Haha...awesome.
What gets me is that the guy wasn't even getting on a plane...he was leaving a plane ...going to his car.
He got scanned and patted getting on the plane...what could he have had access to on the plane, between getting off the plane, and customs? Has he somehow made a mini-nuke in his travels?
I think you should have more options as well, but they should on be when getting ON a plane, not when getting off.
Big ego wrote: I don't see a public outcry over vehicle accident deaths....
Why do ya think there's all the safety devices in cars these days? People want little Johnny and Susie to be safe, so instead of educating drivers about not sleeping at the damn wheel, we get lane departure systems, and traction control, and stability control etc etc. Hell- we can't even be trusted to check the air in our own damn tires anymore, we need the car to do it for us!
We haven't had these machines or patdowns for 9 years and we have been mostly incident free, The few we've had, like the underware bomber would not have been caught by the machines. This is simply a way to make some ex govt people rich. In this case the ex Homeland Security head.
http://reason.com/blog/2010/11/23/q-is-this-security-theater-a-1 Q: The machines have shown up in the wake of the so-called underwear bomber, who tried to blow up a plane with chemicals stored in his briefs. Would this technology have stopped him?
A: The guys who make the machines have said, "We wouldn't have caught that."...
Q: Has there been a case since 9/11 of an attempted hijacker being thwarted by airport security?
A: None that we've heard of. The TSA will say, "Oh, we're not allowed to talk about successes." That's actually bullsh*t. They talk about successes all the time. If they did catch someone, especially during the Bush years, you could be damned sure we'd know about it. And the fact that we didn't means that there weren't any. Because the threat was imaginary. It's not much of a threat. As excess deaths go, it's just way down in the noise. More than 40,000 people die each year in car crashes. It's 9/11 every month. The threat is really overblown....
Q: Does it surprise you that at last, after several escalations in the TSA's level of intrusiveness, the public seems to have finally rebelled?
A: Back in 2005, when this full-body scanner technology was first being proposed, I wrote that I thought this would be the straw that broke the camel's back, because it would unite conservatives and liberals. Nobody wants their daughter groped or shown naked....
Q: Have you had a pat-down?
A: Yes, actually, just a couple of days ago.
Q: Is this security theater?
A: 100 percent. It won't catch anybody.
Big ego wrote: But I gotta fly for work and to be honest, I want a different technological solution.
Teh he!! with new technology. How about some really competent professionals who know to ask pertinent questions and identify suspicious responses? And how about we do that with everyone?
And a lot more dogs handled by MWG's is OK, too......
oldsaw wrote: How about some really competent professionals who know to ask pertinent questions and identify suspicious responses?
Meh, I'd prefer some good ol' racial profiling.
oldsaw wrote: \ And a lot more dogs handled by MWG's is OK, too......
More dogs is a great idea.
I'm cool with dogs. I am allergic so I don't wan them to hang around much, but I would be 100% OK with letting a german shepard sniff my crotch.. Better than some dude named bubba doing it.
Big ego wrote:oldsaw wrote: \ And a lot more dogs handled by MWG's is OK, too......More dogs is a great idea. I'm cool with dogs. I am allergic so I don't wan them to hang around much, but I would be 100% OK with letting a german shepard sniff my crotch.. Better than some dude named bubba doing it.
If you use peanut butter the experience can be pleasurable for both you and the dog.
mndsm wrote:Big ego wrote: I don't see a public outcry over vehicle accident deaths....Why do ya think there's all the safety devices in cars these days? People want little Johnny and Susie to be safe, so instead of educating drivers about not sleeping at the damn wheel, we get lane departure systems, and traction control, and stability control etc etc. Hell- we can't even be trusted to check the air in our own damn tires anymore, we need the car to do it for us!
yeah but with 33,000 deaths in one year, in one country, I'm sure that trumps most of the terrorist deaths due to air incidents in one year..
It's all about calculated risk, but theres nothing calculated about mass hysteria, except causing it.
HiTempguy wrote:oldsaw wrote: How about some really competent professionals who know to ask pertinent questions and identify suspicious responses?Meh, I'd prefer some good ol' racial profiling.
^^^^ THIS.
I never understood what the problem was with profiling when it came to the airline industry.
While I see how pulling over a car load of black teens cruising around might cause problems, I have no problem if we target young Arab men with Yemen stamped in their passports trying to board a plane.
I mean if a Mexican guy murders somebody are the cops gonna waste time looking for a blue haired old lady?
Wait till we find some bomber tried to get on a plane with a bomb up his bum. Or one surgically implanted.
I'm also waiting for some Muslims to object to their females being fondled.
The trick it to act like we're enjoying it. Grunts and heavy breathing for good effect. Of course, some of us don't have to act. 
I've also thought up a couple of good pranks involving prosthetics.
