TSA, screening, and your balls

[RS-LoveOfProfit]

I bring to the forum a current topic that has many in a tizzy, namely TSA's new backscanners and aggressive ball-grabbing patdowns.

Random quick house floor speech against the matter:
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xH-dpkJZiOM[/youtube]

My point is, this is a slippery slope argument I'm willing to subscribe to.

I quote a post so I don't have to retype it:

First it was box cutters, so we ban nail clippers.

Then we get worried about PETN, so no bottles of shampoo are allowed in carry on anymore.

Next it was a shoe bomb, so we have stand in line with our socks on.

And most recently we have an underwear bomb, so now I get my dick grabbed by a screener.

What's next. A terrorist uses an ass-bomb, and now everyone has undergo cavity searches?

Point is, these measure are beginning to be quite dehumanizing while still being less effective than for example Israel's profiling approach, because here in the States profiling is thought to be synonymous with racism. In Israel they train their security to watch people, not look for objects. To watch for suspicious behavior, nervousness etc.

I can't help but think that, to adapt a slogan, the terrorists are accomplishing their objective and winning every time our government reacts out of fear to further dehumanize us or strip away our freedoms in the name of "safety", when its bullshit.

Some of the biggest fuckups of this new setup I see:
A) Pilots. Seriously, they're flying the fucking plane. They don't need to bring weapons on the plane to use the plane as a weapon. Do they really need to walk through xray machines daily, or go through testicle groping?

B) Kids. Presumably parents who opt their kids out of the xray machines will then have to watch strangers grope their children. How fucked up is that? How are more people not pissed about this?

C) What is stopping bombers from simply blowing themselves up in the always packed lines before the security check points? A couple of those bombs and it would pretty much completely fuck air travel. Who would fly if there was a chance you might get blown up while waiting to go through security? If the aim of terrorists is to strike fear in our hearts, I'm pretty sure that would be more effective that hijacking a plane once every 10 years. But then what do I know, this is working out phenomenally for them.

[chillybilly]

I can't believe how UNAMERICAN you are.  How dare you rail against our God given rights and American freedoms.  What's next, Profit?  Are you going to argue that the Patriot Act was an overreaction by intrusive, scared men in power that trampled on our Constitution?  HELLO, it's called THE PATRIOT ACT so it can't be bad!

Grabbing your balls makes America safer and lets you enjoy all those Freedoms that real Americans deserve.  Freedoms like being able to not have insurance for your 8 year old boy.  Freedoms like proliferating nuclear weapons in this world, just like Pyongyang and Terran want the US and Russia to do.  Freedoms like starting Congressional Commissions to investigate unAmerican activity (I'm looking at you, Profit!).  Freedoms like letting foreign companies donate millions of dollars anonymously to political parties to influence government elections.  Freedoms like keeping taxes on millionaires lower than they were under Reagan even as the nation goes bankrupt.  HELLO, without these freedoms, we'd be SOCIALISTS!  Is that what you want?  To have a bunch of Czarist Communists running around making straight marriage ILLEGAL?  It just breaks my heart that America is being turned into a fascist state bent on world socialism!

[RS-SquiZo]

wait.. how does not wanting these laws make him socialist?
I am pretty much up for better security at airports and shit as long as it does make sense. And I agree on the pilots case, there it doesnt make any sense at all.
Not controlling kids would be a bad move cause seriously.. we know what could happen.
Thing is that ppl want security but dont want to give up anything. For example there was a huge discussion in Germany about cameras watching public places and lots of ppl were raging about it but at the same time said they want to feel secure and want the government to control "them", I love that phrase. As I said we need to learn that we have to "work" for our freedoms and also for our savety. In this case this means that some stuff needs to happen that we dont really like to happen.
But if I look at those new "naked Bodyscanners" or whatever u call them in the US, I kinda start to rage myself. I dont really have a problem with the naked part of it but using a system that noone really knows enough about is just plain stupid. Nobody even knows how bad (or not bad) those scanners are for ur health.

[chillybilly]

wait.. how does not wanting these laws make him socialist?

Not wanting these laws makes him unAmerican and being unAmerican makes him socialist AND fascist!  Maybe that stuff works in someplace like FRANCE but here is the good ole US of A, we're a tougher breed and we don't take to no pansys.  It's all a government intrusion conspiring to take our God given freedoms away and that's why we need ball grabbing at the airport!

