I always feel like I need a shower after going through the security line.

[MindPilot]

I flew back from Vegas this morning. For the record Southwest has the best pre-flight safety lectures in the business; this one drew enthusiastic applause from the passengers and I was expecting the announcement that this would be a two-drink minimum ride.

But TSA...that's another story. While one extra surly agent is barking at people to make sure to "keep your eyes on your belongings at all times" so "somebody doesn't steal it", (yes, they are keeping terrorists off the airplane, but they can't prevent a theft.) another is shouting that "by now you people should know how to do this." I'm just kind of looking around at what is going on. I stand in the line and approach the point at which I will be directed to the left for a regular scan or to the right for an "enhanced" scan, and it suddenly hits me: Absolutely every person chosen for the porno scan is an attractive woman. Not a big sample admittedly--maybe eight people--but one particularly gorgeous young woman, after her trip through the scanner was invited by an TSA letch, er, agent, to "come hang out with me" while he gave her a very thorough wanding.

Of course my 57-year-old partner and I...we go through normal screening and no-one gives us a second look. I find a spot to sit down and put my shoes back on and discover I'm right next to a low, clear partition on the other side of which is a pregnant woman, alone, in a hard metal chair almost in tears at the TSA agent's rapid-fire questioning.

If I wanted to write an opening scene of a movie about a dystopian society, I couldn't do better than what I saw at the airport this morning.

[kentuck]

1. K & R

it's scary times

[hlthe2b]

2. Expect a "visit" from the predictable hand-full... declaring

that none of this has ever happened to them, that they fly more than anyone here, and that this is much ado about nothing. Just silly hysteria.

Yeah, sure. :mad:


I share your intense annoyance.

[MindPilot]

4. Of course...and it didn't happen TO me either.

But I saw it happening to others.

[Odin2005]

3. We are rapidly becoming a Fascist Police State.

[LisaL]

5. Hey. Sounds like TSA is really trying.

This is the first time I heard they were concerned about passengers belongings.
:sarcasm:

[hlthe2b]

6. Certainly the first time I've known them to admit...

that they, airport security, doesn't do a thing to protect your valuables while they distract or separate you from them.

Of course, I'm sure none of those "missing" laptops, cell phones, ipods--ever end up "re-gifted." :sarcasm:

[Frances]

7. I'm sorry about what you observed

That has not been my experience.

My husband has been wanded and patted down because he can't go though the regular detector (pacemaker) but he has been treated with respect.

I think the security people could prevent articles from being stolen if they slowed down the conveyor belt process, but I don't really want that because it would take too long. I just try to be sure that I keep an eye on my stuff.

Every time I have difficulty opening a jar of something from the supermarket I get mad at the first people who tampered with products and made all that wrapping necessary.

I feel the same way about airport security. I REALLY wish the people who caused us to need security hadn't done what they did.

[LisaL]

8. So, these "people who caused this" tell us to jump, and we

ask how high?

[MindPilot]

10. The problem is our reaction to the act; not the act itself

The difference is that the seal on that jar REALLY does protect your product from being contaminated or tampered with. TSA is creating the illusion they are protecting us from fear.

[Joanie Baloney]

9. I'm the 57 year old partner (thanks, dear)

:)

Although I did not notice the same scenes unfolding as MindPilot did, I happened to hear one of the TSA agents loudly admonish us all to "Don't just put your belongings in the plastic bin and walk away, push them on through to the X-ray machine!!" She said it in a tone like we were her school kids (or perhaps her inmates?) I felt chastised...and then I thought...well, why doesn't she help out and start pushing the bins along herself? Why? Because it's a power trip for some of them, and we are their fuel cells.

Sigh. What happens in the Vegas airport shouldn't stay in the Vegas airport. :(

-JB

[MindPilot]

11. It's Sunday morning in Vegas; we're hungover and broke.

Don't fuck with us...please.

[demodonkey]

12. Just remember, if you are go through the body scanners...

I am very familiar with how poorly the US Government tested the electronic voting machines they foisted on us with the Help America Vote Act; basically the so-called tests were worthless and the machines were purchased anyway.

If these x-ray body scanners are similarly tested (basically NOT tested meaningfully at all) then I wouldn't want to come anywhere near one of them. Not only are these young women (and anyone else) who are being put through them being virtually strip searched, they may be facing cancer or other health hazards years down the road. The concern is real, and especially for anyone who flies often and is scanned frequently.

[arikara]

22. Have they ever caught anything?

I've never heard of one thing being found by all this ridiculous theatre.

[LisaL]

26. They caught people with pot.

[snot]

13. I do not understand why people are submitting to this.

Seriously.

I'm boycotting flying, personally. The time may come when I HAVE to fly; but 'til then, I'll be driving or taking the train or bus corss-country.

