TSA (Thousands Standing Around) now get to check out naked chicks in between wanding old ladies and releasing classified manuals on-line
All because Western Civilization doesn't have the collective testicular fortitude to tell suspected barbarians they can't fly. That and the fact that incompetent bureaucratic boobs didn't have the foresight or initiative to merge the terrorist database with the no fly list.
Flying is not a right, it is a privilege, like driving. You meet a certain profile, you don't fly. Period. Ride your goat, Ahmed!
The Founders set up a government to protect the liberties of free and moral people. We lock bad people up so good people can go about their lives without facing TSA screenings at the grocery store. People who criminally misbehave are removed from civilized society so good citizens can proceed with their liberties and human dignity intact.
We fail at the global level
We should not be letting bad people from uncivilized areas cross the pale into the civilized world and then be at liberty to smash and slash and burn. But it's too late now, the barn door's been open for 50 years, so the next step is profiling.
Ordinary American citizens should be presumed innocent until proven guilty
Foreigners who fit certain profiles (based on country of origin, travel habits, etc) should be presumed suspicious until demonstrating credentials to the contrary. Go stick a wand up their wazoos and leave Americans with a clean background alone!
Outsource Homeland Security to the Professionals
While a rabid, identifiable group loudly foams at the mouth in murderous hatred of the west, TSA (Thousands Standing Around) focuses on Grannies with walkers and children in strollers. The cheapest and best thing we could do to keep ourselves safe would be to outsource "Homeland Security." Fire the overpaid, incompetent bureaucrats and turn over airline safety to people who know how to get it done: The Israelis.
The Piddle Class Speaks
For a European-style, piddle down your leg, violate our rights, anything to make us feel safe perspective, read this Wapo Editiorial, where they beg for more strip searches and human cattle drives at our nation's airports. I won't besmudge my blog by repeating any of it here.
Real Men Don't Pull Punches
Here are my favorite comments on the subject. They've said it so much better than I can:
instead of denying my 10-year-old boy the right to take a pee when his destination is a whole hour away, why can’t we be radically more careful about those we let on board our planes?
Abdulmutallab’s name was not on the terrorist “no-fly” list, which has fewer than 4,000 names in total. It was, however, on a larger database of some 550,000 individuals, called TIDE (Terrorist Identities Datamart Environment)—and it was inserted there, it seems, only last month. Why is anyone on this list allowed to board a plane to the United States? (Daily Beast - Tunku Varadarajan)
Why do we fail to detect or defeat the guilty, and why do we do so well at collective punishment of the innocent?
The answer to the first question is: Because we can't—or won't. The answer to the second question is: Because we can.
The fault here is not just with our endlessly incompetent security services, who give the benefit of the doubt to people who should have been arrested long ago or at least had their visas and travel rights revoked.
It is also with a public opinion that sheepishly bleats to be made to "feel safe." The demand to satisfy that sad illusion can be met with relative ease if you pay enough people to stand around and stare significantly at the citizens' toothpaste. (Christopher Hitchens - The Truth...)
3 comments:
As a true independent conservative this issue poses a real dichotomy.
With a 14 month old grandchild, who could find his way on a flight with his parents sometime in the future, I certainly do not want him or his parents to be the casualties of a terrorist or loony tune.
With modern technology we have the capability to avert such concerns. Israel, a state who has been at extreme risk since the late sixties has found a way to prevent these things.
Let's use their experience to insure our own safety as well as employing new technology. It is the least we can do for our sons, daughters, and grandchildren.
I, as a true independent conservative, will willingly give up a few conveniences to protect the lives of the next and all succeeding generations. As much as this goes against the grain of my philosophy the world is a much different and more dangerous place than it was was twenty years ago. We must be willing to respond appropriately in the face of terror and potentially our own extermination at the hands of highly sophisticated extremists.
Rational: I agree with you, but I think this would be less of a conundrum if we simply decided to keep out all potential bad people from other countries. Sounds harsh, but our safety is more important.
Security should profile and target people who meet certain criteria and leave law abiding citizens alone. Full body scanning everyone is a gross stupidity and an abuse of our liberties.
"The Founders set up a government to protect the liberties of free and moral people."
We ain't in Kansas anymore, SF. Better purchase a flak jacket off the innerwebz real quick like. The shitte is about to hit the fanz.
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