Do the new TSA scanners worry you?

[hedgehog]

Poll question: Do the new TSA scanners worry you?

[TexasObserver]

1. Everything about TSA worries me.

More use of the "terror" bloody shirt to impose restrictions that make America less free.

Air travel in this country used to be fun. Now it's running a gauntlet of TSA agents who ought to be cooking fries at McDonalds or working loss prevention at Walmart.

I don't care if they see my junk. That part is irrelevant to me.

[hedgehog]

4. What makes you think they all should be cooking fries at McDonald's?

I don't fly often, but I've been pulled aside for further checking more than once. The folks I've dealt with are professional and courteous. I've gone through airport inspections in Brazil, Ireland, England, Switzerland, France and Germany. I don't see a real difference among the inspectors, aside from the officers at Ireland West Airport Knock who didn't know what my C-pap machine was.

[seabeyond]

10. when submitting to the abuse.... then of course you get professional and courteous

dare to refuse the naked scan or feel up, and reason is no longer part of the equation.

people that have no issue with rights being taken away, or treated like a criminal jump thru the hoops and say.... what abuse?

[LibDemAlways]

40. The little snot-nosed idiot I had to deal with last summer

at the airport wasn't qualified to cook fries at McDonald's. They have some standards. Her ONLY job option was TSA.

[TexasObserver]

42. That's pretty much the norm.

Mall cops are more qualified to fill that role.

[Ron Green]

2. I love train travel more and more.

[cynatnite]

3. I'm not modest at all so I don't care one way or the other...

But I can understand why so many have concerns about this.

[hedgehog]

5. I'm still waiting for someone to explain to me how the officers are supposed to know that someone is

carrying a concealed weapon just by looking at him or her.

[seabeyond]

12. concealed weapon? how about in plain view. belt? tie? hands? nt

[Dawson Leery]

6. The TSA must be shut down.

[hedgehog]

8. And your plan for ensuring the safety of the air travel system is?

[seabeyond]

14. do you drive? do you get out of bed in the morning? you have more risk doing those two things

than getting on a plane

[FLPanhandle]

20. Do you remember the 60's?

There were about 2 airline hijackings a month before upgraded security was introduced. Do you think people really want to go back to that?

[seabeyond]

21. are you suggesting it is all or nothing? where is you line of invasion? cavity searches?

picking out young females to get jollies on scans? harrassing women to tears that have been raped or molested? treating all of us as criminals and total power over us without rights? are you really that afraid? last 9 yrs the only ones caught were not by tsa, but passengers. the scanners would not have picked it up.

how far are you willing to go to feel... feel.... safe. understanding it is only an illusion of safety

[FLPanhandle]

25. So, what is your solution?

I'm not defending TSA, but people that bitch about them never define what security is acceptable. Any type of security is some invasion of privacy. So what are you proposing? Pre 9/11 security? Less than that? More than that? All the way up to Israeli airline security with everything hand searched and interviews?

What YOUR solution?

[seabeyond]

28. you didnt answer my questions. cavity searches ok? cause i gotta tell ya, these naked scans are

not enough to keep you safe.

molesting a rape victim?

humiliation and degradation to instill fear and compliance? that is what our military uses to torture.... you understand, torture detainees to get them to talk

[FLPanhandle]

32. Since you won't answer, here is my airline security solution.

Drop the shoe scanning.
Drop the liquid bans.
Drop the body scanners.
Keep the metal detectors.
Keep the carry on x-ray machines.
Keep the ban on box cutters, knives, etc.
You fail the metal detector, you get a hand scanner.
You fail the hand scanner, you get a pat down. (just like the pre TSA days)

All of these are still some invasion of privacy, but it's not opening up the wild west on-board either.

[seabeyond]

33. i can do all that. i dont understand if a person objects to the invasions, assumed all or nothing.

nt

[FLPanhandle]

35. In this case because the subthread started with "TSA needs to be shutdown"

That's a little overboard the other way.

[seabeyond]

37. ah, i took it as tsa has run amuck. shut down and create a reasonable security.

but really, i didnt even pay attention to the title

[seabeyond]

36. behavior. i think another part ignored is we are all criminals and warrant such treatment

that tsa is godlike all powerful. that is another issue needs to be addressed.

i think in training with any position of power over the people there must be a strong line dealing with abuse. i think that the supervisors have ultimate responsibility in not allowing abuse, or abusive attitudes. that is complete opposite of the mentality today.

twice i had a situation where a person simple didnt like my attitude. there was not a single thing i did to suggest i was a big bad terrorist and gonna take plane down, but an intent to solely abuse power because they wanted to teach me something.

i was pulled out. i am always pulled out. i was dealing with 4 and 6 yr old. round trip week vacation to florida. small city airport, employees from this small city. had license, new where i lived. 40 yr old mom, two little kids, no threat to blow up. i was pulled out and woman says, .... how are you. i say, this is crap, as i am being wanded. not a big deal. wasnt hostile. wasnt even thinking about what i said. 6 in morning, not enough coffee, and going thru mind about if i got everything done.

i was flagged. i had grown men work on intimidating me.

again, didnt think of intimidated. didnt think i was suppoe to be afraid. didnt think to lower eyes and submit. wasnt a thought. sorry. they then put fear of god into my two young kids, putting behind a table and going thru their back packs that had been scanned, looking for a weapon.

another time i missed my plane. why? because i was pulled out. told to sit, lift leg to get scanned. i did. the woman walked away to talk to another person. i waited. she didnt come back. i dared to lower leg while i waited for her. she was pissed my leg still wasnt up, so she could scan. took enough time, i missed plane.

it goes beyong those simple procedures you say.

i dont have to be nice. i dont have to lower eyes. i dont have to be submissive in attitude. i can even not like what i am doing. if i do nothing wrong, i still have done nothing wrong.

