Tuesday, November 16, 2010

The TSA: Shut. The. Mofo. Down.

Glenn Greenwald has just the right assortment of links on GateCrotchGrabGate. Read his post, and Digby's, and even John Cole's.

To my dismay, TSA's proposed $11,000 fine and indictment of John Tyner are having precisely the effect they intend: intimidation of the ordinary flying public. This isn't aimed at terrorists. This is aimed at, for example, Stella, who already has tickets to fly to visit relatives over Christmas. Her flight originates at an airport that does not have a Friendly Porn-View X-Ray machine, so she will have to be groped. Some alternative, eh?

Me? TSA won't get their hands on my equipment (laptop or otherwise): I utterly refuse to fly until all this BS ends. If that means I've flown for the last time in my life, so be it. Airlines, take note: I am not alone in this pledge.

I am serious in advocating a complete and permanent shutdown of the TSA. For over 9 years now, it has had one solitary mission: justifying its own existence no matter what the cost to the flying public, the American taxpayer, and the Bill of Rights. There is not even a hint of anti-terrorism effectiveness in its sorry (and sordid) record. It is time to shut the mofo down. Permanently. In time for the holiday travel rush.

2 comments:

  1. They have strictly been reactive, i.e. added new indignities every time someone is arrested for an attempt. Usually the new procedure wouldn't have prevented what happened, but it makes people think that they are doing something.

    The entire liquids restrictions are based on misinformation and bad science.

    It's all theater, and the playwrights all suck.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I agree that TSA should be shut down, but it won't be. No politician, and especially no POTUS, will put so many thousands of people out of work.

    And that's exactly why the "opt-out" plans can not be effective. The great majority of air travelers these days are not leisure travelers, they are business travelers. And we business travelers have no opt-out of flying short of opting in to unemployment. And no, teleconferencing/videoconferencing can not replace that travel, else it would have by now.

    ReplyDelete

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