Untold Stories of the TSA Abuses of Power

In March of this year a developmentally delayed 4 year old boy who had to wear leg braces because his ankles were malformed and weak because of a premature birth, was on his way to Disney World for his birthday celebration.

The braces the boy has to wear are made of metal and hard plastic…of course this sets off the airport scanners in Philadelphia and the SS TSA screener said the boy had to take the braces off and he had to walk without them.

The boy’s father, Bob Thomas, a law enforcement officer with the Camden, NJ police says the family complied with the order but remained very upset and contacted Daniel Rubin, a columnist who has been reporting on mistreatment of travelers during TSA screenings

TSA spokeswoman Ann Davis told Rubin that the boy should not have been told to remove his braces.

“The boy should have been directed to a private screening area, where he could have been swabbed for traces of explosive materials,” Rubin is reporting.

How f**king stupid are these people anyway?  It seems every day or two the news is reporting a new incident where the TSA agent is apparently brain dead and unable to think on their feet…and it’s getting worse every day.

We can’t say anything to them or we’ll get arrested, and if you’re escorted away they do everything in their power to humiliate you in front of other passengers, and they’ll lie like there’s no tomorrow to save face when they are obviously in the wrong 90% of the time.

Their police powers need to be taken away from them as they are obviously not trained to handle the kind of power they have.  Video and audio files of each encounter need to be made as this will be a vital deterrent to the abuse the SS screeners would mete out to their victims. And they Really need to have more customer relations training.

Best thing to do though is not fly for awhile. Put off that trip to see relatives, or not take an Island vacation for a year or so and boycott all flights except those absolutely necessary…see what happens…I’ll bet TSA under pressure from the airlines will straighten up their act.

Government is the real problem …they set up these crappy agencies and give them powers that they should never have.  They beat you over the head and tell you that you do as directed or we’ll sh*t all over you and yours. No sense of diplomacy at all, but what do you expect from the SS?

Story inspired by an article from the Orlando Sentinel, March 16, 2010. Here

TSA…We handle more junk than ebay–Jay Leno
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Start Profiling and Searching Muslims

So the TSA and other US government officials are telling us that the new airport security procedures of either a full body scan, using cancer causing radiation, or a rigorous personal pat-down that includes an improper and constitutionally forbidden (unreasonable search, probable cause) feel up of your genital area is necessary to counteract the new threats of terrorism that we Americans are suddenly faced with.

My question to them is just when do they think we will have a strong enough handle on this terrorism thing to be able to discontinue the maddening SS style security measures at airports across our country? We know where all the terrorism threats and action is coming from…we know the exact people and exact countries that are involved in threatening us, and the whole world, with destruction; why are we not acting on this knowledge…in our airports?

We know what religion all the terrorists are; this has been consistent all over the world since 9-11. So it seems to me that all we have to do is put these 2 bits of information together about a specific person and we have reasonable cause to suspect certain people and put THEM through the gauntlet of security anytime they want to fly into or around the US. This is not rocket science, it is common sense.

Fairness and non-discrimination doesn’t enter in to the calculation; if you are a Muslim and come from–Ohhh, let’s say… Saudi Arabia…then you are going to get the full body scan and/or genital pat-down. If you are a Muslim women…the TSA will see your junk and you will bring shame on your family. My 90 year old, white haired granny from Kentucky will not be bothered, nor will I or my six year old grandson.

All the Muslims have to do to stop this insanity is to totally disown and lock-down all the crazy sons-a-bitch Mullahs and batspit crazy fundamentalists that prey on legitimate Muslims. Show us that you really are a “religion of peace.” When all the terrorist killings and bombings going on in the world is committed by Muslims it does not bring peace of mind to us, and I’m tired of paying the price for your religious idiots.

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Sikhs are mad over extra screening because of their turbans
Sikhs are not supposed to take off their turbans in public, but now because of tighter screening rules the TSA says they must do just this…Sikhs are not happy.
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Boycott Airport Full Body Scanners And Patdowns

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So what kind of harassment do you  want from your government the next time you fly somewhere?  Do you want to add more damaging radiation ( your x-rays and some types of medical scanners add to your lifetime dosage of cancer causing radiation) to your body and the possibility that naked pictures of you will end up on the internet?  Or would you like a smiling total stranger feeling around and on your genitals while the world looks on.  How about the poor women who has been sexually exploited or raped…how is she supposed to deal with government sponsored genital invasion of her body?  How about the women who have had breast surgery and have to show security guards their breasts because full body scans show an anomaly?

