After hearing and reading about all of this stuff regarding the TSA, the full body scanners, and the enhanced patdowns, I think it is finally time for me to weight in.
The TSA are slouth-like in their reaction to anything and everything that they should be proactive in. The 'shoe bomber' got by airport security, and instead of devising a comprehensive plan to prevent anyone from bordering a plane with those chemicals, they made us take off our shoes. In response to those same chemicals being sneaked on to a plane, now passengers must be exposed to radiation and/or what amounts to a sexual assault. From what I have read, the enhanced patdown was intentionally made to be as intrusive and humilitating as possible, to strong arm compliance with the full body scanners.
To the people who say, "If you don't like it, you don't have to fly", "Yeah, it's going a bit far, but we have to do it for security", and all of the other nonsense that justifies the offering up of my rights for your false sense of safety, I have this to say: "If you want safety and security, you should be the one to stay home or take a bus or train." I am fucking tired of you pussies sacrificing my rights for your illusion of security.
Security is not a product. It is a process. You think that if you buy antivirus software you can do anything on the Internet, but Norton cannot protect you from yourself. You think that the government can protect you from terrorists, but where was the government on September 11, 2001. If I recall correctly, the government was running the show on that day. Just like putting a lock on the door to your house is useless unless you lock it, understand that security is useless if your reactionary and more so if you are over-reactionary.
Don't get me wrong, I think that terrorism is a real concern, but I don't think that the government is utilizing it's resources properly,or possibly legally. First, just with their procedure, TSA is either exposing you to radiation at levels that even the FDA (the people who decide what is safety for human consumption) hasn't determined the safety of, sexually assaulting you, or interfering with a contract between you and the carrier. Second, the intelligence community is our first line of defense, not these glorified mall cops (again 9/11/01). Third, am I the only one who has seen how long the lines are? Am I the only one that has noticed that long lines have a lot of people? How long will it be before the airplane is no longer the target and getting on them is no longer the objective, and how will the TSA over-react then? Al-Qeada are sneaky and unscrupulous, and if you want to fight them and win, you don't do it by letting people who aren't smarter than a 5th grader do to you what we all have made jokes about Micheal Jackson doing to children. You have to think like them, you have to think about what you would do, and you act to prevent the next thing, not the last one.
Finally, the TSA screens the pilots. WTF? They are flying the fucking plane. What the fuck does the TSA think it is doing by running the pilots through the screening process? I don't know how to fly a plane, but I do know that a pilot doesn't need a bottle of water, a boxcutter, or explosives hidden in his/her underwear to commit a terrorist attack. I had to go through a Dept. of Homeland Security background check to get a job babysitting a computer lab at a bottom of the barrel college. I would like to think that pilots are being constantly monitored, reviewed, and evaluated by both their employers and the DHS.
The use of bodyscanners and enhanced patdowns should be used in conjunction with the profiling process, similar to the model used in Israel, and after it has established a reasonable suspicion. From what I have heard, the Israeli screening process is effective, and from a practical standpoint, it is capable means of catching those that fall through the cracks of the intelligence community. Otherwise, we can go back to the metal detectors.
