Ok seriously...this is going too far TSA.
 

I really have had it at this point. I don't like starting political discussions here, and I do try very hard to continue our tradition of rationality when we do "break the rules". But this just makes me sick: a 56 year old lady, Claire Hirschkind, has a pacemaker and is trying to fly out to see family in California. She is told that she has to accept a pat down because she can't use the metal detector without setting it off due to the pacemaker. She tells them, correctly, that they have no reason to do so therefore she will not give up her 4th amendment rights. What do they do? Throw her to the ground, handcuff her, and then drag her across the floor before finishing the arrest.

Source: Here.

This is too much, I've finally had it. Read the article, and if you're feeling the same way, repost this article to as many places as you have a good reputation. I've already posted it to twitter and Facebook myself, and if I had any other forums I visited, it would also go there. This HAS to stop. This is waaaaay beyond acceptable and is a clear violation of constitutions protections from illegal search and seizure. Please help by reposting...

PS -- If you do tweet it, please use the hashtags #TSA and #ClaireHirschkind so we can get her story out there.

PPS -- And if you want to help take action (and you're a US Citizen, sorry Canada...) click this link to go the ACLUs page so you can send a letter to your local congressmen. Maybe if enough of us send these it will finally get through their thick heads!

PPPS -- (And for those of you who realize that the US's restrictions are affecting the freedoms of the world at large...maybe head on over to the ACLU's website and figure out some way to send a letter to someone in Washington who will listen? Or maybe write your local government and tell them to lean on the US government a bit?)

Welcome to Amerika.

All in the name of security. BS.

They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a
little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
Ben Franklin - 1759

A couple of quotes from the source article:

It astounds me that people actually prefer the illusion of security over liberty. Not enough people actually care about our essential freedoms anymore.

It's so very sad.

One by one and little by little, we are giving up the freedoms that the country was founded on. I understand the need for national security but if it means I have to live in a totalitarian system, then the heck with national security. Every society on earth have a national security policy so this is not the corner stone of the United State. If we feel that our liberties should be removed, then the U.S. needs to rethink how they are behaving in the world.

On the story, it's unfortunate that she was arrested but couldn't she have simply exclaimed, "I will not be flying today" and walked away.

Uninformed Canadian speaking… what's TSA? :o

EDIT: never mind… Transportation Security Administration

Surely, there was a better way to handle this. It was an over reaction.

Still, I don't see searching passengers and their bags before boarding a plane as a loss of individual freedom.... at least not in the real world, with real threats.

Case closed...

I feel like my rights to privacy get shot every time I go through security.

Exactly so.

The US is about to mount a big advertising campaign to attract more tourists whose numbers have been falling off for several years now, typically in sync with increasing scrutiny by TSA. I don't see that wanding a passenger who buzzes a metal detector and x-raying their carry-on bags as unreasonable at all; I amassed nearly 500,000 air mile under that regimen losing only a nail clipper. Another time, I had a small Swiss Army knife left in my pocket inadvertently and the gate guy let me go back to buy a padded envelope and mail it home.

I began to get antsy when I was asked to remove my shoes both from a hygiene point of view and because I have arthritis in my feet that makes it painful to walk barefoot. I stopped flying when the US began forbidding small containers and I saw pictures of huge bins full of toothpaste, cosmetics, water, etc. When nursing mothers couldn't bring breast
milk I thought it had gone much too far.

As things stand now, I guess I'll never see Hawaii. Have been to England, Turkey, South Africa, Chile, Pakistan, and Thailand.

I've been in booking and promotion positions in years past, in an unofficial capacity. In the 90's, calling up a band in Europe to come over just involved having to ensure all their travel costs would be covered. Now, they refuse to come, not just because they don't want the customary anal-raping at customs, but because TSA has the propensity to confiscate equipment, and then report them to immigration as undocumented workers (apparently playing a one-time music gig in bumfjuck KY qualifies as illegal immigration these days).
As a result, European bands simply avoid us as the plague we are.

/Fark you, TSA

The whole thing is ludicrous.

The problem of hijacking has been solved by the application of a ruddy great DOOR to the cockpit. Job done. (Apparently, the idea was raised in the 70s, but objected to on the grounds of cost.)

Richard Reid, the "shoebomber", was caught with a bomb in his shoe BEFORE they started checking everybody's shoes.

The guys who had the chemically unrealistic plot to use liquid explosives were caught BEFORE they started imposing limits and checks on liquids.

It only needs one guy with a bomb up his chuff before we all get gang-probed for the privilege of flying.

Merry Christmas, everyone, btw.

Did this lady pose an immediate threat? Did she have a bomb, knife, gun or club in her hand? Was she going to kill? NO. Had it been so, I would understand them. However, the lady in question simply said 'no' and the security overreacted. Mountains and molehills, anyone?

Had I been in this situation (thank goodness I only fly twice a year), I would've emigrated and left a scorching letter to the government. and a link to the coat room

For some reason, this reminds me of Washington Bullets. My dad has the whole Sandinista! album on vinyl :o

The real reason we have the TSA
 

"Ho Ho Ho and Merry Christmas", says the urologist at TSA. "That's not your prostate buddy, it feels like a walnut sized ka-boom." The passenger replies, "It's an enlarged prostate and here the medication for it." The TSA member exclaims, "Please follow me to the interrogation room for a biopsy to confirm that it's really an enlarged prostate otherwise we will handcuff you, drag you down the hall and into jail and search for ourselves." At this point, the passenger quips, "well, since you gotta search anyway, I will go peacefully but will you put me on the next flight?" The TSA member looks puzzled and response, "Don't you realize we are making an example of you and how we plan to exert control over everyone else that wants to fly?" The passenger gets his biopsy and they confirm that it's not a ka-boom and sends him on his way. With no consent and purely against his will, the passenger is shattered emotionally. The passenger hasn't been near an airport since and all the other passengers knowing of the incident willfully comply without even a peep except to say, "Why would he want to put something up his chuff? I am really glad that the TSA people are around to protect me?"

Happy Holidays and a prosperous New Year to all, even those of you who think me a right wing idiot.

Clearly, there are some quite diverse views on this forum and that's okay. That's the way the world is, too. Wouldn't want it any other way.

Ditto, AEH. I can't imagine that many here think of you as a right wing idiot; certainly I don't. The marvelous part of it is that we can have these conversations without rancor.

Once again it's don't address the problem -- shoot the messenger.

This is the most civil forum I have seen so far. No flaming!

You probably underestimate the quality of the moderation here, RS. When a conversation drifts into religion, rancor, or flames here it's promptly squelched by ArcticStones or Craig Arco. They do a great job of making this a welcoming place to have these debates which is why I keep coming back.

Indeed. I do hold Craig and ArcticStones (and all the other mods) in high esteem because they do such a good job of keeping us on topic. And they are not like the TSA :rolleyes: