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Political cartoonists saw the future when the Transportation Security Administration was created nearly a decade ago. Drawings of nude passengers enduring security screenings and boarding jetliners were good for a laugh in the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
But those cartoons aren't funny anymore. Not when intrusive new security measures at the country's airports have proved, once again, that satire is dead.
Today's fliers must choose between a full-body scan, which amounts to an electronic strip search, or a pat down that verges on sexual assault. The stepped-up measures have made security lines longer -- just in time for holiday travel.
Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano, in a commentary published in Monday's USA Today, assured Americans she has an "open ear" for constructive criticism, but cynically told complainers they're always free to choose other forms of travel. As though driving from Las Vegas to San Francisco or Houston is an option for one day of business.
Passenger advocates, airline employee unions and politicians are enraged, saying the TSA has gone too far. Many fliers want no part of being seen in their birthday suits or having their groins and breasts groped.
A widely viewed blog posting by traveler John Tyner, featuring a recording from his cellphone, perfectly captured citizen anger with the new screenings. In it, Mr. Tyner refuses the scan and warns a TSA agent about to pat him down, "If you touch my junk, I'm gonna have you arrested."
The public's outrage is also rooted in the pointlessness of the procedures. Americans know that feeling up grandmothers and toddlers won't stop the next aspiring Islamic underwear bomber.
"There's a very strong sense right now that the public attitude on the airport body scanner program has swung dramatically," said Marc Rotenberg, director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, which is suing the TSA to shut down the scanners. EPIC is also urging all air travelers to refuse full-body scans the day before Thanksgiving and insist that pat downs be performed in front of other passengers.
Extraordinary measures should be reserved for reasonable suspicions.
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So don't get on a plane. This won't be the 1st Industry that this Marxist Muslim has destroyed. With, I might add, his good little boy, everybody's favorite CROOK - Harry Reid.
BOYCOTT NEVADA! BOYCOTT LAS VEGAS!
You stuck the rest of us with that POS. Now you can pay the price.
Not another DIME for Nevada.
Forget about Yucca Mountain. Let's just dump it in Vegas. Everybody out there's BRAIN DEAD anyway.
I want to know is the name and address of the guy back in the midwest who punched out the TSA groper. I want to send him $100 for his defense fund. In fact--make that a standing offer--TSA drone grabs your nuts, you deck him, I send you $100 for your bail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkCpnCm7iM
i just sent that link to the whitehouse.gov site and asked them how a young boy stripped half naked in an airport is justifiable for national security
Richard: planes aren't going to be hijacked any more because the passengers (remember Flight 93?) aren't going to sit still and allow it.
Sorry, that post should have been to Joe C.
George C.: The solution is simple. Forget the political correctness crap and PROFILE!
Osama bin Laden must be elated at us groping our own a--'s.
No American should be forced to strip naked or be sexually assaulted by government agents as a condition of traveling in an airplane. Americans should reject this noncense, contact the airlines, members of congress and complain and during the Thanksgiving travel holiday demand a frisk, reminding the TSA Gestapo agent what sexual assault is and where the local police are. This Adminstration and its arrogance and bulling methods towards its own citizens must be stopped! Say no!!!!!
We can afford to secure the North/South Korea border but not our own...
The government cannot afford to secure our borders for anyone that wants to walk across, including terrorist, but they can spent umpteen billions feeling up American citizens in airports in the name of security!