Second, I would never submit to the scans, for 2 reasons. (1) They have not been proven safe; and (2) if we all insisted on pat-downs, it would be the end of this stupid program, because it would take too damn long.

Third, I would bring literature to pass out to others explaining that these searches are a gross violation of our Constitutional rights under the Fourth Amendment and encouraging them also to refuse to be scanned.

In fact, I feel guilty for not going to airports and passing this info out, even though I'm not flying.

THE ONLY REASON THEY GET AWAY WITH THIS SH*T IS THAT WE LET THEM.

[MindPilot]

14. What solution do you propose?

Sure, you are boycotting, but there probably are not a significant number of people for whom that is an option.

But it does beg the question why there is such an absolutely myopic focus on aviation as a terrorist target. It seems that if terrorists wanted to really spread some fear, letting off a bomb inside a crowded casino, or at even outside the airport would be a far easier and more effective way of accomplishing their goal. That's assuming of course that the "threat" is real...which I tend to think it is not.

[intheflow]

19. They could use explosive-sniffing dogs.

Both cheaper and more effective.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQYiau7ba20

[bettyellen]

21. and they do not work on a popular type of explosive. oh well.

[bettyellen]

20. the focus on airports doesn't seem myopic to most NYers I am afraid

I'm just sorry all the out of towners who jumped on the "it happened to all of us" bandwagon nine years ago now regret it.
i fly frequently enough and notice dimwitted drunk or exhausted people ignoring signs and explainations of procedures all the time. The line comes to a halt. They have to be constantly reminded, and they annoy me, not the agaents.
And expecting them to watch over who put which cell phone into which basket, seriously? How in the world would they do their own jobs?
I wish they would limit this security to major hubs myself, but it really amazes me that so many would be happy to do without. Easy for them to say.

[Joanie Baloney]

23. I'm not an "out of towner"

I wasn't in your town. I was in Vegas.

I wasn't expecting the TSA agent to become a cell phone monitor...I said that since she was complaining about people not pushing the bins ahead, perhaps she could do it herself and save the yelling.

Oh, and I didn't jump on any band-wagon.

(I know you were responding to MP, but since I was there and I agree with him, I thought I would reply.)

-JB

:)

[bettyellen]

30. you are to NYers, who is who I was explicitly referring to. and much of the nation

jumped on the 9/11 bandwagon and took the security funds... and now ironically are annoyed at all the security. and how they don't push the bins along for everyone, LOL.
Im just saying, if you lived throught the two attacks as we had, you might actaully appreciate the heightened security. you might actually understand that there is a need for it.

[snot]

31. They're working on it.

See "TSA, Homeland Security & Tampa Police Set Up Nazi Checkpoints At Bus Stations" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4G-0g9PRrE&feature=player_embedded

and see "Homeland Security Unveils Mobile Mind Screening Checkpoints" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJV84qUJr4c&feature=player_embedded

[kentuck]

15. Bingo!

People need to stand up to these Nazis.

[MindPilot]

18. Again, what do you propose?

What does "standing up" look like? Say you have a trip planned, you spent $800 on tickets. Are you going to toss that away and risk arrest to prove a point? They already have us so subdued that passengers who complain to each other in line do so in hushed tones so the "authorities" won't overhear. I don't think there is going to be any spontaneous resistance break out.

That would be cool though, if suddenly at airports all over the country, people started just mobbing the gates, pushing the agents aside and bypassing the checkpoints.

[snot]

32. Like I said, if one can't boycott, one could at least

(2) refuse to be scanned and insist on being patted down. Every person who does that helps bog the system down; if enough people do it, the whole program will be terminated.

(3) pass literature out to fellow passengers. Who could complain about someone passing out info to people about their Constitutional rights?

[The Backlash Cometh]

16. We're in trouble.

I by "we," I mean our country.

[11 Bravo]

17. It makes me want to have a cigarette.

[slackmaster]

24. They really freaked out in Houston when they X-rayed my laptop case and saw half a rack of pork ribs

I thought the guy was going to bust a blood vessel when he took the bag out to see what the bones were, and saw a Ziplock full of leftover mashed potatoes.

[Joanie Baloney]

25. Ha!

That's funny, but don't you think you're stretching the term "take-out" a little?

LOL

-JB

[tinymontgomery]

27. I have to head to the FL panhandle area

next week for a conference, driving instead of flying from the top of NC. Screw them. Wife going wife going with me and told her I won't put her through that, or me. It will take us two day's (don't like driving a straight 12 hours anymore, but it's better then having some perv grab my wife's boobs and my junk.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

28. I flew through Dubai recently where patdowns were mandatory for everyone.

Not the most pleasant experience.

[spin]

29. Well, the terrorists will not bother to recruit good looking females ...

that's good news.