Show up with a massive hard on Sheldon, that'll get their attention real quick.

airports are un-sexy

Oh please record that on your cell phone. That would be tha effing bomb


And then there's this:

Shels, wrap your junk in Aluminium foil. Aluminum works too. :P

Probably the best defense is moans, sighs, and giggles, along with eye batting and lip licking.

Given the furore about gays in the military, they're probably more scared of you than a boner fide terrorist, Shel.
(deliberate misspelling)

Looks to see if TSA is hiring in NJ .... ;)

:lol:

I'm bugged by this guy's righteous "modesty" and snitfit. Who cares? the next time I fly, I'll have to go through one of these scanner thingies (they just put them in our airport). I know for certain I'll be up for either a pat down or a visual check because of my piercings.

Know. For Sure. So--I'll plan for this and make extra time for it. A hassle? Surely. Kind of unpleasant and humiliating? Yeah. Invasion of Privacy? Uh . . . maybe. I can't bring myself to care.

Travel is a hassle--this is not new. Plan for it. Cooperate. Just get me on the damn plane.

You may be forced to remove your piercings. Don't worry, they will give you pliers.

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1

yes, but that incident is old, and the TSA has changed their policy in response, to my knowledge.

I probably would make a stink if they tried to make me remove them. Pliers or no, there are some that I do not have the hand strength and/or leverage to remove myself.

LATEST TSA SLOGANS ...

Can't see London, can't see France, not till we see your underpants

If we did our job any better we'd have to buy you dinner

Don't worry, my hands are still warm from the last guy

Wanna fly? Drop your fly

We are now free to move about your pants

It's not a grope, It's a freedom pat

When in doubt, we make you whip it out

You were a virgin?

We handle more packages than UPS....

FINALLY - A great alternative to body scanners at airports ...

The Israelis are developing an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at airports. It’s a booth you can step into that will not X-ray you; but, WILL detonate any explosive device you may have on you. They see this as a win-win for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It also would eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial. Justice would be swift. Case closed!

You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion. Shortly thereafter an announcement comes over the PA system: "Attention standby passengers ... we now have a seat available on flight number XXXX. Shalom!

HA! That would be too cool.

FWIW - I thought this was a well written article about the subject.


Read more:

And if you don't want either, DON'T FLY! Take a bus, FFS.

Or protest to your Congressman about these overly invasive searches that trample civil liberties. Stand up for yourself or be cattle. Yesm Mr. Pretend Cop you sures knows what is best for me. I do whatever you wants me to mistah.

In other news, TSA screeners are just as poorly and inconsistently trained as you think:
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/11/tsa-training/

In my experience, the smaller the airport, the pettier the TSA guys. Just like the rent-a-cop at the apartment complex.

When traveling with a baby and 2 kids, I went through three major airports carrying multiple large containers of liquids, and an epi-pen with a needle in it. No one cared. It was only at the rinky-dink airport in Peoria-fuckin-Illinois, the one that gets a total of three flights in per day, that they harassed me about every baby bottle, every eczema skin cream, the epi-pen, and even made me pull the sleeping baby out of his sling in order to prove I wasn't hiding explosives underneath him.

If you give up, the terrorists win. Think of the children!

No the terrorists are winning now. We are flushing down the toilet foundational pieces of our society in the name of pseudo-safety for an industry that is already among the safest ways to travel. Never mind that the infamous "underwear bomber" boarded the plane outside the US. Never mind that neither the scanners nor the pat downs can detect items hidden inside body cavities.

A good read: http://noblasters.com/post/1650102322/my-tsa-encounter

A good video starring Adam Savage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3yaqq9Jjb4

LOL on Adam Savage.

He could do a movie... The TSA at the end of the yellow brick road

Toddlers are about the size of a suitcase nuke.

Like the one strip searched for no reason, here.:eyebrow:

Yahoo News

I'll be searched no matter what, so no use in getting all twisted around about it.

From where I sit you keep on making this minor mistake, C.

The issue is not whether YOU, Cloud, PERSONALLY are fine with being seen naked or groped.

Also, the issue is not whether you think EVERYBODY should be fine with being seen naked or groped.

The issue is whether it is a violation of the rights of the people, and which rights the people are prepared to give up in order to travel, when private airport security is replaced by jackbooted government thugs agents of the Federal government.

Put on your law hat:

It doesn't say "...unless you enter the airport."

Excellent post, UT... succinct and on point !

well, it's not a mistake to me--it's a personal issue. I get what you're saying, but am still not bothered by any supposed "violation of rights." I'd rather exercise my right to take reasonable safety precautions against being blown up. If they tried to make me remove jewelry then yes, I'd be upset--personally. Otherwise--not really.

That is not a "right".

What you are demanding is to force others to give up their rights through these screenings.

demanding? I think I'm more resigned. flying is not a "right" either.

Free travel is, and so is business i.e. the free exchange of goods, services, and money between myself and the airline company. Injecting these measures between those is a violation of those rights.

You cannot "ask" with the force of government; you can only require. At this time when you enter a security line and are selected, you are required to either be seen naked, be groped, or pay $11,000.

Flying is not a right (travel is), but the net of rights that surround it are up for grabs at this time. The TSA has stated that you voluntarily give up certain rights when entering the airport. Which ones? Let's have them clearly enumerated.

Because as long as an airport is in America, you cannot voluntarily give up your Constitutional rights there. That's the definition of America.

I can only plead for people not to be assholes about the current situation, which I think the original guy who made a stink was being.

Notice given, when they demand I give up my rights, I will be a relentless total fucking asshole about it.

thanks. remind me not to fly that day.

I understand there are larger issues here. My point is that I belong to a subset of people who will FOR SURE be subject to extra scrutiny, and as such I intend to plan for the extra hassle--that's all.

A new mother tries to explain to agents that her breast milk is considered a medical fluid by TSA regulations, and so according to their rules, it doesn't have to go through the xray machine and can be handled with alternate screening.

A TSA agent explains that they were waiting for her, that they remembered her from the previous week, saw her coming, and were going to have her arrested unless she played along.

They put her in a private screening area for an hour, treat her like shit, demand that she sit on the floor and pour her breast milk into eight separate 1.5 oz containers, ignore her sheet of printed TSA regulations, and force her to miss her flight. After repeated requests for the tape of the event, they sent her the tape... minus 30 incriminating minutes of it.

But look Cloud, they don't inconvenience the other passengers a bit. They screen everybody else while leaving her "in the box". You don't have to worry, you can fly without delay. I'm sure it's only the assholes and terrorists, like new concerned moms with breast milk, who get singled out.

You don't have to watch all 12 minutes. I have done it for you. You're welcome.

And then there is this:

Makers of airport body scanners spent millions lobbying government: report

http://www.dotmed.com/news/story/14867/

well, but -- I already know that the whole thing is a majorly humiliating PITA and the TSA people are assholes. I'm just not planning to be one about it myself. Yes, I understand my posts reflect a personal perspective rather than the larger picture.

I do not mean to make it about you C.

via BoingBoing, a woman went through the grope because her panty liner obscured the TSA scanner's view of her vulva.

You don't need to UT, she makes it about herself just fine. Go back and re-read her posts. Every time you mention the rights of OTHERS, she counters with how it doesn't bother HER.

Another relevant article:

http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbyi...ed-on-k-street

yep, because I obviously have no compassion for my fellow citizens. and I'm a DES daughter, too. :3_eyes:

C'mon, you can't blame all that clinking and jingling on DES. :haha:

I guess I've just been off topic the whole time.

Good morning ladies and gents. Today we have a post, linked by BoingBoing, from a molecular biologist who looks at the TSA backscatter scanning machines and tries to determine whether they are safe.

http://myhelicaltryst.blogspot.com/2....html?spref=fb

It's hard to excerpt, but the bottom line is, "the jury is still out on whether these machines are safe or even could be made safe for this application."

This is a tough subject, because it is close to conspiracy theory when one actually questions the official line. I find most conspiracy theories to be near crazy. How could the Federal Govt possibly be using machines that could be unsafe? They SAID it was safe in official documents.

