An interesting note on the TSA scanners

[MadHound]

They were purchased with the help of stimulus money.

"In fact, Obama’s Stimulus Bill, which committed more than $3 billion for homeland security projects, is funding the installation of the devices in airports across the country."
<http://www.gilmermirror.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Invasion+of+the+Body+Scanners%20&id=10319044&instance=secondary_stories_left_column>

"The U.S. government is using $25 million in stimulus money to buy and install full body scanners in airports this year, in an effort to ramp up security and create jobs.

The Transportation Security Administration is using funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to purchase 150 of the full body scanners, according to TSA spokeswoman Sarah Horowitz."
<http://money.cnn.com/2010/01/05/technology/full_body_scanner/index.htm>

Hmmm, how are you liking that stimulus now?

[stray cat]

1. Don't fly - driving and paying for hotels is a better stimulus anyway and a great way to spend

Your vacation

[MadHound]

4. I haven't flown for decades,

I stopped flying due to the amount of pollution that is created by flying. Since 911 my conviction not to fly has only grown.

As far as vacation, LOL, what's that. It's been years since I've taken a traditional vacation. Yet when I did, I enjoyed driving much more. I would rather see the land close up rather than flying over it. As they say, getting there is half the fun.

[derby378]

2. Oh golly gee willikers, thanks for cheering me up with that

I hope someone nails Obama and Congress to the wall on this one for sure. "Change we can believe in," my ass...

[jefferson_dem]

3. Yes...

I heard Hannity and Rush going on about this today. That Obamer! Git him!

[MineralMan]

5. Are those scanners made in this country? If so, then the stimulus

money created jobs. Personally, I'll gladly go through those scanners the couple of times I fly each year. They're one of the reasons the bad guys don't show up on flights. They don't catch anyone, but they seem to be keeping them away from the airport. That's not a bad thing. If I were worried about the ionizing radiation, I'd get patted down. Nothing unique about my junk. Nothing interesting, either. Everyone has some.

[MadHound]

8. Nice to see that you're so willing to sacrifice your liberty for security.

Face it, with attitudes like yours and the response of our government, Osama won.

[MineralMan]

12. Goodness. Here's the thing. I fly. I go places that are too far to

drive. You don't fly, by your own statement, and haven't flown in decades, again according to your own statement. Since I fly, although not as frequently as I used to, I've been going through security screenings since the 80s. I remember when you had to take your laptop out and turn it on for the screeners. No more. Today, I still have to take it out and run it through the xray machine. I have to take off my shoes and my jacket and send them through, too.

Now, I have to go through an additional screening device. OK, no problem. My liberty is not damaged. I don't have to fly at all, if I choose. You appear to have made that choice. I fly. I go to the airport prepared to fly. My shoes slip off. Everything else, including my belt, since its buckle once got noticed by the metal detector, goes in a pocket in my laptop case. It all goes in the bins and through the xray machine. I walk through the metal detector, or this new scanner. No alarms go off, and they won't see anything in the scanner. So, I go over, pick up my stuff from the xray machine belt, find a seat, put my shoes and belt back on and put whatever I took out of my pockets back in my pockets, then head for the gate, maybe stopping off to buy a nice sandwich to eat on the plane.

I fly. I go where I want, when I want. I enjoy flying. Since I book far in advance, I always have my preferred window seat. I watch the planet out the window and see all the familiar landmarks on my normal routes. I land and get off the plane, pick up a rental car and go where I want to go. It's great! I enjoy the liberty I have of traveling quickly to any destination on the planet. Five minutes in a security screening doesn't interfere with that liberty.

You know who has given up their liberty? People who refuse to fly because of that five minutes. They can't go where they want to go anytime they want to go. Their travel is limited to where they can drive in a reasonable amount of time. Their freedom of travel is self-limited. I fly. You don't fly. Who has more liberty?

Osama won nothing. The planes are still flying from airport to airport, full of people on their way to somewhere. Osama may restrict you, but not me, and not all those people on all those planes.

Liberty is not just a concept, and it can be lost by one's own actions, just as quickly as it can be lost by some government restriction. You have given up your liberty. I have not. I fly.

[Catherina]

6. Stimulus money, publicly traded company, police state. Never liked it. Never will.

Up $0.79 on the NASDAQ today.

ASEI (Common Stock) - $83.54

[dreamnightwind]

7. +1

I agree.

[high density]

9. I think some stimulus money needs to put them in the Capitol and the White House.

I think Obama and all of these other spineless fucks that are behind the implementation of this worthless invasive technology need to submit to them multiple times a day. Either go through the nude-o-scope or get groped. I will happily pay for that.

[MadHound]

11. That very well may happen,

But it will only be at the visitor, delivery and employee entrances. The President and others in power won't have to sully themselves now or in the future with such invasive procedures. After all, that's what private jets are all about.

[bluedigger]

10. See my post here:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=9565380&mesg_id=9566216