TSA Government Manipulation and Humiliation

There was a saying from an old movie, Network that bears repeating:

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!

This is how many of us feel about the abuse by the TSA and ‘our’ government regarding full body scans and invasive pat downs that we apparently pay to have the privilege of going through since you can’t fly without the possibility of abusive TSA behavior.

And you have folks like Rush saying it’s intentional. No kidding it’s intentional … they want to humiliate and thereby manipulate people publicly so they won’t buck the system.

Well….

I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!

Actually, I haven’t flown since the 1990s and refuse to do so because of the way they are treating paying customers at the airports in this country (USA).

This is more like Gestapo behavior than American Civil Servants (paid by our tax dollars) respectfully trying to protect its Citizens.

Info on what has been going on:

TSA Pat-Down Leaves Mich. Man Covered in Urine (CBS):

A bladder cancer survivor from Michigan who wears a urostomy bag that collects his urine says a rough pat-down by a security agent at Detroit Metropolitan Airport caused the bag to spill its contents on his shirt and pants.
…
The Bladder Cancer Advocacy Network says bladder cancer survivors “deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by TSA agents.”

ALL United States Citizens deserve to be treated with dignity and respect by TSA agents!

No United States Citizen should be made to feel embarrassed, humiliated or manipulated by their taxpayer funded Civil Servants.

Are Air Travelers Criminal Suspects? (Congressman Ron Paul) who is proposing a Bill to address this an other issues:

I introduced legislation last week that is based on a very simple principle: federal agents should be subject to the same laws as ordinary citizens. If you would face criminal prosecution or a lawsuit for groping someone, exposing them to unwelcome radiation, causing them emotional distress, or violating indecency laws, then TSA agents should similarly face sanctions for their actions.

This principle goes beyond TSA agents, however. As commentator Lew Rockwell recently noted, the bill “enshrines the key lesson of the freedom philosophy: the government is not above the moral law. If it is wrong for you and me, it is wrong for people in government suits… That is true of TSA crimes too.” The revolt against TSA also serves as a refreshing reminder that we should not give in to government alarmism or be afraid to question government policies.

Airport body scanners ‘could give you cancer’, warns expert (Mail Online):

They say that the low level beam does deliver a small dose of radiation to the body but because the beam concentrates on the skin – one of the most radiation-sensitive organs of the human body – that dose may be up to 20 times higher than first estimated.

Christie joins critics of TSA’s airport screening procedures, calls them ‘too invasive’ (NJ.com)

At a town hall meeting today, Christie , a former federal prosecutor, called them “too invasive.”

“I support the TSA trying to keep us safe, but not the way they’re doing it,” Christie said.

And what about the Pilots and Flight Attendants who would have to go through it day in and day out, potentially multiple times a day?

TSA’s double standard – In the uproar about scanners and pat-downs, no one seems to have noticed that one group is exempt from inspection (Salon):

Late last week, the Transportation Security Administration, bowing to controversy and the threat of lawsuits, ruled that airline pilots will no longer be subject to the backscatter body scanners and invasive pat-downs at TSA airport checkpoints.
…
(Incidentally, the requirement that crews undergo checkpoint screening was imposed by the Federal Aviation Administration after the crash of a Pacific Southwest Airlines flight in 1987. A recently terminated flight attendant, David Burke, used his credentials, which the airline had failed to recover, to carry a concealed handgun onto Flight 1771 from Los Angeles to San Francisco. En route, he shot both pilots and nosed the airplane into the ground near Harmony, Calif., killing all 44 on board.)

Flight Attendants?

Delta: Let Flight Attendants Skip Scanners, Too (NPR):

The Transportation Security Administration has said it will let pilots skip the body scans and aggressive pat-downs that travelers get. Now, Delta CEO Richard Anderson has asked the TSA to let flight attendants get the same treatment. His request was included in a letter to employees over the weekend.

And what about other stuff…

TSA security is as futile as it is invasive (Baltimore Sun):

But what makes it all so disturbing is the fact that while we’re submitted to extensive yet inefficient procedures, we’re totally unprotected while we we’re all jam-packed waiting to pass security check; did anyone ever see any type of protection there? How many casualties would a single terrorist throwing grenades and spray-shooting be able to cause? Ask the Ben Gurion Airport security authorities what Kozo Okamoto, the converted to Islam Japanese Red Army member, was able to do on his own in 1972.

