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EDITOR OF REDSTATE

Thoughts on the TSA — Opt Out Tomorrow

By: Erick Erickson (Diary)  |  November 23rd, 2010 at 01:09 PM  | 

RESIZE: AAA

As many of us go through the grand experience of the TSA prostate exams — no doubt a part of healthcare cost savings under Obamacare — we need to consider a few things.

When terrorists started trying to bring liquid explosives on planes, we went to 3 oz. bottles.

When terrorists started wearing bombs as underwear, we went to full body screening.

What happens when terrorists start using their body cavities? God help us.

In each of these instances, the threats occurred overseas. No one overseas is going through the motions that we are going through here. No one.

Why us?

And if this is designed to stop terrorists from blowing up airplanes, why stop there? Why not trains? Why not buses?

No one can land a plane in midtown New York. Airports in almost every major city are on the outskirts of the cities. But one can put a bomb in a duffle bag and take Acela Express straight into Union Station in Washington or midtown Manhattan. But those bags are not inspected.

What the TSA is doing now makes no sense. It makes no sense to target a three year old or a nun or a frequent flier. Made worse, we now know for certain that if the terrorists take their plastic explosives and stick them to their body in a pancake shape the full body scanners cannot detect them.

We have dumb downed airport security to the lowest common denominator. In doing so, we have some great airport security theater, but not much else.

And come tomorrow, we will see the full insanity that is our security system at work. I urge each and every one of you to opt-out of the full body x-rays and take the pat down. Highlight the absurdity.

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  • eastbaylarry

    To those of us who want the US to thrive and prosper it makes no sense, therefore, these policies are motivated by other intentions.

    Of course the TSA new policies have no impact on on safety and will not stop the next terrorist or even slow them down.

    But it *will* have an impact on the airline industry. People will only fly if they obsolutely *have* to. Airline profits will free-fall. Insolvency will loom large.

    But the airlines are vital to the nation, so they will be bought/bailed out by Obama et al.

    Now is it starting to make sense?

  • acat

    It’s not just the Acela in NYC. Union Station in downtown Chicago is .. in downtown Chicago, under an office building, and it’s extremely crowded at rush hour because it doubles as a commuter station.

    The point is, you’re dead on – what we have at the airports is kabuki. Pretend-safety. A giving up of freedoms that gain us the illusion of safety… and a whole lot more (soon to be union) government jobs.

    I’m really glad I’m not flying tomorrow…. and if it doesn’t improve, I won’t be flying for quite a while.

    Mew

  • bennettbf

    I don’t usually go for the original intent argument, as I think seances are hokey and dumb. But I’m willing to bet that a government search of your person prior to traveling is pretty much the definition of unreasonable search under the 4th.

    I almost wish I was flying tomorrow so I could opt out. Give ‘em hell, Erick.

    B

  • http://changingwind.org Toddy Littman

    Wrote a whole article with a remedy for the TSA abuse, http://changingwind.org.

    If we do not use civil discourse they will assume civil unrest, and this entire TSA thing, as far as I can see, is merely Obama’s Revenge for November 2nd.

    Please, if you don’t want to go to the link, get the form here, http://www.gsa.gov/portal/forms/download/635588D718E338F385256B1B007FBE64, and also write down what happened as soon as possible, get it all notarized, acknowledged with a notary if you can. At least have a record of every single instance of this abuse for your records.

  • rsewell

    The argument over gun control goes something like this. “We have to keep guns off the streets or people will be killed.” Yet the criminal justice system release the criminals back out onto the streets everyday.

    This is the same mentality of the so called Security system. We are looking for Bombs instead of Terrorists. Bombs don’t make themselves, they don’t transport themselves and they don’t explode themselves. Focus on the terrorists!

    But in this age of political correctness and “inclusion” the Administration refuses to even call them terrorists much less look for them. The rights of the law abiding citizen are more easily trampled because we generally don’t fight back. This time… We’ll see.

    Concerned Citizen

  • http://www.scragged.com petrarch

    … I’m not totally sure that choosing to be fondled is the best solution.

    A better solution would be for Americans to refuse en masse to accept EITHER. But that would probably get you shot dead on the spot.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    Thats what we need to be doing. We say we are at “war” with the terrorist but we dont act like it. If we were actively engaged in a war with China right now, we would be looking at chineese people here in America as possible spies. Would kinda make common sense right? Well we are at war with radical islamic terrorist (almost all of them are middle eastern born males ages 18-35). How are we trampling the Constitution if we simply look closer at the demographic we are actually at war with right now?

  • Menlo

    China is a much greater threat. It’s of a different nature though. The “bombs” are not concealed on people and in luggage but in the shipments coming from China.

