TSA: Pilots’ Junk Off Limits, Flight Attendants’ Fair Game

[kpete]

Source: In These Times

TSA: Pilots’ Junk Off Limits, Flight Attendants’ Fair Game
Nov 22, 2010
3:00 pm
By Lindsay Beyerstein

The TSA agreed on Friday to exempt pilots from invasive security pat-downs. Last week, two major pilots' unions demanded that their members be exempted from new rules that require passengers to submit to an invasive body search if they refuse to pass through the new backscatter x-ray machines.

So far, the TSA has not granted the same exemption for flight attendants, despite protests by unions representing these workers. Flight attendants undergo the same fingerprinting and 10-year FBI background check as pilots.

Unions representing pilots and flight attendants are advising their members to avoid the scanners because they inflict micro-doses of radiation. The dose is trivially small, equivalent to the extra radiation exposure of flying for 15 minutes, but pilots may have to pass through the scanners twice every working day. Radiation exposure is cumulative, and pilots are already exposed to large amounts of radiation as part of their work. The old scanners didn't cause radiation exposure.

Why should flight professionals accept any additional radiation from scanners that haven't even been proven to be more effective than the old technology? The TSA has yet to supply a cost-benefit analysis for the scanners. Basically any question you might ask about why flight professionals should put up with extra radiation or genital touching in the name of security could also be asked of the general public. Why is the government forcing anyone to participate in a giant, uncontrolled, human experiment?

Read more: http://www.inthesetimes.com/working/entry/6691/pilots_junk_off-limits_to_tsa_flight_attendants_fair_game_sexism/

[NoPasaran]

1. Unrecced and hidden

[CreekDog]

4. .

nevermind

[TheWatcher]

22. LEAVE BIG BROTHER ALONE!!!!!

[nadinbrzezinski]

2. They are starting the roll back

[Omaha Steve]

3. Anytime "Working in These Times" gets in LBN

I'm a happy DUer.

I hope the flight attendants get exempted soon too.

OS

[dixiegrrrrl]

5. TSA claims the grope is in response to the "Christmas Day" bomber.

Does it strike anyone else strange that they did not institute the groping policy until recently?
Like when the scanners started being put in place?

And why is it always airports they keep telling us are in need of such security?


Assuming this has anything to do with Terrorists, that is.

[Thor_MN]

7. 1 plane ticket, $500. 1 pair BVDs, $1,98 1 explosive diaper, market price

Endless annoyance to US citizens, Priceless.

[smiley]

15. the Xmas day bomber -

was allowed to board the plane even after his father warned the proper authorities about his son's behavior. Then once he boarded the plane and he was arrested they realized he did not have the capabilities to detonate his advice.

[KansDem]

23. He was also on a "watch list," paid cash for his ticket, and didn't have a passport...

It appears someone intervened and got him on the plane.

Why? To date, no one knows...or is telling.

[Nihil]

28. Not true ...

> He was also on a "watch list," paid cash for his ticket, and didn't have a passport...
> It appears someone intervened and got him on the plane.
> Why? To date, no one knows...or is telling.

Quite a lot of people know both the facts (as you have stated) and also
the (blatantly obvious) reasons behind them but when they try telling others,
they are routinely slandered as "conspiracy theorists" by the sheep (and the
sheepdogs of course).

:hi:

[CreekDog]

31. to get you to go through the scanner voluntarily...since the intro'd the grope at same time

hmmmm.

[Tansy_Gold]

6. Why would you even bother checking the pilots?

Who really cares what they carry onto the plane? They don't need box cutters or any other weapon to take over the cockpit -- they ALREADY have the cockpit. They don't need a bomb to blow up the plane -- they can just crash it at virtually any time.

The point I'm trying to make here is that no one in TSA -- or Homeland Security :puke: in general -- seems to be using even the tiniest morsel of logic here. Has the entire Obama administration just checked their brains and critical thinking skills at the DC city limits?



