Anti Federalist
06-20-2011, 12:44 PM
LoL, the next post from this bootlicking suburbanite that I'm going to post, will be him whining about all the hate mail he's getting since writing this suck ass column.
Stop whining about TSA pat downs
Sunday, May 8, 2011
By GREGORY RUMMO
COLUMNIST
http://www.northjersey.com/columnists/rummo_gregory/121480609_Stop_whining_about_TSA_pat_downs.html?pa ge=all
With all the media-induced complaining by air travelers that led to weeks of negative media coverage aimed at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for pat downs gone wild, I felt like a jilted lover during my security screening at Newark Airport on my way to Kansas City last week.
Not one squeeze. No touching. Not even a firm handshake.
All I got was casual eye contact and a forced smile.
I was on my way in less than 15 minutes from the time I presented my identification and boarding pass until I was gathering my belongings on the other side of the x-ray scanner.
Based on my past travels, this ho-hum nonchalant walk through security is actually a fairly common experience for me.
In fact I cannot remember one unpleasant encounter with any TSA official ever in any airport in the United States. And as a business traveler, I have been through quite a number of airports since Congress created the TSA during the Bush Administration shortly after 9/11.
Is it luck? My innocent baby face?
Maybe it's my attitude. Maybe it's because I don't go looking for trouble.
I have always treated the TSA screeners with great respect and admiration. I am grateful for what they do—unlike the geezer who was immediately in front of me in line.
After setting off the metal detector's alarm, he decided to start mouthing off to an otherwise cheerful screener after being told to remove his belt with the huge buckle and walk through again.
"If I take off my belt, my pants will fall down," he complained.
If you don't shut-up and take off your belt, you may have to remove more than your pants, I thought to myself.
He was actually very lucky that the screener was in a good mood. If you are unfortunate enough to set off the metal detector twice, you are a prime candidate for a pat down.
While there have been accusations of excessive fondling by overzealous security screeners, such incidents are few and far between given the number of airline passengers each year and given that the very nature of a legal pat-down is close enough to excessive fondling to begin with.
It's described as a two to four minute thorough going over of the human body, during which time the screener can search any area where a bomb might be concealed, including but not limited to bras, the groin area, and even underneath fat folds.
Given that description, and the fact that somewhere between a half billion and a billion people board planes in the U.S. every year, you'd think we'd be hearing daily reports of Roman-style orgies at security checkpoints across the country.
But just the opposite is true.
The initial furor from outraged journalists looking for bogeymen where none existed appears to be over.
At least until some overzealous screener's path crosses some poor old 80-year-old grandmother in a walker and some overzealous journalist decides to make hay with the story on a slow news day.
Notwithstanding, amidst all the celebration over Osama bin Laden's demise, let's remember how we got here in the first place:
On a picture-perfect day in the late summer of 2001, 19 Arab terrorists hijacked four airliners, dragged box cutters across the throats of the flight attendants and the flight crews, and then converted those airliners into fuel-laden missiles, murdering over 3,000 Americans, and forever changing the way we view the world.
Go ahead. Pat me down.
Stop whining about TSA pat downs
Sunday, May 8, 2011
By GREGORY RUMMO
COLUMNIST
http://www.northjersey.com/columnists/rummo_gregory/121480609_Stop_whining_about_TSA_pat_downs.html?pa ge=all
With all the media-induced complaining by air travelers that led to weeks of negative media coverage aimed at the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) for pat downs gone wild, I felt like a jilted lover during my security screening at Newark Airport on my way to Kansas City last week.
Not one squeeze. No touching. Not even a firm handshake.
All I got was casual eye contact and a forced smile.
I was on my way in less than 15 minutes from the time I presented my identification and boarding pass until I was gathering my belongings on the other side of the x-ray scanner.
Based on my past travels, this ho-hum nonchalant walk through security is actually a fairly common experience for me.
In fact I cannot remember one unpleasant encounter with any TSA official ever in any airport in the United States. And as a business traveler, I have been through quite a number of airports since Congress created the TSA during the Bush Administration shortly after 9/11.
Is it luck? My innocent baby face?
Maybe it's my attitude. Maybe it's because I don't go looking for trouble.
I have always treated the TSA screeners with great respect and admiration. I am grateful for what they do—unlike the geezer who was immediately in front of me in line.
After setting off the metal detector's alarm, he decided to start mouthing off to an otherwise cheerful screener after being told to remove his belt with the huge buckle and walk through again.
"If I take off my belt, my pants will fall down," he complained.
If you don't shut-up and take off your belt, you may have to remove more than your pants, I thought to myself.
He was actually very lucky that the screener was in a good mood. If you are unfortunate enough to set off the metal detector twice, you are a prime candidate for a pat down.
While there have been accusations of excessive fondling by overzealous security screeners, such incidents are few and far between given the number of airline passengers each year and given that the very nature of a legal pat-down is close enough to excessive fondling to begin with.
It's described as a two to four minute thorough going over of the human body, during which time the screener can search any area where a bomb might be concealed, including but not limited to bras, the groin area, and even underneath fat folds.
Given that description, and the fact that somewhere between a half billion and a billion people board planes in the U.S. every year, you'd think we'd be hearing daily reports of Roman-style orgies at security checkpoints across the country.
But just the opposite is true.
The initial furor from outraged journalists looking for bogeymen where none existed appears to be over.
At least until some overzealous screener's path crosses some poor old 80-year-old grandmother in a walker and some overzealous journalist decides to make hay with the story on a slow news day.
Notwithstanding, amidst all the celebration over Osama bin Laden's demise, let's remember how we got here in the first place:
On a picture-perfect day in the late summer of 2001, 19 Arab terrorists hijacked four airliners, dragged box cutters across the throats of the flight attendants and the flight crews, and then converted those airliners into fuel-laden missiles, murdering over 3,000 Americans, and forever changing the way we view the world.
Go ahead. Pat me down.