Apparently, a survivor of bladder cancer, who had a urostomy bag, was pawed over by these cretins. As they investigated the urostomy bag, it came loose, pouring urine all over the man's lower body.

TSA Pat-Down Leaves Bladder Cancer Patient Humiliated, Crying & Soaked in Urine

A young boy was also apparently strip-searched in front of his father. I didn't bother watching the video, due to disgust, but gathered the part about the parental (lack of) supervision from the comments on Free Republic.

Young Boy Strip Searched By TSA

How about this for a solution?

The Israelis have developed an airport security device that eliminates the privacy concerns that come with full-body scanners at the airports.

It’s an armored booth you step into that will not X-ray you, but will detonate any explosive device you may have on your person or in your carry-on.

Israel sees this as a win-win situation for everyone, with none of this crap about racial profiling. It will also eliminate the costs of a long and expensive trial.

You're in the airport terminal and you hear a muffled explosion.

Shortly thereafter, an announcement: "Attention standby passengers — we now have a seat available on flight 6709. Shalom!"

http://llphfreedom.blogspot.com/2010/11/taking-flight-israeli-way.html

The searches and scanners employed by TSA go well beyond their stated purpose, cynically speaking, this is just a trial run to gauge reactions from an American public that was/are willing to give up Constitutional protections in exchange for security. Unless we push back very hard, expect more intrusive security measures throughout our infrastructure.

I'll willingly go through the scanners the same day that Obama, his family, and entourage has to go through them every time they get on a plane. And every TSA member as well to go to work.

Actually, if he believes this, it's really easy: have his daughters go through TSA gropes incognito, several times to be sure they get the "good" screeners. Film the event anonymously and post thye video on whitehouse.gov. When we see that, we can then believe that he really understands just what it is he is supporting.

Regarding the young boy being strip-searched: the video is fairly harmless, and the TSA agent seems to be even rather nice about it, helping him to get his shirt back on. Of course, the point is that no one should be searched unless their is probable cause. Fourth amendment, folks, insist on it. If they want to grope you, ask to see the search warrant.

As numerous bloggers have pointed out, the TSA should concentrate exclusively on detecting explosives, especially in checked luggage.

As far as weapons are concerned, they should be issuing them, not confiscating them. Or put a billy club under every seat, next to the life vest. My personal favorite: give anyone with a concealed carry permit 10% off their ticket price, as long as they carry on the plane. If the passengers are armed and the cockpit door is reinforced and locked from the inside, there cannot be a successful hijacking.

Your opinion is as crappy as your stupid advice.

The biggest problem with the presidential reasoning is that it is much the same as the mental gymnastics used by others who start out with an assumption and then reason from there. If your basic premise is wrong, it does not matter how your follow on reasoning is. In the case of Obama and the TSA, the assumption is that in order to prevent terrorist attacks on planes, you must disarm the passengers and or detect explosive materials on their person. The Israelis start out with a different premise. They look for nervous passengers who through a series of questions have something to hide. They single these people out by profiling, (who is most likely to be a terrorist) and then go from there. My guess is a good heart rate monitor, followed by a short conversation would be a more effective terrorist screening tool than all the scanners and metal detectors in the world. Unfortunately that would involve ethnic, religious and racial profiling which has become the third rail in democratic politics.

Hey, just wear a hijab!

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/cair-tsa-can-only-pat-down-muslim-women%E2%80%99s-head-neck/

Seriously, we need thousands of people to do this! SOMETHING has to be done!

If the passengers are armed and the cockpit door is reinforced and locked from the inside, there cannot be a successful hijacking.

None of that would deter a bomber.

@II: no use hiding behind other names. Amy can see your Eye Pee.

Non-groping technologies being used by Israel:

http://www.israel21c.org/201003157781/technology/sraels-top-10-airport-security-technologies

So inquiring minds want to know: who is wearing the sock named II?

"87-year-old Mrs. Rozensweig isn't going to blow up the plane to Miami.
Nor is the little kid who got his winky groped by a TSA worker on a
YouTube video I saw"

True, but incomplete. They'd each be a great place to secrete something
nefarious that you intend to surreptitiously reclaim during the flight.

TSA is always fighting the previous war. After the shoe bomber, we all
have to remove our shoes. After the underwear bomber, we all have to
get groped. I look forward (as long as I don't need to fly) to their
response to the first publicized discovery of a body-cavity bomber.

