Brace Yourself for a Hoot

Honestly, does anyone other than politicians and bureaucrats take the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) seriously?

The agency, renowned for its Totally Senseless Actions by Tremendously Stupid Airheads, pulled another boner last Thursday. It seems a woman wearing a metal leg brace triggered the metal detectors at Oakland International Airport. The brace should have been a clue for anyone of even vegetative intelligence. Naturally, that exempts TSA screeners. Lots of terrorists these days are females wearing leg braces, so they pulled her aside for what the Airheads euphemize as a "secondary screening." The lady was late for her flight. She hobbled away before they could feel her up.

Let's pause to savor this Keystone Kops moment. The victim's wearing a brace, there are how many able-bodied screeners standing around paid to suspend their rationality and act as if she's a terrorist because said brace rang alarms, yet when she's had enough of their nonsense, off she stumps, bum leg and all.

It gets better. The TSA announced a manhunt. This shut down both terminals of Oakland's airport. Apparently, screeners were not only unable to stop a terrorist who had difficulty walking, they also failed to note the direction in which she was limping. Oakland's cops joined the search. Even so, or perhaps because of that, their quarry was still at large after almost an hour's hunt. We who fear the surveillance state can take heart: it's remarkably easy to elude it.

And it gets still better. During the interval between our heroine's disappearance and the time the search started, five flights left the airport. Eventually, given the "suspect's" complaint that she would miss her plane's imminent departure, it dawned on even the Airheads that perhaps she'd escaped completely: she and her brace were on the loose in the air, aboard one of those flights! And what action do you suppose the Airheads then took to secure American aviation? Yes! They re-screened the passengers from those five flights when they landed. I'd like to have been privy to the decision-making on this one: "Gee, I don't know. Maybe she'll detonate that brace while those planes are airborne. What'll we do?" (Pause for deep thought. Snap of fingers.) "Got it! We'll grope 'em all over again when they land. Every one of 'em, too, on all those flights. No reason I can see to search only women with leg braces. Think of the precedent!" Indeed. Apparently, the TSA can harass us now whether we are trying to enter or escape the gulags masquerading as airports.

As ludicrous as the incident itself is the gravity with which the Airheads are treating the aftermath. Fred Lau, the Federal Security Director for Oakland International, is beating himself up over it, though not for his sheer inanity and utter idiocy. No, he's upset that a paying customer made her flight and deprived screeners of a good grope. Fred intoned to the Bay City News, "The ultimate responsibility rests with me." Then Fred got tough. "At the very least there will be some retraining," he threatened. Psst, Fred: why not include the rudiments of courtesy this time around? Tell your thugs that upon encountering an injured person, one does not take advantage of her handicap to molest her. Rather, one calls for a wheelchair and a Redcap to assist her to her gate.

But Fred's best line crackles with the smarts that have made him a Federal Security Director: "We wanted to make sure we did all we could after the incident to make sure people were safe."

Ah, the TSA. A laugh a day as they strip our freedom away.

Ticketed For Sitting on a Park Bench
By Jim Dolan

(New York - WABC, Sept. 27, 2005) - Imagine sitting on a New York City park bench and getting slapped with a ticket that could land you in jail, or cost you thousands of dollars.

It happened to a woman from Jersey City. The ticket was given under city law designed to keep pedophiles out of city parks, but the woman says the city went too far.

Eyewitness News reporter Jim Dolan has the story.

The Rivington Playground is a lovely place for parents to take their young children. It is even protected by a rule that prevents adults from sitting there without a child and apparently they mean it.

Ask Sandra Catena, a dance instructor from Jersey City who walked into the park on Saturday while she was waiting for an arts festival to begin, when she was approached by two police officers.

Sandra Catena, Dance Instructor: "They said it's against the law, you have to be accompanied by a child to sit in a kiddy park and they were giving me a summons. I said 'you're kidding right?' and he said 'no.'"

And so the officers, obviously well-trained at sensing a dangerous situation when they encounter one, did the only thing sensible. While they were writing this dance instructor a summons, they called for back-up.

Already guarded by two officers, one of whom had his hand on his gun, according to Catena, two more police officers soon arrived and stood nearby with their hands on their guns in case there was trouble from the dance instructor.

Sandra Catena, Dance Instructor: "The other two officers that just pulled up their car, got out, spoke with the other cop and then they walked toward me.
They both had their hands on their guns too."

But there was no trouble. They wrote the summons and now the dance instructor has to face the bar of justice for her ... crime.

Sandra Catena, Dance Instructor: "I have to go to court on November 16th and I was told that if I did not go to court a warrant would be issued for my arrest if the judge does not dismiss this I can get 90 days in jail or a $1,000 fine."

Eyewitness News made repeated calls to the NYPD for its response to this story but we never heard back. If the police do respond - we'll of course bring

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These cops are prime candidates for service as jackbooted thugs for either the Dept. of Homeland Security (DHS) or the Transportation Security Administration (TSA).

Well, this has all been foreseen by the great seer and prophet Jethro Tull, who wrote about "Aqualung":

Sitting on a park bench
Eyeing little girls with bad intent

So, something had to be done. And as you see it was done thoroughly.

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"I know that you believe you understand what you think I said, but I'm not sure you realize that what you heard is not what I meant." R.M. Nixon

And then there is the "Patriot Act." An oxymoron if, ever there was one.
We're selling our liberties down the river to catch a few bad guys.

It reminds me of that poem by a German who survived
the worst of Nazism -

"In Germany they came first for the Communists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Communist. Then they came for the Jews and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a Jew. Then they came for the trade unionists and I didn't speak up because I wasn't a trade unionist. Then they came for the Catholics and I didn't speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me--and by that time no one was left to speak up."

A little extreme, doesn't apply to todays world or life it America; it
could never happen...

Mabye a year ago, you would have laughed at anyone who told your that the
government could never take your real property and give it to some political
crony to make a fat profit and kickback. Now it is the law of the land.



Be afraid, very afraid.

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"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety" -- Benjamin Franklin

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Oh do I have to add something to this. :-)

First off, some insite to me. I also am disabled, with a full leg brace, which has all sorts of metal on it.

Couple of years ago, I flew from Reno Nevada to Tallahassee Florida to go visit a long time friend for a few weeks. At this point in time, the TSA didn't have things the way they are now. I arrive at the airport in Reno, get through check in, through security, no problem. I set of the metal detector, they waive that wand, I show them my brace, away I go. I think to myself that this is going to be a good trip if I can get through all the airports this way.

Well, I was wrong. I land in Dallas/Fort Worth Texas airport. (Very stupid setup they have, thats another story). I get to where I need to go through the security gates. I set off the metal detector, but this time, they want me to be accompanied by a male security guard and "prove" its a leg brace and nothing else. Ok, no problem, go to the mens room, show the security my brace, away we go, no problem.

I enjoyed the rest of my trip. Very relaxing on those beautiful beaches. I get to the Tallahassee Airportl, get through security with absolutely no problems. They took one look at me, and sent me on my way, no search, nothing. Fly into Miami Airport. This is where it got very very interesting. I get to the security checkpoint, set off the detector, they want a search, we go behind some walls so they can do a search. Well, they ask me to completely disrobe to display the entire leg brace. Ok, whatever, I do so. They ask me to remove it, no problem. They then have the nerve to ask me to walk, without my brace, through the metal detector. I told them no. I told them they would have to push me through with a wheelchair cause I am not able to walk without the brace. They put up one hell of a fight, they went as far as bringing their supervisor in. Told her the same thing, I refuse to walk though without the brace, if they don't like it they can talk to my lawyer. Things settled down real quick, I was allowed to get dressed and go on with my life.

So a story like this is not suprising. When its something completely obvious they make a big deal over it. THanks for listening.

Jeremy

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Oh do I have to add something to this. :-)
They then have the nerve to ask me to walk, without my brace, through the metal detector. I told them no. I told them they would have to push me through with a wheelchair cause I am not able to walk without the brace. They put up one hell of a fight, they went as far as bringing their supervisor in. Told her the same thing, I refuse to walk though without the brace, if they don't like it they can talk to my lawyer. Things settled down real quick, I was allowed to get dressed and go on with my life. Jeremy

I am VERY GLAD that you refused to walk thru without the leg brace, whether it would have been physically possible in your particular case or not! TSA and DHS needs to learn that handicapped people use "devices" for a reason!!!!
I had the unhappy oppurtunity to have to use a wheelchair twice in the last 4 years and until you have been in the ranks of the handicapped YOU HAVE NO IDEA OF THIER PLIGHT!!!! Ramps are NOT wheelchair friendly!!!!! Ever tried to walk in the snow and ice with two good legs, try it with at least one bad one!!!!
Ever tried to open a handicap accessable door that opens OUTWARD!!!!! VERY fast dancing and wheeling is required to avoid being knocked over!!!!
ALL that being said I do think that the DHS and TSA have a job to do and yes I think it could be a VERY remote possibility that people that wish to do us harm could conceive of a way to do su by pretending to be handicapped. BUT when evidence is presented to them of a real disability then they need to back off and accept the fact that not everyone is "able bodied"!

