TSA Boycott! Civil Disobedience! Laughing Hysterically!

[funkietoo]

Some of these comments are hysterical (and accurate at the same time!)—of course, individual amusement depends on your view of the enhanced body scans and pat downs.

http://www.komonews.com/news/national/109870474.html#idc-container

I am a supporter of civil disobedience and boycott! This newest ‘keep me safe’ twist is just another step towards getting us use to a Police State.

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[DP]

Oh! Oh! Oh!

The possibilities for mirth are endless . . .

Here’s my plan:

Step 1 Design a piece of glossy cardstock that looks like an airline ticket to someplace exotic. (Pictures of swaying palm trees, hula girls, that sort of thing.) Consult the airline timetables and print out a fake boarding pass to your destination.

Step 2 Make a quick trip to the Salvation Army store and grab the rattiest little carry-on suitcase they have. Fill it up with clean second-hand underwear. While there, also purchase a grass hula skirt.

Step 3 Don the hula skirt, snag the suitcase, grab the next train to the airport, and GET IN LINE.

(Bet you already know where this is going, don’t you?)

Step 4 As you approach the full-body scanner, start jostling, looking around for the exits, and protesting loudly. Regale the people in the airport lobby with one or more of the following cries:

  Hey! Don’t touch that!

  Oooooo! Your hands are soooo cold.

  What’s with the rubber gloves, lady? I consider that an insult.

For the piece de resistance, drop your suitcase to the ground, spilling the contents everywhere. Then fling your hula skirt angrily away, and proceed to rip up your ticket in front of everyone as you scream:

I’m so sick of this crap! This the last time I EVER deal with you people. You have absolutely RUINED my vacation.

 

 

Cost of one ratty suitcase and misc. props: $7.50

Train fare to the airport: $3.75

Full-body satisfaction of annoying the Government: Priceless

—D.P.

 

Note to FBI:

That’s P-R-E-S-T-O-N, OK? Please get it right this time.

I’m tired of you always misfiling things under “PEARSON.”

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[JanS]

yes, you may joke..but women with breast prostheses are being made to show them during pat downs. There are more women than you can count that have them. It’s private, it’s personal, and it’s embarrassing, and it’s humiliating…and nothing to make a joke about. We’ve been through cancer…and it’s ridiculously insensitive at best.

and what’s wrong with Pearson?…it’s my dad’s middle name ;->

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[nighthawk]

Women with breast prostheses have to show them? Really that is unbelievable. I keep saying that but I really should just shrugging my shoulders and saying “ah yes par for the course”

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[JanS]

yes…there was even an article this weekend about a flight attendant with a prosthesis who had to show hers after the TSA agent felt her breast and felt that it wasn’t real….how humiliating. We will accept this, but how humiliating. Maybe all women with prostheses should just take them out and throw them in the little box meant for jewels…

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[DP]

Sorry all. Line removed.

Actually, as a male, I was thinking of something else entirely when I said “prosthetic” . . . but now I have better insight into the special plight of women undergoing these invasive searches.

Ugh. That would be quite obnoxious . . .

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[JanS]

well, hey, DP, it can’t possibly be fun to be (man)handled by the “junque man” either – lol…

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[funkietoo]

Jan, just to be clear…I am not laughing at the embarrassing situations that individuals have to face with the scan vs. ‘enhanced body search’.

I’m amused at the venting of people who want to protest this violation of our civil rights/right to privacy. We all need to let off steam, then contact our senators and representatives to say ‘enough it enough..stop this insanity!’

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[DP]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71XIiP8v95Y

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[maplesyrup]

I flew on Friday. Zero drama.

I was hoping that the new scanners would eliminate all of the disrobing B.S. and make things easier. But no such luck. I was joking with the TSA guy about still having to take off my shoes, belt and jacket as well as empty my pockets and he said, “yeah but this is so much easier.” At least he had a sense of humor.

Seriously, I don’t mind the scanning but shouldn’t the point be to make the process smoother and more convenient for travelers? I want the system in Total Recall where you can just move through without all of the hassle.

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[JoB]

maplesyrup…

we didn’t mind x-rays when i was a kid either..

until they figured out that you could get too much of a good thing and started talking about lifetime exposure.

these machines add significantly to lifetime exposure and place the burden of harassment most on those who are ill.

better paid and trained TSA agents would have been a much better investment of TSA dollars.

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[maplesyrup]

I guess you don’t fly much, JoB. I fly at least once a month and the current system is a major inconvenience and does little to keep us safer.

If there’s proof that the radiation is a problem down the road then they can change the system. For now I’m willing to accept the risk. Just like I’m willing to risk that cellphones don’t cause brain cancer.

And as far as those who are ill goes- a system in which they weren’t forced to go through all of the rigamaroll would be better for them. Easier, less painstaking and quicker.

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[ellis steinbeck]

I have given considerable thought to the issue of civil disobedience in regard to the TSA. Firstly, it is important for those who are going to commence with this sort of protest to have all of the information possible. The most important thing is to film and broadcast whatever kind of protest or civil disobedience you are going to execute.

You have heard ad nauseum that people are instructed to not film during TSA checks. This is absolutely untrue according to the TSA. Their regulations state in section 2.7 that filming any TSA procedure is permissable as long as it doesn’t interfere with the normal process of searches and as long as it doesn’t film x-ray screens. It does note that Airports may have different rules.

My investigation has shown that airports only have rules regarding commercial photography. If you are going to film and broadcast on Youtube, with no financial enumeration, than whatever you do with your filming cannot, according to the Supreme Court, be considered “commercial”.

