Extra Special
Our local regional airport just installed backscatter scanners and all it did was double the time it takes to get through security. This evening while waiting to board the flying sardine can that is a CRJ, we were all met at the gate by two TSA agents. Why? Additional random pat-downs.
Is this an admission that the first screening was probably a failure? And while Kathleen Sebelius plots our deaths as a cost-benefit analysis, what of the same accounting method for TSA?
The TSA budget this year was $8.1 billion. If you ask them how many terrorists they've caught since 9/11 the answer is, "We can't tell you. It's a national security secret." That means, "Zero."
Meanwhile, I think I'm engaged to a TSA agent, at least I better be based on the way he touched me. That is not going to sit well with the wife...
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Jul '11
Re: Extra Special
Great post.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 10:24pmMay '10
Re: Extra Special
You don't consider billions of dollars flushed down the toilet as a "big issue?" I do. If I though that it was actually keeping anyone safe I'd be all for it. But it's just "security theater."
Feb '11
Re: Extra Special
TSA is essentially employment for unemployables. Those that can't make it in TSA get education degrees and become K-12 principals.
Jul '11
Re: Extra Special
I was referring to your engagement with the screener and if your wife would be upset.
As far as this gang of thugs with their protocols I find everything about them just disgusting. The whole organization needs to be scrapped. Waste of time,money, and privacy rights.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 4:52pmAug '10
Re: Extra Special
Ah, the CRJ. I JUST disembarked from one. A terrible flying experience for the passenger, but it's build in Canuckistan, so we're supposed to be proud of it. Seriously, Bombardier runs tv ads to promote the CRJ as an object of Canuckistani patriotism. We're supposed to think of it as "our" airplane. Gimme an Embraer any day of the week, thank you.
Sep '10
Re: Extra Special
EJ, the upside is that if you're engaged in a jurisdiction that is friendly to such laws at the state level, you may be entitled to up to half the TSA agent's retirement benefits.
Jun '10
Re: Extra Special
I note from the poster that Claire has sold out completely, for a sweet payday no doubt, and used her storytelling skills to produce schlock. So sad.... :)
Aug '10
Re: Extra Special
By an amazing coincidence, I JUST boarded an Embraer 190 for the second leg of my journey. The comparative luxury is ... well ... luxurious.
Jul '10
Re: Extra Special
EJ, that picture is perfect! I could see Don Knotts playing an in-over-his-head TSA agent in one of those cheesy movies he did.
Dec '10
Re: Extra Special
I was truly frightened for my safety last year when I was going through security (non-capitalization intentional) at my local airport. I recognized the supervisor for these Keystone Kops. He had been a security guard at a place I used to work and I'm quite sure he was the inspiration for the movie "Mall Cop".
May '10
Re: Extra Special
An airline pilot once told me that many TSA agents are the same individuals who worked airport security before creation of the TSA.
Exactly right. Even if these patdowns are not widely considered invasive and demeaning, every terrorist caught since 9-11 was discovered and subdued the old-fashioned way — by fellow passengers.
The TSA is an insult.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 6:26pmOct '10
Re: Extra Special
In my consulting career, I did all I could to NOT fly once the tsa clowns took over. I simply informed my clients that I would make an initial visit to survey the project, then email the AutoCad drawings and such. That is the price THEY are paying.
Finally, I simply quit the business. I'm not willing to endure the humiliation, and no longer give a damn if the work gets done.
There are plenty of jobs that need doing, but the FERAL government is determined to kill them all.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 6:58pmMar '11
Re: Extra Special
If there is one unanswerable accusation Democrats can throw at Republicans it is the creation of the TSA. Of the many failings our 43rd President accrued this is among those that are inexcusable for a supposed conservative. He crafted a completely, ineffective, intrusive bureaucracy that violates the rights of US citizens on a daily basis, squanders millions of tax payer dollars to fund union parasites and all for an organization that essentially accomplishes absolutely nothing beyond indemnifying air lines from their own incompetence in securing their transports.
Inexcusable.
Oct '10
Re: Extra Special
Remind me which extremist, zany or crazy Republican candidate has called for the abolition of the TSA screening process again?
Or you could just engineer the process to make it 'better'.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 7:17pmMay '10
Re: Extra Special
I would include the Homeland Security Agency in that criticism. Our intelligence bureaucracies were not communicating and sharing resources well, and the creation of a new bureaucracy is the solution?
Mar '11
Re: Extra Special
genferei: Remind me which extremist, zany or crazy Republican candidate has called for the abolition of the TSA screening process again? · Dec 19 at 7:08pm
Edited on Dec 19 at 07:14 pm
Very true, he caved genferei. When the time came to be bold and to stand up for State's rights he folded. I am not simply singling out Perry; Gingrich and Paul have both exhibited a similar pattern. A great deal of talk, but when the liberty of Americans is at stake they grow very quiet.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 7:43pmDec '10
Re: Extra Special
EJ, you've got it pegged on this one. Barney Fife as a TSA agent! Oh brother would that be a funny skit. You've got to get Rob Long to look into this. Sometimes there is no business like show business.
Mar '11
Re: Extra Special
That is the silent tragedy. Men who do not "occupy Wall Street" but who as federal and state agencies become ever more intrusive simply decide, "I have had enough! I will create no more business, I will engage in no more labor without need. The prosperity I could create, the employment my innovations could produce I care not! Enough! I shall sail my boats, tend my gardens and enjoy time spent with my family. What is the point of such labor that only produces grief?"
Times such as these make me wonder whether Ayn Rand was transcribing a history rather than producing a novel.
Excuse me for expropriating your words for my anger raycon. Living in California and watching the cheerful devolution of civil society engenders a certain frustration.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 7:39pmDec '11
Re: Extra Special
I feel your pain, a little bit;
Yes, this is your Captain speaking, it wasn't that long ago that your security apparatus was manned by Albanian refugees employed by the lowest bidder, in most cases the same contractors who are now guarding our federal facilities in the dusty, sandy hinterlands, (Oh, sweet justice).
Not that I enjoy running the gauntlet every time my work day begins, but I am a little more confident that the Tub Stackers Admin's will catch the Terrs who have sworn Jihad against me and all that is holy, (And if they don't I take comfort that the perps will die from laughter after observing the spectacle).
For those of you who are traveling the friendly skies in the Barbie jet take solace that the free market has embraced your tight wallets and granted you frequent, safe, affordable air transportation. Next time flex your gold card and purchase a seat in the front of my Boeing. Stretch your legs and enjoy the leather wrapped luxury while being served dinner and a cocktail by a friendly attendant. I will be sure to check up on you before departure.
Edited on Dec 19, 2011 at 8:55pmFeb '11
Re: Extra Special
With Ernest Borgnine as his boss.