    Personally, I don’t believe commercial air travel benefits from anything more than it did 30-40 years ago.

  • Goldwater_Conservative

    all the time anyway. Amber alert! Little girl was last seen with a white male middle 20′s, about 6 foot tall average build and driving a red pick up. We dont go calling the police racist bigots when the start pulling over red trucks being driven by young white males do we? No we as saying they are doing their job.

  • Menlo

    Too many people are okay with it to make a dent in the airline oligopoly, particularly those who contribute the most.

    If the changes in the US-based airline industry over the past few decades have not turned people off commercial air travel, nothing will. This nation is among the worst in that regard.

  • azgirl

    it is about control. It is a way for the government to control us, and our actions. Pure and simple.

    It also is quite interesting that these increased screening measures started right after mid-term elections. Maybe this is the Obama administrations way of “striking back at their enemy”, which obviously isn’t the terrorists.

  • Fla Mom

    At least, not with government workers, especially if they’re unionized, which they may be if our side doesn’t pay enough attention. Why? Try writing performance standards for something that requires judgment instead of requiring ‘when presented with test items, find X% of a defined list of prohibited items.’ Yes, X%; you can’t require them to find 100%, because it’s too high a standard, and they can’t show improvement. You and I could all hire folks whom we thought had judgment, which is what the job really needs, but doing so would require, yes, judgment, and there’s no room on the government personnel forms for that; it’s all about paper ‘qualifications.’ It took me a while, but I finally figured out what government personellists mean when they say an applicant is ‘qualified:’ it means that the person has at least most of the items on the list of low-standard, easily-measured things in the job description.

    Fla Mom

  • gwalt

    It is about government control but AZ you bring up an interesting thought: He’s showing us he’s STILL the boss and can do whatever he pleases to us.

    Maybe we’ll get lucky and Rezko will sing soon or Blago blows something wide open. This narcissist needs to be stopped somehow.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    Just bad things… If we give the powers that be the benefit of the doubt that they are trying to deal with the problem instead of using it to destroy the US they are still very misguided about what is the “moral high ground” which, in my opinion, is taking/adapting to proven effective methods against mass murderers. That leads into the misguided gun control mindset of the left about legislating morality by banning things from people’s possession etc.

    I can’t even give them the gun control mindset on this. It’s not the objects, they are already illegal, it’s the people who would be likely to misuse them that are the problem. In this case though they’ve gone to far to quickly and incompetently.

    For a group that doesn’t care about the ends justifying the means the left sure has screwed it up in this case… But then again since they didn’t come up with the answer the answer makes no sense to them…

    Sooo… can we see some impeachment hearings set for early next year? Sort of a nice Christmas present for the world… include Biden in the proceedings so the process doesn’t have to repeated a few months after the first one is done.

  • http://pocketchangeproductions.net/ anotherindyfilmguy

    Since they are locking the cockpits now…

    Why not let everyone carry weapons now?

    Use dogs to sniff for explosives and some judicious profiling to find the occasional bomb attempt etc.

    After 9/11 no one is going to let anyone take over an airplane by hijacking because of the threat of certain death if the plane is used as a missile.

    Get over the knives and nail clippers banning and let the dogs sniff any containers of liquid/people as they go by etc. Heck I’d say go so far as allowing anyone with a valid CCL to concealed carry during domestic flights, but then again I have a CCL and kind of resent being told to take of my belt and shoes etc the last time I flew a few years back. (I’d hate to go through what they are doing now and will drive before flying now)

  • GregInFla

    In the past two weeks, I’ve flown out of three major airports: Orlando, Washingon Reagan National, and O’Hare. I have never had anything besides a stroll thru the metal detector. (I do look like and act like a frequent flyer, so that may have something to do with it.) Orlando’s Terminal B was using the scanners, but only for a few selected passengers (older folks, likely those with internal medical devices.) Reagan National did not have any scanners in Terminal B, and O’Hare had them but was not using them in Terminal 3.

    I think the airports get so busy that there is no way they can scan everybody without huge lines. The metal detector is by far the quickest scanning method.

    Does anyone know of a website where you can find out where the scanners are being used? This may help folks decide which airlines and airports to use.

  • kdoc

    While I agree with Erick’s post, remember that the 9/11 terrorists all boarded planes inside the US. So we cannot assume that terrorist attacks all come from planes which have been boarded overseas.

  • usadying

    Think before you boycott. The only ones hurt will be the airlines. Obama took over the auto, bank, and health care industries. Transportation would be the icing on the cake. The project to make us a banana republic will be complete in less than 2 years of Obama.