[RSshruew]

Love, it pains me to bring up how misguided you are on this topic as we generally agree on many topics.

First, a misconception.  The groping pat downs are not a security process, it is a means to raise the happiness level of travelers.  

In this down economy, families are facing financial difficulties.  One of the leading causes of divorce is financial difficulties.  This leaves many a husband sleeping on the couch with no one to grope his balls.  Who cares enough to fill this void?  The TSA.  The TSA cares enough to grope your balls.

Who else can you say cares about you as much as the TSA?  Can you honestly say that your priest or rabbi grandparents or parents care enough about you to grope your balls?  No.  But, the TSA does.  And if groping your balls makes your day a little brighter, then it's they're happy to provide that service for you.

[Rom]

One airport in Florida has opted to go with contractors and not TSA. But the contractors still have to follow guidelines. Read the last  part:
http://wdbo.com/localnews/2010/11/sanford-airport-to-opt-out-of.html

They might be using low energy X-rays, but they are still X-rays. I'd hate to be a frequent flier.
http://health.yahoo.net/articles/healthcare/are-new-airport-scanners-safe

[RS-SquiZo]

wait.. how does not wanting these laws make him socialist?

Not wanting these laws makes him unAmerican and being unAmerican makes him socialist AND fascist!  Maybe that stuff works in someplace like FRANCE but here is the good ole US of A, we're a tougher breed and we don't take to no pansys.  It's all a government intrusion conspiring to take our God given freedoms away and that's why we need ball grabbing at the airport!

So as I am german and not american that means I am a socialist and a fuckin fascist? Interesting... Didnt even know that myself.

[Giberish]

My biggest complaint on this is that the TSA targets everyone. From babies to old grannies. So i feel they are on high alert 24/7 which is ineffective. They need to learn to target the right people.

Also, they aren't thinking. They are doing a mundane task, and when a logical explanation is in front of them, they move away saying it's for 'security' reasons instead of "I forgot i had change in my pocket"

Also these stupid rules on what you can and cannot bring on a plane? For gods sakes people! My toothbrush isn't going to kill anyone!

Terrorists have succeeded, they're goal is to cause terror, well they do. And thanks to them people are crying out for more regulations and control which the government is drinking it all up. Their greedy corrupt minds thinking of all they can do (i point to the internet blacklist i started)

[chillybilly]

Giberish, so you're saying that because an adult can grope the growing boobies and crotch of a 12 year old girl while her daddy watches, that the terrorists won and we lost?  If that's losing, I don't want to win!

[chillybilly]

Additionally, I want to point out that we only lose our God given freedoms that every real American deserves if we don't submit to the full authority of our government.  The government knows what's best for us except when it comes to helping provide medicine and medical check-ups her citizens that could not, otherwise , afford it.

[Giberish]

haha yeah, i guess so chilly.


Reading the NYT, front page "Close Encounters With T.S.A."

A elementary schoolteacher "I didn't really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants" She was patted own in Dallas after the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket.


I again, I'll state that the TSA employees are blind to a rational reason on what may seem like a warning. They just go right on in and start groping you.

[RS-LoveOfProfit]

Its a fixation on the items a person is carrying and blindness to who the person is. The TSA agents are automatons prone to mistakes anyway. As you said, you can't be at 100% focus the entire time when you're being this detailed. Also, what happens when the terrorist has one of the gropers as his buddy?

In my view all this makes it a pain in the ass to travel, and doesn't change much for the hypothetical terrorist. He still will find new ways to terrorize. Security theater, smoke and mirrors, effectiveness of a dowsing rod.

Americans are such pushovers because they don't realize they're being pushed over.

[RS-SquiZo]

Any comments on this one that just came in?
http://www.wbtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=13534628

[Giberish]

Wow...that is insane. To far? I don't know, i guess it could of been a bomb....but there needs to be rules defined publicly known to everyone. So when a TSA employee is doing something that they aren't suppose to, we are educated enough to stop them and have them notified to the proper authorities.

[Rom]

Terrorists win!   haha counterstrike voice.

btw, is this TSA thing hiring......?

It's not sounding like such a bad job......