I agree on something with Ralph Nader, and it doesn’t have to do with basic consumer protections from private enterprises.
It does, however, have to do with transportation.
(Now one of my nieces or nephews is going to ask what Ralph Nader has to do with consumer issues or transportation. Or, perhaps, who he is in the first place. I’m going to bed before that happens.)
UPDATE: The CAIR guidelines, which strike me as odd, given that they specify that an Islamic woman shouldn’t be subjected to a body pat-down on account of her scarf, and yet elsewhere the accounts are that the pat-downs are going under women’s skirts.
I don’t know which is more enraging, of course–the fact that the religiously devout are subjected to this, or the fact that pilots and flight attendents are, or the fact that the rest of us are.
Or the fact that one of these “penis-measuring machines” could have bought a lot of bomb-sniffing dogs.
Or that in a free society, the correct approach is to get to people before they actually get to an airport or into a security line.
Does anyone out there actually think that pat-downs or strip-search machines make any of us safer?
Does anyone see any sense in doing this but not having body-cavity searches? The new procedures are street theatre gone invasive.
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My Plan:
Dress for travel. In the smallest speedo I can find that barely covers my “junk”. And a trenchcoat. And Flip Flops. I am a male, 5’6 and weigh about 210 pounds. You women may wear a thong bikini to cover your lady parts. The effect is more amusing if you don’t shave or wax “down there”.
Refuse to go through the scanner. I do not need the x-rays. Specifically request the pat-down. Without gloves for the TSA agent.
Convince a group of 20-30 to join in the fun.
And then there’s this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEeRD26hDDw&feature=player_embedded
ROFL to Dr. K’s suggestions! 🙂
Terrorists can knife people to death on a plane; they can also knife people to death in the airport, on the street, or in people’s homes. That’s not the issue.
At this point, we’ve gotten well beyond the notion that if passengers comply with terrorists, no one will get hurt. We’ve also put the pilot behind a very strong door. A terrorist cannot get passengers to comply, nor can he get to the pilot. The only – and I do mean ONLY – thing left to fear is a bullet or a bomb that would blow the plane up or depressurise it. Metal detectors, bomb-sniffing dogs, and X-ray machines for baggage, then we are done.
I would also like to note that the recent terrorist plots did not originate in America; those guys were flying in from overseas. Hate to point out the obvious, but no amount of security in LAX is going to stop terrorists who board a plane in Heathrow.
At some point, a terrorist is going to detonate his/her device at a TSA check point. It could be deliberate, or it could be due to a panicky, twitchy bomber. But you know it’ll happen.