  • webcorex2

    This is exactly the sort of civil disobediance citizen should practice when confronted with measures like this. better yet, get a whole group of tea partiers to go down to the airport and refuse to be scanned en masse, one after the other. People will take more notice of the statement being made by this gesture if the TSA has to deal with one hundred people in a row refusing to be scanned.

    Also, throw a fit if they drag you away or refuse you entry.

  • jbaize

    what TSA is going to do when one day a few suicidal terrorists get in line at airport secuirity lines in Atlnta, Denver, Washingtomn Dulles at a busy time and set off suicide vests or blow up rolling bags. HUndreds might be killed at busy travel times. What would TSA do then? Any additional security barriers would result in lines which would create another opportunity for attacks. Air travel would plunge. What would TSA do?

  • chamberD

    than to live as serfs in a once-free country.

    Look. If Americans don’t have the balls to stand up to state tyranny, we certainly don’t have what it takes to defeat the resurgent armies of Islam.

    Get a grip, people. This is a test. Pass it now, or consign yourselves to servitude. If you wimp out, you DESERVE what you get.

  • Bill S

    Let’s not get out the tinfoil hats, okay? That’s about the 2nd or 3rd time I’ve heard that one, and it is just a wee bit much. For one thing, you’d have to depend on Obama having the brains to pull something like that off, and it just ain’t there.

    Why don’t we just get together and put a stop to the lunacy of the TSA and leave the conspiracy theories alone.

    Opt Out Day…Do it.

  • chamberD

    Excellent point, GC.

    So it begs the question, why won’t we profile for terrorists?

    Answer the question, then beat down the doors of Congress to demand they do the right thing and stop their acquiesence to White House DICTATORSHIP.

    A dictatorship, btw, that presumes the innocence of terrorists — even to the extent of granting them CITIZEN-ONLY RIGHTS – while treating law-abiding Americans as suspects.

    Rise up and raise hell with your representatives or resign yourselves to serfdom.

  • chamberD

    Excellent point, GC.

    So it begs the question, why won’t we profile for terrorists?

    Answer the question, then beat down the doors of Congress to demand they do the right thing and stop their acquiesence to White House DICTATORSHIP.

    A dictatorship, btw, that presumes the innocence of terrorists — even to the extent of granting them CITIZEN-ONLY RIGHTS – while treating law-abiding Americans as suspects.

    Rise up and raise hell with your representatives or resign yourselves to serfdom.

  • chamberD

    That’s what happens, spelling errors, when you type with a bunny in your lap.

  • eastbaylarry

    Obama is not stupid. His policies are not failing. He wants control of all Americans and his policies have made great strides towards that goal.

    As long as you evaluate this administrations’ actions through the filter of people wanting to ‘help’ America and Americans you will fail to see what is happening.

    Review all that has transpired since Jan 2009 in the light of a Hugo Chavez rather than the incompetant actions of a community organizer and suddenly it all makes sense.

  • cardcarryingmom

    military carrying machine guns, stationed at every single escalator, elevator, bathroom, entrance/exit and patrolling the corridors of Charles de Gaulle. I commented to my gfs how chilling it is to see that and I’m so grateful I live in the USA. One gf said she couldn’t ever imagine Americans living in fear like that. Another asked why these heavily armed guys were necessary. I asked her if she’d seen the news with a guy named Iman al Zawahiri who’s in jail in Egypt and vowing to kill Americans, Jews and all westeners. Here we are: Paris, France, Charles de Gaulle Airport mid-1970s . . .

    I refuse to get used to this in my country. I refuse to be scared. I refuse to allow my own government to commit violations against my body, publicly (TSA) or privately (ObamaCare).

  • cardcarryingmom

    military carrying machine guns, stationed at every single escalator, elevator, bathroom, entrance/exit and patrolling the corridors of Charles de Gaulle. I commented to my gfs how chilling it is to see that and I’m so grateful I live in the USA. One gf said she couldn’t ever imagine Americans living in fear like that. Another asked why these heavily armed guys were necessary. I asked her if she’d seen the news with a guy named Iman al Zawahiri who’s in jail in Egypt and vowing to kill Americans, Jews and all westeners. Here we are: Paris, France, Charles de Gaulle Airport mid-1970s . . .

    I refuse to get used to this in my country. I refuse to be scared. I refuse to allow my own government to commit violations against my body, publicly (TSA) or privately (ObamaCare).

  • Praying

    I wish people would just suck up and go through the (&(*(_) scanners. It is already an very heavy, stressful travel day, and my 18 year old baby is flying home from U of Denver tomorrow… Can’t leave for the airport until after swim practice at 8 am, his flight is at 10:30, so he has plenty of time unless there is utter chaos at the airport. He really, really wants to be home for Thanksgiving, and if a bunch of idiots cause him to miss his flight, mama ain’t gonna be happy!!!!!