> They'd each be a great place
> to secrete something

IS THAT OUR STANDARD???????!?!?!??

Goddamit.

I can't understand how American's turned into such servile PUSSIES.

-- In February, the Figh Council of North America, a group of Islamic scholars, issued a fatwa, or religious ruling, that full-body scanners violate Islamic law.

If Jimi Hendrix or Jim Morrison came back, and read today's newspapers, their first thought would be "Whoa- I thought the acid would've worn off by now."

I've been humming this all day.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QhEMRSp7vaY

Did anyone hear the odds of cancer from a single scan is about the same as getting killed by a terrorist? That is about 1 in 30M.

When you get 1 in 10K chances of cancer I might think about it.

I have no problem with a basic profiling/background check. I.e. give name, DOB, and D.L. number when buying tickets. The system gives the same background scan as when buying a gun. Then when you get to the airport -- as long as you didn't raise flags -- you walk through basic metal detector and have your bags x-rayed. If there are flags, you get enhanced security.

Someone doing something under duress can ask for enhanced security.

As for aircrew -- biometric cards -- finger print/iris scans and they are done. Allow the frequent fliers the ability to purchase the same thing.

And don't say that if you can't buy a gun -- you can't fly list. The liberal's god, Theodore Kennedy, was on the no buy list. I'm sure he didn't take a train from MA to DC.

I met up with a gentleman (U.S. citizen) who went to Israel for the '73 war. He flies so often that he knows/knew the codes on the tickets for profiling. He corrected the ticket agents, more than once, that coded him as a non-threat for enhanced security.

The whole point to this is that some basic sense, not even common sense, would cover 99% of everything. Common sense from the government is like expecting a pig to sing like Pavarotti.

A kilt. A KILT, commando style!!! That's fucking hillarious!!!!! My folks are all British, so I know what I am wearing next time I fly!!! I can get some sleep now tonight.

Thanks Gail.

You are so welcome, Eric. That video is about the first thing that made me smile about this whole idiotic issue and I had to share it!

Can I share something considerably more depressing? I was having an email discussion with a couple of good friends about the scanners and the groping. They said they didn't see what the fuss was about. I gave them a short, sweet synopsis of why the damn issue is a travesty, from the civil liberties issue, to the fact that the scanners are useless, right on down to the radiation. I attached a couple of relevant supporting links.

This was one of the replies: "I'll gladly take the grope! Not worth risking any radiation issues, and I'm also fine with the groping... urm, I really really REALLY don't get the big deal. AT ALL.
Sorry, that's honestly how I see it = a NON-EVENT. Can you please drop me off this topic of conversation/discussion? We clearly will never agree on this, and frankly, I'd rather not discuss it further."

What really kills me is that she actually DOES buy that there might be something to the radiation issue (which is actually the least of my concerns with regard to this travesty) -- but she still is utterly untroubled by the fact that the government is forcing the scanners on us and aggressively groping us in retaliation if we don't comply. WTF?

Seriously, am I fucking dreaming? What the hell is going on?

A kilt. A KILT, commando style!!! That's fucking hillarious!!!!!

Well I go to the local ren fest wearing a kilt. I don't see a problem with wearing one. But I have a feeling they would object to me carrying my 61 inch Officially Licensed Anniversary Edition William Wallace Sword from Braveheart let alone my four foot blade broadsword (1075 steel) along with me. My paired katana and wakizashi would give them a heart attack. (Gotta love badgerblades.com -- They have some really nice blades.)

Face it -- they confiscated my crappy two inch long (when extended) multi-tool.

The whole thing at the ren fests -- we have our blades peace tied (i.e. tied into the sheath). Most of us carrying could have them out in seconds. I have as yet to hear about a violent confrontation in the 21 year history of the fest (8-10 weekends yearly).

Face it 9/11 will never happen again. Lock the cabin door and the passengers will take care of any hijacking attempt. As for panty-bombers -- I can get the field-expedient ingredients for napalm through security through easily enough. But even the jihadists would have problems getting enough crap through to bring down an airplane easily.

I love the idea of putting someone in a box that would detonate any explosives as long as that box is really secure - a really big bomb might break the box and kill innocents.

I've heard people on Fox News, including people who work there, who aren't worried about the groping at all. It honestly does seem about 50-50 there for people who think this is not acceptable and people who seem OK about it.

