We were \u201clucky\u201d enough to have taken a vacation around the first of the month.\u00a0 Thus we left before the new pat downs but flew back with them.\u00a0 I had no problem, but an elderly woman with us who is phobic about touching to begin with (think of the TV detective Monk) had a hip replacement and pins in some of her fingers because of arthritis.\u00a0 She is still having nightmares several weeks later and will probably never fly again.\u00a0 What kind of country do we live in where the government can do this to a person, simply because they wanted to take a vacation?<\/p>\n
Some think the aggressive and invasive pat-downs are just to break down people\u2019s resistance to what have come to be called the naked scanners. If they are then that is in and of itself a pretty scary thought \u2013 that the government would subject its citizens to such searches in order to break down their resistance to something they oppose.\u00a0\u00a0 Others say that they have no problem with scanners and that they should just drop the pat downs and use the scanners.\u00a0<\/p>\n
But I do have a problem with the naked scanners, and not because I am modest, or think the TSA controls are weak.\u00a0 Remember these are just version 1. Think very early Black and White TV. Like all technology, if used they will be improved in years to come.\u00a0 If these scanner are allowed here, in a few decades we will have the full color HDTV versions which will also be much cheaper and thus will spread to more places.<\/p>\n
After all, terrorists have already begun to target less hardened locations than airports.\u00a0 Thus it is not at all hard to imagine a few years from now that you will need to subject yourself to a virtual strip search to go to a ball game, travel a subway, or even to shop at a mall. What does the 4th<\/sup> amendment mean in such a world?\u00a0 Becoming a police state in order to avoid the imposition of Sharia law is not a good trade off.<\/p>\n And they still will not be 100% effective.\u00a0 Terrorists have already placed bombs in body cavities. So what is next?\u00a0 Beep and you get a full cavity search?\u00a0 What about surgically implanted bombs? The bottom line is that terrorists can always be better at hiding weapons than we are at finding them. This is because we are always looking for the last hiding place, not the next one. \u00a0<\/p>\n Perhaps one of the most despicable statements has been that if you do not want to submit to the new pat downs or virtual strip searches, then don\u2019t fly. This is basically if you want to keep your 4th<\/sup> amendment rights, then you can\u2019t exercise your freedom to travel.\u00a0 Whatever happened to living in a free country?<\/p>\n And what happens when these scanners are installed in government buildings as they certainly will be.\u00a0 What happens when they are in a court house, and you are summoned for jury duty? Can you just not go?\u00a0 Then there is the issue of safety. It is far safer to fly than to drive, so as more people choose to drive more people will be killed in auto accidents.\u00a0 Thus it is very likely that the new security measures, rather than saving lives, will result in more deaths.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" We were \u201clucky\u201d enough to have taken a vacation around the first of the month.\u00a0 Thus we left before the new pat downs but flew back with them.\u00a0 I had no problem, but an elderly woman with us who is phobic about touching to begin with (think of the TV detective Monk) had a hip […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,37],"tags":[196,473,536,554,571,688,898,1063,1172,1253,1273,1319,1365],"class_list":["post-504","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-domestic-policy","category-terrorism","tag-bombs","tag-ethnic-stereotyping","tag-freedom-to-travel","tag-gate-rape","tag-gitmo","tag-invasive-pat-downs","tag-naked-scanners","tag-racial-stereotyping","tag-sharia-law","tag-terrorists","tag-the-fourth-amendment","tag-tsa","tag-weapons"],"yoast_head":"\n