  • Bill S

    Just because you’re paranoid doesn’t mean they’re not out to get you, eh?

    I can’t stand the guy either, but I don’t think there’s a massive leftist globalization conspiracy, either. I stopped reading WorldNet Daily quite some time ago. The drugs finally wore off.

  • grandma

    Talk to your representative about co-sponsoring this bill.

  • eastbaylarry

    but just stop and think a minute.

    If Obama was really an idiot with an IQ of 50, he’d still get *something* right now and then just by accident.

  • SoFiMil

    Because it only would take a small percentage of people to exercise their right to opt out to cause major changes to be made. Mr. Pistole, however, appears to be strongly discouraging people from making use of all their options.

  • Menlo

    A small percentage will change absolutely nothing and hurt only themselves. No major changes are going to be made unless voters demand it of the next presidential candidate – which no one here seems to be willing to do! Nothing is going to improve as long as Obama is in office.

  • davesinsanantonio

    which would you rather have, your son to miss his flight or to live the rest of his life as a serf to the government? Missing one Thanksgiving is bad. Missing out on a life of freedom is far worse.

    Remember, We the People control the government, not the other way around. If we give up that control to them we will only be able to get it back at far greater cost. If we had insisted that our government do the logical thing and “profile” likely terrorists, and supplement that with bomb sniffing dogs, we would not be having this boycott-the-scanner day now. It would not even be on the radar. And, we would not only feel safer, we would actually be safer than we are letting the TSA radiate or molest us in the name of safety.

    We the People must make our employees do our bidding instead of allowing them to dictate to us. We elected them, we didn’t crown them. They work for us, they do not own us. If we don’t have that firmly fixed in our being, they will eventually control every aspect of our lives. We must prevent that by diligent oversight of their every action. We the People are still responsible for making it work!

  • jlsankot

    now there’s a novel idea.

    Don’t expect this administration to have any, or find any, or “czar” anyone with it, though.

  • napensnake

    Except for Air Marshalls and (perhaps) pilots, no weapons are permitted on aircraft. This is an attempt to keep us safe by eliminating weapons and making (theoretically) everybody equally powerless.

    SOLUTION: Allow, at a minimum, federal law enforcement officials such as DEA, FBI, Secret Service, etc. to carry their service weapons on aircraft. This provides a level of “fight back” that is currently unavailable.

    I will leave the details to somebody much wiser than myself but some areas to consider:

    1. Should these personnel participate in training to help them understand the particular dynamics of aircraft security?

    2. Could this allowance be granted to state or local law enforcement?

    3. Should these personnel be required to inform the airline of their intent to travel armed? Perhaps a minimum of two days in advance?

    Just a thought. I don’t like being told to sit there and wait for the terrorists to do me. I realize we can’t just take out the metal detectors because aircraft could become flying Dodge Cities. But, for the love of all that’s holy, telling me to lay back, relax and enjoy it just rubs me the wrong way.

  • wlosey

    Why are we looking for things rather than looking for terrorists??

    This is on the same track as gun control.

  • robobbob

    cause he writes wanting to do it in his books. And yes, I read them years before Beck ever said anything. If you don’t understand there really is a movement trying to bring about global change, then you will never understand why global warming, cap and trade, EPA, and the FCC regulations seem to be so unstoppable. And you will be that much less effective at stopping them. Don’t take my word for it. Take a break from reading all conservative stuff and try reading some of the oppositions work. The real stuff, not MSM fluff, get ahold of policy and research papers.They pretty much spell out what they want to do.

  • nhbuckeye

    Hm, they are doing as good a job with airport security as they do with our schools, the post office, the roads, protecting natural resources, and supporting the elderly. The lowest common denominator is the modus operandi of government. Why should we continue to pass our personal responsibilities to the less capable, less caring, and more corrupt? The government does its job, it surely does, but it never meets up with what private individuals can do – never. The federal government’s purpose is to maintain our borders, our property rights, and our freedom. It is not to redistribute wealth or shackle individuals or business with regulation. We need to rise to the occasion of our own responsibilities and demand them back from our robber baron government.

  • bus2dc

    With its twisted and heinous strategies based on Alinsky and so many other brutal, this administration continues to turn our citizens against each other in a “quiet” but complete overthrow of our country. It wears down our public to the point of exhaustion in fighting the HUNDREDS of battles we have fought over the last TWO short years. (They only felt like an eternity.) End result? COMPLIANCY, with our fellow neighbor persecuting those willing to still take responsibility for defending what may well be our final days of liberty. WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN. A scanner is suddenly “not as bad” as a pat-down, right????

