Originally Posted by
TSA Bob
I got together with a couple of folks and we decided the 9/11 thread should just be about remembrance and moving forward.
I'm all about remembrance.
I'm all about remembering the 1st Amendment. TSA at MKE declared the 1st Amendment invalid at the airport, and by denying innocent Americans freedom of movement, TSA stomps on freedom of assembly too.
I'm all about remembering the 4th Amendment, which TSA ignores every time they expand their administrative search to a criminal search and report cash, drugs, or anything else that is not either a threat to aviation or an immediate danger. Or whenever TSA extends their search beyond what is needed to find weapons, explosives, and incendiaries, such as pawing through wallets or reading papers/books.
I'm all about the remembering the 5th Amendment, which guarantees that we shall not be deprived of liberty or property without due process. Yet TSA denies thousands of innocent Americans liberty with no means of due process through the bungled no-fly list. And don't get me started on property theft by TSA, both theft of permitted items at the checkpoint that is winked at and ignored by TSA and theft of items in checked luggage due to total lack of effective video surveillance and prohibitions on locks.
And I'm all about moving forward, by moving airport screening toward an effective focus on searches for weapons, explosives, and incendiaries and away from needless blacklists, ID charades, and unreasonable paranoia about shoes, toothpaste, and water that could be cleared of credible threats using long-deployed existing technology.
We agreed that it was not the proper forum for snarky posts and 9/11 controversies/conspiracy theories.
My post was not snarky, and neither were the other rejected posts that appeared here. My post was not about conspiracy theories. My post was about how we have dishonored the memory of those who died by trampling on the Constitution, liberty, and common sense.
By the way, I'm taking the second half of my paternity leave over the next two weeks, so do me a favor and don't accuse me of ducking and running.
Enjoy your leave, but as you spend time with your kid, think about the world we are leaving to him versus the world you grew up in. Think about why it is different, and how many of those differences are due not to wacko Islamic-extremist terrorists but due to irrational reactionary paranoia by our own government. Better make sure your kid's birth certificate and SSN are in order so that when the time comes he may have his travel papers ready to present to request permission to travel at airports and rail stations and who knows where else that will be next. Who knows how long it will be before papers-please checkpoints are extended to minors. We can't be to careful can we?