[FLPanhandle]

39. I agree about the training.

Where there is power there is a strong temptation for abuse.

Most of the TSA agents I deal with on a weekly basis are great. In fact, I feel for them sometimes watching how some folks react and treat them.

Then there are the agents who get an ego boost from the badge... Looks like you've had the bad luck of dealing with those.

[Gormy Cuss]

43. The TSA doesn't have a plan for ensuring the safety of air travel.

It's a collection of Rube Goldberg checks of freight and dog-and-pony show security for passengers.

[sally cat]

7. Groping and radiation? Hasn't this gone way too far? People are getting pissed.

[TBF]

9. Where is the "no" option - I'd rather an xray than some TSA agent

molesting me at the airport.

[MadHound]

11. Yes, and no

Yes, because it is a potential health hazard and an outrageous invasion of privacy. No, because of past outrageous invasions of privacy, I no longer fly.

[Bill McBlueState]

13. it would be nice not to have a job that requires air travel

I can't stand the invasion of privacy, but it's what I have to do.

[AsahinaKimi]

15. Since its too expensive to fly these days..

I am certainly not worried, since I don't plan to fly anywhere in the future. Can't afford it. I think my traveling to exotic places days are over.

[seabeyond]

16. the more people that refuse these invasions will not be putting $ in, the ticket price will increase

so all the people that say (not you), dont like it, dont fly is hurting themselves. the more people that refuse to fly is going to cause ailines to increase price.

[AsahinaKimi]

17. That doesn't make sense.

So you are saying, that for example, a restaurant that people boycott will raise their prices to compensate? no, no, no. I don't see that happening. It would kill their business. You want to bring people back to your restaurant? You lower prices..

[seabeyond]

18. if your food tastes like shit, and lower prices, dont get the customers, you go out of business

airlines can lower prices all they want. people refuse to fly because of invasions and abuse, people will continue to not fly. they MUST raise the prices to cover cost

[AsahinaKimi]

19. If your food tastes like...

Can we say MCDONALDS? How many rich people do you see going there? Why do people go there? Cause its cheap. Poor people don't have a lot of choices, so even if the food is bad, (and most people know it is) they will buy it anyway. Why? cause its cheap and available.

And by the way, their are cheaper Airlines. Infact most airlines are competing with each other, that drives the prices down, not up.

[seabeyond]

23. i like mcky d'ees. it is a treat in our house cause i dont allow often, unhealthy. nt

[AsahinaKimi]

24. I see you are not getting my point...

never mind than, lets agree to disagree.

[seabeyond]

26. i get your point. i dont agree. and i absolutely agree

to disagree, lol

peace

[Radical Activist]

22. I don't fly either

unless a company or organization is paying for it. The TSA is a problem for people with more money than me.

[niyad]

27. still another reason not to fly

[SammyWinstonJack]

31. The #1 reason for me.

[FLPanhandle]

29. I go through airport security about 2-4 times per week for my job.

Do the scanners worry me from a health perspective? No. Two minutes of flight time is more radiation than those put out.

Do the scanners worry me from a modesty standpoint? Not really.

What does bother me is that the scanners are incredibly slow and security lines progress about 1/4 the speed as metal detectors. Long waits.

Also, I don't really believe they are much more effective than metal detectors. It's just a cool new tool that really isn't going to make any difference in security.

So, the scanners will slow things down, embarrass some people, and not add any appreciable security.

[Generic Brad]

30. I think TSA employees should be more worried about seeing me naked

I am not a pretty sight any more. They have to go home with naked images of guys like me burned into their retinas.

[flamingdem]

34. The backscatter machines emit IONIZING X-RAY - hello skin cancer nt

[LibDemAlways]

38. Who knew that TSA would come to stand for

TitS 'n Ass?

The only way to put pressure on the goons is for people to quit flying and tell the airlines why. If the airlines were deluged with Amtrak receipts, gasoline receipts, etc. along with letters explaining "Hey, I drove/took a train to (insert destination here) for my vacation because I refuse to be abused by TSA," and the airlines saw it seriously affecting the bottom line, things would change in a hurry. Politicians are much more likely to address the concerns of big business than the flying public.

There's a group on this website

http://www.reddit.com/r/OperationGrabAss

that is working to put together and fund anti-TSA ads to create public awareness.

One of the best ideas proposed by a poster over there is an image of the Statue of Liberty, torch and crown in the plastic bins, crying while undergoing an invasive pat-down search.

Perhaps it's a good thing that TSA has finally crossed this line. The more people who fight back, the sooner we will go back to some semblance of sanity at the airport.

[bemildred]

41. I don't fly. I believe in "Slow Travel". nt