It started with a commercial pilots’ organization making an official statement against TSA groping, and now John Tyner, the “don’t touch my junk” guy, has taken the backlash to a whole new level. I say hooray for the American public for finally standing up and saying ala the movie Network News, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”
Like sheep to the slaughter we all walk to be photographed virtually naked or have our genitals groped and our breasts squeezed in public. This isn’t freedom. This is pure insanity.
And now the Council on Islamic-American Relations (CAIR), America’s largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization has put out an alert that TSA’s enhanced procedures violate Muslim women’s religious rules not to be touched or seen naked by anyone but their husbands. (Christians and Jews don’t care about the airport free-for-all touchy feely?) The alert said if Muslim women are selected for additional pat down it should be only on their head scarves, called hijabs. So the Muslims started this whole mess and they think they get a modesty waiver?
Just today, when Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano was asked if Muslim women were going to be allowed to opt out of the full body pat down along with the scan if wearing hijabs, Napolitano never answered directly. She simply said there would be “adjustments” and “more information to come.” Huh?
A Breast Squeeze Here, A Breast Squeeze There
We’ve all seen the Internet videos the last week showing young children and old women being patted down. But it’s the groping of the genitals and squeezing of breasts by the opposite sex that is the worst. Reports are that for women who have been sexually molested that it is triggering post traumatic stress. And then there’s the problem of teaching children how not to be touched only to have them molested “by authorities.” Can you imagine the utter humiliation of a teenage girl having to go through this? The entire family has passed screening, but the 16 year old girl has to be patted down, have her breasts squeezed and her genitals felt. So what’s it gonna be Missy? Don’t get home or “submit?”
We also all know that with an extra 50,000 TSA agents hired to do the groping, there are bound to be, not a few, but a lot of agents who cross the line. Horror stories and videos have already surfaced along with agents being caught in lies when they didn’t know they were being recorded.
Body Scan Images HAVE Been Saved
The worst lie of all is that the public is repeatedly told that the scanners cannot store or transmit any of the images. The U.S. Marshall service ADMITTED to storing 35,000 naked images at just one courthouse in Orlando.
And then there is the well-publicized story of the hunky Indian actor Shakrukh Khan whose naked body scan at Heathrow International Airport was printed and shared among security staff. It’s obvious that one of the agents where Khan was being scanned alerted the person checking the image. Can you imagine Angelina Jolie going through the scanners? One guy calls another and next thing you know the guy screening in the back room pulls out his cellphone and snap, snap, snap.
My own brother is a TSA agent. I haven’t talked with him about the subject because I know his heart is in the security aspect of the issue and he’d probably poo-hoo whatever I said. But I do know that now having to deal with the public like this is probably not his idea of a fun day at the office. Can you imagine the collective groans when TSA agents were told the new procedures? I mean really, take a look at most of the people in line with you at the airport next time. Very few would you want to grope.
I’m all for enhanced security and even being inconvenienced for the safety’s sake. But I so object to public molestation, and that’s what this has come to.
A Facebook page has popped up for support of not flying until this fiasco is resolved. Ron Paul has joined the movement calling for November 24th to be “National Opt-Out of Naked Day” of naked body scanners. That’s right, the day before Thanksgiving when most folks are flying. The movement recommends flyers opt-out, which is their right, and be patted down in public by TSA, then share their experiences. A bit overboard if you ask me. But it’s a method.
I for one will make arrangements to drive whenever possible when I need to travel. How about you?