YES - I don't mind being x-rayed.
12%
NO - I submit to the body groping just like Thom Hartmann.
88%
Comments
Thom's Blog Is On the Move
By webmaster
Hello All
Thom's blog in this space and moving to a new home.
Please follow us across to hartmannreport.com - this will be the only place going forward to read Thom's blog posts and articles.
Images of Thom
With His Holiness The Dalai Lama, at His home in Dharamsala, India (Synthesis Dialogues - made into a movie narrated by Harrison Ford)
From Cracking the Code:
"No one communicates more thoughtfully or effectively on the radio airwaves than Thom Hartmann. He gets inside the arguments and helps people to think them through—to understand how to respond when they’re talking about public issues with coworkers, neighbors, and friends. This book explores some of the key perspectives behind his approach, teaching us not just how to find the facts, but to talk about what they mean in a way that people will hear."
From The Thom Hartmann Reader:
"Right through the worst of the Bush years and into the present, Thom Hartmann has been one of the very few voices constantly willing to tell the truth. Rank him up there with Jon Stewart, Bill Moyers, and Paul Krugman for having the sheer persistent courage of his convictions."
From Cracking the Code:
"Thom Hartmann ought to be bronzed. His new book sets off from the same high plane as the last and offers explicit tools and how-to advice that will allow you to see, hear, and feel propaganda when it's directed at you and use the same techniques to refute it. His book would make a deaf-mute a better communicator. I want him on my reading table every day, and if you try one of his books, so will you."
I went through the Chertoff Porno X-Ray Scanner in Sacramento (and will likely get it again on the way back home). My answer is "Yes," I didn't feel like being groped by TSA.
This 65-year-old grandmother got groped. When I mumbled something about the hefty TSA ladies violating my 4th amendment protections, the boss lady informed me that--according to a sign outside the security area that I had missed--I had renounced all constitutional rights by entering the area.
When I mumbled some more thoughts in French as I walked off, she yelled "What!!!" at me. I just said I was a crazy old lady talking to my secret friend.
I didn't notice any other passengers resisting the process. Sheeple everywhere.
The first time I opted out all went smooth. The woman was very nice but she asked me a very interesting question. She asked me if I preferred the groping or the wand of old. I said the wand of course did I have a choice? She indicated there was a choice made at some point between the two and that they were both viable. The second time I opted out a supervisor came over and asked why I was opting out. I said I didn't want the radiation exposure. He asked me if I was aware that I am exposed to radiation flying in a plane. My response to that was, so I should expose myself to more? He left me alone then and allowed the pat down to be done. Then the third time I was approaching the dreaded machines and I guess because of the last encounter I told myself to go ahead and go thru. Really not feeling very good about that decision I approached the entry and out of the blue the TSA officer asked me if i had a problem with the machines and I said yes I did and he waved me through! I didn't even have to be gropped! Go figure. I'll never go through those machines as long as I have a choice.
So I'm wondering if they did away with the wand because most people would opt for that and not go thru those machines
As I said on my phone message to Thom today I take it as a free government massage, and if it slows up the system, all to the good. While there are some machines here that don't use X-Rays, but instead rely on millimeter wave radio signals, the false positive rate of these is so high that France and Germany turned them down. What's interesting is that the Rapiscan company is ultimately owned by an Indian corporation and builds the equipment in Malaysia, yet got federal stimulus money for these chambers of horror. Also, when Obama went to New Delhi the head of the US subsidiary traveled with him. It makes me think that the fix is in: you buy them and we'll give you campaign money. I'd hoped for better but this seems to be the likely scenario. Where is the outrage?
I don't like either option. But I also don't like the world attitude of "killing themselves and passengers" to gain access to 47 Virgins.
I think the TSA has a tough job to do, they are part of my community and I have to respect them for taking on a pretty tough task. Whether or not the "screening" is necessary, I guess the 9/11 event will have to fade from memory (which it won't). I don't have to go through the screening, I don't have to fly. I can rent a car. Or become Rich and fly on a Private Jet like my US Senator to and from Washington. (he is in our state weekly but rarely seen going through "the line" - cost of a one way flight from Washington to here is $18,000 but IBM and GE are happy to accomodate). We ought to make it mandatory that Congress flies "non Private Jet" and also a son or daughter serve in the Military. We would have less wars and more understanding of "being groped".
Until the "madness" of teaching young people it is OK to blow themselves up and kill innocents, we will continue to have to be "groped". I curse under my breath, those 19 guys who flew airplaned into buildings and the $Trillions we spent since.
I haven't flown since 2005, so the opportunity hasn't come up. Anyone know where I can get a t-shirt with the text of the Fourth Amendment on it?