tsa full body pat down?

[double_digit]

I drive where I got to go. But I have a good reason....

My big muzzle.

I was flying in to a family gathering, it was my sister's wedding. As a gift, I had repaired a broken Canon 500mm lens that also has a stonking huge leather case and felt liner to go into. This with a compatible Canon body SLR was in my carry-on along with my one gallon, clear ziplock baggy of lunch. (Sandwich, two pieces of fruit, pack of peanuts and a Snickers bar) TSA drone picks through my carry-on. Sees the camera sans lens. Puts that aside and pulls out the leather case w/lens. "What is this?"

"That would be a camera. Those are for taking photographs with."

She gives me this lingering glare. She them picks up my baggie of lunch items. "And what is this?"

"Lunch. It's for eating. Try not to confuse the two as I am sure that the camera would not appreciate a bite missing of it's components."

At this point a National Guardsman behind me racks the feeder lever on his AR rifle. I leaned up and back away from the TSA search-mistress and without turning around said simply, "That rifle has a titanium bolts assembly that sounds MUCH DIFFERENT when it goes to battery against a live round. That weapon is UNLOADED."

A moment of silence to breathe twice, and I was muscled away for a deep inspection of my person, boots, and my checked luggage was also carefully rearranged with a leaf blower somewhere behind the flappy plastic "wall" that swallows up all luggage.

Since then, every transfer and the return flight home/transfers along the way were met with similar treatment even when one terminal I had to go to was not 20 feet away from the exit ramp of the flight I just got off of.

There is NO LAW on the books anywhere that protects TSA and law enforcement officers from a solid mental thrashing and it is not illegal for you to act in full capacity of being the ONE ASSHOLE that they will speak of forever. I make it a point to give every overbearing member of the TSA team that even slightly maligns my mood or character a moment they will not soon forget. ;D

'Sides, fuel in the tank to go coast to coast and back again is the same if I bought airfare.

 

[b.c.]

Well most adopt a pretty laissez faire attitude about other invasions of privacy, on the internet, in our personal lives (surveillance) etc., so why stop there?

Personally I wouldn't mind the full body scan (though they can get much better shots visiting my gallery - hell, maybe I can send 'em a few), but I think I'd get pissed about being groped up (well, unless it's by a fairly hot looking fem, which is highly unlikely).

I don't know if all of it results in any more security or not, and frankly, for all the hassle, I'd rather drive anyway. My 2 bits.

 

[LaFemme]

Having just come back from vacay, I had the "pleasure" of two pat-downs. I must look threatening! lol

I always opt-out of the full body scan and get the pat-down. It's fast and (on this vacation) the most action I got. And every pat-down I've gotten in my life (and there have been many) has been from another woman.

I'm actually more upset about not being able to carry my make-up case & contact lens solution on flights than I am about the enhanced security. (I can lose my luggage - but make up? That's inconvienent.)

 

[HazelGod]

I'm actually more upset about not being able to carry my make-up case & contact lens solution on flights than I am about the enhanced security.

You're allowed to carry contact lens solution onto the plane...as it's a medical item, the proscription against liquids doesn't apply. Same goes for baby formula.

Which of course demonstrates just how utterly fucking stupid the rule is...like anyone wanting to blow up a flight with liquid explosive couldn't pour it into a contact lens solution bottle.

 

[D_CountVonBhigBohner]

I find it interesting that the new scanning equipment can see right through your clothing. Yet, I still continue to get a thorough pat down.

 

[maxcok]

I don't see how 9/11 has anything to do with either pat down or scanning. It certainly will not detect a pilot that plans on flying a plane into a building. I'd side with the cautious people. Get off your high horse and let the screeners feel your junk, how often does it happen anyway. If these people are going to die on a plane to kill everyone they might just have the bomb stuck up there ass and I pity the fool that has to check everyone up there.

Which is precisely how drug smugglers move contraband all the time. Which just shows how many holes there are in the system, what a slippery slope we've been on since 9/11, and how there's no end to it. Take off your shoes, take off your belt, subject yourself to radiation and get felt up head to toe, give up your letter opener, give up your lotions, give up your water bottles, give up your right to be protected from unreasonable searches and seizures, and on and on and on . . . .

These new "security procedures" keep escalating in response to every new bombing 'attempt' and the public willingly accepts them. Not because it makes them safer, but because it makes them "feel" safer. A determined terrorist will find a way, up the ass, down in the cargo hold, by any means necessary. Meanwhile they have us wasting our time and money, trying to figure out what's next, dancing like monkeys, spitting at each other, and living in terror, which means they've already accomplished their real goal. Can't wait for the full on strip searches, cavity checks, and the MRI machines to show up. :rolleyes2:

My suggestion: Everybody refuse the scanner out of health concerns and insist on the pat down. See how that gums up the works and brings it all to a grinding halt. Maybe that will cause the 'authorities' to rethink.

My other suggestion: We start focusing on making friends in the Muslim world (and here at home). Lift people up out of poverty and ignorance, so they aren't dependent on charity from extremist religious organizations to survive, aren't susceptible to radical fundamentalist religious doctrine, and aren't compelled to kill people who are different. It seems to me that a War on Poverty and Ignorance has a much better chance of success than a War on Terrorism, which is unwinnable. Probably cheaper too, and not so aggravating and humiliating for us.