In reply to spitfirebill:
There have been reports about trying to implant explosives in animals and put them on the plane if I am not mistaken. This is a no-win situation for all of us. If they "miss" someone and your family gets blown out of the sky, then all of us will be screaming from the heavens. If they violate our liberties, then they are freedom crushing jackboots. I find it funny that Stephen A.Smith was talking this am about being in favor of racial profiling for terrorists- pretty ironic coming from a black dude from NYC.
"I tell you, freedom & human rights in America are doomed. The U.S. government will lead the American people into an unbearable hell and a choking life." - Osama bin Laden, October 21, 2001.
Matt B wrote: The trick it to act like we're enjoying it. Grunts and heavy breathing for good effect. Of course, some of us don't have to act.
If we're gonna play that game- go with the ol' death brew- gas station burrito, hard boiled egg, banana and can of coke. Save that bad boy up til Goober's got his index finger up your rectum, and let the gas fly..... If he vomits, you get bonus points.
mndsm wrote:Matt B wrote: The trick it to act like we're enjoying it. Grunts and heavy breathing for good effect. Of course, some of us don't have to act.If we're gonna play that game- go with the ol' death brew- gas station burrito, hard boiled egg, banana and can of coke. Save that bad boy up til Goober's got his index finger up your rectum, and let the gas fly..... If he vomits, you get bonus points.
I'm sorry officer - it appears someone has E36 M3 in my pants.
I read elsewhere on the internet about men planning to wear kilts to the airport. If you want to handle them they will let you.
First class, coach class, commando class.
All I know is, I'm not flying without a cucumber in my pants any more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wRpWnK6Rg3E
Just went through security at bush airport in Houston, they didn't even have the scanners running. Granted we went through the elite access/airport staff/airline ppl entrance, but still.
Big Ego, it sounds like we're in agreement, that what the TSA is doing is wrong. We have to find a balance, between protecting ourselves and not going all 1984. As it's been said, the more we infringe on citizens rights, the more the terrorists really have won.
If we're really serious about safety, the TSA needs to be dismantled, and rebuilt from the ground up. We have to get quality professionals, who are highly trained in the latest we have to offer. How to ask the right questions, how to notice strange behaviors, etc etc. We can't just Zerg rush the airports and hope we step on a terrorist by accident.
I say we go with the El Al approach: profile like hell and yank the worst offenders out of line for 'extra special' questioning. Leave the blue haired old ladies alone.
The only problem with that (as was pointed out by some pundit whose name I don't recall) was that one of the worst terrorist attacks on US soil was perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh who was pretty much the antithesis of the stereotypical terrorist. He would have sailed through pretty much any profiling. So would just about anyone who was associated with the Irish liberation movements of the '80's and '90's.
So what's the true solution? As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle.
Of course, both sides, left and right, will scream like hell if there is a successful terrorist incident, calling the TSA a bunch of incompetent jerks. Those same screamers, if asked point blank, won't have a better idea. 
Racial Profiling is not the answer. Profiling is. Confused?
Just because someone looks like a terrorist does not mean they are one. If they act like one, then theres a good chance they are. We need to profile behaviors not physical features.
Other countries do it much more effectively than we do, but as stupid americans we refuse to follow their lead.
Israel is much more hard nosed about their profiling than we are.
But then there is Nigeria, where the Detroit underwear bomber originated. He zipped right through their 'security'. The plane was on final approach when he decided to try to perform an overpowered Alabama vasectomy.
The shoe bomber came from England. Their security generally is a good bit more stringent than ours. Yet there he was, trying to light his shoes.
As I say, the answer is somewhere in the middle.
Jensenman wrote: I say we go with the El Al approach: profile like hell and yank the worst offenders out of line for 'extra special' questioning. Leave the blue haired old ladies alone. The only problem with that (as was pointed out by some pundit whose name I don't recall) was that one of the worst terrorist attacks on US soil was perpetrated by Timothy McVeigh who was pretty much the antithesis of the stereotypical terrorist. He would have sailed through pretty much any profiling. So would just about anyone who was associated with the Irish liberation movements of the '80's and '90's. So what's the true solution? As always, the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Of course, both sides, left and right, will scream like hell if there is a successful terrorist incident, calling the TSA a bunch of incompetent jerks. Those same screamers, if asked point blank, won't have a better idea.
The McVeigh thing always gets thrown into these discussions, but when's the last large-scale home-grown terror act??? I'm willing to bet the vocal militia folk are being kept track of very closely (a gov't agent friend of mine essentially told me so).
The 300lb gorilla is that these perps are Muslims--period. Sugar coat it all you want--they're Muslims.
That said--as much as I hate tossing civil liberties away, this is just a losing battle. If they prevent one plane from being blown up, then all of this is worthwhile. Hard to argue that point.
Ever fly Southwest? It's the Greyhound of the skies. Cramped, no amenities, inevitably stuck next to someone you don't know. I have much more of a problem w/ the "flying" part of flying than I do a body scan. Scan me-I just don't care.
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