This picture says it all about the absurdity of the TSA enhanced pat downs

[DainBramaged]

[Submariner]

1. And I thought this was absurd

[PeaceNikki]

5. That photo has been circulating for some time.

If the photo is real (and I'm not sure it is), it contains almost everything to enrage the masses:

1. Who is the embodiment of teh ebil? A muslim.
2. Who is the embodiment of innocence? A nun.
3. Who else can we vent our anger at? The government.
4. The flag ever so prominently displayed in the background.

The "point" of the photo is to invoke as much anger as possible. What better way to do that than show a muslim with their hands on a nun?

[reggie the dog]

7. looks like a religious extremist to me

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. Watch out, she's got a ruler!

[WonderGrunion]

15. We used to have some female shop lifters that dressed as nuns.

At the store I worked at. They got exposed when some real nuns came in and started trying to find out which convent they were part of. The fake nun's habits were filled with pockets and straps to hold stolen merchandise.

[Radical Activist]

38. The day nuns are exempt from search

is the day someone dresses up as a nun to board a plane. Profiling doesn't work.

[MineralMan]

18. Want to be a nun for a day?

http://www.frankbeecostume.com/nun6.html

Just because someone looks like nun does not mean that person is a nun.

[jberryhill]

35. She's wearing a robe and a headscarf

So...

[mopinko]

41. i did 12 years in catholic schools.

i'm still a little scared of nuns. :hide:

[de novo]

2. Wait for it.....

Someone should be along shortly to call this picture racist and to get over it.

[DainBramaged]

4. With the number of views, it makes you wonder about the thought process

of the people who would unrec this.

[WinkyDink]

3. "The Day of the Jackal"!

[Individualist]

6. Oh...my...god!!

[okieinpain]

8. uh, i think the searches are ok, if i had to fly i would not have a

problem with it. I would rather get felt up then blown up any day of the week.

[nadinbrzezinski]

10. You are truly that afraid, aren't you?

I'd rather they check ALL air cargo, but that's just me.

[okieinpain]

20. yeah they probably need to do that too. n/t.

[rexcat]

12. You don't fly much do you...

The TSA is security theater. What they are doing has nothing to do with security. The TSA looks good if you are the type of person who is not able to process data into meaningful information. Feeling safe vs. being safe are two different concepts.

I fly 2-4 times a week and after observing the TSA at work since their inception I have come to the conclusion that it is up to the flight crews and passengers to keep ourselves safe while in the air. The TSA is a reactionary organization in full panic mode as was the Bush administration and the current Obama administration. When people are in full panic mode they are not able to think well and tend to make poor decisions. The TSA is a prime example of this. On top of that our political system is corrupt. The former Secretary of Homeland Security (Chertoff) is making a fortune off of the backscatter x-rays machines. The backscatter x-ray machines pose a real danger to the flying public and was never approved by any federal regulatory agency (my personal communications with the FDA). PM me and I will forward the e-mail to you.

You are the kind of passenger that I really don't want to fly with because I value my safety and constitutional rights. Both can be had!

[lawwolf]

17. So how much is ok?

If the scanners go too far or the pat downs violate your constitutional rights, then I guess the question is what kind of screening is ok. Are the old pat downs ok? Are the metal detectors ok, but not the new scans? People like to point out the slim chance of the plane you are getting on blown up, but isn't that chance slim because of the screening process? Do you think that if we got rid of all the screening because it violates our rights the chances of the plane getting blown up would rise? So that takes us back to my first question of how much screening is too much? He who would give up a little freedom for security deserves neither freedom nor security. Aren't the old screening guidelines still giving up a little freedom?

[rexcat]

30. I did not say or give my opinion about what should be done as...

far as screening. My response was to a flippant uneducated response.