    Peaceful civil disobedience – to increasing instances of full dictatorship by our ELECTED government — is being discouraged BY OUR OWN because it is already “too much trouble” or “will inconvenience” people “just trying to get home for the holiday”. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY DID THIS THIS WEEK?

    As if it weren’t difficult enough for the brave “soldiers” (tea partiers, conservative groups, legal watchdogs working gratis to preserve our Consititution, etc etc) trying to defend our land against Obama’s relentless onslaught of abuse, legislating what he wants when he wants it, no, those protesters are told they are “not going to change anything”. God HELP us if this thinking is already setting into the “great unwashed”. Are we ALREADY giving up?

    We are being told that we can protest and stop the nonsense – and then have no one to blame but ourselves when somone blows a plane out of the sky. We are being SET UP. This is both BLACKMAIL and a back door to more control. If we are not even able to make the sacrifice of time, patience and perhaps even the inconvenience of ONE family gathering a bit disrupted for the sake of our very future, then our country deserves the future where we have no choice to open our mouths and complain about anything. Like Ron Paul said yesterday, “If we succumb to this, there’s something wrong with us…If we DO this, then we deserve this.”

    I give THANKS this holiday for all those neighbors trying desperately to keep us ALL from going softly into the Obama-night. I KNOW, as they do, what awaits those sheep.

  • sbowers3

    And if this is designed to stop terrorists from blowing up airplanes, why stop there? Why not trains? Why not buses?

    A terrorist could kill far more people by bombing a crowded theater, or a sports stadium, or even a shopping mall. Should we have TSA “security” everywhere?

    We will never again have a 9/11. No terrorist will be able to take control of an aircraft. The passengers, the flight attendants, the sturdy cockpit doors, and the pilots themselves will stop any terrorist. The TSA is a useless agency that is not only wasting huge amounts of money, and infuriating the public, it is also costing lives by encouraging people to drive by car instead of flying.

  • bus2dc

    I am somehow still amazed that half the public wishes to remain in deep slumber as our house burns to the ground. for some reason it still surprises me that the sheep are not only going willingly to slaughter but are BLIND as they walk as well.

    This is making us about as secure as our southern borders. But please, don’t protest the latex-gloved hand going directly from one orifice to another possibly spreading MRSA through the land. Instead, boycott Arizona! Pretend, play-acting, propaganda, police-state.

    With its twisted and heinous strategies based on brutal leftist radicals to numerous to state (and we know of them all now radicals to numerous to state (and we know of them all now anyway, right?) this administration continues to turn our citizens against each other in a “quiet” but complete overthrow of our country. It continues to wear down our public to the point of exhaustion in fighting the HUNDREDS of battles we have fought over the last TWO short years. (They only felt like an eternity.) End result? COMPLIANCY, with our fellow neighbor persecuting those willing to still take responsibility for defending what may well be our final days of liberty. WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN. A scanner is suddenly “not as bad” as a pat-down, right????

    Peaceful civil disobedience – to increasing instances of full dictatorship by our ELECTED government — is being discouraged BY OUR OWN because it is already “too much trouble” or “will inconvenience” people “just trying to get home for the holiday”. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY DID THIS THIS WEEK?

    As if it weren’t difficult enough for the brave “soldiers” (tea partiers, conservative groups, legal watchdogs working gratis to preserve our Consititution, etc etc) trying to defend our land against Obama’s relentless onslaught of abuse, legislating what he wants when he wants it, no, those protesters are told they are “not going to change anything”. God HELP us if this thinking is already setting into the “great unwashed”. Are we ALREADY giving up?

    We are being told that we can protest and stop the nonsense – and then have no one to blame but ourselves when somone blows a plane out of the sky. We are being SET UP. This is both BLACKMAIL and a back door to more control. If we are not even able to make the sacrifice of time, patience and perhaps even the inconvenience of ONE family gathering a bit disrupted for the sake of our very future, then our country deserves the future where we have no choice to open our mouths and complain about anything. Like Ron Paul said yesterday, “If we succumb to this, there’s something wrong with us…If we DO this, then we deserve this.”

    I give THANKS this holiday for all those neighbors trying desperately to keep us ALL from going softly into the Obama-night. I KNOW, as they do, what awaits those sheep.

