Newsstand - Breasts get US worked up

http://www.news24.com/News24/South_Africa/News/0,,2-7-1442_1730224,00.html

Breasts get US worked up
News24 (South Africa) 02/07/2005 11:24 - (SA)
Millicent Merton

Cape Town - Women with silicone breast prostheses are advised to carry a doctor's letter with them if they want to escape inspection by American customs and security officials.

The Netcare travel clinics have issued a warning to women who have had a mastectomy and who use external silicone prostheses as they are targeted as a potential terrorist threat by American security officers.

Is it true? I doubt it. Or at least, there is some context missing, as the search was done in the Netherlands, not the U.S. But the fact that such rumors are believable in other, relatively civilized countries should concern Americans.

Two women bribe an official in Russia and the women of the world have to pay for it. One idiot escapes detection and now everyone has to participate in the shoe carnival. When will the madness end?

To be fair, women's breasts (well at least one woman's breasts) get me worked up too! :)

Two women bribe an official in Russia and the women of the world have to pay for it. One idiot escapes detection and now everyone has to participate in the shoe carnival. When will the madness end?

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So it goes with security. If terrorists know that shoes - or breasts - are immune from searches, then that's where they will hide their weapons.

So either searches should be as thorough as possible or there should be no searches whatsoever because they would be a waste of time.

What's your choice?

There was a thread several years ago about a woman whose very expensive prostheses were confiscated by *security*. They were later returned after it was determined they contained no hazardous material. It's a wonder the TSA didn't cut them open to see. :rolleyes:

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So it goes with security. If terrorists know that shoes - or breasts - are immune from searches, then that's where they will hide their weapons.

So either searches should be as thorough as possible or there should be no searches whatsoever because they would be a waste of time.

What's your choice?

What a load of nonsense! Are you advocating rectal exams or nothing??

There are much better means of detecting explosives hidden both in and on a person, such as the GE Entryscan 3, but the filth that has been in charge of the TSA has chosen instead to continue with its Workfare program, and that means Cheap Feels at Happy House.

This not a binary, all-or-nothing decision. There are security measures that make sense, and there are stupid, un-American inSecurity measures that make no sense and simply harass. Keep the former, dump the latter. It's that simple.

Sadly, there are too many "inSecurity at any cost" people willing to swallow whatever the government rams down their throat due to their unwillingness to think for themselves or respect the civil liberties of their fellow travelers. What a disgrace! :mad:

Two women bribe an official in Russia and the women of the world have to pay for it. One idiot escapes detection and now everyone has to participate in the shoe carnival. When will the madness end?

.... women of the world flying within or from America (and perhaps a few other select places) have to pay for "it". In the rest of the civilized planet, the prevailing breast screening is medical-related and not aviation-"security"-related.

Full security or none at all.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So it goes with security. If terrorists know that shoes - or breasts - are immune from searches, then that's where they will hide their weapons.

So either searches should be as thorough as possible or there should be no searches whatsoever because they would be a waste of time.

What's your choice?

USCGamecock is spot on when he asks about when will the madness end.

There is no false dilemma of "full security or none at all.". And even if there were, your reasoning carried to its natural conclusion would have the nation in a perpetual state of lockdown. After all, terrorists could find/source weapons in your house (including IEDs); and if we make you and your house immune from searches with or without a court-issued warrant -- issued after the presentation of evidence of reasonable suspicion or of probable cause -- then the terrorists may just use you and your house to hide/source their weapons. What then? ;)

.... and how does our "security establishment" ascertain that you don't have an improvisable weapon in your body cavities without searching such areas (frequently at that)? What then? ;)

Non-invasive screening for just weapons (including potential explosives) is sufficient when that give most passengers, crew and well-distributed FAMs a fighting chance to maintain/assert control in the face of hostilities. In any event, risk elimination ("full security") is often a fantasy; risk management (incl. costs-benefits analysis) is not.

A chain is only as strong as its weakest link. So it goes with security. If terrorists know that shoes - or breasts - are immune from searches, then that's where they will hide their weapons.

So either searches should be as thorough as possible or there should be no searches whatsoever because they would be a waste of time.

What's your choice?

What a crock of ****! It's ignorance and attitudes like this one that keep this BS pseudo security in place in our airports.