Although the TSA's Theme Song Should Probably Be "It's Not Enough"

The video should really acknowledge that a lot of this crap started in the Bush administration. Otherwise, pretty well done.

Comments

[The Administration]

And your point is ...?

[NotLinky]

If Obama wants change, he could change this trampling of our Constitutional rights?

Just guessing.

[ClubMedSux]

NotLinky, did you notice who made the comment you responded to?

[hmm]

It's the Man! FUCK THE MAN!

[Old Mexican]

The video should really acknowledge that a lot of this crap started in the Bush administration.

There y' go! Blaming Bush again!

[Except that this time, it is warranted.]

[Pro Libertate]

I blame the federal government. Period.

[Chony]

Externalities!!!

[hmm]

I love that word. It's the idiots answer to not understanding 99% of economic theory.

[Jeffersonian]

It's the deus-ex-machina of the statist set.

[Jeffersonian]

Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos!

[AlmightyJB]

Yes, it would be racist to blame Obama for anything he does unless you also blame Bush equally. We can never just blame Obama.

[NotLinky]

One of the so-called backscatter images has been proven to be a hoax.

[?]

I blame the federal government.

Obama inherited that.

BUUUUUUUUUUSSSSSH

[Old Mexican]

"TSA wants to touch my junk"

http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig11/tyner1.1.1.html

A male agent (it was a female who had directed me to the backscatter machine in the first place), came and waited for me to get my bags and then directed me over to the far corner of the area for screening. After setting my things on a table, he turned to me and began to explain that he was going to do a "standard" pat down. (I thought to myself, "great, not one of those gropings like I've been reading about".) After he described, the pat down, I realized that he intended to touch my groin. After he finished his description but before he started the pat down, I looked him straight in the eye and said, "if you touch my junk, I'll have you arrested." He, a bit taken aback, informed me that he would have to involve his supervisor because of my comment.

Certainly the pro-State (from the Right) talk radio hosts were quick to do some damage control by calling the guy "hysterical" and by pointing out one "loses his 4th Amendment rights the moment he buys an airplane ticket."

[Thomas Friedman]

"one "loses his 4th Amendment rights the moment he buys an airplane ticket."

Is that in the disinclusionary rule?

[Hobo Chang Ba]

I dunno - I actually heard one of the righty neo-con talkers today even admit this probably goes too far. Now that they don't control the TSA, I'm sure that Republicans will now use this to criticize the administration when they would have done the exact same thing out of irrational fear. I say they abolish the TSA, let the fraidy cats right on the airlines with the heavy-duty security and cavity searches and the rest of us can take our chances.

[Jeffersonian]

Can we follow this up with "Won't Get Fooled Again"?

[butbut]

What does David Caruso have to do with this?!?!

[ziggy]

but obama is a democrat, so he must be better than bush on civil liberties?

[Steve Chaos]

If we're going to go with Who songs to describe the TSA, why don't we just pick another, more appropriate song from the same album: "Fiddle About"?

...too accurate?

[ola]

awesome

[Thomas Friedman]

Won't Get Fooled Again isn't on the Tommy album.

[ziggy]

what is great about this stuff is it united both statist from the left and the right as they submit to the all-knowing all-powerfull and always right government. But at least we can tell who is on what side!

[8]

Why are all the TSA employees obese? If the logic is that we have to limit people's food choices because we're all in Obamacare together and fatties cost us all more, why is the federal government hiring fatties on the taxpayers dime in the first place?

[Chad]

Does anyone know where I can apply on-line to be a TSA agent? What is the minimum weight requirement?

[Old Mexican]

You have to look creepy in order to be accepted.

[Chony]

Externalities!!!

[the right does it too]

So WTF? Why are the feds involved in airline security anyway? What's wrong with the airlines arranging their own security, and allowing the free market to work out the best, most efficient means?

[Jeffersonian]

That's the way it used to be. Now they're all unionized federales.

[Chony]

What's wrong with the airlines arranging their own security, and allowing the free market to work out the best, most efficient means?

We can't have that. The market clearly failed in protecting us, so we have to have the State manage what is in the end a public good . . . and externalities!

Oh, and the State makes roads!!!

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Just think of airline travel as roads in the sky.

[MacGhil]

And speaking of roads, the DHS recently purchased 500 backscatter vans to rove the streets of Amerika and peer into our homes and cars.