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The bottom line is that common sense today is in short supply and definately not governement issue.

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ALL that being said I do think that the DHS and TSA have a job to do and yes I think it could be a VERY remote possibility that people that wish to do us harm could conceive of a way to do su by pretending to be handicapped. BUT when evidence is presented to them of a real disability then they need to back off and accept the fact that not everyone is "able bodied"!

I think that it is plausible that a person willing to blow himself up for his religion might be willing to martyr one of his legs prematurely. However, the reality is that unless the device is explosive (which can be checked), the flight attendants, passengers and potential sky marshall should not have much trouble subduing someone who is still getting used to a new number of limbs.

Once the fact of a true disability is established, and no explosives or firearms are found, show a little respect!

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No animals were harmed in the making of the above post... much.

They have the authority to do as they deem necessary; however, they keep confusing their Authority with Respect. There is no consistancy from Airport to Airport.

I was forced to get the groping inspection, because I refused to take off my shoes before passing the Metal Detector. Then the TSA agent gets indignant with me showing me a pair of shoes with metal toes. I said that's nice but they are not my shoes. Once I got MY shoes I demanded an apology from him and his supervisor. I got it after I reminded them that their Authority does not override my Constitutional Rights nor does it allow them to treat anyone with disrespect. I told them that I know they have a job to do, as did the SS and KGB. You want to be known as the new SS or an agency protecting my safety.

When you give people the authority they have and employ them at the rate they had to employ the TSA you are bound to get idiots who think they are now Gods.

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I'd rather speak my mind because it hurts too much to bite my tongue.

American Spirit BBQ Proudly Serving those that courageously defend freedom.

Drop those nose hair clippers, soldier!
By Dave Hirschman | Thursday, May 19, 2005, 11:01 AM

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Airline flight attendants wouldn’t be ignored during their pre-flight safety briefings if they could perform like Lt. Col. John King — or at least use his stage props.

Speaking to 280 fellow soldiers before they boarded a chartered DC-10 at the start of their marathon flight from Savannah to Kuwait City earlier this week, King was thunderous, blunt and well armed with an M-16 rifle slung over his shoulder.

“Interfering with a flight crew is a serious crime,” he told them. “Don’t be stupid. Don’t be a moron. Don’t even joke about going to Havana. That’s not where we’re headed today.”

King, who in civilian life is the Doraville police chief, rolled his eyes at the FAA regulation that requires soldiers — all of whom were armed with an arsenal of assault rifles, shotguns and pistols — to surrender pocket knives, nose hair scissors and cigarette lighters.

“If you have any of those things,” he said, almost apologetically, “put them in this box now.”

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Geek Wristwatches Are Latest Terrorist Fashion

For those who inspect their keychain before each flight to ensure that "mini-Leatherman" was safely stowed in the checked luggage to avoid TSA confiscation and those who have found their L.E.D. flashlight looks like a zip gun in their carry-on, TSA has found yet another device of choice for wannabe shoe bombers. That multi-sensored Casio Pro-Trek on your wrist.

Seems those pesky terrorists have taken an interest in the altitude function of your watch. Apparently the terrorists and Department of Homeland Security have yet to realize that fancy wrist altimeter does not show an accurate altitude in a pressurized cabin. Sure its great if you just want to know if the pilot is ascending or descending, by the seat of your pants or looking out the window is equally effective for that purpose. It is also fun if you are the type of person entertained by a moving bargraph on your wrist. If you are using it as a detonation device though you may have to wait until your flight has landed below sea level for it to trigger.

At some point they may also realize those Casio watches are not only more expensive, they are much harder to connect your average terrorist device to than something like a surplus radiosonde or a model rocket altimeter. (Apologies in advance to the already beleaguered rocket hobbyists and aspiring meteorologists.)

What will those creative terrorists come up with next? Hopefully no one points out that with the GPS built into their cell phone they will soon have the opportunity to make an in-flight call to their friends-and-family just before it triggers their heavenly departure.

As a demolitions expert pointed out, the bomb has to be *inside* the watch for this to make any sense, as a terrorist doesn't *need* the watch to know when to detonate a bomb, so the only way it makes sense is if the person wearing the watch is innocent -- hence the bomb must be concealed from them.

What more can I say? These people are total idiots and morons.