How long are we sheeple going to keep bending over for the government and their illegal shenanigans?  I’ll bet we are going to see some “examples” made of a few people that protest too much to their TSA  inquisitors.

I’ve quit flying anywhere until they start profiling Arab looking people like Israel does and stop the insane security measures that put you between a rock and a hard place…Cancer, or a stranger feeling you up.

Religion no excuse to get out of cancer causing full body scanning or genital pat down by TSA. Here
TSA chief John Pistole told the Senate Homeland Security Committee on Tuesday that passengers who refuse to go through a full-body scanner machine and reject a pat-down won’t be allowed to board, even if they turned down the in-depth screening for religious reasons.

Full Frontal Nudity Doesn’t Make Us Safer: Abolish the TSA, From: Forbes Magazine

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English Libel Law Hostile to Writers

This is a message from Simon Singh…Via Pharyngula:

This week is the first anniversary of the report Free Speech is Not for Sale, which highlighted the oppressive nature of English libel law. In short, the law is extremely hostile to writers, while being unreasonably friendly towards powerful corporations and individuals who want to silence critics.

The English libel law is particular dangerous for bloggers, who are generally not backed by publishers, and who can end up being sued in London regardless of where the blog was posted. The internet allows bloggers to reach a global audience, but it also allows the High Court in London to have a global reach.

You can read more about the peculiar and grossly unfair nature of English libel law at the website of the Libel Reform Campaign. You will see that the campaign is not calling for the removal of libel law, but for a libel law that is fair and which would allow writers a reasonable opportunity to express their opinion and then defend it.

The good news is that the British Government has made a commitment to draft a bill that will reform libel, but it is essential that bloggers and their readers send a strong signal to politicians so that they follow through on this promise. You can do this by joining me and over 50,000 others who have signed the libel reform petition at http://www.libelreform.org/sign

Remember, you can sign the petition whatever your nationality and wherever you live. Indeed, signatories from overseas remind British politicians that the English libel law is out of step with the rest of the free world.

If you have already signed the petition, then please encourage friends, family and colleagues to sign up. Moreover, if you have your own blog, you can join hundreds of other bloggers by posting this blog on your own site. There is a real chance that bloggers could help change the most censorious libel law in the democratic world.

We must speak out to defend free speech. Please sign the petition for libel reform at http://www.libelreform.org/sign“

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Torture is Prohibited by Law Throughout the United States

In 1998 the United States reported to the United Nations that the following is our pledge to the UN Convention Against Torture.

“Torture is prohibited by law throughout the United States. It is categorically denounced as a matter of policy and as a tool of state authority. Every act constituting torture under the Convention constitutes a criminal offense under the law of the United States. No official of the government, federal, state or local, civilian or military, is authorized to commit or to instruct anyone else to commit torture. Nor may any official condone or tolerate torture in any form. No exceptional circumstances may be invoked as a justification of torture.” I added the bold to some text

“Except when WE want to”– George Bush…I just made that up, but it probably adequately describes what really happened. I heard that at least 10 other treaties were tossed aside for the Bush/Cheney war on civilization.

The United States has a very long history of making accords, pacts, treaties, deals, and solemn promises and almost universally and immediately breaking said accords, pacts, deals, treaties, etc.  Talk to the native Americans, I don’t think ANY of the treaties we made with them were honored and we continued to steal what is theirs right up to today.  We look good on paper, but don’t count on any promises we make as a country. Do as we say…don’t do as we do.

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Arabs Are Always Angry

An Arab journalist friend explained, “Arabs are always angry. They always look for the bad and then harp on it.” Yahoo News 11-08-10.  Sounds like recent Republican swipes at President Obama.  In fact that’s exactly what the Republican and Right leaning, biased political media / radio pundits (think…all of Fox news, the Tea Party, and Rush Limbaugh and his ilk) have been doing consistently since Obama’s inauguration.  The amount of scurrilous, abusive and offensive crap emanating from these clowns is disgusting.  In earlier times, in this country, there would be a tremendous outcry from the common folk, and the hate-spewing guilty ones would lose their jobs.

The fundamentalist religious asshats (like Baptist minister Mike Huckabee) who support and now control the Republican Party are consistently ragging on everything our President does, conveniently forgetting how screwed up George W. Bush was and how badly he screwed over our country.  How many stories have you EVER noticed about the opposition party bitching about a President visiting a country friendly to America in the past?