I put it in the unacceptable category myself. The scanner seems unpleasant, but if they could take all the radiation out, I guess I could think, that it's not like I'm going to know if someone's getting off by seeing this, and I'm not famous, but I don't care for radiation. And being groped by a stranger - no way!

"Lordy lordy I declare Big Brother's in my underwear"

Ditto on the thanks to Gail. I want to see one of those flashmobs bust out to this tune while waiting in line at airport security.

see Gail explains why a lot of people actually agree with stuff like this... they ARE willing to trade liberty for security, and they refuse to realize what they give up.

So I've started taking a different tack. Do ANY of these methods actually work? Survey says: No.

Why? Because all the recent activity with jets has been planes that were coming from OUTSIDE the US. AND They were using a type of plastique that can only be traced by a chemical sensor, which conveniently enough are no longer used in US airports anyway. Because the maint. costs were prohibitive. The one system that actually might have done something was retired in 2009. The current screening proceedure wouldn't have caught anyone that has tried to do anything with jets in OR flying to the US.

Screening proceedures in the US have NEVER been the problem. Before 9/11 a boxcutter wasn't seen as a weapon. But the weakness was in the cockpit for that one. And that has been remedied. Overall, the real issue of individuals taking action to thwart problems on jets, has also changed for the good.

So when Clinton comes on and talks about panty bomber, what does that have to do with anything? The new machines wouldn't have caught him anyway, because he wasn't in the US. EVEN IF he had been, it isn't very certain the current system would have caught him anyway.

Extra doses of radiation and indignities are one thing, but they are irrelvant if they system doesn't work anyway. So Obama, Clinto, Napolitano, and the guy from the TSA, are all blowing smoke, just to make people like Gail's friend feel comfortably numb, while NOTHING is actually done. I have a friend like that too, and I would tell her; "you don't mind if I fight for you...?"

Here is a poster or T-Shirt pattern for ya!

If you think people are pissed now, wait until inflation causes the price of jet fuel and gasoline to double or triple and most people cut their current travel in half because it is one item in their budget where they can chose not to spend money. Obama and his minions have no understanding of the meaning of that parable "the straw that broke the camel's back." A large portion of America's economy relies on cheap fuel and easy travel. With a country this size it has to. I don't think Obama's advisors have any idea what effect 10-20 percent of the flying public just going away will have on the over all business picture anymore than they understood what would happen to the confidence and investment decisions of secured creditors when they shafted them in the GM bailout. I suspect it will lead ultimately to re-regulation of the airline industry to try and prevent catastrophic failure. Then the American taxpayer will be shafted twice. First when their tax dollars pay for Kabuki security from the TSA and a second time when we pay more money to keep the US carriers in business when the planes are half empty like they used to be in the 90's.

TLDR; Innocent Americans molested = terrorists win.

The Goddess asks: "(If you aren't savvy enough to get what every minor catblogger across America is able to grasp, why are you President?)"

Because he was arrogant enough to run, and the people were stupid enough to elect him.

Look, the whole problem is that, like with many things passed or done by the Federal government, the folks who made the rules or passed the laws are exempt from them. To Obama it's just an intellectual exercise because neither he nor anyone around him are going to have to undergo this process.

Same thing with Boener from Texas. It's real easy to tell the masses that they have to do something and to look at them with paternal concern like children throwing a tantrum because none of it is REAL to them. The chickens that they are legislating don't come home to roost on their junk.

As soon as we either see backscatter pictures of Congressional leadership, White House staff, and Homeland Security OR we get to see them having the EXACT same treatment as other flyers, we'll see the new TSA screening disappear, no matter how much money the Chertoff Group is getting from this.

Am on the train now (am not flying anymore if I can help it). Jazz on the headphones, autumn scenery out the window, can play with my electronic toys and walk around, and no groping. I could get used to this.

I honestly don't think I can stay friends with my ostrich buddy and others like her. If you're willing to throw your civil liberties down the toilet and think it's a fucking "NON-EVENT" unworthy of discussion, I can't respect you. And if I don't respect you, how can I be your friend?

WTF. I need to watch that video again.

And HERE is Patrick Smith's reminder of what idiocy continues!

And of course, CNN is today profusely excusing the Feds by showing us all how nasty we are.

