Thanks for this post. I travel a fair bit by air, and it’s an ongoing amazement to me how much emphasis is placed on scanning air travelers in the USA. All I can figure is the usual mantra: Someone’s making a lot of money from it.

I’m happy for TSA to be employing citizens right now, since there are so few jobs out there. I have no idea what their pay and working conditions and benefits are like (probably crappy except for those at the top, of course).

But it’s foolishly ridiculous to go through all that they do with domestic travelers when there are so many other issues with domestic security that’s going virtually unobserved and dealt with such as cargo and port security.

Clearly, in addition to whomever is making a ton of $$$ out of TSA malarky, it’s also a sop to citizens, as well as yet another fear-mongering device. Total waste of time and money, as well as now being a complete invasion of personal privacy for no real reason… it’s the reichwing way. Get used to it.

Dear Joe,

I’ll take the risk. I will live with the risk in order to live in a free nation.

Using the “booga, booga, fear, fear..” card to create a submissive society, void of freedom, and void of freedom of movement, is death.

Here is my solution suggestion:

We have one side of the airport set-up for the “I’ll take the risk flyers,”
and another side for the “pro-groping flyers?”

There must be an equal number of flighty for both sides to all destinations.

should be:

equal number of flights for…

I bet either a full-body X-ray or a pat-down would show that Joe Fucking Lieberman has absolutely no penis whatsoever.

Just use sniffing dogs. More efficient and economical.

All the points noted above are good ones, especially #2 and #5. Both of these have potential real weight in the (excuse the expression) MSM, television in particular. Emphasize and re-emphasize. Repeat process. And don’t forget to degrade Gropey Holy Joe at every opportunity.

Heh. I was just thinking that it’s safer to be patted down by Droopy Joe than, say, Diaper Vitter.

What would an appropriate mockery of the full body scans be? Should all females wear strap-on dildos?

I haven’t looked into it, but I read a comment somewhere else that said that Chertoff’s security company is the company that produces and/or sells the body scanners.

Having had cancer, I’ll take being groped over being irradiated.

It’s a nice racket, eh not?

Ditto. Plus some Israeli companies

There’s this thing called teh google. It takes about 10 seconds. And what you read seems to be spot on.

With “pysch” written in metallic ink on them!

There is some discussion on the internet about wearing kilts. Not a bad idea.

Does the public need these scanners, or do the makers of the scanners just want the profits?

Well, I guess if the government is saying that you have to let them use the scanner or they’re going to pay someone to feel you up, then the scanners must be important, right?

Bullshit.

Ultimately, the United States since the 1990s has increasingly become a totalitarian democracy and a police state. Citizens have almost no input on decisions, and the police and prosecutors use excessive force and harsh punishments to keep people submissive and scared, with the results that frustration and anger increase and crime gets worse.

This being scanned vs. getting groped nonsense is just the latest symptom of the bigger problem.

Hmmm. You could just paint the metallic ink somewhere near your privates, displaying your fave putdown, like: “Perverts belong in jail, not in TSA. That would avoid the discomfort of the device & men can do it too.

Well, that’s how to win an election. Instead of Righties putting gay marriage bans on state ballots, we can put no grope – no scan ballot measures on.

Oh, my. I didn’t know you had cancer. *positive thoughts for Badwater*

Talk about a million buck business. Make rub-on mettallic tattoos you can affix before you fly with all kind of commentary.

Have we considered the possibility that Joe is simply desperate for some action and is personally panting for a pat-down by a hot TSA employee? It could be addling what’s left of his brain.

thanks. i appreciate that.

Sounds like a plan!

What is wrong with you? You used “Joe” and the word “hot” in the same sentence? You must have needed the edit option and since it is not up and running yet, you could not correct.

/s

Bingo! I was too lazy to research it, but I figured it was some spooge like that making ton$$$ of buckeroo$$ off this nonsense. I’ve been flying a lot since 911, and I just watched the ever-increasing hardware, software & manpower behind TSA scanning. It doesn’t take a genius to get this is yet another money-maker for some NeoCon milking 911 for shitz & profit$$$.

The solution is to stay away from airports. Confine your travel to the extent of the Middle Ages. People seemed to manage well-enough. Flight used to be a real pain in the ass. Now it’s only pure hell. You’re moron if you put up with this for any reason at all. I expect Lieberman has friends in high places. It’s good for business. Watch airlines go down the crapper, in spite of the lack of passenger rail alternatives.

It is time to adopt both, the Israili form of interview in airports and profiling.

You mean Joementum actually HAD a brain? I thought he was like the Scarecrow in the Wizard of Oz, but not at all “nice.”