TG, NTY

[woo me with science]

26. Wow.

Logic.

[Dr.Phool]

8. Don't taze my junk bro!

Just sayin'.

[FarCenter]

9. You can't always trust the pilots

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EgyptAir_Flight_990

The National Transportation Safety Board report (supported by the FAA, the FBI, Boeing, and the USCG) concluded that the "probable cause of the EgyptAir flight 990 accident is the aircraft's departure from normal cruise flight and subsequent impact with the Atlantic Ocean as a result of the relief first officer's flight control inputs. The reason for the relief first officer's actions was not determined." Many believe that the aircraft was deliberately crashed as a suicide given the evidence provided in the NTSB report and the relief first officer's repeating of "I rely on God", but the pilot's actual motivation for his control inputs is not known.

[customerserviceguy]

10. Ok, don't fly on any planes from Islamic countries

and your chance of survival goes up markedly.

[FarCenter]

12. So there aren't any Islamic pilots flying for carriers from non-Islamic countries

I doubt that's possible.

[customerserviceguy]

17. I would imagine they've been checked out thoroughly

I would also imagine there's a system in place to keep track of all pilots, to figure out if they owe any gambling debts, are going through severe psychological stress, etc.

Even the Army has learned its lesson about trusting potential jihadis, and I'm sure that political correctness has been tossed aside.

[woo me with science]

24. Groping them would not address this kind of problem. nt

[athena]

30. That is a non-sequitur.

The first officer repeating "I rely on God" just means he was praying to God to save them -- i.e. to work a miracle to save the plane.

Many Muslims are superstitious. Many moderate Muslims will say "in the name of God" as they enter a house, leave their house, go to bed, drink a glass of water, etc. It's a way of asking God to protect them as they do what they are about to do. I know this because my grandmother was a devout yet modern-minded Muslim. She did not cover her head, but she often prayed, especially as she got older.

If you see Muslims feverishly praying or reading the Koran on a plane, it does not mean that they are about to blow up the plane. It most likely means they are afraid of flying and are asking God to protect them. As far as I know, suicide is forbidden by orthodox Islam.

I think that many people misunderstand regular Muslims (i.e., the vast majority of Muslims). If more non-Muslims bothered to talk to Muslims about their beliefs, it would help everyone relax and get along better.

[SoapBox]

11. and...Pilots are almost all male...Flight Attendants are almost all female.

Gee, go figure.

[ladywnch]

13. EXACTLY!!!! I saw that as soon as I read the pilots were being excused

they want to feel up women, humiliate women and keep them submissive. It's all too emasculating for men.....boo hoo.

[daleo]

16. Social status and class too

Pilots make more money, and people get treated more respectfully within a capitalist system when they make more money (all else being equal).

[woo me with science]

14. Well, they make more. nt

[Odin2005]

18. Excuse to fondle womens' breasts and crotches. SICK.

[pecwae]

19. Recced and Not Hidden.

[Javaman]

20. My sister is a flight attendant...

needless to say she is very pissed off.

[lovuian]

32. they should be pissed

who is the emergency people there to help in the crash and instruct the fliers

the stewardess

this is discrimination

[femrap]

21. Sexist pukes....

Most of the pilots are male and most of the attendants are female.

Why would you hire someone that you believe is a terrorist?

Just crap. I hope the attendants keep fighting this. Strike, if necessary.

[BlueIris]

25. The blatant misogyny here cannot be denied. And there's a healthy does of elitism

in there, too. Ugly.

[Nikia]

27. If we can't trust the flights attendents, why should we trust TSA employees?

If a flight attendent who has been screened before employment cannot be trusted not to carry a bomb onto a plane, why should we trust TSA employees not to let a terrorist carrying a bomb get on a plane?

[daleo]

33. Excellent point. n/t

[suffragette]

29. Thanks kpete

Been wondering about this and glad to see this article posted.
Too late for me to recommend, but here's a hearty kick.