We deserve to be abused, you see.

And they repeat the old observation claiming the pile of confiscated items represents "safety" - now. Lie. All that stuff had no effect whatsoever. It flew regularly with no effect. Leaf blowers, blenders, even hammers went with their owner without incident.

Interesting perspective on the Israeli security model by Judith Miller at Newsmax.

Security experts love quoting Israeli security experts who say that their country does not rely on such expensive scanners and other high-tech solutions. Israeli security is brilliant and thorough, because it must be. But Israel has one major international airport. The United States has 5,000 airports with paved runways, 376 of which have regularly scheduled airline service. And Israeli security is hugely expensive compared to America’s, according to Bloomberg News. By its analysis, Israel spends around 10 times more per passenger than the United States does – or about $100 million a year for security for El Al, or $76.92 per trip by its 1.3 million passengers (half of which is picked up by the Israeli government). United States, by contrast, spent in 2008 $5.74 billion to monitor and protect 735,297,000 passenger trips, or around $7.80 a passenger.

Moreover, were America to try to adopt Israel’s system, the TSA would probably become the nation’s largest single employer. In a blog posted by Foreign Policy, Annie Lowrey estimated that subjecting each passenger flying through a U.S. airport to an average 10 minutes of questioning by one guard (Israel’s average is 15-20 minutes) would require about 7.35 billion minutes, or 123 million hours, of work annually. “We'd need 3 million full-time guards to perform it,” she wrote. Or “200,000 more people than the total number of active and reserve military personnel, and twice the number of U.S. Wal-Mart employees.” And that would also cost at least $150 billion a year.

Finally, if you think that TSA officials are badly trained at what they do now, imagine trying to teach them how to use Israel’s behavioral profiling based on intensive questioning.

http://www.newsmax.com/Miller/airport-screening-obama-terrorism/2010/11/21/id/377713

If it were up to me, I'd toss the scanners and gropers unless there were a genuine red flag, I'd toss the liquid rule, keep the metal detectors, let everyone keep their freaking shoes, and run bags through an xray. In other words, I'd scale back what we do to the year 2000. Except I'd lock the cabin door.

Then I'd woman up and accept the 1 in 10 million risk a terrorist takes down the plane before the passengers take his ass down.

Thanks for the link Conan....I guess my point would be, why in the world would we subject every passenger to the intensive questioning (if the US adopted a similar system to the Israelis)? Why would we not look for a more efficient way to look for terrorists? A good start would be individuals from those countries on the "watch list"--whether American citizens by naturalization or traveling on visas. So, 99 percent of your travelers wouldn't BE subjected to the 10 minutes or so of questioning--beyond what they already receive at check in.

Individuals who are trained in human behavior would monitor the cues, both verbal and otherwise, that one might expect a person who is about to blow up a plane might be signaling.

And certainly all passengers would still have to go through the metal detector, but only those with inexplicable objects or whose behavior raised suspicion would be pulled to the side for more detailed examination.

We're making this way, WAY too hard, not to mention the massive invasion of privacy that the government is inflicting on thousands of citizens who are committing the heinous crime of taking to the air to travel.

If it were up to me, I'd toss the scanners and gropers unless there were a genuine red flag, I'd toss the liquid rule, keep the metal detectors, let everyone keep their freaking shoes, and run bags through an xray.

How many terrorists has the current "grope and change" method caught?

I'd gladly fly without a gun. Let me take my four foot long broad sword and my lock-blade. Along with the rest of the passengers being armed.

An armed society is a polite society.

"Am on the train now (am not flying anymore if I can help it). Jazz on the headphones, autumn scenery out the window, can play with my electronic toys and walk around, and no groping. I could get used to this."

They'll get to the trains shortly. Remember Madrid.

Conan, it has occurred to me in the reading I've done lately that the Israeli methods could probably be improved. Not saying that they aren't effective; they clearly are. But they've been doing things basically the same way since the 1960s. They understandably don't want to mess with something that is working. But we'd have the luxury of starting with a clean sheet. For instance, we can collect more data on most U.S. fliers than Israel can collect on their fliers. We can do pre-screening and triage, if you will, that they don't have the luxury of doing. I also think there are possible ways to add technological assistance. For instance, I'll bet it's possible to develop an infrared and humidity measuring device that would help screen for pax who are unusually anxious.