  • mumztheword

    Unfortunately,many of us are between and rock and a hard place, because many if not most of us purchased tickets for this Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays MONTH AGO, and likely did so under NO REFUND agreements (and few carriers even offer a “banked credit”)….
    Few of us have such “monies” to lose muchless make other arrangements.
    Particularly, college students may have limited time, even IF funds were “available” to make the trip espeically if their school has only the Thursday and Friday off. PArents would be faced with telling them they may have to spend Thanksgiving alone, IF they were allowed to remain in their dorm…..or BE GROPED (I have suggested to my daughter that under NO circumstances is she to have the “body-scan”…..to much unknow and what is, is disputed….and frankly the GOV has already been caught in lies regarding them…..)……SO

    Those who choose to travel should not all be viewed as “sheep”…… but potential wolves in sheep’s clothing (which we were forcibly dressed in by the Marxist regime)……and these wolves should now before and after travel show their ferocity and anger over being duped and HERDED (like sheep) into ASSUALT ……Write, call, email, wear buttons, leave flyers WHATEVER, WHEREEVER and WHENEVER possible.COMMUNICATE to all REPS SENATORS TSA HOMELAND SECURITY that these procedures are UNACCEPTABLE violation of our rights……that we will not continue to have our NON-Muslim selves presumed guilty until GROPED innocent.

    BUT CAREFUL….. do not fail to remember that the Peloski and Reidsky regime is in a lame duck sessio (hoping you are sufficiently distracted by this) attempting to inflict many other legislative atrocities on us and our dear USA……BE VIGILENT…..SPEAK OUT…and LOUD!!!!!

  • bus2dc

    I am somehow still amazed that half the public wishes to remain in deep slumber as our house burns to the ground. for some reason it still surprises me that the sheep are not only going willingly to slaughter but are BLIND as they walk as well.

    This is making us about as secure as our southern borders. But please, don’t protest the latex-gloved hand going directly from one orifice to another possibly spreading MRSA through the land. Instead, boycott Arizona! Pretend, play-acting, propaganda, police-state.

    With its twisted and heinous strategies based on brutal leftist radicals to numerous to mention, this administration continues to turn our citizens against each other in a “quiet” but complete overthrow of our country. It continues to wear down our public to the point of exhaustion in fighting the HUNDREDS of battles we have fought over the last TWO short years. (They only felt like an eternity.) End result? COMPLIANCY, with our fellow neighbor persecuting those willing to still take responsibility for defending what may well be our final days of liberty. WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN, WEAR THEM DOWN. A scanner is suddenly “not as bad” as a pat-down, right????

    Peaceful civil disobedience – to increasing instances of full dictatorship by our ELECTED government — is being discouraged BY OUR OWN because it is already “too much trouble” or “will inconvenience” people “just trying to get home for the holiday”. WHY DO YOU THINK THEY DID THIS THIS WEEK?

    As if it weren’t difficult enough for the brave “soldiers” (tea partiers, conservative groups, legal watchdogs working gratis to preserve our Consititution, etc etc) trying to defend our land against Obama’s relentless onslaught of abuse, legislating what he wants when he wants it, no, those protesters are told they are “not going to change anything”. God HELP us if this thinking is already setting into the “great unwashed”. Are we ALREADY giving up?

    We are being told that we can protest and stop the nonsense – and then have no one to blame but ourselves when somone blows a plane out of the sky. We are being SET UP. This is both BLACKMAIL and a back door to more control. If we are not even able to make the sacrifice of time, patience and perhaps even the inconvenience of ONE family gathering a bit disrupted for the sake of our very future, then our country deserves the future where we have no choice to open our mouths and complain about anything. Like Ron Paul said yesterday, “If we succumb to this, there’s something wrong with us…If we DO this, then we deserve this.”

    I give THANKS this holiday for all those neighbors trying desperately to keep us ALL from going softly into the Obama-night. I KNOW, as they do, what awaits those sheep.

  • bobtx

    how much it hurts to have your “junk” hit the wrong way. I suggest guys start doubling over in “pain” as they are being inspected and see what kind of reaction that gets! I see possible lawsuits for undue pain.

  • bus2dc

    The problem is we can’t have it both ways. The ones that ARE willing to rise up are all the WRONG people — the unions, the ACORN-ers, the welfare-lovers, the illegals ……where are WE? On that line being herded silently through yet another procedure where we are handing over much more than our underthings and our dignity.

    There is NO easy answer. All I’m hoping is that those travelers who comply do not demonize those who are willing to go through with the discomfort that accompanies this relatively minor stand in protest. If we don’t defend the outer gates, they’ll be at the walls of the fort in no time at all. Remember “slowly, then all at once.”

  • gunsrus

    Because these are already Govt owned and operated.
    The agenda is to push the US Citizen onto these 3rd world antiquated systems and tighten the control over their movement.
    Notice the OUTRAGE showed when $300/min est salaried employees of major companies used a PRIVATE jet to attend a democratic sponsored mudfest.
    Never mind that the PRIVATE jet probably saved a chunk of time where these evil capitalists would have been working toward EPA compliance that doesn’t apply to offshore companies.
    SCAMTRAK doesn’t need a terrorist attack to disable it.
    Most terrorists would be afraid to get on a major city bus as they would probably get thier boxcutters stolen!