Furthermore, what kind of preventive and protection measures are in place regarding our luggage? Close to zero.

So while we’re harassed and frustrated by revealing screening machines that can’t “see” many explosive types, and exposed to unnecessary privacy invasion, tens of pounds of plastic explosives can be easily loaded on the plane with very low chances of being discovered.

John Tyner, who has obviously had enough of this!

Bloggings On Dysfunctional Government (ILW.com’s Angelo Paparelli)

John Tyner, a San Diego software engineer and newly minted American folk hero, faces an $11,000 civil-disobedience fine for refusing an intimate groping, dubbed by Orwellian bureaucrats as an “enhanced patdown,” that Hillary Clinton would herself refuse. The man who threatened a citizen’s arrest if his “junk” were touched epitomizes an aroused populace, even including flaccid Baby Boomers, who will no longer tolerate TSA inanity passing off as security at the nation’s airports.

TSA Responds to “Strip Search” Video of Boy (CBS):

News reports about what critics say are overzealous screening procedures are proliferating: Here’s one story entitled “TSA Makes Cancer Victim Remove Prosthetic Breast,” and here’s a post entitled “TSA Screening Soaks Bladder Cancer Survivor with His Own Urine.” A story about a person being arrested for refusing the security procedures is entitled “TSA airport screeners gone wild in San Diego- again;” here’s one called “TSA pats down a screaming toddler.”

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton probably didn’t help matters when she said on CBS’ “Face the Nation” that she would not submit to a pat-down “if I could avoid it,” adding, “I mean, who would?”

Good question…good question.

Support Lyme Groups’ Decision to Withdraw from IOM Lyme Workshop

Support Lyme Groups’ Decision to Withdraw from IOM Lyme Workshop

Please let Congress know you support the move by LDA, TFL and CALDA to withdraw from the NIH/IOM State-of-the-Science Lyme Disease and Other Tick Borne Diseases Workshop by reading the statement below and completing the response form. LDA will send your reply directly to Congressman Christopher H. Smith (NJ). It will not be used for any purpose other than this project. Thank you!

Lyme Groups Withdraw from Scientific Meeting

I support the move by the national Lyme Disease Association (LDA), the California Lyme Disease Association (CALDA), and Time For Lyme (TFL) to withdraw from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) sponsored workshop. I agree that the above groups should not participate in nor submit the Institutes of Medicine’s (IOM) commissioned scientific paper to the Panel in protest of the IOM’s workshop about the state of the science regarding Lyme and tick-borne diseases. Despite the 3 groups’ repeated requests for transparency and a balance of scientific viewpoints, as delineated in Congressional Appropriations language, neither the hearing panel nor the speakers selected by the IOM satisfy the Congressional intent or objectives.

The IOM’s mission was to provide an “independent, objective and non-partisan” program and there are no scheduled speakers with opposing viewpoints of similar scientific weight to balance Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) presentations about the research gaps in Lyme disease. Many state-of-the-art scientific researchers, experienced clinicians and patient advocates have been relegated by the IOM and NIH to spectator positions. I believe that this amount of bias undermines the integrity of the scientific workshop and that its final report will reflect this lack of objectivity.

Support Lyme Groups’ Decision to Withdraw from IOM Lyme Workshop

As most who read my blog know, my hubby has been suffering with Lyme Disease for several years now including a paralyzed right side diaphragm. This particular problem (only one of many my hubby experiences), is well known to be a ‘side affect’ of Lyme Disease and documented in various places. Here’s one article about it “Diaphragmatic paralysis due to Lyme disease“.

Just for the record, confirmation articles were discovered AFTER the diagnosis. And although the doctor didn’t confirm the source of the problem (likely afraid to do so), he did confirm the paralysis during one of the two a hospital stays of 8 days on two IV antibiotics for diverticulitis, also from the Lyme Disease. NEITHER OF THESE PROBLEMS, or the high blood pressure and other issues were ever a problem until after the tick bite and the bullseye rash and subsequent ‘typical’ antibiotic treatment (doxycycline) and allergic reaction, or more likely a ‘die off’ reaction, to the massive death of the Lyme bug that nearly killed him with dangerously high blood pressure (which he never suffered with before this incident).

Am I getting through to you Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) and Dr. Gary Wormser of Westchester Medical Center ?! My hubby was a healthy person who was active and vibrant until Lyme Disease struck him down. It was a night and day difference. Now tell me one thing has nothing to do with the other. Anybody?….