Osama bin Scanner (photo)

Not quite sure why this administration thinks that publishing a posthumous picture of Osama bin Laden would be more inflammatory than actually shooting him in the head.
Besides, could it possibly be worse than what we can imagine?

TSA Singles Out Baywatch Babe for Scanning

 

Are there any adults in the Obama administration who could rein in some of the obvious excesses of this program?

More at Flopping Aces

Cross posted at LCR.

TSA Worker Accused Of Assault Had Prior Record

It's good to know you're being felt up by professionals!

ATLANTA -- Channel 2 Action News has learned a TSA security worker accused of abducting and sexually assaulting a woman had previously been convicted of misdemeanor harassment and stalking.

Randall King remains hospitalized following a suicide attempt. Police said last Wednesday, King agreed to drive a woman home from the airport. Instead, investigators said King took her to a MARTA station parking lot and placed novelty handcuffs on her.

Investigators said he drove her 50 miles away to his home in Troup County and sexually assaulted her. The woman told police that King gave her a suicide note, his car and let her go, investigators said.

Forget "Fly the Friendly Skies"! The airport is where all the action is!

H/T Memeorandum

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

"TSA: It's Our Business to Touch Yours" -SNL

Heh.

H/T Threedonia

Analyst: TSA methods 'will kill more Americans on highway'

Coffee, tea or...?

Echoing a thought I've had recently, but not yet voiced, about the comparative safety of driving and flying, a couple of experts have weighed in on some "unintended consequences" of the TSA's new scan and grope routines, which they say will be a tipping point for some in putting them back on the highways rather than in the "friendly skies".

As the nation readies for one of the busiest traveling holidays, Steven Horwitz, a professor of economics at St. Lawrence University, told The Hill that the probable spike in road travel, caused by adverse feelings towards the Transportation Security Administration’s (TSA) new screening procedures, could also lead to more car-related deaths.

“Driving is much more dangerous than flying, as you are far more likely to be killed in an automobile accident mile-for-mile than you are in an airplane,” said Horwitz. “The result will be that the new TSA procedures will kill more Americans on the highway.”

Clifford Winston, a senior fellow of economic studies at the Brookings Institute, stopped short of saying that more people could die as a result of the TSA policies, but said that the airline industry will definitely see a decline in passengers if the public’s contempt for the pat-downs and advanced-imaging technology systems continues.

And statistically, more people will die if the miles driven increases and sky miles decrease. But, hey! What are a few more dead people compared to the opportunity to grope some hot co-ed or strip search a child or a nun?

H/T WC Varones

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Poll: 81% of Americans Support Use of Full Body Scanners

Wonder if 81% of these people would agree?

According to an AP story, which I would link to if it wasn't the AP, CBS conducted a poll in early November, which found that 81 percent of Americans support TSA using full-body scanners at airports. Not surprisingly, TSA touts this poll on their TSA blog.

The population of the US, as of July 2009, was 307,006,550. For the math impaired, 81% would be around 248 million people. Obviously, they used a sample, or they'd still be asking the questions. So that leaves about 58 million of us malcontents or skeptics who believe there must be a better way or haven't made up their minds.

The pertinent data that I believe is missing from the poll would be what percentage of those people who are frequent fliers support them? Infrequent fliers? Non-fliers?

It may be that a large percentage of the people in that 81% seldom, if ever, fly. I'd be curious to know what percentage of people may have supported the use of the scanners, knowing it would not affect them personally?

H/T Pat Dollard

Cross posted at LCR, Say Anything.

Scanners for Thee, but not for Me!

What might change the administration's stance on scanners:

John Tyner's San Diego/TSA Experience, aka, "Probable Cause = Boarding an Aircraft"

by the Left Coast Rebel

A guy named John Tyner who blogs under the "Johnny Edge" handle, takes on the TSA at the San Diego International Airport (SAN) in a post from yesterday morning. He recorded the entire event (strangely with what seems to be a shoe cam, or something as the camera angle is horizontal to the ground and looking up - it's actually his phone).

What ensues is admittedly a bit of stunt on John Tyner's part but nevertheless damning to the conduct of the TSA, "naked scanners" forced on air flight travelers and the incredible Orwellian nonsense of it all. I'm surprised no one else has done an undercover op like this as well.

(Editor's Note: I was not able to listen to all the video segments that John Tyner put up at his site, however, I just caught an an amazing admission made by a TSA official on one of the video segments):

(SignonSD) Once he threatened to have the TSA agent arrested though, events turned surreal.

A supervisor is heared re-explaining the groin check process to Tyner then adding "If you're not comfortable with that we can escort you back out and you don't have to fly today."

Tyner responded "OK, I don't understand how a sexual assault can be made a condition of my flying."

"This is not considered a sexual assault," replied the supervisor, calmly.

"It would be if you were not the government," said Tyner.

"By buying your ticket you gave up a lot of rights," countered the TSA supervisor.

"By buying your ticket, you gave up a lot of rights." That about sums up the attitude of the TSA and many branches of state and federal government, no? I assume that this sort of Constitutionally-negligent attitude comes from the top down at the TSA as well.

Here's more from John Tyner's site, telling the beginning of the story:

This morning, I tried to fly out of San Diego International Airport but was refused by the TSA. I had been somewhat prepared for this eventuality. I have been reading about the millimeter wave and backscatter x-ray machines and the possible harm to health as well as the vivid pictures they create of people's naked bodies. Not wanting to go through them, I had done my research on the TSA's website prior to traveling to see if SAN had them. From all indications, they did not. When I arrived at the security line, I found that the TSA's website was out of date. SAN does in fact utilize backscatter x-ray machines.

And the segment of video (3:45) where he tells the TSA official that,"if you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested":



After the segment above, John Tyner is detained and threatened with a civil suit and $10,000 fine by a TSA official.

All of this should come as no surprise given how many complaints Americans have recently voiced against the TSA. Beware of "conservatives" that could care less about this issue.


Updated: Via Lonely Conservative, the TSA pats down abuses a three year old girl.

Updated x2: Proof chimes in with a great point (that is now the headline to this post),

"Maybe "wanting to board an aircraft" will be redefined as "probable cause"?
Where are the civil libertarians on this?

Civil libertarians are all over this.