Forbes Magazine: Abolish The TSA
By Wyatt Earp | November 15, 2010
Irony: A Muslim TSA Worker Searches A Nun.
In the wake of the continuous airline passenger horror stories, a writer from Forbes magazine makes the case for eliminating the TSA. I’m on board with that.
[C]onsider that the TSA screens pilots. If a pilot wants to bring a plane down, he or she can probably do it with bare hands, and certainly without weapons. It’s also not entirely crazy to think that an airline will take measures to keep their pilots from turning their multi-million dollar planes into flying bombs. Through the index funds in my retirement portfolio, I’m pretty sure I own stock in at least one airline, and I’m pretty sure airline managers know that cutting corners on security isn’t in my best interests as a shareholder.
And the items being confiscated? Are nail clippers and aftershave the tools of terrorists? What about the plastic cup of water I was told to dispose of because “it could be acid” (I quote the TSA screener) in New Orleans before the three-ounce rule? What about the can of Coke I was relieved of after a flight from Copenhagen to Atlanta a few months ago? I would be more scared of someone giving a can of Coke to a child and contributing to the onset of juvenile diabetes than of using it to hide something that could compromise the safety of an aircraft.
Most screening devices are ineffective because anyone who is serious about getting contraband on an airplane can smuggle it in a body cavity or a surgical implant. The [TSA] scanners aren’t going to stop them.
I heard something on the radio this morning, and it made a lot of sense. Does anyone really think that the government-controlled TSA can do a better job than a private security firm?
Topics: War On Terror | 14 Comments »
November 15th, 2010 at 2:17 pm
“Does anyone really think that the government-controlled TSA can do a better job than a private security firm?”
A “government-controlled” anything be it an auto company, bank, school or health insurance (which right now the wife are going through this big time) can not even come close to doing a bad job…
Government should concentrate on protecting it’s citizens and making sure they can live as free as possible. The number one way to do that is government needs to stay the hell out of our lives.
The second thing it should do is relieve us of Barry, Uncle Joe, San Fran Nan and Irene “Granny” Ryan as soon as possible.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:25 pm
“Does anyone really think that the government-controlled TSA can do a better job than a private security firm?”
Sadly, I know two such individuals: Mama and Papa Raptor.
Me, I’m on the mind that “those who give up liberty for security deserve neither.” Ask me, the TSA should be abolished, it’s heads tarred and feathered, and the screeners indicted for sexual harassment.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:28 pm
My wife and I were discussing this just this morning. We agreed not to fly unless it was back overseas (she’s Thai and we still have property there). If we want to travel inside the states, we will drive ourselves. I’d rather deal with the idiots on the highway than the ones in the airports.
BTW, C.A.I.R. has already complained to the TSA that they feel they have a right to not be subjected to the full body x-ray and the full body grope, it is against their religion. So the followers of the religion that brought us 9/11 and the resultant loss of liberties at the airports are wanting to opt out of being subjected to that which their co-religionists had wrought.
Irony, thy name is islam.
November 15th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
Yes, TSA is about is useless as a screen door on a submarine, and they’re managing to look even more useless – not to mention abusive and petty – every day.
Nonetheless, I suspect the airports and the airlines are perfectly happy to have the federal government handling security arrangements, particularly considering:
(1) they aren’t allowed to do anything that might actually work to keep terrorists off airplanes, for fear of getting sued for “profiling” or “violating the civil rights” of likely terrorists; and
(2) with the above in mind, if a terrorist does make it onto a plane and succeeds in downing it, it will be the Feds and not the airline that gets blamed for it.
(IIRC, within a week of 9/11 the airlines who saw their planes hijacked were facing lawsuits.)
Whether it’s TSA, the airlines or private security firms handling airport security, nothing will change, and the public will continue to be not only harassed but vulnerable, until this country wises up and implements Israeli-style security techniques that, yes, profile individuals. El Al has been doing this for over thirty years without having a plane successfully bombed or hijacked.
In the meantime, if I absolutely have to fly – and subject myself to TSA’s porn scanners and gropers, I’ll just have to do my best Ron Jeremy impersonation as I stroll through the scanners. Complete with the “BOW-CHICKA-WOW-WOW!” soundtrack.
And if they insist on patting me down I’ll take a page out of Meg Ryan’s book from When Harry Met Sally…
November 15th, 2010 at 2:43 pm
The question is “is there anything the government CAN DO better than a private company”?
The answer is of course…no.
November 15th, 2010 at 3:25 pm
When I fly in December, I’m sooo not going through the body scanner. I want a “personal” pat down because I’ll be free-ballin’ with a semi when it happens.
November 15th, 2010 at 3:59 pm
Wes has hit the nail on the head; the existence of the federal bureaucracy that is the TSA is pure CYA from the airports and the airlines. They could care less about it’s effectiveness or how it makes their customers feel. The TSA takes away their own responsibility for traveler security – it takes away their liability. That’s all this is about.
It’s insulting. If the airlines weren’t already heavily subsidized by the government maybe they’d feel the pain of millions of travelers choosing other means of transport . . . but I doubt they will ever do so.
November 15th, 2010 at 4:30 pm
Ferrell – I’m all for airline security, but some of these stories are friggin’ ridiculous. And no one should be subjected to these scanners – unless you want your junk to be visible to the world.
Raptor – They truly are the epitome of incompetence, and most of the screeners I have come across are not smarter than my two-year old.
Robert B. – And you watch: Muslims will get a pass.
Wes S. – Correctamundo. Nothing will change because no one in power wants to change it. And who will suffer for it? We will.
Captain – You got that right.
Randal – And a full one afterward?
Orchid – One wonders if we would have been better off if the airline industry just folded after 9/11. Fold, start over, and rebuild with the passengers in mind first.
November 15th, 2010 at 4:43 pm
I’m wit Wes on dis here. Sub it to retired Mossad/IDF types. I also make porn movie noises while being groped “yeah baby, ooh, that’s it, harder”. I insist…”if ya get it stiff, ya gotta finish me off”. I also mention to the Mrs “this is how I like baby”. Hey, ya might as well have fun in this shit.
November 15th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
Hutch – I think that idea was in the sidebar at Ace. Make porno sounds while being patted down. Freakin’ genius!
November 15th, 2010 at 7:23 pm
I’m all for forgetting the TSA entirely and arming passengers.
Give Granny a Glock instead of a groin grope.
Then again, a little government sanctioned groin grope could be the highlight of a lot of peoples day.
November 16th, 2010 at 12:24 am
I agree with Vince, we let the passengers carry knives or guns and if somebody goes for the cockpit they get killed in route. And I have problems with TSA making us feel like criminals when people seem to be able to just walk through the back gate to get to the tarmac.
But I went through the new scanner this morning. Why the bid deal? Nobody laughed and the view of the screen is not public. If they look at 20,000 people today they are not worried about what my junk looks like. As for all the whiners that do not want to get scanned or frisked then I say do not fly. You do not have a constitutional right to get on a plane. You can take Amtrak or drive.
November 16th, 2010 at 8:29 am
I’m on board with it too, let the airlines pitch in and hire security, then they can pass the cost on to the customers. Number one, people would probably be willing to pay the extra bucks for what couldn’t help but be an improved security system, and at worse, the increased cost would reduce the number of flights. But that’s cool with me too, the sky’s are too damn congested as it is.
November 16th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
In true form of American capitalism too, they’re already selling t-shirts:
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/11/16/tsa-tee-we-get-to-to.html