[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
[quote]Cortes wrote:
[quote]TheBodyGuard wrote:
[quote]Cortes wrote:
The more I think about it, the less I see any reason why they could not have done this in some other manner that did not require treating a little girl like a suspected criminal.
They have xrays, 3D body scanners, all manner of metal detectors, explosives detection equipment, drug sniffing dogs, and a bunch of other gadgetry on hand that could have almost certainly been employed in order to avoid putting a very young minor in this kind of situation in the first place. Yes, it was probably quicker just to pat her down, but it’s not like the TSA is all about efficiency in the first place. A tiny bit of common sense might have gone a long way toward a preserving a bit of human dignity. [/quote]
I’m not sure I’d want to unnecessarily expose my child to x-rays and body-scanners. Pat him the hell down and let’s make our flight. I just don’t see the big deal. It’s the world we live in now and our children might as well get used to it. Hell, you’re patted down to enter most nightclubs where I’m from. Are they wasting time and resources patting down a young child? Hell yes. But how does that distinguish them from any other government entity? Or most private entities for that matter :)[/quote]
Also good points. And this actually gets at the heart of my annoyance with the agency. Since its inception, it has always been RE-active against threats. A few examples I can think of: September 11 brought about the ban on box-cutters, metal utensils and related items. Then there was Richard Reid, who damn near brought down an entire plane but bungled the job. In response, to this day we have to take off our shoes before we walk through the x-ray (which, incidentally, happens almost exclusively in America). Then we had the guys trying to mix together the explosive liquids which also thankfully failed. Say bye-bye to your liquids. After that, the panty-bomber,whom L3 Communications and Rapiscan, among others, should honor with a commemorative statue on the front lawn of their corporate headquarters for blessing us with their infamous 3D body scanners.
And on and on. If I thought for a New York minute that the TSA were capable of doing anything more than grumbling and turning over before going back to sleep after each prodding I might have a bit more patience with them when I see stories like this one pop up. As it is, I honestly believe the massive, sweeping incompetence that dose indeed define that agency is actually creating more dangerous conditions that make it all the more likely that a significant terrorist attack will occur in the near future. It is likely, even. All the terrorists have to do is plant a Patsy like Reid or the pantybomber, go through as many times as they need to to get him caught, wait for the uproad and the new focus upon whatever bodypart it was they decided to use, let the fervor die down, and then carry through with their real plan while the focus is, as it is, on the bullshit distraction they created.
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Lots of frustration there!
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Hah! Can you tell I travel a bit?
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I get your points. I’m tempered however by the belief that I tend to think they know more than we know (intelligence about threats) and given that planes are not dropping from the skies and that we are not finding potential terrorists left and right, that maybe they are doing a decent job.
I do agree that they are handcuffed by bureaucracy and PC bullshit (they should be able to “profile” - I’m not generally a fan of law enforcement but they were spot on when they said “profiling is policing” - I believe that.[/quote]
Certainly can’t find anything I disagree with here.
And I agree that there are probably many thwarted attacks that we do not (and should not) know about. I just don’t believe that almost any of them occur at TSA security checkpoints.