TSA: No Body Cavity Searches

Yeah, for now. Everyone practice their toe-touches, just in case.

Has the TSA Gone Too Far?

Image from Passport Magazine

I have to fly to Ohio in a few weeks, and so I likely will have the option of either the naked body scan or the full-on groping by the TSA.  I likely will just go through the scanner--though the radiation worries me a bit--but the groping wouldn't bother me. I'm old enough now to have had a doctor staring up my butt, so I don't embarrass easily anymore. But I am a little offended that we must subject ourselves by law to these indignities for the privilege of flying.

It's easy to refer to people who object to these measures as whiners. But are they? I for one loathe being treated as a potential criminal or terrorist. Take for example the practice of many stores that insist upon seeing your receipt before you exit a store. At a Sam's Club or Costco, I get it. It's a club, you're a member, and you play by their rules. But at a Wal-Mart, Best Buy or Fry's? Why do they need to see my receipt, I'm not a thief. I resent being treated as though I might be.

And while I may have no issues being photographed naked, or being fondled by a TSA agent, it is easy to think of scenarios where a person could be traumatized by such a thing. How about a rape victim? An incest survivor? How about a person who has a phobia about being touched? And let's not forget that the cut-off age for the search is twelve years old. That means pre- and current pubescent children are being handled this way. I don't know about you, but I know that I was extremely self-conscious about my body at thirteen years old.

On top of all of this, the procedures themselves aren't even known to be effective. How many potential terrorists have been stopped by the TSA anyway? Wouldn't it be front page news? I know that the dozens of times I've had to remove my belt, shoes, ring, watch and pocket contents have always made me grumble, because it's a pain in the ass, and because I always suspected that it was all theater. Just there to make us feel safe.  Still, some people will insist that it is necessary, and if we want to be safe in flight, we must submit to such indignities.

Hmm. Funny. I live in Las Vegas, tourism capital of the world. We have innumerable targets for destruction here on the ground. If I want to go play the penny slots, should I have to go through a similar procedure at the MGM Grand? How about at Hoover Dam? Disneyland maybe? Are airplanes the terrorists' only targets?

Now that we've acquiesced to this massive change to the security procedures, are we going to stop here? I mean--and I know I'm not the first to posit this--what if a terrorist decides to pack his bomb making materials into his nether regions?  This new procedure was enacted due to the underpants bomber, so I suppose if we get a suppository bomber, we're going to have to bend over and spread 'em? Tell me why that notion would not come to pass, based on what has come before.

The excerpted story below indicates just one horrifying encounter with the new TSA procedures. Another involved a cancer survivor who was forced to present her prosthetic breast to the agent. This procedure is new, and those two examples are likely only the tip of the iceberg.

[Excerpt]

TSA pat-down leaves traveler covered in urine



A retired special education teacher on his way to a wedding in Orlando, Fla., said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down by TSA officers recently at Detroit Metropolitan Airport. . .
 
Read more at: MSNBC

Unreasonable Search and Seizure at Chain Stores

Photo from the Christian Science Monitor

On our day out, I realized that our comfort level with being searched--for no reason--has risen in America. As we attempted to leave Fry's Electronics with our purchases, we had to wait in a long line to get out of the store. Why? Because security guards had to go through every shopper's bags, and check their purchases against their receipts.

It used to be this only happened at stores like Costco or Sam's Club. There, we put up with the practice because we were members of their "club." You cannot shop at these stores without having a membership card, so the search seemed like one of the rules you had to follow. But more and more, this is becoming standard practice at non-membership stores.

You cannot leave Fry's, Best Buy, Circuit City, or many other stores without going through the same procedure. Why is this OK? Why do I have to get in line to leave a store? I'm not a thief, and I don't appreciate being treated like one.

Chalk it up to "everything changed after 9/11." We go through pointless "security" measures at the airport, so that we feel like we're safer. We remove shoes, belts, watches, empty our pockets, allow our bags to be ransacked, even allow pat-downs. And we've gotten so used to it, that we start to agree to the same sort of treatment at chain stores. How long until we're stopped on the street with the demand, "show me your papers?"

On a tangential, but related note, I heard a discussion on local Las Vegas talk radio the other day that gave me the creeps. Apparently, a student was suspended for refusing to participate in, or stand silently during the pledge of allegiance. The talk hosts asserted (and callers agreed) that the student should be forced to at least stand silently "out of respect" during the pledge, to learn what this country is really about. Hmmm. I thought we were about being a free country. But I guess we should force people to agree with that. Sheesh.