In response, airline pilots, who must also make the choice, are rightly incensed, Muslim organizations are demanding exemption on religious grounds and instructing their burka-clad women to allow only a pat-down of their heads and necks (now that exemption would certainly be ironic, wouldn’t it?), and travelers in general are just saying “No!”
I don’t know how it will shake out, although I must say I personally am not looking forward to my own upcoming holiday air travels. I think back to my family’s flights across the country three months after 9/11, when, for some reason, my 5-year-old son was labeled a potential terrorist, a label that would stay with him for several years until he reached middle school. Every time we would travel, and I mean every time, we would traverse the security gauntlet, and the TSA official would invariably say “Which one of you is…” We would interrupt the official mid-sentence with “this is who you’re looking for,” as we pointed down at the young child beside us with tousled sandy hair and a t-shirt that we made sure featured an eagle and an American flag.
It became a joke, both for our family and for the rugged National Guardsmen whose job it was to stand guard over my son as he was checked for weapons and explosives. My son started to look forward to that moment when a big, burly Guardsman, machine gun in hand, would say with a grin, “Come on over here, buddy,” and usher him aside for further inspection. On many occasions, the Guardsmen would even let their young suspect examine their weapons, the likes of which were found nowhere on my son’s person, but surely contributed to his fascination with weapons today.
In time the federal government apparently realized that my son posed no threat to national security, and he has not been targeted for several years now. But given the current state of airport security practices and the privacy-violating choices facing American air travelers in this age of non-profiling political correctness, my son’s years as a potential threat got me thinking. Wouldn’t TSA security be today’s dream job for a pedophile? Think about it. The day consists either of taking naked pictures of children or patting them down physically. What more could the garden-variety pedophile ask for? And all with the stamp of approval from the U.S. Government’s Napolitano/Obama Department of Homeland Security. I know I certainly feel safer.
Airport Groping Continues – As Does the Rage
November 20, 2010 | Comments (0)As we know, air travelers have been given the choice to submit either to naked photography sessions powered by invasive radiation, or to full-body pat-downs (“groping sessions”) performed by TSA officials. The outcry, the fallout, the backlash have been deafening – and all in time for Thanksgiving, one of the busiest travel times of the year.
In recent weeks we have seen our nation transformed (Obama’s word) into a tyrant’s dream. Now, there is no one more rabidly concerned about airport security – and national security – than I am, but what we are witnessing right now is pure insanity. As Americans coast to coast are submitting to newly institutionalized humiliations and assaults, we all know full well that these procedures prevent nothing, and in no way target those who actually do wish to see our nation brought to her knees.
There is an answer, and we all know what that is. Hint: Israel’s El Al Airlines. But in a current post-9/11 culture that has inexplicably elevated political correctness to a sacrament, we find instead this (and all within the last couple of weeks):
The airlines have for the most part remained mum on this topic. The exception is Southwest Airlines, whose Senior VP of Operations, Greg Wells, stated when discussing the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday: “With people getting partially molested at checkpoints, all that is going to be a real shock for them.” Perhaps the other airlines will speak up when they realize that people are choosing not between naked radiation or groping, but choosing not to fly at all as to prevent the government from “molesting” them and their children.
Rather than listen to Janet Napolitano, Barack Obama and Claire “love pat” McCaskill, I will listen instead to former El Al Security Chief Marvin Badler, who calls the pat-down “a waste of time.” We would be wise to follow instead El Al’s procedure, which involves at its core…yep, we’re going to say it…profiling. While TSA officials, mandated by Obama and Napolitano to fondle 3-year-old Tiffany and wheelchair-bound grandma, El Al officials are interviewing would-be travelers, conducting computer background checks on them, and evaluating where would-be travelers were born, where they live, why they are traveling, and why they have traveled in the past. And bring on the dogs. The canine nose trumps the human hand and radiation any day.
Permit me also to clarify that to date, I have had nothing but positive experiences with the TSA, finding them polite, respectful and professional. But as history has shown, a bit of authority, particularly when coupled with a license for physical force and groping, can be transformative for those of weak spirit (Nazi Germany, anyone?). With a dangerously authoritarian administration currently holding the reins, resistance is the key to our survival.
In the meantime, as long as the current policies remain, and as long as those making the decisions choose impotence and insanity over El-Al-style muscle, I have a suggestion. Men, women, children, all of you: Just wear a burqa to the airport, and Obama, Napolitano and the TSA will leave you alone.