"Peel and Feel: Bad Policy Never Stops Getting Worse" (What's next Enemas?)

[KoKo]

Peel and Feel: Bad Policy Never Stops Getting Worse

Ben Tripp

It should be telling that airline pilots are among the most vocal opponents of these procedures. Why do we even screen pilots? They're at the controls. They don't need hidden weapons. This is all about politics and the psychology of power; otherwise, pilots and flight crew would just have their credentials examined, not their private parts. These procedures are patently ridiculous security theater. They don't make flying much safer. They clearly violate the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits unreasonable search and seizure, regardless of arcane readings of the Constitution by compliant judges. Probable cause for suspicion is not that someone decided to buy an airline ticket. So why are allowing this to happen?

Most Americans don't fly very often. Only about a quarter of Americans possess passports. According to statistics, 80% of Americans will not fly in the next year, and of the remaining 20% who will fly, one in five will be responsible for the majority of the trips taken. These folks are commercial travelers, professionals. This may explain why 80% of Americans don't care what intrusive measures the TSA concocts to "keep Americans safe." But non-fliers who support the nude images and genital fondling of passengers are failing to think about where this whole crazy thing is headed.

Anybody concerned about the "nanny state" should be up in arms about this. But Americans have been remarkably short on implications, lately. If they're not personally flying, they don't care what happens to people who do fly. They won't get upset about this until they're being asked to strip naked before they can enter a public building -- why not at the DMV or the local courthouse? Are these not targets? A madman blew up a building in Oklahoma with a rental van. Should rental companies be required to feel your genitals before they give you a car?

The logical outcome of this ever-expanding "security" program, unless common sense prevails, will be cavity searches in public settings. It's not much of a stretch: the X-ray machines are already strip-searching you, the agents feeling your genitals, but they can't see or feel inside your body -- the most secure place to conceal a weapon. For anybody that grew up in our body-conscious, privacy-celebrating, freedom-loving society, the very idea of these "peel or feel" procedures should be anathema.
Because what's anathema now -- could be an enema later on.

More at:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/ben-tripp/peel-and-feel-bad-policy-_b_785464.html

[90-percent]

1. Question

What if you are patriotic and want to help the TSA confirm you are terrorist-implement-free and, while waiting in line, simply strip naked while awaiting your turn?

If you respect your government, it is really about the only thing you can do to serve your country while traveling!

America is Number One. In transitioning from democracy to military industrial congressional complex full blown fascism.

-90% Jimmy

[Beerball1]

2. Worse

I fear America turned fascist a long time ago. We are now only peeling away the illusion of democracy.