The biggest problem with TSA is that they hired the same people that were doing the job before 9/11 and it took them a while to even eliminate the undocumented workers and criminals among them. Then they hire the companies that had the old contracts to train them.

Every police academy in the country teaches frisking and no one confuses it with fondling because it is done quickly. You don’t just look for weapons, you are also looking for escape tools and drugs. There are several reasons to make people “assume the position” but among those reasons is that tightens clothes against the body and it gives easy access to make things quick.

If they would actually have an academy system and in-service training, people would be a lot happier with the process and security might be improved. Our local airport has retired police and military working the job, and they don’t try to pretend that some of crap is anything other than theater.

I’m not sure the Republicans are ready to override “states rights” under the current conditions.

We must be wrong on those intentions, Badtux, because all we have are facts to support our argument.

As for the granting of legal immunity, the Federal government has a long history of preempting state laws when it comes to legal liability.

Regarding the goals of these Muslim whackos, yeppers, I think we should just take them on their word here, because their actions seem to reflect their words. Why has al Qaeda struck in Britain and the USA, but not in Switzerland or Norway? Could it have something to do with the fact that Switzerland and Norway don’t have troops in the Middle East and don’t support dictators in the Middle East? Hmmm, naw, that’d be too simple. 😈

– Badtux the Reality-based Penguin

That is probably what would happen if the West actually got serious about weaning itself from oil and left them to their own devices.

And you know, to be perfectly honest, al Qaeda really doesn’t give a damn about the USA. You are just a very useful recruiting tool, and a way to garner sympathy from people with money & power for their cause. They yank your strings, and you do their dance. Simple as that.

You mark my words! 😉 😛

The real problem is the people who administer these programs, not the people who interact with the public. As long as the managers are Jack Bauer wannabees who believe they are on a mission to save America, they want people to see they are doing the job by overreacting to everything. This is one massive CYA operation that wastes time and money for everyone involved. These people are like the professional paranoids who were in charge of security at NSA headquarters and saw everything, including Furbys, as a threat.

The point that everyone seems to miss is that while all this theater is going on, a real threat can slip throw the gaps. Personally I think the shoe and boxer bombers were just al Qaeda jerking our chains to make us dance. They were probably ROFL watching what the West has done as a result.

A grant of liability to the airlines could have been done with a simple stroke of the pen, and the TSA could have been simply a grant program where the TSA reimbursed the airlines for the cost of running the security checkpoints. The fact that the TSA is set up the way it is, is because the Shrubbery could have cared less about the law (“it’s just a piece of paper”) and putting the airport screeners under direct Federal control gave the Federal government that much more opportunity to assert control over the population. The security checkpoints at airports and federal buildings aren’t there to stop terrorists. They’re theatre — theatre to acclimatize Americans to being searched by Federal security agents every time they want to move around the country, theatre to acclimatize Americans to heavily-armed goons asking for their papers whenever they want to exercise their rights as Americans to petition their government or move about their country, but above all theatre to reassure Americans that their government is “doing something” — even though what it’s doing is useless and good for nothing except wasting taxpayer money on nonsense.

– Badtux the Theatrical Penguin

The way things are structured you waive your 4th amendment rights when you buy the ticket. The waiver is buried in the purchase agreement for the ticket. You agree to be abused in exchange for being allowed to enter the over-packed viral soup that aircraft travel has become.

And look: It’s not as if the TSA is anything other than security theatre anyhow, as you guys have so clearly pointed out. So why *not* just abolish the TSA and put the airlines and their security contractors back in charge of the security gates? It could hardly make the situation worse, given that the TSA is staffed by Curly, Larry, and Moe anyhow :twisted:.

– Badtux the Realist Penguin

When gambling replaced investing as the driver of the “markets”, innovation died.

But seriously, to take out an airline, you just have to know where and how to start an electrical fire. It’s really very easy!

If people had any real clue, they’d never get on a plane. Look at all the stupid problems Quantas is having now, ever since they greedily and stupidly outsourced all their maintenance & service to Asia! And they were warned. Greed wins every time!