Coffee,Tea,or Should We Feel Your Pregnant Wifes Breasts Before Throwing You in a Cell attheAirport?

lewrockwell.com ^ | 12/18/2002 | Nicholas Monahan

[Man of the Right]

While in the military during the Cold War, I crossed East German checkpoints going to and from East Berlin. The Vopos were less intrusive than the putzes at U.S. airports. The only people who are singled out for multiple searches are people who are absolutely no threat. Bin Laden could breeze through security like a head of state carrying a suitcase atom bomb.

Obviously, losing one's temper at a paramilitary checkpoint is a disastrous turn of events. But it's not necessary to misbehave to have the most unpleasant experience of one's life, if one hasn't inprocessed at a penal facility. All that's necessary is to fly commercially often enough and to be unlucky. The odds are not in one's favor.

Flying commercially is the most unpleasant experience in life, with the chance of a felony arrest or death as an added fillip. I flew 150,000 miles a year prior to 9-11. I don't fly commercially any more. If I can't fly private aviation, take a train or drive, I don't go there.

[Cicero]

Well, frankly, this is what happens when you take incompetents and give them lifetime federal employment. If anyone it is to blame, other than these particular nitwits, it is Little Tommy Daschle, who insisted that all airline security jobs should be federalized, and President Bush, for going along with him rather than fighting it.

[motzman]

I cannot think of a man alive who would not be upset if his pregnant wife was crying saying an airport employee touched her breasts and was made to lift her clothing in front of a crowd.

I could. Alan Colmes.

[HairOfTheDog]

Whether he was right to be upset is not the point. He undoubtedly was human to be upset, and maybe rightfully so.

Was his wife's baby breech because he was upset? This guy wants to make it seem like it is about her, but it isn't. He threw a temper tantrum in an airport and got arrested, and that is what is ticking him off. I can sympathize with his upset, unless I sense he is using his wife's breech pregnancy as a ploy for more sympathy. He exaggerated, and lost me in the process.

[BossLady]

LMAO! I said.....MAN! Not so sure about Alan on that one.... :o

[dighton]

So we called the ACLU, figuring they existed for just such incidents as these. And they do apparently...but only if we were minorities. That’s what they told us.

Would Mr. Monahan care to repeat that, under penalty of perjury? It doesn't pass my smell test.

[Republic of Texas]

BossLady specified a MAN, so Alan Colmes is out.

[BigBobber]

Seems to me a fake pregnancy would be an easy way to smuggle things onto a plane. How would security detect a "bambino bomb" from a real pregnancy without some kind of inspection?

[Republic of Texas]

By all means, ignore the Gestapo part and get to the bottom of that breech delivery part!

[Tex-Con-Man]

I've done a lot of flying since 9/11, and Portland security was by far the toughest and rudest. (I was there last weekend) I've learned to travel(dress) with no metal objects, and usually breeze right through the metal detector. Theirs was way more sensitive, and I was forced to endure a more extensive search. The guy searching me was kind of rude, and kept putting his hands in rather personal places without warning. (Many ask permisson first). As was the case this time, I almost always get visibly angry the longer the search continues.

These security people are going to have to realize that what they do, and how they do it, will cause normally reasonable travelers to become angry and impatient, and take responsibility for these kinds of incidences.

BTW, I would've reacted the same, or worse, to a pregnant wife.

[ppaul]

Give the goons a permanent job, a badge, and a gubbamint pension.
Only in America.

[paul51]

As someone who flies frequently, I can relate and somewhat sympathize with this story. With that said, I can't help but feel the guys' whole life (and his wife's) would be a lot less dramatic if he learned how to control himself a little more.

[MineralMan]

"Flying commercially is the most unpleasant experience in life, with the chance of a felony arrest or death as an added fillip. I flew 150,000 miles a year prior to 9-11. I don't fly commercially any more. If I can't fly private aviation, take a train or drive, I don't go there.
"

Utter nonsense. Flying commercially can't hold a candle to being in an auto accident, being mugged, being raped, or an entire list of things that are far worse experiences. I fly a heckuva lot, and continue to do so. I've had my share of being pulled aside for screening in recent months. I find it mildly annoying, and that's it. It takes some extra time, but I have always allowed extra time at airports.

As for the wife in question being touched...that should have been done behind a screen...most definitely. I had one security guy run the back of his hand across the front of my pants, after he told me he was going to do it. I see little difference there, frankly. No doubt the woman was felt up by another woman. No big deal, even if mildly annoying.

To blow these checks out of proportion and claim they are the worst experience in life is to be ridiculous. Try catching viral encephalitis on a cross-country road trip and spending two weeks in a hospital nowhere near where you live. That happened to me. It was far, far worse than being screened at an airport.

Exaggeration does nothing to solve the problem. We need to protest unwarranted intrusions into our lives, but we need not exaggerate their significance.

[BlazingArizona]

That this happened in Portland is getting to be typical lately. The federal screeners exhibited what looks like idiot-newbie lack of training, but the real villains of this account were the local cops who, true to their lefty Oregon milieu, took it upon themselves to treat a customer complaint as a major felony.

Do Oregonians believe that letting people complain at the airport might lead to pumping gas?

[AK2KX]

These security people are going to have to realize that what they do, and how they do it, will cause normally reasonable travelers to become angry and impatient, and take responsibility for these kinds of incidences.

Why would these drop-out wannabe SS care or take responsibility? You get angry or impatient at them, they just snap their fingers and off you go to the gulag.

[cajungirl]

Well, I fly alot, about every two weeks and I have uniformly had polite encounters with security. When I have been screened they are so polite the screening is useless. They barelly touch me and act embarassed to be doing so. Now they don't smile and chat, they are businesslike and never hassle me. And I am sure that if the lady asked, they would go behind a screen. There are always screens at the airports I go to. So I don't get this. So they touched her breasts, big deal {but then I remember when I was pregnant not being so sensitive about it, anyone who ever had a baby knows utter strangers come up and feel the baby and you can't have a baby and preserve modesty}. So he sounds like he went off when she cried. Lesson for ladies,,try not to cry at security when your husband has a tendancy to go ballistic. He is a collosal whiner.

[motzman]

BossLady specified a MAN, so Alan Colmes is out.

Hmm...no wonder his..er, her name came immediatley to mind. He sure is an ugly lady...

[Chico]

Why would any woman want to travel by plane when she's 7 1/2 months pregnant? Apparently some guy's wedding in Las Vegas was more important to them than endangering the child. They made that choice long before going to the airport. Flying in the last tri-mester is generally not recommended for good reasons.

[MineralMan]

Sure, assuming that the house is being custom-built for you. What about spec houses? PEX may be the best thing since sliced bread...I don't know, frankly, having been out of the business for some years. But...it also may not be. I remember when the same arguments were used for CVPC for hot water piping. Turned out that that stuff was crap, and even possibly toxic. Try replumbing a house if you want some real expensive hassles. If I were buying a spec house, I would not buy it if it had any plastic pipe in the walls. I'd ask, then walk if it was there. Copper will last a lifetime. Should the government be telling us what goes into our houses? Well, it's been doing that for many decades. Building codes are just that. No doubt there are things in there that shouldn't be, but the idea is good. Frankly, you have no idea what's inside the walls of a spec house. You can't see inside the walls. Without properly-enforced building codes, you would not believe what would pass for construction standards. The government has a role in this.

[motzman]

Hopefully, one day "Alan" will get pregnant, and we'll be spared his spew for a few months...