I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

[PhilT]

Well, at least until the maniacs running the TSA are run out of town!

http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/978.html

[skunk]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

TSA stands for tourism suppression agency

[GreyGeek]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

The REAL maniacs aren't in town, they are in Washington.

TSA = Too Stupid for Arby's.

People don't realize it but they can book flights with private carriers. It's a LOT more fun, too.


But, how much Freedom has evaporated in GB in the last couple of decades? PC speech in full effect, Big Brother cameras on every corner, no 2nd Amendment so only the bad guys are armed. One man was at home when a thug broke in, armed with a gun, and the home owner managed to incapacitate him with a golf club. When the police got there they arrested HIM for assult. The thug was allowed to sue him and what he couldn't steal the courts gave to him. He was given 5 years. This was told to me when I visited Cape Canaveral, FL as part of my retirement trip, by a British couple who were in America scouting out homes because they were afraid of their government and wanted to immigrate here. I gave them the news about our own deteriorating freedoms. They were very upset.

I read once where they were even considering outlawing knives big enough to carve Turkeys.

[PhilT]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

I have to agree GG - I'm not at all happy at the degradation in individual freedoms creeping in here in the UK but I don't think I would want to emigrate ... at least, not just yet! Don't get me wrong. I'm not anti-American, far from it, I have lots of friends there and spent years there doing research in the early 70s; it's just that this whole "security thing" is being used an an excuse to cast fear and increase control over ordinary folks. I think its all about money and not much about security. Buy! Hey! What do I know?

Three years ago I was at an electro-chemistry conference in Florida and was refused entry to a plane at Jacksonville because I had an offensive weapon - in fact, a tiny, imitation miniature Swiss army knife which was actually a key ring. The blade was 1.5 cm long - obviously a serious threat to everyone, if you could manage to get it open, which was difficult because it was so small! After bundling me through scanners, making me remove my shoes, coat, belt, money, phone, etc. they confiscated the key ring, frisked me and then, finally, let me on the plane. I think all the gold braid and badges on their uniforms was potentially more offensive than their over-bearing attitude. I felt completely humiliated. I wondered how many "free Christmas presents" those operatives manage to confiscate every day from unwitting, innocent, peaceful people.

[GreyGeek]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

They are taking more than key-rings. I've head from folks who had their laptops confiscated (Apples seem to be hot items) and have yet to get them back ... months later. It seems no body has any records of who confiscated it or when.

I agree. The TSA thing is all about money and power, combined with the opportunity to force political change in the name of "security".

[kyonides]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

I guess I won't travel to USA unless they get rid of all that insane fear of terrorism aka stealing people's belongings for no good reason.

[Detonate]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

The story I heard about the Apple laptops, is that the the TSA goons were taught to to look at the scans the devices when they went through the machine, And see if they had a hard drive. The theory being that if a terrorist was going to conceal explosives in a laptop, removing the hard drive and using that space would be the most logical place. Then Apple started selling laptops without a hard drive. Being the first on the market with SSD's. Nobody remembered to update the TSA inspectors on the change. Their orders were to seize all laptops without a hard drive. And of course, no one could later locate and return the seized machines.

[kyonides]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

Maybe at some flea or black market?

[Snowhog]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

In the 'early days' of the TSA, when pocket knifes were taboo, my sister, who is a knitter, was allowed to board the plane with her knitting yarn and two, twelve-inch long, 3/8 inch diameter knitting needles! As Michael Savage (Savage Nation) has coined, 'Liberalism is a mental disorder', and I have absolutely no doubt that he is correct!

[arochester]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

"Another TSA Outrage" - http://www.redstate.com/erick/2010/1...r-tsa-outrage/

[kyonides]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

As if a rifle butt stock couldn't knock out some pilot...

[GreyGeek]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

If you read the Homeland Security Announcement released in January by Big Sis, after Obama took power, you'd know that THEY considered half the country (the conservative half) and all returning soldiers to be terrorist risks.
http://wnd.com/images/dhs-rightwing-extremism.pdf

There was a universal uproar over the one-side, obviously political nature, of the report. So, within a couple weeks they sent out another one which listed leftists groups. Actually, group. They listed only the Earth Liberation Front. No mention of Bill Aires, the weatherman bomber, the Black Panthers, SDA, CPA, and other groups agitating for the violent overthrow of the US & the Constitution. They would have had to list all their friends.

[GreyGeek]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

And after all we've written and observed, this bit of news greets us:
http://www.net-security.org/secworld.php?id=10187

I don't know why any citizen from other countries risks their liberty and/or possessions traveling to or passing through the USA. How is this crap different from government oppression reported in China, Cuba and other pseudo-democracies?

[Detonate]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

We have a no fly list, that contains the names of people not allowed to fly. Why can't we have a "can fly list"? A person could apply to have their name added to the list. A background check would be done, and if that person cleared the background check, and met all of the criteria to screen out potential terrorists, their name would be added to the list. When they went to the airport, their boarding pass would be stamped to show they were exempt from screening. They would have to show proper identification to verify that they are actually the person on the list. As a US Army Retired Officer, with a squeaky clean background, and a person who absolutely poses no threat to security, I resent having to go through these checks. I don't fly often, maybe twice a year, but I find it insulting to have to go through these silly security checks to merely board an aircraft.

[Snowhog]

Re: I guess God (needs to) bless America! But this is why I won't go there again.

If our (U.S.) 'leaders' (the Congress et al) would pull there heads out of their collective butts, purge the idea of PC (political correctness) from the American Lexicon, and simply implament the Israeli model of travel security, Americans would be happier, and we would actually be safer than Secretary Janet Napolitano and the TSA would have us believe is the case with their model.

Profiling is effective
Profiling is necessary
Profiling eliminates 'obvious non-threats'
Profiling speeds up the screening process
Profiling is not racist - it's prudent, commen sense!