America is lined up for the "nude machine" and undergoing the groin check.
Intrusive full-body scanners and intimate body pat downs are becoming the norm at more airports and public furor is growing. These airport security screening procedures are insulting, degrading, ineffective and inimical to a democracy.
Sue enough, those paragons of the people, Senate Democrats, back Janet Napolitano's "virtual strip searches."
My friend and sister blogger Jo Egelhoff recounts the humiliation of air travel in a politically correct federal administration more afraid of profiling would-be terrorists than of groping its citizens. Her Fox PoliticsNet is always worth reading.
I capitulated and underwent the humility of a nude photo, with hands raised overhead as prescribed. The picture was easily seen by anyone who cared ... to crane a neck. I was avenged for my disobedience; my belongings summarily dropped to the ground, unprotected computer-in-gray-tub nearest to the floor.
If you must or simply desire to fly, you absolutely must first decide that you and your family will submit to these naked-scanners or to a pretty rigorous pat-down. It's not an easy decision.
The Wall Street Journal reports that a TSA screener named Rolando Negrin pummeled a co-worker with his government-issued baton this May.
The feud began, according to a Miami-Dade Police Department report, after Mr. Negrin's training session with one of the agency's whole-body imagers. The scan "revealed [Mr. Negrin] had a small penis," the disgruntled co-worker told police. After a few months, he "could not take the jokes any more and lost his mind."
The Atlantic's Fallows is Preparing for my first grope.
The pretense that safety comes only from no-exceptions, full-court-press, nude-scans-or-groping-patdowns of everyone is preposterous.
Dane County Regional Airport does not have the full-body scanners yet and deputy airport manager Dave Jensen says he does not know when they are due to arrive. The federal Transportation Security Administration has been conducting pat downs for the past few weeks on a random selective basis. Jensen told Blaska's Blog that he has not heard any complaints to date.
He will but it's the federal government's fault, not local airport management.
Time to start profiling?
The former security director for Israel's national airline says it's time to start profiling. That's what El Al airlines has done and it is considered one of the most secure in the world.
"The TSA wants to tell me we now have security in this country--this is an illusion," he said. "It's not security. It's about time that we are proactive and reactive. In this country we fear reactive, we don't do anything to be proactive."
Better to give each airline passenger a big Louisville *!&*X Slugger as the Kid from Brooklyn advises. Then when any hijacker ... Oh, I'd love to embed his rant here but I have standards to uphold. Go look him up yourself for a belly laugh.
Meanwhile, next Wednesday, November 24, is National Opt Out Day when true Americans are urged to unite and hold a little tea party at the airport. Refuse the nude and rude machines and demand a body search. Do not go to the back room when asked. Every citizen must see for themselves how the TSA treats law-abiding citizens.
Don't touch my junk!