A friend of mine recently flew from Albuquerque to her home in Georgia. A former police officer, she had received a memento of a .45 caliber bullet with a hole drilled through the casing to keep on a key chain. Airport "security" confiscated the keepsake. Returning from her trip she retrieved the keepsake from the storage room (which in itself seemed a miracle). She then asked the "security person" if they had expected her to be able to throw the bullet at the pilot and take over the airplane. Amused by the totally blank look on the "officer's" face, she then pointed out that she had carried a police baton in her purse (both ways). It showed up in the x-rays, but no one said anything about the slender metal rod. Pointing out that the baton is an extremely potent and lethal weapon and that it should have been confiscated, not the useless bullet, she turned her back on the stupid (enter your own expletive)
moron and went home."

Teacher Arrested After Bookmark Called Concealed Weapon
TAMPA, Fla.

-- A weight may soon be lifted off a Maryland woman charged with carrying a concealed weapon in an airport. It wasn't a gun or a knife. It was a weighted bookmark. Kathryn Harrington was flying home from vacation last month when
TSA screeners at the Tampa, Fla., airport found her bookmark. It's an 8.5-inch leather strip with small lead weights at each end. Airport police said it resembled a weighted weapon that could be used to knock people unconscious. So the 52-year-old special education teacher was handcuffed, put into a police car, and charged with carrying a concealed weapon. She faced a possible criminal trial and a $10,000 fine. But the state declined to prosecute, and the Transportation Security Administration said it probably won't impose a fine. Harrington said she'll never again carry her bookmark into an airport."

Homeland Security: a little more sensitivity training, please!

Homeland security is reported by CBSnews.com to have delayed someone for two days because her cancer-ravaged appearance no longer matched her photo-ids very well.

"I feel very degraded and angry," said Mrs. LaPera, who was returning home from vacationing in St. Augustine and whose husband works for Frontier
Airlines." Note CBS news's spin that "LaPera spent most of Tuesday trying to resolve the issue only to be told during a conversation with a federal Transportation Security Administration employee in Washington that she needed new photos and a doctor's note to explain her changed appearance" and, by contrast, the TSA spokesperson's attempt to put a TSA worker's comment that LaPera should get new ID in the kindest possible light: "'Just keep in mind that, obviously when you hear someone has cancer, your heart reaches out, and I think it was just our employee's effort to try to help her to avoid something like this in the future,' Stover said. 'And it would make total sense that if someone doesn't look at all like their photo that maybe they may be able to do something to correct that'".

Further down, there's this intriguing text:

The Homeland Security Department's chief investigator told Congress on Thursday that airport security screeners perform poorly, whether they're government or privately employed workers. Inspector General Clark Kent Ervin
told lawmakers the TSA screeners and privately contracted airport workers "performed about the same, which is to say, equally poorly."

And finally, this:

"The inspector general's report, as well as a study by the GAO portrayed the TSA as an unresponsive, inflexible bureaucracy that is failing to provide an adequate level of security at airports."

Interestingly today I heard a news report that TSA employees now have a four times higher 'disability' rate than CONSTRUCTION WORKERS. A recent article listed construction workers as one of the top 5 or so injured in all of the country....

Interesting that these people working indoors in air conditioned facilities are now out of work for months at a time receiving free checks.

TSA has announced today it is spending 17 million dollars to a private firm to find out how to fix the problem.

ps the still private inspectors at 5 of the country's airports still have much smaller disability claims as these Federal workers.

Hmmmmmmmmm

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Founder of BOINC team Objectivists. Oh the humanity! Rational people crunching data!
I did NOT authorize this belly writing!

Tuesday, September 27, 2005

Indirect 9/11 death toll keeps climbing.

Attacks convinced more Americans to hit the roads, where more have died.

Richard B. McKenzie
Professor of economics and management in the Merage school of business at U.C. Irvine.

Nineteen terrorists killed more than 2,700 Americans when they commandeered four planes and flew them into buildings and the ground. However, those terrorists, even though dead these four years, may very well have indirectly killed and maimed as many or more Americans since 9/11.

How can that be? On 9/11, the terrorists immediately increased the overall cost of flying by increasing many potential air passengers' perceived risk of flying. Since 9/11, most air travelers have feared that terrorists would strike again using commercial aircraft.

The terrorists, of course, motivated the U.S. government to dramatically beef up security checks at airports, the result of which has been an increase in travel time for all passengers. The time spent in security lines at airports has translated into a greater overall cost of air travel, relative to ground travel.

