TSA - What A Farce!

The purpose of the TSA, according to their website is, "...to strengthen the security of the nation’s transportation systems while ensuring the freedom of movement for people and commerce.



Great! Just F'n great!  Just what we need, another agency to spend more tax money and inconvenience us. I know what you're going to say, you'll use the "9/11 card," and hope that will end the argument. Yes, 9/11 happened, and it was tragic, but if TSA had existed at that time, they still would have let those terrorists on-board because box cutters were not considered a weapon.

Oh, but they make it harder for the terrorists to hijack a plane. No they don't. While all the focus is on passengers, airport staff and cargo areas are poorly monitored and lightly controlled. Think about this - if liquids are such a threat, then, what does TSA do when they ask you to throw away your liquids. Yup, they ask you to throw them in the trash can, at the screening areas. So there you have a can full of potential explosives with a bunch of people standing around. LIES!



But there hasn't been a terrorist bombing or attack since they've began working. Really? We implement tighter procedures, then the shoe-bomber gets through. We start screening shoes, then the liquid-threat is identified. We "get rid" of liquids, but someone get through with a bomb in their underwear. We have body scanners now, imagine if someone tries to smuggle a bomb in their butt. All the things that TSA does NOW, works against previous threats. It's a theatrical show.

But I don't mind the inconvenience if I'm secure, I've got nothing to hide. I do. To those that have nothing to hide, let's put security cameras in your house to make sure you're secure, that you're not doing anything unsavory or perhaps giving too much trans-fats to your children. It's called dignity and privacy and when they're given up in the name of security, it had better be effective. Taking off my shoes -- doesn't increase security.



Well, what should we do? We can't just do nothing, we have to do something. I agree. The two most effective things that have increased security of air travel are (1) hardened cockpit doors on planes and (2) passengers willing to kick the shit out of anyone that acts up. Remember what we were told prior to 9/11? Don't get involved with someone trying to hijack the plane, stay in your seats, let the experts handle it...yeah, no.

But we're at war. These are the times we live in and we have to make sacrifices. No. We haven't declared war since WWII and we shouldn't have to make sacrifices like these. The most dangerous form of transportation is automobiles, why haven't we declared war on something that kills more Americans weekly than all of airline history? We spend billions of dollars on farcical airport security, while statistically consider the following, odds of dying in a terrorist related airline attack: 1 in 25,000,000; odds of dying from a lighting strike: 1 in 500,000. America is a country of 310 million people, in which thousands of horrible things happen every single day; and the chances that one of those horrible things will be that you're subjected to a terrorist attack can, for all practical purposes, be calculated as zero. Why haven't we declared war on lightning? Are we missing the cost/benefit analysis here?!



The best things we can do to make ourselves safer while flying is to pull our troops out of nations that don't want us there, especially the middle east. 9/11 was the effect, the blowback from the cause, infidels on/near their holy land. Our continued unconstitutional  presence only engenders greater hostility and future blowback. We are our own worst enemy. We could use the troops that we bring home and the money saved to patrol our leaky borders and seaports where there are so many more points of entry.



We could also turn security over to private companies and/or airlines. When TSA employees screw up, they may be fired, but the organization doesn't really suffer, so there really isn't any incentive to be effective. In fact, when they DO screw up, they argue that they need even MORE devices and training and employees. If this show were run privately, any screw up would cost jobs and money. When they succeed, the private organization can use that as bragging right to win more contracts, an incentive.

Finally, TSA not only is a burden, but they are incompetent, ineffective, and punish the good people. It is uncontitutional because this is not a federal duty, it's a private one. It erodes our liberties and makes us less safe and creates a social acceptance of submission to government authority. More freedom and REAL security measures makes us more safe, everything else is just show.