I know I will be getting hated on for this posting but someone had to say it...
The other night I was flying into Washington state. There were two Marines on the flight. They sat in front of me. It was an evening flight. Through the two hours neither of them said a word. I was stuck next to the window and I could see through the space between the plane window and the seat that tears were running down the Marine's face. When we landed at the airport there was a huge group of people waiting to welcome the Marines.
They were blasting patriotic songs and waving flags. As we came up to the crowd the Marine that had been crying turned to the other and said "I can't wait to take this fucking thing off", referring to his uniform.
I went to the rental car counter to pick up my car and they started blasting this country song, the name of which is unknown, but the words go "I'm proud to be an American, where at least I know I'm free". I found it ironic that they would play that song in an airport. These soldiers went to Iraq and did whatever they were assigned to do under the auspices of maintaining freedom in the US. It hasn't made a damn bit of difference here, and it's made things worse in a lot of ways. And the current administration and policies are taking away more freedoms every day.
If you don't believe me, spend the next week flying. I have seen the following at airports in the past three months:
-A woman was arrested at a security checkpoint for "arguing" with the TSA guy checking IDs. She did not understand that she couldn't board a plane with a printed itinerary and that she needed a boarding card. Rather than helping the woman the TSA guy kept telling her "You can't get on a plane with that. You need to go over there," pointing vaguely towards the checkin counter. When the woman said in a louder voice "But this is an e-ticket" the TSA guy called security and had her arrested. She was kind of an idiot, but he wasn't helping her and I don't blame her for raising her voice.
-I was stopped and harassed by immigration because, coming from Paris to the US, I lost my re-embarkation card but didn't realize until I got to the immigration counter. Having been awake for almost two days at that point I was fumbling to explain to the immigration guy why I walked up to his counter without having the card filled out. He started yelling at me and accusing me of trying to pull something funny. I was like asspipe, I spent 17 years of my fucking life working with the government and now I am being accused of being a terrorist? Because I lost my re-embarkation card? Are you fucking serious?
-I had all of my clothes taken out of my suitcase because I had nail clippers in a side pocket of the suit case. They didn't take them away from me, just made a mess of my clothes. I asked if it was now illegal to carry nail clippers on a plane and was told that if I was making a threat I would not be allowed to fly that day, even though I'm not sure how "So are nail clippers now illegal?" could be considered a threat.
-I was told to take a sweater off before walking through an x-ray, even after explaining to the idiot at security that I didn't have anything on under the sweater. They made me roll the sweater up to prove this before letting me through the x-ray.
Security is being run by a bunch of fucking gerbils. I fly every Monday and every Friday, and I would be happy to have all those assholes just go away. They aren't doing anything but annoying frequent flyers like myself. If you go to any other foreign country they don't do any extra security checks for flights not going to the US and guess what, they aren't getting hijacked or blown up.
I will take my chances that some idiot from Al Quaeda is going to try to blow up my plane. Also, for anyone who thinks those security checks are doing any good, guess what. I know how to get three ounces of liquid through security. I've even gotten an unopened can of Coke through. I carried an orange through the x-ray machine that could have contained an explosive.
I wish we as Americans would stop buying in to the fear mongering of the Bush administration/Fox News. If someone wants to kill you, they will. So get over it and stop thinking that some guy x-raying your 1.7 ounce shampoo bottle saved your life...
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I had an epiphany during a meeting held in a nuclear strike proof building close to a large city. It suddenly struck me that nothing had changed in government thinking. The 20 foot thick walls protected an important government facility, but left the (unimportant) citizens of the surrounding city with no chance of surviving the the expected attack.
ReplyDeleteSo too, the activities of the Thugs Standing Around (TSA) have nothing to do with your traveling safety, and everything to do with preventing the airliner from being used as a weapon. This is probably the rationale for giving the TSA Judge Dredd-like instant judiciary powers with swift punishment by taser.
The TSA actually raises the risk to passengers by concentrating them near the entrances to airports. It is even worse when they herd passengers outside during security breaches.
On the positive side, at least the TSA has taken a large number of thugs off the streets by giving them jobs and it is certainly a lot cheaper than locking them up.
I totally agree! Once when we were war gaming at work and I came up with the scenario of a terrorist bringing a bomb in to baggage claim. Boom. And then what will they do.
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