Hence, since 9/11, more Americans than otherwise have been more inclined to make their trips by car, leading to more miles driven and greater highway congestion. Since vehicle travel is far more deadly per mile than air travel, it should surprise no one that auto accidents, injuries, and deaths have increased as a consequence of the greater cost of air travel imposed by the 9/11 terrorists (independent of other changes - for example, road conditions - that can be expected to affect car-travel deaths).

Garrick Blalock, Vrinda Kadiyali, and Daniel Simon, Cornell University economists, have reported in two working papers the econometric findings of the potential tie between the terrorists' actions and car-travel deaths. They found that the 9/11 events and resulting security measures reduced air-travel volume, independent of other forces, by about 5 percent nationwide (and 8 percent from the nation's major airports).

The resulting increase in car travel led to approximately 242 more traffic deaths per month than would otherwise have been predicted for the last three months of 2001.

As Americans adjusted their post-9/11 travel behavior to accommodate the greater cost of air travel, the increase in the number of car deaths per month attributable to the attacks began to taper off. Still, the Cornell researchers were able to surmise that at least 1,200 more Americans lost their lives on the nation's roadways in the twelve months following 9/11 than would have otherwise been predicted.

It is no stretch to think that the greater count of American road deaths over the past four years attributable to greater flying risks and 9/11 security measures have surpassed the 9/11 deaths.

The economic tie between air and car travel means that the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) should be ever mindful that raising the security-alert level from, say, yellow to orange can spell greater road deaths. It also means that any waste of TSA manpower on screening aging grandmothers and infants, because of a prohibition on profiling, can be equally deadly. This is because the tighter security measures and waste of security resources can increase the time cost of air travel. The result can be more car travel - and more road accidents, injuries, and deaths.

Here's some more Tom. I brought it forward just for you. No chips on any shoulders just exposing the stupidity of the useless morons.

-Mrs. anon

Carry-on rules for passengers being relaxed
Some small tools, scissors allowed

By Leslie Miller
ASSOCIATED PRESS

December 3, 2005

WASHINGTON – Airline passengers soon will be allowed to carry small scissors and some sharp tools onto planes, but there will be a trade-off: the prospect of more thorough pat-downs and other extra security checks before they get to the gate.

The changes announced yesterday by Transportation Security Administration chief Kip Hawley are aimed at catching terrorists carrying explosives, which the agency considers a greater threat than dangerous objects smuggled into an airplane cabin.

Flight attendants and relatives of some Sept. 11 victims strongly oppose the change, saying it will make airliners more vulnerable to terrorist attack.

"They're just inviting trouble," said Marcus Flagg, a cargo pilot whose parents died in the plane that crashed into the Pentagon on Sept. 11, 2001.

Airlines and airports generally support the plan, as does the largest pilots' union.

Hawley said screeners – recently renamed "transportation security officers" – spend too much time looking for objects that don't pose much of a risk, slowing security lines.

Since the TSA took over airport screening on Nov. 19, 2002, the agency has confiscated more than 30 million prohibited items from carry-on bags. Hawley said about one-fourth of those were small scissors and tools, which will be taken off the list Dec. 22.

As part of the effort to focus on bombs, Hawley said more than 18,000 screeners have received enhanced explosives detection training. As a result, a screener searching a carry-on bag at the St. Louis airport found a bomb detonator in November. The person carrying the device was someone who worked with such items and was not a terrorist, Hawley said.

Other changes are aimed at making security checks less predictable for terrorists.

All passengers will still walk through metal detectors and their carry-on bags will still go through an X-ray machine. But more will be chosen randomly at checkpoints for secondary screening, though the type of extra check may vary. They might be patted down, their shoes may be checked for bombs, their bags may be searched or they may just be checked with a wand.

"By incorporating unpredictability into our procedures and eliminating low-threat items, we can better focus our efforts on stopping individuals who wish to do us harm," Hawley said.

Pat-downs will be more thorough. Now, screeners only check passengers' backs and abdomens. Starting Dec. 22, they will be checking arms and legs.

Passengers also may notice more dogs roaming airports sniffing for bombs. Hawley said there are now 420 teams of such dogs, 70 percent more than in 2003, at about 80 airports. The TSA also plans to increase the number of walk-through bomb-detection machines from 43 now to 340 by September, he said.

Passengers' willingness to confront terrorists – along with other post-Sept. 11 security changes such as air marshals, armed pilots and bulletproof cockpit doors – are why the TSA believes bombs are now a bigger threat than objects.

But flight attendants say more needs to be done to make commercial aviation safe. Their unions have been lobbying for mandatory self-defense training and for screening of cargo that's loaded onto passenger airplanes.

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