PTravel

Well said! And, the fact that the incident is now receiving national media attention confirms that a relatively small, individual act such as this can really make a significant contribution to the national debate.

seoulmanjr

It was me. :-) Post your slogan requests and I'll put together the images for you.

peace,
~Ben~

Kip Hawley is an idiotic twat.

PS> I'm not offering this for sale. The link purposefully goes not to someone's online store, but the item in editable and individually purchaseable mode. If you want this or any other Kip Hawley is an idiot graphics by email, just PM me and I'll be more than happy to oblige.

sublimesting

All I can say is for who's benefit did you write on the bag? Yours or the TSA agent? You're the only ones who will see that. It seems to me you wanted a reaction and you got one. What did you think that message would do? Was it so some working class TSA agent would open your bag and see the message and feel bad, angry... or even agree with you? And in either case what did you expect would happen? You got what you wanted I think, media attention at minimal expense to your time, so don't complain and act as if your rights were trampeled on.

GUWonder

The MKE passenger's motivations are not the core of the issue since the OP cannot trample on his own First Amendment rights; but the government certainly can, even as it breaks the law.

If you think the MKE passenger did this desperately wanting media attention at minimal expense, there's one little fact that gets in the way of your assertion: he only dealt with the media after several other people on this website urged him to deal with the media as soon as possible to maximize media attention.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

At the risk of being glib, as my Contracts professor often quips, "A line in the sand is easily shifted."

Pithy fortune-cookie ruminations aside, the Constitution itself has already drawn that line. In this instance, the line was crossed. Executive agencies may not select at their pleasure which portions of the rules they wish to follow. To all those who wish to hold MKE accountable for breaking a rule, please name any legal rule he has broken. The TSA flagrantly violated MKE's fundamental Constitutional right to protected speech by detaining him for the commission of his lawful act (an act of political speech held almost sacrosanct by courts in this country). If anyone should be held accountable for this incident, it is the TSA.

rparmfamily

Here is another first time poster not seeing the big picture on this matter. They AND you can not treat us this way and THANK YOU MKE FOR STANDING UP and hopefully others will follow suit and fight back legally.

MKE for President!!!!!

sublimesting

Yeah and we also don't need to go suing everybody over everything either. Grow up both of you!!!! He was detained for 25 minutes, so what, it obviosuly didn't bother him cause he followed the agent to his desk to carry on the confrontation.

bocastephen

Yes, do tell...what rules were broken? I am anxiously awaiting an answer, because I don't want to find myself in Guantanamo when I roll my eyes at another act of screener foolishness yet again. Heavens! That posting critical of Alberto Gonzalez I made in Omni might get me arrested for sure

For those mostly-new posters whose modus seems to be 'what did you expect would happen', what possible logic supports that viewpoint? The OP was making a statement of protected free speech. What was suppose to happen was the screener either ignoring it or having a chuckle then ignoring it or getting hot under the collar and then ignorning it.

By your logic, Rosa Parks should have sat her butt down in the back of the bus and Thomas Jefferson should have been hanged by King George for writing the Declaration of Independence. Everyone should keep quiet and just comply.

Sheesh. Makes me wonder where everyone's cajones went. American is a free, open and democratic society, regardless of what the government and you chicken littles are trying to do to it. Love it or leave it. I heard Kim Jong Il is offering some nice incentives (including affordable housing ^ ) for those people who have no problem with pledging their allegiance to a leader and keeping the criticizing to themselves.

Also for the information of our newbies - the OP had no desire for media fame over this. He only contacted the media after many of us 'oldbies' here at the TS/S forum strongly requested he do so. Without our support and assistance in doing that, I doubt this event would have made it into the local 4H Club newsletter.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

So asking for an explanation as to why an unlawful detention occurred puts the unlawfully detained person at fault?!

bocastephen

Good grief. Talk about missing the whole point of this entire exercise

GUWonder

In the absence of legal recourse, what would you suggest? Do nothing?

In MKE he was detained for more than 24 minutes for expressing a constitutionally-protected opinion. If that's ok by you, are you also ok with detaining him for 24 hours on the same basis? If not, why not?

sublimesting

But he DID deal with the media. Thus he wanted media attention. Was this all for the benefit of himself and one baggage screener?

GUWonder

Let's not skip over the fact that he was reluctant to deal with the media until others here urged him to deal with the media as soon as possible. The media interaction came AFTER he was urged BY OTHERS to deal with the media.

In any event, is going to the media a crime when some party does something questionable? If someone thinks so, they might as well support a Government Ministry of Information and its "truth"-telling machine.

Gargoyle

In retrospect, it was for the benefit of the Constitution, of all Americans, and for all citizens of this planet. One small step for mankind.

Try to open your eyes and your mind just a little bit.

Anglo Large Clawed Otter

To wade into the morass of hyperbole which has entered this thread (no worries, I have my boots on)...So, a parent who uses the media to plea for the return of a kidnapped child is then at fault for attempting to redress an injustice by resorting to publicity?