Our constitution trumps our "safety".

[Webster Green]

All these dumb-ass mutherfuckers running around DC with their heads up their asses (and ours) are confused as to what their responsibilities actually are.

The oath they all take is to defend the constitution, not to try to keep everyone safe from any possible threat.

Any time these draconian, totalitarian police state tactics are used, it's always to protect us. What a load of crap!

9/11 didn't change anything. Religious fanatics have been killing innocent people for centuries. We've already gone back to the dark ages before the Magna Carta in our tactics for keeping everybody "safe". How far must we regress before the cowards who are running this show finally feel secure?

We're all living on a ball of molten iron, hurtling at ungodly speed around a burning ball of hydrogen, and people are in a frenzy, worrying that some psycho has cherry bombs in his undies? :shrug:

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. It is not just DC

it is also those who accept this, among the general population and use things like... well you don't have a right to fly... don't like it, don't fly. (Incidentally freedom of travel is considered a human right by the UN)

Yes we do need security but not theater, which is also part of the problem. And no, I do not think they have figured out how to do it right, even if they have done quite a bit of deterrence. All these cases have happened ABROAD... not at TSA. The last breach of security IN THE US was on 9.11.

People have also forgotten something else though... while there is a place for security (and quite a bit of what they are doing ain't it) freedom also requires that we are adults, and accept that... freedom entails some risks... and yes, that includes those in DC.

[jancantor]

4. Is this the same UN that thinks it's ok to execute gay people?

Just commenting on the absurdity of using the UN as a moral gauge.

[nadinbrzezinski]

6. They are far from perfect

but that is part of the UN Convention on Human Rights...

You know the one championed by Eleanor Roosevelt...

[Odin2005]

2. A fearful populance is one that is easily controlled.

[Lugnut]

3. Bingo!

I've temporarily changed my sig line to reflect current times.

[ibegurpard]

5. just once I'd like to see a politician give a speech stating something along that line

[Gravel Democrat]

7. http://www.ronpaul.com/

"...Also, let’s not forget that TSA was created in the aftermath of 9/11 when far too many Americans were clamoring for government protection from the specter of terrorism. Indeed, it was Congressional Republicans, the majority party in 2001, who must bear most of the blame for creating the Department of Homeland Security and TSA in the first place. Congressional Republicans also overwhelmingly supported the PATRIOT Act which added to the atmosphere of hostility towards civil liberties in the name of state-provided security.

But as we’ve seen with the TSA, federal security has more to do with humiliation and control than making us safe. It has more to do with instilling a mindset of subservience, which is why laughable policies such as removing one’s shoes continue to be enforced. What else could explain the shabby degrading spectacle of a long line of normally upbeat Americans shuffling obediently through airport security in their stocking feet?..."