Scanner Vans Allow Drive-By Snooping
http://www.forbes.com/forbes/2.....oping.html

Mobile X-ray vans hit US streets
http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/2.....US-streets

[Joe M]

How the FUCK is that legal?

[Darth Sidious]

I will make it legal.

[CatoTheElder]

WRT "a lot of this crap started in the Bush administration", recall that The Who also wrote "Won't Get Fooled Again" with the refrain:

Meet the new boss
Same as the old boss.

Perhaps there's an upside to TSA's overreach: even national-security-obsessed conservatives are pissed off ... at least those who think that national security is a means to securing individual liberty rather than an end unto itself. For example, Forbes magazine has called for the elimination of TSA.

An optimist could even wish for that a coalition of diverse liberty-minded individuals would resolve not to be fooled again. Perhaps it would be called the tea party.

[W]

There's an old saying in Tennessee.. I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee.. that says: fool me once, shame on.. .. shame on you?.. .. Fool me.. you can't get fooled again.

[Dan Quayle]

Quit spoofing me!

Uh, never mind.

[Mango Punch]

An optimist could even wish for that a coalition of diverse liberty-minded individuals would resolve not to be fooled again. Perhaps it would be called the tea party.

A far cry from the curren "tea party".

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

Hey, maybe you can ask for a free happy ending to your TSA pat down. I mean, while you're down there groping around, at least make it worth my while.

[Yea Baby]

Great idea. Maybe the airlines can tack on fee for the "extra" service! $25 to check a bag, $50 for a "special" pat down.

[Corduroy]

Happy ending time!

[Zeb]

The thought that keeps occurring to me when I hear about the new, more invasive, pat down is that people should pretend to enjoy it too much. I wonder how the screeners would react if they had to deal with a long line of grinning scanner decliners who look like they might have something in their pockets.

[P Brooks]

These jackboots were made for walkin'

Walkin' all over YOU

[Episiarch]

The TSA has gone too far this time. I have to fly at Xmas time, and I am predicting that this shit will be over by then. You can't be searching grandma's titties or little 5-year-old Suzie's crotch and not have people freak out.

[Old Mexican]

Re: Episiarch,

The TSA has gone too far this time.

This time????

[Rich]

You can't be searching grandma's titties or little 5-year-old Suzie's crotch and not have people freak out.

Obviously the solution is to hire like to search like.

Good for the unemployment numbers, too.

[Jeffersonian]

Now, if they could allow opposite-sex searches and clone George Clooney and Ines Sainz...

[Ines Sainz]

Is that a GUN in your pants?

Oh.

[Barely Suppressed Rage]

As the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals noted in Bourgeois v. Peters, 387 F. 3d 1303 (11th Cir. 2004): "September 11, 2001, already a day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this country."

Well, apparently, yes it can.

[TrickyVic]

Depends on how one defines liberty. Some may argue that you can still fly, therefore you liberty to travel by air has not been usurped. I hear the same arguement when talking about government surveillence. Watching and recording acts doesn't interfer with doing the act.

[Irresponsible Hater]

Ahem...
Squeeze Box (FTW)

[P Brooks]

If I were king, I would decree that all TSA employees on duty in the departing airport of a flight which crashed (for any reason) would be summarily put to death.

Or, better than that; I'd just put them ALL to death pre-emptively. And then I'd allow any paying customer to carry a loaded pistol on the plane with him or her.

[freeforall232]

I think they should hand out guns before boarding the plane. I mean, who would hijack a plane if everyone was packing?

[TrickyVic]

You can't hijack a plane if the pilot can secure the cockpit door.

[Old Man With Candy]

Sure you can. The technique is a bit different, but it's absolutely do-able as long as there's babies and little kids on the plane.

[Joshua]

I dunno - after the examples that Al Quaeda set, I don't think another American flight will ever be hijacked. Passengers have to assume they have nothing to lose.

[Cuddly Soft Balls of Death]

Every airline seat should have a souvenir-sized baseball bat under it. Every time the crew or passengers subdue a terrorist, he should be bound, and then the airline policy should be that they immediately descent to 10,000 feet, open the door, and toss the motherfucker out, in a clear act of self-defense. "Good luck, Achmed. Thank you for flying Southwest Airlines!"

[The Other Kevin]

A few other commenters mentioned this, but I like how this is going. We are seeing a number of big issues no longer framed as Red vs Blue, but as Freedom vs Control, which is just what libertarians want.

The same thing happened with Prop 19. The Red and Blue establishments were against it, but enough individuals were for it to put up a significant fight.

