TSA Sucks

Maybe this could be considered an update from a prior post. We were in Panama doing some dentistry on young folks. We came back through Houston. Immigration was okay, the lines went fairly quickly but we always seem to get in the slow one. Then it is on to security and the TSA Experience.

I screwed up and there was a bottle of water under my laptop in my pack and I forgot it was there and they took that which was fine; I mean there are fewer things more dangerous than an unopened bottle of water. Then they made me go through the body scan. I always have to go through that thing and I hate it. I told them I thought it sucked that I had to do it but they smiled that half buttocked smile they have. I made it through.

My wife does not have to do the body scan, she glides though the regular thing you walk through. BEEP. They ask her if she has something metallic on her. I imagine they think she has an AK 47 or a small portable thermonuclear device. No, she has a metallic hair clip. They ask her to step over to the Groping Area. The guy yells out, We Need A Female Groper to Check this Prospective Terrorist. So, I watch this woman who gently glides up and down my wife's body. She feels the underwire in her bra. Then she progress around her chest area, dropping to inspect her inner thighs and beyond. I said outloud, "This is a bunch of Bravo Sierra!" I wasn't being confrontational mind you, just expressing my opinion.

Well, after the hanky panky by the female groper we get our shoes on, get out stuff together and she is livid, I am livid. I see some other folks in our group and ask them what they think about it and the basically say it's not a big deal, that stuff doesn't bother them. I just about said something like "Well, aren't you guys Americans?" but I held my tongue.

We had passports, we've had them for a while. I wonder why they can't start with all passport holders in the country and set up a database that could include number of years paying taxes, social security taxes withheld, stuff like that and have a card, a "This Is A Really Nice Traveler" card that we can show and we could just kind of glide through security. Then it could be developed further so there would be shorter lines, fewer TSA people. Traveling wouldn't be such a hassle. It would cost the government less. Hoping for that is like hoping for Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy, all at once.

I know Sec. Napolitano thinks they are being considerate, that they evaluate people's sensitivities but it is an innocuous onslaught that is slowly hypnotizing and programming us to give up freedom, liberty and self respect. It is Bravo Sierra.

UPDATE: This just in from Human Events, just like I said in the above statement. TSA Sucks by the guy who started the whole thing. Read his thoughts here.