Also, if you are filming inside the TSA search area, that is exclusively TSA responsibility and Airport officials have no jurisdiction inside it. Likewise, TSA officials have no jurisdiction outside the searching areas in regard to cleared passengers.

Another very important note. TSA regulations explicitly instruct agents not to physically detain or restrain someone who walks off or through the checkpoint. They are required to shut down the check point until the renegade person is detained by law enforcement.

This sets up an intriging possibility for civil disobedience.

Much like flash dancing in public, guerilla acts of civil disobedience are possible. To truly cause the officials to take notice, it must first prove that TSA is actually impedent to do what it is called to do. That means audacious acts of closing down terminals by means of TSA disruption.

50 to 100 similarly dressed persons, disquised, could march enmass through a check point into the terminal. All are filming with their phones or cameras so that, at the outset, it is clear that this isn’t a terrorist action but obviously civil disobedience. At least 75% would make it through, because there wouldn’t be time to detain them all by the time they get into the sanitized area. They immediately go to the restrooms where they are wearing normal clothes underneath. They emerge from the restrooms looking like any of thousands of people coming off of planes.

There is an inherent risk, of course, but it is a compelling idea. Emerging from the terminal, they could gather for a post-demonstration video for desemenation to the public. It would have to be done on a grand, scheduled scale, but done off the grid in snail mail only. Each local chapter would have the responsibility to close one airport at a time so that the story got out all over the country. Then, many of the videos that are already out there will get more hits and the heat against the sexual molestation searches will be raised.

The ultimate goal, I believe is the revoking of the Patriot Act and the dismantling of TSA.

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[dhg]

Tsa is street theatre, designed to make you think you are safe. If you enjoy the show, remember the tip!

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[2 Much Whine]

I wondered why this post from TWO YEARS AGO was dragged out of the cellar and thrust before us again. Then I clicked on the link for our new friend ellis steinbeck and was redirected to some website about fragrances. I didn’t give it time to load so it could be legit but I think not.

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[ellis steinbeck]

2 much whine….

I don’t know why you were redirected. I just started the blog…so it may have some glitches. Big TSA critic. Legit though.

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[ellis steinbeck]

2 much whine….

My bad…posted the wrong address.

http://www.outsidethegarden.blogspot.com

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[redblack]

ellis:

If you are going to film and broadcast on Youtube, with no financial enumeration, than whatever you do with your filming cannot, according to the Supreme Court, be considered “commercial”.

<nitpick>

the word you meant to use is remuneration.

</nitpick>

trust me, i’m not an internet grammar nazi. but sometimes people start using the five-dollar words incorrectly and it catches like wildfire. just doing my part to prevent further bastardization of the language.

e.g. see anathema.

thank you, and have a good night.

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[2 Much Whine]

OK, I guess you are legit. I just don’t share your “enthusiasm.” I fly a lot and don’t really have an issue with it. They search me, search my bags and it doesn’t bother me. I suppose if it did I’d find other ways to travel. Not sure what your suggested disobedience would accomplish besides possibly making me miss a flight.

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[JoB]

there’s the rub..

it would be great fun

but not if you really wanted to catch your flight

TSA doesn’t make me a happy camper

but i would rather grin and bare it

and get there on time

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[DBP]

TSA has given up on the full-body scanners, so that’s progress.

I’m also encouraged to see that here (in Seattle) and other places, govt. officials have been backing off the police state routine a little. The decision to ground the SPD drones was refreshing. And the scrutiny the Port surveillance cameras are getting is cool, too. (Thanks, WSB!)

Mind you, I’m not opposing either drones or surveillance cameras. They have their uses. But this post-9/11 trend of citizens just rolling over for any “security measure” the govt. wanted was getting tedious. I hope that sad, stupid phase of our history is over.

Meanwhile, technology marches on.

Say, have you seen my latest nude shots on Facebook?

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[ellis steinbeck]

I think 2 much whine, with respect, that might be why so many of our rights have been abdicated. There was a time, in our lifetimes, when these kinds of searches were limited to third world countries and England. This kind of thing would have brought wrath from the heartland of America. But we have been cattle prodded and conditioned by the official 9/11 account and fear. Freedom is supposed to be dangerous…that’s why its free. I would rather risk an enemy like terrorism than to live with a disobedient, unsubmitted government.

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[redblack]

riffing on 2 much whine’s latest comment, i agree that the TSA is an (arguably) necessary and largely ineffective inconvenience. but it goes with the territory.

i mean, you can’t take a train to hawai’i, right?

so they have us – the flying public – by the short hairs. and they garner a lot of money for the government and the airline industry.

like 2MW said, i’ll take a train if given a choice. but we’re pretty limited in our choices.

anyway, i believe the TSA has some pretty anachronistic methods. there are cameras and imaging algorithms that can effectively detect threats to the traveling public and that negate the need to physically dig through anyone’s underwear.

so maybe TSA is there to put a human face on our orwellian need for security. and, you know, provide some jobs, while allowing airlines to jack up prices and port authorities to raise taxes.

kind of like ford or GM paying three union guys to do what a robot can do 24/7/365 for a tenth of the cost and no banefits.

speaking of, i remember hearing that TSA/DHS is the first cabinet department whose employees aren’t unionized. and i believe that, by law, they’re prevented from organizing.

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[JoB]

“speaking of, i remember hearing that TSA/DHS is the first cabinet department whose employees aren’t unionized. and i believe that, by law, they’re prevented from organizing.”

that offends me.

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[redblack]

ellis: instead of abdicated, try abrogated.

sorry, man. i can’t help it.

i’ll let they’re/there/their and its/it’s go any day of the week. but the five-dollar words are precious.

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