I don't think it's a conspiracy, except possibly at the manufacturer's level. There were two competing technologies for this I think, and we know that there was big money involved including millions spent on lobbying. The lesson from the Space Shuttle Columbia was that, in this era, the MBAs at the top are inclined to believe much different things than the engineers. They will force an atmosphere where their belief is the overriding one, because it's money involved. If they want it to be called safe, even if a 1-in-100,000 failure could hurt someone, it will be called safe.

After reading the original UCSF concerns, which I linked in this thread, and this post by the molecular biologist, there are pretty serious questions. It's not just a political tilt that now, I say, I would not go through these machines. I recommend you don't either.

http://www.democracynow.org/2010/11/23/headlines#5


Manufacturers of Full Body Scanners Increase Lobbying Effort

As the national debate over airport screening practices intensifies, little attention has paid to the increasing lobbying power the manufacturers of full body scanning machines have in Washington. USA Today reports L3 Communications has spent $4.3 million on lobbying, up from $2.1 million in 2005. L3 has sold nearly $40 million worth of machines to the federal government. Lobbyists for L3 have included Linda Daschle, the wife of former U.S. Senate majority leader Tom Daschle. Meanwhile Rapiscan Systems has spent more than $270,000 on lobbying so far this year, compared with $80,000 five years earlier. The company made headlines last year when it hired former U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff who has become a prominent proponent of body scanners. The CEO of Rapiscan’s parent company, Deepak Chopra, recently traveled with President Obama on his three-day trip to India.

It's interesting to hear from somebody that knows the science behind this shit. The calculation of dosage on some parts of the body is startling. Sure, a drop of sulphuric acid in your bath water won't do much damage, but when dropped on the skin it's serious damage.

But no matter what the dangers, the sheep public have voted this Thanksgiving weekend. I don't think is was worrying about the plane blowing up, as much as not wanting to be delayed. The same reason people take horrendous risks when they're driving, rather than getting where they're going 5 minutes later.

I probably mentioned this before, but decades ago in Israel I had to undergo a pat down to see a movie. While I had been subjected to a pat down before at a courthouse, this was the first time it had happened at a business.

Fortunately, the movie was "Three Days of the Condor", so the paranoia actually worked into the whole experience. It would have certainly put a damper on the event if it had been "The Little Mermaid".:right:

Seriously? I mean, I'm sure they're going for [rapid]-scan, but all I can hear in my head is [rapey]-scan.

Full body scanners - coming soon to a neighborhood near you.
How can any security manager NOT go down this road ?

AP
By P. SOLOMON BANDA, Associated Press – Tue Nov 23, 9:21 pm ET
Full-body scanners popping up at courthouses
CASTLE ROCK, Colo

Oh yeah, they are wanting them at subway stations and bus terminals...

At least courthouses are frequented every day by actual know violent criminals. Not like airports where it's normal people just trying to get where they are going.

he he he

Yeah, but airports are voluntary, refusing to go to the courthouse can get you indefinite jail time for contempt of court.

The government should try staying out of the process. Let the public know that the each airline is responsible for the safety of its own flights, and consumers can choose how safe they want to be. Maybe have terrorism liability clauses that pay indirectly proportional to how involved security is. You can get a low cost, no security check walk-on flight with Jet Blew (up), or a higher cost flight with more security from Scan And Pat Air.

But when the terrorists take down a plane, the political capital is huge. The loss to the country is more important than the people killed. On a large plane maybe 500 people, hell, we knock off more jaywalkers and bike riders than that.

A great personal tragedy for each victim and their families, but small potatoes to the country. That's why 9-11 was of such importance. 3,000 people isn't a blip on the national death toll, it was the attack on the nation that was important.

I feel 9/11 was such a big issue for Americans because
it was another "first" for our current generations,
just as JFK's assassination in the 60's was for those generations.
Each event came at times when our society was conditioned or
accustomed to being safe over several years.

The problem of safety is that you can never be completely safe.
It's a matter of how much risk you are willing to accept and at what cost.
That's what I was trying to discuss in my earlier thread about giving bin Laden what he wanted

I agree that this is the way things are, but it makes no sense. What does it matter where someone is killed by terrorists? Why are planes so freaking sacred?