Posted on 11/17/2010 1:24:16 PM PST by FS11
Yesterday, two airline pilots filed a federal suit alleging that airport scanners and aggressive pat-down procedures constitute unreasonable searches in violation of the Fourth Amendment.
(Excerpt) Read more at blogs.wsj.com ...
“Can you disclose your area of expertise/ professional background at all?”
No. Or, I’m just like you, sitting at my screen in my bunny slippers.
Thank you....I needed a topic. ;)
bump and bookmark
I know you were being serious! I like to keep private, though; giving out too much personal info isn’t good.
I will expand a little- I do have relevant background in radiation issues, but mostly I have a pretty solid background in physics in general.
gotcha, and I understand the privacy concern... this is the internet, after-all. =^)
You think it's your right to wreak economic havoc on the airlines and on other passengers, as well as ruining their vacations in order to get what you want?
Wreaking as much havoc as you can regardless of the fact that it primarily harms people who aren't the ones causing the behavior you are against, doesn't make you a freedom fighter. It makes you a terrorist. It's pretty much the definition of being a terrorist.
I'm not saying don't protest or exercise your right to free speech.
You unquestionably have the right to opt out of the scans, and I have no objection to anyone doing so. However, that's not where the suggestions for the "protest" ended. The idea was to intentionally obstruct and hinder the process as much as possible without actually refusing in order to bring the system crashing down on the busiest travel day of the year. Intentionally causing harm to other travelers so that the outcry would be great enough to have the process stopped.
Now the system may very well cause enough outcry on it's own to do that, and may cause bad enough delays to cause additional outcry without intentionally obstructing it.
Protests outside the airport might also help get the point across, and are clearly an exercise of free speech.
However, if you organize people with the intention of having them obstruct the process as much as possible (not merely choose to opt out of the scan) then you should be arrested and should be sued for the economic harm you would be intentionally be causing. You can't just do whatever you want, and call it exercising your rights.
I was in the Navy in 1973 and was going through customs at the Bangkok airport on my way to Diego Garcia. Me and 3 others had spent some time in Bangkok “having fun” and smoking stuff we shouldn’t have been smoking. When we got to the airport one of the guys said to me “I brought some pot with me”.
I said “Are you nuts? We have to go through customs.”
He said “I’ll go to the bath room and flush it.”
When we were about to get on the plane Air Force police brought a dog in and had us law anything we were carrying on the floor then stand back. I was at the end of the line and the dog tried to “eat” my papers. I thought “Oh, man! The guy didn’t flush it. He planted it on me.” I was arrested and taken into this small office where they went through my papers very thoroughly.
They didn’t find anything so the seargent said “Get that dog back in here.”
The handler brought the dog back in and they couldn’t get him to pay attention at all to the papers. The handler said “Well, he hasn’t had a hit in a while so I guess he wanted some excitement.”
I breathed a deep sigh of relief. They called the tower and stopped the C-130 on the tarmac and I was driven out in a jeep and got on that bird! I was happy to get out of there.
Sorry I’m late replying. What you saw IS disturbing. I’m just imagining plane after plane full of passengers, who have just been groped and are feeling demeaned by the experience.
Most every flight I’ve taken was with a sense of excitement for a pleasure trip, or to go visit relatives, etc. Going through what you saw would certainly take the ‘bloom’ off of that!
Why don’t they at least use a curtained area!!?
I’d like to be in the airport and see a woman in full islamic garb just get a ‘neck pat’.......I think I’d rise up and start raising he77 about it, lol.
If you are selected for the “enhanced patdown” they do give you the option of going into a private room. When I was watching, no one took this option (I think it would likely take longer).
And yes, it does put a damper on the fun factor. Because everyone is treated with suspicion, it is natural for people to feel uncomfortable with the whole process.
Most Americans are not used to being treated with suspicion, and it can be demeaning to be treated as a suspected terrorist.
[Most Americans are not used to being treated with suspicion]
I think they are trying to get us used to being herded like animals. It’s like anything bad, once you’ve seen enough of it you become inured to it.
Things are building up, it will be interesting to see what the outcome is.
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