All screening should be debarred… you get a higher degree of security out of one or two undercover air-marashals… without any of the harassment, and dehumanizing policies that the TSA and others engage in.

I had visions of a TSA douche literally ‘flipping’ ‘over $8000 worth of cheques’ ‘out’ of this woman’s purse.

As det suggests, the people within the organization seem to have no accountability. I, like others, haven’t had huge problems with the TSA. Every time a story about the TSA misconduct toward passengers hits the news, the TSA doesn’t punish the official. It just makes up some bullshit to cover itself and the policies that make misconduct easy.

Some people have pointed out that you only get trouble if you act suspicious. Acting suspicious is determined by whom exactly?

And, to be frank, how can you ignore the ease with which you could smuggle or make weapons while on the plane or past security? You could easily make an extremely sharp knife from a shard of glass and some fabric for a handle, anything that provides a mechanical advantage could be classed as a weapon. A hot cup of coffee could be a weapon. I don’t see the enormous difference between a shard of glass and a boxcutter that the rest of America seems to see.

Not to mention you’re allowed to bring screwdrivers and tools of up to 7″ in length. I could dissassemble the bathroom, if I wanted to, probably exposing some control circuits. Also lighters. Macgyver could take down his own plane and 8 others at the same time, if you gave him a screwdriver and a lighter. e_e

Then again, I’ve seen enough of the TSOs on SEPTA to have a pretty good answer to that already.

From now on, I think I’ll fly from Newark.

wrong. the airline industry is a very minor player in the global oil market. they react to the price of oil only.

They are also not cost-effective, or effective in general.

And they continue because we allow them.

That simply isn’t true. Accounting for inflation, air travel prices are FAR from their historical highs.

The TSA sucks eggs, but that’s a different issue.

Actually, I wouldn’t, your reasons for disliking the TSA are sane and pretty much the same I have as well.

I never said what happened to this woman made any sense at all. Nor are some of the other blatant constitutional violations that have happened at the hands of an overzealous TSA employee acceptable.

The thing I take issue with is how it’s ‘cool’ to paint all TSA employees as uneducated goons. I think it makes sense to dislike the policy, but (not counting the few exceptions who overstep their bounds – and who should be fired) why hate on ALL of the employees, many of which are funny; kind; helpful – assuming you’re not being a total dick to them. Just like cops, some have a huge chip on their shoulder but most are good people and if you treat them with some respect, you get the same treatment right back (in my experience).

They might not have killed us all but they surely helped the idiots in power take every last bit of freedom and flush it down the toilet while wiping their asses with the constitution.

I remember how fond I was of the airport and arrivals/departures. Seeing your loved one off, hugging, crying. Then either leaving or like my family did, sit there and watch the plane take off. Then later, watching their plane taxi in from the runway and peering down the tunnel of faces just waiting for a glimpse of your loved one. Then the reuniting hugging, pictures, helping grandma with her bags, etc.

So little bobby brought a pair of nail clippers with a tiny nail file to school! Put him in counseling, court, and then Juvenile Detention. Put up metal detectors, fondle every child and dump out their belongings, do random locker searches, detain random people for shady reasons and for unknown amounts of time, Make them take off articles of clothing, assault and humiliate them. Guess what, it didnt secure anything. Bobbies friend billy got depressed and picked up a baseball bat from gym and actually assaulted 2 people. Well now we cant have that happening again, looks like no more baseball for our youths, or any large objects in general.

In reality we all know that we are no more secure then we were in 01′. More than likely if there is another attack it will have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with airplanes. Yet thats where most of the “securing” is being done.

I mean seriously folks, 9/11 was a horrible thing we will never forget, but the damage caused by our OWN GOVERNMENT, THE NSA, AND ALL “SECURITY” HAS BY FAR OUTWEIGHED THE DAMAGES CAUSED BY THE TERRORISTS. I say this knowing full well that someone I loved died that day in the attack. I know for a FACT that they would not want their death used as a way to strip America of its freedoms.

I, like many, are thoroughly disgusted with Americas Government and its current route of destruction of all things I cherish. My rights, My freedom.

Remember that we have voted these goons into existence by digging the “terrorist panic” hammered down on us daily by the government and media. It is our duty to vote them back out of existence, nobody will/can do it for us.

Just disband the whole useless mess.

I can’t be the only one now hearing the TSA’s statement in the voice of Alice from The Brady Bunch.

Who hires these people? And why aren’t they being fired for this sort of thing? If Kathy Parker knows what’s good for her and the rest of the country she’ll take this to court.

And I love the dig at “hipsters”. Because it’s all the regular meat-and-potato folk like JavaMoose against the hipsters and that thin line between civility and chaos is the fine men and women of the TSA.

Wow, you’re kinda putting words in my mouth there tiger. I never said it was OK for TSA workers to violate civil rights, in fact, if an agent does, I think they should be fired. Simple enough. Clearly they weren’t cut out for the job.

I didn’t express any opinion what-so-ever on what happened to this woman, but I will now. Do I think it’s overboard the way she was treated? Yes. Is $8,000 worth of check suspicious? Maybe, some might see it that way. Does it take any more than a minute of talking with the person to clear that suspicion up? Nope.

As far as being rude to TSA agents. No, being rude isn’t grounds for having your liberties squashed. However, if you go around with a condescending ‘I’m smarter and better than you’ attitude, an ‘If I’m rude to you, you deserve it and you should just take it’ attitude – don’t be surprised when the target of that attitude picks up on it and treats you like crap because of it.

I mean, really, when did it become OK to be an arrogant ass to someone and treat them like they are beneath you? I thought we all decided that kind of behavior wasn’t acceptable, what, 60-70 years ago?

Yes, I do dig at the hipsters, because it is where I see these types of actions and attitudes present in the most glaring non-apologetic ways. It’s funny, if there was an article about some WASP treating a waiter/waitress at some trendy San Fran eatery like a slave, being condescending, teller her she is a moron and so stupid that she couldn’t get any other job – people would be screaming for the WASPs head on a pike. But, when y’all do the same thing to an TSA employee, what, it’s ok? It’s ok because some of their employees have screwed up? It’s ok because you don’t agree with the policy (you know, the one none of the agents on the ground came up with)?

Look, I don’t like McDonald’s way of doing business – but if I’m in a McDonald’s for some reason, I don’t treat the workers like crap. That’s not how it works.

What’s next, measuring bumps on your head to determine whether you’re a threat?