TSA chief apologizes to traveler with ostomy

[RamboLiberal]

Source: MSNBC

A retired special education teacher who said he was left humiliated, crying and covered with his own urine after an enhanced pat-down at airport security said he received an apology Monday in a phone call from Transportation Security Administration chief John Pistole.

“First he apologized,” said Thomas D. “Tom” Sawyer, 61, of Lansing, Mich. “And I thanked him. Then I told him off a bit. And he said, ‘Tell me more. What do you think needs to be done?’ ”

Sawyer said that he suggested to Pistole that TSA screeners undergo more training to better understand travelers with medical conditions.

“I offered to attend a general staff meeting to show the staff what an ostomy bag is and help with that training,” Sawyer said. “Pistole said he just may take me up on that.”



Read more: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40320562/ns/travel-news/

[Pab Sungenis]

1. As a former ostomy wearer

Sawyer is letting them get off far too easily.

[liberal N proud]

2. Not enough

[jberryhill]

4. That would be up to Mr. Sawyer, don't you think?

[elleng]

6. ...

:thumbsup:

In addition to personal apology, sounds like we'll all benefit from this engagement.

[liberal N proud]

11. What about the people who had to sit next to him on the plane?

He had to fly soaked in urine.

[jberryhill]

15. Whether the apology to Mr. Sawyer is acceptable to Mr. Sawyer is up to Mr. Sawyer

Perhaps if those affected passengers identify their concerns to the TSA, then they too may receive an apology, and determine whether it is acceptable to them.

[lunatica]

34. He had to board the plane that way but was able to clean up after it took off

And your sympathy for bystanders at the expense of this man's medical problems and utter humiliation not very inspiring.

[donheld]

25. NO

It's totally up to the members of DU to rule on everything. EVERYTHING! :D

[sabrina 1]

30. It is totally up to the American people to rule on everything, and

it looks like the American people are growing very angry about the assault on their rights and the use of the tragedy of 9/11 to destroy their Constitutional rights. If Bush were president right now with all this happening, DU would be talking about nothing else. The outrage would be off the charts. The hypocrisy of attempting to minimize these government abuses when it's 'our team' is very sad to watch.

I remember the outrage when Bush tried to get those machines installed years ago all over the left blogosphere. And there were none of these abusive assaults on travellers attached to them then. But now, the abuses have a 'D' attacked to them, so I guess we can start using the old 'IOKIYAR' this way now 'IOKIYAD'

[Fruittree]

16. Isn't the point to all work together to make things better rather than

make statements like this?..Mr. Pistole has a job to do which is to keep people safe on planes. They've come up with a technique which is being tried out in apparently 20% of airports. It will either not work and need to be refined or not work and need to be discontinued. Obviously, it's not working perfectly as is. Either way, it appears Mr. Sawyer is taking a constructive point of view by offering his knowledge on the issue. And whether the apology is enough or not is for him to say..
The option seems to be to either put up with the possibility of an increased risk on planes or put up with some degree of inconvenience. What form that inconvenience is going to take long term remains to be seen.

[jberryhill]

17. You need to tone down that strident reasonableness

If your type of rhetoric caught on, our nation would be crippled by supported arguments, weighing both sides of a question, and advocacy that takes counterarguments into account.

Letters would stream in to our representatives, inundating them with thoughtful reflections, and government would come to a standstill.

You, sir or madam, are an agitator.

[SteveG]

22. LOL

Great Post. I personally think that both Pistole and Sawyer did the right thing. Mr. Sawyer has a legitimate complaint (as do many others) and his willingness to work with the TSA to make such situations rarer is a good thing.

[Iowa]

23. Wimpy, wimpy, wimpy...

The willingness of some on this board to allow their civil liberties to be stripped away without so much as a whimper is appalling and depressing. Some, like you, even jump to DEFEND those who would turn this country into a police state.

"Mr. Pistole has a job to do."

"They've come up with a technique which (may)... need to be refined"

"...put up with some degree of inconvenience"

Pathetic. Weak. Complicit. People have sacrificed their lives for the civil liberties we enjoy, yet you jump to the defense of fumbling, bumbling, incompetents (like Pistole) who would curtail our liberty, even when there is no good reason to do so. Some people appear to be hopelessly aligned with authority no matter what outrage they decide to impose on law-abiding citizens.