For a start all of the "breaches" of security post 9/11/2001 have come from foreign soil. What the TSA should do is using bomb sniffing dogs, they should continue to use the magnetometers that are in place and start to profile for behavior similar to what is done in other countries. The scanners or the pat downs should be used as a secondary screening process. Of course that would require TSA agents to actually know what they are doing and to be properly trained, unlike what we have now at the airports. The TSA assumes ever one who purchases a ticket is a potential terrorist. We might as well be throwing away the money we have put into airport security up to now. Please keep in mind that the TSA has never once passed a security audit. They even admit this. A lot of stuff gets through that should not. Unfortunately this news is usually buried on the "six" page of the newspaper. On occasion I have forgotten things in my carry on bags that may be considered contraband by the TSA and they have consistently missed them. I try to keep my bags free of any contraband because I really don't want to deal with these idiots at TSA. I have spoken to many frequent fliers with the same stories.

Also keep in mind that the current scanners would not have picked up the bomb the "underwear" bomber was "wearing." I don't think the pat down would have either since I have been through the pat down process several times in the past month and will probably go through tomorrow flying our of RDU. Again I ask, are you a frequent flier. My guess is you are not and as a frequent flier (over 3,000,000 miles on airplanes over the course of 19 years) your opinion is less valuable to me.

[okieinpain]

21. I still don't think the body pat downs are that big of a deal. just

my opinion, I can understand why some people want to fight but hey I just rather they check everyone then profile certain people.

[nadinbrzezinski]

26. You got it 180 from what it should be

Hence security theater.

[rexcat]

32. As a parent I do...

I really don't want my children to have a strange adult touch them inappropriately. If you think getting your crotch man/women handled and your breasts felt up I think you have some personal issues. As a frequent flier I can potentially be patted down 2-4 times in a given week and for what, to be humiliating and degraded? Please keep in mind that the TSA uses these pat downs as education tool to get everyone compliant for the scanners. Nothing like getting a steady dose of radiation 2-4 times a week. NO THANK YOU! It is pure negative re-enforcement. I have been physically hurt twice with the pat downs and my complaints got nowhere. There are better ways to do this. I would prefer a dog sniffing my butt over the pat downs or being x-rayed.

[LibDemAlways]

33. Between 2004 and 2009 my husband flew twice a week between

LA and Seattle. He describes TSA as a huge waste of taxpayer dollars that keeps no one safe. He firmly believes the average TSA employee couldn't spot a genuine terror threat if one bit him or her in the ass, and that, indeed, it is ultimately up to vigilant flight crews and passengers to keep the flying public safe. It wouldn't hurt to screen all of the cargo too.

[sabrina 1]

13. So you would trade all of our rights on the very slim chance that

plane you are boarding might be blown up by a terrorist? Because you are not just trading off YOUR rights for a questionable guarantee of security.


Are you aware of the odds of that happening as opposed to the threats you faced, say, just driving to the airport?

Since being safe is the goal, what rights are you willing to give up to prevent the far bigger threat of a simple plane crash?

Did you know that your chances of dying in a plane crash are orders of magnitude greater than dying by terrorist?

And what freedoms should we give up to prevent death by car accident?

Death by lack of insurance?

Death by murder?

How on earth can we be safe and secure if we don't give up all of our rights to the government?

This clearly has to be repeated regularly:

Those that would give up their rights for security, deserve neither rights nor security

Paraphrased, but no truer words were ever spoken.

[okieinpain]

23. i don't think getting body patted down by the police is that big

of a deal. I've attended hip hop parties where they go through your bags and wand the hell out of you. so the body pat downs are that big of a deal. now if they wanted to do cavity searches I would have to draw the line there, but having someone fill up my butt isn't that big of a deal to help insure my and others safety.

[sabrina 1]

25. Then you agree with those who have been pushing these invasive

anti-Constitutional tactics since 2004. You disagree with the ACLU and other organizations who have fought against these violations of our rights for six years. When did Democrats suddenly decide that violations of our rights, and they will NOT make you safe, btw, is now okay?