    Obama Must Go :>) OMG

  • ihateliberals

    to make it look like the government was doing something. People that don’t think or are not very bright really thinks that what TSA is doing keeps them safe. You can’t stop people that are serious about hijacking a plane or bus or train. every time someone is frisked going through Airport security the Terrorist have succeeded. The tighter the security gets the happier the Terrorist are.

  • mumztheword

    Perhaps it does give impression to some that we are slowly being compliant if we feel it necessary to use tickets purchased long ago. BUT,. I assure you, (and I am certain that there are MANY feeling similarly) I have NO intention of purchasing another airline ticket for myself or children until such UNconstitutional madness at airport security checkpoints has ended!

    Those who oppose this Marxist maneuver but feel they must nevertheless use their tickets for whatever reasons need not be thought of as going to a slaughter (of their/rights), I am not about to be judgmental: ie my friend’s ticket was purchased by co-workers to help her spend what is sure to be a last holiday with a dying parent..She has no burning desire to be scanned to nakedness or groped to humiliation much less lead TSA/Homeland Security/Obamites to believe she is OK with any of it.

    They… ALL who are heading to the airport praying and i will bet a few atheists have found new religion) NOT to be “selected” and PRESUMED guilty until GROPED innocent,….. are POTENTIAL EYEWITNESSES/or ACTUAL VICTIMS of further violations to site against this agency. They CAN attempt to say/ask with “due respect” albeit clearly “unearned” to a TSA “groper” if/that they are Marxist; why would they be assisting in violating “fellow-citizens” rights. It is my understanding that many TSA workers are not happy with “having to perform these searches/endure the criticisms for such things being done to themselves.

    Remind everyone you know still planning on flying who has not left yet toOBSERVE; video; take notes; get names and badge numbers of their assaulters; names and other info of those they witness being assualted, particularly if you discern they are UNHAPPY having been. Tell them observers and victims to report all to all news media; sites; blogs possible.

    ANY of their or their witnessing of experiences MUST be used as “ammunition”. SIT at the gates and listen for the angry stories. Have sources and resouce info to give them to report. URGE THEM TO DO SO… remind them that this will be only one of the stepping stones to total oppression if THEY ARE NOT PART of a solution, no matter how small they believe their voice. (Even a flock of sheep baaing long enough can drive one crazy!…and the larger the flock the greater the annoyance!))

    Like victims of rape, we need not make them a victim a second time, calling them names or assuming their acceptance of this or telling them they are asking fot “it” or more of “it”.
    We don’t need to divide our masses putting them on the defensive. They need to believe they can use this trip and any experience they have or witness to strengthen OUR collective case against this tyranny.

  • MF

    Did you ever think about what the TSA is causing? More people are getting more aggravated with all of the hassles and inconveniences of flying, so they opt out of flying and drive instead. Airlines are going to suffer, and some will probably seek bailouts. Obama will give money to those he favors, plus he gets control, too.

    But wait, as for the overall reduction in flying, we’re also supposed to be driving much less than we did, and reducing our dependency on foreign oil and all of that. Let’s see, we can’t fly, and we can’t drive. Well, if we have to drive, let’s drive those all-electric vehicles. Oh, did you happen to notice how much electricity those things suck up while charging? You didn’t think that power came for free, did you? I don’t know about your area of the country, but here in SoCal, the price of electricity is sky high. My electric bill in the summer has been as high as $300-$400, and that’s for a pretty small house (<1700 sq. ft.), with the thermostat set at 77. From what I hear, these electric car chargers can suck as much power as a small house’s normal load. Oh, and the prices we are charged for electricity are based on levels of usage, where (hypothetically speaking) the first units might cost $0.10 (10 cents) per unit, the next units might cost $0.25 per unit, the next units might cost $0.50 per unit, and subsequent units might cost $1.00 per unit. (Sounds kind of like our progressive tax rates, doesn’t it?) So doubling isn’t going to make my electric bill double, it will jump by around 10 times! OK, I might be off by a fair amount on my hypothetical numbers, but the point is that people are going to be flabbergasted (like that word? ;-) when they get their new electric bills and discover that their new electric car will cost them FAR more than a comparable gas-powered car. Not to mention the huge maintenance costs down the road when those batteries have to be replaced in a few years.

    Did you happen to notice one of the major profiteers of electrical production? General Electric. They are a major pusher of the supposed “green” technologies, and a major left-wing player, too. Notice a pattern here?