I think I'm going to puke.

[jberryhill]

24. "I think I'm going to puke."

Do you have to do it in this thread?

Why is it that someone who observes that we have a dynamic system for assessing impacts and changing in response to public and other input, something to puke at?

[Matt Shapiro]

26. Yes, he does have to puke here.

Here is where fear causes many otherwise sane people to react with reasonable discourse instead of horror at the complete loss of our civil liberties. All so that Chertof's company can make a bundle on these useless but invasive and physically harmful machines that most people will flock to rather than be sexually assaulted. Are you nuts????

[jberryhill]

27. I don't respond well to fear mongering - whatever the source

Ah, yes, I should panic and be irrational.

I have finally determined the definition of "sheeple" - someone who doesn't give in to *my* authoritarian fear mongering.

[Iowa]

28. Because the wimpy attitude of the poster I responded to poses a threat to our liberty...

... as does yours. You (and the poster I responded to) operate as if we're discussing the need to modify a poorly worded government form, reduce waiting times at the drivers license bureau, or some other piddling government matter that evolves based upon public "input" (to use your word). No... this is a calculated and deliberate assault on our freedom, instituted by a bunch of fumbling, bumbling corporate hacks - from the TSA perverts all the way up the chain of command to the WH. A government that must rely upon public "input" to tell it not to fondle children at airports is a government that is beyond incompetent and poses a threat to our liberty. The poster I replied to clearly doesn't get that. Neither do you.

[Fruittree]

31. Hi...It's me, Wimpy... ...

Sorry if I upset your digestive system but as it's now morning- I trust you're feeling better. "TSA perverts"? Hmmm..I guess you missed the poll where TSA employees said how much they hate this procedure too. It has to be super embarrassing for most. Will there be some slightly "off" people in there - probably but the vast majority will view it as an unpleasant job. Oh and of course, this is Pres. Obama's fault because...let me see...just because - why not?....I think the government is getting the point that people don't like these new procedures which is why we've seen responses from everyone from the Pres to the Sec of State. I return to what I said previously, we have the power to change anything we want, we merely lack through decades of complacency the will to use it. If people don't like this then boycott flying, write letters, organize protests - offer alternatives which is the hard part. It sounds like Mr. Sawyer has done his part by suggesting changes and offering his help. What do you think we should do? Do you think there's a terrorist threat or not? Ranting on the internet without being able to offer rational solutions is easy - fixing things is not. I actually wonder if the most "calculated and deliberate assault on our freedom" is actually sites on the internet that let us impotently complain meanwhile outside our windows life goes on and nothing changes.

[jberryhill]

33. Careful, you'll give him the vapors

[jberryhill]

32. Such a poverty of thought

So, this is of the utmost importance that you feel as if you are "going to puke" because some words on the internet upset your delicate constitution?

The great struggle of our day, and you man the bunker, keyboard at your side, just queasy at the thought someone doesn't see things exactly the same way, or express themselves as you would.

And YOU call someone else "wimpy".

That's funny.

[snooper2]

37. Yeah, talking and trying to make progress with a contentious issue

is never enough right? :eyes:

[onecent]

3. I saw that poor man on tv this morning and I think he

should get ALOT MORE THAN THAT. From what I understood he had to board the plane with urine all over him...Jesus that's got to be a health issue, not to mention
an embarassing and demoralizing situation.

[Judi Lynn]

10. They should have made arrangement to find some way to allow him to get cleaned up with fresh clothes

and return him to the condition in which he arrived before that humiliating exerience. It's the very least they could have done.

It's horrendous they didn't make an arrangement on the spot to repair the damage.

[lunatica]

35. I heard on the radio that they totally ignored the urine incident

Yes, they should have, but the two agents would first have to acknowledge what they did and that the urine was even there.

Obviously the agents aren't very well trained. I would imagine training would involve putting the traveler at ease and being gentle and understanding that the frisk wasn't personal and doing it as gently and unobtrusively as possible.