Did you know that the 'left' managed to stop these pat-downs on constitutional grounds in 2004 and even Bush was not able to continue them? But now, a Democrat has sold out our rights and people like Chertoff can finally make the millions they were hoping to make for all those years?

You seem to think it's about modesty or something, it isn't, it is about rights. These machines cannot stop terrorists. Experts, such as the former head of security in Israel stated that they are useless for that purpose. So, you are, as I said already, going along with government intrusions into our lives, and once they succeed with this, they will got further, in fact they've already begun, in order to feel safe, even though that is not going to happen.

I am absolutely furious with Democrats for joining Republicans in doing this. We expected them to remain committed to stopping these abuses, but I guess money talks.

And why are you being searched every time you are out having fun? People used to be able to just go about their business without these intrusions into their lives. And people said once it started, it wouldn't stop. Your acceptance of those searches and your use of them to back up these latest intrusions, shows you have already succumbed to all the signs of a growing police state.

[okieinpain]

27. i hear you, and I'm not being patronizing, it's just how I feel about it

I fly about three times a year on company business, I've missed the scanners and pat downs so far, but if when i have to go I won't mind it. sorry if I'm letting you guy's down I just don't see what the fuss is about.

[tblue37]

28. But "pat-downs" is a falsely innocuous description of having someone's

hands shoved into your crotch, digging in if you are female, massaging your testicles if you are male. They also squeeze your buttocks and stick their hands between your cheeks, and they put their hands inside your pants to feel around. On women, they squeeze the breasts from all sides, and if the woman has a prosthetic breast because of breast cancer, she might be asked to pull it out and display it, as one cancer survivor actually was forced to do. The man with bladder cancer who had an ostomy bag was handled so roughly that seal on his bag of urine broke and the urine leaked all over him--so that he had to board the plane with urine soaked clothing.

And you think all this is OK?!

Your only other option is the nude-o-scope. One father heard a TSA guy saying to the guy manning the scope, "Heads up! I've got a cutie for you." The "cutie" was the man's 18-year-old daughter, and she was deliberately singled out for nude viewing so the TSA guy could get his jollies.

Even if you go through the nude-o-scope, if you have any sort of medical device (hip or knee replacement, prosthetic breast, ostomy bag, penile implant, etc.), you will also have to go through the aggressive groping that is not just a pat-down. That is why most people getting patted down are old people with medical problems and disabled people--not because they are likely to be terrorists, but because their medical devices show up on the nude-o-scope and that triggers the grope.

I am amazed that you think this is "no big deal."

[okieinpain]

29. all of that is wrong and unnecessary I'm would have raised holy

hell if I heard someone say that about the scanner even if it wasn't my child. the rough handling of people is also unnecessary, and should be reported. but I would still have the pat downs if I had too.

[tblue37]

37. The aggressive groping is policy. Reporting it won't help, because they are

following policy.

[okieinpain]

40. it still should be reported. it will have some effect. n/t.

[DainBramaged]

14. Why don't we search 100% of the cargo containers in the ports?

That's just me....

[DainBramaged]

19. Really?

[okieinpain]

24. man the statue of liberty is built under those robes. n/t.

[seabeyond]

22. cause planes are simply dropping from the sky on a regular basis....

thank god we get groped to stop all that.

[pecwae]

39. So, seeing that frail old man

get frisked makes you feel safer? I do feel sorry for you.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. But, but israelizing the airports

Is not Murican, this IS!!!!!!!

:sarcasm:

[TexasObserver]

16. recommend

[lsewpershad]

31. Fear

Result? America has gone mad.

[LibDemAlways]

34. And posting the obvious that TSA has no common sense whatsoever

will inevitably lead to a poster saying we have to pat down the elderly and infirm because they could be terrorists. Give me a fucking break.

[jberryhill]

36. How old was that guy who shot up the holocaust museum?