dangerous dose of radiation, we actually don't have any actual independent and verifiable information regarding the safety and health effects of these scanning machines - everybody saying they're safe is based around the "radiation dosage per pound of person" idea, when the truth is that unlike common x-rays, the radiation from these machines is absorbed completely by the skin as opposed to throughout the body. Do I have any justification in saying they'll cause cancer? No, but neither does anyone saying they don't. We just don't know, nobody does, and nobody's going to for as long as the government keeps awarding no-bid contracts to their friends.
Oh, and if that doesn't bother you. If nothing else that I've written strikes a chord to you as a problem, then I present to you one final story. How would you feel if you sent your high school age daughter on a school trip and then found out the government mandated machine you are forced to go for is being manned by an individual who's getting himself off on the view of your daughter and all her friends naked. (
link)
If this is all okay with you, if being viewed naked, masturbated to, and felt up is considered an appropriate condition on travelling to you, then the terrorists
have won. Terror-ists, they want you to feel terror. Are you scared?
They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety. - Benjamin Franklin