I'm not going to debate the merits of the ACLU. But I think this is a good way to do something. And writing your Senators and Representatives is a good idea too.


If you've had an experience with the TSA the ACLU is taking complaints:

The ACLU is interested in obtaining information about the conduct of these searches. If you are denied the right to opt out of the body scanner machines or believe you have suffered from rough, rude, and humiliating manhandling and groping of breasts and crotch areas, sexual comments, and a lack of privacy, please contact us by using the complaint form linked below.
REPORT YOUR EXPERIENCE
File a complaint with the ACLU:

http://www.aclu.org/technology-and-liberty/tsa-pat-down-search-abuse

There is also a petition you can sign:

ACLU: Tell DHS: TSA Must Respect Passengers' Privacy Rights
http://action.aclu.org/site/Advocacy?pag...

http://www.bartcop.com/tsa-checkpoint.jpg

http://www.bartcop.com/TSA-on-top.jpg

It's that time of the year again: Thanksgiving week, when Americans take to the roads and the air to visit kith and kin and to give thanks. Too bad that many of those taking to the air have an unfortunate choice: Submit to so-called "Porno Scanners" that essentially strip you of your clothes, exposing your body to prying eyes as well as to a level of radiation that may be less than benign; or submit to being groped by less-than-delicate operatives, a humiliating experience for all involved. All this submission in the name of greater "safety" and "security."

But why do I feel less safe when these scopes -- the high-tech equivalent to those goofy x-ray glasses advertised at the back of old comic books for gullible young boys and dirty old men -- turn their trick on me? Why do I feel less secure when I have to submit meekly to having my genitals felt up by a man who (I hope) is taking no pleasure in his work?


Scoping grandma and groping granddad is not making us safer or more secure. It's worse than a crime: it's a mistake. They don't fit the profile of "terrorist" to begin with; nor should they be terrorized by government technology or its glove-clad workers.

Instead of all the gadgets and the groping, let's get real. Start by asking each ticket-holder the standard questions European airport officials ask; watch how people respond. Look for unusual behavior: nervousness, evasiveness, uncertainty. Forgo "random" inspections for targeted ones. And let's do it swiftly and with authority.

Forget the security theater. No more nonsense about everyone taking their shoes off. Let's stop reacting to what some incompetent "shoe bomber" or "underwear bomber" tried years ago and start preempting whatever fresh tactics our enemies are about to wield against us.
Americans are not babies. We know flying can be dangerous. But it doesn't have to be humiliating and compromising and invasive as well.

So I say "Amen" to Ron Paul's "American Travel Dignity Act." If we have to give up basic human decency and rights to privacy and (seemingly) even common sense to defend ourselves against terrorists, guess what? We've already lost.


Professor Astore writes regularly for TomDispatch.com and can be reached at wjastore@gmail.com.


http://www.truth-out.org/william-j-astore-scope-or-grope-the-wrong-approach-homeland-security65343



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2010 04:14PM by Dave the Atheist.

Liberals have opposed the very creation of the TSA and been against it and its policies from its inception. it's only now that the righties weigh in on this. Coincidence?

It's a good wake up call. We have all heard the stories of what happens when people turn too much authority and power over to the government. The people in the US just fell asleep, got more interested in getting rich quick, borrowing money, and indulging themselves while the politicians and their banking and corporate buddies passed legislation and made deals that allowed them to loot the country and grab more power.

Then 9/11 gave them more excuses to grab more power. Now it's come to a head and it's personal. Very personal.

Hopefully, this will wake people up to what's going on and the people still have power if they use it. It's time to start calling and writing our elected officials. If they don't listen, get rid of them at election time. The House of Representatives can defund the TSA. A new president and congress can scrap the whole agency and put security back in the hands of the airports and airlines.

The federal government should be concentrating on keeping our borders safe and deporting illegal immigrants that don't belong here instead of breaking grandpa's piss bag and feeling up little kids.

We've just allowed corporate bought politicians to run the show for too long. We can get rid of them, replace them, and tell the new ones we will be watching them closely and the era of a sleeping public is over.