    Well, we could build a bunch of nuclear reactors to generate the electricity we need. But the NIMBYs will put a stop to that right away. And that spent fuel has to go somewhere, but Harry Reid will see to it that the logical places will be blocked, too.

    Bottom line is that our entire economy will be destroyed with these supposedly green-friendly ventures,

    P.S. Don’t tell anyone, but man-caused global warming / global climate change / nom du jour is all part of their plan to achieve destruction of our economy, and achieve full takeover of the entire world.

  • http://www.theprecinctproject.wordpress.com ColdWarrior

    Hat tip to Drudge Report.

    I would have suggested these changes to how this fellow conducted himself.

    First, every time he was asked to put his shirt or other clothes back on, he should have said, “Please tell me whether it’s illegal for me to not have my shirt on and, if so, please cite for me the law.” And nothing else.

    Second, I would have refrained from all small talk and chit chat with the TSA employees. Keep it strictly business. He chose to use the words, “Am I legally required to do that [put my clothes back on].” Those would have been the words I would have stuck with.

    Third, I would have ignored all comments from TSA attempting to get a response from him, such as the TSA employee asking, “I’m just curious as to why . . . .” I would have ignored that.

    Overall, though, a very courageous and creative act by a young man. We need millions more to do the same.

    Thank you.

    ColdWarrior

  • arnold1

    This one spark of rebellion gives me fleeting hope that we will prevail.

  • esh77

    I have no doubt that the full-body scan has or will eventually uncover tumors
    of which passengers might be ignorant. Is it not then incumbent upon the
    screeners to pass on this information, since failure to do so could cost a life?
    Next come the lawsuits from the ‘ambulance chasers’ who are overwhelmingly
    Democrat and vote with their pockets. And no, a TSA agent does not need to be medically trained to spot a large mass, that, after all, being the purpose of the scans. A touch of whimsy…or the ‘stuff’ from which a quandary can be created?

  • tex41lb

    Posted earlier on another site, reposted here as I feel it is relevent to the discussion.

    Where do we the citizens draw the line in retreating from our rights, our freedom and our dignity?

    The mention of Obama wanting an armed civilian force should he acquire one is a threat one ignores at peril to life. Does anyone past denial of Obama’s intent to harm America really believe there will not be crisis allowing him to take draconian steps toward more and more control of the country.

    The question is what will we do and more importantly when? It is wise to urge non-violence, to seek change with mass reactions in print and civil protest. But to what end?

    If we stand passive and wait we will be shoved into the water and be drowning before we realize it.

    What frightens me is the total lack of awareness I see and hear around me. Meanwhile the area of sand we stand on is shrinking?

    When and how do we protect our country and ourselves if words are not enough?

  • smbn

    I’m embarassed by all the whining that’s going on here.
    This is the best and freest country in the world and do you know how we keep it that way? Because we’re tough.
    The reason there needs to be tight security around airplanes is because terroists want to use them to try to blow us up. That happened pretty recently. Have we forgotten that so quickly, because I know I swore that day that I wouldn’t forget.

  • streiff

    if you wish. Most of us don’t choose to live in that way. Your admission that you’re so easily cowed by your own fears is hardly admirable.

  • JSobieski

    Toothpaste, nail clippers, and underwear searches based on random selection don’t make us safer. With secure cockpit doors, the best asset for preventing terrorist attackes are engaged citizenry who care about those around them—-people for whom things matter.

    Nobody here has forgotten anything. Its not whining to say that the folks making the rules aren’t thinking straight.

    Remember, it was the inability of security officials to think creatively and anticipate problems that led to 9/11. If bureaucrats engaged in beaurocrat thinking worked to keep us safe, 9/11 would never have happened.

  • Menlo

    It is largely political in nature (a boon to x-rated x-ray corporations and a huge power and money grab for many), and it is more importantly government overreach and infringement of people’s rights. It is not even well meaning.

    I would also add that though there is far worse, I would disagree that this is today the “best and freest country in the world.”

  • blooch

    “This is a HUGE encroachment on personal liberty – I mean what, is America a police state, that we all have to be carrying our papers with us at all times? If I go to the store to buy a newspaper and don?t have my wallet on me, am I going to have to go down to the police station after a cop asks me for proof of citizenship?
    It?s a small step from there to being stopped on the street and asked for proof of health care, then given a ticket or taken to jail on the spot when I don?t have it.
    This is the GOVERNMENT now being authorized to intercede in your life anywhere they find you, simply for being alive. How can we stand for this?”–smbn

    http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/04/26/its-okay-because-they-arent-tea-party-activists/#comment-66625

  • speciallist

    we weave…etc etc

  • blooch

    “There is another smbn on RedState. Please don?t ever mistake me for that slob like this blooch fellow is apparently doing.”