I expect the same kind of backlash against QE2.

[West Coaster]

Why would anyone lash out against an ocean liner?

Oh....you mean that other QE2.

[Half the Population]

Huh?

[hmm]

She was a fine ship.

[AlmightyJB]

I saw her as a child on a trip to Ft Lauderdale. Pretty awesome.

[P Brooks]

"September 11, 2001, already a day of immeasurable tragedy, cannot be the day liberty perished in this country."

These things take time. Get back in the pot bath tub, Herr Froggy. You're not quite done.

[hmm]

I am considering carrying some form of pornography with me every time I fly. If I'm going to be uncomfortable the person stroking my raging boner in public for the sake of security is going to be just as uncomfortable. And who knows maybe I'll get a happy ending.

[robc]

Proper protocol is to offer the TSA agent $20 for a happy ending. Right?

[hmm]

Fuck them. They aren't even getting a towel offered to them.

[Jeffersonian]

I was thinking of a quick-hit bidness opportunity myself: Flexible, disposable sheets that one can put between one's shirt and body with a metalized "FUCK THE TSA" on them.

[hmm]

My goal would be to make the individual as uncomfortable as possible with their willingness to violate my rights. Government sucks, but it takes people to violate other people.

[Butts Wagner]

My goal would be to make the individual as uncomfortable as possible with their willingness to violate my rights.

Agreed. Raging boners and uncomfortable staring are the way to go.

[Zeb]

Maybe some quiet moaning and grunting too.

[P Brooks]

Everyone who flies should wear a thong (or t-shirt) with ABOLISH THE TSA printed with metallic ink, just to give the nude-o-scope operator a little thrill.

[NotLinky]

I wear a thong, so my message will need to be brief:

 FU
TSA

[hmm]

what if you go commando?

[Brett L]

I'll bet high-SPF sunblock shows up pretty well.

[P Brooks]

If I'm going to be uncomfortable the person stroking my raging boner in public for the sake of security is going to be just as uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, the TSA agent goon will probably be "traumatized" to such a degree he'll spend the rest of his life getting disability checks from the government. Kill him (preferably by stabbing him in the eye with a knitting needle); I'd just as soon pay for your lifetime support as his. It's a small price to pay.

[Slap the Enlightened!]

Commentary from Janet the Mad.

[Corduroy]

I love the citation on the safety of the backscatter machines from APL. I worked there once, most of those guys consider anything short of nuclear holocaust "safe." APL is a military hardware outfit and not in any way associated with the med school.

[prolefeed]

What surprises me is how a state like Arizona, with lots of libertarians, elected Janet the Mad.

[Enyap]

Arpaioland has alot of libertarians?

[Joshua]

Every governor in Arizona's last 3 decades (at least) has been a complete jackass. I think they elect idiots in order to keep productive members of society in the private sector.

[Douglas Fletcher]

We're all high on peyote.

[CatoTheElder]

Janet the Mad says, "We ask for cooperation, patience and a commitment to vigilance in the face of a determined enemy."

To Janet the Mad, to ask is to demand obedience.

She also mentions the "determined enemy" several times, but fails to identify who the enemy actually is. Maybe the US government wouldn't have so many enemies if it didn't spend billions of dollars trying to piss people off.

Even Orwell couldn't imagine a super-state this fucked up.

[P Brooks]

what if you go commando?

Fortunately, I don't have to fly anymore.

[P Brooks]

Commentary from Janet the Mad.

Wow-
Greetings from the Ministry of Truth, Citizen!

[Grog]

My suggestion is that, so long as we are institutionalizing sexcrime,we take all the sex offenders and make them airport screeners. They'll be motivated, and probably bring attention to detail to their job. Plus, we already have the a list...

[Masturbatin' Pete]

"The video should really acknowledge that a lot of this crap started in the Bush administration."

Men were raping women for thousands of years before I was even born. So if I rape a woman, just remember that a lot of that crap started before I was around.

[galdang]

The response video (from next Wednesday's National Opt-Out day http://www.theatlantic.com/nat.....ist/66545/) should be set to another Who song from Tommy, "We're Not Gonna Take It"

[Douglas Fletcher]

If our former governor Janet wants us all to submit to the naked machines she should release a photo of her in the naked machine. Not that anyone this side of sanity wants to see that, but it would at least be in the spirit of the Katie Couric butt videos. Not that anyone wanted to see those either.

letsmakeobamaresign.blogspot.com

[????? ??????]

Thanks