dgcpaphd

Isn't the election now over and the next one is years off?

If the senators and congresspeople had to go through the TSA scanners and/or groping that the public endures, there would be some changes.

In the meantime, do not rely on self-serving elected officials for any help.

I voted for Boxer and just called her office about this issue.

I received no meaningful response to my question about whether the oversight committee will be discussing the recent TSA abuses. Instead, I got rudeness accompanied with platitudes.

Bottom line, she has just been re-elected and doesn't give a damn because it does not effect her.

Many elected politicians are little more than pigs at a trough; Boxer is no exception.
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barbell

I'm not so sure that asking questions on position is the right way to handle these calls. The purpose of the call is to communicate to the Senator how the Constituent feels about the issue. Asking how they feel only muddies the issue.

FWIW, I just got off the phone w/ Sen. Klobuchar's office. I wasn't successful in getting to the aid for the Committee, but the staffer who answered the phone offered to share my concerns. I politely told her that TSA was out of control, and it was unacceptable that people should be exposed to unnecessary radiation or sexual assault to board an aircraft. I told her that as a Constituent I wanted the Senator to take Mr. Pistole to task in the Committee hearing and stop the current TSA procedures.

If you are from MN, it is especially important that you share your thoughts because of Klobuchar's co-authorship of the SAFER AIR Act of 2010. If we don't express our disdain, she can say that she did it to keep us safe.

D-MN Amy Klobuchar 202-224-3244 (on the committee)

right1188

Please everyone call your state representatives and senators about the TSA abuses. They may not even know how far the TSA has taken this. I know this is hard to believe, but I just spoke with my state senator this morning and he did not know how many people are complaining about the pat downs when they opt out.
I informed him that NJ law makers are demanding congress review the TSA's enhanced security screenings. I asked him to please see to it that the state of Georgia follow NJ's lead!

Tmstewar2

***ALERT***
The Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation will hold a
Transportation Security Administration oversight hearing Wednesday NOV 17. See this link for more information: http://bit.ly/bICXfJ

Please forward this information as widely as possible, and be sure to call your Senators, no matter who they are, but especially if they sit on this Committee. The only way to change the system is by legislation through Congress. The Administration doesn't seem to want to budge.

This came from - http://www.optoutday.com/


Thanks!

Terri

LuvAirFrance

One problem is the "soft on" charge. Congress is full of people terrified of being called "soft on" anything: drugs, terrorists, criminals. We had over 4 decades of listening to "soft on communism". And flinching will be "soft on terrorism". Sorry, your rights and your dignity are hostages to the politics of "hardness". Too many people cast too many votes for the knuckledragging pols who used the "soft on" dart to further their own ambitions.

miffSC

Contacted Sen. DeMint.

FlyingUnderTheRadar

C-span video of today's hearing - it lasts 90 minutes:

http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/id/237917

DevilDog438

Who else thinks that someone on Pistole's staff wrote Rockefeller's opening crap?

polonius

It appears to me that Pissy was the only witness -- it's outrageous that no opposing views, or views from travellers, were sought.

polonius

GAAAAAAAAAA! Did anyone else listen to this hearing? It is just unbelievable!

As I noted before, firstly, Pistole was the only witness. No testimony from travellers, from experts like Bruce Schneier, or those have lost loved ones thanks to the over the top security approach.

Secondly, the hearing opens with one senator after another -- from both sides of the aisle -- falling over themselves to praise Pistole, the TSA and the work that they do. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) refers to the screening process as "love pats".

In his testimony, Pistole claims that he is learning from "what other countries, airport authorities around the world are doing" and suggests that "all of you" (referring to the Senators) "have travelled in many places and seen or maybe experienced the type of pat-down that may be referred to as 'love-pats'". What a crock! I have never, ever, anywhere experienced the kind of intrusive, offensive approach to 'security' anywhere that is routine in the USA. He goes on to say that "the bottom line is we are consistent with many countries, for instance throughout Europe, and less invasive than some countries around the world". This is just simply patently and blatantly false.

The rest of littered with other falsehoods, such as claiming that TSOs "act professionally at all times", and all of them - the Senators and Pistole - seem to think it just a matter of "educating" travellers about "what to expect", as if the only people objecting are suffering from some sort of ignorance issue.

Anyway, don't know if anyone here is a constituent of Jay Rockefeller (WV), Kay Bailey Hutchinson (TX), Byron Dorgan (ND), Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Amy Klobuchar (MN) or any of the other (full committee membership here), but if you are, please write to them and express how deeply you are offended by this condescending and one-sided hearing and the views expressed in it.

LuvAirFrance

Well, we're all quite aware of administration reps lying to congressmen for many years. So I guess it shouldn't be a shock to see Pistole doing it. Only way to counteract that is have facts at hand and demand that the witness reconcile those with what he just said.