The amount of vitriolic, misleading, crappy, hate-mongering speech coming from the Republican side of our political system today makes me ashamed I was a Republican supporter and voter for nearly 50 years. I voted for Bush and it has been the only vote I have ever cast that I became ashamed of (well maybe Nixon a little).  How about in the interest of fair-play we treat our present President with more respect and give him a chance…after all he has done some good things.
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The Evil TSA

From the Nov. 2 2010 Yahoo Finance / New York Times

” HAVING been taught by nuns in grade school and later going through military boot camp, I have always disliked uniformed authorities shouting at me. So I was unhappy last week when some security screeners at O’Hare International Airport in Chicago started yelling.

“Opt out! We got an opt out!” one bellowed about me in a tone that people in my desert neighborhood in Tucson usually reserve for declaring, “Rattlesnake!”

Other screeners took up the “Opt out!” shout. I was marched from the metal detector lane to one of those nearby whole-body imagers, ordered to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt and hold my possessions up high. Then I was required to stand still while I received a rough pat-down by a man whose résumé, I suspected, included experience at a state prison…” Jack Sharkey  NYT

I wonder how long a boycott of all airline flights would take to change the attitude of the T.S.A. and the malevolent disrespect they show to anyone who questions their methods.  They are after all public servants and really need to change their tendency to shame and publicly  disgrace any questioner of their methods.  They act like evil SS troopers.
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Religion Takes Over House of Reps.

Well congratulations to the evangelical fundamentalist Christians, they have apparently taken over the House of Representatives…I can see lots of religiously inspired legislation heading our way again.  Maybe the Democrat controlled Senate will be able to tone them down some.

The Republican party needs to change their name to the “Fundamentalist Religion Party”.

At least Christine O’Donnell lost in Delaware, so those folks inclined to masturbate can breath a sigh of relief…federal SS troops won’t be going after them anytime soon.

I can see federal funding for “abstinence only” training starting up again.
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A Sane and Logical God

Would a sane and logical God create as many as 80 sextillion stars (update–300 sextillion is new estimate-12-2010) in an observable universe that is about 93,000,000,000 light years ( a light year as distance is about 6 trillion miles) in diameter, all because he wanted to lord over a few people here on earth 6,000 years ago?

Why would a God this powerful and omnipotent want the adoration of a group of goat herders and set in motion the obscene sequence of events on this poor planet that has resulted in the unimaginable horrors that human history has witnessed?

Why would an all-powerful being that has an intellect and (reputed) powers that us mere humans could not even fully comprehend, want a bunch of savages to pray and idolize Him/Her/It and want to tell these “chosen” people how to live, what to eat, how far to set up a latrine from your camp tents, etc., etc.?

Why would an omniscient, all seeing, all knowing God even think up the god-awful stupid melodrama of “Original Sin” and sending a “son” to earth to be a “human” sacrifice to expiate our non-existent “sins”?

How can a loving, caring, compassionate God sit on His/Her/It’s throne and watch the millions and millions (probably billions) of agonizing, excruciating, horrible, bloody deaths of pure innocent humans…women, children, infants, and men who are doing nothing more than trying to care for their families.

How can this omniscient being possibly justify all the misery He/She/It has caused to be suffered by my brothers and sisters on this lonely planet spinning around a third rate star in a third rate galaxy?

But, the best question of all…how can so many people believe this crap with all the stupidly nonsensical,  non-logical, and seriously demented stories?
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Go To Seminary…Lose Your Faith

“…It’s true, here are these young people in seminary, they have come with the purest of hearts and the noblest of intentions and they’re going to devote their lives to God. And one of the first things they learn is textual criticism. They’re looking at all the existing papyruses and scrolls and so forth and learning about the recension of the texts — the tortuous and often controversial historical path from Hebrew, Greek, and Latin versions of the books of the Bible — and all the Apocryphal books that got rejected — to the King James Version and all the later English translations. And that’s not what they taught you in Sunday school.”

That’s the joke that we often provoke from people when we talk about this: Anybody who goes through seminary and comes out believing in God hasn’t been paying attention.”–  Daniel. Dennett  [my emphasis]

Bart Ehrman writes about this in his book “Jesus Interrupted”.  He says that he believed in God and that the Bible was inerrant and that he was a full blown fundamentalist.  Then he went to Princeton Seminary and learned the real story behind the Christian religion. He still teaches religion at UNC Chapel Hill, but he is no longer a believer.

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