Mark and date it here. eCAHNomics and klynn copyright and claim the idea of the metallic tattoos with sayings for TSA today at this moment.

So, who do you think will “Zuckerberg” us?

Heh. Seems like we have another scardey cat neocon troll this fine morning.

Thnaks fr teh edjication.

Anyone who will actually DO it instead of just thinking about it.

Any time. First time I asked such a Q on FDL, that was the response I got. Changed my ways quickly. *g*

Being “LS”…I think I’ve been around about as long as you have…”g”

Off again. BBL.

Thank the DLC, the DNSCC, the Clintons and especially Obama for Lieberman.

Lieberman was Obama’s mentor in the Senate. Obama said so himself.

Another fact:

The Democratic Party and it’s high-profile leaders all turned their backs on their own candidate, Ned Lamont – the bonafide Democratic Senate Primary winner in Connecticut – in favor of then newly Independent Candidate Incumbent Droopy AIPAC Phizer Knob Polisher.

Here are some choice quotes from a Mother Jones column that MJ would not endorse (citing a Kevin Drum piece as “more sober and calm”:

Within days or even hours of the bombing attempt, everyone was talking about so-called whole-body imaging as the magic bullet that could stop this type of attack. In announcing hearings by the Senate Homeland Security Commitee, Joe Lieberman approached the use of scanners as a foregone conclusion, saying one of the “big, urgent questions that we are holding this hearing to answer” was “Why isn’t whole-body-scanning technology that can detect explosives in wider use?” Former Homeland Security chief Michael Chertoff told the Washington Post, “You’ve got to find some way of detecting things in parts of the body that aren’t easy to get at. It’s either pat downs or imaging, or otherwise hoping that bad guys haven’t figured it out, and I guess bad guys have figured it out.”

and

Which brings us to the money shot. The body scanner is sure to get a go-ahead because of the illustrious personages hawking them. Chief among them is former DHS secretary Michael Chertoff, who now heads the Chertoff Group, which represents one of the leading manufacturers of whole-body-imaging machines, Rapiscan Systems. For days after the attack, Chertoff made the rounds on the media promoting the scanners, calling the bombing attempt “a very vivid lesson in the value of that machinery”—all without disclosing his relationship to Rapiscan. According to the Washington Post:

Chertoff’s advocacy for the technology dates back to his time in the Bush administration. In 2005, Homeland Security ordered the government’s first batch of the scanners—five from California-based Rapiscan Systems.

Today, 40 body scanners are in use at 19 U.S. airports. The number is expected to skyrocket at least in part because of the Christmas Day incident. The Transportation Security Administration this week said it will order 300 more machines.

In the summer, TSA purchased 150 machines from Rapiscan with $25 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds.

Read the whole article here: http://motherjones.com/mojo/2010/01/airport-scanner-scam. There’s a link to the Drum article there.

Thanks. The question to ask these pricks is exactly how many terrorists carrying bombs have they thwarted via these methods. I would bet the truth is zero. I’m not against airport security at all, but this is just follow the money stuff. Just exactly how they pick and pull people out of line as suspects is absurd.

I hate the special fees these days – like the per bag charges – but I wonder how it would go over if the was a $10 fee for every time an inspection led to an erection, with another $20 if we get a “happy ending”.

Indeed a vibrating glove would seem to be called for – might make grandma happier than she has been in years.

It is about time the government took over responsibility for making us happy in this area – sounds like a progressive change we can all get behind, or in front of – your choice.

Men could do the strap-on thing too. Imagine the expression on the TSA agents face as he/she finds two or more sets of junk! :)

I stand corrected….Joe’s brain went bye-bye a loooong time ago!

The tendency to profile was quite apparent in the early days of this regime following 9/11. It was disgusting.

I would like to see Lieberman go through the airport screening drill: the body scan followed by the pat-down and have the film showing all the detail shown over and over for the next week to the world audience.

Follow the money. Homeland Security has become the new money trough, and will be a close second to the Military-Industrial Complex as a siphoner of public money. It’s a real widow’s cruse for suppliers. Lots of jobs in ‘anti-terrorist’ think tanks, too. Daughter of a friend of mine who was a long-time very high official at Defense wanted to go into the Peace Corps, but her daddy set her straight, and got her a job in what of the Terror Tanks. Good pay, great future. Hey! What’s not to like.

As to Lieberman, he wants the US to be like Israel, actually he wants the US to be part of Israel.

Two more years of this ass clown. Just two more years.

“The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.”

Where are all the Teabaggers with their hair on fire over violation of the IV Amendment? Oh, that’s right, their version of the Constitution only has the 2nd amendment in it.

A serious question for the committee to ask TSA:

What steps is the TSA taking to assure that the people who are viewing naked pictures of children, and handling the genital areas of children, are not sex offenders or pedophiles?

my contempt for Joe Lieberman will never subside.

