11.20.2010 10:44 PM

You “pat down” my kids, pal, and I’m going break your nose

No SNL sketch: this awaits you on your next trip Stateside.

I am a big, big Obama fan, as regular lurkers will know. But I think these new Transportation Security Administration rules – wherein they are permitted to paw your privates, in effect – are insane. And Obama is insane for letting them happen.

I don’t give a rat’s ass what the Fourth Amendment says. If some bureaucrat touches my kids, I’m drifting him.

From the New York Times:

In the three weeks since the Transportation Security Administration began more aggressive pat-downs of passengers at airport security checkpoints, traveler complaints have poured in.

Some offer graphic accounts of genital contact, others tell of agents gawking or making inappropriate comments, and many express a general sense of powerlessness and humiliation. In general passengers are saying they are surprised by the intimacy of a physical search usually reserved for police encounters.

“I didn’t really expect her to touch my vagina through my pants,” said Kaya McLaren, an elementary schoolteacher from Cle Elum, Wash., who was patted down at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport last Saturday because the body scanner detected a tissue and a hair band in her pocket.

22 Comments

  1. Jan says:

    Depends wearers will be put on the ‘no fly’ list.

  2. smelter rat says:

    The US has gone bugfuck insane on the security issue.

  3. Andrew says:

    Everyone gets screened, x-rayed and patted down because of political correctness. Kids and seniors get the “n-th” degree of scrutiny is because profiling would get a certain segment of the population in a snit. Not to mention the cries of racism, white privilege, etc.

  4. Welcome to Big Brother. It is a problem for fans of big government. Socialists should have no problem with stripping away individual liberties for the benefit of the many. Reminds me of the Census debate.
    This will end badly for the Democrats in office as more and more people are subjected to humiliation.

    O/T Just curious if you think Tony Genco will be left holding the bag if Liberals don’t hold the riding on November 29?

  5. bigcitylib says:

    Closer to home, Canadians are no longer allowed to pack toner cartridges in their luggage. The yankees aren’t the only ones going nuts over this stuff.

  6. Dave says:

    End badly for the Democrats? Huh? The TSA is a Republican idea, staffed by Republicans, and benefitting Republicans. Michael Chertoff has financial interest in Rapiscan, the company that makes the full body scanners. He’s the one that insisted on the need and the purchase. No one to date has called him out on this. My god righties have such a short attention span.

    Now, if the new Republican House decides to use its new found power to start calling the TSA out, I’m all for it. Mind you, if I’m heading the TSA and the Repubs start pushing, I’m sitting there saying, “Well, it WAS your idea. Change your mind?”

  7. Steve T says:

    I think this is an excellent catalyst for resurrecting the debate on profiling. Continuing with the comments by Andrew above, this is happening largely because our goofy political-correctness has required that TSA staff randomly search everyone.

    12-year old white girl coming to Orlando, carrying a Mickey Mouse doll and a passport proving she lives in Winkler Manitoba? Frisk her. 80-year-old grandmother with a cane and barely able to walk? Stuff your hand down her pants. Ah, but the 20-year-old Middle Eastern lad coming from Syria, whose eyes are darting nervously around the room? Well, we just searched another one like him a few minutes ago, so we’d better let him pass. Can’t offend anyone, you know.

    We reap what we sow on political correctness folks. This is just one example.

    • Robin says:

      Actually, if you knew anything about security, you would know that domestic threats are far more common than those originating outside a country. But you must believe that everyone born in the US was made to wave the flag, and thus could never commit a crime on its own soil — give your head a shake.

      • Andrew says:

        Right, the shoe bomber, the underwear bomber, the bra bomber where NOT domestic threats and are the reason the TSA established these protocols.

        There should be no problem with profiling in the name of security and would be more effective than casting a wide and inclusive net.

        Because that white family of five returning from Disney look pretty shifty…

  8. Paul R Martin says:

    I suspect that under Canadian law, some of these pat downs would be considered sexual assault. If a screener tried to pat down my genitals I would be strongly tempted to punch out that person.

  9. James Curran says:

    Those are really bad socks she is wearing.

    Having said that, this thing is viral in Canada already. I’m getting 3-5 emails a day asking me to blog on this very topic. Canadians are very concerned about where this is all going to hit them in our terminals.

  10. Greg says:

    Not only are they going to try to pat ’em down. If you let them, they’ll be strip searched too. In public. Watch here… http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skkCpnCm7iM

  11. gretschfan says:

    State-sanctioned violation at the most personal and humiliating level. This is really what things have come down to, isn’t it?

    Like so much of what has been happening to state power since 2001, the TSA is doing this *because they can*–without any kind of proof that such measures make society any safer. Politically, this is *exactly* the kind of thing that is going to hurt Obama deeply. Supporting this doesn’t win over the hawks, but for his support base it further validates the feeling that’s already out there that *nothing* is changing in the way that this country has been allowed to go off the rails in terms of respecting and defending civil liberties.

  12. Raymond says:

    When everyone is treated like a prospective terrorist, then it’s time to take the bus.
    Truly pathetic.

  13. Tim Perry says:

    I’m a little late to the party. But I just gotta say that if it you and I agree on this, Warren, it must be really evil! That and I’m taking the train.

  14. IC says:

    I just came back from La Guardia – and the TSA morons who have married their kin somewhere in the deepest Apalachians positively relished their new groping powers. I got the full degrading treatment and if I can avoid travelling south of the 49th parallel till this nonsense is solved I will…

    Why don’t we see Pistole and Napoleon-tano getting the full gloved treatment under the glare of the TV cameras? At least we can smirk when they grit their teeth..

  15. mrburnsns says:

    Living south of the 49th the rage amongst the frequent flyers down here has been boiling for weeks. Anyone who flies at all is insulted and angry that this is being allowed to happen. People who used to fly tens of thousands of miles a year have just stopped.

    It looks like this (along with all the TSA horror stories) has got things moving in the right direction, but with the way U.S. politics work you never know.

    If you want to help make changes and you have travel plans south, call the tourism board/chamber of commerce where you’re headed. Those folks have a lot of clout in Washington (actually more than the airlines). Tell them you and your money won’t be coming unless the pornoscanners and happyfingered TSA agents are gone.

    If you need additional information check http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/travel-safety-security-222/ for the latest updates and action items.

  16. Personally I like how Penn (of Penn and Teller) handled it – http://www.pennandteller.com/03/coolstuff/penniphile/roadpennfederalvip.html

    He’s right, it is an assault.

  17. Andrew says:

    This sums up the experience: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcqI3tCSf-s

    ps. Its a SNL skit.

  18. Kevin says:

    Here’s a thought, why not make the TSA employee’s feel as equally uncomfortable?

    Here’s 3 easy steps to follow.

    1. Watch When Harry Met Sally
    2. Travel to airport and check in.
    3. Start moaning like Meg Ryan in the restaurant scene as soons as body contact is made and do not stop until procedure is finished. Then ask TSA employee is you can add them as a friend on Facebook.

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