[PavePusher]

18. Actually, fresh urine is pretty sterile. Good for washing wounds in an emergency... n/t

[Lars39]

21. Urine ceases being sterile once it exits the body.

[zipplewrath]

5. What's getting missed in all of this

Just agreeing to the scan isn't going to prevent more extensive pat downs. If they see something in the scan which attracts their attention, that can generate the pat down.

The numbers of people who have been sexually assualted in the past, and will now be exposed to this inspection is frightening to consider. I can't imagine one having to stand there and be invasively probed by someone in this manner.

The terrorists have won.

[Dr.Phool]

7. And somewhere, Osama bin Laden is watching a Murdoch sattelite TV

In his cave, laughing his ass off.

"Hey, Khalil! You thought it was funny when I had them all taking their shoes off?"

[Gin]

9. just heard on the TV that the terrorists are now planning on using

prosthetics to hide their bombs....I kid you not...this guy with the urine issue was on and said his underwear was at his ankles with 2 strange men in the room with him.

[CLANG]

8. No doubt this is a big win for the terrorists

Now they know, that all they have to do is stick their C4 up there arse (and try not to fart violently) and they won't be touched. So all of us law-abiding citizens get irradiated and felt up, and the terrorist are just laughing their asses off since the TSA director said there will be no cavity searches.

I wonder how long the no-cavity-search rule will last. Fucking PERVERTS!

[LisaL]

20. Exactly right.

For passengers with any kinds of medical devices, I am pretty sure the scan will detect an anomaly and then onto pat down they go.
So it's not like someone who agreed to a scan therefore is guaranteed to avoid a pat down.

[northernlights]

12. too bad he didn't stick to constitutional/bill of rights issues,

While I feel for this man, the ostomy outrage is just on top of it all.

None of us should be getting groped at the airport, period. It is an outrage and will not keep anybody safer. The terrorists have won. They won years and years ago -- right around 2003 when W staged his little Iraq-attack.

What's next? Tampon bombs? Anal bombs? Cavity searches before boarding a plane? :shrug:

[Moondog]

13. Too little. Too late.

Fuck you Pistole. And I'm not too fucking happy with your boss either.

[marasinghe]

19. absolutely.

like cops having to train with tasers - by being zapped - all the tsa idiots, & others, responsible for imposing this shit on normal folks, should be obliged to undergo the radioactive scanning & the obscenity of a frisk, every 6 months or so.

[Joe Chi Minh]

14. Showing the minimal respect of listening to passengers should really have

been his first point, rather than second. That would not have precluded his coming up with the subjective filter of his own experience as a victim with an ostomy. But I suppose with the call coming out of the blue, it was natural to address the matter in that order.

[The abyss]

29. I would like to remind all travelers this US holiday week (thanksgiving)

The TSA does NOT have arrest or detention powers. Their personnel and organization must rely on civilian law enforcement in all local jurisdictions. The goons running the security checkpoints have zero authority. They are NOT law enforcement.

The TSA can - and will - attempt to bullshit the public into believing they have some sort of authority.

The TSA org draws power under civil statutes NOT criminal statutes. They can NOT arrest nor detain anyone!

TSA employees are NOT certified state or federal law enforcement.

That thug feeling up your teenager this week is NOT trained by a state or federal law enforcement academy.


Hey! dick weed! John Pistole, please make my fuckin' day!

Hang your worthless ass from the first lamppost.

[lunatica]

36. Your comments are very good ones

It's become quite obvious that the only training these agents received was how to use their hands. They have not been trained in anything else. They weren't even trained to use their hands in a gentler or less intrusive way or to understand that people will feel humiliated and that being respectful and listening to what they say about their physical condition, like this man is the best professional way to do their jobs.

My son pats people down at sports stadiums as they enter to see the football games in San Francisco. He says he would quit before he did what the TSA agents are doing. He also has to pat down the children that go through. He says they're wide eyed and a look more than a little scared so he jokes around with them and very quickly runs his hands lightly down each side of their body from the armpit to the ankles and tells them to enter. He won't make them turn around and pat them down from the back nor does he touch anything else.

He also says he's never been insulted, but that he has had people kid with him with some banter, like women saying they don't mind if he pats them down, and, of course he tells them they have to go to the female security person standing close to him. His method is to talk to them with respect and humor if he feels they're nervous. It works.

[Bonobo]

38. Damage control. Keep up the pressure everyone. nt