You are a rock, punaise.

Polls are about 4-1 against. Democracy? Bah. You will eat shit and like it slaves.

And as for the so-called “Christmas Day Bomber”‘s PETN undies, it seems that it would not be detected by these machines:

“Tests by scientists in the team at Qinetiq, which Mr Wallace advised before he became an MP in 2005, showed the millimetre-wave scanners picked up shrapnel and heavy wax and metal, but plastic, chemicals and liquids were missed.

If a material is low density, such as powder, liquid or thin plastic – as well as the passenger’s clothing – the millimetre waves pass through and the object is not shown on screen.”

The results from the recent CBS poll on full body scanners shows that the general public supports the full body scanners, this is without extensive knowledge of health risks. I guess it goes down to the question of whether you rather be exposed to radiation, or excessive groping. Unfortunately some airports are turning to using both.

it’s a bit of a pet peeve… :~)

Yeah, they are pushing that aren’t they? But I’ve seen three other online polls and the results are the exact opposite. I don’t trust CBS for much of anything.

Here is a poll from the UK.

Here is a 7-3 against poll at HuffPost.

Here is an 81% against poll in the NY Daily News.

By your comments on the web

Has anyone done a survey in which they asked: Has all the hassle with Fatherland Security and the Airlines driven you away from flying? Since 2001, I haven’t flown, haven’t missed it and this drives a stake into the idea that I will do so in the future. If a lot more decide the process isn’t worth the aggravation, then the airlines will go down the dumper. If I have to get to the East Coast, I’d rather spend a week driving and avoid this crap. In addition to long lines, you get treated like cattle (once on the plane), then you don’t know if the airline skimped on maintenance or if the pilot is asleep from working two other jobs–because they don’t make enough as a pilot to survive!

My question is: Why would anyone want to deal with this?

Other reasons to think that that CBS poll was doctored bullshit is that half of Americans have not flown in the last 12 months. And, there does not seem to be any indication that the respondents were told about the effects of the radiation. Here, where the rubber meets the road, we see the shilled up MSM doing a completely dishonest poll to manipulate the public. FU CBS.

Just wait until they start putting them in shopping malls and baseball stadiums. What a joke. What tyranny.

I dug up the actual contract for American Science & Engineering Inc’ (stock market ticker on NasdaqGS: ASEI ; Yahoo Finance data at http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=ASEI ) Z-Backscatter Scan-Van (it’s public access) and it’s an education. I couldn’t find the contract for the L-3 (“Level-3 Communications,” stock market ticker on NYSE: LLL ; Yahoo Finance data at http://finance.yahoo.com/q?s=LLL ) in the GSA Advantage database but found a corporate press release from L-3. See the data dump at http://my.firedoglake.com/rayne/2010/11/15/angry-mom-and-the-daughter-groping-government/#comment-265518 .

I had a pat-down at Heathrow in London and believe me, it was not anything near what the TSA is doing to Americans. I didn’t feel violated at all.

I want to know why the US has trillions of dollars which get spent on depravities such as this public-peep-show-for-perverts while citizens are irradiated like Vienna Sausages but we don’t have money for real medical care (e.g. if the Japanese government can easily cure cancer so can the US), decent housing, food, education, public works and infrastructure. This is entirely unacceptable and The Village is a pompous, decrepit, psychopathic FAILURE.

Yep!

Ha ha. I got pulled out of line some years ago..2002, and when I asked why, they told me there was something on my boarding pass indicating that I should be pulled over and get an extra search…go figure.

Yet more lies uncovered:

‘At the heart of the controversy over “body scanners” is a promise: The images of our naked bodies will never be public. U.S. Marshals in a Florida Federal courthouse saved 35,000 images on their scanner. These are those images.’ (from “One Hundred Naked Citizens: One Hundred Leaked Body Scans,” Gizmodo.Com, link: http://gizmodo.com/5690749/these-are-the-first-100-leaked-body-scans ).

Then a *really* good question: “100 naked body scan images leaked; Why is scanner picking up people in line?” (by John Aravosis on Nov. 16, 2010, link: http://www.americablog.com/2010/11/100-naked-body-scan-images-leaked-why.html ). Yes, why?

Tune into C-SPAN Live for the Senate Homeland Security hearing at 3:15pm EST. It is hopeful that questions will be answered regarding this matter.

…nor balls….

There’s nothing like a gentle nad pinch to dispel any pre-flight safety concerns. /s

We should push hard for more passenger trains in this country. Let Joe pinch his own nads.

Let Joe get the pat down on cspan for the full public humiliation that he proposes for us all.