Thom Hartmann - How long is it going to be before they ask us to bend over and spread em?

[thomhartmann]

Run time: 09:20 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Urhg_YqzYqg   Posted on YouTube: January 05, 2010 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: January 05, 2010 By DU Member: thomhartmann Views on DU: 1940

 
The Thom Hartmann Program can be heard daily M-F 12-3pm ET. Visit www.thomhartmann.com to listen live, join the community or purchase a podcast.

[47of74]

1. That's Rush's game

Wanting people to bend over is Rush's game.

[truedelphi]

2. Shortly after 9/11, I started having to fly a lot. One piece of equipment that

I brought with me, often in my purse, was a TENS unit. It is about the size of a transistor radio (the little ones that were popular in the sixties and seventies.)

A friend said to me, "They will NEVER let you bring that aboard the plane. It looks just like the type of thing that would be used to detonate a bomb."

I was never stopped for it, or questioned about it, even when spilling my purse in front of the security people to show them my keys when they made the metal detectors go off.

However one time, after they had me show them my laptop computer, I stopped at a shelf not too far from where they had looked my belongings over and I used the shelf to put all my belongings back together.

An alarm went off and all the security people in a three state area showed up as though I were Bin Laden himself.

Apparently there was some kind of note high above the shelf I used, that read "Do not place belongings on this shelf." Why anyone in their right mind would put a shelf there only to forbid a weary traveler from using it, I have no idea.

But the device that looked like a detonator was not of any concern!

[rambler_american]

4. Keeping us safe

Couple of years ago Mrs Rambler and I were flying from Manchester, NH to Chicago to visit our daughter. Mrs Rambler had in her carry on a bottle of hand cream which was summarily confiscated because it posed such an obvious threat. I, on the other hand, had a key fob that included a folding knife about the size of a box cutter. I forgot it was there until I got in the security line and emptied my pockets. Luckily the knife posed no problem and I boarded the plane with it. Thank god the TSA had the foresight to take away Mrs R's hand cream. Otherwise she might have softened the hands of several passengers before she was stopped.

[defendandprotect]

7. The whole thing is a farce, proven over and again by stories like yours . . .

just stuff on lists - business to make it look like something is being done --

A short time after 9/11, my daughter had to fly back to Boston --

We both went thru the areas of scanners, etal and I went to wait with her for her plane.

At some point, we realized we had forgotten something and need to go back out --

We were directed to a long hallway -- and every foot of the way, we were sure that we

would be met by armed guards. Never happened.

After we finished whatever it was we had to do . . . we noticed the same hallway we had

exited from and being curious we decided to see what would happen if we went thru it

in reverse. NOTHING -- we simply ended up back beyond the scanners and proceeded on to

wait for the plane!!!

I remember writing to Ted Kennedy about it -- just in case it was unusual.

It's all farce -- simply intended to keep their horror show going and to keep control over

public!

[wuvuj]

3. The American Idiot

See the video....

http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article24326.htm

[MrMickeysMom]

5. Good video, and I'm sure you're gonna hear from some idiots...

... because it's hard work being one, according to our last prez...

[defendandprotect]

8. GRIT TV should be a sticky here at DU . . .

I always forget about it so thanks for the video!

[truedelphi]

15. Loved the video. thank you. n/t

[MrMickeysMom]

6. You know, this would be a great subject of an official "white paper" ...

... comparing the number of passengers boarding into Israel versus, let's say, Washington, DC or Boston, etc.

You could look at the number of persons processed, the training involved in screening in the manner Israel, then compare all the methods (which I am so sure, are not uniformly applied) by TSA.

What the hell kind of training does it take and what are TSA employees paid?

[truedelphi]

11. The assistant mgr at the local Togo's sandwich shop was hired

By TSA, and he claimed that if he worked at the San Francisco airport, he would get about $ 28 an hour.

He did make a good sandwich, but still...

[MrMickeysMom]

12. Good God... I should have that job

I've been helping people breath and saving lives for 35 years, and I don't get $28.00/hour, much less benee's

[truedelphi]

17. Really I know the feeling. n/t

[sulphurdunn]

9. If we won the wars on

drugs, terror and crime, wouldn't that kill the goose that lays the private prison and security industry's golden eggs and make the Dept. of Homeland Security obsolete? Just asking.

[V_Byl]

10. The human intelligence factor makes more sense...

I don't understand (OK, I do, but it's all about money) why the gov't wouldn't rather put money into a system like Israel's where trained agents stare you down and ask questions, along w/ scanners etc... I can still remember the Bush administration freaking out, and insisting that the TSA be non-union and outsource all of the security for the reason 'gov't and union employees are too hard to fire'... but a strong unionized work force tends to be highly trained, just my observation.

Any idea what stocks we should buy when they decide (and they will) to buy these body scanning machines? Sigh...

[Salmonslayer]

13. As far as I know Israel's agents profile passengers

Not all Muslim men are terrorist, but, almost all terrorist are Muslim men. I know this is not politically correct to say, but, it is the truth. Please spare me the Timothy McVeigh response.

If you want Israel type of security you will need to accept profiling. I don't think there is the political will in the USA to do this so we will continue to bury our heads and randomly screen grandma Sally in the name of Political Correctness

I was in a union once and gladly left it.

Longshoreman are in a strong union but I would not call them highly trained. Their power is derived from having a strangle hold on shipping lines. Good for them, but, bad for the consumer.

You get a strong skilled workforce by hiring people with a strong work ethic and holding them too a higher standard. This is hard to do if you can't easily weed out the bad apples. Work environments that promote based on merit rather than seniority tend to be more efficient and effective workforces in my opinion. I dint think unions are necessary in this case and ultimately will inhibit progress in our security apparatus.

[V_Byl]

16. I've worked for union shops that promote on merit...

...eventually our contract changed and was based on seniority and merit, but 95% of the time, the guy with the seniority deserves the promotion anyway - sorry, but it's true. It eliminates the buddy-buddy system with a supervisor and an employee.

If you think unions are bad for the consumer, you should wake up and realize who the consumer is. Unions represent the working class, bringing democracy and better working conditions to the work place. Higher wages = more money in the pockets of the consumers = consumers spend more money = vibrant economy. This isn't rocket science, and you sound like a brilliant supply-sider anyway.

Anyway, there is something to be said about people doing better work if they are treated better, and I'm sorry, but if you're outsourcing all the work (security in this case) those people are going to be making poor wages, and not care as much. Unions are an effective apparatus in this case as far as I'm concerned.

[coti]

14. They need to be using dogs. More, to the extent that they already are. nt

[rutherford behaves]

18. well Thom, I think they have already done that.

the question is, how long do we let ourselves get impailed